The index finger of his right hand suddenly felt a sharp pain. The Third Raikage A's pupils contracted sharply as he stared at his twisted index finger, which had long lost its original form. His entire being was plunged into incredulous shock.
And Mahoraga gave A no chance to recover. It clenched its fist, raised it high, and then slammed it down onto his head with immense force.
The thunderous impact exploded the earth. Shockwaves rippled outward like raging waves, shaking even the trees a kilometer away. Cracks in the ground spread wildly like a spiderweb.
The storm roared, sweeping over gravel and broken trees like thunder, destroying grass and trees wherever it passed. Gray-black smoke and dust over ten meters high shot into the sky, blotting out the sun, engulfing the surrounding sky in a haze.
The air was filled with the muffled sounds of earth and stone. The absolute power that crushed everything, capable of destroying mountains and rocks, was naturally shocking against the backdrop of trembling earth and rolling dust waves.
And this scene quickly drew the attention of many people in the distance.
At this time, the response unit led by Hyūga Hizashi had also discovered Shirano Jūrō and the others at the edge of the forest.
But after Shirano Jūrō saw them, realizing there was still no strong enough ninja to contend with the Raikage, he could only shout in despair:
"Go! That's the Third Raikage! Run quickly! Don't let Master Choza and Master Locke die in vain!"
Hearing that it was the Third Raikage, everyone couldn't help but shudder. This was a Kage. Who would have thought that a Kage would personally lead a raid on one of their supply convoys?
To understand the situation, Hyūga Hizashi activated his Byakugan to observe the battlefield several hundred meters away, and then saw the scene of the Raikage fighting Mahoraga.
Hyūga Hizashi: "?"
Did I not wake up? Or am I under a genjutsu? What is this monster with chakra meridians all over its body but no acupuncture points?
What is it doing? Brutally beating up the Third Raikage? Haha, how could I have such a dream? It must be an illusion!
Mahoraga continued to adapt to the alternating chakra-infused strikes and taijutsu attacks. The overwhelming pressure of the strongest shikigami swept through the entire forest like a black cloud, instantly engulfing the sky.
This terrifying aura indeed caused the ninken of the Inuzuka clan and the parasitic insects of the Aburame clan to fall into panic. Following their instincts as creatures to seek fortune and avoid disaster, they grew restless, desperately wanting to flee this place of death.
"Black Ball, what's wrong with you?!"
"Wait, why is my bug out of control? No, it looks like they... they seem to be... afraid of something?!"
Before the words could finish, the dozens of meters of gray-black smoke burst through the forest canopy, rushing into everyone's field of vision, blotting out the sun.
At this moment, two masked ANBU appeared before them—half imposing, half apologetic:
"We are direct subordinates of the Third Hokage. We now request that you assist us in rescuing Nara Locke!"
"We must not let him die on the battlefield!!"
He had initially thought that the monkey psychic beast was already an extremely powerful creature, but now it seemed that the strongest psychic beast might have changed hands.
However, the shadow clone on the sidelines didn't share his good mood. Seeing that the Third Raikage A was completely at a disadvantage, he boldly made a certain attempt.
He decided to abandon the Shadow Secret clone and transform into a chakra version of a shadow clone, making the hand sign to summon a shikigami.
In the next second, a look of surprise appeared on the shadow clone's face.
At that moment, Nara Locke's real body was hiding in the shadows, relying on a small hole to the outside world for air.
Watching Mahoraga defeat the Third Raikage A, he grew more and more pleased. Beyond the satisfaction of revenge, he was satisfied with Mahoraga's power.
Though the main reason for this outcome was that he had previously fed the Third Raikage A false signals, causing him to act cautiously rather than rashly, giving Mahoraga time to adapt—
This couldn't diminish Mahoraga's own aura. Even if Locke were to go himself, he had no way to defeat the Third Raikage without risking his life to draw emergency character cards.
And here was the Third Raikage, who had played with numbers his entire life, being beaten to death by Mahoraga.
It turned out that when the numbers were big enough, the mechanics determined the victor.
But he hadn't forgotten that after the Third Raikage A died, the next target Mahoraga would find was himself. So to avoid wasting popularity points on resurrection, he began to continuously upgrade, preparing for the near-two-month period of ruthless grinding.
[Character Card Upgrading...]
[Megumi Fushiguro Youth (Frog Amplitude Adjustment) → Megumi Fushiguro Youth (Orochi Amplitude Adjustment)]
[You may spend Popularity Points to continue upgrading]
[Next Stage]
[Megumi Fushiguro Youth (Full Amplitude Adjustment)]
[Amplitude-adjusted shikigami detected. 80% of this upgrade cost will be refunded]
[Character Card Upgrading...]
[Megumi Fushiguro Youth (Orochi Amplitude Adjustment) → Megumi Fushiguro Youth (Full Amplitude Adjustment)]
[You may spend Popularity Points to continue upgrading]
[Next Stage]
[Megumi Fushiguro Youth (Full Set)]
[Amplitude-adjusted shikigami detected. 80% of this upgrade cost will be refunded]
[Character Card Upgrading...]
After continuously integrating all fluctuations of cursed energy, chakra, Haki, and killing intent into the black sphere in his hand, Locke continued to pour the four forces into the black sphere after each upgrade restored his condition.
Ever since Locke had obtained the Megumi Fushiguro character card, he had always coveted the strongest shikigami—Mahoraga.
After all, though its record wasn't impressive, that was because it had only ever been in top-tier matchups, each opponent being the strongest. Even now was no exception.
So Locke had been thinking about how to kill Mahoraga in one blow. Over the past two months, relying on the [Martial Arts Genius] trait, he had also found some clues.
That was to mix the four forces to create a composite technique that would completely destroy Mahoraga before it could adapt.
Unfortunately, every time he failed to grasp the ratio of the four forces, he couldn't use it perfectly.
However, during the time he had just transformed into the Shadow Flow Master, he had already found an understanding.
Though time was short, the similarity between shadows and spirit-related forces allowed him to understand what Shadow Flow was and what the connection was with the spiritual realm.
This also helped him better understand shadow techniques close to spiritual power and grasp the traces of the Yin-Yang Release secret.
With the blessing of three traits—[Protagonist Halo (Pseudo) Gold], [Martial Arts Genius], and [Mad Sorcerer]—he incredibly bypassed all the wrong paths and finally arrived directly at the only correct answer.
At this moment, in the Pure Land where souls reside, where the ninja sect held the jade staff seeking the path, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo opened his Rinnegan and gazed toward the world of the living.
"What an ominous force... Such a level of Yin Release. Is it an Uchiha?"
Curious, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo waved his hand, and Nara Locke appeared in his vision, hiding in the shadows.
"Wait, this is... not an Uchiha?"