"…How embarrassing, Orochimaru."
Watching Orochimaru return empty-handed after "observing" the entire battle through his sensory subordinates, Danzō sneered coldly.
"If Ren-kun weren't so strong, why would I bother sharing the research results I get from him with you?"
Orochimaru accepted the jab without complaint. Seeing this, Danzō dropped the petty exchange and slammed his cane down, commanding Root to shift formation and swiftly encircle the intruding Ren.
"Only this many people?" Ren glanced at the few dozen Root shinobi drawing weapons around him, sounding disappointed. "If this is all, it hardly seems worth the risk Orochimaru took to lure me here."
"Only this many? Arrogant little brat—you've got guts…"
Standing at the formation's hardest point to breach, Shimura Danzō narrowed his eyes. The killing intent he'd amassed through mountains of corpses erupted, accompanied by the wails of countless亡魂, pressing down on Ren.
But Ren was no naïve genin. Even though Danzō's ruthlessness and bloodlust dwarfed his own, Ren's expression didn't change in the slightest.
"Ren-kun might not know," Orochimaru said from another core position, summoning masses of snakes with a manic grin, "but this formation was designed before the war to ambush the Third Raikage—meant to pin down a man with a tailed-beast body and absurd speed."
"Compared to him, your body and chakra are stronger, but your speed is inferior. Even with Sage Mode, you won't escape!"
As Orochimaru finished, Root moved in perfect coordination.
First came an improved Earth Release: Pressure technique stolen from Iwagakure—multiple jōnin amplifying local gravity. In an instant, gravity around Ren spiked to over fifty times normal. Even with Ren's physique, his movements slowed slightly.
Then followed Nara and Yamanaka binding techniques, Aburame kikaichū swarms, and once the control chain stabilized, elemental bombardment would begin.
Against the Third Raikage, breaking such a formation quickly would be difficult.
But Ren was different.
His forte was Water Release, not Lightning Release.
Lightning Release struggled to produce all-encompassing AoE techniques. Water Release, however—given enough chakra—could drown everything.
"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Shockwave!"
Hands clasped, Ren brute-forced his way out of the shadow bind with tailed-beast-level strength. His chest swelled, and he expelled a tidal wave so massive it made the Root shinobi's hearts stop.
The wave surged past fifty meters high, devouring the forest in a nightmare of water.
Root shinobi were smashed, bones shattered, organs ruptured—formations obliterated, jutsu interrupted, all buried beneath a fleeting inland sea.
"Water Release: Thousand Devouring Sharks."
Thousands of chakra sharks tore into the drowning Root shinobi, ripping and devouring them, turning the blue water into spreading crimson stains.
"Damn it!"
Danzō, still in his prime, escaped the wave's edge and glared at his annihilated subordinates, fury rare on his face.
Ren knew it wasn't grief—it was rage at losing a carefully prepared trump card.
Some Root shinobi bore strange seals—like inverted Four Symbols Seals.
"So everyone had Reverse Four Symbols pre-etched… No wonder you were so confident. If I'd gone in for close-quarters cleanup instead of using Thousand Sharks, you might've caught me."
Seeing the formation wiped out, Orochimaru had no intention of staying. While feigning readiness to fight alongside Danzō, his true body turned into a small white snake and slipped underground toward Konoha.
The hunt had failed.
Ren—far younger than Minato—had grown into a monster capable of challenging an entire nation.
Knowing when to retreat was essential.
Danzō wasn't so lucky.
Compared to Orochimaru, his raw strength was slightly higher—but nowhere near enough to face Ren alone.
"I already told you—this lineup was only 'just this much,' Shimura Danzō."
Standing atop the waves, Ren grinned wildly.
"If I'm right, neither of you has anything like Minato's Flying Thunder God… so today, I'll be borrowing your heads."
As Ren charged across exploding water, Danzō drew a chakra blade, screaming internally—
Minato! Minato! Where the hell are you!? Save me already!!
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