Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 355 Nagato's Sword
call!
Torches inserted into cracks in the walls illuminated the underground palace.

Suddenly, a strange wind swept by from nowhere, extinguishing all the torches on the stone wall at the same time, and darkness, like a tide, instantly swallowed the entire space.

"what happened?"

"Why did the torch go out?"

"Be careful! Something's happening!"

The panicked shouts had barely begun when they were drowned out by another voice.

Click...click click...

A series of dense and eerie sounds came from the darkness all around, growing closer and clearer!
The ninjas hiding in the first floor of the underground palace suddenly changed their expressions and gripped their weapons tightly in tension.

Just then, tiny red lights suddenly lit up in the darkness, and pairs of lifeless red dots appeared, rapidly approaching!

"Ugh!"

A short, piercing scream suddenly erupted from the shadows.

"What is that?!" This was followed by another roar of shock and anger, filled with unbelievable fear.

"No... have mercy..." The pleas for mercy came to an abrupt halt, abruptly cut off by a sickeningly painful sound of flesh being torn apart.

Terrified screams and desperate wails instantly replaced the deathly silence, and a silent yet brutal massacre suddenly descended!

It wasn't a conspiracy between infiltrators, but a one-sided, efficient, and ruthless purge!

A relatively experienced bounty hunter suppressed his fear, his hands rapidly forming hand seals, his cheeks puffing out.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

boom!
A blazing fireball erupted from his mouth, hurtling towards the approaching shadow. The fireball's light briefly illuminated a small area around him.

In that instant, the bounty hunter witnessed a scene that terrified him.

Before his eyes, a humanoid puppet, entirely black and dressed in tattered robes, lunged at him in an extremely bizarre and twisted manner!

Not only him, but also others, were in front of black puppets, which, like ghosts, extended weapons from all parts of their bodies, slitting throats, cutting in half at the waist, and piercing through chests, ruthless and merciless!
What they have in common is the two red-glowing "eyes" in their eye sockets.

Bang!
The next moment, the fireball spat out by the bounty ninja was actually swatted away by the black puppet that pounced on him, right before his horrified eyes.

Are you kidding me?
puff!

The cold puppet arm pierced his body, penetrating his heart. The light in his eyes quickly dimmed, and his body slumped to the ground.

The other screams quickly faded away, giving way to a deeper, deathly silence. In front of the second level of the underground palace, only corpses lay scattered on the ground, the thick stench of blood nauseating.

call!
The next moment, several torches stuck in the rock wall were lit, and the flickering flames dispelled the darkness, illuminating seven figures that had appeared silently at some unknown time.

Nagato, Konan, Muwei, Kakuzu, Hanzo, Hiruko, Shennong...

The Akatsuki members are all present now, except for Sasori.

Without a doubt, the one who made the move just now was Scorpion.

However, he never showed his face; he simply remotely controlled his beloved "work of art" to annihilate all those self-righteous "birds of prey" who had been hiding in the shadows.

"No wonder they can't come up with a single move; they're all low-level nobodies."

Looking at the corpses scattered on the ground, Hiruko curled his lip, his tone filled with undisguised contempt: "Do we need to send out all of us to deal with this kind of trash?"

"Our goal is not just to open this underground palace."

Hanzo's voice was deep as he looked at the massive gate: "Once we have the secrets and treasures here, we can send word to the five great nations."

"At that time, we will lure them here and capture them all."

The other members ignored Hiruko's complaints; their eyes were all focused on the giant door.

The barely perceptible gap between the two doors, illuminated by the firelight, seemed to exude an even colder and more ominous aura.

"It really is a man-eating door..."

Looking at the remaining bloodstains on the door, Wuwei frowned and said, "Is this the source of those troublesome ninja tools that Konoha, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure used to repel us?"

The Fourth Raikage's arm armor, Huang Tu's giant axe, and Hyuga Kumokawa's wings left a deep impression on them. It was precisely because of these ninja tools, which far exceeded their expectations, that their previous operations were thwarted and they suffered heavy losses.

At first, they thought it was something similar to the Six Paths Ninja Tools, so they didn't pay much attention to the underground palace. Who would have thought that the power of those ninja tools after their transformation would be so terrifying.

Thinking of this, the Akatsuki members all glanced at the ancient-looking katana at Nagato's waist.

That was a ninja tool that the 'Kage' obtained from the Hannya clan when he and Nagato came to the underground palace together.

However, Nagato was unaware of the power of these underground ninja tools at the time, and naturally paid no attention to the katana he had captured.

It wasn't until he witnessed firsthand the crushing defeat of Hyuga Kumokawa's wings and the rest of the Akatsuki organization, and lost one of his Rinnegan, that he realized he could no longer control the power of the Rinnegan as freely as before.

Nagato finally realized the true value of this ninja tool, and thus began to study its power more deeply in order to make up for some of his shortcomings.

And he did indeed figure out some of the special features of this ninja tool.

However, unlike the others, Nagato did not focus his attention entirely on the giant gate, but slowly raised his head to look at the towering stone statue.

The flickering firelight barely illuminated the soul-chilling silhouette.

The first thing that catches the eye is ten enormous tails that arch and twist upwards, as if they are about to crash down at any moment.

Supported by its massive tail is a rough, rocky torso with exceptionally clear lines of twisted, bulging muscles. Despite being just a stone statue, it exudes a terrifying and tyrannical aura.

What's most unsettling is that single eye.

Despite being made of stone, its single, scarlet eye seemed to still retain some kind of will, coldly looking down at the intruders who were as small as ants below.

"Is this the Ten-Tails? Is this what the Gedo Mazo looked like before all its chakra was drained? The Divine Tree that Isshiki spoke of?"

Looking at the colossus, Nagato's eyes flickered, and he quickly shook his head.

"No, that's not right."

"According to Yishi, the heretical demon statues I summoned are the mature shells of the divine tree."

"And the stone statue in front of us should just be the juvenile form of the Ten-Tails."

He told Nagato all the information about the Otsutsuki clan, the God Tree, the Ten-Tails, and the Rinnegan, just as Isshiki did not hide anything from the Kara members in the original story.

Nagato thus learned what the so-called Tailed Beast Weapons were.

That's more than just a simple biological weapon.

That was still a "tool" used to drain all life from the entire planet.

Just as the 'Kage' said back then, Obito Uchiha lied to him, and lied to the Akatsuki organization...

Thinking of this, a very faint ripple flashed in Nagato's eyes, and he subconsciously placed his hand on the hilt of the katana at his waist.

"Wuwei, Shennong".

After a moment of silence, Nagato looked at the massive door and slowly said, "Open it for me."

Whether it's Wuwei's "Enlightenment" or Shennong's "Zero Tail," their chakra reserves are comparable to those of tailed beasts.

The two of them together should be able to open the door to the second floor.

He wanted to see what kind of power and secrets this so-called Otsutsuki clan was hiding.

Upon hearing this, Wuwei and Shennong walked to the door and were about to place their hands on it...

hum!
It was as if someone had pressed the slow-forward button on a remote control.

All the noise, breathing, footsteps, heartbeats, all sounds kept slowing down, slowing down, slowing down until they stopped.

The air was as still as death, with fine dust particles frozen in the air, and a terrifying howl echoed in the wind.

The next moment, all that was left was to see a dark shadow appear behind Nagato, and Nagato's Rinnegan turned to the side...

In a split second, the shadowy figure passed by Nagato.

puff!

(End of this chapter)