Chapter 498 - 499: Absorption

Chapter 498: Chapter 499: Absorption

Soon, everyone in Konoha noticed a streak of blue light appear on the horizon. Like a meteor, it raced toward the village at an unbelievable speed!

"S-Such an intense chakra fluctuation!"

"Is it an enemy?"

"Everyone, be careful!"

In an instant, the village, which had only just settled down, erupted into commotion once again.

Judging solely from the newcomer’s chakra fluctuations and the speed at which they were approaching, it was obvious that they were no ordinary shinobi. Thus, whether it was Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Sannin or the ordinary Konoha shinobi, everyone prepared themselves for a fight to the death.

The village might have been destroyed, but Konoha’s reputation could not be allowed to fall!

Whoosh—

Accompanied by a piercing whistle, the blue streak descended from the sky and landed steadily in the center of the village.

A black cloak with gold trim and a fierce demon mask—

The moment the Konoha shinobi clearly saw the newcomer’s attire, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The leader of the Kamigami, Yama, had finally appeared!

The figure who had descended from the sky was naturally Kagami.

After landing, he exited Tenseigan Chakra Mode and slowly walked toward his Type-A Wind Release clone.

Seeing Kurenai sitting beside the Type-A Wind Release clone, seemingly arranging the clone’s remains and making him presentable for his final farewell, Kagami was left speechless.

"Can you hand him over to me?"

Kurenai asked, "Can you bring him back to life?"

Kagami froze for a moment before replying, "Maybe!"

Kurenai silently nodded and stepped aside, a hint of hope appearing in her eyes.

Hoisting the Type-A Wind Release clone onto his shoulder, Kagami shot Itachi a meaningful glance. In the next instant, the two of them flickered and disappeared from the spot.

After leaving the devastated Konoha behind, Kagami and Itachi stopped in a forest outside the village.

Kagami lowered the Type-A Wind Release clone from his shoulder, then took out a storage scroll from the pouch at his waist and temporarily sealed the clone inside it.

Seeing this, Itachi asked, "Senpai, Lady Tsunade said Furin-senpai couldn’t be saved. Is that really true?"

Kagami smiled. "Don’t worry. I have a way."

Itachi immediately felt relieved.

In his mind, if Kagami said he had a way, then he definitely had a way.

He then looked toward the battlefield Shisui had headed to earlier and said, "Senpai, Shisui went that way!"

After finishing the sealing of the Type-A Wind Release clone, Kagami shifted his gaze in that direction and nodded.

During the fierce battle in the village earlier, Kagami had repeatedly used Magnet Release to fly high into the sky, so he had long since noticed the other battlefield outside the village.

After all, the commotion over there was no less intense than the fighting inside Konoha.

In fact, he was almost certain that the two sides fighting over there were the Five Kage and Nagato.

Putting away the storage scroll, Kagami said, "Let’s go. We’ll head over there!"

"Yes!"

Itachi hurriedly nodded.

......

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Another series of explosions erupted, forcing Shisui to retreat once again.

Fortunately, his Susanoo was equipped with the divine artifact, the Yata Mirror. Ordinary explosions not only couldn’t harm him in the slightest, they couldn’t even consume much of his ocular power.

Staring at Shisui beneath the emerald-green Susanoo, Konan hovered in the air, her beautiful face filled with solemnity.

Shisui’s combat strength had far exceeded her expectations.

Merely preventing him from interfering with the main battlefield had already forced her to pull out every trick at her disposal. She had even been forced to activate several traps she had prepared beforehand in case of an emergency.

And yet, everything seemed futile.

No matter what kind of attack she used, none of them seemed capable of breaking through Shisui’s Susanoo.

"Is it because of that shield?"

Konan’s attention shifted toward the divine artifact equipped on Shisui’s Susanoo—the Yata Mirror.

ROAR—

Just then, a soul-shaking roar thundered from the main battlefield in the distance!

Hearing that powerful, vigorous roar, Konan relaxed slightly.

"It should be about time!"

On the ground, however, Shisui’s expression darkened.

"Not good. Something must have happened over there!"

He was all too familiar with that roar.

Having participated in the previous surprise attack on Amegakure, he knew perfectly well that the roar belonged to the Akatsuki leader Nagato’s summoned creature—

the bizarre giant that had once withstood Kagami’s Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!

Through their earlier exchanges, Shisui had already realized that the Akatsuki member in the air seemed incapable of breaking through his Susanoo while it was equipped with the Yata Mirror.

So he hardened his resolve.

He would simply ignore her attacks and charge straight toward the main battlefield ahead!

Having made up his mind, Shisui allowed countless explosive tags to swarm toward him from every direction. Braving wave after wave of explosions, he forcibly broke through Konan’s blockade and reached the main battlefield.

But the scene before him left him completely stunned.

The red-haired leader of the Akatsuki stood quietly before the bizarre giant, his expression utterly indifferent.

Meanwhile, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura—the Three-Tails’ jinchuriki—and Kumogakure’s Eight-Tails jinchuriki, Killer B, lay motionless on the ground, their fates unknown!

And that wasn’t all.

The bizarre giant behind the Akatsuki leader seemed to be absorbing the Tailed Beast chakra from Yagura and Killer B!

Two streams of Tailed Beast chakra, so dense that they were visible to the naked eye, were being forcibly extracted from Yagura and Killer B. The chakra flowed out through their mouths and noses before being drawn into the bizarre giant’s body.

Shifting his gaze, Shisui discovered that the surrounding area was littered with shinobi from the Five Great Shinobi Villages, all lying motionless, their lives uncertain.

With just a quick glance, he spotted both the Fourth Kazekage and the Fourth Raikage among them.

The Fourth Kazekage appeared to have completely lost consciousness, lying in a pool of blood.

The Fourth Raikage, on the other hand, was clearly still breathing. He seemed to be struggling to get back to his feet, but his injuries were simply too severe. After several attempts, he helplessly collapsed back to the ground.

"The... Five Kage lost?!"

Shisui staggered backward, momentarily dazed.

The scene before him completely overturned everything he had believed possible.

Never, even in his wildest imagination, had he thought that the Five Kage could join forces and still be defeated.

To him, such a thing should have been impossible.

Konan landed beside Nagato.

"Sorry. I couldn’t stop him."

Nagato said calmly, "It doesn’t matter."

Although the battle just now had consumed a tremendous amount of Nagato’s chakra, as far as he was concerned, a mere Uchiha Shisui with the Mangekyo Sharingan could hardly be considered a powerful opponent.

At that moment, Konan glanced back at the Gedo Statue and asked worriedly, "Absorbing two jinchuriki at the same time... Nagato, can your body handle it?"

Nagato replied, "Don’t worry. For my current body, something like this isn’t much of a burden anymore!"

After fusing with the First Hokage’s cells, Nagato’s Sage Body had undergone a qualitative transformation.

In the original timeline, the extraction process required all the members of Akatsuki to participate together. But now, Nagato could accomplish it entirely on his own—

and he was even extracting the Tailed Beasts from two jinchuriki at once...