After Sailing with the Pirate King, I Returned to Konoha - 178

Chapter 178: The Black Flash That Shatters Despair

Karin, transformed into the giant Garuda form, had also gained terrifying vision.

Therefore, even without mastering Observation Haki, she saw Naruto's figure "flying" out before Sasuke did.

Naruto, running through the air using Moon Walk, quickly reached the group. Before Karin could ask anything, he spoke first:

"You all get farther away!"

Though confused, Karin obediently complied, carrying the two behind her as she flew some distance away.

"Not enough!"

Continue flying farther.

"Even farther!"

Now Karin was quite far from both Naruto and the Angkor Fortress. Naruto's shouting was drowned out by the wind and couldn't reach them.

But hand signals were still visible.

Only when Karin had flown two kilometers away did Naruto nod.

Then he turned to look at the fortress that had already fallen halfway.

If he just shattered it, the fortress's debris would still fall like meteors and destroy that small town.

He had to be thorough—completely obliterate it in one go.

Naruto opened his mouth wide, destructive energy brewing in front of his lips.

Jiraiya in the distance felt like he'd seen a similar scene somewhere before.

Soon, the Conqueror's Haki and chakra Naruto had accumulated gathered into a large black energy orb.

And Naruto kept pouring more into it.

If you're going to do it, do it big.

Roar!!!

Only after Naruto felt he'd reached his limit did the destructive beam surge forth, flying straight toward the falling fortress.

Kurama wasn't surprised since he'd witnessed this once before.

But the residents below were different.

A black beam streaked across the sky. Residents who noticed thought it was a shooting star and pulled their companions to make wishes.

But their companions stared blankly at the other side of the sky.

This person walked two steps to the side and finally saw the scene blocked by the eaves.

It was a city floating in the sky!

Now this city was growing larger in their field of vision.

Facing such a natural disaster, ordinary people would lose even the will to flee after seeing it.

It was a despair that human strength could not resist.

Boom!!!

Just as this resident began recalling his entire life, the black beam in the sky struck the massive city.

From their respective sizes, this black beam could cover at most less than one-tenth of the city.

But when they made contact, a violent explosion occurred.

The Conqueror's Haki pressure that escaped knocked out everyone in the small town below.

This was actually good. When they woke up, they might think the previous disaster was just a nightmare.

Whether it was a real Tailed Beast Ball or Naruto's knockoff "Haki Ball," neither simply "penetrated" the enemy.

The subsequent area explosion was the real killing move.

Karin, Jiraiya, and even the aloof Sasuke couldn't avoid being dumbstruck.

This was far more terrifying than when Naruto had shattered the Hokage Monument with a single punch.

If the target had been Konoha Village, that one strike would have left only a few survivors in the entire village.

The violent explosion completely covered the entire Angkor Fortress, and even its aftershocks "gave a haircut" to some of the taller buildings in the town.

After the explosion ended, the previously sky-covering Angkor Fortress had completely vanished.

Along with it went the nascent Sky Ninja village forces that had developed for over ten years.

They didn't even have time to speak their name before being completely erased from this world.

The only survivor was Amaru, who had been knocked unconscious in the earlier attack.

This little girl had been placed in the town and hadn't woken up yet when she suffered another mental shock.

Her head would probably hurt for a while when she next awoke.

Besides Naruto's Avenger Squad, the only other witness to this century-level explosion was Obito, who had stayed to monitor the battlefield.

From within the Kamui dimension, his face was equally grim as he watched that terrifying attack in its entirety.

Could humans really do such things?

Even with Obito's imagination, it was difficult to connect this kind of attack with the boy his teacher had left behind.

Obito's dōjutsu "Kamui" could maintain an intangible state for several minutes. In this state, he was actually in a different dimension, thus ignoring almost all ninjutsu and physical attacks.

Of course, this didn't mean invincibility.

In the original timeline, he had been bombarded by Konan with 600 billion explosive tags for ten straight minutes, ultimately winning only through Izanagi's "reality modification" ability.

Given enough preparation time, Konan could create even bigger commotion than Naruto's attack.

During the recent attack, Obito could faintly sense fluctuations in the Kamui space.

Though only for an instant, it was enough to alarm him.

This kid's attack had the ability to affect space.

Though he didn't know the principle, it meant Naruto might still be able to hurt him.

This sobered up Obito, who had become somewhat arrogant from years of maintaining invincibility through intangibility.

The plan needed changes.

If this kid safely charged to the Land of Rain, even with Nagato having the Six Paths of Pain and other Akatsuki members' help, they might not be able to suppress him.

Uzumaki Naruto, you really always exceed my expectations.

At the border of Grass and Earth Countries, Mount Sumeru.

Hiruko, his lower face covered by bandages and looking like a youth, faced the two black-robed figures with red clouds without immediately attacking.

These two called themselves Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki, from an organization called "Akatsuki," here to recruit the great Hiruko.

Hiruko's subordinates had already completed fusion with summoning beasts using the Chimera Jutsu, eyeing the sudden intruders to Mount Sumeru with hostility.

With one word from Hiruko, they would strike without hesitation.

Kisame could sense that clear killing intent, making him smile excitedly, baring his mouthful of sharp teeth.

Uchiha Itachi quietly stared at Hiruko.

Fortunately, Itachi came with recruitment intentions; otherwise, just Hiruko's bold, direct stare would have gotten him killed by genjutsu before any fight began.

The Chimera Jutsu could absorb ninjutsu but was helpless against Sharingan-induced genjutsu.

"...Fine, but if you want me to join and help you, shouldn't you also help me a bit?"

Honestly, Hiruko didn't mind Akatsuki's recruitment—though he had no intention of obediently following orders.

Facing these delivered helpers, he didn't mind using them once.

With this group's help, perhaps his plan to collect five kekkei genkai could be completed ahead of schedule.

Once he gained immortality, wouldn't everything be up to him?

Looking at Uchiha Itachi's Sharingan, Hiruko thought secretly.

Perhaps the fifth kekkei genkai didn't necessarily need to be Hatake Kakashi's.

Planting a curse mark on Uchiha Itachi would be difficult—he'd have to take the long view. But agreeing to them now had no downsides.

Destroy the Five Great Nations? Destroy Konoha?

These were things he'd do after gaining immortality anyway, even without anyone asking.

Hiruko made no effort to hide his ambition, but Itachi didn't care about such things.

His heart was still worried about Sasuke, wondering if his brother could survive the organization's members.

He needed to hurry back.