Chapter 366: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind
After blasting away the crimson gourd, A hung mid-air without leverage—immediately captured by the gravitational field.
Terrifying gravity resembled countless invisible hooks instantly coiling around his entire body, pulling him upward.
His Lightning Release chakra armor flickered violently in resistance yet still couldn't offset this overwhelmingly irresistible suction.
A's form began uncontrollably ascending toward the rapidly expanding black "star" in the sky absorbing sand, stone, and rock.
"Big bro!"
Killer B panicked greatly. He hastily abandoned entanglement with Nagato, swinging tentacles toward A's direction.
Gold dust chains also urgently changed direction, pulling toward A's waist attempting extraction.
But seeing the crimson gourd blasted far away beyond recovery, Nagato immediately switched targets.
Lost the crimson gourd? Then keep the Raikage as compensation!
Cold light flashed in Nagato's eyes. His shoulders and flanks instantly opened multiple mechanism apertures. Countless tracking missiles trailing white exhaust swarmed forth, precisely intercepting Eight-Tails' extending tentacles and gold dust chains' paths.
Explosion firelight and shockwaves continuously bloomed mid-air, forcibly tearing apart A's rescue network.
Konan abandoned everything else. Paper wings fully spread, her form transformed into a straight white line, pursuing the crimson gourd's direction at maximum speed.
Her hands waved continuously. Countless explosive tags cascaded like white death waterfalls, pouring across the crimson gourd's estimated landing point area plus pathways leading there—forming endless explosive inferno.
She intended using the most extreme clearing method, not hesitating to transform that area into scorched earth rather than allow Cloud Village easy acquisition.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Rampart!"
Numerous earth-proficient ninja from various villages lined up, rapidly forming seals before slamming ground.
Amid rumbling sounds, earth came alive. Heavy rock layers were forcibly shaped and elevated.
Rock blocks rose from underground, forming an immensely thick massive city wall before the ninja army—blocking those white death talismans on the opposite side.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
Violent explosions continuously thundered across the wall endlessly.
Firelight consumed the wall's exterior. Scorching heat waves carried rubble and smoke sweeping sideways.
The wall surface was blasted into numerous craters of varying depths. Shattered stones crumbled like raindrops.
Earth Release ninja behind the wall gritted teeth, both hands maintaining seal positions as chakra continuously outputted.
Damaged rock walls—guided by chakra—writhed and grew as though possessing life. New rocks rapidly surged from wall interiors or underground, filling gaps while reinforcing structure.
Damage and repair competed frantically between explosion intervals. The wall appeared and disappeared through endless firelight and smoke yet always stubbornly stood—firmly isolating lethal explosions outside.
"I got it!"
The fastest Cloud ninja first reached the crimson gourd's landing location, grabbing it while raising it high.
Instantly, the shinobi alliance side erupted in thunderous cheers.
But that ninja had barely revealed his smile when spatial ripples stirred behind him. Within vortex-like disturbances, a figure manifested.
"Children really shouldn't touch such dangerous toys!"
A casually teasing voice rang beside this person's ear, immediately startling his heart. The smile on his face froze instantly, transforming into extreme terror.
His reaction proved quite fast. Chakra exploded beneath feet intending Body Flicker escape. However, ultimately too late.
"Pff!" An arm pierced from his rear heart through front chest—giving him complete penetration.
Blood dripped slowly from penetrating fingertips. That Cloud ninja's arm holding the crimson gourd dropped powerlessly. Light rapidly dimmed in his eyes as his body slowly collapsed.
This scene immediately stunned everyone present. Cheering sounds abruptly ceased. Everyone glared furiously toward this sudden uninvited guest.
Where gazes converged, that figure who'd casually taken life—as though merely accomplishing something trivial—now retrieved the blood-stained Kohaku no Jōhei from the corpse's hand, carelessly weighing it.
"Uchiha Yasushi!"
Mid-air, the Raikage left only one furious roar before finally losing resistance—ultimately absorbed by the gravitational field.
Outer layers of sand and stone tightly wrapped around. Within moments, the Raikage was buried deeply within, forming a super-massive stone sphere hovering mid-air.
The instigator Nagato merely glanced coldly at that stone sphere before directing his gaze downward toward Uchiha Yasushi, who held the crimson gourd with smiling expression.
The battlefield's atmosphere—due to this sudden variable and third-party force intervention—became incomparably strange and tense.
"Yo, Nagato! Long time no see. Still so arrogant, aren't you?"
"Knowing perfectly well this is the Five Great Nations' battlefield, yet you only brought two people. Heh heh..."
Yasushi smiled while waving arms toward airborne Nagato, treating all other battlefield combatants as nonexistent.
Nagato also disregarded Two-Tails, Eight-Tails, and other Kage-level threats nearby. Those Rinnegan eyes contained only distant Yasushi.
Surrounding threats seemingly transformed into irrelevant background scenery. Only this man whose words and posture carried inexplicable flippancy deserved attention as the sole current "abnormality."
"Uchiha Yasushi, will you obstruct me?"
Nagato's gaze swept across the crimson gourd in Yasushi's hand, expression filled with grave concern.
"Hahaha..." Yasushi laughed loudly. "Obstruct you? Why would I do that?"
"Completely unnecessary!"
"Do you know what this Kohaku no Jōhei in my hand does?"
"It, along with the Seven-Star Sword in Killer B's hand plus that earlier Kōkinjō, are all ninja tools left by the Sage of Six Paths—used in combination."
"Now your word spirit has been sealed inside this Kohaku no Jōhei. I merely need infusing chakra, then simply waiting for you to speak the word spirit content on the Seven-Star Sword—or just waiting briefly—and you'll be absorbed into this crimson gourd."
"Sealing techniques are unreasonable. Even with Rinnegan, they're useless. Sealing proceeds regardless."
"How about that? I saved your life again~"
"Shouldn't you express some gratitude?"
Yasushi's words—each syllable—struck like small hammers pounding Nagato's heart.
Nagato's face alternated between pale and flushed, extremely ugly—not from fear but from frustration at disrupted plans and affronted dignity.
He stared at Yasushi in prolonged silence.
He'd now become certain—Yasushi wouldn't use that crimson gourd against him.
Yet this certainty only increased his frustration further.
If Yasushi was his enemy, he'd simply need concentrating on battle—merely questions of victory, defeat, life, or death.
But Yasushi's manner seemed friend-like yet not friend-like—leaving him completely at a loss.
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