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

Chapter 427 The Appearance of a Third Party
"Stop playing dead."

Konan looked at the sea where the water-style clone had fallen and said, "If you don't come out soon, I'll have Kakuzu deal with you when we get back."

While Kakuzu's clones are useful, their extreme personalities can be quite troublesome and annoying.

Joy, anger, sorrow, worry, and fear.

The Earth Release clone is full of worries, the Lightning Release clone is ecstatic and crazy, the Wind Release clone is sentimental, the Water Release clone is timid and cowardly, and the Fire Release clone is irritable and easily angered.

Wow!

The water-style clone burst out of the water, and many scales on its scaly tail peeled off, revealing the charred flesh underneath. Its previously broken arms had already healed.

"It hurts! It's terrifying! Lord Konan, I... I really can't take it anymore!" It tried to shrink back, but met Konan's cold gaze and thought of the terrible consequences of being dealt with.

"I'll go! I'll go, okay?!" it shrieked, forming hand seals. "Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique!"

A thick cloud of sea fog rose up, obscuring the vision of the allied ninjas.

"Is that guy's weakness his heart?"

Seeing the terrifying healing speed of his Water Release clone, Might Guy pondered for a moment, then looked down at his mouth, which was closed between his palms.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony.

He had actually always kept it with him, but it wasn't time to use it yet.

Or rather, this thing wasn't prepared for him.

“Lee.” Might Guy turned to look at Lee Rock, who was panting heavily, flashing a set of gleaming white teeth, and gave him a thumbs up. “Well done!”

"The enemy has been severely damaged!" On the other side, Samui, enduring his injuries, ordered, "Charge!"

"Kill!" The allied ninjas roared as they charged toward the air ninjas and puppets.

------

In the western part of the Land of Hot Springs, the sky was murky with the smoke from the explosion, and a huge inverted triangular shadow slowly rolled across the forest.

After enduring fierce battles and long-distance raids in the Land of Rain, the massive Rain Fortress was riddled with scars, all concentrated on its base and low sides.

The armor was twisted and torn in many places, revealing sparking pipes and structures underneath. Many of the originally dense array of turrets had been destroyed, but they were still moving forward.

The bottom gates opened intermittently, dumping the stored puppet troops like garbage, and using the remaining artillery fire to bombard the approaching pursuers.

"Seventh Squad, chakra reserves below 5%, ammunition exhausted, requesting rotation and resupply," a Sky Ninja squad leader reported.

"……permit."

After a brief delay, a response came through the headset: "Seventh Squad, return from the fourth lower maintenance passage entrance. Eighth Squad, take over."

"clear."

Upon hearing this, the air ninja squad leader spun around in his wingsuit and flew toward the hatch in the belly of the fortress, followed by three air ninjas from different locations.

The four skillfully slowed down, folded their wings, and swooped into the deep passage.

hum.

Upon entering the fortress, the deafening explosions outside were instantly suppressed, replaced by an omnipresent buzzing sound.

Upon entering the passage, two Rain Ninjas blocked their way, scanning the four of them with their instruments.

"Seventh Squad, identity confirmed." Rain Ninja waved her hand, making way, and said, "You can go to the seventh supply room in Sector C."

The passageway was narrow and intricate, with thick pipes overhead, on both sides, and flashing dashboards all around.

People dressed in different clothes hurried by, occasionally stretchers carrying the wounded quickly passing by, and others carrying tools to repair damaged areas.

The four of them arrived at a door marked "C7" and went inside. The room was small and the furnishings were so simple that they were almost rudimentary.

Four chairs fixed to the ground, and four red pipes as thick as an adult's arm on the wall, exuding a distinctly chilling aura.

"Let's replenish our chakra quickly, the situation outside isn't good."

The air ninja squad leader unfastened the fixing device of the flying ninja tool, revealing a circular device located on his chest, about the size of a bowl, with a standard interface groove in the center.

Click.

Grabbing the pipe next to the seat, he aligned the end of the connector with the device on his chest. After a slight clicking sound, the other three people did the same.

"Uh!"

The squad leader's body trembled violently, and he let out a muffled groan.

The three teammates next to him also tensed up instantly, their faces showing an expression of seven parts pain and three parts relief.

Through four pipes, a stream of chakra, both icy and full of life force, surged into the devices in their chests and then rapidly spread throughout their bodies.

This chakra was of extremely high quality, quickly dispelling their fatigue and depletion, and even nourishing and repairing some minor injuries.

This supply method is a reverse engineering of the chakra armor technology from the Land of Snow, directly transferring Shennong's Zero-Tails chakra to the Sky Ninja.

"Captain, this time the Zero-Tails' chakra seems to have more 'impurities.' My head feels a bit throbbing," a Sky Ninja said, rubbing his temples and frowning.
"We can't worry about that now, as long as we can fly and fight, that's enough." The squad leader shook his head. "The Eighth Squad has taken over our original positions..."

"Make some adjustments, replenish ammunition, and depart from Exit 7 on the lower level in five minutes."

Upon hearing this, the three air ninja members nodded and walked towards the weapon cabinet on one side of the room to change their ammunition...

"Goo."

A faint sound came from inside the clothes. The squad leader subconsciously looked down and saw a green toad that had somehow crawled out of his clothes and jumped onto his shoulder.

Before he could react, the toad opened its mouth and two palms emerged from its mouth, forming the hand seal of "Mind Disorder Body Technique".

"..."

The squad leader's eyes were glazed over, all his movements froze, and his consciousness was instantly invaded and controlled.

This sudden turn of events happened in the blink of an eye; the other three air ninja members, who were loading ammunition, didn't even have time to turn around and see what was happening.

Click!

A gray snake emerged from the collar of one of the Sky Ninjas, its body tightly coiling around his neck. With a burst of power, the snake easily snapped his cervical vertebrae, and he collapsed to the ground without uttering a sound.

On the other side, the remaining two team members were suddenly covered by swarms of black and purple insects.

The black swarm burrowed into the seven orifices of the right-hand team member, who only managed to utter a short, sharp "hoarse" sound before freezing motionless, with traces of blood seeping from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

The ninja, whose entire body was covered by the purple swarm of insects, convulsed violently, foaming at the mouth and collapsing.

From the appearance of the first toad to the capture of one of the four air ninjas and the killing of the other three, the entire process took no more than three seconds, and the supply room remained deathly silent from beginning to end.

buzzing...

The black swarm of insects peeled off the corpse, gathered in the center of the room, and in the blink of an eye transformed into the figure of Aburame Shimi.

A swarm of tiny, almost transparent insects flew out of his sleeve and quickly flew toward the door and the vent.

After a moment, Aburame said softly, "Safe."

On the other side, the purple swarm of insects also wriggled and coalesced, revealing the form of Aburame Torune.

The snake's mouth opened to an exaggerated degree in a way that defied common sense, and Mitarashi Anko crawled out from it.

Jiraiya, Hyuga Takashi, Uzuki Yugao, and Yamanaka Fu also crawled out of the toad's mouth. All four of them were wet, covered in a sticky liquid, and smelled strange.

The Toad Concealment Technique allows one to conceal themselves within the belly of a lurking toad on Mount Myōboku, thus shielding their chakra and making them undetectable by sensory ninjutsu.

"vomit……"

Hinata Takashi's face turned slightly pale. He suppressed his nausea but immediately activated his Byakugan, scanning the surrounding walls and pipes to confirm the activity outside.

Jiraiya looked at the four pipes and said thoughtfully, "So, the Zero-Tails' chakra is being directly transmitted to these Sky Ninjas through these pipes?" No wonder their sustained combat capability is so much stronger than when they invaded Konoha before.

Yamanaka Fu walked up to the dazed ninja squad leader and asked, "Tell me the exact locations of Shennong and Sasori, as well as the number and deployment of guards along the way..."

"Middle-level C area, core power room... Lord Scorpion... no, I don't know the exact location..."

The squad leader began to speak unconsciously: "Guards... four to six men at each main passage... patrols every fifteen minutes..."

He relayed the information haltingly, and Jiraiya and the others listened attentively, but their gazes involuntarily drifted toward Hyuga Takashi, who was probing with his Byakugan.

Hinata Takashi's face grew increasingly grim, veins bulging on his forehead, and his Byakugan staring intently in a certain direction.

It wasn't in the direction of the power room as the squad leader had described, but rather in a deeper, more core area of ​​the fortress.

"Xiao, what's wrong?" Uzuki Yugao asked in a low voice.

"This chakra..."

Hyuga Takashi's voice trembled, and he blinked sharply, as if trying to confirm what he was seeing, and said incredulously, "How could it be so huge?"

"Is it a tailed beast?" Jiraiya asked with a serious expression.

Hyuga Takashi snapped out of his daze and nodded subconsciously, but then shook his head vigorously: "No, it doesn't seem like several tailed beasts, it's a single entity, a colossal creature!"

“I can see that the chakra extending from those puppets ultimately connects to that thing.”

"That thing looks like a chakra receiver. If I'm not mistaken, Sasori's real body must be near that thing, and he's controlling the puppet through it!"

He paused for a moment, then continued, "However, that thing's chakra is too strong, far stronger than that of Shennong, who was the Jinchūriki of the Zero-Tails."

"My vision was obscured by its chakra, so I couldn't see Sasori's exact location. I could only barely sense its blurry outline and the terrifying amount of chakra it possessed."

“A…whole entity?” Jiraiya frowned. “Could it be the ‘Tailed Beast Weapon’ that Nagato mentioned, capable of instantly destroying a country?”

Did they actually manage to create that kind of thing?
“Although the outline of that thing is very blurry,” Hinata Takashi added, “it feels similar to the stone statues on the second level of the underground palace described in the intelligence report.”

"The stone statues on the second floor of the underground palace?" Jiraiya's heart sank, and an ominous premonition surged forth.

How did it get involved with the underground palace again?

Could the core that provides energy for this fortress, the air ninja, and the puppets not be Shennong, the Jinchuriki of the Zero-Tails, but that thing that is suspected to be a 'Tailed Beast Weapon'?

If that's the case, eliminating Shennong might only cut off the Sky Ninja's supplies, but it wouldn't truly eliminate the most threatening flying fortresses and puppet legions...

"Plan changed." Jiraiya's eyes darkened as he spoke, "We'll split into two groups."

"The first team consists of me, Qu Gen, and Xiao. Our goal is to find Sasori and confirm what that thing is."

Jiraiya looked at Shizuka: "Shizuka, you have the most experience. The second team is yours. You take Anko, Kaze, and Yugao and your target is Shennong in the core power room."

"If possible, try to kill Shennong, cut off the fortress's energy and air ninja supplies, create chaos, and create opportunities for us."

"If things become impossible, or if any unforeseen circumstances arise that cannot be dealt with, the priority should be to protect the team members and transmit intelligence."

Aburame nodded calmly: "Understood."

"Move!" Jiraiya shouted. The seven used transformation techniques to disguise themselves as air ninjas and split into two teams, heading in two different directions.

Meanwhile, below the fortress, smoke and dust billowed into the sky, and the sounds of battle shook the earth.

Kakashi Hatake, along with a portion of the main force of the Fourth Division, has already joined up with the Allied Forces' pursuit force led by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Meanwhile, the intercepting forces in the western part of the Land of Hot Water did not sit idly by and wait for the fortress to crash into their door. Instead, they took the initiative to move forward, and a pincer attack from the east and west was already in place.

"Fire Release·Dragon Fire Technique!"

"Wind Escape·Vacuum Continuous Waves!"

"Earth Release·Rock Pillar Spear!"

A dense sensation, like a torrential downpour, assaulted the low-lying fortress's belly and flanks.

Boom! Boom!
Most of the attacks were blocked by the fortress's remaining point defense turrets and armor, exploding into bursts of fire in the air, but some still slipped through the net and hit the wounded areas.

*Swoosh!* *Bang!*

Small-scale internal explosions rang out one after another, black smoke and electric sparks spewed out from several larger cracks, and several cannons and air ninjas fell with screams.

"Hit!"

"Keep going, don't stop! It can't hold on much longer!"

Deafening cheers erupted from the Allied positions, and the attack intensified.

"What a bunch of annoying bugs." A sigh came from the air.

Kakuzu's Wind Release clone reappeared, his previously missing lower body restored, and his wings spread wide in a powerful tremor.

"Wind Release: Wind Killing Technique!"

"Thunder Release·Grateful Wave!"

A lightning clone also appeared, its staff waving and falling.

A violent wind blade swept towards the allied forces' position, and several bolts of lightning, like venomous snakes, darted down, sweeping towards the allied ninjas below.

boom! Boom boom! !
The fortress's chakra cannons fired again, but the number and intensity were significantly less than before.

Although the harassment from Lei Feng's clones and the volley fire from the fortress still caused some casualties to the allied forces, these counterattacks seemed to be a drop in the ocean.

The allied forces' encirclement was steadily tightening, and their attack rhythm remained uninterrupted, making Rainbow Fortress's counterattack increasingly ineffective.

------

At this moment, in the command room of the western defense line of the Land of Hot Water, located in an underground bunker.

The shouts and explosions from the outside world became muffled through the thick rock layers, but the originally heavy and oppressive atmosphere began to loosen.

"Breaking news from the Eastern Front! Might Guy, a Jonin, and the elite Fourth Division have arrived at the coastal defense line and, together with the defending forces, have successfully contained the Akatsuki's offensive. The defense line has been initially stabilized!"

"On the western front, our troops, in coordination with the pursuing forces, continued to apply pressure to the interior and flanks of the Rain Fortress, causing significant damage and greatly reducing its speed!"

One piece of good news after another arrived, and Tsuchiya, who hadn't slept for two nights and whose eyes were bloodshot, finally had his tense nerves relieved a little.

"Phew!" He exhaled a long breath, took the water bottle handed to him by his deputy Xi, and took a big gulp.

"Very good, the eastern front has held firm, and the fortress's advance has been slowed down..."

He looked at the liaison ninja and said, "Pass on the order: we must hold on! We must hold it down! Just one day! Just one day!"

"Once the main force led by Huang Tu and Lord Raikage completes its assembly and arrives at full speed to complete the final encirclement, the Akatsuki's Iron Turtle will truly become an Iron Coffin..."

Before Tsuchishiro could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a scream that suddenly rang out from outside the command post!

"Enemy attack! In the air! At... Ah!!"

The sound came from the sentries on the perimeter, followed by a series of booming sounds, and a clear, heavy tremor underfoot!

Almost at the same time, Xi, a sensory ninja, suddenly raised his head, as if sensing an aura that should never have appeared at this time and place.

"How could this be..." he exclaimed in shock, but before he could finish speaking.

Boom! !

It doesn't come from above, but from below and all around!
The reinforced bunker, after being reinforced multiple times, was like an eggshell being squeezed and shattered by an invisible giant hand!

The crimson ripples of the tide were reflected in Tsuchishiro's eyes.

Do not……

Those are iron sands?!
(End of this chapter)