The Headless Giant Corpse

"Hokage-sama, the barrier is consuming Chakra far too quickly! At this rate, it won't even last ten minutes!"

The ninja who had been relieved of duty also knew how fast the barrier was consuming Chakra and hurriedly reported it.

"Don't panic. Reinforcements will be here soon. Hold on a little longer!"

How soon was "soon"?

They could only keep holding on with bitter expressions.

Even if they had to risk their lives, they could not let their Chakra run dry now.

Still, even if they could no longer endure, they could temporarily pull combat personnel over to support the barrier.

"Contract the barrier!"

At the Third Hokage's command, the barrier's range immediately shrank.

The barrier contracted smoothly. Although the Chakra consumption was terrifying, those ropes did not break through it. Still, everyone watched the barrier with tense expressions, afraid it would not hold.

The ropes appeared to have been stopped by the barrier, but where they made contact, the barrier had begun to dim. It looked completely different from the side untouched by the ropes.

That said, if things continued like this and nothing unexpected happened, those ropes would eventually be sealed successfully.

But sometimes, the very thing one feared was the thing that came to pass.

"W-What is that?!"

"The corpses... the corpses are moving!"

For most of those present, these Bizarre Creatures were something they had never encountered before.

Naturally, they widened their eyes, wanting to see what these things actually were.

As for the clans possessing bloodline ocular techniques, they naturally activated their eyes to get a good look.

The Hyuga Clan, however, found the viewing experience utterly dreadful.

In their eyes, the inside of the barrier was blurry and almost entirely pitch-black. They could see nothing at all. If they had not seen the ropes before activating the Byakugan, they would have thought there was nothing inside.

And the longer they watched, the more they felt that something unpleasant inside the barrier had fixed its gaze on them. There was more than one such gaze, too. Thinking of the heads hanging from the ropes, the Hyuga clansmen felt utterly miserable.

They even considered whether they should deactivate the Byakugan, since they could not see anything clearly even with it activated.

The Uchiha Clan was different. Although their Sharingan's insight was somewhat lacking, it possessed exceptional dynamic vision.

The moment the corpses moved, some Uchiha clansmen cried out in alarm.

Everyone looked closely, and the corpses had actually moved.

And it was not just one corpse. All the corpses were trembling as though they had been electrocuted.

Right before everyone's eyes, those headless corpses trembled as they rose to their feet.

The corpses that had only recently died were relatively fine, aside from the excessive amount of blood. But as for the corpses that had already decayed, rotten flesh fell from their bodies as they trembled and stood.

At the sight, nearly everyone's faces turned green.

The Uchiha clansmen with their Sharingan activated felt their stomach acid churn, nearly making them throw up.

From their perspective, despite being several hundred meters away, the rotting flesh was incomparably clear, like watching ultra-high-definition 4K footage in slow motion.

They could even see the maggots wriggling through the flesh with perfect clarity!

"What happened? What corpses are moving?"

Hyuga Hiashi, who had activated his Byakugan but could not see the situation inside the barrier clearly, asked instinctively.

"Just as it sounds. The corpses are moving."

Uchiha Fugaku's voice carried a faint tremor.

But Hyuga Hiashi still did not quite understand the situation. How exactly were the corpses moving? Uchiha Fugaku had not explained it at all.

He had thought the corpses were being tied up and controlled by the ropes.

Helplessly, Hyuga Hiashi deactivated his Byakugan. He had always believed the black mist shrouding those ghostly things could not be simple, and had hoped to glimpse some secret hidden within it.

"They really are... moving."

The moment he deactivated the Byakugan, Hyuga Hiashi saw the corpses twisting as they approached the barrier.

Wait, wasn't this bad?

Although the barrier possessed decent defensive strength, anyone could see that stopping the ropes alone was already a struggle. Adding these twisting corpses on top of that...

"Quick, increase the Chakra output!"

Chakra output could not simply be increased at will, since there were only so many nodes capable of supplying Chakra to the barrier.

Thus, each node went from being supplied by one person to three.

The somewhat illusory barrier began to solidify.

Because the barrier had gathered a vast amount of Chakra, it even gave the illusion of being tangible, as though a glazed bowl had been placed upside down from the sky.

The good news was that, perhaps because they were already dead, the corpses did not move very quickly.

After several people began supplying Chakra at each node, the barrier visibly thickened by a layer. Only then did the headless corpses slowly make their way to the edge of the barrier.

Then, just as everyone had guessed, the corpses began attacking the barrier.

Their method of attack was simple: they merely slapped the barrier with their hands or rammed it with their bodies.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Everyone seemed to hear the sounds of the corpses crashing against the barrier. Each impact felt as though it had struck their hearts, sending them into a state of panic as they feared the headless corpses would smash the barrier apart.

Fortunately, the barrier had already contracted once, becoming more solid. With even more Chakra gathered within it, it did not shatter in a single blow.

Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, several headless corpses clad in black appeared, unlike the corpses dressed in coarse hemp clothing.

The Third Hokage's breath caught when he saw them. They were all members of his Anbu.

With those Anbu corpses joining in, the barrier's light dimmed even faster.

Or rather, with those corpses joining in, the burden on the barrier had exceeded its critical limit.

Seeing this, without waiting for the Third Hokage's order, two more people immediately joined the Chakra supply nodes, bringing the number to five.

With that, the barrier became somewhat stable again.

But the problem was obvious after a little thought. The corpses would not tire, while their Chakra could quickly be exhausted.

One of the Chakra suppliers calculated that, with his amount of Chakra, the barrier would drain him dry in less than a minute.

Although there were people to replace them, aside from the heads of the major clans, nearly everyone was stationed at a node, ready to take over when someone could not hold on any longer. They would not even be able to rotate through many rounds. In other words, within a few minutes, the barrier would be breached.

As the old saying went, troubles never came alone.

The corpses that had been slapping and ramming the barrier suddenly gathered together.

Then they merged into a five-meter-tall giant—a headless giant.

The headless giant stretched out a palm formed from countless corpses and slapped it against the barrier.

That blow seemed to strike the hearts of those supplying Chakra to the barrier, making their hearts stop for an instant.