The earth was crushed bit by bit under the Apostle of Desire's exaggerated weight, transforming into endless dust that exploded outward.
"Beautifully done, Danzo!"
Even Hiruzen Sarutobi could not help but admire Danzo's technique. It was an extreme form of Wind Style shape transformation that easily severed such a massive enemy!
Unlike Hiruzen's excitement, Danzo was shrouded in a terrifying sense of crisis the moment he cut off the enemy's feet. Sure enough, under Simu's control, the falling Apostle of Desire collapsed toward him like a crumbling mountain. The massive shadow created by its fall firmly engulfed him!
Without a second thought, he immediately retreated. Even so, he was still violently blown away by the resulting shockwave, disappearing into the billowing clouds of thick smoke.
"That was a close call."
Danzo stared at the rolling smoke around him. Although he had swallowed a few mouthfuls of sand, he had ultimately managed to avoid the damage. Furthermore, even if he had failed to dodge in time, nothing would have happened to him. After all, he still possessed ten Sharingan on his arm, allowing him to use Izanagi to forcibly rewrite reality.
Consequently, as long as Danzo could react, he was effectively an immortal being until all the Sharingan vanished.
Simu, of course, knew this as well. Therefore, just as Danzo breathed a sigh of relief for avoiding the hit, a green light suddenly emerged from the heavy smoke.
This is...
Danzo's entire body went numb in an instant. The fear of death threw him into a brief state of paralysis. This was the intuition of a veteran ninja who had survived a hundred battles!
I can't dodge it. I'll die!
Danzo trusted his intuition and chose not to dodge. Instead, he channeled his swiftest speed to weave three hand signs. At the exact moment he finished the signs, a green chakra arrow tore through his entire body with unimaginable force!
Moreover, a chakra arrow flew past his left, his right, and above him. This meant that regardless of which direction he had chosen to dodge, a lethal attack would have been waiting for him.
As Danzo was blown to pieces, Simu emerged from the smoke, enveloped in green chakra. A green ribcage manifested around him, with an orange-red tomoe floating within the chest cavity. The sternum was currently open. Evidently, the arrows that had just killed Danzo were fired from this very spot.
When the smoke cleared and Hiruzen Sarutobi saw nothing but a pile of flesh where Danzo had been, his mind briefly went blank.
"How is this possible..."
His first reaction was one of disbelief. Although Danzo's strength as an Elder was inferior to his own as the Hokage, he was still a Kage-level combatant. How could he be taken out by an enemy in such a short amount of time? Despite this, the blood and flesh on the ground were undeniable. Thinking of this, a flicker of sorrow welled up in Hiruzen's heart.
Seeing his expression, Simu became amused. He looked toward a certain direction and smiled. "Lord Danzo, do you really have the heart to watch our Lord Hokage continue to grieve like this?"
Upon hearing these words, Hiruzen's expression changed sharply as he followed Simu's gaze. Sure enough, behind a shattered rock, Danzo was staring at Simu with a face full of gloom.
"Brat, you seem to know quite a lot."
Not only did he possess Shisui's Mangekyo, but he actually knew the secret of Izanagi as well. Since Hiruzen was present, Danzo did not directly unwrap the bandages on his arm; he simply allowed one of his Sharingan to fade away in silence.
While Danzo did not want Hiruzen to know, Simu had no intention of keeping his secret. He spoke directly in front of the Hokage. "As expected of Lord Danzo. I didn't think you would have mastered Izanagi, the secret technique of the Uchiha Clan."
"Izanagi?!"
Hiruzen was instantly shocked by these words. Izanagi was an ancient forbidden jutsu of the Uchiha Clan, and its activation required the price of losing sight in one Sharingan. Where did Danzo get a Sharingan?
Facing Hiruzen's questioning gaze, Danzo could only slowly unwrap the bandages on his arm, revealing an arm embedded with Sharingan.
"This is..."
Hiruzen was shocked once again. He looked at Danzo in disbelief. "Danzo, I never expected you to do such a thing behind my back!"
Confronted by the Third Hokage's interrogation, Danzo replied indifferently. "Hiruzen, all of this is for the sake of the Leaf. Only by combining the power of the Uchiha Clan with Wood Style can I have enough power to protect the village!"
"The enemy is right in front of us. Stop your nonsense and focus on taking this guy down!"
Hearing this, Hiruzen did not criticize him further. Danzo was right; their current enemy was the Jashin Religion. If internal strife occurred now, it would be highly inappropriate.
"Then let's deal with the enemy first."
Danzo nodded slightly, but a sliver of coldness flickered in his hidden eye. As a long-time friend, Danzo knew Hiruzen's way of doing things perfectly. While a great enemy was present, he would indeed set aside disputes to protect the village. However, once the war ended, the old man would never allow him to keep such a powerful force.
Danzo's mind raced with calculations, but he maintained his outward stance. He wove hand signs once more and launched a fierce attack at Simu.
"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Once again, a massive tide of trees surged toward Simu. Simultaneously, Hiruzen launched an attack from the other direction. He held his Enma staff, seemingly intending to coordinate with Danzo to take down the enemy through close-quarters combat.
By now, the Apostle of Desire was lying on the ground, looking like a gently sloping hill from a distance. The numerous vines controlled by Danzo firmly entangled the Apostle of Desire from all sides, continuously surging toward Simu in the center. Hiruzen used these vines as cover to rapidly close the distance.
Faced with a pincer attack by two of the Shinobi World's most famous powerhouses, Simu showed no panic. Instead, his face was filled with tranquility. He glanced toward the Uchiha Clan District and slowly formed a hand sign.
"The time is about right. I won't play with you two any longer."
In the next second, a massive summoning formula abruptly appeared beneath his feet. This formula had been set on the Apostle of Desire in advance!
"Hiruzen, it's a Reverse Summoning!"
Hiruzen, who was rushing up the Apostle of Desire's body along the vines, heard the warning from Enma in his hand. As a summoned beast, Enma was intimately familiar with summoning jutsu and recognized Simu's plan instantly.
He wanted to run!
However, there were several hundred meters between Hiruzen and Simu, and since the formula was set in advance, Hiruzen had no time to stop him. He could only watch helplessly as the masked man waved cheerfully before vanishing into a puff of smoke.
Before disappearing, Simu left one final sentence. "Consider this Apostle my gift to the Leaf. I hope you like it, Lord Hokage."
The moment he heard those words, Hiruzen felt his skin crawl. He looked down at his feet and realized the mountain of flesh was rapidly expanding. Just moments ago, he had failed to notice it because of the cover provided by the vines!
Oh no, that guy intentionally lured me here before leaving!
The experienced Hiruzen finally understood the enemy's intention, but it was too late. As the Apostle expanded, the faces upon it twisted violently, and its mouths began chanting a bizarre eulogy.
"Lord Jashin, you are the Lord who created all, the master of shadows, the final destination for all living things in death, the creator of chaos, the origin of life, and an all-powerful, great existence!"
"You are the beginning and the end. We are willing to offer everything to you!"
Evil, chaos, wailing, and roaring...
It was as if the entire world had become distorted. The body of the Apostle of Desire expanded frantically, and countless faces stretched and twisted until their original features were indistinguishable.
Simu's voice seemed to ring out once more. "Listen, the Divine Kingdom calls. Praise Lord Jashin!"
Then...
BOOM!
Countless evils exploded in an instant. A blood-red pillar of light shot into the sky, dyeing the entire heavens of the Hidden Leaf Village a deep crimson. Even the full moon in the sky turned an ominous scarlet!
The earth wailed, and the sky lamented. Endless resentment, desire, and evil were released, ruthlessly swallowing and assimilating the real world, dragging it into hell!
The entire Hidden Leaf Village fell silent. Everyone stared at the scene, stunned.
Shikaku, who was in charge of commanding the ninja forces, looked up at the scene. His pupils could not stop trembling.
"Is this the strength of those Jashin Religion followers?"
Standing next to Kakashi, Might Guy swallowed hard. If he didn't open the Gate of Death, he probably wouldn't have a single chance of winning.
Kakashi's expression was equally grim. The power of this explosion far exceeded what he had known of the Jashin Religion during the Hidden Steam Village incident. It was worth noting that only about a year had passed since then!
Everyone was breaking out in a cold sweat. This explosion was simply too terrifying and shocking, enough to make the vast majority of ninjas feel completely powerless.
Fear began to spread.
Ultimately, Shikaku was the first to break free from these negative emotions. He stood up and shouted, "Everyone, pull yourselves together! The Lord Hokage is doing his best to create an opportunity for us. We must not retreat!"
"Everyone! Head to the battlefield immediately to support the Lord Hokage!"
Although Shikaku did not know exactly what had happened or what state the Hokage was in, he reasoned that such a powerful move must have cost the enemy a massive amount of chakra. Perhaps now was the best time to finish them off. Even if it wasn't, Shikaku needed to mobilize everyone to do something. Otherwise, they might truly be swallowed by this sudden terror!
Sure enough, Shikaku's approach worked. Once the worried and frightened people had a leader and a task, they responded to the call immediately. Combined with Shikaku's encouragement and Hiruzen's past kindness, they burst forth with unimaginable courage and rushed toward the battlefield.
Even if this courage was more of a rebound from fear that wouldn't last long, it was better than being paralyzed by terror.
In the Uchiha Clan District, Itachi also saw the blood-red pillar of light rising into the sky and felt the mourning of the earth—or rather, the village.
The Uchiha coup, the Nine-Tails incident, and now the invasion of the Jashin Religion. Itachi could not imagine how much damage the Leaf had suffered tonight. He wondered how many people had died miserably and how many innocent civilians had been sacrificed...
Thinking of this, a terrible rage filled Itachi's chest. In stark contrast, Simu was quite comfortably watching the explosion, which surpassed most firework displays. Once the explosion subsided, he turned his gaze toward Itachi.
Sensing the other's fury, Simu smiled faintly. "It seems Mr. Itachi is quite dissatisfied with the methods of our Jashin Religion."
Itachi's knuckles turned white as he gripped his fists, his face ashen. "I will purge the Jashin Religion. I guarantee it."
Simu chuckled. "Mr. Itachi is a genius of the Uchiha Clan; I don't doubt you have the ability to destroy us. However, since you can personally eliminate the Uchiha Clan, why won't you allow me to do a little pruning of the Leaf's personnel?"
He tilted his head. "Mr. Itachi killed all of the Uchiha. I've only killed a tenth? No, maybe only a twentieth of the Leaf's population."
Simu's lighthearted tone directly ignited Itachi's rage.
"You damn bastard!"
A line of blood-tears flowed from Itachi's Mangekyo. Simultaneously, a burst of black flames suddenly erupted on Simu's body!
"Aaaaah!"
The black flames possessed a terrifying temperature. Simu twisted into a ball, letting out screams of agony.
Itachi covered his eyes, panting heavily. Even he hadn't expected that, under Simu's provocation and extreme anger, he would activate the ocular jutsu of his other Mangekyo—Amaterasu! These were the inextinguishable flames that would only stop once the target was burned to nothing!
Watching Simu roll on the ground, Obito quietly observed Itachi and said, "What a terrifying ability."
"Indeed. Once it touches you, it's over," Black Zetsu agreed from the side, a look of wariness toward Itachi appearing in his eyes.
Not only did he have the powerful illusion-type ocular jutsu, Tsukuyomi, which could pull an enemy into a dream world with a single glance, but he had now activated Amaterasu—an offensive ninjutsu that could be launched instantly without hand signs. He was a major threat.
However, their admiration didn't last long before they saw Simu stop squirming. A crack suddenly opened on his back, and a new Simu crawled out from within.
He patted his chest with lingering fear and said, "Mr. Itachi's ability is truly remarkable. I almost died there. That was close, so close..."