I cannot stare at this guy for long; I must end this quickly!
After Kakashi braced himself, a greater horror erupted. Countless thick tentacles covered in sharp spikes grew from that bizarre, giant eye, lashing out at Kakashi and blotting out the sky.
The moment he used his Sharingan to track the monster's movement, Kakashi immediately used the Body Flicker Jutsu to flee the spot. Without fail, the entire earth was torn apart by the massive tentacles. To describe it as "mountains crumbling and the earth splitting" was no exaggeration.
"This kind of monster... really is..."
Kakashi dodged the enemy's assault frantically. Facing such a creature, he found himself uncharacteristically helpless. In his entire career, he had never encountered an opponent like this.
Not only was it gargantuan, but the speed of its tentacles was incredibly fast. Furthermore, its entire body constantly emitted spirit-based attacks similar to genjutsu. One lapse in concentration would cause a person to fall into a stiff state of terror. This forced Kakashi to avoid overusing his Sharingan to observe the enemy's movements.
Several tentacles crashed down wildly, easily shredding the ground wherever they landed and leaving behind one massive crater after another. Finally, after adapting to the enemy's attack frequency, Kakashi used the Body Flicker Jutsu to appear atop one of the tentacles.
"Lightning Blade!"
He activated his strongest technique without hesitation. With a high-pitched roar of chirping lightning, terrifying bolts of electricity wrapped around his palm. He transformed into a streak of light, racing along the tentacle directly toward the eyeball in the sky.
Kakashi knew that attacking these tentacles was pointless. Only by taking down the enemy's main body could he achieve final victory. Stimulated by the Lightning Style chakra, his speed reached its limit.
However, the monster clearly wouldn't sit still and wait for death. It manipulated the tentacle, shaking it violently to throw Kakashi off. Finding that it couldn't shake him, even more tentacles swarmed in, attempting to swat Kakashi into paste.
In response, Kakashi was forced to use his Sharingan to capture the enemy's movements, allowing blood-red tears to stream continuously from the corners of his eyes. Through the Sharingan, the movements of these tentacles were perfectly mapped out in his mind. He relied on his extreme speed to weave through them, heading for the main body like a winding bolt of lightning.
Just as Kakashi was about to succeed, countless spikes suddenly shot out from all the tentacles simultaneously, forcing him to leap into mid-air to dodge. The moment he jumped, a massive dark shadow loomed over him as a terrifying tentacle crashed down!
In mid-air, Kakashi had no room to maneuver. He was struck directly by the tentacle, but he dissipated into smoke. On another tentacle, a scroll quietly unfurled, and Kakashi's true body emerged from it, once again gathering lightning to pierce the eye.
Compared to his own body, the giant eye before him felt like a pitch-black lake. He quite clearly saw a hint of... playfulness in that dark orb. It was the same kind of disregard a lion shows when a hyena provokes it.
The crimson pupil suddenly erupted with a terrifying spiritual pressure. His dead father and fallen partners surfaced in his mind once again.
Rin...
By the time he snapped back to reality, the chakra in his hand had vanished at some unknown point. In its place was a thick, incoming tentacle!
Smack!
As easily as swiping away a fly, Kakashi was swatted away.
Boom!
The sent-flying Kakashi was like a high-speed cannonball, smashing through houses below and cratering the ground. Even though he had used Earth Style: Earth Spear to harden his body before impact, the strike nearly shattered him.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Bright red blood seeped from under Kakashi's mask. Many of his internal organs had shifted, and several ribs were broken. The repeated use of ninjutsu had also drained nearly all of his chakra; he was at the end of his rope.
On the outskirts of the Hidden Steam Village, Zetsu—cloaked in the red-clouded robes—slowly emerged from a crack in a wall.
"Truly terrifying. That guy Simu always manages to create these unimaginable things," White Zetsu remarked, watching the horrific eye in the sky.
Black Zetsu nodded. "It seems the promise he made to Nagato might actually be achievable."
If nothing else, just three or five of these monsters would be enough to bring massive trouble to any hidden village. As they spoke, a spatial vortex appeared beside them, and a man wearing a tiger-patterned mask emerged quietly.
"If there is an opportunity, we can bring him into our camp," this Akatsuki intern, who called himself Tobi, instructed Zetsu as if he were a superior.
White Zetsu looked at the masked man and said jokingly, "My, my, it seems you think very highly of this kid."
The masked man said nothing more, simply watching the battlefield in silence.
"It's over..."
Kakashi lay powerless in the ruins, his body stained red with blood. Facing the massive tentacle falling once again, he no longer had the strength to resist. Perhaps it was for the best; he had nothing left to hold onto anyway. Rin and Obito were probably doing well in the Pure Land, right?
Just as Kakashi sank into despair, a massive cloud of smoke suddenly exploded beside him. A sharp blade-light drew an arc through the air, severing the tentacle falling toward Kakashi right at its waist!
"This is..."
Kakashi's eyes widened. He was no stranger to the giant creature that had severed the tentacle with one stroke. It was a massive red toad clutching a smoking pipe!
A figure wearing a red vest and wooden sandals, with long white hair, appeared suddenly. He scooped Kakashi up and used the Body Flicker Jutsu to appear on top of the giant toad's head.
"I say, giving up on your life like that doesn't seem like your style, Kakashi."
Looking at the white-haired middle-aged man, Kakashi gave a bitter smile. "Thank you, Jiraiya-senpai."
Jiraiya gave him a bright smile and patted his chest. "Rest easy, leave it to me."
Having lost a tentacle, the monster fell into a violent rage, and the aura of fear radiated once again. Jiraiya frowned as some unpleasant memories surfaced even in his mind. Fortunately, he quickly clapped his hands together to steady his spirit and stomped his foot down hard.
"Bunta, pull back for now."
"Got it."
Bunta, holding his giant pipe, immediately utilized the unique, super jumping power of a toad to put distance between them and the monster. Just after he leaped away, four or five tentacles crashed down, shredding that entire area to pieces!