A Single Punch Shattered the Illusion! This Door Led to the Underworld!
The "Itachi Uchiha" on the altar had a stiff, mechanical smile on his lips, which gave off a nauseatingly mechanical feel.
"Foolish little brother, that expression of yours really makes me..."
Clang!
The Kusanagi Sword exploded as it was drawn. Sasuke's left eye spun wildly, Lightning Release Chakra Chidori Sharp Spear tore through the dim space, aiming straight for his opponent's throat.
Before Sasuke's sword tip could touch the phantom, a golden light suddenly swept past him.
Boom!
The entire underground hemispherical cavern trembled violently. Naruto hadn't even formed any hand seals when his right leg, imbued with materialized Yang Release Chakra, slammed into Itachi's skull like a battle axe.
The stone chair shattered, and the altar collapsed. The "Itachi Uchiha," who still had a breath and a heartbeat, along with half of the circular platform, was smashed into a flat, fleshy mess by this sheer Monster Strength.
There was no blood splattering; beneath the shattered skin, a large amount of pale plant fibers and spore mucus gushed out.
"Not even a trace of soul fluctuation, just a high-end custom version of White Zetsu with a layer of skin, and you think you can disrupt my brother's Dao heart?" Naruto slowly retracted his right leg, shaking off the white slime on his shoe, his eyes extremely cold. "Kabuto Yakushi, your taste is still so despicable."
Sasuke's sword-wielding hand paused in mid-air for a second, the killing intent within his Mangekyo Sharingan gradually cooling. He saw the remains on the ground clearly; it was indeed just a low-quality shell that had been cellularly modified and imprinted with Sharingan.
"A mere trick." Sasuke sneered, sheathing his Kusanagi Sword, but the anger in his eyes burned even brighter. Using his brother's face as bait, Kabuto was already on his kill list.
Click click click...
Before the aftershocks of the altar's collapse had subsided, the talismans covering the walls with the names of the dead suddenly burst into flames. The eerie green Kakkō instantly illuminated the entire underground space, and the once smooth rock walls peeled away in patches like snakeskin, revealing dense, blood-red array patterns etched deep within the rock strata.
The stench of blood was so strong it was almost tangible.
Konan's gaze narrowed slightly, and with a flick of her fingertips, more than a dozen origami butterflies scattered rapidly, sticking to the blood-red patterns.
Laugh!
As soon as the paper butterflies approached within three meters of the stone wall, several faint, transparent ripples suddenly appeared in the air. Those paper pieces, infused with Chakra and harder than refined steel, had no chance to struggle and were instantly cut into fragments finer than powder, scattering across the ground.
"Don't go forward. It's an extremely high-density Wind Release Cutting Barrier." Konan's voice was cold as she immediately gathered up the rest of her Paper Clone.
Sasuke immediately activated his Sharingan, his gaze following the crisscrossing crimson patterns on the wall upwards until he saw the convergence point of the dome. His expression darkened completely.
"Reverse Explosive Seal." Sasuke gritted his teeth and spat out these words. "This isn't the main control base of the Edo Tensei Army. This is a complete decoy. These patterns on the wall are connected to the chakra flow of the Leyline's Chakra lines. Once any one of these lines is forcibly severed using a conventional release technique, the entire underground cavity will collapse inward, triggering a chain reaction of explosions."
Kakashi pushed up his Forehead Protector, his single eye fixed on the rock formations above. "Three hundred meters directly above is the Allied Shinobi Forces camp in the eastern valley where Haku and Tenten were just holding out. If this place explodes, the entire mountain range will instantly turn into a volcanic crater. Kabuto, that madman, calculated that we would come knocking, and he wants to bury us along with the thousands of Allied Shinobi Forces on the ground."
In the eerily quiet mine, a piercing electrical buzzing suddenly broke the silence.
"Hehehe... As expected of a descendant of the Uchiha, you have good eyesight."
The voices came simultaneously from all directions through the rock crevices, carrying an undisguised mockery. Kabuto Yakushi's voice, specially processed, sounded extremely cold.
"Naruto Uzumaki, aren't you supposed to be a great fighter? That punch you used to smash the White Zetsu bait was pretty cool, though. If Lord Orochimaru were still alive, he'd definitely be drooling over your perfect body." Kabuto's laughter echoed from the ground. "But how do you plan to open this door? Smash it? Your companions up there would be all cooked. Undo it? With the Hand Seals you four use, you can't even keep up with the instant the Leyline detonate. Can Hidden Leaf handle this?"
As Kabuto mocked, the invisible Wind Release barrier around them began to slowly shrink. Moreover, distorted human faces strangely appeared within the previously empty blood-red array patterns.
Immediately afterwards, dozens of withered arms belonging to the Edo Tensei Shinobi emerged from the rock wall. They had no lower bodies and were forcibly attached to the array nodes by talismans, each clutching Explosive Tag tightly in its hand.
A dead end.
If Naruto and the others retreat, the shrinking barrier will cut them into mincemeat; if they launch a full-scale attack, the Impure World Reincarnation arm will detonate the core of the barrier, dragging the camp above with it and causing them to perish together.
Kakashi rapidly Hand Seals, the light of Chidori dancing in his palms. Konan's massive paper wings had already unfurled behind her, ready to unleash a sea of paper attacks to overwhelm her.
"No need for that trouble."
Naruto stood there, showing no sign of panic. He casually pulled a specially made trident Kunai from his ninja tool pouch, tracing the Flying Thunder God Mark on it with his fingertips.
"Kabuto Yakushi, your biggest failure in this life is that you always hid in the gutter, thinking that you could overcome absolute power through scheming."
Before he could finish speaking, Naruto flicked his wrist.
Whoosh!
The Flying Thunder God Kunai transformed into a black lightning bolt, shooting straight towards the core of the invisible barrier deepest within the cave, where the array patterns were most densely packed.
"Foolish." Kabuto's voice held a hint of disappointment. "As soon as you touch the barrier, your Kunai will be shredded. You won't even have a chance to teleport..."
Click!
The kunai passed through the Wind Release barrier, which was strong enough to cut through steel, Kunai any hindrance, and landed firmly on a protruding rock.
There was no explosion, no cutting.
"How is this possible?" Dou, hidden in the shadows, gasped, his voice finally showing a hint of emotion.
"Surprised?" Naruto grinned arrogantly.
In the instant he made his move, the spiritual power of the Great Evolution Divine Soul Art had already attached itself to the Kunai. Naruto didn't bother to dispel the barrier; instead, he used his high-dimensional spiritual power to forcibly distort the Chakra frequency of that small space the moment they made contact, causing the Kunai "merge" into it.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted.
"Know."
Sasuke understood immediately, and the power of his Mangekyou Sharingan in his left eye erupted. A ball of Amaterasu Mangekyo Sharingan did not burn the wall, but instead precisely enveloped the Kunai that Naruto had thrown into the core area.
"You want to burn the detonation point? Too late!" Kabuto roared angrily. Dozens of Impure World Reincarnation arms on the wall exerted force simultaneously, preparing to detonate the talisman.
"I never intended to defuse the bomb!"
Naruto clasped his hands together, and the golden sea of Yang Release Chakra within his body instantly boiled.
"Immortal Technique: Adamantine Sealing Chains - Reverse Current!"
Boom!
Five golden chains, each as thick as an arm, shot out from Naruto's back. But instead of attacking any physical object, they precisely followed the spatial gaps created Amaterasu Sasuke's Amaterasu flames and plunged into the main network of the "reverse sealing array" underground.
Kabuto wants to destroy the Leyline with explosive tags?
Naruto directly poured a massive amount of Yang Release Chakra into the fragile barrier circuit like a high-pressure water jet.
The pure Yang life force clashed violently with the dark, Impure World Reincarnation array patterns. The array circuits on the entire three underground levels were like swallowing a super-sized Chakra balloon; the originally intricately operating runes could not withstand the pressure and burst out with blinding sparks.
Bang bang bang bang!
The Impure World Reincarnation arms that stretched out from the wall didn't even have a chance to detonate under the backflow of Yang Release; they melted instantly into a pile of white ash, just like being splashed with strong acid.
The Wind Release barrier that trapped the four people flickered twice due to a short circuit in the main circuit before completely dissipating.
"You... you actually used Chakra to shatter the entire barrier?!" Kabuto's voice became somewhat distorted; this was completely beyond his comprehension as a shrewd ninja. Normally, when clearing mines, Naruto simply brought in a dump truck and leveled the minefield!
"The living have their own rules, don't try to disgust me with the dead." Naruto walked step by step toward the completely destroyed stone wall. Golden chains danced wildly, holding up the surrounding crumbling rock layers and ensuring the absolute safety of the Allied Shinobi Forces camp above.
Click.
The deepest rock wall shattered under the strangulation of the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
A deep underground passage appeared before the four of them. At the end of the passage, there was no Edo Tensei Army, nor a main control base station, only a giant rune array covering the ground.
The talisman array emitted a ghostly blue light, with complex spacetime incantations nested within each other.
At the very center of the formation, four large characters were neatly engraved in dark red cinnabar:
Minato Namikaze.
The moment Kakashi saw that name, his pupils contracted sharply, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
"That's... the super-large expansion technique of Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder!" Kakashi's voice trembled slightly. "That bastard Kabuto extracted the master's Chakra seal and imprinted it on the core of the formation!"
Konan frowned, quickly deducing the function of this technique in her mind. "A large spatial array based on the coordinates of the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Coordinates... He's trying to..."
"He wants to turn this place into an airdrop transit point." Naruto's eyes instantly turned extremely dangerous. The perception network of the Great Evolution Divine Soul Art had already captured the massive, suffocating death energy at the other end of the spatial array.
"You got it right, but there's no reward."
Kabuto's voice no longer came from all directions, but rang out directly from the core of the array engraved with Minato's name. This time, his tone was filled with unbridled madness.
"Naruto Uzumaki, you think you can stop the return of the dead by thwarting a few of my bait? Since you don't want the Allied Shinobi Forces camp to be blown up from below, then I'll grant your wish. However, this time, what's falling on their heads won't just be Explosive Tag."
Buzz--!
The giant rune array erupted with blinding light, tearing apart the boundaries of space. Five dark red iron coffins, radiating overwhelming ferocity, were slowly being squeezed out of the void, following Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Coordinates.
Before the coffins had even fully hit the ground, chilling frost was already seeping out from the cracks of one of the iron coffins, instantly freezing the surrounding air.
"Weld the door shut!" Naruto roared, transforming into a bolt of golden lightning and hurtling straight towards the core of the formation. But this time, the countdown for the spatial teleportation had reached its final second.