Chapter 430: The Slaughter Continues, the Sage of Six Paths Chooses to Close His Eyes
"Don't run!"
Hashirama and the Third Hokage instinctively chased after him.
"Don't go."
Tobirama stopped his elder brother and said, "We can't stop that demon, but he's only one person. The Land of Fire is vast. We should use shadow clones to spread out and eBakuate the townspeople, have them scatter and hide."
At the critical moment, Tobirama remained unexpectedly calm.
If they kept following Li Yao's Obito shadow clone, they would only be watching one town after another be destroyed, powerless to stop it.
So instead of continuing to follow him, it was better to split up and eBakuate the citizens of the Land of Fire, preventing them from gathering in one place.
This way, even if they couldn't stop the demon's slaughter, they could at least help as many people survive as possible.
"Alright."
Hashirama's mind cleared after hearing his brother's words. He immediately created thirty Wood Style clones and sent them in all directions.
The others followed suit. However, when it came to Minato and Tobirama, the two couldn't create any clones.
"This... hasn't healed!"
Tobirama was shocked to find the large hole in his chest hadn't recovered.
Minato said gravely, "It looks like that demon's attacks can erase the Edo Tensei body. If we get hit again, we may not even be able to maintain our reanimated bodies."
Tobirama nodded. "We'll have to be more careful from now on."
"Yeah," Minato agreed, then said, "I'll go follow that demon."
Someone had to track Li Yao's Obito shadow clone. They needed to know where he was heading to coordinate eBakuation and spread intelligence.
To keep up with that demon, one had to guard against another attack from that black sphere.
Though both men could use Flying Thunder God, Minato had quicker reflexes and was faster at using the technique. He was the better choice to follow the clone.
"Alright."
Tobirama trusted Minato. With that, he turned and went off in one direction while Minato pursued the Obito clone.
"They've split up… trying to warn other towns, huh."
Ahead, flying through the sky, Li Yao's Obito shadow clone sensed the actions of Hashirama and the others. He figured out their intentions and shook his head slightly.
It was useless to warn anyone. In his current Six Paths Mode, his soul-sensing range had drastically increased—he could now sense across nearly one-tenth of the Land of Fire.
Unless people hid in alternate dimensions or self-contained realms like the three great summoning beast sanctuaries, they couldn't escape him.
Even scattering wouldn't help.
With the Six Paths Truth-Seeking Orb chakra enhancing him, even as a shadow clone, his space-node sensing radius had expanded to a 500-kilometer diameter.
And Li Yao had time. Even if he had to kill them one by one, he would make the Sage of Six Paths understand the consequences of angering him.
That Sage kept collecting souls into the Pure Land, didn't he?
Li Yao would simply annihilate every living being in this world.
His Obito clone wouldn't leave. He would stay in this world and wipe out all life, until nothing remained on the entire planet.
Then Li Yao would see whether the Sage of Six Paths would finally show up to stop him.
Snap!
With a finger snap, another town vanished. The Obito shadow clone set off for the next one.
Minato, following with the Flying Thunder God, looked at the enormous round crater. His hollow chest seemed to echo with a sorrowful heartbeat.
"Who is he, really?"
"No… what kind of creature is he?"
All along the way, Minato had witnessed Li Yao's Obito shadow clone emotionlessly destroy town after town, killing tens of thousands at a time without even the slightest change of expression, as if those people weren't even human.
Minato now doubted that Li Yao's clone was even human. He must be some monster disguised as a man—no human could slaughter so many with such apathy.
And Minato wasn't far off.
To Li Yao, the people of the ninja world were just NPCs—strings of data in a game. Especially after learning about the existence of parallel worlds, this belief became deeply rooted in his mind.
And since they spoke that certain language of "the peaceful little life," exterminating them felt even more satisfying, with no psychological burden at all—only dark glee.
That was something Minato and the others could never understand.
Nor could the Sage of Six Paths.
Originally, the Sage had decided not to interfere in worldly matters again—but what Li Yao's Obito shadow clone was doing made it impossible for him to ignore.
"This brat… just how close is he to that outsider, Li Yao?"
The Sage of Six Paths furrowed his brow deeply. He didn't yet know that Obito had become Li Yao's clone, but the use of black hole space-time ninjutsu clearly indicated a strong connection.
And now, the Obito clone's actions were clearly not driven by one person's will—there was also the influence of Li Yao, the interdimensional visitor.
The Sage couldn't grasp the deeper meaning behind it.
But he could sense the clone's intent to annihilate everyone in the Land of Fire.
"This guy… what even is he…"
The Sage couldn't describe the clone's behavior. As Minato said, this wasn't the act of a human.
In war, people killing each other—fine.
But to deliberately wipe out an entire country's innocent civilians for no reason? That wasn't something a human being would do.
The Sage of Six Paths couldn't comprehend the clone's current actions.
Of course, Li Yao had no idea what the Sage or Minato and the others were thinking. If he did, he'd spit in their faces.
After all, in another world, there were already beasts speaking that same language who had done exactly what the Obito clone was now doing.
Li Yao was just… venting.
"What's that?"
In the sky, a massive black sphere descended. The citizens of the hundred-thousand-strong city below looked up in confusion. Then the sphere expanded, and their vision went black.
Before they could even scream about the darkness, their consciousness faded into nothing. They didn't even know they had died.
"..."
Watching another massive city vanish in an instant, Minato's body trembled violently.
Fear.
An overwhelming fear consumed him.
The killer wasn't breaking down—but the witness was already nearing collapse.
In the Pure Land, watching the scenes of destruction being projected, the Sage of Six Paths remained silent. He tried several times to rise, but each time, he was stopped by a pair of icy, starry eyes.
"Not yet."
In the end, the Sage of Six Paths closed his eyes—letting the Obito shadow clone continue his extermination of the Land of Fire.
(END CHAPTER)
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