Chapter 468: Liberation

Chapter 468: Chapter 468: Liberation

Clink, clink, clink...

After effortlessly blocking another barrage of Satori’s feathers, the corner of Kagami’s mouth curled upward.

The ever-shifting black iron sand surrounding him was like an enormous flowing black cloud. No matter what angle Satori attacked from, it was unable to break through this constantly moving barrier.

It was true that Kagami had no way to land a hit on Satori.

But by the same token, Satori had no way to break through his defenses either!

Humiliated and enraged, Satori roared,

"Damn you, you insignificant insect!"

Woooooo...

As Satori descended into hysterics, the distant Box of Ultimate Bliss suddenly resonated with it.

Accompanied by waves of wailing that sounded partly like howling wind and partly like anguished cries, an evil chakra so sinister that it was almost suffocating began pouring out of the box.

The dark-purple evil chakra was so dense that it seemed almost tangible. Like countless tentacles stretching outward, it continued to expand, spreading toward every corner of the village.

Whenever these dark-purple tendrils of chakra came into contact with injured villagers—or even the corpses of those who had already died—their eyes immediately turned crimson.

Then, consumed by madness, they began attacking every living thing around them!

In an instant, chaos began spreading throughout Konoha...

...

At the Uchiha clan compound.

Fugaku stood silently atop the Police Force headquarters with his arms folded across his chest.

Scattered around him were dozens of fully armed Uchiha clansmen.

Whoosh...

At that moment, a figure landed beside Fugaku and reported, "Clan Head, Lord Hokage has ordered us to remain on alert and guard against a surprise attack from the Akatsuki!"

Fugaku nodded.

Although Satori was wreaking havoc throughout the village, Konoha’s forces had not been completely drawn into fighting the monster.

The ANBU directly under the Hokage, the Police Force commanded by the Uchiha clan, and the shinobi of the various major clans had all refrained from hastily joining the battle. Instead, they remained stationed throughout the village’s key strategic areas, guarding against a surprise attack from the Akatsuki.

Gazing at Satori as it soared through the distant sky, Fugaku thought to himself, "If even the Akatsuki’s probing attack is this troublesome, who knows what’s going to happen next!"

Suddenly, the chaos spread toward them.

A huge crowd of villagers with glowing red eyes surged madly toward the Uchiha clan compound.

Watching the crazed villagers pour toward them through his scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan, Fugaku coldly ordered,

"Second squad, move out!"

Whoosh...

At Fugaku’s command, more than a dozen elite Uchiha blurred into streaks of afterimages and rushed forward to intercept the villagers being controlled by the Box of Ultimate Bliss...

...

At the Hyuga clan compound.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Amid a rapid series of palm strikes, seven or eight villagers controlled by the Box of Ultimate Bliss collapsed to the ground at the same time.

Hiashi slowly exhaled and lowered his Gentle Fist stance before sweeping his gaze over the surroundings.

Because the Hyuga clan compound was closer to the center of the village than the Uchiha clan compound, it had been hit by the disturbance somewhat earlier.

However, under the counterattack of the Hyuga clan’s experts, very few of the crazed villagers who had poured into the compound remained standing. Bodies lay sprawled all across the clan’s main street.

Hizashi walked over and said, "These villagers’ brains have already been completely destroyed. There’s no saving them!"

Hiashi gave a slight nod. He possessed the Byakugan as well, so naturally, he had discovered this long ago.

Hizashi glanced toward Satori in the distant sky and asked, "Has Lord Hokage still not sent any new orders? Do we really not need to reinforce the battlefield over there?"

Hiashi replied solemnly, "That monster isn’t something that can be dealt with simply by throwing more people at it!"

...

On the main road leading to the Hokage Building.

ANBU Team Seven, which was stationed there, had also come under attack from the crazed villagers.

Standing in the middle of the street, Kurenai rapidly formed hand seals and cried,

"Genjutsu: Sakura-Raku Nami Technique!"

As Kurenai’s genjutsu activated, countless cherry blossom petals drifted down from the sky.

The villagers trapped in their madness immediately became dazed and confused. One after another, they lost all aggression and stood motionless where they were.

Hyuga Kagami’s shadow clone, which had remained with Team Seven, ordered,

"Kill them."

Hayate was startled. "But they’re ordinary villagers!"

Kagami’s shadow clone shook his head and explained, "The structures of their brains have already been destroyed. There’s no saving them. Besides, many of them were corpses to begin with!"

After hearing Kagami’s explanation, Hayate and Yugao no longer hesitated. They immediately swung their swords, cutting down the villagers controlled by the Box of Ultimate Bliss.

Kurenai, having finished casting her genjutsu, gazed somewhat absentmindedly into the distance.

She knew that Kamigami’s Furin was over there right now, locked in battle with the monster rampaging through the village...

...

On the battlefield.

Seeing Satori becoming increasingly hysterical, Kagami instead grew more and more confident.

Satori’s reaction undoubtedly proved that his method was working.

Jiraiya, not far away, had naturally noticed this as well. With a single leap, he landed atop the overturned iron-sand dome.

While in Sage Mode, Jiraiya was in much the same situation as Kagami. Although he couldn’t land a hit on Satori, he had no reason to fear Satori’s attacks either.

Standing atop the iron-sand dome, Jiraiya glanced around distractedly.

At that moment, Fukasaku Sage, perched on his shoulder, said, "Little Jiraiya, don’t let yourself get distracted. Don’t forget—this is Konoha. Those ordinary villagers being controlled by the Box of Ultimate Bliss won’t be able to cause much damage."

Shima Sage, perched on his other shoulder, added, "Mm. I can sense that the number of villagers being controlled by that evil chakra is rapidly decreasing. Stop worrying about that and focus on what’s in front of you!"

Jiraiya nodded and focused all his attention on Satori.

After the two sides had clashed for so long, everyone had already gained a fairly thorough understanding of Satori’s strength.

Setting aside its special abilities to sense fear and malice, Satori’s actual combat power was only around the level of an ordinary Tailed Beast.

And it was clearly inferior to the two strongest Tailed Beasts—the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails.

Among the nine Tailed Beasts, its raw combat strength would probably only rank somewhere around the middle.

The main reason Satori was so difficult to deal with was that its abilities to sense fear and malice were simply too overwhelming. On top of that, it could fly and possessed extremely high mobility.

That was why Kagami believed the legends claiming that Satori had destroyed several nations during the Warring States Period were very likely true.

As long as no one could counter its abilities, it was practically invincible.

A moment later, Tsunade’s voice came from beneath the iron-sand dome.

"It’s done!"

"That fast!? As expected of Tsunade!"

After inwardly exclaiming in admiration, Kagami immediately dispersed the iron-sand dome.

As the iron sand gradually drifted away, the figures of Tsunade and Mui, who had been sheltered underneath it, slowly came into view.

At this moment, Mui’s face was haggard and his expression utterly despondent. There was none of the vigor that an elite jonin should have possessed in his eyes.

His entire being resembled nothing more than a walking corpse.

Kagami could understand why.

For the sake of the dream he had pursued his entire life, Mui had sacrificed his only son.

And in the end, he discovered that the dream had been nothing but a lie.

The Box of Ultimate Bliss could not grant wishes.

Nor could it bring his son back.

Anyone forced to face such a truth would probably find it unbearable.

Folding his wings behind him, Kagami landed beside Mui and said indifferently,

"Hey... don’t you want to give your son release?"