Chapter 209: Hidden Mist’s Two Choices
However…
The Tailed Beast Bomb, which gathered all the power of the Three-Tails Isobu and was enough to completely erase half of a ninja village from the map, seemed like nothing more than a child’s tossed ball in front of the even larger Perfect Susanoo!
Facing the Tailed Beast Bomb that carried an aura of destroying everything and came whistling through the air, the cold gaze hidden under the thick war helmet of the Perfect Susanoo showed no fluctuation whatsoever.
Its huge hands, covered in crimson armor, steadily gripped the hilt of that massive Lava Great Blade, as wide as a great gate.
Just as the Tailed Beast Bomb was about to collide with the Susanoo’s chest armor within inches…
Swoosh—!!!
A crimson-hot arc flashed out at a speed that surpassed the reaction time of an elite ninja’s thoughts, swift as thunder and impossible to cover one’s ears against!
The trajectory of the blade seemed to briefly slice open a gash in space itself!
In the instant when the blade of the Lava Great Blade touched the surface of the pitch-black Tailed Beast Bomb.
An extremely weird absolute silence, as if all things were returning to stillness, instantly enveloped this heaven and earth.
The initial fluctuations from the clash of destructive energies exceeded the capture range of ordinary hearing.
Distant onlookers even felt an illusion that time and space had been frozen solid.
As if the entire world had turned into a still black-and-white oil painting.
The next instant!
Sizzle—!!!
Like a red-hot treasure sword cutting into a large block of butter, or like rolling heatwaves melting snow.
In the instant the edge of the Lava Great Blade touched the Tailed Beast Bomb, that highly compressed and extremely unstable Tailed Beast Bomb did not produce the anticipated earth-shattering explosion.
Instead, it was cleanly and without any resistance bisected by the edge of the Lava Great Blade!
Boom!!!
Boom!!!
The Tailed Beast Bomb, precisely cut in half, lost the balance and stability of its yin-yang chakra energies.
Transforming into two slightly smaller dark black energy masses, they whistled past the left and right sides of the Perfect Susanoo with shrill screeches.
Shooting toward the distant horizon behind it.
Almost simultaneously, in two different areas several thousand meters behind the Susanoo, two massive explosion fireballs comparable to towering mountains erupted violently!
Blinding light instantly illuminated the sky.
Even briefly overpowering the sun’s brilliance!
The terrifying explosive shockwave arrived later but struck first, the destructive gale it whipped up roaring like a heavenly disaster, ruthlessly shredding and tearing the high-altitude cloud layers into shreds.
On the ground, house-sized boulders were uprooted one after another, then torn and ground into the finest dust in mid-air.
The vast primitive forest behind was instantly reduced to nothing under the core explosion’s extreme heat and shock.
Leaving only two enormous scorched black craters with glass-like edges!
Even from thousands of meters away, the ground under Uchiha Ikeizumi’s feet was still trembling and wailing violently.
Like a high-intensity earthquake, ferocious cracks spread out like a spiderweb.
Two massive mushroom clouds mixed with flames and dust slowly rose behind the Perfect Susanoo.
At the same time.
The slash from the Perfect Susanoo that cleaved the Tailed Beast Bomb showed no sign of slowing down!
The trajectory of the blade whipped up a crimson crescent-shaped shockwave formed from highly condensed Lava Release chakra!
The visible shockwave was like the Shinigami’s scythe.
Effortlessly cleaving and melting the ground ahead, plowing out a straight, deep massive gully with edges flowing with dark red lava.
The Lava Slash hurtled toward the Three-Tails Isobu, whose aura had greatly weakened and body frozen in place, at a speed that tore through everything!
That vertical crimson Lava Slash was even taller than the Three-Tails Isobu’s small-mountain-like massive body.
It also filled its entire field of vision!
The Three-Tails Isobu, whose aura had clearly weakened due to the Tailed Beast Bomb’s overexertion, suddenly widened its single eye to the limit.
Its pupil reflected that increasingly close scorching crimson that seemed to fill the entire world!
Fast!
Too fast!
So fast that it didn’t even have time to raise a claw to defend!
Its line of sight was completely swallowed by that destructive crimson!
Even the corner of its eye couldn’t see anything else.
As if between this heaven and earth, only this death-seeking slash remained.
The next second!
Pfft—!!!!
No earth-shattering collision sound, only a heart-palpitating dull thud like a blade cutting through tough leather!
The crimson Lava Slash solidly engulfed the Three-Tails Isobu’s massive body!
Its thick armor shell, proud enough to withstand ninjutsu bombardment, was as good as nothing before this Lava Slash.
Extreme heat instantly melted through it, followed closely by terrifying impact force that completely tore it apart!
Crimson red arc light flashed vertically through the center of the Three-Tails Isobu’s body!
Crack—!!!
The Three-Tails Isobu’s massive body, like a precisely cut sculpture, began to irreversibly split from the center toward the left and right!
The cut surface was smooth as a mirror, presenting a glassy state from instant high-temperature melting.
Scalding lava flowed slowly within like blood.
Rumble!!!
Rumble!!!
The massive body, severed in half, lost all support and heavily toppled to the left and right sides, crashing to the ground and kicking up billowing smoke and dust.
The tailed beast’s majestic life aura dissipated at a visible speed, like a deflating ball!
And located directly above the Three-Tails’ head, the Fourth Mizukage Yagura Karatachi, who bore the brunt, was completely evaporated and vaporized the instant the Lava Slash reached him.
Leaving no trace of existence.
Rumble rumble rumble—!!!
Even more shocking was…
That Lava Slash, after completely tearing apart the Three-Tails, showed almost no loss in power and continued forward with devastating force, viciously slashing into the massive mountain behind the Three-Tails Isobu!
The entire great mountain, as if cleaved by a sage’s giant axe, had a straight, smooth massive cut surface from peak to base!
Then, the mountain body groaned under the unbearable weight and collapsed violently to the left and right!
Countless megatons of boulders cascaded down like a waterfall, soon completely burying the Three-Tails Isobu’s halved remains.
Billowing smoke and dust shot skyward like a sandstorm.
Dust blotted out the sky!
When everything slowly subsided, rubble settled, and smoke gradually dispersed… the entire heaven and earth fell into a deathly silence.
Only the “gurgle” of lava flowing in the gully and the distant “crackle” of unextinguished flames reminded people that a battle far beyond ordinary ninja imagination had just occurred here.
Three-Tails Isobu—death!
Yagura Karatachi—death!
【Ding! You have successfully executed one Absolute Justice! Chakra amount boost reward obtained! Congratulations, you have burst—
【①: “Tailed Beast Bomb”! Even if you are not a tailed beast, you can subtly control the ratio of yin and yang attribute chakra to hand-form a Tailed Beast Bomb with power based on your chakra amount.】
【②: “Water Release: Water Mirror Technique”! Creates a mirror made of water that reflects the enemy’s attack and counters with an identical attack of equal power.】
…
In the distance.
Kijiro, Senior Izumi, and Juzo Biwa, who were fleeing for their lives, abruptly stopped almost simultaneously.
Because that destructive sense of crisis receded like the tide.
When they turned back just now, they personally witnessed that god-like punishment slash, as well as the instant defeat and death of the Three-Tails’ flesh and the Mizukage.
Juzo Biwa first stiffly turned his head, glancing at the distant areas on both sides leveled flat by the Tailed Beast Bomb’s aftermath.
That hellish scorched earth scene made the corner of his eye twitch slightly.
Then, his gaze fell on that massive mountain, severed in two by a single slash and now completely collapsed.
The habitual cold expression on his face could no longer hold; carrying the Executioner’s Blade, he subconsciously swallowed, murmuring dryly: “This… how does it feel like Uchiha Ikeizumi still has strength to spare? The Fourth Mizukage plus fully tailed beast-transformed power doesn’t even seem enough to force Uchiha Ikeizumi to go all out?”
That previous slash completely shattered all frameworks of Juzo Biwa’s understanding of “power.”
That was no longer a battle between ninjas!
At the same time, a massive doubt uncontrollably surged in his heart: “Since he has such overwhelming power, he could clearly subdue the Fourth Mizukage and Three-Tails in a simpler, low-key way. Why make such a huge commotion?”
Kijiro had reverted to his fat ninja cat form.
It licked its paw, thoughtfully speculating: “Meow, Senior Ikeizumi doing this is probably not just to execute justice; it’s more like a warning. In the most direct and shocking way, informing all ninjas of Hidden Mist Village and even the entire Land of Water—”
It paused, a flash of realization in its cat eyes: “Informing them—Absolute Justice has arrived in the Land of Water!”
“Before all Mist Ninjas, there are only two paths.”
Kijiro continued in its strange tone: “One is to follow the Fourth Mizukage and choose to oppose Absolute Justice, then… that’s the outcome; the other is… to cooperate obediently, and perhaps there’s a way to survive.”
“Of course.”
Kijiro added: “If they themselves are villains stained with sin, then no matter how they choose, they only have the path of death.”
Juzo Biwa was stunned upon hearing this: “This…”
He stared at the apocalyptic scene ahead, like it had been bombed by a meteor shower, his mouth twitching: “This kind of ‘warning’… is a bit too exaggerated…”
Uchiha Izumi next to him immediately interjected: “But this fits perfectly with Senior Ikeizumi’s style! He dislikes trouble and roundabout games the most.”
“If a single impactful ‘demonstration’ can intimidate potential enemies and save countless future troubles… then Senior Ikeizumi will absolutely unhesitatingly show his ‘muscles’.”
She recalled her experiences in Konoha Village, saying seriously: “This might be why Senior Ikeizumi always makes a big scene every time he executes justice in the village.”
And the effect, in the girl’s eyes, was also very significant.
Many ninja clans and higher-ups in Konoha had long been deeply intimidated by Senior Ikeizumi’s immense power.
Senior Izumi’s gaze swept over this scorched earth, finally landing on Juzo Biwa: “Now Senior Ikeizumi has shown the power of Absolute Justice to your Hidden Mist Village in the most direct way.”
“Next, it depends on how the ninjas of Hidden Mist Village choose.”
Juzo Biwa: “…”
…
On the other side, the moment the collapsed mountains completely buried the Three-Tails’ remains.
Mei Terumī and Ao, with abruptly contracted pupils, after extreme shock.
Almost without hesitation, charged toward the direction of the mountain collapse.
They pushed their speed to the limit against the rubble constantly falling and smashing down from the sky, still harboring a sliver of hope.
When rushing into range about a kilometer from the collapsed mountain, Ao abruptly stopped, veins bulging violently around his eyes as he activated Byakugan insight to the extreme!
His vision instantly penetrated the layered rocks and pervasive smoke.
Quickly scanning that ruin.
However, the next second…
Ao froze stiffly in place like he had been hit with a binding technique, unmoving.
Color drained from his face, filled with incredulous horror.
Mei Terumī’s heart sank sharply; she naturally saw the change in Ao’s expression.
She asked: “Ao! How is the Mizukage?”
Ao mechanically turned his head, his voice hoarse from extreme shock as he murmured: “The Mizukage’s chakra reaction has completely vanished! He… is dead!”
“And the Three-Tails… the Three-Tails’ massive chakra is also rapidly dissipating. This means… the Mizukage and Three-Tails Isobu were killed at the same time by that Konoha Lava Release Ferocious Beast!”
Mei Terumī: “!!!”
Though she had anticipated it, at the moment death was confirmed, she still felt a strong sense of disbelief.
To the point where she seemed somewhat dazed.
Though she had expected the Mizukage might not be Uchiha Ikeizumi’s opponent, or even might suffer defeat and death.
But she never imagined the process would be so straightforward and decisive.
This wasn’t a battle at all; it was one-sided crushing slaughter!
The Mizukage probably never even had a chance to touch the opponent’s clothes from start to finish!
And the power Uchiha Ikeizumi displayed… had already exceeded her cognitive limit of the “ninja” concept.
Mei Terumī also discovered that she felt no great sadness in her heart.
More shock and horror…
Perhaps, deep in her heart, that Fourth Mizukage who continuously deepened the Bloody Mist Policy, leading Hidden Mist into deeper isolation and darkness, was not someone she was willing to loyally serve.
Thinking of this.
Mei Terumī’s mood was complex.
“Lady Mei Terumī…”
Suddenly, Ao’s voice rang out again, this time filled with uncontrollable shock: “That, that monster… seems to be looking this way!”
What?!
Mei Terumī snapped awake from her chaotic thoughts, a chill instantly surging from her feet to the top of her head.
Almost instinctively, she looked up and gazed toward the distant towering crimson Susanoo.
Only to see the pair of massive eye sockets burning with cold hellfire under the Perfect Susanoo’s war helmet…
Seemingly truly piercing through thousands of meters.
Precisely locking onto their current position!
Mei Terumī instantly broke out in cold sweat.
…
…
