Devouring 1/2

However, Hayato had not intended to use spatial displacement to escape.

There was no need.

There were plenty of methods. Traveling through earth was still one of a ninja's required skills; this was merely a more advanced application.

After some thought, Hayato placed his hand on the dragon bone fossil, which had already run out of energy.

He injected new energy into it, turning the petrified dragon bones back into actual bones.

As energy flowed in, the dragon bones regained their vitality. The dragon head swayed gently, as though it had come back to life.

The Five Fingers of The Hand and Black Sky suddenly felt the ground shake again.

Aftershocks?

They were all seasoned veterans. Before their minds could even process it, their bodies had already reacted, leaping away in different directions.

The ground split open, and a white figure shot out.

"This is... a dragon head."

Once she saw it clearly, Madam Gao was horrified. What had burst from the fissure was unmistakably the dragon bone fossil. That savage dragon skull was impossible to forget after just one glance.

The dragon head opened its gaping maw, revealing rows of gleaming white teeth. It bit down on Sowande, who had just landed, and snapped its jaws shut.

Crack!

Sowande, one of The Hand's leaders, did not even have time to scream before he was split into two.

The dragon head shook, flinging away the bloodstains, then rose upright and pulled the rest of its body from the fissure.

It was a full fifty meters long, an absolute behemoth.

Hayato floated up from the deep, pitch-black fissure. He landed lightly and smiled at the members of The Hand, whose expressions had turned terrible.

"I knew people like you wouldn't submit obediently. Talking good faith and honor with you is like