Mantis Konoha

The battle in Uzushio Hidden Village quickly intensified.

Two thousand elite soldiers from Sunagakure and Iwagakure continuously confronted and slaughtered the Uzumaki Ninja, making the battle extremely difficult for the latter.

Although their sealing techniques were powerful, especially some forbidden jutsu, most of them required close proximity to deploy.

However, the sand and rock ninjas were clearly prepared for this and gave them no chance to close in, instead releasing ninjutsu from a distance, and the two sides even coordinated with a tacit understanding.

The Suna puppet master troops directly manipulated puppets to launch ranged attacks, and even if the Uzumaki Ninja used forbidden jutsu to destroy the puppets, it was difficult to cause damage to the users themselves.

The Iwa ninjas jointly cast large-scale Earth Style Ninjutsu, making them hard to attack.

Moreover, the ninja with Lava Release possessed even greater destructive power, making them far too difficult to fight.

Primarily, they had consumed a massive amount of chakra earlier during their burst attack to wipe out the Kirigakure Ninja Army, which heavily impacted their combat effectiveness.

We can't drag this out any longer!

Uzumaki Ashina wore an expression of absolute resolve.

The current war situation was very unfavorable to them. The Sand Ninja Army and Iwagakure Ninja Army had clearly obtained intelligence on the previous battle against the Kirigakure Ninja Army, guarding against the large-scale Five Elements power unleashed by their Bashosen.

Even though consumption like this would eventually allow them to grind down the enemy with the advantage of their own massive chakra reserves, the drain of maintaining the Four Red Yang Formation was also immense.

At this moment, they were already maintaining it by overdrafting their lives, and they could not hold on much longer.

Once the blockade of the Four Red Yang Formation was gone, these sand and rock ninjas could retreat leisurely, rest for a bit, and make a comeback, at which point their preparations would be even more thorough.

However, this was not what worried him the most; his greatest concern was Konoha's methods. So far, only Shimura Danzō had emerged, and that Third Hokage had not yet appeared.

Konoha's people had not even directly attacked Uzushio Hidden Village yet, and once they did, it would undoubtedly be a thunderous blow.

Therefore, the war against the sand and rock ninjas had to be resolved quickly now; it could not be delayed.

They had no choice but to use that forbidden jutsu!

"Second Uncle!"

Seeing the hand seals his second uncle was forming, Masahika Uzumaki, not far away, who was using the Adamantine Sealing Chains to fight Chiyo and her Ten Puppet Army of Chikamatsu, was greatly alarmed.

Naturally, he knew what those hand seals meant. It was a forbidden jutsu where once deployed, the caster's soul would also be dragged away by the Grim reaper, never to be reincarnated or see salvation. It was the most terrifying and taboo forbidden jutsu of the Uzumaki clan.

"Rōshi, come back quickly!"

Gari, commanding operations from the rear, noticed something amiss upon seeing the anomalies in the Uzumaki great elder and Masahika Uzumaki, and immediately shouted for Rōshi, who was engaged in a ranged duel with Lava Release magma and Adamantine Sealing Chains, to return.

The Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques were too bizarre and had far too many taboos; he had to be cautious.

Rōshi did not act recklessly. He withdrew from the attack range of the Adamantine Sealing Chains, leaped back onto the Earth Style Wall rampart on their side, and stared fixedly at those old fellows of the Uzumaki clan.

At the same time, he felt a puzzled inner doubt: the Four-Tails seemed very peaceful right now, not taking the opportunity to run amok, and even actively lent its chakra to counter those Adamantine Sealing Chains.

Was it afraid of the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques?

Meanwhile, those elderly members of the Uzumaki clan all raised their hands to form hand seals, their expressions resolute.

This was the strongest forbidden jutsu of their Uzumaki clan, specifically targeting the soul. Even a powerhouse like the First Hokage would undoubtedly die on the spot once caught, as long as his soul could be pulled out.

Furthermore, this forbidden jutsu was cast based on the user's chakra as a foundation. The stronger the chakra, the greater the might. Cast with the chakra reserves of the several of them, even the Kage from the Five Great Ninja Villages would still have to kneel.

"Invading evil ghosts, become sacrifices to the Grim Reaper along with this old man!"

His vision murky yet cold and sharp, Uzumaki Ashina swept his gaze across Chiyo and the others as he finished forming his hand seals.

The other few elders were likewise about to complete their hand seals. This was also one of the reasons why they used the Four Red Yang Formation to seal off the entire Uzushio Hidden Village in the first place—to guard against those people escaping.

Chiyo and the others felt deep anxiety in their hearts as they watched the actions of Uzumaki Ashina and the others. Was that another terrifying forbidden jutsu?

Just as Uzumaki Ashina and the others were sparing no expense of their life force to over-extract chakra and summon the Grim Reaper, they suddenly coughed up black blood all at once, collapsing to the ground one by one.

Immediately afterward, many people among the two fiercely fighting sides suddenly collapsed to the ground, even losing their breath.

"Poison?"

His legs turning to jelly, Masahika Uzumaki fell to one knee on the ground and spewed a mouthful of black blood, feeling utter disbelief.

They had long since guarded against Sunagakure's poison, not only preparing large amounts of antidotes but also wearing face masks, so how had they still been poisoned?

"It's not Sunagakure's poison!"

Struggling to stand up, Uzumaki Ashina looked at Chiyo and her brother, who were leaping back in a state of great distress, as well as the ninja army commander from Iwagakure, realizing that this was neither Suna's poison nor Iwa's; otherwise, it would have been impossible for their own people to be poisoned and laid low as well.

"Kumogakure?"

Masahika Uzumaki thought of Kumogakure first. Kumogakure was the one hoping for Uzushio Hidden Village to be wiped out so they could take in that faction of Uzumaki clansmen, especially that detestable brat.

How despicable!

"Slap!"

Uzumaki Ashina delivered a fierce backhand slap, scolding him with fierce exasperation: "It's come to this and you still don't understand? This is Konoha making a move against us! Compared to Kumogakure, Konoha desires the annihilation of our Uzushio Hidden Village even more.

It must be a trick secretly left behind when those three people entered the village this morning; otherwise, it would have been impossible to silently execute it through the Four Red Yang Formation."

Although there was no evidence, some things could be figured out simply by using one's brain.

Moreover, he had originally been guarding against Konoha's trump card, expecting hidden powerhouses or a ninja army, but who would have thought it was this bizarre poison, leaving even him unaware of when he had been poisoned.

"Konoha!"

Chiyo, on the opposite side, seemed to have discovered something and roared in anger, her features twisting with a trace of savagery.

Now all three factions participating in the battle were poisoned, collapsed on the ground, and rapidly dying. Clearly, this poison did not belong to any of their three parties, leaving only Konoha, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure.

Kirigakure had already exited the stage and was not skilled in using poison to begin with; Kumogakure was similarly unskilled in poison, leaving only Konoha.

Furthermore, she felt that this did not seem like simple poison, but rather some kind of living creature, resembling some sort of small insect, which immediately made her think of Konoha's Aburame clan.

"Uzumaki Clan Head, we've all been schemed against by Konoha. We have venomous bugs from the other side inside our bodies—this should be a secret jutsu of Konoha's Aburame clan. How about a truce for now?"

Ebizo consumed some poisonous medicine to suppress the venomous bugs inside his body and shouted through clenched teeth, enduring the discomfort.

Continuing to fight now made no sense, because their common enemy had shifted to Konoha.

Besides, the Uzumaki Ninja were more troublesome than they had anticipated, and they could not end the battle in a short time; a truce was their only option.

"I declare a truce on behalf of Iwagakure!"

Gari, the commander of the Iwagakure Ninja Army—whose condition over there was likewise poor—shouted in follow-up while vomiting black blood, indicating a ceasefire.

The people on their side had essentially all fallen down as well, leaving only a few of them with stronger power still stubbornly holding on. Continuing to fight would inevitably lead to total annihilation.

This time, Konoha's skill was superior and they had won. Iwagakure would log this debt.

Yet before Masahika Uzumaki could even respond, identical chakra suddenly welled up from the corpses, and instantly, explosive tags materialized out of thin air.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

In an instant, the entire Uzushio Hidden Village was engulfed by flames and roars, every single corpse and building blown to pieces and incinerated.

Especially enveloped as they were within the Four Red Yang Formation, the impact of the explosion was made even more concentrated, even triggering the fiery power of the Four Red Yang Formation and amplifying its destructive might.

The four Uzumaki elders, who had already reached their limits, could finally hold on no longer, and the Four Red Yang Formation shattered accordingly.