The people on Sarutobi Hiruzen's side also began moving at once. After all, the enemy only had three people.
Just then, the dark clouds in the sky suddenly dropped down to the ground, spreading out like black ink across the earth.
Thunder and lightning constantly flashed within them.
At that moment, a man forming hand seals had already broken into Hiruzen's formation.
His speed was so fast that he seemed like an illusion.
It was Hiruko. With his hands in seals, he gathered lightning from the sky, which poured down on Hiruzen's troops like a storm.
Everyone was struck down, thrown off their feet in chaos.
Jiraiya followed close behind, but his speed clearly couldn't keep up.
"Damn it! So this is Swift Release, it's actually this fast!"
In his normal state, Jiraiya couldn't possibly catch up to Hiruko, who possessed Swift Release.
At this time, Hiruzen had already shed his usual long robe and changed into combat gear.
When he ran into Jiraiya, he immediately noticed Jiraiya's struggle.
Hiruzen gave quick orders, "Jiraiya, go help the civilians' side and handle those three. I'll deal with Hiruko."
"Got it, old man," Jiraiya's face twisted with frustration. He hadn't expected he couldn't even handle one Hiruko himself.
Because Shima had been seriously injured, Jiraiya couldn't summon Fukasaku to enter Sage Mode right now.
At the moment, his combat strength was greatly reduced.
Still, fighting Hiruko's three underlings was no problem.
He stomped the ground beneath him and leaped straight toward the civilian ranks.
His hands quickly formed seals.
"Summoning: Toad Platform Destroyer Technique!"
Dog Two, who was rampaging among the civilians, suddenly felt the sky go dark.
A massive green toad, carrying two large blades on its back, came crashing down from above.
BOOM!
The toad crushed two of her summoned dogs into bloody paste, leaving her with only one large dog.
Dog Two's face twisted with fury, "How dare you treat my adorable little servants like that!"
She formed seals with both hands, snarling, "Chimera Technique!"
A huge canine beast appeared under her feet, and her lower body fused directly with it.
Dog Two gripped the whip in her hands tightly, "Let me show you my power!"
Gamaken snorted coldly, drew his twin blades, and slashed down.
Dog Two's strength increased greatly after merging with her summon, with one flip, she dodged Gamaken's strike and opened her mouth wide, breathing fire at him.
Gamaken raised his other blade to block the flames.
Both of their huge bodies clashed fiercely, shaking the ground beneath them.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya had moved to Snake One's side. The ground there was crawling with countless purple-black two-headed snakes, wriggling thickly like grass on the earth.
He slammed his hand down and puffed up his chest:
"Toad Oil Bullet!"
A torrent of toad oil sprayed across the two-headed snakes covering the ground.
Then he formed seals again.
"Toad Flame Bullet!"
He spat out another jet of fire, igniting the toad oil below.
Normally, this was a combo he performed with the Toad Sages, but now he had to do it alone.
"Hissss!"
Countless two-headed snakes screamed as they burned to ashes, and Snake One fled in panic, his hair and clothes catching fire.
A bird's cry echoed overhead. Bird Three stood on his giant summoning bird, flapping its wings, a rain of feather bombs fell from the sky.
Jiraiya leaped up, his long white hair suddenly spreading out.
"Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"
His white hair turned into countless white ropes, shooting upward to grab Bird Three.
Bird Three quickly ascended higher into the sky and flapped its wings again, sending another wave of explosive feathers down.
Jiraiya kept dodging on the ground while firing more of his Lion's Mane strands into the air, trying to snare the enemy.
Meanwhile—
After Jiraiya left, an ANBU beside Hiruzen reported, "Lord Hokage, we've already suffered over four hundred casualties."
These ANBU still regarded Hiruzen with utmost respect, even though he'd left Konoha, he was still their Hokage.
Hiruzen's face darkened, "Only Hiruko's forces?"
"For now, yes. There are no other enemies."
Hiruzen frowned, 'Did the Uchiha really let such a good opportunity go?'
"Restrict Hiruko's movements. I'll handle him myself."
"Yes!", The ANBU quickly moved out.
Hiruzen's brows were furrowed tightly. For a moment, hesitation flickered in his eyes.
But it quickly vanished. He bit his finger and formed a hand seal.
"Summoning Technique!"
Poof!
The powerful Enma appeared in a cloud of smoke, looking surprised at the chaos raging in the ranks.
"Hiruzen, what the hell happened here?"
Hiruzen was already preparing to subdue Hiruko first.
"Hiruko's Swift Release is too fast. Transform into the Diamond Staff!"
Enma instantly transformed into the Ruyi Diamond Staff.
Hiruzen grabbed the staff and charged straight toward the area where Hiruko was slaughtering through the troops.
———
At the same time—
The Sand shinobi, seeing that someone else had come to make trouble for the Sarutobi forces, couldn't help but feel pleased.
"Looks like plenty of people have their eyes on Konoha."
Yura waved his hand, "Quickly! Get the materials ready!"
"Yes!"
Four of his subordinates pressed their palms to the ground.
"Sandification Technique!"
The ground began to dry, crack, and collapse, turning into grains of sand.
Another young man stepped up beside Yura.
"Ready, Shosuke?", Yura said in a deep voice.
Shosuke nodded firmly, "Don't worry, Elder Yura! I can definitely suppress Shukaku!"
Yura patted his shoulder, his expression complicated. Then he took out a small teacup, covered in several sealing tags.
"Sealing Unit!"
"Yes, sir!", the sealing team members answered.
They immediately unpacked scrolls from their bags.
One of them stripped off Shosuke's upper clothes and began drawing seals directly onto his body.
The thick sealing ink was highly corrosive. As soon as the runes touched his skin, Shosuke let out a muffled groan and clenched his teeth tightly.
The four sealers spread the scrolls across the ground while Yura peeled the tags off the teacup.
When the sealing scrolls lit up, an enormous surge of chakra burst out from within the teacup.
But under the binding of the surrounding seals, all that chakra began pouring straight into Shosuke's body.
"AAAAHHHHHH!"
Shosuke screamed in agony, but with Hiruzen's battlefield in chaos, no one noticed what was happening over here.
When all the chakra was finally absorbed, Shosuke's eyes went wild.
His pupils flickered between normal human eyes and Shukaku's cross-shaped pupils.
Yura frowned, watching closely.
The cross-pupils stayed for more than ten breaths but refused to return to normal.
And as the last of the chakra drained from the teacup, Yura shook his head and gestured to the sealing team.
The sealers sighed, this was already the third one. They took out another set of scrolls and spread them over the first.
More runes covered Shosuke's body.
"AAAHHHH!"
Shosuke's voice was hoarse now, but his eyes slowly returned to normal.
As he came to his senses, a hint of sadness crossed his face, "It failed, didn't it?"
Yura nodded, "You don't have much time left."
Shosuke gave a bitter smile, then took a deep breath, his gaze turning resolute.
"Elder Yura, I know what I must do."
"I leave my little brother to the village."
Yura patted his shoulder, "Don't worry."
Then he waved his hand, and everyone else moved away from Shosuke.
Even the ones who had just performed the Sandification Technique withdrew from the area.
Waves of chakra surged into the ground, and from the sandified earth, countless grains of sand rose up, all gathering toward Shosuke.
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