This was a large stronghold, secretly located in the center of the dense forest, with tight defense and strict security.
A flat foundation, several acres in size, had been deliberately cleared in the lush, dense forest. Upon it stood several robust, multi-story buildings, cast with steel and concrete, making them incredibly solid.
At the highest points of the buildings, Chūnin were stationed, sweeping their gaze around with wary expressions, watching out for any potential enemy movements.
In one of the buildings, Orochimaru's powerful senses detected that several of the Chūnin standing guard were actually elite ninja from a major nation—their eyes cold and calm, their aura restrained but formidable.
Although there was no perimeter wall, the ground and underground areas surrounding the stronghold were covered in ninjutsu traps—some obvious, some hidden, some emitting a faint aura, and some completely concealed like normal patches of grass. They were laid out in interlocking sections, and if triggered by an enemy, the resulting chain reaction would amplify the power severalfold.
These ingeniously and thoroughly arranged, powerful traps surrounded the entire stronghold like a steel fortress, making it incredibly secure.
Without someone from the stronghold who knew the trap layout to lead the way, even an ordinary Jōnin from a great nation would be hard-pressed to breach the defenses alive after triggering the continuous chain of traps.
Sarutobi quickly surveyed the surrounding terrain, the layout of the ninjutsu traps, and the placement of the guard ninja. Once he had a clear understanding, he quickly signaled and issued commands to the assault team behind him.
Sarutobi spread his palms, raised both hands, and then swiftly and powerfully extended them flat to both sides.
Asō and Asaoka behind him immediately understood. They quickly led the three hundred-plus rogue ninja, splitting into left and right squads, to form a seemingly loose but actually tight perimeter a hundred meters from the stronghold.
After Asō and Asaoka's forces departed, only thirteen elite Konoha Chūnin, three Jōnin, and one Kage-candidate (Sarutobi) remained. Sarutobi led them in a few leaps to the perimeter of large trees immediately surrounding the stronghold.
Sarutobi stopped. His eyes, fixed on the stronghold, suddenly flashed with a chilling brilliance. A powerful, hurricane-like aura erupted from his body, which was not particularly tall, even appearing short and slender.
Under Orochimaru's calm gaze and the shocked eyes of the surrounding elite Konoha Chūnin, the massive tree Sarutobi stood upon, roughly ten people wide, began to emit "creaking, cracking—" sounds of splitting wood. Fine, long fissures, like a spider web, rapidly spread from beneath Sarutobi's feet, extending across the entire tree trunk. Tiny green wood splinters constantly broke off the branches and trunk, swirling and falling through the air.
Sarutobi's hands flashed like lightning, weaving several complex hand seals!
Forbidden Jutsu: Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!
Boom! Boom! Boom!—
After three explosive sounds, three more solid clones, whose auras were identical to Sarutobi's, appeared on the large tree where Sarutobi stood.
All four "Sarutobis" released an astonishing aura from their bodies. Their hands, like butterflies flitting through flowers, began to weave the same hand seals!
Several powerful enemy ninja in the stronghold had already sensed the shocking pressure released by Sarutobi and rushed out of the buildings in terror. Some of the weaker rogue ninja had already been overwhelmed by the terrifying aura of the Kage-level power and collapsed onto the ground. The entire stronghold began to quickly stir, like ants in a hot pot.
Orochimaru watched the series of hand seals Sarutobi was performing with some confusion. This is...
"Haaah!!!" All four "Sarutobis" roared in unison!
Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall Fortress!
The thick ground within several hundred meters of the stronghold suddenly shook and quaked as if a Magnitude 10 earthquake had struck. A tremendous, earth-shaking rumble continuously rose from deep underground.
Some of the weaker rogue ninja in the stronghold, faced with such a powerful jutsu that felt like the end of the world, were trembling violently where they lay paralyzed. Their eyes, wide with panic and anxiety as they darted around, showed extreme terror and blind confusion.
Crack! Crunch!—
Another series of strange sounds came from deep within the earth.
Under the horrified gaze of the ninja in the stronghold, four terrifying fissures, several meters wide and hundreds of meters long, suddenly split open around the perimeter of the multi-acre stronghold.
Four massive, sturdy, and solid stone slabs suddenly surged up from the ground, rising straight toward the sky, connecting earth and sky.
The powerful underground impact that drove them up caused hundreds of fine, long fissures to shoot out from the base, spreading around like spider webs or lightning patterns.
These fissures triggered the various interlocking ninjutsu traps around the stronghold, causing fire to explode, wind blades to fly, and the ground to collapse...
One after another, the traps were revealed, rendering them useless before they could harm the enemy.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!—
With the massive sound of the earth shaking, the stone walls rising from the ground shot up over ten meters high above the surface. From all four directions, they completely enveloped the entire stronghold, like a massive, thick stone city wall, tightly sealing it off.
Some of the stronger ninja in the stronghold already sensed the direness of the situation. Knowing a top-tier powerhouse was attacking, they leaped up into the air, using chakra to stick to the stone wall's surface, desperately rushing to escape over the top of the high wall.
These ninja's movements naturally did not escape Sarutobi's control.
The terrifying power of a Kage-level figure was revealed in this moment.
The hand seals woven by the four "Sarutobis" were two pairs of identical patterns. The chakra surging from all four was incredibly powerful but was flawlessly contained within their bodies, with not a single trace wasted by escaping outside.
The jutsu of two of the "Sarutobis" was completed first, as the final hand seal was woven!
Earth Release: Rock Pillar Prison!
In Sarutobi's hands, various ninjutsu were used with unexpectedly stunning variations, their power and effect multiplied many times over their base level!
Inside the four towering stone walls, dozens of circular stone pillars, each as thick as three people embracing, suddenly extended from the inner wall.
With a loud booming sound, the tops of the four stone walls were securely sealed, and the entire stronghold, under the force of these two frighteningly powerful jutsu, was completely encased in a thick, stony rectangular box.
Not only that, the solid stone pillars inside the wall pierced through the structure and extended outward, accompanied by screams of death and the sounds of collapsing houses. Orochimaru clearly saw that on the tops of many of the stone pillars, there were clumps of bloody, mangled flesh, dripping with milky-white brain matter and crimson blood.
These were the ninja inside who had tried to cling to the stone wall and escape the stronghold.
The terrifying sounds of the Rock Pillar Prison had barely subsided when the jutsu of the other two "Sarutobis" was completed amidst the earth-shattering commotion!
With the release of a massive amount of chakra, another powerful Earth Release jutsu was unleashed!
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