The swarm's attack was plain and brutal, relying purely on overwhelming numbers as countless bugs engulfed the defenders.
It almost had the same feeling as The Mummy coming back to life.
"Ah!!! Help!!!"
"Use explosive tags! Blow these bugs apart!"
"Boom!"
The ones guarding the castle were all elite shinobi of Amegakure. Although they were startled for a moment when the dense mass of bugs suddenly appeared—and even lost several people in that instant—their reaction still came quickly.
Explosive tags were hurled forward recklessly.
Up on the top floor, Hanzo and Aburame Tatsuma instantly turned pale when they heard the screams and explosions below.
"Impossible! If he really came in, there's no way we wouldn't sense him!"
"Damn it! Aside from him, who else could be attacking my castle?!"
Their furious roars overlapped.
Without thinking, Aburame Tatsuma spread his arms wide, sending out his parasitic insects in all directions.
But the moment he made his move, Tatsuma's expression turned extremely ugly.
"Where did he get so many bugs… and some of them are even poisonous."
"Don't tell me these are also some strange substances he got from Orochimaru?"
Everyone in Konoha knew—on the battlefield against Iwagakure—if not for the anti-insect medicine Orochimaru developed, the casualty numbers would have shot straight up.
Since insect repellent medicine could be made, medicine that attracted insects wasn't out of the question either.
But what made him even more unable to accept was how Gekko Chizan managed to enter the village at all.
There were sensory ninja stationed—how could he possibly get in?!
"Damn it! I knew you Konoha bastards were unreliable!"
"Sensory ninjutsu? Hmph! Completely useless!"
Hanzo cursed loudly, then turned toward his own shinobi.
"Immediately go and wipe out every last one of these bugs!"
"And find out where all the shinobi responsible for maintaining the sensory barrier went!"
The Amegakure shinobi didn't dare delay. An enraged Salamander Hanzo was not someone anyone wanted to face.
They rushed downward immediately.
Even with many new reinforcements joining the fight, bugs were still bugs—wiping them out wasn't going to be easy.
Especially when faced with that endless carpet of insects stretching far beyond sight. Fear came first, action came second.
While everyone below struggled in chaos, Gekko Chizan floated calmly in the air.
"Hahaha, Hanzo, didn't expect this, did you?"
"You want to guard against me? Keep dreaming, hahahaha!"
The sound of rain and battle allowed Gekko Chizan to laugh as loudly as he wanted.
Seeing the chaos below and Hanzo's furious, panicked expression filled him with satisfaction.
"Chizan, are we really just going to watch like this? Aren't we going to give them something even more exciting?"
Chōmei started again, unable to sit still even for a single moment.
Ever since he fired that Tailed Beast Bullet beam, he now wanted to shoot someone everywhere he looked.
Hearing that voice, Gekko Chizan instantly stopped laughing, gritting his teeth.
"Chōmei, keep those unrealistic ideas of yours to yourself."
"Unless we're fighting tailed beasts, forget it."
While things were noisy above, the battle below had already reached a boiling point.
A group of shinobi unleashed everything they had toward the overwhelming wave of bugs.
Explosive tags, ninjutsu, a rain of senbon and shuriken—only through this relentless barrage were they barely able to hold back the swarm.
Seeing this, Gekko Chizan grinned.
With a flick of his hand, a crystal-formed eagle materialized. Once its body fully solidified, it shot toward the upper floors of the castle.
The enraged Hanzo immediately felt a sense of danger rise from deep within his heart.
As a king who once dominated the battlefield, his battle intuition was terrifying—an important part of why he became known as a demigod.
His eyes swept the sky and instantly picked up the movement of the crystal eagle.
"Damn! That bastard really did get in!"
"This is his Transparent Release!"
Hanzo reacted instantly. The chain-scythe in his hand whipped out and slashed toward the eagle.
"Swish!"
With one strike, the crystal eagle was sliced cleanly in half.
"If you've got guts, come out!"
Hanzo knew Gekko Chizan was close by. He retrieved his weapon and immediately dropped into battle stance.
But no matter how he roared, Gekko Chizan did not show himself.
As the crystal shards scattered across the castle roof—
A flash of light streaked across the sky, making Hanzo's expression turn even darker.
Because that wasn't light.
It was countless crystal eagles.
Below was a sea of darkness—bugs.
Above was a sky of shining crystal birds.
Gekko Chizan's simultaneous two-layer attack was downright wicked.
"Don't think these kinds of tricks can breach my castle!"
Hanzo's chain-scythe danced at incredible speed, creating afterimages.
The razor-sharp blade cut down every crystal eagle approaching the castle.
Aburame Tatsuma and the Root operatives beside him also unleashed their specialties.
Flames, parasitic insects, coordinated attacks—all aimed at intercepting the crystal flock.
"Damn it, what are the sensory ninja doing?!"
"Insect Sphere!"
Tatsuma's expression twisted. Even now, he was thinking about his sensory ninja—but he also knew that if Gekko Chizan was already here, those under him were likely dead.
Gekko Chizan saw that Hanzo and the others—with airtight defenses—actually managed to stop his attack and didn't even allow a single eagle to slip inside.
He wasn't angry. Instead, he smiled.
He formed rapid hand seals. The shattered crystal eagle fragments suddenly reassembled, turning into sharp crystal spikes that rained down like arrows toward the castle.
Hanzo's expression tightened. If they were solid eagles, he could cut them— but now it was a storm of crystal senbon. He couldn't slice all of them.
Forced, he also quickly formed hand seals and shouted:
"Water Release: Water Encampment Pillar!"
A massive wall of water rose around the castle. Crystal spikes stabbed into it, making sharp clinking sounds.
But some managed to break through, flying toward the people inside.
Aburame Tatsuma quickly directed his insects to swallow and wrap around those crystal spikes, preventing them from hitting anyone.
Originally, they thought that with two leaders defending, everything would be fine.
But the next second—
Several kunai wrapped in crystal punched through the water wall and insect barrier, shooting into the castle interior.
A moment later, a ghastly voice sounded around them, accompanied by a sinister laugh:
"Hehehehe… To get rid of me, Danzo that old bastard really spent a lot, huh."
"The Aburame clan—should've been allies."
"Too bad. Take this—Thousand-Year Spiral Kill!"
Aburame Tatsuma's face changed drastically.
Then a wave of excruciating pain and dizziness crashed through his mind.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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