Spirit Summoning: Slug Army

"Before assassinating the Hokage, one of your subordinates has already been reduced, hasn't he?"

"Ah--?"

The words Kakuzu spoke with such keen interest made the veins in Diejian's temples bulge.

Senju Diejian was a transmigrator.

He knew that Senju Hashirama had sensed this fact—Diejian was aware of it.

Ever since the memories began to flow, they were recollections that had been summoned back as he grew older.

Those memories and experiences that should not have existed tormented the young Diejian.

They were not precise memories, but rather vague colors like moonlight flickering on the surface of water; yet, even so, Diejian understood that his way of existing was different from that of ordinary people.

Diejian was troubled, fearful, and pained by his own existence.

At times he nearly went mad, but a terrifyingly calm knowledge and rationality, surging from somewhere unknown, prevented it all.

To appease those around him who were confused by these changes, Diejian even went so far as to "act out a naturally lively and cheerful personality"—and his efforts were not in vain; those around him were easily deceived, all saying in unison, "It's just a sentimental phase."

Only Hashirama noticed this "deterioration" in Diejian.

Perhaps that was Diejian's misunderstanding.

However, he had a vague conviction.

One day, Hashirama took Diejian out and stood upon his own stone face.

Facing the scenery that offered a panoramic view of the village, Diejian felt nothing at all.

Hashirama pointed out, "That is my house, that is the Sarutobi Clan," and so on, but Diejian only pretended to look.

Only Hashirama's voice echoed intensely in Diejian's ears.

Because Hashirama could not completely hide the "emotion" seeping through his voice.

Hashirama's voice irritated Diejian's nerves.

Looking at Hashirama's bright smile, Diejian inexplicably wanted to punch him.

It was perhaps a form of displaced irritability, like thinking, Don't put on airs as a grandfather in front of me; you don't understand my troubles at all.

Dazed by his own irritability, Diejian was pulled back to reality by Hashirama's question: "Do you like the village?"

Diejian could not answer that question.

Hashirama did not mind Diejian's reaction and began to speak:

"I love it very much. The village is my treasure!"

So what? Diejian thought.

He even dangerously mused, You sure talk a lot; how about I smash that mouth of yours to pieces?

At that moment, Hashirama's voice stopped.

Looking up, he saw Hashirama gazing at the village with a serious expression.

Diejian braced himself for whatever he was about to say next.

He was swallowed by Hashirama's sudden shift in demeanor.

"The village is home, and the villagers are family. That is the Will of Fire, which transcends all barriers and connects everyone—our family."

A voice containing a strong will, yet at the same time, infinitely gentle.

Diejian held his breath.

Hashirama crouched down until he was at eye level with Diejian.

The bewildered Diejian.

Hashirama's serious expression shifted into a slight smile—he beamed, and with his thumb, he tapped his forehead protector.

Engraved upon it was the sharp, swirling mark symbolizing Konohagakure.

This was the proof of their bond as members of the village, as "ninjas of Konohagakure."

Hashirama untied that forehead protector and fastened it onto Diejian's forehead.

He tied the strap tightly and patted Diejian's head gently.

Then he stood up and resumed his boring chatter about "there's a decent gambling den over there..."

Diejian stared quietly at the side of Hashirama's face.

There was—no more irritability.

From then on, Hashirama treated Diejian just as he always had.

Sometimes he took him on patrols through the village, and other times he took him to enjoy his hobby of gambling.

He neither gave him "special treatment" nor stopped indulging his eldest grandson with "special treatment."

It was precisely the gaze of this "grandfather" that filled the vessel that was Diejian with love.

Diejian felt that "that" was an incredibly difficult task.

Diejian loved such a great grandfather from the bottom of his heart.

He knew the broad, generous back of his grandfather.

The words "I want to become Hokage" that he spoke to his grandfather were a sentiment Diejian truly wished to repay from the depths of his soul.

If anyone were to defile this.

If anyone were to destroy the way of life of the family known as Konoha, a dream, a form of love—to protect these things, Diejian would not mind becoming Asura.

This was strangely identical to the resolve his grandfather Hashirama upheld during his final battle with his best friend Madara.

"Multi Shadow Clone Technique!"

Fiery passion surged from the pit of his stomach, manifesting as chakra.

The Multi Shadow Clone Technique taught by Tobirama.

A unique ninjutsu that divides one's chakra equally to create clones with physical substance.

It was a high-level ninjutsu designated as a forbidden technique, as those with low chakra reserves would weaken or even risk death upon using it.

First, he would use expendable shadow clones to test the enemy's strength.

"Shadow clones? Never heard of such a technique."

Kakuzu tilted his head.

The Shadow Clone Technique was a relatively new ninjutsu developed by Tobirama during the chaos of war.

The only users were Tobirama and his disciples.

For ninjas belonging to other villages in small nations, Tobirama's information control was strict.

The shadow clones in the front row scattered left and right to surround Kakuzu, simultaneously throwing the wooden swords hanging at their waists toward the enemy.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

The shadow clones in the rear leaped up, unleashing ninjutsu toward the thrown wooden swords.

The fire dragons engulfed the wooden swords, closing in on Kakuzu and his group.

"Fire Style: Wooden Sword Shadow Clone Technique!"

The wooden swords wreathed in fire dragons multiplied several times over.

The countless fire dragons produced spread their flames to the surrounding trees, illuminating the area.

The hidden ninjas could not help but reveal themselves.

There were four of them.

Including Kakuzu and the man he had killed, there were six in total.

It seemed Sakumo's detection had been accurate.

"Water Style: Water Severing Wave!"

The shadow clones concentrated their fire to intercept one of the enemy ninjas who had first emerged from the tree shadows.

The Water Severing Wave pierced through the wall of flames, striking the enemy ninja.

At the same time, the shadow clones in the very back ran out, charging toward the revealed ninjas.

Each enemy was pressed by dozens of Diejians; the ninjas hurriedly retreated to create distance, scattering in all directions.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

"Earth Style: Earth Style Wall!"

The water dragons unleashed by the pursuing shadow clones were blocked by the earth walls created by the enemy ninjas.

Splashing water sprayed onto the flickering flames.

With the sound of water evaporating, the field of vision was covered in white, but Diejian used this gap to dive underground using Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage.

As if to follow up with another strike, the shadow clones closing in on Kakuzu launched Fire Dragon Flame Bullets.

Mist and fire dragons mingled, and the surroundings fell into chaos.

"Did it work...?"

"You underestimate me. I never thought a brat would actually dare to challenge me..."

From the flickering flames, Kakuzu emerged.

His upper body, exposed where his clothes had burned away, showed no signs of injury.

Instead, it revealed black, glistening tentacles that had been hidden beneath his clothes, writhing and undulating.

"Ugh..."

Diejian couldn't help but grimace.

However, despite the bizarre appearance, he observed carefully, concluding that this must be a secret ninjutsu.

There were incisions and suture marks at the joints of his body, as if various parts had been stitched together, with tentacles writhing between them.

This was nothing less than a tentacle monster wearing human skin.

Kakuzu glanced around, and Diejian, who was standing guard, also twitched his fingers in response.

In front of Kakuzu's line of sight lay a ninja covered in blood.

It was likely that Diejian's jutsu had scored a direct hit.

The body was severed into upper and lower halves, riddled with holes.

"But you, it seems you aren't just some ordinary brat. The Hokage's grandson lives up to the reputation. An impressive fellow."

As he spoke, Kakuzu's tentacles moved.

To bore holes into Diejian, the tentacles closed in from all directions.

Bundling multiple tentacles into a single strand increased their sharpness, easily capable of piercing a human body.

The Shadow Clones on the front line were easily pierced and vanished, and the Water Wall erected by the mid-layer Shadow Clones was like paper before Kakuzu's tentacles.

The remaining Shadow Clones created even more clones.

These were not Shadow Clones, but clones utilizing Water and Earth nature transformations.

Unlike Shadow Clones, which were composed entirely of one's own chakra, Water Clones and Earth Clones used physical matter as a medium, requiring relatively less chakra.

Diejian utilized the water and earth he had created with his Water Style to produce a large number of clones with minimal chakra.

However—

"How annoying."

—Karma.

A massive fireball appeared before Diejian.

Fire Style: Searing Migraine.

The giant fireball released by Kakuzu easily swallowed the clones.

At the same time, thud—a heavy sound echoed from the ground.

Diejian's true body, which had been lurking underground, leaped to the surface and unleashed the Water Dragon Bullet Technique from directly beneath Kakuzu.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

"Ugh!"

Kakuzu stepped back to evade Diejian's assault, then delivered a fierce kick into Diejian's abdomen.

Diejian couldn't help but groan as he was sent flying, crashing violently into a tree trunk.

"Die!"

To dodge the encroaching tentacles of Kakuzu, Diejian endured the pain and scrambled to his feet.

As expected, Diejian's true position could not be hidden.

Against a seasoned ninja, a surprise attack of this level would not work.

Diejian's expression twisted; while dodging the tentacles, he cast his gaze toward the area behind Kakuzu.

Kakuzu was indeed being suppressed.

But the remaining ninjas, who were countering with the same tactics, had successfully stalled the enemy's advance.

In that case—

"Earth Style: Earth Mountain Jutsu!"

Earthen walls emerged from Kakuzu's left and right, attempting to crush him as they slammed shut.

Kakuzu used his tentacles to block the movement of the walls and leaped up with ease, evading the attack.

Taking advantage of the opening while the tentacles were on the defensive, Diejian created Shadow Clones and sent them toward Kakuzu.

"Being toyed with by a brat, how useless..."

The Shadow Clones were blocked by the flailing tentacles, unable to close the distance.

Meanwhile, more tentacles surged from Kakuzu's back, increasing his volume and forming a thick wall of tentacles.

It looked as if masks with different expressions were embedded in that wall—just as that thought crossed his mind, three masks slid out from the tentacles, and the tentacles beneath them began to writhe.

They gradually took on human shapes.

The sight could only be described as grotesque.

Seeing an opportunity, Diejian immediately unleashed a Fire Dragon Flame Bullet at maximum power, but it was extinguished by the gale produced by Kakuzu's Wind Style: Pressure Damage.

Furthermore, the shockwave blew Diejian away.

The masks that had gained bodies each ran off in different directions.

Those directions led to the battlefield where dozens of Diejian's clones were currently suppressing the Takigakure ninjas.

—This is bad.

Surmising that this was likely a form of puppetry, Diejian gritted his teeth in frustration.

Facing Kakuzu with the resolve to kill him, only to barely manage to hold him off—it was undoubtedly a bitter struggle.

The Shadow Clones fighting the other Takigakure ninja were also locked in a desperate battle; their numbers seemed to be dwindling, and the chakra used for those clones was partially returning to Diejian's body.

Despite being the grandson of the Hokage and possessing vast chakra, he was, in the end, still just a child who had yet to become an official ninja.

It was impossible for him to match the strength of ninja who had the audacity to participate in a mission as insane as assassinating the Hokage.

Chief among them was Kakuzu.

He was, of course, incredibly strong.

In contrast to Diejian, who had been fighting with everything he had from the very beginning, Kakuzu hadn't even sustained a single scratch.

On the other hand, Diejian was suffering minor injuries and losing stamina under the relentless barrage of Kakuzu's tentacle attacks.

With such a disparity in combat power between the main bodies, it was inevitable.

The Shadow Clones, which would inevitably degrade in quality, would only be wiped out just as they had been a moment ago.

If those puppets reached the battlefield where the Shadow Clones were, the clones would be annihilated sooner or later.

The battlefield of the Shadow Clones was also at a stalemate.

Once the enemy committed their full force, the outcome would be clear at a glance.

It could even be said that the scattered Takigakure ninja would inevitably converge on this battlefield.

That initial, fierce ninjutsu assault that managed to take out one enemy had only succeeded because the opponent had underestimated him as a mere child; now that they were on guard, it was impossible to use the same method to keep the converging ninja separated.

(I have to decide this before they regroup.)

Diejian steeled his resolve.

He created several Shadow Clones and erected a wall using Earth Style: Earth Wall.

The wall was destroyed by the tentacles, but as long as there was a momentary opening, it was enough for Diejian.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

He formed the hand seals and lightly bit his thumb.

He let the blood drip down and slammed his palm against the ground.

The summoning formula spread across the earth, and amidst a cloud of smoke, the summoning beast with whom Diejian had signed a contract was called forth.

Appearing with a massive body that swept aside the trees was a creature from the Shikkotsu Forest, where the Slug Sage was said to reside.

It was an ultra-giant slug that inhabited that land.

"Diejian-sama! What on earth is going on!?"

"Katsuyu, there's no time for a detailed explanation. Kill that wriggling guy. Lend me your power."

The great slug—named Katsuyu.

It was one of the slugs that had signed a summoning contract with his grandfather, Hashirama, and was also the summoning animal Diejian had inherited.

Katsuyu expressed surprise in a distinct, cute voice that didn't match its appearance or tone.

Slugs have no gender, but in terms of personality, it was considered masculine.

The trick to the sensory perception Diejian had demonstrated during his battle with Sakumo was exactly this.

He had summoned a tiny slug through the gap created by the water spray to distract his opponent's vision, hiding it in his hair without being noticed, and used it to detect Sakumo's position.

By mixing it into Diejian's own chakra, it was difficult for anyone but a highly skilled sensory ninja to detect the slug.

The fact that Ina could detect it while Sakumo could not was simply a difference in skill.

"A slug...? Slimy and disgusting."

"That's not for you to say! Hurry, Katsuyu!"

The amount of chakra consumed by a summoning jutsu varies depending on the size of the summoned animal.

The chakra required to summon the mountain-sized Katsuyu was a massive amount, even for Diejian.

Furthermore, there was a limit to how long the summoning jutsu could maintain the presence of the summoned beast.

Summoning Katsuyu, which consumed so much chakra that he couldn't fire off major techniques in succession, was a desperate gamble.

"--Nothing special. Just a bluff."

As Kakuzu's tentacles approached from his blind spot and pierced Katsuyu, the corners of Kakuzu's mouth curled upward.

"Scatter!"

Following Diejian's unwavering command, smaller slugs emerged one after another from Katsuyu's surface.

Slug Great Division—a technique that splits Katsuyu's giant body to create countless tiny slugs.

They were not clones, but a division; they shared a consciousness and possessed physical forms.

The small slugs increased in number like a gushing spring, crawling toward Kakuzu along his tentacles.

The tentacles were gradually swallowed by the army of slugs, but Kakuzu, whose tentacles were pinned down by Katsuyu's main body, could not escape.

Diejian formed the seals for Water Style: Water Severing Wave, aiming for Kakuzu's head.

"Behind you!"

"Gaa..."

"Lord Diejian!"

Just as the Katsuyu were about to engulf Kakuzu, Diejian's abdomen was pierced from behind by a water jet.

If he were to be flung aside like this, Diejian's body would be sliced in two.

Nearly losing consciousness from the pain and impact, Diejian rolled his eyes back, but regained his senses through sheer willpower and deflected the water jet behind him with a kunai infused with Earth Release chakra.

"Don't you think it's a bad idea to turn your back on an enemy during battle?"

"Guh."

"Heal him immediately!"

After deflecting the water jet and turning to guard, Diejian's shoulders were pierced by Kakuzu's tentacles.

The smaller Katsuyu blocked most of the tentacles, but the remaining two were too fast to stop.

Kakuzu twisted the embedded tentacles, attempting to drag Diejian away, but the Katsuyu clones clung tightly to Diejian's feet, refusing to let go.

The Katsuyu clones spat out acid, dissolving the tentacles and freeing Diejian.

Released from the tentacle bindings, Diejian spat out blood and collapsed into a crouch.

The Katsuyu clones surged from around Diejian's feet, hurriedly covering him.

At the same time, the ground beneath Diejian sank, and he vanished into the mass of Katsuyu.

A second and third water jet streaked over where Diejian had just been.

To think there's someone capable of using Water Severing Wave... they are truly veterans...

The enemy ninjas who had been lured away by the shadow clones had converged.

And that water jet that had pierced Diejian.

It was undoubtedly the Water Severing Wave technique, a jutsu Diejian himself excelled at.

Had they stolen it during that brief moment, or had they been holding it back the entire time?

Regardless, there was no denying that this was a move that would decide the outcome of the battle.

"Katsuyu... how many people have arrived?"

"...Two. There is one more, who seems to be arriving shortly."

"I see... even more experienced than I anticipated. Forget killing them; I can't even buy enough time."

A total of three—matching the number of enemies he had been stalling with his shadow clones.

Crunch—Diejian took a Blood Replenishment Pill from his pouch, bit down, and swallowed.

The wounds on his shoulder and abdomen vanished before his eyes.

This was not the effect of the pill, but the gift of medical ninjutsu—the healing ability possessed by Katsuyu.

His wounds were healed, and the blood he had lost was replenished.

But the chakra he had lost did not return.

Because of their focus on healing, Katsuyu had few direct offensive capabilities, and right now, they were already exerting their full strength just to protect Diejian from the surrounding enemies.

Would Sakumo and Ina, who had gone to call for reinforcements, make it in time? Not much time had passed since they left.

Even if nearby people noticed the massive body of the summoned Katsuyu and arrived in time, it would be useless unless they were highly skilled veterans.

This was but the tip of the iceberg of Kakuzu's strength—his Fire Release jutsu alone possessed power far beyond Diejian's.

Unless it was his senior, Sarutobi Hiruzen, or someone from the Uchiha clan who excelled at Fire Release and possessed the Sharingan to see through all ninjutsu and taijutsu, anyone else would simply be walking to their death.

While he pondered, the Katsuyu were also being depleted.

There was no time left.

In this desperate situation, Diejian clenched his trembling fists and resolved to return to the battlefield.