From the sky, Shōton (Crystal Release) rained down, piercing into the Doton (Earth Release) barrier below. Some villagers screamed as the entire village was plunged into darkness. The Doton had covered the whole settlement completely!
Within Iwagakure, everything was shrouded in pitch black. On top of the protective Doton, sunlight reflected against the Shōton crystal spikes, making them glitter like precious jewels.
Ōnoki staggered, his breath ragged. It had been a long time since he had used this much chakra.
In the distance, a child floated in the air. Dressed in ordinary clothing, with black hair and unfocused eyes staring ahead. With a casual wave of his hand, all the Shōton crystal spikes vanished instantly.
Inside the village, the Rock Grinding Golem had already been destroyed by the Iwagakure shinobi. In the sky, Shigeo Hyūga looked at Ōnoki and said coldly:
"Don't you think it's about time you gave up your position as Tsuchikage?"
"Who the hell are you? Old man or not, I'll fight you with everything I have!"
Ōnoki knew very well—after this battle, his stored reserves of shinobi strength were completely exhausted. He no longer had the ability to compete against the other Four Great Shinobi Villages. To ensure survival, Iwagakure could only withdraw from the Third Shinobi World War. Even if they had to make excuses of defeat, they couldn't clash head-on anymore.
Ōnoki charged forward, but in the air, Shigeo floated calmly, forming hand seals with deliberate slowness:
"Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu! (Dust Release: Boundary Stripping Technique!)"
If Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu could target small human-scale areas, then the Boundary Stripping Technique was meant for large-scale environments and massive targets.
Not only that—it required vast chakra and bloodline inheritance to even use.
Seeing the technique manifest, Ōnoki panicked and immediately turned to flee. Thankfully, his speed was fast enough, or else the several-hundred-meter-wide blast zone of the Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu would have swallowed him whole.
"Haha! Why run, Lord Tsuchikage? Since I'm in a good mood today, I'll let you live. Until next time!" Shigeo's objective had been achieved—there was no need to stay any longer.
With a twist of his body, Shigeo vanished, and everything within the boundary of his technique was reduced to fine dust.
Ōnoki's heart pounded furiously, and finally, his body gave out. He plummeted from the sky, the protective Doton barrier collapsing along with him. Without chakra to sustain it, the massive walls fell and buried half the village beneath rubble.
Although the Doton caused damage, it had at least saved countless lives.
Still, Iwagakure was devastated—their two jinchūriki had disappeared, most of the village had been destroyed, and in the battle against the Rock Grinding Golem, the Anbu had lost over a dozen shinobi. The losses were catastrophic.
From this day on, the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki formally announced Iwagakure's withdrawal from the Third Shinobi World War. All forces retreated within their borders. The conflict, which had dragged on for nearly a decade, had officially ended for the Land of Earth.
In the northern snow mountains, Rōshi laughed so hard his stomach ached. Overjoyed, he had already drunk five bottles of sake. Looking at Han—the Five-Tails jinchūriki—bound by Mokuton (Wood Release), Rōshi turned to Shigeo.
"Brother, you've helped me beyond words. Honestly, I didn't think you'd succeed. I was ready to sacrifice myself just to buy you time to escape. But I never imagined… within three days, you learned every single technique of the Third Tsuchikage. Even the ones he never showed—you mastered them too! You're incredible!"
Excited, Rōshi bowed deeply. "You know what? Right now, I feel like calling you my aniki (big brother). You're the strongest man I've ever met!"
"Big brother, you've had too much to drink…" Shigeo quickly moved to support him, glancing awkwardly at Han, who was still restrained by wood dragons and sealing talismans. Wasn't Rōshi embarrassed to act like this in front of others?
"Who says I'm drunk? I'm just happy! Aniki, I'm so happy! My dream of more than ten years has finally come true!" Rōshi declared, downing yet another bottle.
Snow fell heavily. Rōshi collapsed into drunken sleep, while Han glared furiously at Shigeo, completely suppressed by Mokuton, unable to tap into his tailed beast's power.
Shigeo didn't care. After surveying the surroundings, he said: "Let's go. We should get out of this storm."
Two Doton techniques appeared beneath them, carrying both Rōshi and Han forward. With the help of Chōkeijūgan no Jutsu (Super Light-Weight Rock Technique), they floated alongside Shigeo as he traveled.
Han kept a sharp, suspicious eye on him. Why had Shigeo captured him? What was his true goal? He had countless questions, but remained silent.
Shigeo didn't explain either. Instead, he led them to a mountain valley, created a cave with Doton, and sheltered them inside from the blizzard.
Rōshi slept soundly. Mokuton continued to bind Han firmly.
Shigeo turned inward, consulting his system. He had already learned all of Ōnoki's jutsu—further strengthening would come with practice.
Meanwhile, the mirror replication of Han's Five-Tails had already begun yesterday. Progress was slow, but steady.
The Four-Tails replication hadn't even started—he had been too busy learning Ōnoki's techniques. Now, he placed the Four-Tails into the mirror clone interface.
"Ding! Mirror Clone Activated: Yonbi (Four-Tails) Bijū, progress 0.00001%."
"Ding! Congratulations, Master! Ten-Tails fusion initiated…"
Suddenly, the system interface transformed. In the Mirror Clone section, where before there had only been one entry for the Kyūbi, now a long row of entries appeared. At the very front, a new title glowed: Ten-Tails Fusion!
"System, are you telling me you want me to clone all nine bijū? Why else would you make such a long list?" Shigeo counted carefully—nine slots. The Kyūbi was already complete, stored in the Mirror Cultivation screen.
"Yes, Master. If you clone only one bijū, you are merely a jinchūriki. But by cloning two, the system recognizes your greater ambition. Clearly, you aim to merge all nine into the Jūbi (Ten-Tails). This is a monumental task. Congratulations, Master—new functions unlocked. Once you complete cloning all the bijū, the system will gift you a mysterious reward package…"
(End of Chapter)
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