"How is that possible!?"
"Upper Moon One? He's still alive?"
"That swordsmanship is so fast!"
The sudden shift in the situation caught everyone off guard.
Ryuhei, Ryūsetsuna, and Mui weren't the only ones there. All told, more than a hundred people from the Ninja Village Allied Forces and the Akatsuki Organization had gathered both inside and outside the encirclement.
Yet not one of them had sensed Upper Moon One's ambush in advance.
He was like a ghost beneath the night sky, appearing out of nowhere behind Muku and launching a surprise attack.
If Muku had been caught off guard, there was at least an element of surprise to blame.
But Upper Moon One's sword strike against Mui was a display of pure skill—terrifyingly refined swordsmanship that sent a chill through everyone who witnessed it.
After all, Mui was one of Kusagakure's top elite Jonin, no mere scrub.
His skill was clear from the Sealing Technique he had just used to turn Muku back from his state of enlightenment and into human form.
Yet even a master like him, at such close range, hadn't just failed to land a hit—his arm had been effortlessly severed.
The shinobi around them could now feel Upper Moon One's terrifying power for themselves!
Far away,
Yakumo was just as stunned. "Why is he here? And what's with the face on the back of his head?"
Unlike the others, Yakumo's Red Dragon Eye let her observe things in greater detail. She immediately noticed that a face was growing on the back of Tanjiro's head, with "Upper Moon Three" inscribed in its pupils.
It was as if Upper Moon One had taken Upper Moon Three's face for himself!
Ranmaru, whose Red Eye had mutated, noticed it too.
As astonishment gave way to calculation, he considered using the