Chapter 273: Nothingness
Whoosh!
Several Grass Ninjas exerted their strength to tear off the heavy black oilcloth.
Revealing the true form of the object beneath it.
A massive, suffocatingly large cube-shaped box, pitch-black as ink.
The surface of the box was not smooth, but carved with four reliefs of ghosts and gods, each with different expressions.
They surrounded the box, lifelike; even just looking at them, one could seemingly feel a fierce aura that devoured Souls.
The entire box emitted a texture that was neither metal nor wood, yet exceptionally heavy. More bizarrely, it seemed capable of absorbing the surrounding light, making the area it occupied grow dim.
It was indeed the legendary Ninja tool, the box of ultimate bliss.
Seeing this box, there wasn't the slightest hint of surprise on Naruto's face.
Heh.
He let out a soft sneer, his voice carrying clearly down below.
Giving up on evacuating civilians, giving up on potential negotiations, and instead choosing to bring out this bottom-of-the-barrel 'Divine Artifact' rumored to possess destructive power for one last desperate gamble.
As expected, it still came to this point.
Look at the Grass Ninja Village; they actually have the backbone to fight a powerful enemy. It's a good thing those old fossils of the Hyuga Clan are dead.
Before deciding to take action against the Grass Ninja Village, Naruto had naturally done plenty of intelligence homework.
Naruto also had some understanding regarding the legends of the box of ultimate bliss.
Legend has it that this box is one of the Ninja tools left behind by the Six Paths Sage.
The box's structure was no ordinary craftsmanship, integrating highly advanced principles of Yin-Yang Release.
It was said to require a massive amount of Chakra to grant wishes, yet no one had ever truly had a wish granted; it also sealed a monster named'Satori' inside.
Supposedly, this thing had even ended up in Senju Hashirama's hands during the Sengoku period.
Naruto had specifically asked Senju Hashirama about the box of ultimate bliss.
Hashirama's reaction at the time was quite interesting.
He scratched the back of his head, trying to recall for a long while before saying uncertainly: "Oh, that black box... I think there was something like that. Did I pick it up while cleaning up a battlefield or exploring? I don't remember very clearly."
He frowned, his expression somewhat disgusted. "I felt that thing was very sinister; the aura it emitted was very uncomfortable."
"I always felt it had nothing to do with the Six Paths Sage from the myths; instead, it seemed like a product cooked up by some evil god or ancient Devil Head. It's unlucky."
"So... I just threw it away."
"Where did I put it again? Was it a cave? Or a riverbank? Then I sealed it with Wood Release while I was at it."
Hashirama spoke nonchalantly, as if what he threw away wasn't a legendary forbidden Ninja tool, but a piece of old furniture he didn't like.
Naruto was somewhat speechless hearing it then, but it fit Hashirama's heroic, unrestrained style of acting on intuition.
He instinctively rejected the box's evil energy, thinking keeping it might be a calamity, so he dealt with it casually.
"For the sake of the Grass Ninja Village, enter the box of ultimate bliss! Let the box of ultimate bliss grant our wish to eliminate the powerful enemy!"
The Tiger-Head Elder raised his arm and shouted.
At the very moment the Tiger-Head Elder's words "eliminate the powerful enemy" fell.
Atop the hill, that golden Nine-Tailed that seemed to merge with the mountains—those crimson beast pupils that had been half-closed and looking down coldly—suddenly snapped wide open!
Within them was only pure, destructive will.
He gave the Grass Ninjas no time for any reaction or further action.
Roar!
A beastly roar that shook heaven and earth instantly drowned out all the noise in front of the Grass Ninja Village.
Simultaneously, the Nine-Tailed's massive head tilted back slightly, and its mouth snapped open.
Red and blue Chakra condensed into an energy sphere that instantly took shape in its mouth.
With little charging and almost no warning, the terrifying Chakra fluctuations contained in that energy sphere—which caused space itself to distort and tremble—made the Souls of all the Grass Ninjas who saw it shudder!
Tailed Beast Ball!
Whoosh!
The pitch-black energy sphere left the Nine-Tailed's massive maw. It didn't fire toward the Ninjas gathered at the Village entrance, nor toward the conspicuous box of ultimate bliss; instead, it traced a trajectory so straight it was despair-inducing, carrying a scream that tore through the air as it flew directly toward the Grass Ninja Village!
"No!"
The Tiger-Head Elder's roar and the other Elders' screams were instantly swallowed by the sharp whistle of the Tailed Beast Ball piercing the air.
The confusion, fear, and doubt on the faces of those Grass Ninjas gathered at the Village entrance froze the moment the Tailed Beast Ball flew over their heads toward the Village, transforming into an extreme horror and despair that could not be described in words!
Their gazes involuntarily and deathly followed the trajectory of that sphere of death.
Time seemed to stretch out.
They saw that pitch-black energy sphere, like a meteorite, land precisely beside the Village.
Then, the energy sphere hit the ground, but didn't explode immediately.
It first contracted inward, as if sucking in the surrounding light, sound, and even space, forming a brief, heart-palpitating silent black hole.
The next second...
Boom!
A massive sound beyond any known vocabulary, accompanied by a blinding white light intense enough to burn retinas, suddenly erupted!
That contracted energy, centered at the point of impact, took the form of a perfect hemisphere, silently yet violently expanding and spreading outward to the extreme.
Everything, within that destructive white light and shockwave, was instantly vaporized, decomposed, and turned into the most primitive dust and energy turbulence!
There was no fire, no thick smoke, only the purest and most thorough annihilation!
The expanding white hemisphere of light, like the wide-open maw of the Shinigami, easily enveloped, swallowed, and then erased an area equivalent to the Grass Ninja Village in less than a breath's time.
As the light dissipated, what was left beside the Grass Ninja Village was a bottomless, hemispherical crater so massive it left one speechless, with edges as smooth as a mirror!
Inside the crater, high temperatures and distorted Chakra still remained, with curling wisps of deformed hot air rising up.
Dead silence.
On the open ground at the Village entrance was a dead silence colder than death itself.
The Grass Ninjas' mouths hung open unconsciously, yet they could make no sound; only a "he-he" sound of leaking airflow came from their throats.
Their bodies, like fallen leaves in the autumn wind, began to tremble violently and uncontrollably.
Is this... the power of a Tailed Beast?
Is this... the Sixth Hokage of Konoha Village?
If... if that Tailed Beast Ball hadn't been aimed beside the Village, but at the center of the Grass Ninja Village...
Wouldn't that mean... the entire Grass Ninja Village, along with everyone inside who didn't have time to evacuate, would have instantly... disappeared, just like that area just now?
This thought made them cold all over, their very Souls seemingly frozen.
Just then, atop the hill, that golden figure moved again.
Uzumaki Naruto slowly raised his right hand.
His movement wasn't fast, yet it carried an overwhelming majesty that decided life and death.
He looked down at those Grass Ninjas below, who were like lambs to the slaughter, his gaze cold and his voice carrying clearly to every corner, without the slightest emotional fluctuation, yet more deterrent than any roar:
"Now, do you still think we are joking with you?"
His gaze swept over those few Elders slumped on the ground with crooked masks, and over those Genin, Chunin, and Jonin whose faces were as pale as ash.
Finally, it landed on that box of ultimate bliss that still emitted a sinister aura, a flash of undisguised disgust appearing in his eyes.
"Hand over that sinister box, as well as all the Elders and their core followers who participated in planning to activate it and attempting to use fellow Ninjas from the Village as sacrifices."
"The rest who are willing to surrender, lay down your weapons and accept supervision."
"This is the final chance."
He paused, his tone suddenly growing heavier, like the strike of a gavel in a final judgment:
"If you do not surrender..."
As if to verify his words, the massive head of the Nine-Tailed's complete form rose again, and within the fox's mouth, violent Chakra began to frantically converge and compress once more!
A Tailed Beast Ball was rapidly taking shape at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The destructive energy fluctuations even caused the surrounding air to emit an overburdened hum!
Naruto pointed at the condensing Tailed Beast Ball and pronounced in a cold voice:
"The target of the next Tailed Beast Ball will be the... very center of the Grass Ninja Village."
The moment the words fell, the Tailed Beast Ball in the Nine-Tailed's mouth had already taken shape, its pitch-black light flickering as it aimed from afar at the defenseless core area of the Grass Ninja Village, which was like a lamb to the slaughter.
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