Damn it!
Lightning flared around the Third Raikage as he was about to turn and rescue Akashō, but he was once again drowned in hundreds of jutsu, blocking his path.
Akashō's consciousness was already starting to blur. Even the scene before his eyes began to waver.
Through the haze, he could only faintly hear the Third Raikage shouting.
Am I going to die here?
What the hell… dying at the hands of a bunch of nobodies—this is seriously humiliating.
Was it because he had been too confident in his own strength… or rather, too arrogant?
But come on—how can a villain not be arrogant?
"Too bad… no great villain dies at the hands of fodder."
Dozens of jutsu crashed down at once, kicking up a violent cloud of dust that completely obscured Akashō's figure.
Several Hidden Stone Village ninja roared as they rushed into the dust, trying to land the finishing blow.
But just as the one in the lead charged in, a mangled arm suddenly shot out and grabbed his throat.
Before he could even react, a terrifying force yanked him forward—what met his eyes next was a gaping, blood-soaked maw.
The surrounding Hidden Stone Village fodder circled the dust cloud, staring intently at its center.
"Did we get him…?"
"Should be dead, right?"
"Heh, an immortal body? That's all it amounted to."
Just as they were about to turn and deal with the Third Raikage, several screams suddenly rang out from within the still-settling dust.
"Ah—!"
The screams cut off abruptly. What followed was a strange, unsettling sound.
Crunch… crunch…
Like a beast chewing raw flesh and bone—the sound made every Hidden Stone Village ninja who heard it shudder instinctively.
Suddenly, a blood-soaked hand tore through the dust, and a tall figure stepped into view.
"Kokushibo!?"
"He's still alive!?"
The one who emerged from the dust was Akashō, drenched in blood. Compared to his previous dying state, where he seemed on the verge of collapse at any moment, he now stood upright, his six eyes brimming with frenzied killing intent.
The wounds that had been impossible to heal before had completely recovered within just a couple of breaths.
Fully restored.
The Hidden Stone Village ninja stared at him in horror. His constantly chewing mouth made it clear that the grotesque sound they had heard earlier had come from him.
His mouth was stuffed full, chewing nonstop. Occasionally, the contents inside became visible—a mass of raw flesh, squeezed to the point that tiny streams of blood seeped out.
Pop.
A sound like a bursting bubble rang out. Half of a round object slipped from his mouth and dropped to the ground.
With a ninja's keen eyesight, they could clearly see—it was a human eyeball.
Looking behind Akashō, the Hidden Stone Village ninja who had rushed into the dust earlier were now lying dead on the ground. Their heads were gone. At the broken edges of their necks, the wounds were jagged—not clean cuts from a blade. Faint bite marks could be seen, as if some beast had torn them off with its teeth.
This guy… he was eating their heads!?
A chill ran down the spines of every Hidden Stone Village ninja. They all involuntarily took a step back.
Before, no matter how strong Akashō was, he hadn't made them retreat in fear. But now, seeing him like this… they couldn't stop themselves from being afraid.
"Heh… what's wrong?"
Akashō suddenly swallowed the flesh and bones in his mouth, revealing a grin like a demon's.
"I really have to thank you for helping me break through this barrier. As a reward… I'll send you down to join them."
During today's battle, Akashō had realized that Kokushibo's so-called immortal body had its limits. But he hadn't forgotten—Kokushibo was a demon.
A being that could rapidly restore stamina and accelerate recovery by devouring humans.
However, until now, Akashō had always resisted the idea of eating humans. He admitted he was a bit mentally unhinged—but that didn't mean he could consume something he found disgusting without any emotion. He wasn't a machine.
Even raw, untreated meat was hard for him to swallow—let alone this. In his previous life, he had seen online that human flesh supposedly tasted terrible.
When hungry, he would just revert to his original body and eat rations, then transform back into Kokushibo after filling his stomach. Since the template body and his original state were linked, it didn't cause any issues.
But in this crisis—at the crossroads of life and death—he finally broke through that barrier.
As for whether this change was good or bad… at least in practical terms, it benefited him.
"Though… maybe it's because I'm in the Kokushibo template right now. Surprisingly, it's not that hard to eat."
Akashō licked the corner of his mouth, pulling a few strands of meat back inside—almost as if he wasn't quite satisfied yet.
In the next instant, his figure flashed. A long blade extended from his palm, and countless pale pink slashes burst forth, instantly cutting down more than a dozen Hidden Stone Village ninja who were frozen in place.
"Now… it's slaughter time!!"
...
On the other side, the Third Raikage was struggling to hold out under the relentless barrage of attacks, only able to occasionally strike back and kill a few Hidden Stone Village ninja.
"Monster… it's a monster!!!"
Suddenly, chaos broke out among the Hidden Stone Village forces. Their continuous assault weakened, giving the Third Raikage a brief moment to breathe.
He turned his head—only to see that Kokushibo, whom he had thought was surely dead, was now rampaging wildly through the crowd.