The air stopped flowing, and layers of pitch-black waves surfaced on the ground.
It was as if he were placed in an invisible cage; any chakra escaping his body would be instantly siphoned away and devoured. Invisible chakra threads wove together from all directions. The puppets hanging from these strings turned in unison at this exact moment, stepping forward, advancing, and swinging their weapons. Then—
"—Swoosh!"
Ten dark silhouettes lowered their stances simultaneously, rushing toward Hyuga Yu like ten black lines converging into the center of a sun!
The killing intent lurking beneath the mundane erupted entirely in this instant!
Centered on Hyuga Yu, the ground within a three-hundred-meter radius cracked wide open. A massive black river formed of an immense volume of iron sand surged from the fissures in the earth!
Blotting out the sky, it crashed down right on his head!
Everything within his field of vision seemed to be covered by a pitch-black curtain, and right in the center of this black canopy, a dense cluster of white light suddenly flared to life!
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Imperial Funeral!"
"Storm Release Secret Technique: Demon Dragon Storm!"
"Dark Release: Judgment!"
The next fraction of a second, "Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!"
Countless fine iron sand needles blasted down from the zenith of the three-hundred-meter black canopy that had swallowed Hyuga Yu!
The surfaces of these fine needles were all coated with a neurotoxin developed by Sasori. This toxin could enter the bloodstream through any microscopic wound, producing a lethal effect capable of taking down an elephant in just 0.5 seconds!
At the same time, massive iron sand constructs—giant needles, triangular pyramids, cylinders, cubes—various bizarrely shaped geometric masses plummeted toward Hyuga Yu, rained down relentlessly as if they were free!
And appearing simultaneously with this endless iron rain was an annular wave of light!
Triggered in a clockwise direction, the plasma light cannon fired by Hiruko from outside the massive black iron sand sphere took on the form of a golden ratio spiral, blasting toward the center in a ring!
During this process, a gust of Wind Release: Chakra Scalpel originating from Hyuga Yu himself was released by Hiruko using Dark Release: Inhaling Maw. Using an incredibly crude method, it formed a jutsu similar to Wind Release: Pressure Damage. From top to bottom, an overwhelming pressure, like the weight of true royalty, crushed down instantly, forcibly depressing the ground Hyuga Yu stood on by several meters!
In a flash, the multiple waves of attacks from the Dark-Magnet-Storm-Poison Killing Formation designed by Sasori rained down all at once!
Outside the formation, Sasori panted heavily, raising his head to look at the three-hundred-meter hollow giant iron sphere he had created!
"Now, this guy should finally be defeated, right?"
The Third Kazekage's Magnet Release, Hiruko's Storm Release, Sasori's poison and puppet techniques, plus Tennin's own Wind Release—this single moment was almost equivalent to four Kage-level experts, including Tennin, attacking Tennin all at once!
Under such saturated bombardment, even the Fourth Raikage, renowned for his defense and speed, would be instantly suppressed if he were facing it. He didn't believe that Hyuga Yu, heavily constrained by Dark Release, could still withstand all these attacks!
However, just as Sasori thought this, the feedback transmitted from inside the iron sphere caused his expression to suddenly freeze. Immediately after, in disbelief, he raised a hand, covered one eye, and activated the 'Third Eye' to peer into the interior of the iron sphere. The very next second, he saw—
Facing the densely packed onslaught, Hyuga Yu's expression remained unusually calm. He merely raised a single hand slowly, and a pale white barrier appeared around him!
The iron sand drizzle smashed against it and was instantly shattered and deflected. The deadly neurotoxin contained within couldn't splash even a single drop onto Hyuga Yu's true body.
And as the massive Magnet Release geometric constructs, weighing tens of tons each, crashed against it, they only caused faint ripples.
It wasn't until the successive Storm Release light beams fired by Hiruko bombarded this repulsive barrier that the pale white sphere experienced extremely violent fluctuations!
"Crack! Crack!"
Only then did cracks slowly begin to form on the surface of the pale white sphere!
Seeing this, Sasori couldn't help but hold his breath, wishing he could charge in and pry open this barrier protecting Hyuga Yu!
But just as the defense of Shinra Tensei was about to be breached, Hyuga Yu flipped his palm once more. A pitch-black chakra sphere quietly floated into existence in the center of his palm!
Immediately after, this chakra sphere rapidly turned cyan, completely ignoring the immense surrounding pressure and the chakra absorption of Dark Release. It directly transformed into a ring of pale cyan chakra that floated around Hyuga Yu!
"Yang Release: Organic Mutual Devouring!"
The next second, Hyuga Yu proactively deactivated the nearly shattered Shinra Tensei, voluntarily leaving himself exposed to a high-pressure environment comparable to the deep sea, allowing the Storm Release lasers, iron sand drizzle, and giant iron sand geometric constructs to blast right at him!
Countless attacks rained down instantly, crashing against that layer of pale cyan chakra on the surface of his body!
However, aside from the Storm Release lasers that had already transformed into a plasma state, all the rest—whether it was Hyuga Yu's own Wind Release: Chakra Scalpel or the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release iron sand—plunged into it as if diving headfirst into a bottomless black hole. They were devoured and decomposed by that inconspicuous, pale cyan membrane!
They were reduced to piles of finely fragmented iron sand bereft of control, piling up at Hyuga Yu's feet.
Among the attacks, Hiruko's Storm Release lasers remained resilient, actually managing to barely pierce through this membrane and shoot toward Hyuga Yu!
But, when the Storm Release lasers successively broke through the white barrier of Shinra Tensei and the cyan barrier of Yang Release: Organic Mutual Devouring, struggling to push through until they were barely 1 centimeter away from Hyuga Yu... they suddenly stopped.
Of course, this wasn't a true halt. The energy and kinetic force driving them still existed, yet upon touching some invisible entity on the surface of Hyuga Yu's body, the light was refracted. This created a visual phenomenon where the beams of light appeared to stop moving, and in the next fraction of a second—
"Zzt, zzt, zzt!"
"Rumble!"
The high-frequency hissing of electromagnetic friction and the roar of energy turbulence sounded out. On the surface of Hyuga Yu's body, colorful ripples appeared as if a stone had been tossed into a lake, alongside colorful halos and lightning-like patterns spiraling around the lasers!
At the same time, the true appearance of that final barrier hidden just outside Hyuga Yu's body was finally revealed in Sasori's field of vision.
It was a ring of gold, something that encircled Hyuga Yu like the radiant halo of a deity!
But when Sasori observed it carefully, he was horrified to discover—
That was actually a highly magnetized plasma vortex!
The highly concentrated plasma beam of Storm Release had made contact with a magnetized plasma vortex that Hyuga Yu seemed to have ionized and ignited using some sort of ultra-high temperature Fire Release technique!
In a physical sense, the two did not collide like solids, but directly underwent a blending of energy and matter. Thus, phenomena like laser scattering, bifurcation, and spiraling occurred, akin to streams of water rushing into a whirlpool!
And when the intensity of this magnetized plasma vortex vastly exceeded that of Hiruko's Storm Release, a bizarre scene unfolded—
Hyuga Yu's body at this moment grew brighter and brighter!
He seemed to have become a small, golden sun that was impossible to look at directly!
No matter what kind of ordinary ninjutsu attack hit him, it was completely nullified!
No matter what terrifying magnitude of chakra was poured into a jutsu, upon hitting him, its chakra was devoured in return!
Even a Kekkei Genkai attack compounded from multiple natures that ignored the previous two defenses would ultimately—under his god-like authority and Trisolaran-like mechanics—be turned into nourishment to make him stronger!
At this moment, after devouring the massive laser of Storm Release, the golden halo on the surface of Hyuga Yu's body began to tremble violently. In the next fraction of a second, as Hyuga Yu slowly raised his head, glancing with calm indifference at the 'Third Eye' formed of iron sand floating above the giant iron sphere, outside, Sasori's eyeball suddenly felt a searing heat. The visual feed observed by the 'Third Eye' began to distort, blur, and fill with mosaic pixels.
Hyuga Yu had merely cast a casual glance, yet it was as if he was telling him: To look directly upon a god is a sin!
Sasori's face trembled. Gritting his teeth slightly, he disregarded Hyuga Yu's warning, immediately pushing the 'Third Eye'—which was on the verge of collapsing under the disruption of this terrifying plasma jet—to capture the final image of Hyuga Yu!
Immediately after, Sasori saw it—Hyuga Yu did absolutely nothing at all; he merely stood in place.
On the surface of his body, the intense, dazzling golden halo grew ever brighter, brighter still!
"—RUMBLE!"
A massive, multicolored halo expanded outward from Hyuga Yu's body!
The electromagnetic field carried by the Storm Release laser and the innate magnetic field of the plasma vortex surrounding Hyuga Yu finally collided at a single point!
After the collision of two magnetic fields bearing terrifying energy, the resulting ultra-high-speed streams of electrons and ions expanded outward rapidly!
The next fraction of a second, "—Zzt! BOOM!"
The screen before Sasori's eyes suddenly went black; the 'Third Eye' exploded instantly!
The rebounding chakra pierced directly into his eye in a flash. "Gaaahhhhh!"
The eye that Sasori's main body was covering exploded simultaneously, blood and fluid spraying out from the socket!
However, Sasori had no time to care about this agony. Forcing through the pain of a ruptured eye, he opened his other eye, a look of sheer terror flashing in his gaze!
A physical phenomenon that Sasori had previously only seen in textbooks was about to occur!
[Magnetic Reconnection]!
When two magnetic fields carrying terrifying energy collide, they produce an intense plasma detonation at the point of interaction!
During this process, the magnetic lines instantly break and reconnect, thereby unleashing an ultra-high-speed electron and ion oscillation akin to a miniature solar flare explosion!
In the next moment, Sasori watched in sheer terror as—
Before him, the massive three-hundred-meter iron sand sphere he had created to blot out the sun began to collapse, shatter, fall, and cave in at a speed visible to the naked eye!
A moment later, Sasori lost all ability to control his puppets!
Immediately after, in the center of that collapsing iron sphere, a multicolored sphere of light detonated with a thunderous blast!
"—Riiiiing!"
However, at this point, Sasori could no longer hear any sound.
The sonic waves, vastly exceeding the limits of the human ear, had instantly shattered his eardrums!
He could only swallow hard in the fleeting interval of this brilliance, then stare with wide, despairing eyes to witness the very last sight he would ever see in this life!
The multicolored light sphere exploded!
Centered on the detonation point, under the massive pressure expanding instantaneously, the ground within a radius of nearly a thousand meters violently collapsed three meters deep in just the blink of an eye!
The earth burst apart; fissures spiderwebbed across the ground!
Heaven and earth swayed!
A ring of multicolored shockwaves—containing enough destructive power to grind mountains and rivers to dust and perturb the very sunlight overhead—began an indiscriminate expansion from the epicenter!
The collapsing giant sphere of iron sand was pulverized into fine dust in a flash!
Then, it expanded! Expanded! EXPANDED!
Flora and fauna, insects and rocks, the Gobi desert, and even ancient, unyielding gravel were all reduced to dust in the wake of its sweeping sway!
At this moment, whether it was Sasori, or Hiruko who had finally regained control of his body... in their pupils, an air of desperate, bleak impending death shone through simultaneously!
This was simply too absurd!
Hyuga Yu had clearly done nothing at all; he hadn't even fought back while taking a beating. So why were they, the ones who launched the attack, about to die from the terrifying shockwave generated purely as feedback from their own assault on him!?
And right at this moment—
Just as the shockwave was about to swallow Sasori and kill Hiruko!
A dazzling figure, bright as a solar flare, actually transformed into a beam of golden light, rapidly flying up into the heavens from the pulverized iron sphere!
Behind him, even the resplendent, blazing sun was nowhere near as blinding as the radiance he himself emitted!
Seeing this scene, Sasori couldn't help but widen his eyes. "He's still alive? Wait, what is he trying to do!?"
And then, under Sasori's gaze, that deity-like figure flying in the sky suddenly raised his right hand high. Under the brilliant golden light, pitch-black chakra spheres rapidly emerged, floating and spinning from his palm!
Immediately after, his palm and even his entire arm morphed into a sun-like, blinding gold-cyan hue!
Following that, the pitch-black chakra spheres merged and unified within his palm, transforming into a brilliant ray of golden light!
Soon, He grasped that golden light. With a calm, solemn, majestic, and resounding voice, He chanted the name of the technique He was about to unleash—
"Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
The next instant, boundless radiance rose and stretched out from that person's palm!
Finally, it manifested into a heaven-spanning golden giant sword!
He grasped that "sword"!
And then, casually swept it downwards!
Just like those legendary deities capable of moving mountains, boiling seas, and wielding infinite might!
With a single stroke, the radiant golden pillar of light swept down from the sky, instantly brushing past the exploding multicolored light sphere.
Airwaves blasted apart with a deafening boom!
A sword fissure spanning 20,000 meters appeared at the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind!
The desert behind it surged and churned like a mighty ocean whipping up towering waves!
And that utterly terrifying multicolored light sphere from a moment ago, the shockwave that distorted sunlight and ground the earth to dust, and even that heaven-spanning golden giant sword that seemed as though only a god could wield it... all vanished into thin air!
As if nothing had ever happened.
And the soul-shaking scene Sasori had just glimpsed, the artistic spectacle he would never forget for the rest of his life, seemed as though it were nothing more than a daytime fantasy during an afternoon nap.
Until—
A white-eyed youth, panting slightly, his body emitting a faint golden glow, wearing a black tight-fitting combat suit, with long black hair reaching his waist and a face as elegantly handsome as a sculpture, descended slowly from the sky. In one hand, he carried a white-haired youth who looked somewhat familiar to Sasori. Landing in front of him, the youth stood firm. Then, reading his lips, Sasori saw him reveal a helpless expression and "heard" him sigh: "I told you, if you break it, you still have to apply to me for the funds and medical expenses. Why did you have to do this?"
"Say,"
"Sasori of the Red Sand, are you willing to join [Root] now?"
————
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