Two-Tomoe Sharingan Activated!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The Adamantine Staff and the Four-Bladed Iron Claw collided violently, sending blinding sparks flying.

"It's over, Kazuma."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said in a deep voice, "Your Guardian Shinobi have already suffered heavy casualties."

He wielded the staff in his hands with impenetrable precision, neutralizing Kazuma's frantic offensive one strike at a time.

"Over?"

A cruel smile hung on Kazuma's face, and there was no trace of fear in his eyes. "Do you know how long I have prepared for this day?"

"Heavy casualties? Hahahaha! That is exactly what I wanted!"

He leaped out of the fray and began weaving hand signs frantically.

"Earth Release: Reincarnation Technique!"

The earth churned violently, and the corpses of the Guardian Shinobi who had fallen in battle were swallowed whole by the surrounding soil.

Yet, moments later, they broke through the earth and emerged once more.

Might Guy furrowed his thick brows, staring at the resurrected corpses with their ashen skin. "What... what are these things?!"

Uchiha Itachi used the kunai in his hand to nimbly dispatch several of the resurrected Guardian Shinobi.

However, the very next second, they wobbled and stood back up again.

"Kazuma! You dare to desecrate fallen ninja!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was incensed. "This is the greatest insult to the departed!"

"Hmph, dead is dead; it's just putting waste to good use!"

Kazuma mocked coldly.

At the same time, he commanded this undead legion to charge at the elite Anbu of Konoha.

The scene outside the Daimyo Palace instantly descended into utter chaos.

These resurrected puppets felt no pain and knew no fear; even when knocked down, they would rise again to launch their attacks.

Although the Anbu members were powerful, they found themselves in a bitter struggle against these relentless, unkillable monsters.

Yatsuhashi knocked down the resurrected puppets surrounding him. "Watch out, they seem impossible to kill."

"We must find a way to use ninjutsu to restrict their movements!"

Taking the hint from Yatsuhashi, the Anbu ninja quickly sprang into action.

Among them were many experts skilled in restrictive ninjutsu.

While not quite at the level of sealing jutsu, it was more than enough to deal with these resurrected puppets.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew he could no longer hold back.

He bit his fingertip, smearing blood onto the Adamantine Staff.

He let out a thunderous shout: "Enma: Falling Immortal Stone!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi hurled the Adamantine Staff forward; it spun through the air, appearing to be a simple projectile attack, but it held a hidden trick.

Kazuma sneered and swung his claws to parry once more.

"Clang!"

The moment the iron claws touched the staff, a massive, furry ape arm suddenly extended from within the Adamantine Staff, gripping Kazuma's wrist in a vice-like hold.

The Adamantine Staff then instantly transformed into the giant ape Enma, pinning Kazuma firmly in place.

Kazuma was instantly struck with terror, "Th-this... what is this?!"

As it turned out, this Adamantine Staff was no ordinary ninja tool, but rather the transformed state of Hiruzen Sarutobi's summoning, the old ape Enma.

Therefore, the essence of this weapon was actually the transformed form of the summoning, the old ape Enma.

Seeing that Kazuma was already firmly restrained by Enma, Hiruzen Sarutobi rapidly formed hand seals with both hands.

He roared, "Combined Technique: Earth Dragon Flame Flow!"

He then slammed his palm onto the ground, and a massive earth dragon roared forth, replacing Enma to bind Kazuma tightly.

Immediately following this, Hiruzen Sarutobi rose quickly, took a deep breath, and exhaled a scorching wave of fire toward the front.

"BOOM—!!!"

The violent explosion instantly swallowed Kazuma, who was bound by the earth dragon.

When the smoke and dust from the explosion cleared, although Kazuma was severely injured, he had managed to escape disaster at the critical moment by using the Substitution Technique, and was now kneeling on the ground in a disheveled state.

"Cough, cough..."

Kazuma spat out a mouthful of blood, then looked up at the sky, which had suddenly turned gloomy.

"Hahaha... it isn't over yet! Everything has only just begun!"

Kazuma laughed maniacally, "Let this place become the graveyard for you Konoha ninja!"

Hiruzen felt a chill in his heart and looked up abruptly.

He saw that the previously clear sky was now covered by thick thunderclouds.

At the four corners surrounding the Daimyo Palace, a massive, heart-stopping amount of Lightning Style chakra was currently gathering.

"That is..."

"Kakashi!"

Kakashi, who was battling the Reanimated Puppet, moved at the sound and instantly arrived at Hiruzen Sarutobi's side.

"Lord Third!"

"Take some men and investigate that Lightning Style technique!" Hiruzen ordered urgently, "It must be stopped!"

"Understood!"

Kakashi turned and shouted to the battlefield, "Might Guy, Uchiha Itachi, follow me!"

Might Guy's green figure instantly flashed to Kakashi's side, "Kakashi, what exactly is that thing in the sky? It feels very dangerous!"

"I don't know, but it is definitely not an ordinary Lightning Style technique."

Kakashi stared at the massive thundercloud in the sky, his brows furrowed, "This way of condensing chakra... it's like it's guiding lightning."

Uchiha Itachi followed calmly, clearing the Reanimated Puppet in their path for the three of them.

As a member of Kakashi's Anbu Team 6, Yatsuhashi naturally moved along with Kakashi. He merely glanced silently at the churning thunderclouds, and his heart immediately understood that this was the combined technique of the Twelve Guardian Ninja's Lightning Style Four-Man Squad: Lightning Style: Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning.

If they didn't destroy it quickly, things were likely going to turn out poorly!

"Kakashi, we only need to destroy one of the formation corners, and this Lightning Style will naturally be neutralized!"

Hearing this, Kakashi immediately followed Yatsuhashi's suggestion and changed the team's direction, speeding toward the nearest corner of the formation at the Daimyo Palace.

However, having finished its long charge, Lightning Style: Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning was now impatient to demonstrate its destructive power to Konoha.

"Rumble--!"

Blinding electric serpents erupted simultaneously from all four corners of the formation, converging toward the high sky and condensing in an instant into a giant, terrifying sphere of lightning.

"Crackle--!"

The lightning sphere spun frantically, and countless bolts of lightning poured down like a torrential rain. The Anbu members struck by them didn't even have time to scream before they were scorched black, clearly beyond saving.

"Hahahahahaha!" Kazuma laughed maniacally, "Die! Hiruzen Sarutobi!"

He then pointed his hands forward abruptly. The massive lightning sphere seemed to understand his command, instantly splitting off a terrifying pillar of lightning several meters in diameter that slammed directly into the Third Hokage in the center of the field.

"BOOM--!!!"

Dazzling white light swallowed everything. When the smoke and dust cleared, a massive crater appeared on the ground, the rocks at its edge still crackling with electricity. Not far away, the elite Anbu ninjas couldn't help but cry out, "Lord Third Hokage!!"

Looking at the deep crater, Kazuma laughed arrogantly, "Hahaha! This is the power of the Daimyo! This is the might of us Guardian Shinobi!!" He spread his arms wide, beginning to manipulate the lightning sphere to continue attacking the remaining Anbu members. "Hahaha, in the end, it is us Guardian Shinobi who win!"

The situation on the field instantly became precarious. Fortunately, at this moment, Yatsuhashi and his party had already broken through the outer defensive line of the Guardian Shinobi and arrived beneath one of the corners of the Lightning Style: Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning formation.

However, Kazuma had anticipated all of this long ago. He had already set up Lightning Release: Lightning Binding at all four corners of the formation, with eight ropes made of pure lightning wrapping the entire area layer by layer, blocking Yatsuhashi and the others out like a high-voltage electric fence.

Kitane, who was in the center of the corner releasing the lightning technique, also sensed Yatsuhashi and the other three approaching him. He let out a cold snort; without even needing to weave signs, he simply moved his mind.

"Boom!"

The lightning sphere high in the sky split off another bolt of lightning, but this one was not aimed elsewhere—it was precisely targeted at the youngest of the four, Uchiha Itachi.

Everything happened too fast! The speed of that lightning bolt exceeded the limits of visual perception, carrying an aura of total destruction, and reached Itachi in an instant.

"Itachi!"

Kakashi and Guy couldn't even react in time to save him. At this critical moment of life and death.

"Bang!"

A dull thud echoed.

A palm had already slammed heavily into Uchiha Itachi's chest.

Yatsuhashi expressionlessly sent Uchiha Itachi flying like a cannonball!

"Boom—!!!"

Lightning struck the spot where Yatsuhashi had been standing a moment before, instantly vaporizing the ground and leaving behind a bottomless crater.

Outside the swirling dust, the rescued Uchiha Itachi knelt not far away, his once-calm eyes turning a blood-red hue as he stared at the deep pit.

A strange, unprecedented chakra began to surge within his brain, stinging his eye sockets incessantly.

"Aaaaaah—!"

Uchiha Itachi roared in agony, his hands clawing desperately into the earth.

The next second, he snapped his head up.

Within those originally pitch-black eyes, a scarlet color began to spread wildly, and simultaneously, eerie tomoe began to manifest within his blood-red irises.

Two-Tomoe Sharingan, activate!

Uchiha Itachi's Two-Tomoe Sharingan locked onto the crater amidst the smoke, the killing intent in his eyes as piercing as the winter frost.

"I will absolutely slaughter you all!"