Immortal Body

The Cultists drew their strange weapons and charged at Kazuna.

The Three Tomoe spun in Kazuna's eyes as Chakra instantly flowed throughout his body.

There was one thing Kazuna had not been boasting about: his Body Flicker Technique was even stronger than Shisui's.

Whoosh!

The strange weapons slashed through the air, but Kazuna had already vanished.

When he reappeared, he was standing before one of the Cultists.

"Bang!"

Kazuna swung his Kunai, slicing the throat of the fervent Cultist.

Yet the man seemed completely unharmed. His expression only grew more fanatical. He paid no attention to his wound and simply swung his weapon at Kazuna.

...Immortal Body!

Kazuna launched attacks at several others, then finally breathed out a mouthful of blood flames.

Although he had restrained the blood flames' power, they still roasted several Cultists until they were seven-tenths done.

The smell of grilled meat filled the air.

Ordinary people would have long since died.

Yet these Cultists continued shouting and screaming.

The Sharingan recorded everything.

As he fought, Kazuna pondered the matter.

He could not determine the cause of their Immortal Bodies, but the earlier area attack had confirmed that the Cultists' Immortal Bodies differed as well.

Some were stronger, some weaker.

Some suffered fatal wounds as if they felt nothing.

Others were clearly in pain and weakened. They still wanted to attack him, but lacked the strength to do so.

A few had even been killed outright by him.

Their Immortal Bodies had not been cultivated to a sufficient level.

Then...

Kazuna turned his gaze toward the young man nearby.

Hidan!

He was someone who had mastered the Immortal Body.

At that moment, he stared at Kazuna fervently, a malicious and crazed smile curling his lips. A strange weapon had appeared in his hand as he approached Kazuna!

This guy's Immortal Body was truly formidable. The only question was how much of his peak strength he possessed now.

Kazuna frowned slightly.

He had not held back at all with that slap just now. He had used his full strength.

He had thought he could blow Hidan's head apart with one slap. Who would have expected that after being sent flying and stuck to the wall, the guy would slowly slide back down?

Then he shakily climbed to his feet.

Where was the injury?

I hit you with my full strength. You should at least be hurt a little, right?

You really couldn't give me any face, huh?

Kazuna instantly appeared before Hidan and gently placed his hand over Hidan's chest.

Bang!

With a dull thud, Hidan's chest suddenly bulged outward. He let out a scream, spraying chunks of internal organs from his mouth.

"If I shatter all your organs, I refuse to believe you still won't die."

Kazuna muttered, then rushed toward another Cultist and slammed him into the ground.

"It hurts like hell, you bastard who has offended the Evil God!"

Hidan's shriek rang out once more.

Seeing Hidan bounce back to his feet and charge at him, Kazuna gave up.

With that kind of vitality, even cockroaches would kneel and call you their second brother!

"Enough. The Immortal Body experiment ends here. Next comes the time for me to reap my rewards, so don't make trouble!"

Kazuna smiled and turned his gaze toward the Cultists charging at him.

The Body Flicker Technique activated.

Kazuna grabbed one Cultist by the head.

"Absorb!"

The Divine Tree immediately reacted abnormally.

It seemed extremely excited. The aged faces on its trunk trembled, as though they were about to awaken.

A tremendous suction force swept forth.

"AAAAAH!!!"

A Cultist suddenly let out a shrill scream.

This was the first time such a cry had come from a Cultist.

Then, before the naked eye, the Cultist was sucked dry by Kazuna, turning into a Mummy.

Kazuna could clearly sense that there was truly not a trace of life force left in that corpse.

Even so, the Divine Tree seemed dissatisfied. That immense suction force was still operating.

A powerful, pure life energy surged into Kazuna's body.

"Ugh!"

Kazuna gave a muffled grunt. He first used the Body Flicker Technique to evade the numerous attacks before examining his body.

All of that life energy had replenished the fruit, and the Sage Art Fruit had visibly grown larger.

"Hm?"

Kazuna was genuinely stunned.

The effect was simply even better than White Zetsu.

White Zetsu could be explained by Hashirama Cells, but what did these Immortal Bodies rely on? Why were they so appealing to the Divine Tree?

Kazuna had originally doubted whether the Divine Tree could even absorb these people, since they could not be killed.

If they were not killed, their life energy still had an owner.

Now he understood. The Divine Tree could forcibly plunder it.

Whoosh!

Kazuna vanished again and appeared before a Cultist. He grabbed the man and began absorbing him.

This time, the Sage Art Fruit evolved directly.

LV·2 (Sage Art)

The effect was even better than with that previous Cultist!

Because Immortal Bodies varied in strength, and this one was clearly stronger.

In an instant, the way Kazuna looked at the Cultists changed.

These are pigs I'm raising. No one is allowed to steal them from me, or I'll kill them!

At the same time, Kazuna's thinking changed.

These Cultists could not be killed!

The better the Immortal Body's effect, the greater the benefit to the fruit after absorption.

Pigs had to be fattened before slaughter!

"For the Evil God!"

"Kill him!"

The Cultists did not fear death at all. Even after seeing their companions sucked into Mummies by Kazuna, they still charged forward with fanatical cries.

The Three Tomoe spun in his eyes, forming a triangular pattern.

Mangekyo!

Crackle, crackle!

BOOM!!!

An evil, blood-red Skeletal Giant appeared, rapidly growing flesh and blood.

"W-What is that?"

Even the frenzied Cultists stared dumbfounded at the enormous, majestic Susanoo.

"This is Daddy. Be good children and call me that."

Kazuna gave an evil grin as the Susanoo's power continued to rise, quickly sprouting flesh and blood.

The colossal Susanoo held up heaven and earth.

The Cultists were all stunned speechless.

Many people's weapons fell to the ground.

Before such an existence, whether they had weapons or not made little difference.

Even Hidan was dumbfounded, muttering unconsciously, "Damn it, Evil God..."

Smack!

Kazuna formed hand seals with both hands.

Susanoo followed suit, forming hand seals with both hands.

Massive Chakra flooded the entire space, its overwhelming power suffocating everyone present.

"Genjutsu: Hell Viewing Technique!"

Bzz!

All the Cultists present suddenly wore blank expressions, standing stupidly where they were.

"Huff, huff!"

Kazuna panted lightly, blood slowly beginning to trickle from the corners of his eyes.

How long had it been since he had exerted himself this much?

There were simply too many targets for this genjutsu, and its range was far too wide.

Fortunately, there were no Jonin among the Cultists.

For my pigs, I'm going all out!

Daddy will always love you!

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Kazuna froze and looked suspiciously at the Cultists he had caught in the genjutsu.

"The genjutsu's effect is even better than I expected!?"

These Cultists weren't good at resisting genjutsu?

That was both surprising and unexpected, but it certainly saved him a lot of trouble.

Crackle!

The triangular symbols in his eyes spun once, and Mangekyo appeared in Susanoo's eyes as well.

Kazuna formed hand seals again, using the massive Susanoo as a medium to cast the technique.

"Threaded Light Formation!"

Crack! Crack! Crack!

All the Cultists caught in the genjutsu were sealed by Sealing Jutsu.

"Hah!" Kazuna let out a heavy breath. "Okay, final step: pack them up and take them away!"