Sage Body

The Act for Controlling the Possession of Firearms, Swords, and Other Such Weapons, commonly known as the Firearms and Swords Control Act, strictly prohibited civilians from possessing handguns. Civilians were only permitted to use shotguns and air guns for hunting or competitive shooting after rigorous approval by the Prefectural Public Safety Commission, and even shotguns were subject to strict regulations.

The Twin-Body Buddha monster had tough skin, thick flesh, and a heavy layer of subcutaneous fat. The other old-fashioned shotguns had torn its skin and blasted its face into a gruesome mess, but those were only superficial wounds. This Franchi SPAS-12, however, had nearly blown its belly open and shredded its guts!

Firearm identification was a mandatory subject for the monsters in the organization. A shotgun like the Franchi SPAS-12 should have fallen under the weapons prohibited by the Firearms and Swords Control Act.

Yet somehow, the True Faith Society had gotten its hands on one, and it had nearly inflicted a serious injury.

"Those useless bastards at the Metropolitan Police Department! Incompetent! Derelict!"

The Twin-Body Buddha flew into a rage, cursing as it snapped the gun in two.

Next, the Twin-Body Buddha dug a large handful of lead pellets out of its wound with one hand and flung them to the ground. With another, it scooped up a corpse, stuffed it into its gaping, bloodstained maw, and chewed.

Fresh tissue writhed around the wound, quickly stopping the bleeding. After the Twin-Body Buddha devoured two corpses in succession, most of its injuries had healed.

The Twin-Body Buddha turned around, still chewing, the crunch of breaking bones sounding between its teeth. Blood trickled from the corners of its mouth. Devouring people bones and all, it wore a savage expression as it fixed Uchiha Naruto with a vicious stare.

"Amitabha. You vile beast, how many people have you eaten?"

Uchiha Naruto, a fake monk himself, had no intention of performing rites for these wicked monks of the True Faith Society. But the Twin-Body Buddha ate people with such practiced ease that he could not help asking coldly.

"See how many skulls are strung on these prayer beads?"

The Twin-Body Buddha lifted the string of skull beads around its neck. There were over a dozen skulls in all. With a hideous expression, it licked the smallest one, a child's skull.

"More than this! My favorite is when they're roasted all the way through, charred and crisp. Human skulls are both tough and fragile. A bonfire can't melt them, but put one in your mouth and you can crunch it apart with one bite. Sometimes I can't help myself and chew the skulls up!"

"Back in Tokyo, our teacher wouldn't let us eat people. We had to keep a low profile and avoid attracting the attention of the Metropolitan Police Department or the public. But out in the sticks like Chichibu District in Saitama Prefecture, there aren't so many things to worry about. Plus, the True Faith Society cleans up the evidence after the sacrifices, so I can eat my fill. Call it a perk of an out-of-town assignment! Hahahahaha!"

Its mouth full of blood, the Twin-Body Buddha laughed wildly, like a fiend from hell.

"Amitabha."

Uchiha Naruto lowered his eyes and recited the Buddha's name, his voice devoid of sorrow or joy.

"Bald donkey, quit chanting! You'll be one of my prayer beads soon enough!"

The Twin-Body Buddha cut off its grating laughter and glared at him with its fist-sized eyes. The golden Buddhist radiance behind it flared, bathing every part of its body in glittering gold.

The golden Buddhist radiance looked utterly sacred, yet the creature cloaked in it was a fiend. It was precisely this impressive appearance that had allowed the monster and the cult leader to collude, deceiving countless believers.

Demon King Papiyas had told Buddha, "When the age of Dharma's decline arrives, I will send my demonic children and grandchildren into your monastic community. They will wear your robes and destroy your teachings." The leader of the True Faith Society and his band of villains were just such demonic descendants. But how could the True Faith Society be the only ones in Japan?

"I only got hurt by that lousy human gun because I let my guard down. Don't think that Makarov PM pistol in your hand can punch through my Golden Bell Shield."

Despite its words, the Twin-Body Buddha kept its eyes fixed on the pistol in Uchiha Naruto's hand.

Uchiha Naruto frowned and glanced at the gun, finding the situation decidedly strange.

This monster knew even more about firearms than he did, a human. Uchiha Naruto knew next to nothing about military matters. His knowledge of firearms amounted to being able to distinguish categories such as pistols, rifles, and sniper rifles. Identifying a pistol's exact model at a glance, as the Twin-Body Buddha had done, was completely beyond him.

This monster was keeping up with the times a little too well...

"Rest assured. This humble monk will not use this gun."

Uchiha Naruto flicked his sleeve, tossing the pistol in a high arc toward the Twin-Body Buddha. In truth, it was already out of ammunition. He did not know how to reload it, so in his hands, the pistol was no better than scrap metal.

The Twin-Body Buddha's eyes involuntarily followed the pistol to the right.

"Since you aren't afraid of bullets, how about explosives?"

Before his words had faded, Senior Brother Ida burst out through a side door at lightning speed, his monk's robe bulging with explosive charges strapped all over his body. He threw himself toward the Twin-Body Buddha's feet without regard for his life, the fuses already burned down to their ends.

Boom!

Flames burst outward and smoke billowed as a tremendous explosion rang out.

Large-caliber shotguns and explosives-the cult leader had secretly acquired all these things, probably with ulterior motives of his own. They were not meant for outside enemies, but as insurance in case he fell out with the Twin-Body Buddha.

But...

Despite the thick smoke, Uchiha Naruto clearly saw the Twin-Body Buddha's golden barrier flicker a few times under the blast before remaining firmly intact.

"Hahahaha! What can a little explosion do to me? My Golden Bell Shield can even stop a tank shell!" A smug expression spread across the Twin-Body Buddha's hideous face, and the golden Buddhist radiance around its body swelled further.

Yet Uchiha Naruto could still detect a hint of fear beneath the Twin-Body Buddha's bluster. Like the Six-Armed Monster, it was deeply wary of human firearms and explosives.

"They were only a few shotguns and some shoddy homemade explosives. Stop bragging. Now, monster, you will witness this humble monk's true Buddhist arts!"

"Damned bald donkey! I'll pound you into pulp!"

A ring of Buddhist radiance emerged behind the Twin-Body Buddha, and golden arms unfurled one after another like lotus petals.

At the sight, Uchiha Naruto raised an eyebrow.

This chakra, this power-it really was the Sage Body!

Golden palms of light materialized in the air and came crashing down on Uchiha Naruto in overlapping waves!

Rumble-!

They left pits more than half a meter deep in the floor of the worship hall. Even a truck would have been flattened and smashed to pieces.

But Uchiha Naruto moved like a phantom, appearing behind the Twin-Body Buddha with a kunai in hand and slashing at the Buddhist radiance surrounding its body.

Clang!

With a sharp metallic ring, the kunai snapped on the spot.

"Die!"

The Twin-Body Buddha turned and punched, sending a golden phantom fist hurtling toward him. Uchiha Naruto retreated several steps, his movements seemingly slow but actually swift. The fist passed through his afterimage and smashed down a wall.

"Hmm. Good attack power and range. Flawless defense, too," Uchiha Naruto murmured to himself, as though the Twin-Body Buddha were not even there.

By the standards of cold weapons, that was.

If the Twin-Body Buddha had appeared on an ancient battlefield, it could have swept through the entire field single-handedly. Faced with such an invulnerable monster of boundless strength, the soldiers' morale would have collapsed on the spot. Like the great monsters of Japanese legend, it could easily have conquered a small country.

Unfortunately, times had changed. In the twenty-first century, supernatural power of this level was nowhere near enough to confront an army head-on.

"You bald donkey! You're not a rat, so stop scurrying around! Fight me head-on if you've got the guts!"

As attack after attack missed, the Twin-Body Buddha grew anxious and unleashed a stream of furious curses.

"Hmph! Then try this humble monk's Buddhist arts!"

Uchiha Naruto formed hand seals and spat out a Great Fireball more than three meters across. It slammed into the golden Buddhist radiance around the Twin-Body Buddha!

The golden Buddhist radiance flickered violently before shattering. The flames scorched the Twin-Body Buddha, drawing repeated screams of agony.

It rolled desperately across the floor to extinguish the flames. Then the Twin-Body Buddha raised its head and saw a scarlet full moon rising inside the worship hall, three black tomoe spinning within it!