"No problem." With that, the toad boss relaxed and turned into a cloud of white mist with a bang. Jiraiya quickly arrived at Hiruzen Sarutobi's side and helped him up. "Old man."
Hiruzen Sarutobi was still in a daze, and it took him a while to break free from the mental influence of the demon's tentacles. He took a few deep breaths, then looked up and saw the old man with his arms crossed and the Rinnegan.
Even though he was old, his domineering aura and familiar face... still allowed him to recognize the other person immediately.
"Uchiha... Madara?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi instinctively pressed his hand to his forehead, suspecting he was under a genjutsu. Jiraiya remained silent, waiting for Hiruzen to finish his examination.
"How could this be?" Hiruzen Sarutobi was shocked to the extreme after confirming that everything was real. He said with a bitter expression, "Even if it's the dead coming back to life... why isn't it the First Hokage?"
"Teacher," Orochimaru's slightly hoarse voice rang out as he and Tsunade rushed to Hiruzen Sarutobi's side, "I feel... something is wrong with the Second Tsuchikage and the Second Mizukage. They might not be living beings!"
Tsunade nodded in deep agreement, "The aura emanating from them... is indeed quite different from that of normal life forms."
Hiruzen Sarutobi stopped talking, lowered his eyelids, and his mind was in turmoil.
He even wondered what would happen if the dead were to be resurrected... and instead of Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju returning, all the Kage from the opposing villages were to return. How would Konoha Village then respond?
"...Is this world really going to descend into chaos?"
...
Madara Uchiha hovered high in the sky, suddenly raising his palm, "Universal Pull!"
A terrifying attraction erupted, and both Wu and Gui Deng Gengetsu's expressions changed drastically. They uncontrollably soared into the sky.
"How terrifying!" Hozuki Gengetsu's lips curled into a ferocious smile, and then his entire body began to swell and twist, like a mass of black liquid with tentacles spreading out from it.
The chilling sacrificial chants echoed between heaven and earth, and those puppets that were not sealed by the Earth-Exploding Star seemed to be injected with new power. Their aura grew increasingly terrifying.
Many Konoha ninjas who were fighting these puppets had dilated pupils filled with blood vessels, and some even knelt on the ground uncontrollably, clutching their heads and letting out shrill screams.
The situation on the scene spiraled out of control in an instant, with the puppets completely overwhelming the Konoha ninjas.
"What kind of illusion is this?" Orochimaru pressed a finger to his forehead. Although his powerful mental strength prevented him from losing his composure like an ordinary person, he still felt as if his brain was being pricked by needles.
"How could this be... such a large-scale illusion!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face was grim. As a professor of ninjutsu, he didn't care about the number of ninjutsu he knew, but he had a deep understanding of almost all the ninjutsu in the world.
Even with newly created ninjutsu, he can make a deduction about its operation based on his exceptional insight.
But... he had absolutely no idea what this cold, evil god's voice was all about. It was like a different kind of ninjutsu that existed independently of the real world.
"Wait a minute, independent of reality?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression changed drastically. He had previously seen Madara Uchiha and heard Tsunade and Orochimaru say that the aura of Gengetsu Hozuki was strange. He suspected that the group might really have been resurrected.
Considering the current situation... could it be that all their power now comes from the Netherworld?
"An interesting power!"
Madara Uchiha sneered, and terrifyingly abundant ocular power erupted, forming Susanoo around him—a colossal creature as large as a mountain.
Susanoo suddenly swung its katana, instantly tearing Hozuki Gengetsu in two. The body fell to the ground, constantly converging and writhing, displaying terrifying immortality; in fact, after converging, its aura was even stronger than before.
The Second Tsuchikage, Mu, also transformed into a bizarre creature, its body twisted and wreathed in the light of the peeling away of the original world. It crashed into the armor of Susanoo, continuously corroding it, yet it was still unable to truly attack Madara Uchiha.
"It's much stronger than I expected! But that's good, it reduces my guilt about bullying children." Uchiha Madara tilted his head, his voice cold. "I can be a little more serious now."
Susanoo became perfect once more, gradually expanding from its original bones to include flesh and blood. It grew increasingly enormous and terrifying, its aura suffocating all its adversaries.
"...Don't think you can take on all the enemies by yourself. After all, you're getting old." Aizen's smiling voice rang out. "I can feel your life force draining away... If you keep pushing yourself like this, you might die very soon."
Aizen appeared at the edge of the battlefield, holding Kyoka Suigetsu in his hand.
"You bastard!" Madara Uchiha realized something and closed his eyes.
The next moment, Aizen completed his Shikai. At his command, the puppets that had been fighting fiercely with the Konoha ninjas and even completely overwhelming them, paused briefly before starting to fight each other again.
A mirage, a reflection in the water, deceives all life.
"What terrifying power!"
All Might watched this scene from afar on the battlefield, his brow twitching. He had reacted a beat too late and seen a mirage, but he clearly felt that he was unaffected.
"It feels... like a special power is spreading from the depths of my soul. It's protecting me! Wait, the texture of this power... it's somewhat similar to the power of the council chairman that I sensed in the misty space before?"
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Chapter 72 Aizen: How joyful and moving this is!
All Might froze, realizing something, and looked incredulously in the direction of Madara Uchiha.
Sure enough, he saw Tony Stark and Su Han on a small hill behind Madara Uchiha.
Tony Stark was inside the Iron Man armor. As for Su Han… he was shrouded in mist, making it impossible to discern his specific emotional state. But at least it was clear that he was calmly gazing at the battlefield.
Whether or not the illusion of a mirage appears is meaningless to Su Han; he is merely a simple recorder and the ultimate insurance on the battlefield.
“As expected,” All Might said with a deep look in his eyes, as if he had just confirmed something. “The effects of the Mist Space go far beyond what is apparent on the surface.”
"It not only allows me to cultivate within a special timeframe, like a day outside the world equals a year inside, but it also allows me to connect with powerful beings from other worlds... it can even protect my soul, and has other uses as well."
After a brief pause, All Might nodded in relief. "After all, it's a world created by the Lord of the Mist, who is suspected to be the Wheel of Fortune."
Su Han was naturally unaware of All Might's thoughts. The reason he was focused on the battlefield and indifferent to the illusions of life was primarily because he, too, possessed the illusions of life.
Of course, Su Han hadn't expected that when he glimpsed the illusory beauty within his mind, a cold and strange energy emanated from the misty space. It vanished without him even needing to use his own illusory beauty.
"This is truly an unimaginable battle," Tony Stark remarked. "With Aizen involved on the battlefield, it's beyond a matter of using a cannon to kill a mosquito... Hmm?"