This series of seemingly violent and extreme hammerings, though appearing intricate, actually occurred in a brief instant.
In just one encounter, the powerful Tailed Beast, regarded by ordinary Ninja as a national treasure, collapsed with a crash before Sawara, its body's large areas of Chakra-formed flesh even developing constantly cracking voids.
Those indescribably dark Chakra strikes actually annihilated its very essence as a Tailed Beast, completely obliterating it.
Just as the Five Tails, Son Gokū, was in a flurry of thoughts, and the Han within its depths was equally astonished.
It suddenly felt the ground beneath its feet give way, and its enormous body, which had been slammed to the ground, abruptly slid deeper underground, pulled by gravity.
"Boom—!"
The violent shaking of the earth caused the surrounding rock walls to continuously shed stones, which fell to the ground like a stone rain, making a series of crackling sounds.
Just as Han and Son Gokū were extremely wary, struggling to get up from the ground, still thinking this was another one of Sawara's schemes, a small figure, ragged and revealing large sections of its puppet structure, suddenly appeared in their vision.
The moment he saw that figure, Han's heart immediately relaxed, and at the same time, his mind suddenly recalled that this was the battlefield they had specifically set up to deal with Sawara.
The surge of fear that had been constantly welling up paused, and Han's voice immediately rang out through Son Gokū's enormous mouth:
"Sasori!?"
"Where's the trap we agreed on?"
Looking at this young man, who was clearly completely flustered, Sasori's gaze shifted from Sasori's head, casting a look of disdain.
Who would openly shout out the location of their own trap?
This kid, after just a few exchanges, had already had his spirit broken by Sawara.
Iwagakure, as expected, are unreliable.
But it doesn't matter.
Seeing Sawara's series of pre-planned actions, it was clear that their ambush this time had to turn into a direct assault.
Before Han could speak again, Sasori was already tearing open the Sealing Technique scroll connected to a safe-sized sphere in front of him, fixing it to the back of his puppet body, and speaking in a hoarse, intermittent voice:
"Five seconds."
"Whether you live or die, if you still want to take down Sawara, you must at least buy me five seconds!"
"Five seconds—!?"
"Are you insane?!"
Han's voice was urgent, tinged with disbelief.
With his full effort just now, he had only managed to delay for a brief one or two seconds by taking hits; five seconds would surely mean being killed by that monster, Sawara!
However, Sasori no longer spoke, raising his head directly towards the hole above.
Sawara stood like a traveler on a cliff edge, looking down at the single person and single beast buried at the bottom of this rock cavern, his voice tinged with a hint of regret:
"What a pity, was it only this close?"
That arrow just now still hadn't fully achieved its purpose.
Almost at the same moment he spoke, Son Gokū's massive body stiffened, and even the gaze it directed at Sawara revealed an intense, almost extreme, vigilance.
Although it had countless times elevated Sawara's combat ability in its mind, after the fight began, it realized it had still underestimated this human.
If.
It only said if.
If this human continued to grow, he might truly reach the level of 'That Person' they had seen a thousand years ago.
However, before it could think deeper.
Sasori's body, carrying that iron ball, was already climbing directly up the vertical rock wall, heading upwards.
Seeing this, Han's consciousness within it also suddenly intensified by several points.
"Isn't it just five seconds?"
"I'll risk it!"
Under this intense consciousness, Son Gokū's body also suddenly charged forward, its body, though so massive, shot forth like an extremely agile rabbit the moment it leaped.
Its heavy hooves merely stepped on the rock wall, and its figure immediately refracted upwards.
At the same time, it opened its bloody mouth, gathering a brilliant light.
"Biju Bomb: Consecutive!"
In an instant, dense streams shot out from its mouth, continuous and relentless.
[One second]
At the same time, vigorous smoke also poured out from its tattered body, swirling around its body like clouds, yet carrying extremely strong corrosiveness, subtly coiling like ribbons, serving as protection.
Its entire body, like a rampaging mountain, crushed towards Sawara's direction.
Using Son Gokū's enormous body as cover, Sasori, controlling Sasori, took advantage of the momentary obscuration to retrieve a small scroll from his chest cavity.
"Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump—!"
Tailed Beast Balls, as dense as raindrops, continuously slammed into the air barrier one inch in front of Sawara, producing a series of heavy thuds like punches.
Just from the aftershocks of the Biju Bomb spreading out, the dirt beneath his feet rippled like water, countless gullies carving across in the direction the Tailed Beast Balls flew; in just a brief moment, they had actually flattened a large section of the scorched earth, except for the area behind Sawara, making him seem to stand on an abruptly raised small hill.
But Son Gokū didn't even need to look closely to know that this guy could absolutely not die from such an attack.
It simply counted silently in its heart.
[Two seconds]
With a thunderous stomp, Son Gokū's four hooves landed heavily on the ground, and then it immediately sped around Sawara, its Biju Bomb barrage still relentless; even a creature entirely composed of Chakra like it felt a faint sense of weakness from within.
The mist of rising dust spread in a wide arc around Sawara's figure.
But, unfortunately.
Technique Lapse: Blue
The brilliant blue light that suddenly shone from the smoke immediately drew the attention of Han and Son Gokū, and a warning bell rang loudly in their hearts.
But then, they immediately realized that it wasn't just their vision that was attracted by this light; even their massive body felt an irresistible pull, shooting towards Sawara like a bullet.
Even the obstructing smoke in front of them dispersed like a hurricane under the impact generated by the pulling of this huge body.
What came into view was Sawara, standing still, body low, in a boxing stance.
[Three seconds]
The next moment.
A heavy punch, mirroring the crimson glow, smashed into the air in front of him.
Technique Reversal: Red
"Boom—!"
With just one strike.
All visible and invisible matter in front of Sawara—air, dust, stone, etc.—was pressed down towards Son Gokū, forcibly crushing a concave, wave-like ring in mid-air.
Following that, this unimaginably heavy force slammed entirely onto the surface of the Five Tails, Son Gokū's body.
It actually carved a circular indentation into its massive body, almost 貫通.
"Ugh."
Even a Tailed Beast's body could not withstand this violent and fierce punch; Son Gokū actually spat out a very human-like stream of acidic fluid, its entire body deeply embedded in the rock wall behind it, letting out an earth-shattering roar.
[Four seconds]
Han silently kept time in his heart, while a sensation of nerve-wracking soreness was transmitted through his synchronized senses with Son Gokū.
However, he still relied entirely on willpower, forcing himself to get up from the ground, and gathering a final light in his mouth towards Sawara.
"Tail—"
The sound, which he had tried to utter countless times, had not yet been fully spoken.
In Son Gokū's vision, a slender figure, appearing abruptly as if by instant transmission, was already reflected before him.
The figure held one of the two swords at his waist.
A pitch-black color extended from his wrist directly towards the blade, until it completely engulfed the entire sword body.
Faintly, a dazzling flash of fire could be seen igniting.
At that moment, Han's and Son Gokū's thoughts seemed to freeze.
Hinokami Kagura: First Form: True Round Dance.
The surface of the dark blade was overlaid with a fine, molten-like pattern, radiating an intense heat that even hundreds of degrees of steam couldn't compare to, vigorously rising in a circular flame current that sliced through the vision along the direction of the blade's swing.
Until it carved an arc like a full moon in mid-air.
[Five seconds]
At this moment, Han's heart seemed to suddenly understand, or perhaps it was because he was viewing through Son Gokū's sight, so he simply let go of everything.
Both his body and consciousness were engulfed by the blazing flames.
'My mission is complete.'
He thought to himself silently.
"Boom—!"
The blazing fire, like a lit torch, instantly engulfed Son Gokū's massive body.
Deep streams of light outlined its tower-like thick neck, like a laser cutting through metal, quickly changing from an initial brilliant white to a dark red, symbolizing extremely high temperatures.
Split into two.
Almost at this exact moment, Sasori, controlled by Sasori, had already shot to the very center of this underground space, and with a thud, pressed the iron ball behind him onto the ground.
He unrolled the scroll in his hand and pressed it firmly onto it.
When the scene of Son Gokū's beheading appeared in his Chakra perception, Sasori, thousands of miles away, silently negated one of his previous thoughts.
'Still acceptable.'
Following that, a hoarse, grating roar suddenly erupted from the puppet body, which was entirely assembled from mechanical structures:
"Sawara—!!!"
Sasori's gaze, spanning thousands of miles, pierced through Sasori's body and landed on that man.
At the same time, Sawara just happened to look back at him.
Although the current situation was completely different from what they had anticipated at the Three Kage Summit, Sasori's layered and thorough preparations finally found their use.
In his original plan, he wanted to lure Sawara into a narrow rock cave, which was why he had extended Sealing Technique formulas like tentacles into every cave.
However, since this guy so casually tore off an entire mountain range and audaciously put himself in danger, he didn't need to bother so much.
"Clap—!"
In the center of the unrolled scroll, fragments of jade were adhered.
These were fragments of the four souls jade.
With the powerful Chakra supplied by this peculiar substance, and this scroll which he kept as a trump card, it was enough!
Using this powerful force, and the remaining parts of the formation nearby that hadn't been completely severed, although it couldn't replicate the spatial distortion barrier he had originally envisioned, it was completely sufficient to lock down this small section of the rock cavern's space!
It was merely a puppet.
However, Sawara could clearly see the madness in his eyes.
"For this world!"
"Die!"
Almost the instant his words fell.
Completely tadpole-shaped patterns abruptly spread out from the Sealing Technique scroll and the iron sphere, radiating in all directions, completely engulfing the entire rock cavern.
The space solidified.
"Clang!"
A muffled explosion suddenly came from inside the iron sphere.
Like the first domino to fall.
Watching this scene, Sasori, thousands of miles away, was suddenly filled with an uncontrollable ecstasy.
Inside the iron sphere, almost entirely composed of uranium, with only a layer of steel shell on the outside, a powerful force, incomparable even to a Tailed Beast, suddenly surged.
'Even Sawara could never—'
The moment this thought crossed his mind.
Sawara's figure abruptly appeared before him.
However, this time, Sasori felt no fear whatsoever.
Until Sawara suddenly spoke:
"A clumsy trick."
Sasori, far away, was startled by the words.
Then, he saw Sawara extend his hand and press a translucent, pale pink sphere onto the Sealing Technique scroll in his hand.
Very abruptly.
The six fragments of the four souls jade immediately melted into it like water, subtly completing a part of it.
How dare you use my things against me?
"You—"
Before the words from within Sasori could finish.
The dark iron ball between the two suddenly erupted with a terrifying light that ordinary people could never look at directly.
Pure white, in an instant, swallowed the figures of both.
From afar, one could even see a beam of light shooting straight into the sky from the abyss where the Akatsuchi Mountains once stood.
Unspeakable high temperatures and impacts once again engulfed this terribly afflicted land.
Iwagakure, having just weathered the first tremor, was immediately hit by a second wave of 'aftershocks'.
A mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke rose high.
For a long time, there was no sign of it dissipating.
Instead, on the ground at the very center of the explosion, a slender figure still remained.
Sawara waved his hand in a performative gesture, then glanced at the completely disintegrated corpse of the Five Tails beside him, looking somewhat regretfully at the ground that had sunk who knows how many meters further.
As for Sasori?
He had already merged into the smoke cloud in the sky the very first second the explosion began.
At the same time, Sawara couldn't help but feel a little emotional.
Although he had deliberately let Sasori set up his methods, he had a certain intention of allowing it; this was partly because he had already seen through the four souls jade structure within his Sealing Technique, giving him confidence, and partly because he wanted to personally experience the power of a nuclear explosion, something he had never dared to imagine before.
However, to say he had no fear at all was simply impossible.
For this, Sawara had also set up several layers of precautions, just in case he truly messed up and died at the center of the nuclear explosion.
Fortunately, once the explosion began and the temperature, radiation, and impact were firmly withstood by the Limitless, with no possibility of escaping the concept of space, Sawara finally felt at ease.
After all these years, even the most terrifying power in his original world could no longer harm him.
Thinking about it more carefully, the Ōtsutsuki, who could arbitrarily change worlds, jump through time and space, and whose life energy was materialized, seemed almost too strong.
As he was lost in these random thoughts, Sawara suddenly turned his head towards a certain side of the rock wall and smiled:
"How cruel."
"Watching your comrades get taken down one by one, yet showing no intention of intervening."
"Should I say, it's just like you all?"
As he spoke, a figure slowly stepped out from the shadows, gazing indifferently at the man opposite him.
It was 'Plough', who had given Kakashi some information during the first Chunin Exams.
He looked at the gentle smile on Sawara's face, his voice cold:
"You're the cruel one, aren't you?"
"Inferior being."
"Sawara."