"It worked!" Number Two shouted, holding the camera.
"Succ—" Number One's face initially flared with joy, but his expression shifted in the next instant. "No! He's about to break out!"
Within the two-dimensional space where Lexon was trapped, a sudden tremor occurred. The shaking grew progressively more violent... eventually emitting a series of piercing hums.
Whoosh...
A figure abruptly emerged from the flattened space. It was Lexon's Wood Clone!
He had not been locked away by the sealing properties of the camera; instead, he had shattered the seal. However, the Truth-Seeking Orbs that usually surrounded him and the black tin staff sword in his hand had vanished. Clearly, he wasn't entirely unaffected. Those items hadn't been brought back out; they had been completely sealed within the two-dimensional plane.
After all, as a powerful trump card belonging to a Stage Four Reincarnator, it was impossible for the item to have no effect at all. But the moment his body manifested in the physical world, a violent gale swept in from the side.
Bang!
Lexon's Wood Clone was sent flying! He only managed to halt his momentum and hover in mid-air after completely neutralizing the force.
'Strong power. It's definitely reached the Six Paths level. On the same tier as myself,' Lexon's Wood Clone assessed as he floated.
He had to admit that the attack just now was the strongest he had received so far. He shifted his gaze downward, looking at the fellow who had just attacked him.
'Is that how it is...' After seeing the source of the attack, the Wood Clone understood.
Reflected in his eyes was a child. In appearance, there was no difference from the thousands of children he had seen before. However... the only difference was the size. This child was much larger! Significantly so! It was a concentrated fusion of those thousands of children...
'Combining separate individuals into a single condensed entity... turning Kage-level strength into Six Paths level... discarding quantity to convert all mass into quality...' Lexon's Wood Clone thought.
"Wild Wind Tornado!"
Before his thoughts could finish, the roar of a violent dust storm echoed from the other side. Number One swirled the sand and wind, forming two massive sandstorms that reached for the clouds, surging toward Lexon. The power and prestige contained within seemed intent on grinding everything into fragments.
Having temporarily lost the Truth-Seeking Orbs that could change form at will, Lexon's Wood Clone could only rely on ninjutsu to defend.
"Wood Style: Wood Dragon Jutsu."
Chakra surged, and hundreds of massive wood dragons rapidly intertwined and emerged in the air. Carrying an incomparable aura, they crashed into the Great Tornadoes, determined to shatter them.
"Domain." Number Two, who had finished using the one-time camera item, also showed his power now. His ability erupted instantly, and an invisible force expanded, seemingly enveloping everything within a radius of several kilometers.
This was Number Two's ultimate ability. He could create a domain centered on himself where zippers could be opened or closed at will. Within a certain time and the range of this domain, he could open and close any zipper without needing a physical medium or consuming stamina.
"Open."
Number Two's hands moved rapidly. Hundreds of large zipper openings suddenly manifested in front of every wood dragon, causing them to charge straight into an illusory, chaotic space. Immediately afterward, he pulled open zippers in every direction around Lexon's Wood Clone.
In an instant, all the wood dragons poured out from the openings. Number Two intended to make Lexon swallow his own attack! And behind those zippers were the two tornadoes sent by Number One!
"A bit interesting..." Lexon's Wood Clone inherited the personality of the original body; he didn't show the slightest hint of panic. Instead, he murmured softly.
Faced with his own reflected attacks, he pressed his hands together and whispered: "Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence."
Chakra instantly erupted like a flood. Emerging alongside the chakra were trees growing with frenzied speed, sweeping out in all directions with Lexon's Wood Clone as the center. They shattered all the incoming wood dragons and plunged violently into the zipper openings opened by Number Two.
The trees grew incessantly! They kept growing!
The space within the zippers was not infinite in what it could carry or transmit! Therefore, under the erosion of the seemingly infinite growth of the trees, Number Two suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. He was forced to close the zippers in front of Lexon's Wood Clone, allowing the trees to extend into reality.
In a flash, the trees were like a stampede of monsters, invading downward and violently dispersing the twin tornadoes. They grew and extended at an unbelievable speed, soon covering the entire Hidden Rain Village!
If Nagato hadn't already evacuated the people of the Hidden Rain Village and the surrounding areas... then no living person would have been spared.
"Is that guy a monster? Won't such exaggerated energy consumption drain the life energy from his body?" Number Four shouted as his body, formed from thousands of children, continuously shattered the incoming trees.
"Hold on a little longer," Number One said to the struggling Number Two and Number Three, his head being the only part of him currently solidified. His body had transformed into wind and sand, making contact with the ground as if he were preparing something...
For a time, the battle shifted into a stalemate. Lexon's Wood Clone sat cross-legged, floating in mid-air while continuously consuming chakra to enhance the power of the Deep Forest Emergence. He used the endlessly extending thick trunks to attack the enemy Reincarnators, seemingly intending to exhaust their strength and stamina by burning through his own chakra.
On the enemy's side, Number One was busy with unknown preparations. Number Two continued to deploy zippers, causing trees to clash with trees or redirecting attacks back at Lexon. However, Lexon's Wood Clone, focusing on releasing the Deep Forest Emergence, could naturally anticipate his own reflected attacks. Whenever an attack reached him, he would avoid it with a clever angle while simultaneously extending other trees to lash at Number Two, preventing him from continuing to manipulate the zippers.
Number Three had been missing for a long time, his whereabouts unknown. Meanwhile, Number Four used his Six Paths level strength to continuously bombard the incoming trees, causing them to explode section by section. At this moment, he possessed the combat aura of Might Guy using Taijutsu while the Eight Inner Gates were open.
However, Number Four only possessed the raw power of the Six Paths level; the qualitative change in power formed by the simple accumulation of fat meant he was destined to never achieve the complete mastery and application of power that Might Guy possessed. Consequently, he could not derive a technique like "Night Guy." Thus, he found it quite difficult to deal with Lexon's Six Paths-enhanced Deep Forest Emergence.
"It's done..."
Just as Number Two was reaching the time limit of his Domain and Number Four's baby-fair skin was beginning to turn sallow, Number One finally let out the sound of completion.
"Get into Number Two's zipper space! Quickly!" Number One shouted in a low voice.
The two didn't hesitate. Number Two opened a large zipper for Number Four, who jumped straight in, followed by Number Two himself.
With his two teammates in hiding, Number One no longer had any reservations. The preparations he had made erupted all at once.
"Heaven-Burying Sand Blast!!!"
The moment the words fell, the entire Hidden Rain Village and the surrounding dozens of kilometers suddenly shook violently, as if some massive change had occurred. The earth quaked and mountains swayed! The ground across the village and the surrounding region abruptly collapsed, instantly transforming into endless sand!
The sky went dark! Or so Lexon's Wood Clone felt. Looking up, he saw that the seemingly infinite sand had already closed in toward the sky from all directions, completely shrouding the heavens!
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]