Explosive Slaughter

"Who are you? How dare you cause trouble in Konoha!"

Danzo barked a stern question at the stranger who had suddenly appeared.

The man had an absurd amount of hair, nearly trailing from the top of his head to his feet. He stood over two meters tall, wore sunglasses, and his knotted muscles stretched the purple bodysuit he wore tight and bulging.

There was no need to think about it—this was an expert with tremendous strength!

More importantly, no such person existed among Konoha's experts. And he seemed to have crashed over from the direction of the Uchiha compound just now. Could the Uchiha clan have invited him?

Danzo narrowed his eyes as he speculated.

"You don't need to know. Once I crush all four of your limbs, you'll naturally find out who the hell I am!"

Sasuke began loosening up his arms, looking as though he were warming up before a battle.

"Hmph! Whoever you are, daring to enter this old man's encirclement alone is simply courting death!"

As he spoke, the Root ninjas who had recovered from their shock surrounded Sasuke from all sides.

Thud!

Danzo sneered and slammed his cane against the ground, giving the signal to attack.

The next moment,

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!

Three sharp sounds tore through the air. One Root ninja wielded a sharp ninja blade and cleaved down at Sasuke's head.

The other two appeared behind him, both holding ninja blades and intending to launch a sneak attack.

Sasuke did not even glance at the attackers behind him. He simply swept out with a slap.

Smack!!

Splat!!!

The upper half of the ninja in front of him instantly exploded into mangled flesh. The ninja blade in his hand was shattered into countless metal fragments as well. Amid the spraying blood, his legs dropped limply to the ground.

The splattered droplets of blood stained Sasuke's clothes red, but his expression remained blank, as if he had merely swatted a fly to death.

The miserable fate of their teammate visibly startled the two sneak attackers behind him. The strength in their grips increased severalfold as they tried to slice the muscular giant before them into three pieces.

Clang!!

Clang!!

Their blades struck Sasuke's back with the sound that only metal colliding with metal could make, as if they had struck a solid slab of steel.

"What?!"

Behind their masks were two utterly astonished faces.

Just as they tried to pull away and retreat, powerful hands clamped tightly around their heads.

"You sneak attacked me and still want to leave? Wishful thinking!"

Sasuke gripped one head in each hand and lifted the two men into the air as if carrying chicks.

Then he gave a savage grin, bent his arms, and violently slammed them together.

Bang!!

Like two watermelons smashing violently together, white and red matter splattered across the ground.

Sasuke shook the blood off his hands and let out a disdainful chuckle.

"Don't send trash like this at me one at a time. Make it easier on yourselves—come at me together, so I don't have to hunt you down one by one. What a pain!"

Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and swept his gaze around him with arrogant disdain, as though he were looking at a flock of lambs awaiting slaughter.

But the next moment,

Boom!!

The ground between Sasuke's legs suddenly exploded, and a Root ninja holding a kunai sprang out.

This was a ninja who had somehow used Earth Release to sneak underground and approach him.

Whoosh!!

Under the moonlight, the black kunai glinted with a cold, sinister gleam as it thrust straight upward, its target unmistakable.

"Courting death!"

Sasuke's expression turned cold. Though his defense was astonishing and the other man's attack could not harm him, he had no desire to let that particular part be attacked.

He raised his foot and stomped down viciously.

The head and the massive foot formed a scene of above and below.

Splat!!

Under the force of that tremendous stomp, the Root ninja's head was driven straight into his ass, leaving him in a miserable state of death.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!

Having just explosively killed that shameless Root ninja, Sasuke was immediately met by a sky-covering barrage of kunai and Shuriken.

"Don't bring out toys meant for ninja games. They're useless against me."

Faced with attacks from all directions, Sasuke did not even raise an eyelid. He stood still with his arms crossed, utterly motionless.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!!

Countless Shuriken and kunai struck Sasuke's body, producing a series of metallic clinks as though they had hit a steel plate.

"Ordinary metal attacks may be useless against you, but you might not be able to withstand explosions!"

Some Root ninja shouted loudly.

At that reminder, Sasuke immediately noticed that many kunai had Explosive Tags attached to them with thin wires.

"Hahaha! You only noticed now? Too bad, it's already too late! Go to hell for your arrogance!! Hahaha!"

Amid triumphant laughter, every Explosive Tag ignited and detonated.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!

Countless Explosive Tags exploded in an instant, producing deafening blasts.

Flames surged into the sky as Sasuke was directly swallowed by the explosions.

A massive mushroom cloud rose high into the air. The resulting shockwave destroyed all the surrounding houses and buildings, forcing the Root ninjas nearby to retreat a considerable distance.

Fortunately, in preparation for exterminating the Uchiha clan tonight, the nearby residents had already been driven away.

Otherwise, an explosion like this would likely have caused countless casualties among Konoha's ordinary residents.

"Did... did we get him?"

As he looked at the thick smoke and dust, a Root ninja asked hesitantly.

"Of course! He's dead beyond dead! He was probably blown into ashes!"

"No flesh-and-blood body could survive an explosion of that magnitude!"

"..."

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

A Root ninja eager to confirm the outcome cast a Wind Release jutsu.

A violent gale swept through, instantly blowing away the billowing smoke.

As the smoke vanished, the first thing that appeared before them was a massive crater.

They looked down into it and then saw a figure standing silently at the bottom.

At once, every Root ninja widened their eyes, as though they had seen a ghost.

"H-How is this possible?!"

"To survive such an explosion, is he... is he even human?!"

"Even a Tailed Beast couldn't possibly have such absurd defense, could it?!"

"..."

Behind their masks, the Root ninjas were all too stunned to close their mouths.

"Was that level of explosion supposed to scratch an itch for me?"

Sasuke shook his long hair behind his head, scattering the dust, then calmly brushed off the ruined clothing on his body.

The explosion had achieved nothing other than destroying his clothes. It had not even messed up his hairstyle.

Looks like I'll need to have someone custom-make a combat suit for me in the future. Otherwise, I'll be left wearing only underwear after every fight, and that really hurts my imposing image... Sasuke thought.

The reason his defense was so astonishing now was not merely because he had taken two bottles of Super Soldier Serum.

He had added another two bottles, for a total of four, which was what gave him such terrifying defense.

As for where the extra two bottles had come from, naturally, he had drawn them in the lottery.

That was right. Unable to restrain himself, he had used all three lottery chances he had obtained from Itachi before coming here.

Fortunately, his luck had been exceptionally good this time, and he had hit two bottles of serum in three draws.

The remaining reward was useless junk—a bottle of expired poison.

Still, was expired poison more poisonous, or had it completely lost its toxicity?