Chapter 155 (Patreon)

“Hey, kid…”

Four enormous Tailed Beast Bombs swelled above the tree-like construct Obito had summoned, and the entire battlefield fell silent.

Everyone stared at them in despair.

A single thought appeared in the minds of nearly every shinobi present.

It was over.

The morale that had risen following the arrival of the previous Hokage collapsed in an instant.

At that moment, Tobirama Senju suddenly appeared beside Nerona Mihawk. He raised his head toward the four Tailed Beast Bombs before glancing at the young swordsman.

“You can destroy even those black spheres formed from multiple chakra natures. Does that mean you can also kill the Tailed Beast Bombs? What about the Six Red Yang Formation?”

Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Minato Namikaze immediately turned toward Mihawk. Beads of cold sweat covered their foreheads as they waited for his answer.

Mihawk, however, did not spare the Tailed Beast Bombs so much as a glance.

His eyes remained fixed on Obito Uchiha, who had sealed himself inside a spherical shell formed from his Truth-Seeking Balls.

“Easily.”

It truly would be that simple.

Mihawk could kill Truth-Seeking Balls themselves. Compared to those, ordinary Tailed Beast Bombs were hardly worth mentioning. Even in the original story he remembered, a Tailed Beast Bomb had failed to break through the defenses of a Truth-Seeking Ball.

His Mystic Eyes of Death Perception did not overpower ninjutsu through brute force. They perceived and severed the death of the technique itself.

Once he could see its death, the power or scale of the ninjutsu no longer mattered.

As for the barrier surrounding them, it was even less of an obstacle.

Despite that, Mihawk had no intention of intervening.

It was not because he wanted Naruto to repeat the desperate method used in the original story—distributing Kurama’s chakra to everyone through shadow clones before allowing Minato to transport the entire Allied Shinobi Forces outside the barrier with the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Four Tailed Beast Bombs simply were not enough to require Mihawk to draw his blade.

“Lord Second…”

Hinata Hyūga stepped forward before Tobirama could continue.

“Please leave those Tailed Beast Bombs to me.”

“You…”

Tobirama’s eyes widened as he turned toward her blue-and-white patterned Tenseigan.

An overwhelming pressure radiated from Hinata’s body.

Throughout Tobirama’s life, only his elder brother, Hashirama, and Madara Uchiha had ever made him feel something similar.

Although shaken inwardly, Tobirama maintained his composure and nodded.

“Very well. I’ll leave them to you.”

Hinata was already moving before he finished speaking.

She raised one hand, and countless green motes of light gathered above her palm. Like a Rasengan taking shape, the particles rapidly condensed into a fist-sized sphere of green light.

In the next instant, the sphere left her hand and soared into the sky, completely unrestrained by gravity.

More green particles immediately gathered in her palm.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Within only a few seconds, Hinata had created four identical spheres and sent them into the sky.

The four spheres arranged themselves in a circle. Like beads threaded along an invisible cord, they revolved around one another as they climbed.

After reaching a certain height, they gradually separated and approached the four Tailed Beast Bombs at a steady, unhurried pace.

The instant they touched, the green spheres melted into pools of luminous liquid and seeped inside the enormous Tailed Beast Bombs.

Several seconds later, the bombs began shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Their vast quantities of chakra spiraled toward the green liquid as though water were being pulled down a bathtub drain. Under the influence of seemingly limitless gravity, every trace of their energy was dragged inside.

Before long, the four enormous Tailed Beast Bombs had disappeared completely.

The green liquid then gathered together once more, condensing back into four fist-sized spheres of light.

“Go.”

Hinata pointed toward the sky.

The four spheres instantly transformed into beams of green light and shot upward. Within seconds, they had passed beyond the Six Red Yang Formation and reached an incredible altitude.

A dazzling orange light suddenly bloomed across the heavens.

BOOM—!!

Four earth-shaking explosions erupted at nearly the same instant, their deafening roars merging into one.

The resulting shock wave transformed into a violent hurricane that came crashing down upon the battlefield.

“Argh!”

Nearly ninety-five percent of the Allied Shinobi Forces were flattened against the ground.

Even Ōnoki, who had been flying, was forced out of the sky and driven back down.

The stronger shinobi desperately bent their knees to remain standing, while several others were forced onto one knee.

Naruto, Sasuke, and even Tobirama had to raise their arms in front of their faces. The wind tore across the battlefield with such force that they could barely keep their eyes open.

Only Mihawk, Hinata, Obito within his Truth-Seeking Ball shell, and Hashirama and Madara—who had resumed their battle at some point—remained completely unaffected.

Mihawk stood unharmed because Hinata had raised both hands and released a powerful repulsive force around them.

An emerald-green hemispherical barrier covered the two of them, blocking every part of the raging storm.

As the wind finally began to weaken, Mihawk suddenly called out.

“Hinata…”

“Yes. I see it.”

Neither of them needed to finish the exchange.

The understanding between them was already enough.

Hinata allowed herself to descend while shifting the gravitational force surrounding Mihawk.

Whoosh!

Mihawk’s body shot upward as though launched from an invisible platform. The tremendous gravitational pull sent him directly toward the spherical shell of Truth-Seeking Balls floating in the sky.

Inside the sphere, Obito had already begun separating the shell back into its previous five Truth-Seeking Balls.

Mihawk’s Mystic Eyes of Death Perception activated.

The moment the lines of death appeared across the black sphere, his hand closed around the hilt of his sword.

Shing!

The blade left its sheath with astonishing speed, drawing a silvery-white streak through the air.

It swept from left to right like a flash of light.

Buzz—

In the next instant, the spherical shell split cleanly through the middle.

Its two halves trembled before gradually dissolving into nothingness.

Obito was exposed to the open air, his face twisting in surprise.

“!”

Before he could recover, Mihawk stamped his foot against the empty air.

Geppo!

The compressed air beneath his foot exploded, propelling him forward.

Mihawk flashed past Obito in an instant.

Rip—!

The blade produced a familiar tearing sound as it passed through Obito’s waist.

A chunk of pale flesh separated from his body and tumbled through the air.

Mihawk then twisted behind him and drove his foot into Obito’s back, sending him plummeting toward the ground.

“Naruto!”

“Got it!”

Almost before Mihawk’s shout had left his mouth, a Rasenshuriken was already spinning within Naruto’s hand.

Naruto shot into the sky in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, moving at an astonishing speed.

He rushed directly toward the falling Obito and thrust the Rasenshuriken into the wound Mihawk had just opened.

WHAM—BOOM!

The Rasenshuriken struck Obito once again, this time directly targeting the cut at his waist.

Its spinning chakra blades tore into the exposed wound as an enormous explosion erupted in midair.

A violent vortex formed around Obito, remaining suspended in the sky while powerful currents of air swept across the battlefield.

Naruto halted in midair instead of driving Obito into the ground. His eyes remained fixed on the center of the swirling storm.

Mihawk descended from above.

The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception faded, returning his eyes to their normal red color. He took a deep breath and continued watching Obito.

As the vortex weakened, nine emerald-green spectral forms suddenly surged out from the wound across Obito’s waist.

Naruto’s eyes lit up.

“I can see them!”

He immediately entered Tailed Beast Mode.

Kurama’s enormous chakra avatar manifested around him, and its nine tails reached toward the nine spectral forms emerging from Obito’s body.

However, Naruto possessed the chakra of only seven of the nine tailed beasts.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not seize the remaining two.

“Leave the One-Tail to me!”

Gaara acted without hesitation.

“Leave the Eight-Tails to me!”

Killer B immediately followed.

Naruto looked down at the countless shinobi gathered across the battlefield and shouted, “Everyone, come and help us!”

The boy who had already won the hearts of the entire shinobi world received an immediate response.

Led by Gaara and Killer B, countless figures rushed forward to lend Naruto their strength. Together, they took hold of the nine spectral forms extending from Obito’s body.

A massive tug-of-war began.

As the combined strength of the Allied Shinobi Forces pulled against Obito, the nine spectral forms gradually shifted toward them.

Seeing them beginning to move, Naruto’s face lit up with joy.