The Oriole Lurks Behind
"Summoning Technique."
"Bang!"
Huge plumes of white smoke shot into the sky like a volcanic eruption, and the terrifying heat even evaporated all the rainwater around the Clock Tower.
This time, there were no piercing cries, only terrifying wind pressure that made it difficult to even breathe.
A gigantic bird, three times larger than before and with wings like black guillotines, suddenly emerged halfway out of the smoke. Its sharp beak, covered in iron armor, was covered with countless pale, razor-white teeth.
The strange bird let out a shrill cry as it looked up at the sky, and its wings flapped violently. The gust of wind directly ripped away half of the brick wall at the top of the Clock Tower, and the huge shadow, like a dark cloud, instantly enveloped Hinata and Neji.
"Kill," the Animal Path commanded coldly.
The giant bird, like a runaway heavy battering ram, crashed straight into the roof with an oppressive force that seemed capable of crushing everything in its path.
If we had avoided it, the Clock Tower would have collapsed, and the medical station behind it would definitely have been lost.
"Neji- nii, three inches to the left!" Hinata shouted sharply, veins bulging around her eyes.
Her Pure Byakugan vision was pushed to its limit. In her field of vision, the rough and fake Chakra veins within the giant bird's body were as clear as the lines on her palm.
"I can see it very clearly!"
Neji roared in perfect unison, taking a sudden step forward and adopting the most authentic Gentle Fist starting stance of the Hyuga Style.
Without hesitation, without testing the waters, the two strongest geniuses of the Hyuga Clan's new generation displayed a chilling resonance at this moment.
"Gentle Fist - Double Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!"
Afterimages! All I see are afterimages!
The speed at which the two men swung their arms exceeded the limits of what the naked eye could perceive, and terrifying sonic booms, as dense as drumbeats, erupted in the air.
Golden Yang Release Chakra intertwined with blue conventional Chakra, forming a vast, inescapable net that swarmed the swooping giant bird.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The dull thuds of slapping echoed in unison.
Hinata focused her attack on the left flank, targeting the weakest points in Chakra transmission; Neji forcefully cut down the right flank, his palm unleashing a torrent of Chakra that shattered the giant bird's joints.
With each strike, the giant bird's massive body would explode into a blinding cloud of blood mist.
Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
It only took two seconds!
"Gurgle--!"
Before the giant bird could even utter a complete cry of agony, all the Chakra nodes in its body were completely smashed into a jumbled mess. Its massive body convulsed violently in mid-air before collapsing like a deflated balloon, turning into a shower of flesh and white smoke.
The Animal Path, having lost its mount, plummeted straight down from the white smoke.
Even with nowhere to lean on while suspended in mid-air, those Rinnegan remained terrifyingly calm as they flipped their wrists, preparing to Hand Seals again to summon a new summoning beast.
"She's trying to call for help! Stop her!" Neji roared.
Without him even needing to remind her, a dashing figure had already leaped into the air from the ruins behind her.
Blood was still seeping from the tiger's mouth of Tenten Tian's hands, but her face was full of ferocity. The girl bit down hard on two specially made black scrolls with her teeth and pulled them outwards with both hands.
"You think I threw away all the stuff Naruto gave me just now?!" Tenten cursed incoherently.
"Manipulation Tool - Four Directions Binding Array!"
Whoosh!
Four special heavy Kunai, each imbued with strong magnetism and Explosive Tag, were launched in a perfect square, striking the surrounding tiles along the path of the Animal Path's descent with unparalleled precision.
The specially made steel wires connected to the tail of the Kunai tightened instantly, weaving into a net.
"Snap!"
The high-voltage current attached to the steel wire suddenly erupted, like four blue venomous snakes, tightly coiling around the Animal Path's wrists and ankles, forcibly interrupting her Hand Seals movements that she was about to complete.
"Well done, Tenten."
A voice devoid of any emotion rang out in the rainy night.
The azure lightning instantly illuminated the entire North Gate ruins as bright as day.
Kakashi's figure appeared without warning, like a phantom tearing through space, right in front of the Animal Path. The ball of Lightning Release Chakra in his right hand, compressed to its limit, emitted a piercing shriek like Chidori singing.
Without any hesitation.
There was no holding back.
"Pfft!"
The incomparably sharp Chidori pierced through the chest of the Animal Path as easily as cutting through tofu.
The raging Lightning Release Chakra surged through the wound, wreaking havoc and instantly destroying all the Black Rod and meridians within the corpse used to receive signals.
The Animal Path's petite body suddenly stiffened.
The pair of purple Rinnegan, which had been completely still, trembled violently, then the light quickly dimmed and dissipated, turning into a deathly gray. Her head slumped limply onto Kakashi's arm, life extinguished.
"Nailed it."
Kakashi took a deep breath, abruptly pulled out his right hand, and shook off the bloodstains on his glove. But his Sharingan in his left eye remained in high-speed operation, vigilantly scanning his surroundings.
"Thump."
Hinata collapsed onto the waterlogged roof tiles, exhausted, her chest heaving as she gasped for breath. The dizziness from overworking her Pure Byakugan made her vision blur in waves.
Neji abandoned his offensive stance, silently walked to her side, reached out a hand, and forcefully pulled her up.
"That damn iron bar almost broke my wrist." Tenten Tian limped over from the edge of the ruins, rubbing her swollen wrist as she walked, muttering curses. "I have to get the young master to reimburse my medical expenses later, not a penny less."
The crisis at the North Gate, with the heart of the Animal Path pierced through, seemed to have finally come to an end.
But.
Kakashi stared at the corpse at his feet, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.
Something's not right.
Something is very wrong.
The blood flowing from the wounds of that body, which should have been completely turned into dead flesh, was not red.
The next second, something unexpected happened.
A muffled thud.
Unlike ordinary Shadow Clone, the Animal Path's corpse did not turn into white smoke and disappear. Instead, it was like a wax figure thrown into a furnace. Its skin quickly rotted and melted, turning into a pool of extremely foul-smelling black slime within seconds.
"What the hell is that?!" Tenten's scalp tingled, and she instinctively took two steps back.
Neji's Byakugan locked onto the pool of slime, his expression changing drastically. "No Chakra reaction from a living person... Wait! This stuff is corroding the roof, it's burrowing into the ground!"
"Everyone back off!"
Kakashi roared and grabbed Tenten by the back of her Tenten, pulling her backward in a frantic flight.
The moment the black slime came into contact with the bluestone slabs of the Clock Tower, it emitted a piercing "sizzling" sound, directly corroding a deep hole half a meter wide, and silently seeping into the drainage system underground in Hidden Leaf along the load-bearing wall.
Almost at the same time.
Hinata's face turned deathly pale. She abruptly covered her eyes, bent over in agony, and cried out in a trembling voice, "Underground... Kakashi-sensei! There's something underground!"
"What is it? Pain's reinforcements?" Kakashi immediately pulled out Kunai and gripped it tightly in his hand.
"It's not Pain... it's countless chaotic Chakra! And it smells strongly of blood!" Hinata gritted her teeth, enduring the needle-like pain in her eyes. "They're in the secret passage beneath our feet, there are at least several hundred of them! They're avoiding the main road and moving at full speed towards the Hokage Building!"
Kakashi gasped, feeling a chill run from his feet straight to his head.
That old madman hiding in the gutter, scheming all day long for the Hokage Position... Danzo.
That madman in the sky who calls himself a god is destroying the village! That old dog Danzo actually took advantage of the fact that all the high-level forces were tied down and launched a power grab by Root?!
Before Kakashi could even process his thoughts, he gave the order to intercept.
"Boom--!!!"
Ten thousand meters in the sky, a burst of golden light, a hundred times brighter than the sun, suddenly erupted. A violent shockwave swept down from above, splitting the thick thunderclouds above Hidden Leaf in two, and even the continuous torrential rain was completely evaporated in that instant.