Chapter 256: The Third Hokage Couldn't Possibly Command This Monster
"Boom! RUMBLE !"
Accompanied by a roar that seemed to come from the depths of the earth's crust, the entire Hidden Mist Village began to tremble violently.
The vibration was not evenly distributed but spread and undulated outward from the central point like a wave.
It made the internal organs of those standing on it churn.
One after another, exaggeratedly deep, dark fissures crazily spread across the ground, like giant, man-eating mouths, greedily swallowing the faint light of the night.
Immediately following, an even more terrifying scene occurred
Crack!
BANG!
Thick tree trunks erupted from the ground beneath their feet. They burst through the rock layers, tore through the soil, and rapidly grew with an unstoppable, brute force and speed.
These trunks twisted and extended, intertwining with each other, as if the wood dragons sleeping deep underground had awakened.
In just an instant, their ferocious growth momentum and the completely altered terrain caused all the Hidden Mist ninjas to instantly lose their balance.
Some lost their footing and fell into the fissures, others were flung into the air by the rising roots, and their formation disintegrated in the blink of an eye.
The rapidly growing, winding, thick tree trunks grew at an unimaginable speed, reaching ten to twenty meters high in a flash.
They formed a moving, living wooden bulwark.
The Hidden Mist ninjas' reactions were incredibly fast. Innumerable bursts of Ninjutsu light immediately flared up.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave Technique!"
Giant dragons composed of water roared out, surging torrents attempted to tear through the obstacles, and dense water bullets rained down...
A series of Water Release Jutsu violently collided with the thick, rising tree trunks, producing dull, thunderous roars.
However, the result was chilling. The powerful impact of the Water Release Jutsu only left shallow indentations on the trunks, which were imbued with a strange, vital energy.
The water slid off the bark, as if merely watering them.
Concurrently.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Countless explosive tags were precisely thrown onto the tree trunks.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The continuous, deafening explosions instantly engulfed parts of the trunks in fire and dense smoke.
These explosive tags, strong enough to collapse solid stone walls, only managed to scatter a few wood chips and sawdust when they detonated on the trunks.
They left only blackened, scorched marks and small shallow dents on the wood.
Compared to the massive size of the trunks, this damage was utterly insignificant.
The Hidden Mist ninjas hastily stabilized their feet, converging Chakra at their soles, attempting to maintain balance amidst the earth-shaking commotion.
Relying on their excellent ninja body techniques, they continuously dodged and weaved, their figures turning into afterimages amongst the wildly growing timber, trying to avoid the massive trunks erupting from the ground.
However, the density and growth rate of the forest exceeded their limits.
"Ah !"
"My leg!"
Some Hidden Mist ninjas who failed to dodge were violently struck and injured by the irresistible force of the erupting trunks.
The dull thud of impact was accompanied by the crisp sound of bones snapping. Their legs were instantly fractured.
Worse still, some had their legs broken by the massive impact, twisted at gruesome angles, and screamed as they fell to the ground.
They were then instantly wrapped and swallowed by the subsequent branches and vines that surged up.
More astonishingly, these gigantic trunks were not inanimate objects.
Huge amounts of the trunks began to sprout countless tough branches and tender green leaves at a visible rate.
In less than ten seconds, the area, which had been filled with Ninjutsu explosions and war cries, transformed into a lush, dense forest, which was simultaneously full of murderous intent.
Many houses were also toppled by the trunks rising from the ground.
The sound of wooden beams snapping was incessant. The stone slabs on the roads were crushed and upheaved, leaving the streets unrecognizable.
The thick trees had already grown to dozens of meters high.
Their canopies connected, blocking out the sky.
Casting vast, suffocating shadows.
If viewed from a distance... it looked as if one-tenth of the Hidden Mist Village had been replaced by a primeval forest, untouched and filled with a raw, savage atmosphere.
It formed a bizarre and sharp contrast with the surrounding man-made village landscape.
This scene...
Stunned even those Hidden Mist ninjas who had previously chosen to bow out and quickly retreated, trying to maintain a safe distance from the battle in front.
A cold shiver shot from their tailbone straight up to their skull.
"Wood Release... It's Wood Release!!!"
A Hidden Mist Jōnin's pupils constricted. His face was filled with shock as he looked at the primeval forest that had replaced the buildings and streets.
The horror in his heart made him sweat profusely. The hand holding his kunai involuntarily trembled slightly.
If he hadn't chosen not to participate because he was unwilling to follow the bloody policy any longer...
He would probably be trapped in that life-swallowing Wood Release forest right now!
That kind of power...
It was simply not something human power could contend with!
...
On the other side.
Mei Terumī, Ao, and Gensui were also utterly shocked.
The sight before them almost completely overturned their concept of "power."
Ao stared in utter disbelief at the forest, which was still faintly wriggling ahead. The Byakugan covered by his eye patch seemed to be aching faintly.
He muttered, his voice slightly dry: "If I remember correctly, the intelligence said Ikeizumi Uchiha only possesses two Bloodline Limits... the Uchiha clan's Sharingan and the Lava Release related to magma. He... he actually possesses the First Hokage's Wood Release as well. Doesn't that make it three Bloodline Limits?"
This completely defied Ao's common sense. He couldn't comprehend how a single person's body could withstand and fuse three fundamentally different Bloodline powers.
Mei Terumī was also shaken by the sight that surpassed all understanding.
She watched the massive trees, like giant pythons, continuously twisting, wrapping, and weaving, feeling the suffocating pressure that washed over them.
Mei Terumī couldn't help but swallow hard, her throat bobbing slightly: "It seems reasonable that the Fourth Mizukage was so easily defeated by him..."
In the face of such power, the title of "Kage" seemed so pale and insignificant.
Gensui, meanwhile, stared blankly ahead. A look of recollection seemed to flash in his murky eyes. That long-ago memory was forcefully awakened.
He seemed to recall the might of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, whose name resonated throughout the ninja world decades ago, the one who pacified the chaotic era single-handedly.
That was a ninja once hailed as the God of Shinobi!
His Wood Release was a legendary power capable of instantly creating forests and suppressing Tailed Beasts.
And now, he was seeing the shadow of that God of Shinobi in a young man from the Konoha Village!
"Konoha Village..."
Gensui muttered, his voice old and raspy, carrying a complex emotion that was hard to describe: "Is another Child of Prophecy, whose power surpasses the entire ninja world, about to be born?"
...
Meanwhile.
The Hidden Mist ninjas trapped within the "Deep Forest Emergence" were all drenched in sweat.
Sweat, mixed with dust and blood, clung to their bodies, cold and sticky.
They discovered with despair that the ninja tools in their hands, which had been tempered countless times and drank the blood of their enemies, were laughably useless, like children's toys, against a Wood Release Ninjutsu of this magnitude.
The kunai in their hands might easily slit an enemy's throat on the battlefield.
But using a ten-centimeter blade to stab the thick tree trunks, which were probably ten meters in diameter and constantly wriggling and growing...
They weren't sure if they could even pierce the thick bark!
This was literally an ant attempting to shake a massive tree.
Furthermore.
The Hidden Mist ninjas were also shocked to find that these massive trees, like living giant pythons, were sensing their Chakra and location.
They were constantly coiling, squeezing, and pressing inward toward the living beings inside from all directions, from above and below!
It seemed intent on completely strangling and crushing them here!
The shadow of death, like an icy tide, quickly enveloped every corner.
In desperation, their survival instincts forced them to fiercely squeeze the remaining Chakra from their bodies, forming hand seals recklessly, unleashing one Water Release Ninjutsu after another.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
They roared, attempting to collectively force a breakthrough in the constantly contracting "Deep Forest Emergence."
Even if it was just a gap large enough for them to escape.
But a sight that chilled them to the bone happened... When they used all their might, combining the strength of several people to blast a few thick trunks and open a temporary gap with Water Release Jutsu.
They were shocked to see masses of newborn, even thicker trunks, stretching from some unknown place, filling the blasted gap at an even faster speed.
As if possessing infinite regeneration, the "breakthrough" they had painstakingly created was plugged tightly, sealed off.
Even more tightly than before.
"This is not a battle against a ninja at all..."
The murderous intent and fury on one Hidden Mist ninja's face had long vanished, replaced by profound shock and uncontrollable terror that went deep into his bones.
He looked up in despair at the layers upon layers of obscuring, constantly pressing down trunks and branches.
"That Konoha ninja's power... is like that of a god. How can humans ever be a match for a god..."
For such a statement, filled with despair and helplessness, to be uttered by a ninja who had undergone the brutal baptism of the Bloody Mist Village.
It meant his will had been completely shattered, pushed to the extreme of despair.
"Water Release: Water Vortex Drill Technique!"
Another Hidden Mist ninja, his face contorted, exhausted all his skills, condensing his Chakra into a high-speed rotating water drill, finally breaking another thick trunk with great difficulty.
But completely exhausted of Chakra and gasping for breath...
He despairingly watched another, even larger trunk, as if it had been waiting, suddenly stretch out from the shadow on the side, instantly blocking and sealing off the fleeting path of hope with an irresistible force.
He collapsed powerlessly to his knees, muttering distractedly, his eyes vacant: "How could this happen? How... how can the gap be so huge?"
The next second.
The giant-arm-like trunks on his left and right sides converged toward his position, carrying the momentum to crush everything!
"Pffttt !"
A muffled thud, like a water-filled bag being instantly squeezed and burst.
His entire body was crushed in an instant!
It was as easy as swatting a mosquito. Scarlet blood, mixed with bone fragments and minced flesh, splattered onto the rough bark, painting a harsh and brutal crimson pattern.
He didn't even have time to let out a proper scream before his life was extinguished.
He became fertilizer for this forest.
While this large group of Hidden Mist ninjas struggled and fell continuously in this jungle hell...
Ikeizumi Uchiha stood quietly on the uppermost treetops of his Wood Release Jutsu.
He was hundreds of meters high in the air. The air currents were slightly strong, blowing his robes.
From this vantage point, he could survey about one-third of the Hidden Mist Village's landscape.
Lingering lights flickered in the distance, a sharp contrast to the silent, deadly forest nearby.
He could also clearly see the small fraction of Hidden Mist ninjas surrounding the Wood Release Jutsu's perimeter, who were too shocked and frightened to step forward.
His gaze swept over the entirety of the Hidden Mist Village.
He noted the buildings, which were noticeably more rustic, older, and even somewhat dilapidated compared to those in Konoha Village.
The entire village atmosphere, much like most towns in the Land of Water, was shrouded in an inexplicable sense of suppression and gloom, lacking vitality and hope.
If one ignored the continuous, gradually fading screams below, this deathly silence would be even more pronounced.
Endless sin had once festered and spread across this land.
The Bloody Mist Policy was like a malignant tumor, eroding the village.
Ikeizumi Uchiha's eyes were calm and unperturbed.
"After tonight, while it won't immediately reach the level of prosperity and peace as Konoha Village, at least... it will be better than before. At least... some who should have died but remained at large, some whose minds are stubbornly set and hands are stained with blood, will be judged by this Absolute Justice."
Ikeizumi Uchiha slowly raised one hand, his movement steady and composed.
As the five fingers in his hand slowly closed into a fist.
A more intense, deeper tremor began to spread from the ground, as if the earth's veins were crying out.
The massive trees within hundreds of meters beneath his feet also responded to his will, coiling, weaving, twisting, and converging with an unprecedented force and speed!
The screams below seemed to grow denser and more desperate due to the rapid spatial compression.
A significant amount of blood even began to slowly seep out through the initial gaps between the trunks, flowing like small streams and staining the ground crimson.
If one listened closely, a horrifying, teeth-grating "crack-crack-crack" sound could be faintly heard.
The dense, terrifying sound was due either to the wood breaking under the immense pressure or to the fracturing of human bones.
The faint blue veins on the back of Ikeizumi Uchiha's hand slightly twitched.
Below, the thick trunks had begun to show signs of splintering due to the strong squeezing and coiling.
The sound of wood fibers tearing was incessant, like firecrackers "crackling" non-stop.
The continuous screams interspersed within had begun to grow sparser and weaker, finally becoming almost inaudible.
The joining of the trunks had become so tight that no drop of blood could seep out anymore.
All signs of life were sealed inside.
And at this moment...
Innumerable thick trunks, stained with blood and scorch marks, had twisted and intertwined into a colossal, structurally complex spiral wooden sphere in the core area of the Hidden Mist Village!
This sphere, hundreds of meters in diameter, stood imposing!
The surface of the sphere was interwoven and wrapped in a combination of three colors: the brown-tan of the bark, the crimson-red of the splattered and coagulated blood, and the tender green of the newborn leaves!
Now.
No more screams echoed from below. Except for the occasional "creak" from the wood under stress, there was a deathly silence.
The thick trunks no longer intertwined and converged, as if all their force and objective had been achieved.
The blue veins on the back of Ikeizumi Uchiha's hand, which had been faintly raised due to the exertion, now subsided.
The hand he had raised slowly dropped.
The entire Hidden Mist Village... including the ninjas watching from afar, was plunged into a deathly, suffocating silence!
...
Mei Terumī was completely stunned. Her mind was blank, and her delicate body trembled uncontrollably.
She couldn't imagine how such a large number of the Hidden Mist Village's elite ninjas, including many Jōnin masters, could have been killed so completely, like harvested straw, in such a short period.
Was it just because the opponent possessed the First Hokage's Wood Release Ninjutsu?
That reason seemed so inadequate at this moment.
Or had Ikeizumi Uchiha's Chakra already infiltrated the earth the moment he stepped into the Hidden Mist Village, laying an ambush underground...
Waiting for those "seeking death" to step into his designated range, making them fall into his trap without any suspense?
Compared to the power displayed by Ikeizumi Uchiha, were the multitude of Hidden Mist ninjas truly so weak and incapable?
Did the traditional human wave tactic truly have no effect whatsoever against an existence of this caliber?
Back then, the Third Raikage, who was incredibly powerful and known as the "Strongest Spear" and "Strongest Shield," also fought for a long time against the thousands of Iwa ninjas' attrition warfare and siege, ultimately dying of exhaustion, didn't he?
That was at least a fierce and protracted battle.
But here...
This was virtually instant annihilation.
Could Ikeizumi Uchiha be even stronger than the Third Raikage, who was revered as the strongest Raikage in history?
Had he...
Truly reached the level of the mythologized God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju?
To be honest, Mei Terumī didn't know how strong Hashirama Senju, the so-called God of Shinobi, truly was, as that was a legend from over half a century ago.
Within the limits of her imagination, she felt that Hashirama Senju's power, capable of absolutely suppressing the entire ninja world and distributing the Tailed Beasts, must be quite similar to Ikeizumi Uchiha's current power.
After all, Ikeizumi Uchiha was now... effortlessly suppressing the entire Hidden Mist Village single-handedly, wasn't he?!
Mei Terumī was even certain that even if all those present who chose to spectate had also chosen to swarm him, the outcome would likely have been no different.
"...I can confirm that he was definitely not sent by Konoha to invade our Hidden Mist Village." Ao's voice beside her still carried a slight, uncontrollable tremor.
His face was pale, and there was still undried cold sweat on his forehead.
"I think the Third Hokage of Konoha couldn't possibly command a monster like this. How could such a powerhouse meekly obey the Hokage's orders?"
... ... (End of Chapter)