Assassination

Temari and Kankuro, worried for their brother's safety, were about to follow, but Hatake Kakashi stopped them.

"What? Didn't we agree to press on while we had the momentum?"

Kakashi shook his head.

"Pressing on comes next. First, we need Mizuki to clear out the inside..."

"Clear it out?"

The Sand Shinobi asked in confusion, but before Kakashi could answer, a massive explosion rang out. The spot that had once been a small mound abruptly burst apart in all directions, and a gleaming silver pillar shot from within toward the sky, as though a column of light reaching the heavens had appeared out of nowhere.

"This is... way too ridiculous!"

"Isn't this perfect? Flatten everything so we don't have to fight on the enemy's home ground. That would be far too dangerous."

The destructive power unleashed at full force by Mizuki's true body was on an entirely different level from that of a physical clone.

"Now we can begin."

What had once been a rocky cave covered by low hills had now become a huge pit more than ten meters deep.

Before everyone's eyes, a sleek white spirit stepped forward and slammed heavily into an even larger, uglier monster.

The monster's huge mouth hung slightly open. Its pair of massive hands were bound in chains, and nine eyes were arranged across the front of its head, roughly half of them already open.

"So this is why Akatsuki captured Tailed Beasts and Jinchuriki!"

It was Chiyo's first time seeing the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Even with all her experience and knowledge, she had never heard of anything like it.

Although it was struck head-on by the Five-Tails Kokuō that Mizuki had transformed into, it merely swayed, adjusted its posture slightly, and stabilized itself. Even the chakra dragon it had