novelhk Chapter 525 The day I defected was not the end, but the beginning of everything.
Chapter 525 The day I defected was not the end, but the beginning of everything.
"retreat!!"
"Defend now!"
Onoki and the Fourth Raikage roared at the top of their lungs, even giving completely contradictory orders in their fear.
"Earth Release·Earth Style Wall!"
"Water Release·Water Formation Wall!"
The allied ninjas snapped out of their daze, their expressions changing drastically, and countless ninjutsu techniques hastily rose up in an attempt to stop them.
呲......
There was only a faint sound, as if space was being smoothly sliced apart.
The golden light that connected heaven and earth fell silently towards the Ten-Tails and the mountain-like Tailed Beast Ball as Hyuga Kumokawa's arm descended.
Where the light passed, the thick, low-hanging thunderclouds above were smoothly split in two.
The next moment, the two collided between heaven and earth...
The Tailed Beast Ball shot out by the Ten-Tails was split in two by the golden light, and continued to fly a distance due to inertia, eventually reaching the left and right sides of Hyuga Kumokawa.
The two Tailed Beast Balls, now split in two, exploded simultaneously, their intense light suddenly blazing forth, as if two suns were rising on the horizon.
A deafening roar swept over, but the surviving ninjas only felt a "buzz" in their ears, their hearing was directly taken away, and their vision was filled with blinding white light.
The sky and earth were bathed in a ghastly white light, and the scorching light and heat, hot enough to melt steel, swept outwards in a ring in all directions, shattering the earth and hurling rock layers into dust.
The defenses hastily constructed by the allied ninjas were as fragile as paper in the face of such a cataclysmic impact, and were instantly swallowed up and vaporized.
In the silence, the light drew ever closer, and the shadow of death instantly gripped everyone's throat.
However, just as this despair was about to engulf everything.
Reflected in everyone's pupils, a few feathers drifted down from the sky, landing in front of the allied ninjas in the front row, whose faces were filled with despair.
A figure appeared between them and the shockwave of the explosion.
Hovering in the air, with a pair of purple wings behind him, his toes barely touching the ground, and a conspicuous hole running through his heart.
That was the tenth of the "Espada," codenamed "Healer," the "Healer" who did not kill, and the last member of the "Espada" who had never appeared.
Faced with an impact powerful enough to tear everything apart, she simply raised her hands and placed them in front of her.
hum!
Centered on her palm, it was as if two drops of water had fallen into a calm lake, causing ripples to spread across the air in front of her.
When that terrifying light came upon us, the light and heat, powerful enough to destroy everything and tear the earth apart, transformed into a pure and powerful wind and countless layers of petals.
The thousands of petals were swept up by the strong wind, brushing past the figure of the "Healer" whose cracks were gradually appearing, and also brushing past each of the Allied Ninjas behind her.
Petals formed from chakra fell on them, even healing their wounds and exhaustion.
"This is……"
Onoki hovered in mid-air, his divine robes fluttering in the strong wind as he looked down at his slightly trembling hands.
The damage to the meridians caused by repeated use of "Dust Escape" is almost irreversible.
But at this moment, the petals fell on my body, transforming into gentle chakra that seeped into my body, bringing a refreshing sensation, as if parched and cracked earth had been nourished.
Not only the injuries, but also the chakra depletion and fatigue from the series of fierce battles were rapidly fading away.
Not only Onoki, but all the Allied Shinobi who were hit by the petals, regardless of the severity of their injuries, felt this gentle yet powerful healing force.
The deep wounds that exposed bone healed rapidly, the depleted chakra was replenished, and even the spirit on the verge of collapse was invigorated.
Without a doubt, the "Healer" used his own power to transform the Tailed Beast Ball's chakra into harmless and beneficial Yang Release chakra.
The price, however, is...
The Healer stood still in the air, its wings disappearing at a visible speed, its body covered with fine cracks, like a piece of porcelain, as if it would shatter at any moment.
"..."
Not far away, Kakashi Hatake looked up at that familiar yet unfamiliar figure, opened his mouth, but couldn't bring himself to say the name.
The next moment, under everyone's gaze, her figure vanished silently into the fluttering petals and wind, leaving not a single word behind.
It was as if her presence here, bearing the cost of her shattered body, was solely to prevent the deaths of tens of thousands of people, nothing more.
Further away, "Vortex" slowly lowered its raised right hand, and the chains behind it, which had been poised to set up a barrier, retracted into its body.
She gazed in the direction where the "healer" had disappeared, her brows furrowing slightly.
"Is it to protect these ninjas, or to protect certain individuals among them? What is the Kage really thinking?"
Recalling the command from "Shadow" in his mind, "Vortex" was very puzzled.
She knew very well that among the "Ten Blades," although she was "One" and held the highest position, the most special one was actually the last "Ten," the "Healer."
Others may not know, but she knows very well that "Healer" has almost never left "Shadow's" side since its birth.
Her appearance is almost equivalent to the manifestation of the will of "Shadow".
The presence of a "healer" here can only mean one thing...
The 'shadow' is here, watching all of this from somewhere.
But what does he really want?
"Vortex" swept its eyes across the ravaged battlefield, gently shook its head, suppressed its complicated thoughts, and turned its gaze back to the center of the explosion.
At this moment, the thick, low-hanging thunderclouds in the sky have been completely dispersed, revealing a vast expanse of sky stained crimson.
Beneath the sky, Hinata Kumokawa's figure reappeared. The nine giant cross swords that had previously surrounded him had all shattered, leaving only a few scattered points of light.
His Tenseigan chakra cloak was also dull and almost transparent, so thin that it could disappear at any moment.
The hem of the robe behind him was charred and tattered, with flickering sparks along the edges, fluttering and scattering in the wind.
"..."
Hinata Kumokawa raised his hand, wiped away a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth with his fingers, and muttered to himself, "As expected, this vessel is not enough to withstand this level of battle."
Having said that, he slightly raised his eyes, looking past the gradually calming turbulence and dust, at the figure in the distance, a smile appearing in his eyes.
"Fortunately, that's enough."
In the distance, the Ten-Tails, which had merged with half of Orochimaru's body, stood frozen in place, its ferocious and enormous form frozen in place.
A straight, smooth, thin line gradually appeared on Orochimaru's left shoulder.
The mark was initially very thin, but it quickly became clear and spread downwards, appearing on the body of the Ten-Tails until it reached its tail.
puff!
Orochimaru's left arm was severed cleanly at the shoulder, detached from his body, and fell downwards.
However, before the severed arm could fall, it was grabbed by another hand and pressed back onto the severed shoulder.
Black lines emerged from the severed section of Orochimaru's shoulder, reconnecting the severed arm.
At the same time, the Ten-Tails' enormous body began to slowly slide to both sides along that mark, and countless black lines also emerged from the cut surfaces of the two halves of the Ten-Tails' body.
They clung tightly to each other, forcibly pulling their separating bodies back together.
Orochimaru raised his head, and the twisted anger, greed, and hysteria on his face gradually faded and subsided.
Finally, it returned to a bottomless calm, the same calm as Hinata Kumokawa before.
"You are not Hinata Kumokawa."
He gazed at Hyuga Kumokawa in the distance, his golden snake-like eyes reflecting the other's figure, and slowly spoke, "From beginning to end, you've always been an Otsutsuki, haven't you?"
Hyuga Kumokawa neither admitted nor denied it, but simply looked calmly at Orochimaru, who did not need his answer.
At this moment, Orochimaru was completely calm. His thoughts, like snakes, slithered through a dark cave, piecing together fragments from the past few years.
A chance encounter with Konoha, the opportunity to acquire the Snake Princess, and inspiration for soul research...
Countless seemingly accidental moments were now connected in Orochimaru's mind to form a clear trajectory.
"You've been guiding me all along," Orochimaru's voice remained calm. "The day I defected from Konoha wasn't the end, but the beginning of everything, wasn't it?"
Upon hearing this, the smile in Hyuga Kumokawa's eyes gradually spread and became clearer.
"As expected of the person I chose," he said. "Although it took some time, he didn't wake up too late."
"So, are you going to stop here? Once you see the game clearly, you can step out of the game."
"In your current state, severing your connection with the Ten-Tails, and relying on this body that is already capable of 'immortality,' you can still go back and become the original Orochimaru."
"..."
Orochimaru stared silently at Hyuga Kumokawa, the corners of his mouth gradually twitching upwards into a sarcastic arc.
"Heh." A soft laugh escaped Orochimaru's lips.
"Human desires are indeed like a boulder rolling down a mountain," he said slowly. "Once they start rolling, they can never be stopped."
Even knowing that the end of everything will only be...
"Completely crushed to pieces."
As the last four words fell, Orochimaru raised his hands and formed hand seals in front of him.
Rumble!!
The earth trembled violently once more, and countless thick tentacles with ferocious mouths splitting open at the top, like monsters emerging from hell, burst forth from beneath the feet of the allied ninjas.
This time, however, they no longer devoured indiscriminately. Instead, like a swarm of sharks that had smelled blood, they rushed toward a certain figure in the Allied Ninja formation.
"The target is me?!"
Ye Cang's face turned deathly pale instantly, and fear appeared in his eyes.
She knew all too well why Orochimaru, who secretly controlled Sunagakure, had spared her life until now.
It's not pity, it's not forgetting, it's need.
It requires the bloodline limit within her body.
She lived in fear and wishful thinking.
She thought that Orochimaru, having mastered so many bloodline limits and now the Ten-Tails, possessed even greater power and perhaps no longer needed her...
But at this moment, the surging tentacles shattered her illusions completely.
Escape! We must escape!
However, this thought had barely formed in his mind...
*Pfft! Pfft!*
The ground within a radius of 100 meters suddenly cracked open, and several even faster tentacles pierced out.
"What?!"
"what!"
Exclamations and screams rang out almost simultaneously.
Jonin like Yamato had time to fight back and dodge, but the other Allied Shinobi didn't even have time to react before the tentacles pierced their bodies, and they screamed as their flesh and blood were drained and they turned into dried corpses.
That's too late.
"Orochimaru won't give me a chance to escape." Pakura dodged, a near-mad, ferocious glint in his eyes. "The final piece of the puzzle is Wood Release and Scorch Release!"
No, we can't let that guy get away with it!
She turned her head sharply and looked at Yamato, who was desperately dodging the tentacle attacks not far away.
"I'm sorry..." she said softly.
Before she could finish speaking, she pushed her hands forward suddenly.
Scorching Escape: Over-Steam Kill!
A massive fireball with an alarmingly high temperature instantly condensed in her palm and roared towards Yamato, who had just regained his footing and was looking astonished!
"Yakura?! You!" Yamato's pupils shrank, completely unprepared for Yakura's sudden attack. A wave of heat was already hitting him.
He subconsciously raised his right arm, and several thick wooden stakes instantly grew out to block his way, but they were as fragile as paper in front of Yecang's all-out Scorching Release fireball.
boom!!
The fireball charred the wooden stake, engulfing Yamato's entire figure and leaving only a charred and dried corpse in its wake. It then turned to ashes in the tentacles, leaving not even a trace.
Pakura knew that Orochimaru needed Wood Release, but now that Yamato, the only one who possessed Wood Release, was dead and his flesh and blood turned to ash, there was absolutely no way he could be used. As for herself...
Without the slightest hesitation, the instant the fireball struck Yamato, Yekura's other hand had already condensed another, smaller Scorching Release fireball, which she pressed against her own chest without hesitation.
However, just as the fireball was about to hit her body, her movements suddenly froze.
"What...?"
Underneath the skin of her arms, neck, and even cheeks, countless black, worm-like protrusions appeared, wriggling like insects beneath her skin.
"No..." Yecang instantly realized that this was Orochimaru's backup plan. She didn't know when, but Orochimaru had already planted these evil things in her body.
She gritted her teeth, fighting against the corrosive black lines within her body. Her face contorted with pain and struggle, she roared at the allied ninjas around her, "Kill me! Now..."
puff!
A muffled thud piercing her flesh interrupted her voice.
A tentacle pierced through her back and emerged from her chest, lifting her into the air.
The tentacles wriggled and began to suck her flesh and chakra. Yekura's body withered and died at a visible speed, and the light of life quickly faded from her eyes.
But she just stared intently at Orochimaru in the distance.
She wanted to see regret, anger, and the slightest sense of defeat in Orochimaru's face after Yamato's death.
but.
In the distance, Orochimaru watched all of this unfold quietly.
His face showed no trace of annoyance or anger, only an unfathomable calm.
"Why...?" Ye Cang's withered lips moved slightly, but no sound came out. Only doubt was frozen in her pupils.
She couldn't understand why the "puzzle" she was willing to risk her life and even kill her comrades to destroy hadn't stirred even a ripple on Orochimaru's face.
The answer will be revealed in the next moment.
boom!
The ground beneath the Ten-Tails suddenly burst open, and several tentacles emerged. The tip of one tentacle was piercing through a person's chest, dragging him from the ground into the sunlight.
"Ah!!" A heart-wrenching scream echoed across the battlefield.
That was a figure that was both incredibly familiar and incredibly loathed to the Leaf Village ninjas and to the entire Allied Shinobi Forces.
It was Shimura Danzo, who should have died long ago.
Danzo Shimura, from the "past".
[If you don't understand or have forgotten, you can go back and read Chapter 491, "We Are the Last Link in This Fate!" It's been a while, QAQ]