Chapter 116: Blasting Everything Apart, The Fleeing Hidden Stone Army

"How is this possible?!"

ōnoki’s eyes were bloodshot, his eyeballs nearly bulging out of their sockets!

He had used up all the chakra he had left, yet he had only managed to decompose one of his opponent’s hands and half of its lower arm.

And even then!

The opponent had effortlessly restored the decomposed parts.

At this rate, even if ōnoki were in perfect condition, he still wouldn’t be able to win!

What was more!

His opponent had deliberately given him plenty of time to charge his Dust Release, waiting for him to launch it.

If the opponent had actually fought seriously from the beginning, there was no way he would have allowed ōnoki to unleash such a powerful Dust Release!

"It was already pretty good."

Reiji shook his head.

The evolution of Susanoo’s forms wasn’t merely a matter of size.

From the initial form to the current Perfect Susanoo, every increase in Susanoo’s form doubled the requirements for ocular power and chakra.

Even if the palms were the same size, one hand of Perfect Susanoo consumed far more chakra than one hand of a non-perfect form!

This also meant that Perfect Susanoo was fundamentally different from the earlier forms.

The chakra had been condensed at an extremely high density into the solidified form of Perfect Susanoo. Even Dust Release found it extraordinarily difficult to decompose.

Furthermore, ōnoki had already gone through a major battle, and he now had less than half of his chakra remaining.

Being able to decompose one hand and half of the lower arm was already an impressive achievement.

If ōnoki were currently in perfect condition, decomposing an entire arm of Perfect Susanoo would still be possible.

However.

Even if ōnoki painstakingly destroyed an entire arm, Reiji could restore it with ease.

And by then, ōnoki would have exhausted all his chakra.

ōnoki didn’t feel the slightest bit comforted by Reiji’s words.

"Impossible!"

"Even Uchiha Madara back then wasn’t this powerful!"

The reason he knew Uchiha Reiji possessed Susanoo and still dared to launch a war against Konoha was because he had once witnessed Uchiha Madara’s Susanoo.

Although it was powerful, with the Dust Release he possessed now, ōnoki believed he could still deal with it.

But what the hell was this ridiculously huge Susanoo?!

Hearing this, Reiji let out a chuckle.

"How do you know Uchiha Madara was using his full strength?"

"Back then, the only person who could make Uchiha Madara use Perfect Susanoo was Hashirama Senju."

"Perfect... Susanoo?"

ōnoki couldn’t help becoming dazed.

Back then, when Uchiha Madara fought him and Mū, he hadn’t been using his full strength?

After mastering Dust Release, ōnoki had once thought that he had already surpassed the people of that era.

Only now did he realize that when Uchiha Madara fought him and Mū back then, it had been no different from an adult disciplining two disobedient children.

Madara had never regarded the two of them as true opponents!

"Enough with the nonsense!"

Reiji controlled Susanoo and raised the long blade again.

"Since you dared to start a war,"

"then you should be able to understand if a few more people die, right?"

The Stone Shinobi’s faces turned pale.

After a moment of complete silence, the Stone Shinobi scattered across the battlefield suddenly erupted into chaos, shouting as they fled in every direction.

They had completely lost their order and formation.

Everyone was in complete disarray, able only to rely on themselves.

Boom!

A devastating slash descended, carving a scar dozens of miles long across the earth!

That direction happened to be where the Stone Shinobi were gathered most densely.

With a single strike, hundreds of Stone Shinobi died on the spot.

Many others were blasted into the air before crashing back down.

Some had their legs broken by the impact, while others were crushed to death by flying boulders.

"Spread out! Don’t gather too closely!"

Kitsuchi, who was also fleeing frantically, roared.

Even he could only run now.

Even his father’s Dust Release had been useless.

The powerful Earth Release techniques he had always taken pride in were truly no different from tofu in front of Perfect Susanoo.

His opponent could even slice an actual mountain in half with a single slash!

No matter how powerful Kitsuchi’s Earth Release techniques were, they couldn’t surpass a real mountain.

Some fleeing Stone Shinobi suddenly had an idea.

They directly used Earth Release to burrow underground and escape through the earth.

The others couldn’t help but brighten at the sight.

If they escaped underground, their opponent wouldn’t know which direction they had fled in.

Surely he would go after the people escaping in other directions instead?

Immediately, many others imitated them.

"How foolish."

Reiji smiled disdainfully.

Susanoo rapidly condensed a Yasaka Magatama in its hand before violently smashing it into the ground!

Boom!

The enormous explosion created a deep crater and crushed the earth beneath it.

Many Stone Shinobi who had burrowed underground to escape were crushed to death beneath the earth without even having the chance to leave a final word.

In the charred crater, traces of red blood emerged.

"Keep running. If all of you burrow underground, it’ll save me the trouble of burying the corpses."

Reiji chuckled without the slightest concern.

They actually dared to burrow underground.

Even seeking death wouldn’t be done in such a stupid way.

After seeing those who had burrowed underground crushed to death by the explosion, the others who had been planning to escape underground quickly abandoned the idea.

Many Stone Shinobi wore expressions of complete despair.

It was too miserable.

All they could do now was hope that the monster behind them would attack someone else.

Only then would they have enough time to escape.

The golden Susanoo giant continued slowly pursuing the fleeing Stone Shinobi.

...Or perhaps "herding" them would be a more appropriate description.

Although the enormous Susanoo moved slowly, its strides were huge.

Compared with the Stone Shinobi running at full speed, it wasn’t much slower.

Whoosh!

A fierce gust of wind swept over, causing many fleeing Stone Shinobi to stagger.

One of them took advantage of the moment while getting back to his feet to look behind him.

He saw Susanoo flying into the sky!

The Stone Shinobi nearly cursed out loud.

Something this enormous could actually fly after them?!

Wasn’t he going to leave them any way to survive?!

Whoosh!

A golden arrow shot forward with a sharp whistle as it tore through the air, heading straight toward the white clay bird flying ahead.

"Don’t chase me!"

Deidara’s expression instantly changed.

He quickly took out several clay spiders he had prepared beforehand, waited for the right moment, and threw them backward.

"Art is an explosion! Drink!"

One explosion after another erupted as the clay spiders collided with the incoming Susanoo arrows.

"Forget your art and run for your life!"

ōnoki was practically about to curse.

Using the little chakra he had just managed to recover, he applied Earth Release: Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique to the clay bird.

Instantly, the clay bird’s speed more than doubled!

"Old man, do you have no conscience?!"

Deidara shouted unhappily.

Why was he being chased in the first place?

Wasn’t it because he was carrying this Tsuchikage around?!

Otherwise, he would never have turned back earlier.

He would have simply escaped by himself!

"Not good! Fly higher!"

Deidara faced forward while piloting the clay bird, while ōnoki kept watching Reiji’s movements behind them.

When he saw a Yasaka Magatama appear in Susanoo’s hand, ōnoki’s expression instantly changed.

Deidara didn’t have time to turn around.

He immediately obeyed and flew higher.

Suddenly, a tremendous explosion accompanied by a violent gale sent the clay bird rocking violently.

"Ah! What a beautiful explosion!"

Deidara turned his head and only managed to see the aftermath of the explosion, but his face was still filled with fascination.

Such a beautiful explosive ninjutsu...

He really wanted to learn it!

ōnoki’s face was filled with bitterness, and he was already too tired to bother responding to Deidara.

He had no idea how many more Stone Shinobi had died in that explosion.

He could roughly tell that Uchiha Reiji probably had no intention of completely exterminating them.

However, at this rate, perhaps only one out of every ten Stone Shinobi would ultimately manage to escape.

This attack on the Land of Fire had resulted in losses even greater than those suffered during the First Shinobi World War.

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