The hovering eyeball in the sky turned crimson as three pitch-black tomoe surfaced within it.
Is that... a Sharingan?
Countless ninjas engaged in battle were completely dumbfounded the moment they saw this eye. This was because it looked exactly like the renowned Sharingan of the Hidden Leaf Village.
The only problem was...
This Sharingan was just too damn big!
Kakashi felt a wave of shock the moment he laid eyes on it, but he recovered immediately and roared at the top of his lungs, "Don't look at that eye!"
"Don't forget, the most famous ability of the Sharingan is its powerful genjutsu!"
The masked man standing atop the Apostle of Fear smiled faintly.
Although Kakashi realized this, his warning came a step too late. The gaze of the vast majority of ninjas had already instinctively swept toward the sky as they raised their heads.
Right after that, a surging, tempestuous wave of visual prowess swept across everyone on the battlefield like a tsunami.
The numerous ninjas fighting the monsters fell into a genjutsu the instant they looked at the Sharingan, standing blankly in place like wooden puppets.
Conversely, the sole consequence of this was that they would be torn to shreds within seconds by the monsters right in front of them!
Fear spread silently across the battlefield.
Kakashi's eyes nearly split from rage at this sight. He used his absolute maximum speed to rush toward the nearby ninjas, slaughtering the closest monsters before quickly waking his allies.
The other ninjas who were fortunate enough to avoid the genjutsu hurriedly abandoned their opponents, turning around to run and wake their comrades beside them instead.
The genjutsu unleashed by the Apostle of Fear was not particularly powerful. It only required an outsider to inject chakra into the victim's body to disrupt and break the illusion.
Even if they did nothing at all, the duration of this genjutsu would only last for a few dozen seconds.
However, on a battlefield, let alone a few dozen seconds, even a single second could determine whether someone lived or died!
Consequently, large groups of ninjas fell like harvested wheat. The surging wave of monsters took this opportunity to advance frantically, eager to tear apart more enemies.
"Damn it! We have to stop him right now!"
Tonami Nara's expression was icy. If they allowed this genjutsu to continue, the Allied Forces would definitely collapse!
Beside him, a ninja from the Yamanaka Clan suddenly grit his teeth, a look of fatal resolve emerging in his eyes. "Leave it to me!"
Tonami Nara froze for a moment. With his brilliant intellect, he naturally knew what his close friend wanted to do. He instinctively wanted to stop him, but in the end, his mouth opened and closed without a word coming out.
Instead, the ninja named Hoxi Yamanaka spoke to him, "Tonami, take good care of my parents for me!"
With that, he did not wait for Tonami Nara's response. He raised both hands, connecting his index fingers and thumbs to form a frame aimed straight at the massive eyeball in midair.
"Mind Body Switch Jutsu!"
A powerful surge of spiritual energy accompanied Hoxi Yamanaka's hand signs, instantly allowing his soul to descend upon that gargantuan eyeball!
A boundless sea of crimson blood materialized before Hoxi Yamanaka. Floating within the churning crimson waters was a giant, mountain-like skeletal frame.
Is this the enemy's mental world?
Hoxi Yamanaka was utterly shocked. He had never expected the opponent's mental world to look like this!
But the matter was urgent. Despite the unexpected situation, he rapidly executed his technique, aiming to seize control of the enemy's body and release the genjutsu cast upon the Allied ninjas.
In that exact instant, the tempestuous blood surged upward, forming a tidal wave over a hundred meters high that violently smashed him down to the bottom of the sea!
These events in the mental world took only a split second in reality.
From Tonami Nara's perspective, Hoxi Yamanaka's face showed an expression of absolute terror right after executing the Mind Body Switch Jutsu. Immediately following that, black blood gushed from his seven orifices, and he collapsed headfirst onto the ground!
"Hoxi!"
He was desperate to help, but several monsters had already lunged at him from the front. This left him without even a chance to support his close friend, forcing him to watch helplessly as Hoxi Yamanaka was torn apart by another monster!
Scenes of this nature were continuously playing out across the battlefield at this moment.
Fortunately, Hoxi Yamanaka's sacrifice was not in vain.
He used his own life to steal control of the enemy's body for a single instant. Because of this, the genjutsu cast by the Apostle of Fear upon the numerous ninjas was successfully undone!
"Watch out, strike back quickly!"
With the reminders from the nearby ninjas, those who had awakened from the genjutsu finally regained their senses.
Looking at the large number of comrades who had died due to the illusion, surging rage drove them to fight and slaughter the monsters like madmen.
Furthermore, they maintained a high level of vigilance against the eyeball in the sky, refusing to look up no matter what happened.
Seeing that the genjutsu of the Apostle of Fear could no longer affect the ninjas below, the masked man sighed with a hint of regret. "What a pity. I thought I could clean up a few more ninjas."
"Damn Jashin Religion, just drop dead already!"
Ebizo's voice echoed out.
Right after came the creaking sounds of puppet manipulation.
Two puppets assaulted from the left and right, launching a vast number of poisoned senbon from their mouths toward the Apostle of Fear.
"Mere puppets are useless against me, Senior Ebizo."
The masked Simu remained expressionless. The apostle beneath his feet extended a multitude of tentacles, sweeping away all the incoming senbon.
Seeing this, Ebizo yanked both hands. Under the guidance of chakra threads, the two puppets converged. One blasted scorching flames from its mouth, while the other spat out a violent gale.
The two forces blended together, creating a flaming tornado that surged toward Simu.
"How troublesome."
Simu complained lightly, then leaped straight down from the Apostle of Fear.
A centipede tail that looked as though it were cast from iron sprouted from his back. It descended violently like a giant sword, cleanly cleaving the incoming flaming tornado right down the middle!
He himself dropped boldly through the severed flames, his target locked directly onto the old man on the ground—Ebizo!
Such a powerful physical body?
Ebizo was also continuously analyzing the enemy's abilities. The moment the flaming tornado was severed, he pulled back to retreat.
Simu's tail struck down, and the terrifying strength tore a massive gash into the earth, sending shattered stones flying in all directions like bullets.
Landing on the ground, Simu lightly adjusted his mask, and an intricate Mangekyo pattern surfaced within his sole remaining pupil.
"Are you an Uchiha?"
As a veteran ninja who had participated in the First Shinobi World War, Ebizo naturally recognized the Mangekyo Sharingan. He understood the power of these eyes all too well, so he immediately disrupted the chakra within his own body to prevent himself from falling into a genjutsu without realizing it.
After ensuring he was safe from illusions, he rapidly lowered his gaze, avoiding any direct sight of the opponent's eyes.
This sequence of movements perfectly displayed the rich experience and caution of a veteran ninja, causing Simu to applaud repeatedly. "As expected of an elder of the Hidden Sand Village. Your experience is truly vast."
Had it been a younger ninja, they would have already fallen into a genjutsu and been instantly killed by Simu.
"This old man will take that as a compliment then."
Ebizo did not grow arrogant from Simu's praise. On the contrary, his heart grew even heavier.
After all, facing an Uchiha who possessed the Mangekyo all by oneself was no small challenge.
"However, this old man has killed quite a few Uchiha in his time!"
Ebizo suddenly lunged forward, his crossed hands snapping outward to pull chakra threads to both sides.
At the same time, a vast number of steel wires hidden in the surroundings were instantly yanked, forming a dense web that sliced toward Simu in the center.
"Did you already set a trap using the senbon you fired earlier before I even came down?"
Simu spoke thoughtfully. Right after, green chakra surged out, forming a colossal skeletal frame that shielded his body.
Susanoo, activated!
The steel wires that were sharp enough to slice through rock and iron fell rapidly, producing a grating, ear-piercing friction against the massive skeletal frame made of green chakra.
"How is this possible..."
Ebizo yanked the chakra threads in his hands in utter disbelief.
Yet no matter how much strength he exerted, the steel wires connected to his chakra threads could only leave minor scratches on the skeletal frame, completely failing to harm Simu.
The masked Simu smiled faintly, speaking with absolute composure, "As you can see, I am not just any Uchiha. I am an Uchiha who can use Susanoo."
There was no helping it. The defensive power of Susanoo was simply absurd. It would likely take a hundred years for Ebizo's steel wires to cut through it!
Ebizo narrowed his old eyes slightly, abandoning the idea of using the steel wires to directly finish off his enemy.
Under his control, two humanoid puppets appeared on the left and right sides of the green giant.
Their arms split apart, instantly transforming into two large blades wrapped in chakra that slashed down violently from different directions.
Faced with this assault, Simu still made no movement, simply allowing the two puppets to strike their blades against the skeleton.
"Clang!"
The skeletal frame vibrated slightly. The dense green chakra was chipped away a little, but it was still quite far from breaking.
"Senior Ebizo, if you are finished with your movements, then it is my turn."
As the masked Simu's casual words fell, the colossal green giant suddenly swung both hands, swatting the two humanoid puppets away before grabbing them with lightning speed and smashing them violently into the ground!
"Bang!"
Massive pits were hollowed out of the earth on Simu's left and right sides. The two puppets Ebizo took pride in were pulverized under this immense force, their components now scattered inside the dirt craters.
The chakra threads on all ten of Ebizo's fingers snapped completely. His empty fingers left his expression looking incredibly grim.
It had been so many years since he last suffered such a humiliation.
Especially since this humiliation came from a mere youth.
With this thought, he waved his arm grandly, pulling a scroll from his clothing.
As the scroll unfurled, a total of five formula seals surfaced upon it.
"Young man, it is best to show some respect to your elders!"
He spoke coldly, injecting chakra to unseal all the puppets stored within the scroll.
Smoke erupted, and five humanoid puppets of varying shapes materialized in midair.
Each puppet was being controlled by two separate chakra threads.
Ebizo's fingers twitched subtly, and these five puppets began to move like independent living entities.
He spoke in a deep voice, "Although this is still a far cry from my sister's Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets, it should be enough to give an arrogant youth like you a taste of the true power of Puppetry!"
Ebizo's declaration did not make Simu feel wary. Instead, it brought a trace of disappointment to his face.
"Old senior, the number of puppets you control is far too inferior compared to a friend of mine."
Simu spoke with regret.
After all, he had witnessed the grand spectacle of Sasori controlling nearly a hundred puppets at once. A mere five puppets really could not spark any interest in him.
Upon hearing Simu's words, Ebizo instantly grew agitated.
"Brat, what did you say? Have you seen Sasori?!"
In this world, apart from himself and his sister, only Sasori knew how to control multiple puppets simultaneously!
Therefore, the moment Simu uttered those words, Ebizo immediately thought of that former prodigy of the Hidden Sand Village, who was also his sister's biological grandson and currently an S-rank rogue ninja.
Simu scratched his mask. "So you know Sasori, senior. His strength is quite a bit greater than yours, old senior."
Ebizo ignored the disrespect in Simu's words, asking instead, "Where is that fellow Sasori right now?"
Regarding this question, Simu could only shake his head. "There is no telling you that, senior."
Following that, he twisted his wrists slightly. "The small talk ends here. Next, it is time to finish off you god-defiers!"
With that, the giant skeletal frame moved violently. Carrying the majesty of the Mangekyo Sharingan, it slammed a fist down toward Ebizo!
Under a single punch, the earth shattered, and the bedrock exploded.
Ebizo did not dare to be careless. He pulled back to retreat while simultaneously manipulating two puppets to open their abdomens, releasing a vast amount of black cables that wrapped around the green giant.
"Creeeak!"
It was unknown what material these thick cables were made of, but they actually managed to firmly restrain the giant.
The other three puppets rapidly released kunai attached to paper bombs, and a terrifying explosion instantly enveloped the Susanoo.
Of course, an explosion of this level was still not enough to pierce the defenses of Susanoo.
Under Simu's continuous output of chakra, muscles formed from chakra rapidly grew upon the massive skeletal frame, shaping it into a true half-body giant!
Then, a thick, spiral greatsword coalesced in its hand, piercing and severing the cables wrapped around its body in a single slash!
When the smoke cleared, the colossal green giant had smoothly broken free.
However, Ebizo's goal had already been successfully accomplished.
Four puppets had appeared in four different cardinal directions, while the remaining one surfaced right above Simu's head.
Their chest cavities slammed open, and countless streams of quicksand poured out from within them, intermingled with several black formula chains!
The battle-hardened old man formed hand signs with a solemn expression. "Since I cannot pierce your defense, then I will use sealing jutsu to seal you away!"
The quicksand coming from all directions rapidly converged into a pyramid, firmly pinning the green giant down. Countless black formulas surfaced on the exterior of the pyramid, releasing a powerful sealing strength!
Having done all this, Ebizo was already gasping for breath.
This was his trump card, a secret sealing jutsu derived from Shukaku—the Grand Sand Burial Seal!