The storm raged, dust filled the sky!
The entire Konoha Village was thrown into complete chaos by the appearance of this huge monster.
The collapse of the Hokage Rock instantly made the atmosphere extremely tense.
However, for some reason,
That huge monster, after firing that red sphere attack, actually stopped its attacking motion.
It just looked intently this way with its hollow skull mask.
Slowly moving its body.
And at this moment,
What others didn't know,
Was that directly below the monster, in the center of the pervasive storm,
Stood an upright figure.
Despite the wind and sand, his surroundings were like a dust-free zone.
Kyo.
He lightly pushed his black-rimmed glasses, the corners of his mouth curling into a satisfied smile, his golden eyes flickering slightly.
And at this moment, in his mind, the system's prompt sound opportunely rang out.
[Ding! Congratulations Host! Side mission accomplished!]
[Destroy the Hokage Rock once (1/1), completed, reward: Spiritual Pressure +3000, Mall Points +1000!!]
As the prompt sound faded,
Kyo immediately felt the familiar sensation of Spiritual Pressure increasing within him, and he chuckled inwardly.
Sure enough, as expected.
This kind of large-scale side mission also yielded greater rewards than usual.
So next,
It seemed time to rendezvous with Orochimaru and the others...
As he thought,
Kyo looked up at the Gillian Menos Grande above him and said with a light smile:
"You just stay here quietly, just serve as a deterrent."
"Consume less Spiritual Pressure."
"Grrr..."
A sound like a low growl came from within the Gillian Menos.
Although it was originally an existence with absolutely no self-awareness, under the influence of the system's otherworldly summoning technique, it still possessed the instinct to "accept commands".
And Kyo was naturally the only one who could give it commands.
That Cero just now,
For a Gillian Menos like it, was its most powerful attack.
But at the same time, it also required a long time to gather Spiritual Pressure before it could be released.
However, unfortunately,
Just like items such as the Portable Gigai, existences summoned by this otherworldly summoning technique also required Spiritual Pressure consumption to maintain.
Therefore, Kyo didn't plan to let it continue attacking.
It was useless anyway.
With such a slow attack, it basically couldn't hit those skilled individuals, and it was overkill for the small fry.
Reducing Spiritual Pressure consumption was the right path.
Although Kyo's otherworldly summoning technique could summon ten Gillian Menos at once,
That would be a bit of an overkill.
It would be like using an anti-aircraft gun to hit a mosquito, killing a chicken with a butcher's knife, or using Bankai against a scorpion. (T/N: Sasori means scorpion, so…)
It's a bit too exaggerated.
At this moment,
Kyo was preparing to leave.
But just at this moment, suddenly, the system unexpectedly rang out again-
[Ding!]
[Congratulations Host, the main mission has officially begun!]
[Major Incident: Konoha Crush Plan, in progress. Upon mission completion, the Host will receive generous rewards!]
[Current main mission, branch tasks loaded successfully-]
[Destroy Konoha's Hokage Rock once (1/1), completed! Reward: Spiritual Pressure +5000, Mall Points +1500!]
[Seize Konoha's Scroll of Seals (1/1), completed! Reward: Spiritual Pressure +5000, Mall Points +1500!]
"???"
When the prompt sounded here, Kyo's mind stirred.
'Huh?'
'Wait...'
'The two branch tasks before, does this count as me completing them early?'
Kyo found it amusing.
He had chosen to destroy the Hokage Rock at this time because of that previous side mission, but he didn't expect that there happened to be this branch task in the main mission as well.
Truly killing two birds with one stone.
And the seizure of the Scroll of Seals was even more coincidental.
Kyo hadn't planned on targeting this thing at all, but because Orochimaru was eager to join Las Noches, he sent Kabuto to steal it.
After the main mission started, the system probably detected that the Scroll of Seals was already in Kyo's possession, so it counted it as successful as well...
A total increase of ten thousand points of Spiritual Pressure, this wave was a huge gain.
Kyo immediately grinned.
He had a feeling,
After this main mission ended, his Spiritual Pressure would probably usher in another huge increase.
And just at this moment,
The prompt sound continued to ring out, still branch tasks.
However,
Upon hearing these two branch tasks, Kyo was momentarily stunned.
[Witness the forbidden technique: Dead Demon Consuming Seal once (0/1), incomplete, reward unknown!]
[Ultimate Showdown: Shinigami vs Hokage (0/1), incomplete, reward unknown!]
[Fated Showdown: Shinigami vs Shinigami (0/1), incomplete, reward unknown!]
[???]
Kyo was momentarily stunned, directly dumbfounded.
'What the hell...'
'The first task was easy to handle,'
'Hiruzen Sarutobi would indeed use Dead Demon Consuming Seal in this plan, so just watching would suffice.'
'But the second and third...'
'Ultimate Showdown: Shinigami vs Hokage???'
'And, Fated Showdown: Shinigami vs Shinigami???'
'What the hell...'
'Is this the kind of thing a system from the living world can conjure up...???'
After a few seconds,
Kyo understood the meaning, and then felt somewhat amused again.
In fact, it was easy to understand.
The "Shinigami" in the first task clearly referred to Kyo's power.
He possessed a Zanpakuto, mastered Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido, and wore a Shihakusho. Calling him a Shinigami wasn't much different, after all, these things were the standard equipment of a Shinigami.
And that "Hokage" naturally referred to Konoha's Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
That is to say, to complete this branch, he at least needed to directly confront Hiruzen.
As for this final task-
Shinigami vs Shinigami,
Besides Kyo, the other target, if nothing unexpected happened, should be that Shinigami of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal...
'But, I have to fight that guy too...?'
Kyo smiled helplessly.
'This damn system really is here to stir up trouble...'
After pondering for a moment,
Kyo shook his head.
He decided to put aside his thoughts for now and first go see how things were progressing on Orochimaru's side.
After all,
To complete these two tasks,
He needed Hiruzen to release the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
That is to say, Hiruzen had to be forced into a position with no other choice, just like in the original work, by Orochimaru...
As he thought of this,
Kyo reached out and tore off the ill-fitting Anbu uniform he was wearing, revealing the Amegakure uniform underneath.
Then, with a Shunpo, he disappeared from the spot.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side.
A large number of Konoha's Shinobi had gathered around the Hokage Tower.
And many Shinobi from various countries, including Sunagakure and Otogakure, were also present, seemingly there to help.
They had naturally noticed that the huge monster seemed to have stopped moving.
So,
They intently began to discuss countermeasures.
Hiruzen slowly walked up to the Fourth Kazekage and said with utmost gravity:
"Thank you for coming here, Kazekage-dono."
"This incident is sudden. We may need to join forces slightly to find the enemy who summoned this monster within Konoha!"
"We absolutely must not let him disrupt the normal progress of the Chunin Exams!"
Hiruzen spoke solemnly.
Hearing this,
Baki on the Sunagakure side couldn't help but stir slightly, narrowing his eyes.
'Tsk tsk,'
'The Third Hokage truly was an old fox.'
'Although this monster only came to destroy Konoha, with a simple sentence, he linked it to the Chunin Exams.'
'Clearly, he wanted to drag Sunagakure down with Konoha.'
Thinking this,
Baki sneered inwardly,
But naturally, he wouldn't expose it.
After all, he knew... the Konoha Crush Plan was about to begin!
At this moment,
On this side,
As Hiruzen's words faded,
The Fourth Kazekage before him nodded.
However,
His gaze was actually not on Hiruzen at all,
Instead, it was directed behind him, into the darkness, at the positions of the Konoha's Shinobi.
Among this group of background Shinobi,
There was one who stood out.
He wore gray-white Shinobi attire and round glasses.
It was Yakushi Kabuto!
He had naturally been informed that Kyo and Orochimaru were advancing the plan,
Therefore,
The moment that monster appeared,
He also rushed over.
At this moment,
He was perfectly hidden among the background Konoha's Shinobi, unnoticed by anyone.
And now,
What he needed to do was wait for Orochimaru's action signal.
The same went for these Shinobi from Sunagakure and Otogakure,
They were also all waiting for Orochimaru to speak the pre-arranged code!
And just at this moment,
Beside Hiruzen,
The Fourth Kazekage, disguised by Orochimaru, suddenly raised his head and looked at the night sky above.
The next moment, he seemed to sigh emotionally:
"Hokage-dono,"
"The moon over Konoha is surprisingly round."
"...?"
As soon as these words were spoken,
Including Hiruzen, everyone was momentarily stunned.
'Hmm?'
'The moon over Konoha is round...?'
'What does that mean?'
However,
What they didn't know was that at this moment!
All the Sunagakure and Otogakure's Shinobi almost simultaneously and silently closed their eyes!
And at this moment,
In the darkness, Kabuto curled his lips into a smile and rapidly formed hand seals!
Temple of Nirvana Technique!
In an instant-
Under the night sky, countless feathers fluttered down!!