Kakashi Won't Retreat-Whoever Shows Their Head Dies!
Midnight, Allied Shinobi Forces Central Medical Camp.
Several disguised White Zetsu, stained with the "Life Mark," lay in the mud, screaming pitifully. Pure golden Yang Release Chakra danced like flames on their bodies, and within a few breaths, their pale flesh turned to ashes.
Naruto shook off the ashes from his hands and removed the Adamantine Sealing Chains Formation that covered most of the camp.
"Clear the defensive line and take stock of the casualties." He uttered these words, ignoring the terrified ninjas around him, and looked straight across the camp to the northern night sky.
The rain stopped, and the air was filled with a sweet, earthy smell.
In mid-air, hundreds and thousands of Chakra flew through the air, like weary birds returning to their nests, and landed on Konan's shoulders, who was wearing Akatsuki cloak.
"We've caught the mouse hole." Konan's voice was clear and cold as she flicked open a paper crane with her fingertips.
The paper crane unfolded automatically, revealing an intricate pattern drawn with Chakra ink.
Karin strode forward, snatched the blueprint, and pushed up her red-rimmed glasses. She placed one hand on the paper, closed her eyes to sense it for only three seconds, and then suddenly opened them wide.
"Damn it! This White Zetsu's Chakra didn't just appear out of thin air!" Karin gritted her teeth, quickly drawing several red circles on the map with her finger. "These scum are just the initial consumables; the real source of energy is underground!"
Hinata stood beside Naruto, her hands Hand Seals, veins bulging at the corners of her eyes.
"Byakugan, open!"
Her gaze pierced through the camp, extending northward and probing a thousand meters underground.
"A thousand meters underground... there's a net." Hinata's voice trembled slightly, a rare occurrence. "No, it's not a net, it's living plants. An immense amount of Chakra is flowing through the Leyline, frantically converging towards the Northern Wasteland."
"It's not the White Zetsu's lair." Konan pulled another handkerchief from her sleeve and placed it next to the map. Inside the handkerchief was a small piece of withered wood shavings. "These are remnants from Yahiko's grave. Nagato once said that once the roots of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path take hold of the Leyline, they can drain an entire continent."
Naruto's eyes suddenly turned cold.
That Obito isn't fighting a war of attrition at all; he's using the entire Land of Land of Fire's Leyline as nourishment for the Ten-Tails.
"Blow the assembly whistle." Naruto turned and walked towards the command tent. "I want to see the Five Kage sitting at the table within ten minutes."
The main tent of the Allied Shinobi Forces Command.
A huge map of the Shinobi World is spread out on the central sand table.
Naruto placed the marked origami crane in the center, tapping his knuckles on the table with a crisp sound.
"Everyone, bad news. Obito isn't going to play mind games with us; he's flipping the table." Naruto said calmly, without any preamble, directly revealing his trump card.
Raikage A slammed his fist on the edge of the solid wood table, sending wood chips flying.
"These shameful rats!" The Raikage's forehead veins bulged. "These mere tree roots? I'll personally lead the team and use my Lariat to dig them all out! I refuse to believe that their bark can withstand my Lightning Release!"
"Raikage, use your brain." Ōnoki floated in mid-air, his face so gloomy it could drip water. "Its root system covers an area of hundreds of kilometers. Even if you moved all the mines in the Land of Lightning, you still couldn't blow it all up. Once we start fighting on it, this thing can drain the Chakra of tens of thousands of Allied Shinobi Forces into dried-up corpses in seconds."
Gaara crossed his arms, sand swirling anxiously at his feet. "We can't wait. It's spreading. Every second we delay increases the danger to the Allied Shinobi Forces. We must send elite squads to cut off the central artery directly."
"What if it's a trap?" Tsunade braced her fists on the table, her gaze sharp. "This is clearly a deliberate flaw. The White Zetsu's infiltration just failed, and the Root system just happened to be exposed?"
Ōnoki scoffed, "We have to fall into the trap. Otherwise, the Allied Shinobi Forces will be completely drained before they even reach Lightning Cloud Gorge."
The atmosphere inside the tent was tense and ready to fight.
Naruto ignored their argument. He placed one hand on the sand table, his gaze following the red veins on the map, pushing them northward. Those fragmented branches eventually converged into five main trunks, the thickest of which had an extremely strange trajectory.
Naruto's finger stopped at a spot marked with a red cross.
This is not a trap.
Naruto raised his head. The violent energy of the Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body, mixed with the pressure of the Pure Byakugan, caused the air in the tent to freeze instantly. The Five Kage who had been arguing simultaneously fell silent.
"This is a challenge." Naruto pointed to the red bone mark. "This thickest main root system didn't go to absorb the densest Chakra from the major city, but instead went straight for our first battalion on the northwest defense line."
In the corner of the tent, Kakashi, who had been silent all along, suddenly paused.
The First Battalion of the Northwest Defense Line was the area he was responsible for.
Obito's Kamui Space. Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's Wood Release.
Two words flashed through Kakashi's mind: the hatred of the dead can only be washed away with the blood of the living.
He stepped out of the shadows, his gaze calm, yet revealing an indelible ruthlessness.
"He's looking for me." Kakashi pointed to his left eye above his mask. "Or rather, he's looking for this eye. Wood Release combined with Kamui, he wants to tear a gap in the front line."
"Raikage, stop digging holes. And old man Ōnoki, don't even think about sending out squads." Naruto snapped his fingers out of a blue flag representing the Allied Shinobi Forces on the sand table and stuck it directly into the end of the red roots.
He casually pulled out a sealed scroll from his waist and tossed it onto the table. The scroll unfolded, revealing the top-secret military equipment map of the Akatsuki that he had previously captured.
"From this moment on, the defensive battle is over." Naruto stared directly at the Five Kage. "Obito wants to absorb the Leyline, let him. If he dares to extend the roots of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, I'll follow the internet cables and uproot his entire lair."
Raikage's eyes widened. "Kid, you plan to use an army of 100,000 to fill those man-eating tree roots?"
"The dead follow the rules of the living."
A blinding Golden Yang Release Chakra appeared in Naruto's palm, which he slammed directly onto the Northern Wasteland of the map. The intense heat instantly burned a charred hole into the sheepskin map.
"Notify all Sealing Squad to attach Yang Release Explosive Tag to all Chakra nodes. If he dares to show his face and absorb Chakra, I'll channel Yang Release into his meridians and burst that broken tree!"
Naruto turned to Kakashi, his tone authoritative and unyielding. "Kakashi-sensei, your defensive zone is secure. If he dares to come, kill him right there on that turf."
Kakashi pressed his hand to the hilt of the short sword at his waist, his voice flat and even. "Understood."
Once the order was given, the Five Kage had no further objections and each turned to direct their troops.
Just then...
"Boom--!"
A deafening roar came from outside the tent, causing the entire mountain range where the Allied Shinobi Forces command headquarters was located to shake violently. The sand table on the table collapsed instantly, scattering sand all over the ground, and several cups of hot tea were smashed to pieces.
"Enemy attack?!" Raikage's body surged with lightning, smashing through the tent's wooden pillars as he charged out.
Ōnoki and Gaara followed closely behind.
"Not a surprise attack force."
Hinata stumbled into the tent, veins bulging at the corners of her eyes, bloodshot from the effort. Her Byakugan's vision was pushed to its limit, and she gripped Naruto's sleeve tightly with both hands.
"Naruto-kun... the Northern Wasteland..."
She didn't need to say anything more.
Naruto had already lifted the tattered tent flap and strode out.
The night sky has changed.
The sky, which had been obscured by dark clouds, was now dyed a nauseating dark purple. The moisture in the air seemed to have been instantly sucked out, replaced by a dense, suffocating atmosphere of death.
Within that swirling purple miasma, a colossal, indescribably distorted black shadow slowly rose from the horizon.
It's too big.
It was so large that even from hundreds of kilometers away, people in the Allied Shinobi Forces camp could still clearly see its outline.
It was a withered and ugly face, like a dead tree, with nine huge, tightly closed eyes arranged in a haphazard pattern. Dozens of thick, mountain-like arms slowly stretched out behind the shadow, each finger like an inverted mountain peak.
Even though it was just a phantom, the tyrannical pressure that had spanned a thousand years was still like a tangible gale, instantly sweeping across the entire Allied Shinobi Forces camp. Countless Genin collapsed to the ground under this pressure, their knees buckling, their strength completely drained from them.
Obito didn't even wait for the Allied Shinobi Forces to sever the roots.
The Ten-Tails' husk, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, crushed all attempts and schemes, forcefully crashing into this game of chess.
The gale whipped Naruto's Hokage Haori. He looked up at the enormous phantom that could blot out the starry sky, his blood surging and his joints cracking.
"Very good."
Naruto's lips curled into an extremely cold smile, his Pure Byakugan reflecting the image of the demon Golem.
"That saves me the trouble of coming looking for you."