In the dark, confined underground space, everything seemed capable of blending into the darkness. In terms of atmosphere, this place was indeed very suitable as a villain's headquarters.
It seemed people like them all enjoyed digging out underground palaces and burying themselves inside. Danzo was much the same.
The difference was that in Amegakure, Nagato was in a "my territory, my rules" situation. The entire village was his, so why did he have to squeeze himself underground?
Fine. The reason was still sufficient: secrecy, as well as hiding certain things that could not see the light of day.
After his vision adapted to the faint glow within the darkness, certain things became clearly visible.
Clear footsteps and an unfamiliar rhythm of movement echoed through the space, announcing the arrival of an uninvited guest.
"So it's this ugly-as-hell giant figurine. Not a single shred of artistic sense. Why do so many people want it? Truly strange."
Hagoromo's muttering was not loud, but his voice seemed exceptionally abrupt in this empty underground space.
If this figurine had a pair of slender legs and bare feet capable of displaying an irresistible "absolute territory," then it would be understandable if everyone liked it. But this thing?
Hagoromo said he could not accept it.
Not only was the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path ugly, it was even exceptionally ferocious. At the same time, its twisted bodily posture was bizarre beyond measure. Probably only people engaged in cult worship would regard such a thing as a supreme treasure.
And yet, that was not the case. In this world, the hideously ugly Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was far more popular than absolute territory.
A widow from a thousand years ago wanted to stuff it into her body. Twenty years ago, the ultimate Uchiha bachelor had connected himself to its thick tubes day and night. Now, Nagato had hidden it away and wanted to do unspeakable things with it.
Thinking about it that way, this thing was so filthy it was unbearable to look at. So cutting it down was absolutely the right thing to do.
Hagoromo walked before the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Although this giant figurine could not compare in size to the First Hokage's True Several Thousand Hands, when sensed up close, its strange form gave it far more presence than True Several Thousand Hands.
The enormous humanoid statue sat cross-legged. Its wrists were pressed together and shackled by chains, its palms facing upward, its fingers naturally curled. That posture made one unable to help wondering whether, before it dried into a mummy, this thing had just happened to be bashfully cupping its own face.
Or was this the pose Nagato had arranged for it? If so, his taste was a little too twisted.
Looking further up at its face…
It did indeed have the shape of a human face. But with no lips, its bright red gums and pale teeth were directly exposed to the air. Did that not hurt? Was it not afraid of growing wisdom teeth?
As for its nose, it was indescribable—because there was no nose on its face at all. Above its mouth were dense, closed eyes packed together like holes in a honeycomb coal briquette.
Hagoromo swept his gaze over them and found that there were exactly ten eye sockets.
Only after finishing his observation of the statue did Hagoromo begin scanning the surroundings. Apart from this statue, there seemed to be nothing else here.
Such an important "bedroom accessory," and there was not even a bodyguard? The Ten-Tails was indeed incomparably powerful, but the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path itself… for an ordinary person, destroying it would naturally be very difficult. But Hagoromo was not an ordinary person.
In terms of its original concept, the statue possessed more biological characteristics than the tailed beasts. Therefore, understanding and erasing it was actually somewhat simpler than doing the same to the tailed beasts.
It was just a tree.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had been left here probably because there had been no time to transfer it. After all, this thing should originally have been safest when placed in the main base. But who could have expected Hagoromo to launch a sudden assault on Amegakure without the slightest warning?
And even defeat Nagato in battle?
Only Nagato could control the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, so it had been placed by Nagato's side. Now that Nagato was dead, it would be very difficult to move.
Being ugly was not a crime. Hagoromo had seen things even uglier than the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, such as Hoshigaki Kisame and the like. But the strange thing about this statue was that, although it was "dead" and had no signs of life at all, it gave people the feeling that it could come alive at any moment.
Occasionally, it even displayed behavior like a true living creature. Although its chakra had been drained dry, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path still possessed some strange kind of energy.
But whether it could come alive or not had nothing to do with Hagoromo, because next, he was going to kill this thing completely.
If one ignored Hagoromo's nonsense, the current scene was still relatively solemn.
"Stay still… uh, please remain seated, Statue. Uncle will show you something interesting."
As he spoke, Hagoromo raised his left hand. Then the beam of Chidori Sharp Spear appeared before his palm. In this brief time, his chakra had already recovered somewhat.
From the perspective of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, the lines and points of causality representing death on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path could be seen clearly. Thus, Hagoromo thrust his blade toward a certain spot.
Bold and without the slightest hesitation. If he wanted to stab, he stabbed. If he was going to stab, he did it openly and brightly.
After that strike landed, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path suddenly began flailing its limbs, convulsing, and trembling without warning. Then an extremely miserable, shrieking howl erupted from its mouth.
The pain, despair, and other negative emotions contained in that sound were enough to make a shinobi with a weak mind faint on the spot.
Yet Hagoromo, who directly faced its sound waves, still kept his hand extended in the posture of that thrust.
He was completely unmoved by this kind of "attack."
Then the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path shattered instantly like cracked-ice porcelain dropped from a height of fifty meters, breaking into fragments all over the ground.
Unlike the tailed beasts, which were chakra aggregates, the Demonic Statue's "corpse pieces" did not vanish. After all, it was a "husk," a physical object that could not be any more real.
Therefore, if Hagoromo wanted to completely destroy this thing, he still had to set a fire.
If it had been the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path from one minute earlier, then perhaps only Amaterasu would have had any effect on it, and whether it could burn the statue completely was another question. But now, the statue was nothing more than a pile of rotten wood. Any random fire could completely destroy these things.
However, just as Hagoromo was preparing to casually set that fire, another abnormality appeared.
The ground began to faintly tremble.
Then the ground started cracking. Immediately afterward, countless bare-bottomed White Zetsu surged out from deeper underground and charged madly toward Hagoromo.
Their ferocious expressions all carried the feeling of "I don't care if I die, I'm taking you with me!"
In an instant, this vast underground space was packed full of White Zetsu. Their individual numbers were impossible to count. They could only be described as coming in clumps and piles.
Although there were an enormous number of White Zetsu, in reality, their combat power could basically be ignored. The reason these White Zetsu had been beneath the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was that they were immature versions still being produced by the statue. Right now, before these White Zetsu had even properly blossomed and borne fruit, Hagoromo's sudden action had forced them to fall from the vine before they were ripe.
The mature White Zetsu's combat power was already only so-so, let alone the immature ones.
Therefore, their appearance was directly ignored. Hagoromo's Fire Release hand seals did not even pause.
Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.
Orange-red flames filled the entire space. Then the ones screaming became the massive number of White Zetsu.
Unfortunately, no matter how one described it, "roasted White Zetsu" would not arouse anyone's appetite.
The underground space turned into a sea of fire. Hagoromo had personally created such a human… no, a "Zetsu" hell.
After the flames disappeared and the rising heat dispersed, Hagoromo walked back to the location of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. After carefully inspecting it, he could confirm that every trace of the statue's existence had been erased cleanly.
As for those weakened White Zetsu, they had all become "charred Zetsu."
After exploring the space again and confirming there were no further omissions, Hagoromo turned and left. The results of this operation were Nagato first and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path second. He could be considered to have completed his established objective perfectly.
However, after Hagoromo left, a certain spot on the floor of this underground space collapsed again, forming a hole.
Inside, there was still one living White Zetsu hiding. He was holding something tightly in both arms. From a distance, it looked like a thick and long rod. Up close, judging from the texture, it was a gigantic finger.
Now, this immature White Zetsu had two pieces of news to report to the main body and Black Zetsu.
The bad news was that right under the nose of the Great Demon King Hagoromo, he had only managed to snatch back one middle finger from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
The good news was that from now on, everyone could raise this middle finger wherever they wanted, in whatever pose they wanted, with a full 360-degree view and no blind spots.
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