Chapter 529: Activating The Box Of Ultimate Bliss (Part 5)

"Those things... Are souls?!"

Roshi stomped heavily on the ground with both feet, steadying himself amid the violent currents while staring fixedly at the abyss-like mouths of the Box of Ultimate Bliss; his expression became incomparably solemn.

Inside, apart from endless, immeasurable darkness… he could vaguely make out countless densely packed, twisted human figures endlessly struggling and writhing within.

A piercing, grating noise drifted faintly from the box, as though countless mouths were shrieking simultaneously, making anyone who saw or heard it feel their scalp go numb.

"Hm? That's the Box of Ultimate Bliss?"

At that moment, the surprised voice of the Four-Tails, Son Gokū, echoed within Roshi's mind.

This tailed beast, which had always ignored Roshi and remained indifferent to everything happening outside, had unexpectedly taken the initiative to speak for the first time.

"Kid, what exactly is your mission this time? How did you end up encountering the Box of Ultimate Bliss?"

"Son Gokū, you know what this thing is?"

Roshi's heart stirred as he immediately asked.

Come to think of it, although Roshi could freely borrow the Four-Tails' chakra and could even enter partial or complete Tailed Beast States while retaining his own consciousness, he was not a perfect Jinchuriki. Or rather, he could only be considered half of one.

The Four-Tails, Son Gokū, had always maintained an attitude of not taking the initiative, not refusing, and not taking responsibility whenever Roshi borrowed its chakra.

If you want to borrow it, go ahead. But how much you can withstand is your own problem. Don't expect him to cooperate with you voluntarily.

Even communication between man and beast was almost always initiated by Roshi. Out of ten attempts, Son Gokū would rarely respond even once.

After so many years, Roshi had long since grown tired of trying to curry favor with him.

Still, after stumbling along together for so many years, the man and beast had managed to build the tiniest bit of mutual understanding, and because of that, Roshi had learned this red-furred ape's true name.

"Of course I know it. Back then, this thing was..."

Halfway through the sentence, Son Gokū abruptly stopped, seemingly realizing he had almost let something slip.

After a brief silence, he continued indifferently, "In any case, this thing is extremely troublesome. See the darkness inside those giant mouths? That's a separate dimension capable of devouring the lives and souls of living beings. Once you're dragged inside, your soul will be consumed by it and turned into the box's puppet."

'You don't need to tell me that.'

The corner of Roshi's mouth twitched. He felt Son Gokū had just spoken a whole lot of nonsense without revealing a single important detail.

For example, where exactly did this box come from? What exactly was the monster calling itself Satori? How could it be dealt with? Did it have any weaknesses?

He had explained none of the crucial points.

Just as Roshi was about to press him further, a deafening explosion suddenly erupted beside him. The ground shook several times violently as a shockwave blasted crushed stones in every direction.

Gari had made his move.

With a powerful stomp, two blazing explosions erupted beneath his feet. The tremendous recoil launched him forward like a cannonball fired from its barrel, sending him hurtling straight toward Satori, who stood there with outstretched arms and a mocking smile on its face.

Gari possessed the Kekkei Genkai known as Explosion Style, which allowed him to directly convert chakra into explosive substances.

At first glance, it bore some resemblance to the Explosion Style later used by Deidara, but in reality, the difference between the two was enormous.

Deidara's Explosion Style was endlessly versatile, but it focused primarily on external release and long-range attacks, using clay to create all kinds of bizarre bombs that bombarded enemies from afar, excelling at ranged combat and area bombardment.

Gari, however, was different. Perhaps because he also possessed Steel Style and a body whose physical strength far surpassed that of ordinary people, his explosive chakra was completely restrained within himself, integrating explosive chakra directly into his Taijutsu attacks.

Every punch and kick could condense the power of explosions into directional blasts, and, just as he was doing now, he could even reverse the explosive force, detonating it beneath his feet in exchange for terrifying instantaneous speed.

Boom!

In the blink of an eye, Gari's figure had already appeared in front of Satori, his right fist wrapped in explosive chakra powerful enough to blow an entire hill to pieces as it howled toward Satori's head.

The instant Gari made his move, Roshi moved as well.

He suddenly clapped his hands together, his chest swelling before he opened his mouth and spat out countless lava spheres burning with a dark crimson glow. Every one of them was as large as a human head, trailing blazing tails of flame as they rained down upon Satori's position.

Lava Style: Scorching Rocks Jutsu!

Lava Style was a Kekkei Genkai formed by combining the Fire and Earth nature chakras; it was originally the exclusive power of the Four-Tails, and Roshi had initially needed to borrow the Four-Tails' chakra in order to use Lava Style.

However, his talent was exceptional. After refining it repeatedly over so many years, he had already thoroughly mastered the secrets of Lava Style. Now, even without borrowing the Four-Tails' power, he could wield Lava Style with ease through his own strength alone.

Whoosh!

Wherever the scorching lava spheres passed, the air warped and distorted from the intense heat, producing sharp sizzling sounds. Their blazing radiance illuminated the entire valley floor crimson, resembling a meteor shower of fire descending from the heavens, perfectly coordinating with Gari's frontal assault to form a flawless pincer attack.

Gari and Roshi had been old friends and longtime partners for many years. They were roughly the same age, and both belonged to the Village Hidden in the Stones' Explosion Corps.

The Explosion Corps held a position within the Village Hidden in the Stones that, to a certain extent, was equivalent to the famed Gold and Silver Brothers unit that had once made Village Hidden in the Cloud feared throughout the Shinobi World, and the two of them were the very soul of this elite force.

(A/N: Later, Deidara would join them, making it three core members.)

The countless battles they had fought side by side had forged a tacit understanding engraved into their very bones. One attacking from the front at close range, the other suppressing from afar.

Gari charged head-on while Roshi provided long-range suppression, their attacks perfectly interwoven to seal off every possible route of escape.

Looking across the present Shinobi World, aside from the handful of supreme experts standing at its very peak, there was virtually no one who could emerge unscathed against the combined assault of these two.

But the unexpected still happened.

Faced with the deadly pincer attack closing in from both front and rear, Satori behaved as though it had anticipated everything long ago. Its body merely shifted slightly, allowing Gari's punch filled with explosive chakra, powerful enough to shatter a cliff, to brush past it by a hair's distance before blasting apart a massive section of the rock wall behind it.

Immediately afterward, Satori's footwork shifted in an unfathomable manner, weaving through the rain like a ghost as it narrowly slipped between the gaps of the countless incoming lava spheres. The scorching magma brushed against its robe, yet failed to leave even the slightest scorch mark.