Chapter 115: The Unstoppable Power, Ōnoki’s Despair

On the wide-open battlefield.

A golden giant, resembling a heavenly deity, stood silently.

Sunlight shone upon the golden Perfect Susanoo, making it gleam brilliantly.

If this weren’t a battlefield, it might truly have been a beautiful sight.

However.

The Stone Shinobi here could not summon even the slightest thought of appreciating the scene.

Everyone looked up, their eyes wide with disbelief.

Sweat continuously rolled down their faces, yet none of them even thought to wipe it away.

They didn’t even dare to move!

"I... Am I dreaming?"

Someone muttered as if his soul had left his body.

If this wasn’t a dream, then how could such a despairing scene exist?

Was this their enemy?

How could they possibly defeat him?!

Just seeing the golden giant towering higher than a mountain peak was enough to make anyone completely lose the will to fight.

"Damn it! How is this possible?!"

A Stone Shinobi roared furiously.

They had clearly paid an enormous price in casualties to bury their opponent hundreds of meters underground.

Yet!

Only now did they realize that their opponent hadn’t even been using his full strength before!

They had thought they had finally defeated this monster.

Instead, it turned out that he had been holding back the entire time!

How the hell were they supposed to accept this?!

"No... Don’t panic!"

Kitsuchi’s speech was slightly stammering, but he still desperately tried to encourage everyone.

"Perhaps he used some kind of forbidden technique to achieve this level of strength."

"I remember that Uchiha Reiji possesses the forbidden technique, the Eight Gates."

"Perhaps he can only maintain such a powerful technique because he has opened the Eight Gates!"

"As long as we drag this out, he’ll definitely be the first one to collapse!"

Although his tone was extremely firm, Kitsuchi was actually filled with uncertainty.

Had the opponent really unleashed a temporary burst of power through a forbidden technique?

He had no idea.

But this was the only thing he could say right now.

If the Stone Shinobi completely lost their fighting spirit at this moment, everything would be over.

Several thousand Stone Shinobi scattering and fleeing without formation or command would be unable to display their true strength.

At that point, all Reiji would need to do was follow behind them and casually pursue them, and they would suffer devastating losses.

Hearing Kitsuchi’s words, the Stone Shinobi either believed him outright or desperately forced themselves to believe him.

They began encouraging one another.

"Kitsuchi is right! Can an opponent really maintain a ninjutsu on this scale for long? If he could, that wouldn’t make any sense!"

"Let’s fight him! He’s only one person, and he’s already killed so many of us. There’s no way we can retreat now!"

"Continue with our previous tactics! If a few hundred meters underground wasn’t enough, bury him a thousand meters underground and see if he can still get out!"

The Stone Shinobi roared, encouraging themselves and their comrades.

For a moment, their fighting spirit seemed to return.

Many of them quickly charged toward Susanoo, attempting to stop the giant and buy time for their comrades in the rear to release their ninjutsu.

"What a pitiful sight."

Reiji looked down from above at the Stone army.

From this height, the Stone Shinobi below were no larger than tiny insects.

And now, those Stone Shinobi were like insects foolishly trying to shake a giant tree as they charged toward Susanoo.

"Well, since you’re so determined, I’ll let you experience what despair truly means."

Reiji controlled Susanoo and took one step forward!

Boom!

Susanoo’s foot landed.

The earth shook violently!

Some Stone Shinobi who had been running forward even fell to the ground on the spot.

The others who were still charging felt their hearts grow heavier.

It had caused such a huge disturbance just by taking one step!

Could someone like this really be worn down simply because they had more people?

Crack!

The towering Susanoo drew the long blade from its waist and raised it high!

"Konoha’s shinobi, retreat as far as you can. Don’t get caught in the aftermath."

Reiji loudly warned the Konoha Shinobi who were some distance away.

Then, without hesitation, he brought the blade crashing down toward the ground!

Boom!

The enormous golden blade carved a massive canyon into the earth!

The ground split apart, and countless Stone Shinobi died on the spot.

The shattered earth erupted into the air, and the Stone Shinobi who hadn’t been killed directly were sent flying along with the rocks!

The sword pressure continued spreading, slicing a mountain several kilometers away cleanly in half!

The Stone Shinobi on both sides of the canyon, who had originally been charging toward Susanoo, quickly stopped in their tracks.

A chill shot straight up their spines!

They turned around and stared at the long "sword scar" stretching across the earth, as well as the mountain in the distance that had been cleaved in two.

Many of them suddenly came to their senses.

The courage they had barely managed to muster moments ago instantly vanished.

In the distance.

"...Retreat immediately!"

Nara Shikaku took a deep breath to calm himself before shouting the order.

This kind of battle was simply not something ordinary shinobi like them could participate in.

If all these Konoha Shinobi combined their strength and spent enough time, they might perhaps be able to destroy a mountain.

But in the face of the golden giant’s casual display of power, which could effortlessly cleave a mountain in two, ordinary ninjutsu looked like nothing more than children playing around.

Jiraiya beside him had a grim expression and said nothing.

Sage Fukasaku, standing on his shoulder, had a worried look in his eyes and spoke in a low voice.

"Little Jiraiya, could this be what the Great Toad Sage was talking about...?"

The Child of Destruction!

The ominous eyes that would destroy everything in the shinobi world!

And he was still within Konoha.

Now, Uchiha Reiji, controlling Perfect Susanoo, fit the description perfectly.

"...I don’t know. Don’t worry about that for now. Let’s retreat first."

Jiraiya spoke in a somewhat dejected voice.

Even if he wanted to step forward and stop Reiji or persuade him at this moment, he simply didn’t have the strength to do so.

Very soon.

Not a single Konoha Shinobi here hesitated.

They all began retreating in an orderly manner.

Just as Reiji had told them moments ago.

As far away as possible.

After witnessing that slash, they also realized that even retreating ten or twenty miles might still not be enough to avoid being caught in the aftermath.

...Was this the true Susanoo?

ōnoki was somewhat dazed.

He once again remembered the scene of being utterly dominated by Madara Uchiha.

Back then, the Susanoo displayed by Madara Uchiha had been nowhere near as enormous as this one.

What was the reason?

"Deidara!"

ōnoki suddenly roared.

"Take me over there!"

Deidara, controlling the clay bird, was utterly shocked.

"Old man, are you trying to die?!"

He actually wanted to go over there?

Forget the fact that ōnoki wasn’t in peak condition.

Even if he were perfectly healthy, going over there like this would still be tantamount to throwing his life away!

"Take me over!"

ōnoki said firmly.

"If I don’t go over there and try to stop him, our people will definitely be beaten into complete collapse!"

At this point, only his Dust Release might be able to resist Reiji to some extent.

The reason he had Deidara take him over instead of flying there himself was also to conserve some of his remaining chakra.

"So troublesome!"

Deidara looked extremely unwilling, but he still piloted the clay bird toward Susanoo.

"I’m warning you now. If you can’t beat him, I’m running away immediately!"

He was only eleven years old.

He had no intention of dying young.

Besides, that Uchiha Reiji didn’t seem much older than him either.

"What a monster."

Deidara couldn’t help sighing.

He considered himself quite the genius and had already attained the qualifications of a jōnin.

But standing before a Susanoo taller than a mountain peak, even he was completely insignificant.

The white clay bird quickly flew over.

"...Stop here."

If they went any closer, that opponent could probably kill him with a single slash from Susanoo!

ōnoki ordered Deidara to stop.

"Uchiha Reiji!"

ōnoki shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Do you dare take this attack of mine?!"

The fleeing Stone Shinobi below also heard those words.

They all raised their heads and looked at ōnoki standing on the clay bird, his hands held together in front of him.

"It’s the Tsuchikage... But can the Tsuchikage defeat that guy?"

Someone couldn’t help questioning.

"He definitely can!"

Hope appeared on another person’s face.

He had to be able to!

If even the Tsuchikage was no match for that monster, then they truly had no hope left.

Reiji, who had been calmly pursuing the fleeing Stone Shinobi, heard this and stopped Susanoo.

Ahead, white light had already appeared in ōnoki’s hands.

However, the Dust Release wasn’t fired immediately.

He continued charging it.

"I’m no longer the man I used to be!"

"A mere Susanoo... I absolutely will not lose to it!"

"What happened back then will never happen a second time!"

ōnoki roared.

He directly used all the chakra he had left, desperately gathering it into his palms.

The white beam grew increasingly dazzling.

"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"

Accompanied by ōnoki’s furious roar, the white beam that had been charging for a long time suddenly shot forward!

"Then let me test your Dust Release."

Reiji controlled Susanoo and extended its left arm, blocking the beam!

The Dust Release beam slammed directly into the golden palm.

The solidified chakra palm began dissolving.

"There’s hope!"

A hopeful look appeared in ōnoki’s eyes.

The Stone Shinobi below also began cheering for ōnoki.

However.

Very soon, ōnoki’s expression changed.

Dust Release could indeed decompose Reiji’s Susanoo.

But the speed at which it was doing so...

It was far too slow!

"No!"

ōnoki roared.

He began desperately squeezing every last bit of chakra from his body, doing everything he could to maintain the Dust Release.

The golden Susanoo’s palm had already been completely decomposed.

The white beam continued forward, beginning to decompose the lower arm as well.

However, it was clearly weakening.

The speed at which it decomposed Susanoo became slower and slower.

In the end, ōnoki collapsed from exhaustion, filled with unwillingness.

He had run out of chakra.

If he had an unlimited supply of chakra, he could definitely have completely decomposed this damn Susanoo.

"Not bad."

Reiji looked at his vanished left hand and half of his lower arm.

As he spoke, chakra and ocular power erupted simultaneously.

The destroyed hand and lower arm rapidly regenerated.

Seeing this scene, ōnoki and the Stone Shinobi were completely speechless.

Their hearts turned to ashes.

They had fallen into absolute despair.

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