The King of Hell Won't Take Them, So I Will! The Dead of the Entire Shinobi World Return!
The night wind was like a knife, tearing apart the tranquility above Konoha.
Karin's urgent shouts still echoed on the rooftop. Naruto crushed the empty wine jug in his palm, and it instantly turned into fine porcelain powder, which fell onto the green tiles.
He didn't turn around. The golden-red Chakra had been overflowing wildly around him instantly subsided, transforming into a thin membrane of Yang Release that was almost tangible, forcefully suppressing Karin's nerves, which were on the verge of collapse due to oversensitivity.
"Take a deep breath, don't let the aura of a dead man cloud your judgment." Naruto's tone was calm, yet it carried a chilling ruthlessness. "Who's leading this?"
Karin gasped for breath, adjusted her glasses, and rapidly formed sensory seals with her hands.
"Northwest, the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire! The Chakra is extremely cold... no, it's pure death!" Her teeth chattered. "The leader's Chakra is mixed, like a venomous snake preserved in formalin... it's Kabuto Yakushi!"
Sasuke, who was standing to the side, suddenly stood up straight.
He looked down at his left chest; the dark red raven feather had burned to ashes, but the lingering heat felt like a red-hot iron nail, firmly embedded in his heart. Amidst the thousands of icy auras, he clearly detected a fluctuation belonging to the Uchiha, the Sharingan.
"Itachi..." Sasuke's eyes suddenly transformed into Six-Pointed Star Mangekyo Sharingan, the crimson light blindingly bright in the darkness. "He was indeed pulled out."
"That bastard Kabuto, he's really taken Orochimaru's underhanded tricks to a whole new level." Naruto sneered, patting Sasuke on the shoulder. "Let's go to the command center. I want to see just how much trouble those rotten bones underground can stir up."
Meanwhile, half an hour earlier...
In the northern part of the Land of Fire, there is an unnamed mass grave.
The pale moonlight pierced through the dark clouds, illuminating the broken tombstones scattered haphazardly on the ground.
Kabuto Yakushi wore a dark red hooded robe, his pale face covered with snake-scale-like patterns. He pushed up his round-framed glasses, his gaze fixed with interest on the spatial ripples that had just appeared on the open ground ahead.
Space distorted, and a one-armed figure stepped out of the vortex.
Obito's orange mask was half cracked, revealing his right eye, which was filled with ferocity. In the Land of Iron, Naruto had just torn off his arm. Although the wound had been temporarily covered with White Zetsu Cells, the pain of having his soul burned by the Yang Release chains had not subsided.
"Using such underhanded tactics to force me to show myself." Obito's voice was hoarse like sandpaper scraping. "Kabuto, do you think that just because Orochimaru is dead, no one can take your life?"
"Obito- san, don't get so worked up." Kabuto showed no fear, his smile widening. "Your 100,000 White Zetsu army was thoroughly investigated by Naruto Uzumaki, and your surprise attack on the Land of Iron ended in failure. You're now a lone commander; you need me."
"Need you?" Obito laughed angrily.
He suddenly raised his only remaining left hand, and a jet-black Yin–Yang Release Black Rod instantly pierced through the void, heading straight for Kabuto's face.
Dou didn't dodge.
"Bang!"
A heavy wooden plank emerged from the soil, precisely blocking Dou's path. The Black Rod pierced the plank three inches deep, producing a teeth-grinding grinding sound.
Obito's right eye narrowed sharply, his gaze fixed on the wooden plank. It wasn't an ordinary Wood Release; it was a coffin. The coffin lid crashed down, revealing a burly man with fiery red hair and clad in dark red armor, standing silently inside with his eyes closed.
"The previous Four-Tails Jinchūriki, Roshi." Kabuto pushed up his slipping glasses. "Of course, this is just an appetizer."
He clasped his hands together sharply in front of his chest, letting out a low growl, "Impure World Reincarnation - Release!"
The earth began to tremble violently, and graves within a mile radius began to crack open.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Three mouths, ten mouths, fifty mouths...
Hundreds and thousands of wooden coffins engraved with vermilion runes sprouted from the ground like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, densely filling the entire valley. The coffin lids crashed to the ground, revealing bodies covered in dust and cracks inside.
The Former Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the Kinkaku Ginkaku Brothers, and even Kakuzu and Deidara, who died in the Akatsuki.
Obito coldly swept his gaze over the large army, a hint of shock flashing in his eyes, but his words remained sarcastic. "A bunch of useless trash who were utterly defeated when they were alive, do they think they can defy fate by living again?"
"They are immortal, with unlimited Chakra. That's enough to cover the Allied Shinobi Forces' lines." Kabuto walked up to Obito and lowered his voice. "I know you're not satisfied. So, I've prepared a final gift for you."
He forms a hand Hand Seals with one hand.
A huge iron coffin, completely black and without any runes, slowly rose from the soil between the two.
The Chakra emanating from the iron coffin was extremely restrained, yet it caused all the Impure World Body around it to instinctively take a half-step back. The temperature in the air instantly dropped to freezing point.
Obito forward, his right eye fixed on the iron coffin. When he sensed the faint yet pure energy fluctuation emanating from it, his pupil instantly contracted to the size of a pinhead.
"Where... where did you find this?!" Obito's voice finally cracked, filled with barely concealed fear and rage.
"That's not important." Kabuto laughed smugly. "With it, plus this undead legion, is our alliance complete?"
Obito clenched his left fist tightly, his breathing heavy beneath the tattered mask. After a long silence, he coldly uttered a single word.
"Make a deal."
The view shifts back to Hidden Leaf, to the highest command center on the second floor.
In front of the three-meter-long solid wood war sand table, Shikamaru braced his hands on the edge, his brows furrowed in a deep knot. Ino, wearing a communication headset, moved her fingers across the Chakra keyboard, sending urgent reports fluttering across the table like snowflakes.
"Bang!"
Naruto kicked open the door to the operations room.
"Situation summary." Naruto walked straight to the sand table without uttering a single unnecessary word. Sasuke followed behind him, his hand already on the hilt of the Kusanagi Sword.
Shikamaru looked up, his eyes red from lack of sleep, but his logic remained frighteningly clear.
"Thirty-six sentries along the northwestern border lost contact within three minutes." Shikamaru drew a red line on the sand table with his Chakra pen. "No distress signals, no bursts of Chakra, it's like... being swallowed whole by a black sea."
The screen on the wall flashed, and virtual projections of the Five Kage — Tsunade, Raikage, Ōnoki, and others—simultaneously switched to the channel.
"It's the Impure World Reincarnation." Ōnoki's voice was filled with barely suppressed gravity. "I also sensed that disgusting stench at the border of the Land of Earth. The forbidden technique left behind by that perverted Orochimaru has actually been used in a systematic way!"
"What are you afraid of!" The Fourth Raikage angrily smashed the corner of his table with a punch. "If you can kill a dead man once, you can kill him a second time! The Allied Shinobi Forces' vanguard has assembled; I'll personally go and tear their bones apart!"
"Calm down, Raikage."
Naruto crossed his arms, golden Chakra outlining the Sage Mode eyeshadow around his eyes, his imposing aura pressing down on every figure present.
"Ordinary physical attacks can't kill the Impure World Body. Even if you break it, it will regenerate Chakra is inexhaustible," Naruto said, emphasizing each word.
A deathly silence fell over the operations room. Everyone knew the disgusting nature of the Impure World Reincarnation; it was an unequal war of attrition. The living would tire and bleed, but the dead would not.
"So..." Naruto's lips suddenly curled into an extremely arrogant sneer, and he slapped the northwest corner of the sand table with his hand, "We can't use ordinary methods to deal with these bastards who refuse to stay obediently in the Pure Land. We have to use Yang Release."
He turned to look at Bai and Tenten behind him. "Bai, the Extreme Cold Ice Release can freeze the physical activity over a large area. Tenten, are all the scrolls in the Sealing Squad inscribed with Yang Release runes?"
Carrying a giant iron hammer, Tenten whistled, "Don't worry, Naruto- sama, these three hundred boxes of special Explosive Tag are all mixed with the Yang Release Chakra you gave me. I guarantee they'll explode without a sound, their very souls will be scattered."
Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose on the screen. "Naruto, the enemy's numbers are still increasing rapidly. What are your plans?"
"No defensive counter-attacks, just a full-scale assault!" Naruto declared decisively. "I set the rules for the living, and I set the rules for the dead! Those whom even the King of Hell won't take, I, Naruto Uzumaki, will!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Sasuke forward.
"Northwest Theater, the vanguard position is mine." Sasuke's voice was as cold as ice. "My left eye tells me that there are bonds there I must sever myself. The old scores of the Uchiha will be settled tonight."
Naruto glanced at him, didn't ask why, and simply nodded.
"Go. Strike precisely with the Susanoo's sword." Naruto raised his hand, and a wisp of golden Yang Release Chakra instantly entered Sasuke's back, transforming into a complex Uzumaki seal. "This seal will allow you to strike their spirits. Whoever gets in your way, kill them."
Sasuke's lips curled into a bloodthirsty smile. He turned and transformed into a bolt of lightning, bursting out of the window.
Just as the entire Hidden Leaf war machine was about to start running at full speed.
Ino had been typing away with her head down, suddenly screamed, ripped off her headphones, and clutched her head in pain with both hands.
"What happened?!" Shikamaru exclaimed in shock, grabbing Ino was swaying precariously.
A piercing static crackled through the communication channel. Immediately afterward, a wave of despair Chakra, ten times stronger than before, traveled along the Leyline into the sensory water sphere, instantly turning the entire sphere pitch black!
"This is terrible... It's not just the northwestern border..." Ino trembled, her voice filled with barely suppressed fear, "The Gale Canyon in the Land of Wind, the former site of Hidden Mist in the Water Country, the caves in the Land of Earth... There are a total of seventeen ancient battlefields and large cemeteries throughout the entire Shinobi World, and their Chakra reactions are all off the charts!"
Before he could finish speaking, an Anbu stumbled open the door and rushed to Shikamaru, holding up a blood-stained urgent scroll with both hands.
Shikamaru ripped the scroll open.
The usually composed Hidden Leaf strategist turned deathly pale the moment he saw the single ink mark on the scroll.
The vast operations room was deathly silent; you could hear a pin drop. At the very end of the scroll, written in blood, was a hastily scribbled final note:
"The dead... are returning."