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

Chapter 432 Hyuga Kumokawa: Since that's the case, we'll just have to take it by force.

Bang!
Jiraiya, holding the pale-faced Hyuga Takashi, burst out from a crack in the fortress!
The icy night wind instantly filled my mouth and nose; below me lay the distant, dark earth, and above me hung the smoke-filled night sky.

"Get 'em!"

"Don't let them get away!"

As they rushed out of the fortress, angry roars and hurried footsteps came from the passage behind them, and Akatsuki ninjas also rushed out.

They raised their kunai guns and aimed them at the two people in mid-air who had nowhere to get a foothold.

However, just as they were about to pull the trigger...

A chilling surge of chakra emanated from the deepest part of the fortress they had just fled.

"Needle Jizo!"

Seeing the white light shining behind the Akatsuki ninjas, Jiraiya's long white hair grew rapidly, and he curled up in it, protecting himself and Hyuga Takashi.

First, a blinding white light burst forth from the cracks in the fortress, instantly engulfing the pursuing Akatsuki ninjas.

The light lasted only a brief moment before it suddenly contracted inward.

The explosion traveled at the speed of light, and it came crashing down!
boom! !

The terrifying shockwave spread wildly outwards in a ring from the fortress, creating shockwaves wherever it passed.

A raging firestorm, like a tsunami, rose from within the fortress as the structure crumbled.

"Cough!" Even with the protection of the Needle Jizo, Jiraiya and Hyuga Takashi were still hit hard by the impact of the explosion, and they coughed up a mouthful of blood with a sweet taste in their throats.

The two were violently thrown away by the blast wave and plummeted towards the ground below at an even greater speed.

The explosion was so intense that it turned half of the dark night sky red and illuminated the astonished faces of the countless Allied ninjas below, who looked up in disbelief.

"Oh my god!"

"Rainbow Fortress has been destroyed?"

"Look! Someone has fallen!"

Someone caught a glimpse of the figure flying out of the explosion and falling.

"Psychic art!"

As Jiraiya plummeted, he endured excruciating pain that felt like his body was about to fall apart and the churning of his internal organs. He formed hand seals and slapped downwards.

boom!
A huge plume of white smoke exploded below, and Gamabunta, a toad as big as a small mountain, appeared out of thin air.
"Jiraiya? You bastard!" Bunta instantly realized his predicament. His roar was drowned out by the whistling sound of the fall and the aftershocks of the explosion. His leg muscles bulged as he prepared to meet the impact.

boom! !

Wen Tai crashed heavily into the group of stiff, motionless puppets below. The terrifying weight, combined with the momentum of the fall, instantly crushed the puppets into fragments, creating a deep crater in the ground.

As Bunta landed, the lower part of Amegakure Fortress, which had been hidden underground, was severely damaged by the internal explosion and finally collapsed completely!
Countless burning and molten metal and rock fragments, trailing flames and thick smoke, poured down onto the earth!

Moreover, having lost its power source, the Rain Fortress also plummeted towards the Tang Defense Line below.

"Dodge!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's calm voice rang out from the ground troops, jolting the Allied ninjas awake from their shock and causing them to desperately move away from the area where the Rain Village Fortress had crashed.

At the same time, earth-style ninjas raised thick earthen walls, while other ninjas used ninjutsu to meet the huge fragments that fell with flames.

Boom! !

The fortress's shattered structure crashed onto the ground one after another, producing a dull, heart-stopping thud.

Each impact caused the earth to tremble violently for several seconds, sending up plumes of dust that surged and spread in all directions, quickly engulfing the surrounding area.

Jiraiya struggled to sit up on Bunta's back, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and stared intently at the billowing smoke.

Amidst the smoke and dust, several figures gradually became clear...

------

Inside the Land of Fire headquarters, a giant water sphere floats in the center, with ripples and bubbles constantly spreading across its surface and inside.

Mabui stood in front of the sand table, reporting to Hyuga Kumokawa, Onoki, Terumi Mei, and Orochimaru disguised as Rasa, who were gathered around him:
"Might Guy, a Jonin, has led a portion of the Fourth Division's elite forces to reinforce the eastern coastal defenses of the Land of Hot Springs, relieving the pressure from the Akatsuki's surprise attack..."

"Rain Fortress has made direct contact with our western interception force from the Land of Hot Springs..."

"Kakashi Hatake's forces have successfully joined up with the main force of the pursuit force led by Hiruzen Sarutobi, and together with the interception force, they have formed a pincer movement against Amegakure Fortress."

"Furthermore, the infiltration team organized by Jiraiya-sama has been confirmed to have successfully entered the fortress and begun its sabotage mission."

Good news kept coming from the front lines, and the group of people who were initially a little tired gradually felt their spirits lifted.

"The threat on the eastern front is being contained, a pincer attack is being formed on the western front, and decapitation strikes targeting the interior of the fortress have already begun."

Nara Shikaku calmly analyzed, "Currently, Amegakure Fortress's advance speed has been significantly reduced under the pressure from our forces on both the east and west fronts, and the fortress's damage continues to increase."

"As long as we can maintain the current situation and wait for the main force of the allied forces led by the Fourth Raikage to arrive at the battlefield, we can secure victory..."

call!
The fatigue from three days of fierce fighting was more or less relieved on the faces of everyone present, and you could even hear people breathing a sigh of relief.

The seemingly unstoppable behemoth that was Rainbow Fortress was finally brought under reins and mired in the mire, and the scales of victory were slowly tipping in favor of the allied forces.

But, that's it.

"and many more!"

Suddenly, Yamanaka Inoichi's expression froze, and he said, "The third, seventh, and ninth communication nodes on the western front of the Land of Hot Springs have all lost connection."

Almost simultaneously, Hyuga Iroha, whose hands were lightly pressed against the water sphere, suddenly shuddered.

"On the western front! An unidentifiable chakra reaction has appeared in the area where Jonin Tsuchishi is stationed. What's going on with this aura?"

“Three hundred… six hundred… nine hundred… and it’s still increasing! At this rate…” The color drained from Hyuga Iroha’s face.

The air in the room froze instantly, all conversations ceased abruptly, and the slight sense of relief that had just arisen vanished, replaced by an even more biting chill.

"Does Akatsuki still have the resources to penetrate deep into our defenses for a decapitation strike?" Mei Terumi looked at Iroha Hyuga, surprised and suspicious. "How many people did the enemy deploy?"

Unless Nagato and the Akatsuki members intervene, this is already the Akatsuki's limit. How can they possibly spare any manpower to penetrate deep into the heart of the territory and attack the command post on the western defense line?
But Hyuga Iroha kept her eyes tightly shut, her forehead covered in a fine layer of cold sweat, and her voice was dry and hoarse: "Three...three?"

three people?

"How could there only be three enemies at this rate of casualties?" Onoki's voice deepened. "Could it be that Nagato or other members of Akatsuki intervened?"

"Signal has been reconnected!" Yamanaka Inoichi, who had been sensing with his eyes closed, suddenly spoke. "It's Nozomi from Kumogakure! Read the intelligence..."

The command room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone held their breath, staring intently at Yamanaka Inoichi. "Enemy numbers confirmed: four. Identities..."

Seemingly having received some incredible information, he paused for a moment, then said blankly, "The Third Kazekage, the Second Mizukage, the Third Raikage, and the Second Tsuchikage."

"What?!" Onoki jumped to his feet, and Azabu blurted out, "Impossible! The Third Raikage has already..."

"Calm down." A calm voice interrupted the burlap-clad girl's scream.

Hinata Kumokawa looked at Yamanaka Inoichi and asked, "Is there any description of the appearances of those four people?"

Yamanaka Inoichi's throat bobbed, and he said, "According to Nozomi's description, the faces of the previous four Kage were all covered with half of their bone surfaces, which is suspected to be related to 'Hollows'."

"Furthermore, the Second Tsuchikage said that they were summoned from the Pure Land by Danzo Shimura using the Second Hokage's forbidden technique, and their bodies were to some extent out of their control."

"Danzo?" These few keywords made Nara Shikaku's face darken. "Damn it! It's the Second Hokage's Impure World Reincarnation technique!"

But what about the 'illusory' mask?

Is it related to the Void Realm, or did Danzo utilize the power of the 'Void'?

"Wait a minute." Mei Terumi still couldn't believe it and asked, "If it really is four former Kage, why did we only sense three enemies? Is the intelligence really accurate?"

"Do not."

Onoki, whose expression had been shifting, exhaled and gradually calmed down, saying in a deep voice, "Precisely because we only sensed three people..."

"Only then can I be sure that the intelligence is true."

"Master Wu possesses a secret technique called 'Dustless Obscuring,' which is a technique that can completely eliminate one's chakra, aura, and physical form, making one undetectable to others."

Onoki's words shattered even the last shred of hope.

A deathly silence fell over the command center.

If Xi's intelligence is true, if the four deceased "Shadows" really do reappear on the battlefield...

That means it's not just that the Akatsuki organization still has spare capacity.

This is a third-party intervention in the war that rivals the Akatsuki and the five great nations!
"What exactly is this Impure World Reincarnation technique?"

Mei Terumi looked at Hyuga Kumokawa, her expression somewhat grim: "How could Konoha allow such a forbidden technique that desecrates the dead to exist, and even fall into the hands of someone like Danzo?"

“It’s a forbidden technique developed by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju,” Onoki said solemnly. “I witnessed it on the battlefield back then.”

“Using living people as sacrifices and the flesh and blood of the dead as evidence, the souls of the long-dead are summoned back and bound to the bodies of the sacrifices, becoming the control of the caster.”

He paused for a moment, then frowned and said, "But as far as I know, the Second Hokage's Impure World Reincarnation summoned the dead and they couldn't unleash their full power before they were born."

"Even their movements were quite stiff, more like a puppet that was not afraid of death, which was far from the strength and appearance described by Xi."

Hinata Kumokawa slowly exhaled and said, "This was our oversight."

“We anticipated that Danzo might intervene, but we never expected that he would combine the ‘Impure World Reincarnation’ technique with the power of ‘Hollows’.”

"By utilizing the power of 'hollows,' the flaws of the Impure World Reincarnation technique are compensated for, allowing the summoned dead to more closely resemble or even fully unleash their pre-birth strength..."

Upon hearing this, Onoki, Mei Terumi, and the others' expressions turned extremely gloomy, but they all knew that now was not the time to pursue accountability.

After all, even Onoki, who knew about the existence of the Impure World Reincarnation technique, had never thought of it.

A forbidden technique with obvious flaws, after being improved, was able to change the entire course of the battle.

“If…” Mabui pursed her dry lips, “If Shimura Danzo really mastered the Impure World Reincarnation technique and had already controlled the four previous Kage…”

"Therefore, he most likely possesses other powers as well."

"For example, the previous Hokage?"

Onoki's face twitched violently.

Others may have grown up hearing the legends of Hashirama Senju, but he was someone who had actually witnessed and experienced that terrifying power firsthand on the battlefield!
He knew all too well just how terrifying Hashirama Senju was.

That wasn't a "shadow" in the conventional sense; it was a walking natural disaster.

He is a monster who can suppress an entire era, divide the tailed beasts, and establish the five great nations'格局 (geju, a term referring to the overall situation or structure) by his own power!

A Hashirama Senju controlled by the madman Danzo Shimura, devoid of humanity, showing no mercy to his former comrades, and capable of unleashing his full power from before his birth...

Just by sketching out a corner of this possibility in his mind, Onoki felt a chill run from his tailbone straight to the top of his head, and his scalp tingled!
That would be a monster capable of dragging the entire coalition into utter ruin!

Furthermore, as a former high-ranking official of Konoha, Danzo likely had access to more than just the flesh and blood of the previous Hokage.

For example, Uchiha Shisui, or the legend whose mere mention of his name sent chills down Onoki's spine.

—Uchiha Madara!
Although the previous four Kage were terrifying, with the combined strength of the allied forces, they might be able to be worn down and killed by human lives.

But Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha...

That's a completely different dimension!
That can only be described as a "monster," an existence that only a "monster" can deal with!

Thinking of this, Onoki suddenly turned to look at Hyuga Kumokawa. Faced with a threat of that level, perhaps only the strongest member of the Allied Forces could possibly deal with it.

Hinata Kumokawa's gaze shifted slightly as he sensed several unfamiliar and chaotic auras through the hidden void.

Those must be ninjas resurrected using the Impure World Reincarnation technique.

Hinata Kumokawa tried to forcibly pull the Hollowfied Edo Tensei ninja into the Hollow World, but found that a force firmly held control of the Edo Tensei ninja.

It's definitely not Danzo.

"Otsutsuki Hagoromo?" He wasn't too surprised, but he thought to himself, "As expected, he won't let me gain control of those souls so easily."

It seems that Hagoromo Otsutsuki is still very cautious.

Since that's the case, we have no choice but to take it by force.

Hinata Kumokawa raised his head, meeting Onoki's hopeful gaze, and said earnestly, "Then let me..."

"no!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Nara Shikaku's expression changed drastically, and he almost interrupted him in a choked voice.

"Lord Hokage, please reconsider!" he hurriedly said. "Nagato has not made a move yet; he must be waiting for you, waiting for you to leave the command post and appear on the front lines!"

"We haven't fully explored the abilities of the Rinnegan yet. He must have prepared a trap for you. You are our last line of defense, and we absolutely cannot act rashly!"

(End of this chapter)