As the massive pillar of violet light continued to expand, the sealing scripts previously controlled by Minato Namikaze began to drift toward it.
These black runes, paired with their semi-transparent barriers, resembled an incredibly tough sheet of oiled paper. They tenaciously wrapped around the pillar of light.
Gradually—
When the black runes completely encircled the pillar, they suddenly emitted a deep, shadowy radiance. From this dark glow, a viscous black liquid began to seep out. The moment the liquid emerged, it seemed as though an invisible brush was painting over the pillar's surface.
One after another, intricate and bizarre patterns climbed upward along the pillar of light. From a distance, they resembled black veins growing, sprawling, and spreading wildly.
These condensed runes acted like black holes, even imprisoning the escaping light from within the pillar.
Just as the violet light was being steadily suppressed, something unexpected occurred.
Rumble!
The once-stable ground began to quake violently once again.
Before long, a massive serpent's head emerged from beneath the earth.
The serpent bore orange hair atop its head, golden, slit-pupiled eyes, and a purple ribbon coiled around its crown. A green cat's-eye gem hung from its chest.
The residual image within the cat's-eye gem faintly revealed an old toad standing atop an ancient stone platform. Beneath the toad's feet lay a dense array of sealing scripts, their sheer number seemingly connected to the entire land.
At the top of this image were the frightened faces of Sōmi and his companions.
"Heh heh heh!"
"That old toad has guarded this seal for over a thousand years, and it's finally willing to open it!"
"At last, I can leave this place!"
"In this flawed world, there's no chance of transforming into a dragon!"
"Who would've thought that a little one I casually taught could trigger such significant karma!"
"If he continues to grow with his talent, he might even become..."
"Ah, forget it! Forget it!"
"Ha ha ha!"
The giant serpent's golden eyes flashed with immense excitement, as if it had finally obtained something it had long desired after enduring countless years of monotony.
Hiss!
The massive white serpent, its body covered in phosphorescent scales, swiftly extracted itself from the ground, coiling atop the yellow sands.
Its body, as vast and undulating as a mountain range, folded and twisted across the terrain.
Boom!!
With a single lash of its tail, the serpent unleashed a thunderous explosion, like a bolt of lightning striking from a clear sky!
Even someone like Sasori, with his Mangekyō Sharingan, would struggle to catch more than a faint trace of the serpent's movements.
However, he might notice that alongside the faint white streak, there were numerous tiny black voids.
These voids emitted a dark glow, bearing a resemblance to the black runes surrounding the violet pillar.
Crack... crack...
The sound of shattering glass echoed. The black runes encasing the violet pillar abruptly halted, ceasing their upward spread. The portion struck by the serpent's tail was left fragmented and incomplete.
"Hmm?!"
"That old toad's methods are truly impressive!"
"Good thing I never chose to confront it directly..."
The white serpent murmured in a low voice, a sharp gleam flashing through its golden eyes.
Boom! Boom!!
Two deafening explosions erupted almost simultaneously, sending shockwaves rippling through the air.
This time, the black runes encasing the violet pillar could no longer hold. The interconnected web of runes began to peel away, as if an unyielding wall had been forcibly stripped of its paint.
As the black runes disintegrated, the white light within the pillar surged forth once again, and the violet glow illuminated the sky anew.
"Ha ha ha!"
The white serpent, gazing at the re-expanding violet pillar, could no longer contain its excitement. Its massive body leaped directly into the light, vanishing like a dragon returning to the sea.
The unbound Ryūmyaku had gone completely berserk.
Rumble!
The ground trembled violently, splitting open with wide fissures. The violet pillar's radiant white light grew ever more intense, shining like a blinding beacon.
For ordinary people, even a single glance at the light could cause severe damage to their eyes.
Some time later.
The violet pillar had transformed into a true sky-piercing monolith, with a diameter measurable in kilometers.
The fissures across the Land of Wind's territory looked like jagged scars, and in areas near the "drainage projects," underground water had begun to gush forth in massive quantities.
If this continued, the Land of Wind—and perhaps much of the shinobi world—would be utterly devastated by the Ryūmyaku's unleashed power.
After all, this was the Ryūmyaku fully unsealed by the Great Toad Sage, and it seemed additional measures had been taken to amplify its effects.
However, the Great Toad Sage, having exhausted its prophetic powers to protect the Child of the Prophecy, had overlooked the presence of an elder being nearly equal to itself.
Fortunately, the shinobi world still had a true hidden powerhouse.
"Ah, my, my..."
"What a mess..."
"The little toad and the little white snake have caused such a commotion..."
"I've always said that prophecy-based abilities are unreliable. These cryptic types often lead the world to even worse outcomes..."
"But I suppose it's fortunate. If not for these two triggering the space-time node, my Multiverse Projection wouldn't have awakened..."
A middle-aged man in a white chef's uniform, with the words "Ichiraku" engraved on his chef's hat, suddenly appeared in front of the violet pillar, as if by teleportation.
His perpetually squinted eyes opened slightly, releasing a burst of intense violet-golden light that shot straight into the pillar.
"Thank goodness..."
"No major issues..."
"That little one's physique carries a rare space-time attribute. If left adrift in the space-time turbulence, it might attract the attention of some big players in the void..."
"Well!"
"Better resolve this quickly."
The unassuming middle-aged chef pulled out a rolling pin. It was long, thick, and glossy black.
With a light tap of the rolling pin against the expanding violet pillar—
The pillar abruptly froze.
Pop...
The entire pillar shattered like a bubble, dissipating without a sound, as if the apocalyptic scene moments prior had been nothing but an illusion.
At the source of the violet pillar, within the massive crater, stood an ancient stone platform at its center.
Atop the platform sat an old toad in a meditative pose.
However, the toad had now turned into a gray stone statue.
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