met free Chapter 446 Asma, Your Father Is Dead
Chapter 446 Asma, Your Father Is Dead
The patriarchs of these great ninja clans, to some extent, had already foreseen this worst-case scenario, and even... tacitly accepted its occurrence.
"What... happened? How could Orochimaru..." Shikaku's voice was a little hoarse. He seemed to have recovered from his brief daze and asked anxiously.
The ANBU ninja, suppressing his grief, quickly reported: "Orochimaru, disguised as the Daimyo of the Land of Rice Fields and his entourage, suddenly launched an attack at the tournament venue. His subordinates trapped the Third Hokage with the Four Purple Flame Formation and summoned the reanimated bodies of the First and Second Hokage to join the battle... The battle was extremely fierce, and the Third Hokage, in order to protect the village, ultimately..."
"Impure World Reincarnation... the First and Second Hokage..." Shikaku gasped, finally understanding why even someone as powerful as the Third Hokage could be defeated so quickly.
Faced with the reanimated bodies of two legendary Hokage, the entire Hidden Leaf Village would likely be easy prey for the enemy.
"And then? I remember Jiraiya-sama came back, didn't he?" Shikaku suddenly remembered that he had seen Jiraiya wandering around the village a few days ago.
"When Jiraiya arrived, the Third Hokage was already beyond saving. Furthermore, other powerful, unidentified enemies appeared, escalating the battle. Jiraiya ordered Captain-Commander Tenzo to escort the Third Hokage's body back to the Anbu base. The situation at the competition venue is currently chaotic!"
Just then, as if to confirm the words of the Anbu ninja, an indescribable, terrifying chakra wave, filled with violence and greed, swept in from the direction of the Hokage Rock like a tsunami!
Even though they were far apart, this chakra still made all the Konoha Jonin on the roof, including Shikaku, Hiashi, and Inoichi, feel their hearts pound and their breath catch in their throats!
"This chakra... is it the Nine-Tails going berserk?" Yamanaka Inoichi's expression changed drastically as he looked at Hyuga Hiashi.
The terrifying memory of the Nine-Tails' rampage twelve years ago instantly flooded my mind. Only a tailed beast could possess such despair-inducing chakra.
Hiashi Hyuga's Byakugan was fixed on the direction of the Hokage Rock.
Although he was too far away to see the situation at the competition venue, in his field of vision, several rounds of chakra of different colors seemed to be rising in the sky in the direction of the Hokage Rock, colliding wildly. The turbulent flow of chakra distorted the air and interfered with his vision.
He slowly shook his head, his voice tinged with uncertain surprise: "No... although this chakra is equally vast and violent, it... doesn't quite resemble the Nine-Tails from that night twelve years ago!"
Shikaku's heart sank to the bottom.
The situation at the competition venue appears to be even worse than he had imagined!
Not only are there the rogue ninja Orochimaru and the reanimated bodies of two former Hokage, but also an unknown enemy that even Jiraiya found troublesome.
"We can't wait any longer!" Shikaku made a decisive decision, shouting sternly, "Inoichi, you stay here and command the remaining troops. Cooperate with Choza to eliminate all invading Sound Ninja as quickly as possible and stabilize the village's internal order! Choza needs time to recover after deactivating his multi-dimensional technique, so protect him!"
Yamanaka Inoichi nodded emphatically: "Understood!"
Shikaku then looked at Hiashi Hyuga: "Jonin Hiashi, the situation has changed. Something terrible has probably happened at the tournament venue! You and I will each take three elite squads and rush to provide support immediately! The rest of you, continue to eliminate the remaining enemies!"
"Alright!" Hiashi Hyuga replied without hesitation.
Whether out of duty as a Konoha ninja or out of concern for his daughter's safety, he had to go.
The order was issued swiftly.
Shikaku immediately assembled several of the strongest Jonin and Special Jonin, forming an elite squad of about twenty people, all of whom were at least Special Jonin.
Ignoring the gradually receding battlefield below, the group accelerated to their maximum speed, becoming blurry afterimages amidst the rooftops and ruins of Konoha, speeding towards the Hokage Rock.
The closer you get, the stronger the sense of oppression and pressure in the air becomes.
Even without the Byakugan, ordinary sensory ninjas could detect the terrifying vortex of chakra energy ahead.
However, when they were less than a kilometer away from the Hokage Rock, a sudden change occurred!
The sky behind the Hokage Rock, which was originally a chaotic expanse of chakra light and smoke, was suddenly stained with an even deeper purplish-black color!
Immediately afterward, to the horrified gazes of Shikaku, Hiashi, and other Konoha ninjas, a colossal creature, over a thousand meters long and composed entirely of extremely solidified purplish-black chakra, resembling a deep-sea oarfish, suddenly appeared high in the sky, writhing its ferocious body!
It has a gigantic mouth that can devour everything, with astonishingly large upper fangs.
A purplish-red chakra ball, over a hundred meters in diameter and with boiling chakra inside, is expanding wildly at a visible speed, emitting chakra fluctuations that make the heavens and earth pale in comparison!
"What...what is that?! An enemy summoning beast?!" A Konoha Jonin who had followed them exclaimed in shock, his voice trembling.
Hiashi Hyuga's Byakugan was fixed on the giant oarfish, veins bulging on his forehead. The enormous body, composed entirely of highly concentrated chakra, sent chills down his spine. He hissed, "No! That's not a summoning beast! It's chakra! A highly compressed chakra creation!!"
He had barely finished speaking.
The next moment, the purplish-red chakra ball in the mouth of the giant purplish-black oarfish shone with an extreme intensity!
The purplish-red chakra ball, hundreds of meters in diameter, shot out from the mouth of the giant oarfish and crashed down fiercely!
Almost simultaneously, beneath the purplish-red chakra sphere, a tiny, insignificant, deep black light silently met the purplish-red torrent of destruction.
The two came into contact.
A flash of black light appeared, followed by an extreme pure white that swallowed the heavens and the earth!
The white light, carrying the sharpness to tear everything apart and the intense heat to annihilate all things, burst forth from the point of contact in an instant, filling every inch of space between heaven and earth!
Shikaku, Hiashi, and all the Konoha elites around them felt a blur before their eyes, their vision instantly filled with endless white light. A stinging sensation struck, causing tears to well up uncontrollably. They instinctively squinted and used their arms to shield their eyes.
Then, a deep, booming sound, as if it would shatter eardrums, skulls, and even the soul, mixed with a high-pitched, sharp shriek, rolled in from the center of the white light explosion!
Then came the earth-shattering shockwave!
Even from a great distance, the terrifying impact, a mixture of white light, chakra turbulence, scorching air waves, and countless shattered and then thrown debris from buildings, still swept from the Hokage Rock toward the village with overwhelming force!
"Find cover!!!" Shikaku roared with all his might, but his voice sounded so weak amidst the terrifying roar.
Without him even needing to remind them, everyone reacted instinctively the moment they felt the ground beneath their feet begin to shake violently like a small boat in a raging storm, and the destructive chakra energy turbulence in front of them pressed down like a tsunami wall!
Like frightened lemmings, they desperately scrambled off the rooftops, rolling into buildings along the street, or simply lay prone on the ground, "nailing" their kunai into the earth like nails!
Rumble, rumble—!!
The shockwave is coming!
The world seemed to lose all other colors and sounds at that moment, leaving only endless tremors, roars, tearing, and scorching white light.
Even though they were some distance from the epicenter of the explosion, the buildings around Hiashi and Shikaku were still teetering on the brink of collapse in the face of the chakra turbulence and shockwave, and some trees were even uprooted.
The scorching heat scalded Shikaku's exposed skin. The high-speed flying pebbles, wood chips, and metal fragments struck the cover with a "crackling" sound, and occasionally a ninja would let out a muffled groan, obviously injured by the shards that had escaped.
Hiashi lay behind a wall, struggling to lift his head. Through his Byakugan, he "saw" the violent turbulence and chaotic scene of the surrounding chakra environment.
His heart was ice-cold.
This power... is almost a natural disaster, no, it's divine punishment!
They didn't know how much time had passed, maybe only a dozen seconds, but in Hiashi and the others' minds it felt like an eternity.
The despairing roar and tremors finally began to subside and quiet down.
Shikaku, Hiashi, and the others struggled to climb out from behind their respective hiding places or to stand up from the pile of rubble.
Everyone was covered in dust and dirt, their clothes were tattered, and they had more or less abrasions and burns on their bodies. Their faces were as pale as paper, and their ears were still ringing, indicating temporary deafness.
They looked around blankly, only to see that after the aftershocks of the explosion, many buildings below the Hokage Rock had been hit by falling trees and rocks, and even the roof of the Hokage Building had been crookedly "planted" with a large tree.
Then, Shikaku quickly jumped towards the top of the Hokage Rock, and Hiashi and the others followed suit without prior arrangement.
When everyone stood atop the Hokage Rock, they all froze, their breaths stopped, and their eyes stared blankly ahead.
Shikaku and the others' pupils trembled slightly, and some ninjas even couldn't help but feel their legs go weak and sit on the ground.
"How...how is this possible..."
There was nothing ahead.
There were no towering circular buildings for the competition venue, no lush forests, no familiar buildings...
All buildings in the northern area of Konoha behind the Hokage Rock were completely erased at this moment.
What came into view was a huge sinkhole.
Its diameter is estimated to be more than ten kilometers, or even wider, because with the eyesight of Shikaku and others, they could not see the complete outline of the opposite bank at a glance, but could only see the distant horizon distorted and blurred under the heat wave.
Looking down, the sinkhole seemed to have no bottom.
Several thick columns of water shot out from the rock fractures at different heights.
Those were underground water veins severed by the explosion.
Clear water, carrying white foam, roared as it plunged into the bottomless abyss. During its descent, it was evaporated into billowing white smoke by the residual high temperature at the bottom of the pit. This smoke mixed with the bluish-black smoke with sulfur and burnt smell emanating from the crevices of the rock walls, forming a swirling, bubbling mist that permeated the sky above the sinkhole, adding to the apocalyptic desolation.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of ozone and the scorched earth smell of molten rock.
The wind swept upwards from the depths of the sinkhole, carrying moist air and scorching heat. It blew on my face, but I felt no warmth, only a bone-chilling cold.
"Gulp." Shikaku unconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
He was always known for his wisdom and composure, and boasted that he could anticipate most variables on the battlefield, but this scene before him was like divine punishment...
He couldn't imagine what the consequences would be if such an explosion occurred in the most densely populated and central area of Konoha Village.
The answer is obvious.
An unprecedented sense of fear and chill ran up his spine to the top of his head, making his fingers holding the kunai go numb.
It wasn't just him.
The Konoha Jonin and Special Jonin who had followed him—elites who were used to life and death in missions and could remain calm even when facing powerful enemies—all showed expressions of near-dumb fear.
Some people were as pale as paper, their lips trembling; some had cold sweat pouring down their foreheads, their bodies shaking slightly; some even subconsciously took a half step back, as if moving further away from the edge of the sinkhole would keep them away from the unknown terror.
They may not be afraid of powerful enemies or tragic sacrifices, but this completely unprecedented, divinely punished scene shook their confidence and courage as ninjas.
What kind of enemies are fighting?
Is this really still a battle between ninjas?
"Hinata..." Hiashi Hyuga was the first among them to recover from the shock.
A father's instinct, and his concern for his daughter's safety, roused him from his chaotic thoughts.
His veins bulged around his white eyes, and his vision instantly pierced through the billowing steam and smoke in front of him, scanning the area around the edge of the sinkhole like the most sophisticated radar.
Soon, he "saw" it.
Not far from the edge of the sinkhole, dozens of chakra reactions gathered.
"Over there! Still alive!" Hiashi Hyuga roared, not even having time to explain in detail to Shikaku, his figure had already turned into a blur, rushing along the dizzying edge of the sinkhole towards the location of Hinata and the others.
Shikaku was also startled by Hiashi's actions. He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and stared intently in the direction Hiashi was running. Sure enough, he saw shadowy figures at the edge of the rising mist.
"Watch your step, everyone! Save people first! Gather intelligence!" Shikaku's voice regained its usual composure, though it was a little hoarse, it was like a reassurance, helping the somewhat disheartened Konoha ninja behind him to perk up.
Everyone carefully followed in Shikaku and Hiashi's footsteps, heading towards the survivor gathering point on the other side of the sinkhole.
As they drew closer, the scene became clearer.
In this area at the edge of the sinkhole, survivors gathered in twos and threes, most of them covered in dust and abrasions, looking tired and frightened. Some were sitting or leaning, and some were tending to each other's wounds.
Hinata, the eldest sister, supported Naruto, who had just woken up and was still a little unsteady on his feet.
"What... happened?" Naruto's azure eyes widened in disbelief as he stared blankly at the massive crater that had swallowed the horizon, his mouth slightly agape, seemingly unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
The Nine-Tails' chakra within him seemed to be affected by some kind of shock, becoming unusually quiet.
Sasuke leaned against a charred, broken piece of wood, his ninja sword stuck beside him. He kept his head down, making it impossible to see his expression.
However, Sai and Shigaraki Tanuki could still observe Sasuke's clenched fists and slightly trembling shoulders.
Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino huddled together. Shikamaru's brows were furrowed, his gaze constantly shifting between the sinkhole and the group from the Land of Stars, clearly deep in thought. Choji's face was pale, as if he hadn't fully recovered from the shock. Ino stood close to her two teammates, her eyes still lingering with fear.
On the other side, not far away, Ao, Hozuki Suigetsu, Chojuro, Uzumaki Hinokami, and others from Kirigakure gathered together.
The veins around Aona's transplanted white eye had not completely faded, and her expression was terribly solemn as she whispered something to Chojuro.
Hozuki Suigetsu looked shaken, patting his arm repeatedly.
Samui of Kumogakure remained silent as well.
Samui's usually calm, turquoise eyes were now fixed on the despairing sinkhole before him, his gaze distant, as if piercing through time and space, returning to that afternoon nine years ago, a day also shrouded in despair.
The Hidden Cloud Village, surrounded by mountains, along with the Raikage Building and a large area around it, was also transformed into a neat, bottomless sinkhole by an inconspicuous black chakra ball.
Even after years of reconstruction, that scar is still etched on the heart of the Hidden Cloud Village.
"This...this is even more terrifying than Master's Tailed Beast Ball..." Karui muttered to himself, his voice trembling, and subconsciously grabbed Omoi's arm beside him.
Omoi didn't complain this time, but his face was just as pale, and the lollipop in his mouth was nowhere to be found.
Samyi took a deep breath, withdrew his gaze, and looked up at the sky above the sinkhole.
The battle... seems to be over?
But the end does not mean safety; it may be the calm before the storm.
Just then, Hiashi's figure appeared behind Hinata and Naruto like a gust of wind.
"Hinata!" He took two quick steps to his daughter's side, his gaze sweeping over her body quickly and carefully. Only after confirming that she had no serious injuries did his tense nerves relax slightly, but the concern in his voice remained strong.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
Hinata, the eldest sister, then released her hand from Naruto's, letting the still somewhat bewildered Naruto sway and steady himself.
She turned to face her father, still with that casual and unrestrained demeanor, one hand on her hip, the other waving casually: "Hey, Dad... you got here pretty quickly. Looks like the troubles in the village are mostly resolved?"
"..."
The concern on Riji's face froze instantly, and his temples throbbed.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that many Konoha ninjas around him, and even some ninjas from other villages, were subconsciously turning their gazes toward him.
This daughter's second personality... is still so unruly.
Fortunately, in front of outsiders, especially in such a serious setting, they gave him, the father, some face and didn't call him "Old Deng" as they would at home.
"It's good that you're alright." He had gotten used to his daughter's personality, and it was precisely because he was somewhat helpless about her personality that he decided to have another child.
Almost simultaneously, Shikaku also landed beside Shikamaru with his men.
He quickly glanced at Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino, and seeing that although they were in a sorry state, they were still in good spirits and had not lost any limbs, he felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders.
"How are you? Is anyone hurt? What... what happened here? How did it become like this?" He fired off a series of questions, but his gaze involuntarily drifted back to the abyss.
When Shikamaru saw his father, his tense nerves seemed to relax a little.
He rubbed his throbbing temples and whispered, "Dad, we're all fine, just superficial injuries. As for the situation here..."
Shikamaru paused, glancing at the Star Country people who looked unusually calm not far away.
Gaara stood with his arms crossed, quietly watching the sinkhole, while Karin closed his eyes and concentrated intently, seemingly sensing something. Temari, Kankuro, Kurotsuchi, and Ranmaru stood guard beside them.
"The situation is complicated and can't be explained in a few words. It involves... probably more than just Orochimaru. But I think we should have a result soon." He lowered his voice, his tone suggestive.
Just then, several whooshing sounds came from behind.
Kakashi, Might Guy, and Sarutobi Asuma also arrived here.
They both looked equally disheveled. Kakashi's mask was covered in dust, Might Guy's signature green bodysuit was torn in several places, and Asuma's face had soot marks.
"Shikamaru! Choji! Ino!" Asuma spotted his three students at a glance and strode forward, his face full of concern.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
"Asuma-sensei!" Shikamaru and the others quickly responded.
Seeing their familiar teacher, the unease in the three of them seemed to dissipate somewhat.
"We're fine, teacher," Shikamaru replied.
Asma carefully examined the three students, and only after confirming that they were in good condition did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Kakashi narrowed his Sharingan slightly, his gaze sweeping across the entire room.
He noticed the presence of the people from the Land of Stars, as well as those from the Hidden Mist and the Hidden Clouds, and even more so, the bewilderment and fear on the faces of the Konoha ninja.
His unease grew stronger.
When Kakashi's gaze met Nara Shikaku's, he saw the complex, unspoken weight in Shikaku's eyes.
Shikaku looked at Asuma, his lips twitching slightly.
He knew that some information could not be hidden and that it was time to tell people.
He took a deep breath, as if drawing upon all his courage, and took two steps forward to stand before Asma. His voice was low and clear, carrying an unmistakable sorrow:
"Asuma... I just received confirmation that the Third Hokage... has sacrificed himself."
The air seemed to freeze completely at that moment.
Kakashi's pupils suddenly contracted, and his body trembled slightly.
"Wh...wh...what?!" Might Guy's usually passionate smile vanished instantly, replaced by utter astonishment.
And Sarutobi Asuma...
He was as if struck by lightning, instantly freezing in place.
The slight relaxation that had just appeared on his face upon seeing that the students were unharmed froze completely and then shattered.
His wide eyes were initially filled with confusion, which was quickly replaced by immense shock and pain.
His lips trembled: "Old...old man...?"
He murmured, his voice trembling, "How...how could this be...old man...how could this be..."