Streams of golden sand poured out like a breached dam. They swept across much of the underground space.
"Magnet Release: Golden Sunagakure Wave!" Third Kazekage spread his hands wide. His eyes were cold as he looked at Huang Quan.
The others stepped out behind him from the fading firestorm. Though the edges of their clothes were slightly scorched, none of them were injured.
"How is that possible?!" Huang Quan's expression froze in disbelief. Shock replaced his earlier confidence.
The wind and fire assault he had poured everything into had failed to even burn their clothing. His mind reeled at the impossibility.
Before he could recover, Third Kazekage had already formed seals. His voice echoed clearly through the chamber.
"Magnet Release: Golden Sunagakure Drizzle!" The scattered sand in the air reshaped itself.
Countless golden sand senbon formed and glittered coldly. They rained down in a deadly storm toward the stunned Huang Quan.
The piercing sounds came in rapid succession. Huang Quan's body was riddled instantly, blood gushing from countless holes.
"Geez…" Deidara frowned at the mangled figure. His tone was dismissive. "That weak, hmm."
As his words fell, a hoarse and low laugh echoed from the bloodied body that should have been dead. The sound was eerie in the silence.
The holes in Huang Quan's body began to squirm and close at a visible speed. Torn flesh fused, and broken bones snapped back together with a sharp kacha sound.
Within a few breaths, his body was fully restored. Aside from his clothes being shredded and soaked in blood, there was not a single wound left.
He rolled his neck with a grating sound and lifted his head. A savage grin spread across his face as he looked at them.
"I possess the power of Moryo. You cannot kill me," he said.
Faced with this unnatural sight, the group showed no panic. Instead, their expressions turned strange, as if hearing a joke mixed with pity.
"Cannot kill you?" Onoki narrowed his eyes. He raised his hands and formed seals, palms coming together.
Invisible force compressed between them. Then he spread his hands apart, and a transparent cube appeared in midair.
"Dust Release: Particle Style Atomic Dismantling!" The cube vanished from his hands and instantly expanded around Huang Quan.
Huang Quan had no time to react. The grin on his face had not even fully faded.
There was no explosion, no flame, and no scream. His body was instantly broken down, from skin and bone to cells themselves.
Like a drawing erased by an eraser, his existence vanished in a single breath. Nothing remained inside the transparent cube.
No blood, no flesh, no trace at all. It was as if he had never existed.
The cube slowly shrank and dispersed into the air. Silence followed its disappearance.
"Hmph." Onoki lowered his hands calmly. He glanced at the empty space as if swatting an annoying insect.
Dust Release could break matter down to the atomic level. Even water would be separated into hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
Unless one escaped during its charge-up or possessed a body like an energy form similar to Tailed Beasts, survival was impossible. Healing and speed that did not reach the atomic level meant certain death.
Huang Quan's so-called immortality was nothing more than a joke before this power.
With his complete erasure, the cold aura filling the underground chamber faded noticeably. The Iwagakure Statue soldiers slowed, then froze in place as the light in their eyes went out.
Stillness returned to the vast underground space. Silence pressed down once more.
"That was resolved too easily," Mei Terumi said softly. She frowned as her green eyes swept over the Iwagakure Statue soldiers. "What about the terrifying Moryo the Miko spoke of?"
All eyes turned toward the deepest part of the altar. There stood a giant cocoon several meters tall, colored dark purple and black.
Its surface resembled congealed blood, covered in vein-like bulges that pulsed like a beating heart. Yet strangely, no aura or threat could be felt from it at all.
It stood there quietly, as if it were nothing more than a decoration.
"Even though my chakra consumption is high, and it doesn't look dangerous," Onoki said slowly, "we should be cautious."
He raised his hands again to form seals. Pale light from Dust Release began to gather faintly between his palms.
At the same time, Chakra activated Pure Byakugan. Veins bulged around his eyes as his vision pierced the cocoon's shell and looked inside.
With just one glance, his pupils shrank to pinpoints. The blood drained from his face as his body began to tremble violently.
Boundless terror overwhelmed him. His expression twisted as he tried to scream a warning.
Inside that cocoon was something far worse than they imagined.
Before any sound could escape his mouth, a faint tearing noise cut through the air. It was almost too soft to notice.
A grotesque purple-black tentacle, sharp like a spear, burst out of the cocoon. It moved faster than anyone's eyes or nerves could follow.
As a Jonin, Yura did not even have time to react. The caution on his face had not fully settled before the strike landed.
The tentacle pierced straight through his left chest. It entered from the front and burst out his back, spraying warm blood and shattered organs.
Yura's body stiffened. He stared blankly at the tentacle through his chest, shock and confusion filling his eyes.
The tentacle then slashed sideways with brutal force. It was like a hot blade cutting through fat.
With a harsh tearing sound, Yura's body was cut open. In the same instant, the strike passed across the neck of the nearby Maki, who had not yet reacted.
A thin line of blood appeared on Maki's neck and spread rapidly. There was no pain, only a bone-deep cold that flooded his body.
He felt a sensation of falling. Then his vision flipped upside down.
He saw a familiar body wearing a Sunagakure vest, now missing its head.
That was me?
That final thought flashed through his mind. Then his consciousness sank completely into darkness.
The sound of impact echoed as something rolled across the ground.
Maki's head hit the cold, damp floor like a solid watermelon, bouncing once before rolling away. It made a dull, heavy sound and dragged a bright streak of blood behind it as it moved.
The headless body separated from it sprayed blood straight upward from the neck, splashing several meters high. The underground space was instantly filled with a rain of hot blood that struck everyone's faces and clothes.
Yura's body with its heart pierced and Maki's headless corpse swayed twice like cut stalks of wheat, then collapsed heavily to the ground. The impact felt as if it slammed directly into everyone's chest.
Third Kazekage stared at the two corpses in disbelief, his eyes fixing on the head lying in the pool of blood. A trace of confusion still lingered on the dead face.
"Maki! Yura!"
Third Kazekage let out a roar filled with Wrath, then jerked his head up toward the Giant Cocoon as the tentacle withdrew. His pupils were instantly flooded with red from shock and fury.
A thunderous boom followed.
The dark purple Giant Cocoon suddenly exploded.
An indescribably terrifying presence burst outward, mixed with thick purple-black mist that surged forward like a tidal wave toward Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others.
"Dust Release·Primitive World Detachment Technique!"
Onoki's expression changed slightly as he released the Dust Release he had prepared the instant the Giant Cocoon exploded. The technique shot straight toward the center of the blast.