Chapter 216: The Third Hokage Can’t Possibly Command Such A Monster
“Rumble—!”
Accompanied by a roar that seemed to come from the depths of the earth’s crust, the ground of the entire Hidden Mist Village began to shake violently.
The tremor was not transmitted evenly but undulated outwards in waves from a central point.
Causing the internal organs of those standing on it to churn.
Deep, dark fissures spread madly across the ground like ravenous mouths, greedily devouring the faint light of night.
Immediately following this, an even more terrifying scene unfolded—
Crack!
Bang!
Thick tree trunks erupted from the ground, piercing rock layers and tearing through soil, growing with unstoppable brute force and speed.
These trunks twisted and intertwined, as if wooden dragons slumbering underground had awakened.
In mere moments, their rampant growth and the completely altered terrain caused all the Mist Ninja to instantly lose their balance.
Some lost their footing and fell into the fissures, others were flung by the gnarled roots, and their formations crumbled in the blink of an eye.
The suddenly growing, winding, thick tree trunks grew at a speed beyond imagination, reaching heights of ten to twenty meters in the blink of an eye.
Forming a moving, living wooden barrier.
The Mist Ninja reacted swiftly, and the lights of countless ninjutsu ignited instantly.
“Water Dragon Bullet Technique!”
“Water Collision Wave Technique!”
“Water Wave Technique!”
Giant dragons made of water roared and charged out, torrents of water attempting to tear through the obstacles, and dense water bullets poured down like a torrential rain…
A series of Water Release techniques collided violently with the thick tree trunks that erupted from the ground, emitting dull, thunderous roars.
However, the result was chilling; the powerful impact of the Water Release techniques only left shallow dents on the tree trunks that contained a peculiar life force.
The water flowed down the bark, as if merely watering them.
Simultaneously.
Swish, swish, swish—
Countless explosive tags were precisely thrown onto the tree trunks.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The continuous explosions were deafening, and flames and thick smoke instantly engulfed some of the tree trunks.
These explosive tags, capable of collapsing solid stone walls, only managed to blast away a bit of wood chips and debris when they detonated on the tree trunks.
They only left a patch of scorched black marks and a small indentation on the tree trunks.
Compared to the massive volume of the tree trunks, it was negligible.
The Mist Ninja hurriedly steadied their footing, gathering chakra at the soles of their feet, attempting to maintain balance amidst the earth-shattering commotion.
Relying on their excellent taijutsu, they dodged and weaved, their figures becoming afterimages amidst the frantically growing trees, trying to evade the numerous tree trunks emerging from the ground.
However, the density and growth speed of the forest exceeded their limits.
“Ah—!”
“My leg!”
Some Mist Ninja who didn’t manage to dodge in time were violently struck by the overwhelming power of the erupting tree trunks.
Dull impacts accompanied the crisp sound of bones, and their feet were instantly fractured.
Even worse, both their feet were broken by the immense impact, bending at strange angles as they fell to the ground, screaming.
They were then entangled and swallowed by the subsequent branches and vines.
Even more shocking was that these massive tree trunks were not inanimate objects.
Numerous tree trunks began to sprout countless tough branches and tender green leaves at a visible rate.
In less than ten seconds, the area, previously filled with ninjutsu explosions and shouts of battle, transformed into a lush, dense forest teeming with killing intent.
Many houses were also overturned by the tree trunks that emerged from the ground.
The sound of cracking wooden beams and pillars was incessant, and the stone slabs on the street were crushed and heaved, becoming unrecognizable.
Some of the thick trees had already grown tens of meters tall.
Their canopies connected, obscuring the sky.
Casting vast, suffocating shadows.
If viewed from a distance… it was as if a tenth of the Hidden Mist Village had turned into an undeveloped, primitive forest filled with wild, untamed energy.
Forming a bizarre and stark contrast with the surrounding man-made village scenery.
This sight…
Also left the Mist Ninja who had chosen not to engage and had wisely retreated, attempting to maintain a safe distance from the front lines, dumbfounded.
A chill ran from the base of their spine to the crown of their heads.
“Wood Style… It’s Wood Style!!!”
A Jonin of the Hidden Mist Village’s pupils constricted, his face filled with shock as he looked at the primitive forest that had replaced the buildings and streets.
The horror in his heart made him sweat profusely, and his hand holding the kunai trembled unconsciously.
If he hadn’t chosen not to participate because he no longer wished to follow that bloody policy from deep within his heart…
He would likely be trapped in that Wood Style forest that swallowed life right now!
That kind of power…
Was simply beyond human resistance!
…
On the other side.
Mei Terumī, Chōjūrō, and Elder Yuan were also full of shock.
The scene before them almost overturned their understanding of “power.”
Chōjūrō looked at the still faintly writhing forest ahead with immense shock; his Byakugan, covered by the eye patch, seemed to ache.
He murmured, his voice a little hoarse, “If I recall correctly, the intel said Uchiha Ikeizumi was only a ninja with a Dual Bloodline Limit… and those were the Uchiha Clan’s Sharingan and Lava Release related to magma. He… he also knows the First Hokage’s Wood Style? That would be three Bloodline Limits!”
This completely defied Chōjūrō’s common sense; he couldn’t understand how a person’s body could withstand and integrate three completely different bloodline powers.
Mei Terumī was also shocked by the sight that surpassed understanding.
She looked at the thick trees, winding, intertwining, and weaving like giant pythons, feeling the suffocating pressure emanating from them.
Mei Terumī couldn’t help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, her throat slightly bobbing, “It seems reasonable that the Fourth Hokage was defeated by him so easily…”
In the face of such power, the title of “Kage”
Appeared so pale and powerless.
Elder Yuan stared blankly ahead, a look of reminiscence flickering in his cloudy eyes, his distant memories forcefully awakened.
He seemed to recall the demeanor of Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, tens of years ago, a name that echoed throughout the Ninja World, who had pacified the warring states with his own power.
That was a ninja once called the God of Shinobi!
His Wood Style was a legendary power capable of instantly creating forests and suppressing Tailed Beasts.
And now, in a young man from Konoha Village, he saw the shadow of that former God of Shinobi!
“Konoha Village…”
Elder Yuan murmured, his voice old and hoarse, with an indescribable complexity of emotion, “Is another destined child going to be born whose power surpasses the entire Ninja World?”
…
At the same time.
The Mist Ninja trapped within the “Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence” were all sweating profusely.
Sweat mixed with dust and blood clung to their bodies, cold and sticky.
They despaired to find that their ninja tools, honed countless times and saturated with the blood of their enemies, were like laughable children’s toys in the face of this scale of Wood Style ninjutsu.
Their kunai might easily cut open an enemy’s throat on the battlefield.
But if one were to use a ten-centimeter kunai to stab a tree trunk that was probably tens of meters in diameter and constantly writhing and growing…
They didn’t even know if they could pierce the thick bark!
It was like ants trying to shake a mountain.
And.
The Mist Ninja were shocked to discover that these large trees, like giant pythons with lives of their own, sensed their chakra and positions.
Constantly coiling and squeezing the living beings inside from all directions, from above and below!
As if to crush them to death here!
The shadow of death, like a cold tide, quickly flooded every corner.
In their desperation, the instinct for survival forced them to squeeze out their remaining chakra, form hand seals without regard for anything else, and use Water Release ninjutsu one after another.
“Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!”
“Water Release: Violent Water Collision Wave!”
They roared, attempting to blast an opening within the constantly shrinking “Deep Forest Emergence” ninjutsu.
Even if it was just a crack through which they could escape.
A scene that filled them with bone-deep despair occurred… when they exhausted all their efforts, pooling the strength of several people to blast apart several thick tree trunks with Water Release ninjutsu, opening a temporary gap.
They were shocked to find that large numbers of new, even thicker tree trunks were spreading from somewhere, filling the gap they had blasted open at an even faster rate.
As if possessing infinite regenerative abilities, they sealed off the “breakthrough” they had painstakingly created.
Even more tightly than before.
“This isn’t a fight against ninjas at all…”
The killing intent and rage on a Mist Ninja’s face had long vanished, replaced by deep-seated shock and uncontrollable terror.
He looked up, despairing at the layers upon layers of tree trunks and leaves that blocked the sky and pressed down.
“That Konoha ninja’s power… is like a god. How can humans be opponents of gods…”
For a ninja who had experienced the brutal baptism of the Bloody Mist to utter such words filled with despair and powerlessness.
It indicated that his will had been completely destroyed, reaching the depths of despair.
“Water Release: Water Vortex Drill Technique!”
Another Mist Ninja’s face contorted, using all his might to condense his chakra into a high-speed rotating water drill, finally managing to blast through another thick tree trunk with great difficulty.
But he, almost depleted of chakra and gasping for breath…
Despairingly watched as another, even larger tree trunk, as if waiting, lunged out from the shadows on the side, carrying irresistible force, instantly blocking and sealing off the brief path of hope ahead.
He collapsed to the ground powerlessly, muttering blankly, his eyes vacant, “How can this be? The difference… how can it be so vast?”
The next second.
The tree trunks on his left and right, like giant arms, began to powerfully squeeze towards him with the momentum of crushing everything!
“Puchi—!”
A muffled sound, like a water-filled balloon bursting instantly.
In mere moments, his entire body was crushed!
As easily as swatting a mosquito, scarlet blood mixed with bone fragments and flesh splattered onto the rough tree trunks, painting a dazzling and cruel crimson pattern.
He lost his life without even being able to let out a proper scream.
Becoming nourishment for this forest.
And as this large group of Mist Ninja struggled and perished in this jungle purgatory,
Uchiha Ikeizumi stood quietly on the highest treetop of the Wood Style ninjutsu.
This was hundreds of meters in the air, with a strong breeze blowing his robes.
From this vantage point, one could see about a third of the Hidden Mist Village.
The remaining lights flickered in the distance, forming a stark contrast with the silent forest nearby.
One could also clearly see the small number of Mist Ninja gathered outside the range of the Wood Style ninjutsu, who were too shocked to advance, their faces etched with fear.
His gaze swept across the entirety of the Hidden Mist Village.
He noticed the buildings, which were clearly simpler, older, and even somewhat dilapidated compared to those in Konoha Village.
The atmosphere of the entire village, like most towns in the Land of Water, was shrouded in an indescribable oppression and dullness, lacking vitality and hope.
If one ignored the continuous, gradually thinning screams from below, this silence would be even more pronounced.
Endless sin had once proliferated on this land.
The Bloody Mist Policy, like a malignant tumor, corroded this village.
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s eyes were calm and unperturbed.
“After tonight, although it won’t immediately reach the same level of prosperity and peace as Konoha Village, at least… it will be better than before. At the very least… some who should have died but remain at large, some who are stubbornly unyielding in their thinking, and those whose hands are stained with blood, will be judged by this Absolute Justice.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi slowly raised one hand, his movements steady and composed.
As he slowly closed his five fingers, forming a fist.
The ground began to vibrate more violently and deeply, as if the earth’s veins were groaning.
The thick trees within a radius of several hundred meters beneath him, responding to his will, began to intertwine, weave, twist, and close with unprecedented power and speed!
The screams from below seemed to intensify and become more piercing due to the rapid compression of space.
Quite a bit of blood even seeped out like small streams through the gaps between the initial tree trunks, dyeing the ground red.
If one listened carefully, one could faintly hear the grating “crackling” sounds.
The sounds were dense and terrifying, and it was unclear whether it was wood breaking under immense pressure or bones breaking.
The faintly visible veins on the back of Uchiha Ikeizumi’s hand twitched slightly.
Below, the thick tree trunks began to show signs of cracking due to the strong and forceful compression and entanglement.
The sound of wood fibers breaking was like firecrackers, “pīlīpālā,” incessantly.
The continuous screams interspersed within seemed to become sparser and weaker, eventually becoming almost inaudible.
The tree trunks were now fitted so tightly together that there wasn’t a single drop of blood that could spill out.
All signs of life were sealed within.
And at this moment…
Countless thick, blood-stained and scorched tree trunks had already twisted and intertwined in the core area of the Hidden Mist Village, forming an unimaginably huge and complex spiral wooden sphere!
This sphere, hundreds of meters in diameter, stood majestically!
The surface of the sphere was formed by the interweaving and entangling of three colors: the brownish-red of the bark, the scarlet of splashed and solidified blood, and the tender green of new leaves!
At this time.
No more screams could be heard from below; apart from the occasional creaking of wood under stress, there was absolute silence.
The thick tree trunks no longer intertwined and closed in on each other, as if all power and objectives had been achieved.
The bulging veins on Uchiha Ikeizumi’s hand, faintly visible due to exertion, had now receded.
The hand he had raised slowly lowered.
The entire Hidden Mist Village… along with the ninja observing from afar, had fallen into a deathly, suffocating silence!
……
Mei Terumī was completely stunned, her mind a blank, her delicate body trembling uncontrollably.
She couldn’t comprehend how such a large number of elite ninja from the Hidden Mist Village, including many Jonin experts, could have been all killed in such a short amount of time, like harvested wheat.
Simply because the opponent could use the First Hokage’s Wood Style Ninjutsu?
That reason seemed so flimsy at this moment.
Or did Uchiha Ikeizumi’s Chakra permeate the ground the moment he stepped into the Hidden Mist Village, laying an ambush beneath it…
And as soon as those “people seeking death” stepped into his designated area, they would fall into his trap without question?
Compared to the power Uchiha Ikeizumi displayed, were the many ninja of the Hidden Mist Village truly so weak and unbearable?
Did the traditional human wave tactic truly serve no purpose in front of a being of this caliber?
Back then, the Third Raikage, who was so powerful and known as the “strongest spear” and “strongest shield,” also fought for a long time against the constant attacks and encirclement of tens of thousands of Iwagakure ninja, eventually exhausting himself to death, didn’t he?
That was at least a brutal and long battle.
But what was before them now…
This was almost instantaneous annihilation.
Was Uchiha Ikeizumi even more powerful than the Third Raikage, who was hailed as the strongest Raikage of all generations?
He…
Had he truly reached the level of Hashirama Senju, the mythical God of Shinobi from back then?
To be honest, Mei Terumī didn’t know how strong Hashirama Senju, known as the God of Shinobi, truly was; that was, after all, a legend from over half a century ago.
Within the scope of her limited imagination, she felt that Hashirama Senju’s power, which could suppress the entire Ninja World with absolute strength and distribute the Tailed Beasts, should be similar to that of Uchiha Ikeizumi now.
After all, isn’t Uchiha Ikeizumi now… single-handedly and effortlessly suppressing the entire Hidden Mist Village?!
Mei Terumī even felt certain that even if all those present who chose to watch were to charge forward together, the outcome would probably be no different.
“…I can confirm that he is indeed not from Konoha, sent to invade our Hidden Mist Village.” Ao’s voice next to her still carried a hint of his unconcealed trembling.
His face was pale, and there was still un-dried cold sweat on his forehead.
“I think that Third Hokage of Konoha would have absolutely no way of commanding such a monster. How could such a powerful individual obediently follow the orders of a Hokage?”
……
……
