Shennong's Death, Surpassing Kage Level, Complete Control of Sky City

The next second.

Shennong's body slowly melted, his skin and flesh all turning into black fluid.

He completely merged with it, man and tailed beast becoming one.

In an instant,

an incomparably massive pitch-black monster emerged in the center of the hall.

Boundless black mist coiled around it, while countless corrosive tentacles spread through the air.

Within the monster's core,

Shennong's twisted face faintly appeared, his eyes black and hollow, devoid of the slightest trace of life.

Fusion form!

Shennong's true peak combat strength from the movie!

"Uchiha Mu, you should feel fortunate. You have what it takes to force out my complete form."

A sinister, hoarse, reverberating voice echoed through the hall.

Black and white chakra erupted completely, possessing both the immortal regeneration of bodily vitality and the Zero-Tails' dark devouring power.

Black tentacles lashed out like a torrential downpour. Wherever they passed, the air sizzled from corrosion, and the alloy walls instantly melted and ruptured.

Susanoo swung its sword in a sweeping slash, severing the tentacles filling the sky. Yet the severed tentacles regenerated the instant they hit the ground, endless and impossible to kill.

At the same time, Shennong in his fused form gained control over the Fortress of Space's core authority.

The entire floating fortress trembled slightly.

The cannon at its peak slowly opened, gathering an immense amount of dark chakra. Its glow was dim and terrifying.

The Fortress of Space's World-Destroying Main Cannon, capable of flattening an entire mountain range, began charging!

"Die!"

The black-hole-like cannon muzzle locked onto Susanoo, and an aura of destruction blanketed the entire hall.

Once it fired, the whole hall, along with Uchiha Mu, would instantly be reduced to ash.

Faced with certain death, Uchiha Mu instead became completely calm.

He saw through every one of Shennong's weaknesses.

Immortal bodily vitality, the Zero-Tails' devouring regeneration, and the overwhelming destruction of the main cannon.

It seemed unsolvable, yet it possessed a fatal flaw.

After Shennong fused, all his power shared the same source. As long as his core consciousness was destroyed, he could be ended completely.

"You want to kill me with the main cannon?"

Uchiha Mu's eyes burned crimson.

Susanoo abruptly pressed down with one hand, forcibly suppressing the turbulent Zero-Tails' black mist filling the sky.

The massive Susanoo hand tightly gripped the Zero-Tails' core, violently suppressing it!

"Domain of Time, freeze!"

Immense cyan chakra force crushed down. The Zero-Tails' black mist struggled and howled violently, yet it was firmly imprisoned, unable to spread even an inch.

While the main cannon was stiff from charging and the Zero-Tails was suppressed,

in the instant when Shennong's consciousness could not operate at full capacity, Uchiha Mu arrived in an instant with Scar of Space!

He left Susanoo's armor behind, his true body weaving through the black mist. His Mangekyō saw through every illusion.

He precisely locked onto Shennong's source core deep within the black mist.

"Immortal regeneration?"

"Then I'll sever your regeneration completely!"

Uchiha Mu condensed incomparably concentrated fusion chakra in his palm.

He thrust out one finger, piercing through all the dark mist and accurately penetrating Shennong's fusion core!

"Pfft!"

The black mist collapsed violently, and the fusion form instantly fell apart.

Shennong's battered body was forcibly stripped away from the Zero-Tails.

He crashed heavily onto the ground, every meridian in his body ruptured.

His vitality-based regeneration was completely shattered, and he could no longer activate it.

His eyes widened in utter disbelief.

"Impossible... My bodily vitality, my fusion with the Zero-Tails... How could this be..."

"Your technique is powerful."

Uchiha Mu landed slowly, his tone indifferent. "But your heart is too weak."

Without immortal regeneration, the Zero-Tails' support, or the dark energy vessel, Shennong was completely crippled.

Uchiha Mu raised a hand and unleashed a concentrated chakra blast.

It heavily struck Shennong's torso.

Seeing him sprawled on the ground,

seemingly without even a trace of breath,

Uchiha Mu assumed that the rogue doctor had perished completely.

He ignored him and turned to focus on restraining the rampaging Zero-Tails.

The dark resentment, having lost Shennong's control, went completely berserk.

Black mist surged wildly through the air, greedily devouring all surrounding chakra.

It desperately struggled against Susanoo's restraints, seeking to escape.

Uchiha Mu activated the golden capture card.

Golden light stretching ten thousand zhang enveloped the entire mass of black mist.

Layer by layer, it purified the Zero-Tails' violent emotions.

He attempted to completely sever its connection to Shennong and complete a perfect capture.

But at the crucial moment of fusion,

a faint yet stubborn chain of bonds suddenly appeared.

It tightly wrapped around the Zero-Tails' source.

He immediately sensed that something was wrong.

The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan spun at full force.

It pierced through the black mist and saw the truth.

Shennong was not dead at all!

Relying on the last remnants of life sustained by his extreme bodily vitality,

he concealed his final trace of chakra.

Using his own lingering soul as a medium, he firmly bound himself to the Zero-Tails' source.

He formed an unbreakable bond.

As long as Shennong retained even a trace of breath, the Zero-Tails could never truly submit.

It could backlash against its host at any time and break free from control.

Uchiha Mu's gaze turned icy. Without the slightest hesitation,

he activated the secret technique Scar of Space with a thought.

Fine black ripples instantly spread through the void.

An extremely condensed blade of space silently shot through the air.

The blade carried spatial power capable of tearing apart all things.

It was unimaginably fast.

A cold flash passed. With a soft squelch,

Shennong's aged and sinister head separated from his body.

The final bond between him and the Zero-Tails was completely severed.

The remaining bodily vitality chakra instantly scattered, no longer able to bind the Zero-Tails in the slightest.

With the final danger removed, Uchiha Mu focused once more and activated the capture card with all his strength, completely suppressing the Zero-Tails' agitation.

With Shennong dealt with, the only threat left in the hall was the suppressed Zero-Tails.

Having lost its master's control, the Zero-Tails' dark resentment completely spiraled out of control.

The black mist swelled explosively, trying to break free and devour all chakra.

Uchiha Mu no longer hesitated. He had originally wanted to save this card.

Forget it.

With that, he crushed the golden card.

This was the trump card he had prepared long ago.

"Seal!"

The golden card scattered apart, and golden light stretching ten thousand zhang poured forth, enveloping the entire mass of dark mist.

Behind him, Susanoo suppressed the Zero-Tails' body with one hand. The golden light continuously purified and dissolved the Zero-Tails' violent resentment.

The Zero-Tails howled and struggled madly, its dark chakra repeatedly crashing against the golden light.

It tried to backlash against Uchiha Mu's consciousness.

But under the triple force of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan's mental suppression, Susanoo's physical restraint, and the capture card's special effects, its resistance grew weaker and weaker.

Its violent negative emotions were purified bit by bit, and its restless dark chakra gradually became docile.

After a long while, the black mist filling the sky slowly drew back and all surged into Uchiha Mu's body.

A cold yet vast dark chakra

unexpectedly began to merge with the One-Tail and Three-Tails chakra within him.

The Zero-Tails, which had no physical form but possessed consciousness, became the dominant force.

It completely took up residence within him.

His eyes opened slightly, a deep black gleam flashing through them as his aura surged severalfold.

The bones throughout his body crackled at that moment.

He had actually successfully stepped past the threshold of beyond Kage level.

At the same time, he became the ninja world's one and only Zero-Tails jinchūriki.

Perhaps, as more and more tailed beasts fused together, it would surpass the Ten-Tails.

It should no longer be called the Zero-Tails in the future.

At the same time,

Uchiha Mu

raised his hand and took control of the fortress console.

He completely took over all authority over the Fortress of Space, extinguished the charging World-Destroying Main Cannon, and lifted every defensive restriction.

A scarlet light lit up above the fortress. It was the signal notifying Izumi and the others to gather.

Amid the clouds,

the giant floating fortress slowly descended and came to rest, fully becoming the property of the Void Organization.

From that day onward,

the Fortress of Space, hidden in the skies, officially came under Uchiha Mu's control.