Shanks then turned toward a direction where, on the surface, everything seemed completely normal. There was nothing there to the naked eye.
But hidden there was the Second Tsuchikage, Mu, using the Dustless Bewildering Cover Technique.
And the moment Shanks looked in his direction, the Second Tsuchikage instinctively became tense.
Can he really sense me?
Even while remaining invisible, Mu felt a strange pressure building inside him. Shanks's gaze did not look uncertain at all. It was as if he was directly staring at him despite the concealment technique.
Shanks slowly started walking toward the Second Tsuchikage's direction.
Crunch... crunch...
The sound of his footsteps echoed softly across the battlefield filled with corpses and broken earth.
And while walking calmly, Shanks spoke,
"The person who sent you... didn't they tell you that my sensory ability is called Observation Haki?"
A faint smile appeared on Shanks's face.
"And it isn't as simple as merely sensing chakra. I can sense life force, changes in the surroundings, almost anything."
Shanks's eyes narrowed slightly.
"The air around you distorts as it moves past your body. It diverges around the place where you're standing. Your life force... I can feel it clearly."
His voice remained calm, but every word caused the hidden Second Tsuchikage's expression to become heavier.
"So hiding from me with these silly techniques is completely useless."
The moment Shanks finished speaking—
An astral mark had already formed directly in front of the hidden Second Tsuchikage.
Mu's eyes widened slightly.
The next instant, Shanks was already upon him.
Before the Second Tsuchikage could even react properly, Shanks's hand shot forward and grabbed him directly by the neck.
Bang!
Immediately, the Dustless Bewildering Cover Technique broke apart, and the Second Tsuchikage was forced out of hiding. His fully wrapped, mummy-like body became visible once again as Shanks held him in the air effortlessly.
The Second Tsuchikage tried to move, but Shanks's grip was like iron.
Shanks looked directly at him and said,
"It seems they sacrificed you as a pawn just to study my fighting style."
There was almost a mocking tone in Shanks's voice.
After saying that, Shanks suddenly bit down on his thumb.
A small amount of blood immediately flowed out.
Then, with a swing of his left hand, a few drops of blood flew forward and landed directly onto the Second Tsuchikage's body.
The blood stains spread across the wrapped bandages.
Shanks immediately started forming hand seals with his left hand at extremely high speed.
The next moment—
The places where Shanks's blood had landed suddenly started turning black.
The Second Tsuchikage's expression immediately changed.
And then Shanks calmly said,
"Reanimation Sealing Technique."
As soon as Shanks used the sealing technique, the black markings rapidly started spreading across the Second Tsuchikage Mu's entire body. The dark patterns crawled over his wrapped figure like chains made of shadows, covering him more and more with every passing second.
And soon enough—
The Second Tsuchikage, who had been floating in the sky until now while hiding himself, suddenly lost control over his body completely and fell straight onto the ground.
Bang!
Dust rose into the air from the impact.
(A/N: Image in this Para Comment.)
It was as if all control over his chakra and movements had been forcibly cut off. His body remained completely motionless on the cracked battlefield while the black markings continued spreading over him slowly.
Shanks looked toward the now fallen Second Tsuchikage as he calmly landed beside him.
Then he said in a casual tone,
"At least there will be one less nuisance."
But suddenly—
A white glow started emanating from the Second Tsuchikage's body.
The light gradually intensified more and more, shining brightly across the battlefield. Clearly, it was the sign that the Reanimation Technique controlling the Second Tsuchikage was now being released and that his soul was supposedly being freed.
The surrounding air trembled lightly from the chakra fluctuations.
Shanks looked at the glowing body with calm eyes, completely unsurprised by what was happening.
"As if my Reanimation Sealing Technique is some ordinary sealing technique," Shanks said calmly.
He already knew very well what the people behind this were trying to do.
If he had merely used a normal sealing technique to immobilize the Second Tsuchikage and keep him trapped somewhere, then Kabuto, Orochimaru, or perhaps both of them together, would have immediately canceled the Reanimation Technique from afar.
And later, they would simply summon the Second Tsuchikage again using another sacrifice.
After all, they only needed a sufficiently powerful body to perform the reanimation once more.
And finding powerful bodies was clearly not difficult for people like them.
They had obviously researched Hashirama cells extensively and had already reached the point where they could utilize them extremely efficiently. So obtaining suitable sacrifices again in the future would not be a real issue for them at all.
Keeping all of this in mind, Shanks had specifically created this Reanimation Sealing Technique.
This technique was completely different from ordinary sealing methods.
Under this seal, the reanimated target would become entirely frozen in place, unable to move even slightly. More importantly, once the seal had been successfully applied, the already completed Reanimation Technique itself could no longer be released externally.
The glowing white light continued trying to separate from the Second Tsuchikage's body, but the black markings restrained everything tightly, preventing the release from properly occurring.
As if chains invisible to the eye had bound both the soul and body together forcefully.
Which meant—
The Second Tsuchikage was now permanently bound to this world unless Shanks himself decided to release him personally.
Shanks immediately grabbed the Second Tsuchikage by the shoulder, and the next moment, both of them disappeared from the battlefield.
The surrounding space distorted briefly.
Then instantly, Shanks reappeared back inside his office in Uzushiogakure.
The atmosphere inside the office was calm compared to the blood-soaked battlefield he had just left behind. The faint smell of blood was still lingering on Shanks's clothes and sword as he stood there with the sealed Second Tsuchikage beside him.
As soon as he appeared, Shanks simply said,
"Someone."
Immediately, a Shadow Guard who had been stationed just outside the office entered without delay. The masked shinobi kneeled respectfully and said,
"Lord Uzukage, what are your orders?"
Without wasting any time, Shanks casually threw the sealed Second Tsuchikage onto the floor in front of the Shadow Guard.
The wrapped body of Mu hit the ground heavily, the black sealing markings still spread all over him.
"Keep him in the dungeon," Shanks ordered calmly.
The Shadow Guard did not ask even a single unnecessary question.
"Understood."
He immediately picked up the completely sealed Second Tsuchikage onto his shoulder and disappeared from the office shortly afterward.
Soon, only Shanks remained inside the room.
Shanks then immediately contacted Antares telepathically. Guy was currently not present in Uzushiogakure, so naturally Antares was the one managing things here.
Shanks asked calmly,
"Tell me everything. What has happened here since I left?"
Soon, Antares's voice sounded within Shanks's mind.
"The Shadow Guards have already dealt with all the White Zetsus invading our village, and all of the White Zetsus have been suppressed."
Antares paused briefly before continuing,
"Guy already left for Konoha because Konoha is not able to hold on properly against all the enemy forces. Not only are there many S-rank-level Hashirama cells modified ninjas attacking them, but several past Kages have also been reanimated and deployed against Konoha. That has clearly suppressed them heavily. So Minato asked for help, and Guy went there."
Shanks nodded lightly after hearing this.
Clearly, all of this had already been according to Shanks's orders from the very beginning.
If Konoha was in danger, Uzushiogakure would support them.
After all, the main reason behind this entire war was Naruto.
Naruto was their nephew, so naturally they had to do everything possible to protect him.
Although Minato could also potentially become a target for capture, capturing him would be significantly more difficult compared to capturing Naruto. Because of that, the Akatsuki would definitely prioritize targeting Naruto above everyone else.
And anyways—
Right now, personal conflicts between villages no longer mattered much.
What truly mattered at this moment was uniting against the Akatsuki and completely destroying them before they could achieve their goal.
----
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