Renji was waiting in the central building in the Forest of Death for Shamrock and Uta to arrive according to the rules of the second round of the Chunin Exam. Knowing that they would finish this exam soon enough, they had even been talking about making some sort of record or something.
Then suddenly, he felt it.
A terrifying wave of Conqueror's Haki swept through the entire Forest of Death like a storm crashing over the land. The air itself seemed to grow heavy, the ground trembling faintly beneath his feet.
Renji's eyes widened.
"This is Onii-san's Conqueror's Haki," he said immediately, his expression turning grim. "Something must have happened with Shamrock and Uta, and they must have opened the Haki knot that Onii-san had given them. Dammit."
Without even a moment of hesitation, Renji raised his hand and used Bakudo Number 58: Summoning of the Tracking Sparrow.
The moment the technique activated, spiritual energy rippled in front of him and he immediately found the location of Uta and Shamrock. As soon as he did, his figure vanished from the spot in a blur using Shunpo, leaving only a gust of wind behind.
Kakashi and Asuma were also present there.
They too had felt Shanks' Conqueror's Haki, and the pressure it placed on them was enormous. It felt as if an invisible mountain had suddenly descended onto their shoulders. The trees around them rustled violently, and even the air felt suffocating.
Still, with their willpower, they managed to remain standing.
Kakashi narrowed his eye while Asuma's face turned serious.
Something big had definitely happened.
Without hesitation, both of them immediately followed behind Renji.
Meanwhile, Minato was working in his office when he suddenly felt Shanks' Conqueror's Haki.
This time, it was far more powerful than before.
The instant it swept across the village, the ninja who had been reporting in front of him collapsed unconscious onto the ground with a thud.
Minato immediately stood up from his chair.
His face was solemn, and there was a sharp look in his eyes.
Something happened.
Without wasting even a second, Minato immediately used the Flying Thunder God Jutsu and vanished from the office in a flash of yellow light, directly appearing beside Kakashi, who was running.
While running, Minato asked what exactly had happened.
Kakashi immediately described what he had heard from Renji.
"Renji suddenly said that he felt 'Onii-san's Conqueror's Haki'," Kakashi said while leaping from branch to branch at high speed. "He said something must have happened to Uta and Shamrock, and that they must have opened the 'Haki knot that Onii-san had given them.' After that, he used some sort of technique to locate them and immediately left."
Asuma, who was running beside them, added, "We are barely even able to follow behind him."
Minato's expression remained solemn as the wind whipped against his cloak.
He could already sense Renji's chakra signature ahead of them. Renji was continuously using Shunpo to move at an extremely fast speed, his presence flashing through the forest like a streak of lightning. Even Minato had to admit that the speed was comparable to his Flying Thunder God.
Soon enough, Minato also sensed the presence of Shamrock and Uta.
Without hesitation, he immediately threw one of his Flying Thunder God kunai forward.
The special kunai spun rapidly through the air, cutting through the trees, before Minato vanished instantly and appeared directly beside Shamrock and Uta.
At almost the exact same moment, Renji also arrived.
Both of them reached Shamrock and Uta simultaneously.
By now, the Conqueror's Haki that had been sealed inside the knot Uta had opened was finally gone.
The forest was in complete silence.
Orochimaru was kneeling on the ground, drenched in sweat. His breathing was rough, and his entire body trembled slightly. The grass beneath him was flattened, and even the nearby trees had cracks running through their bark from the overwhelming pressure that had just swept through the area.
When Orochimaru slowly looked up, he saw Minato and Renji standing in front of him.
Renji's face was dark while Minato's eyes had already become sharp and cold.
But just when Renji was about to ask about the well-being of Shamrock and Uta, and Minato was also about to do the same—
Another wave of pressure suddenly exploded outward.
This pressure was even more violent than before.
And along with it came a loud roar that shook the entire Konoha.
Instinctively, Minato looked up from the now broken forest.
Similarly, Kakashi and Asuma also raised their heads toward the sky, toward the source of that roar.
Even throughout Konoha, everyone who was still conscious looked upward.
Very few people had managed to remain standing after being affected by Shanks' Conqueror's Haki. People like Sarutobi Hiruzen, Danzo, and a few powerful-willed Anbu ninjas were among the only ones still conscious.
And when they looked up, they saw it.
A giant black hole-like distortion had appeared in the sky.
It twisted and rotated above Konoha like a dark vortex, swallowing the clouds around it. From inside it, something massive began to emerge.
First came a huge head.
A dragon head.
Then, slowly, the rest of the enormous red dragon came out from the black distortion in the sky.
(A/N: Image in this Para Comment.)
Its size was enormous.
Its height alone was more than one hundred meters, and its body stretched across the sky like a living mountain. Crimson scales covered its body, gleaming under the light, while its gigantic wings spread out wide enough to block a huge part of the sky itself.
A suffocating pressure radiated from it.
That pressure was similar to Shanks' Conqueror's Haki, but at the same time, it was different. It was fiercer, more savage, carrying with it the terror of a predator standing at the very top of the food chain.
The moment that roar echoed through the sky, Renji already knew what it was.
This was Antares' Dragon Fear ability.
And everyone else also knew who this red dragon was.
The person who had come—
Or rather, the red dragon—
Was none other than Antares Uzumaki, the Dragon Emperor, and one of the Uzumaki siblings.
The giant red dragon directly breached through Konoha's barrier as if it did not even exist.
His gigantic eyes, glowing with a terrifying light, looked directly toward Uta, Shamrock, Renji, Minato, and now the standing Orochimaru.
For a moment, the entire forest became silent.
Only the sound of Antares' heavy breathing and the creaking of trees under the pressure of his presence could be heard.
When Antares' eyes fell on Orochimaru, there was scrutiny in them.
And clear disdain.
The moment those gigantic draconic eyes locked onto him, Orochimaru felt a chill run down his spine.
An oppression on the level of life itself descended upon him.
It was similar to how a snake would feel when standing in front of a dragon.
No—
It was even worse than that.
For the first time in a long time, Orochimaru felt genuine fear.
His body had already been drenched in sweat from Shanks' Conqueror's Haki, but now that fear only deepened. His instincts screamed at him to flee, yet his body felt stiff beneath Antares' gaze.
Antares looked over everyone gathered there.
His gaze swept across Uta, Shamrock, Renji, Minato, Kakashi, Asuma, and finally landed once again on Orochimaru.
From just one look, he already understood most of what had happened.
It must have been Orochimaru who had tried to attack Shamrock and Uta.
As for the exact reason, he did not know, nor did he particularly care right now.
Soon, Antares' giant dragon body began to shrink.
The massive crimson scales disappeared one by one, the enormous wings folded inward, and the gigantic body rapidly condensed in the sky. In just a few moments, the giant dragon had transformed into the figure of a normal-looking thirty-year-old man.
He had a red beard, glowing long red hair, and was wearing armor-like clothes that made him look more like a general than anything else.
Even after transforming, Antares remained floating in the sky.
He had no intention of going down himself to deal with Orochimaru.
Renji was already present.
There was no need for Antares to dirty his own hands by fighting someone like Orochimaru. In Antares' eyes, that was simply beneath him.
Not to mention, he had only come here for the extra protection of Shamrock and Uta.
Both of them had one Haki Knot given by Shanks.
Whenever they were in huge danger, they could open it, and the moment they did, Shanks would immediately feel that they were in danger.
At the same time, inside that knot was sealed Shanks' Conqueror's Haki.
That Haki alone was more than enough to suppress and restrain any malicious person, no matter how strong they were.
As long as they were not on the level of an Otsutsuki, the Haki Knot could hold them down long enough for one of the Uzumaki siblings—or Shanks himself—to arrive.
Minato looked directly at Orochimaru, his expression completely cold.
"You have gone too far, Orochimaru," Minato said, his voice calm but filled with clear anger. "I have never very seriously tried to capture you and left that work for Jiraiya-sensei because he requested it to be so."
His blue eyes sharpened.
"But you are crossing the line right now by doing what you did today. Trying to attack the children of Uzukage... you are directly sabotaging the relations between Konoha and Uzushiogakure."
A powerful wave of chakra started gathering in Minato's hand.
"This is something I will never tolerate."
As he said this, chakra rapidly condensed into his palm, forming a Rasengan. In his other hand, he held one of his special kunai marked with the Flying Thunder God seal.
The air around him seemed to tense.
But just then—
Renji suddenly appeared in front of Minato.
He stood face-to-face with Orochimaru, his back toward Minato, his spiritual pressure already leaking out around him.
"You do not need to intervene," Renji said coldly.
His voice was calm, but there was a terrifying amount of anger hidden beneath it.
"He dared to lay his filthy hand toward my niece and nephew."
Renji's eyes remained fixed on Orochimaru.
"I will have his head for it."
For a moment, there was complete silence.
"And I hope," Renji continued, his voice becoming even colder, "that you will not interfere in it."
Minato looked at Renji's back and could clearly feel the anger in his voice.
At this moment, he knew that he could not interfere in this battle.
If he fought and somehow Orochimaru still managed to escape, then Renji—or even Uzukage himself—might think that Minato had deliberately let Orochimaru escape.
That was definitely something Minato did not want.
Slowly, the chakra in Minato's Rasengan dispersed.
He still remained on guard, but he took a small step back.
Finally, Renji and Orochimaru stood opposite each other.
The wind blew through the destroyed forest between them.
Broken trees, torn earth, and shattered branches were scattered all around the battlefield. Uta and Shamrock stood behind Renji while Kakashi, Asuma, and Minato watched silently from the side.
High above in the sky, Antares floated while looking down at everything.
Orochimaru's face remained calm, but inwardly, he clearly did not want to continue this fight.
Someone like Antares was present overhead, and Renji himself was extremely strong.
Orochimaru had no confidence that he could actually win here.
From this point onward, he would mostly remain on the defensive side and try to escape.
Whereas Renji—
Renji would definitely try to kill him.
No.
Seal him.
----
Want to get daily updates and read 20+ chapters? Then join my Patreon!
Patreon Link: https://[email protected]/Hkj822
Join Discord Link: https://discord.gg/c4m4BxQq