At the same time when Izayoi's main body and his shadow clones were fiercely slaughtering the Root Organization and the three factions of ninja on the streets, one shadow clone transformed using the Transformation Technique into the Deva Path Pain, acting alone. Utilizing the power of the Rinnegan to create illusions, it silently infiltrated the Hokage's Office building.
As the most important place in Konoha, even if a war broke out outside, the Hokage building was heavily guarded by Anbu forces.
Not only that, there were surveillance monitors and sensory barriers in place—everything imaginable.
With such strict defenses, even if a fly managed to fly in, the Anbu could appear instantly and kill it.
If it weren't for Sarutobi Hiruzen's order, the moment Uzumaki Naruto entered the Hokage building, the Anbu would have caught him immediately. He wouldn't have even had a chance to reach the Hokage's office, let alone take away such a large "Sealing Scroll" so smoothly.
"Captain Takakura, there is a chakra intrusion in the Hokage building. However, the monitors can't locate him. The enemy might possess secret techniques like the Transparent Escape or kekkei genkai,"
As soon as Izayoi entered the building, he immediately triggered the Sensory Team.
After communicating with the ninjas monitoring the system, the Sensory Team quickly reported the information to the Hokage. But since the elders and Hokage were not present, the message went to the first in command, Captain Takakura.
"I understand,"
Takakura's voice came through the radio: "Maintain the barrier. Leave the intruder to us."
"Yes."
Although Izayoi couldn't hear their voices, he saw their exchange clearly.
He wasn't surprised to be discovered.
If even stealth couldn't get through, then the Anbu wouldn't deserve their privilege of direct control under the Hokage. Everyone else would be beneath contempt.
Izayoi's infiltration mission was precisely to confront the Anbu.
However, he had a small side mission to complete.
Then Izayoi vanished instantly.
Boom!
The door of the Sensory Team's room was blasted open by a powerful force.
Izayoi entered without giving the Sensory Team a chance to react, raising his hand and shouting, "Shinra Tensei!"
A moderate repulsive force storm swept through the entire room, destroying all devices and objects inside.
The ninjas wearing sensory devices were blasted away, crashing heavily into the walls. Flying debris also struck them, causing secondary injuries.
Before they could recover from the pain, Izayoi appeared in front of them and struck their chakra points, knocking them all unconscious.
The sensory barrier around the Hokage building disappeared instantly.
Following this, many puppets waiting outside for orders infiltrated the building with the help of Izayoi's Rinnegan power.
After knocking out the sensory ninjas, Izayoi acted as if noticing something and prepared to kill them all.
At that moment, two shouts rang in his ears.
"Earth Release: Yomi Swamp!"
"Wood Release: Jukai Kōtan!"
Walls grew thick wooden vines, turning the entire room into a wooden chamber.
Only the floor became a swamp, but it didn't produce mud hands or earth dragons to attack Izayoi. Instead, it collapsed downward.
Losing their footing, Izayoi and the unconscious sensory ninjas fell into a bottomless pit.
However, during the fall, the wooden vines extended again, catching the unconscious ninjas and binding them so that only their heads were exposed. They were hung on the walls waiting for rescue.
More wooden vines, like octopus tentacles, wrapped and tried to bind Izayoi.
Some formed sharp wooden spears, shooting violently toward him.
"Shinra Tensei."
Izayoi used sheer force to break apart the vines and spears with repulsive power while accelerating his fall.
Passing through the wood release corridor, Izayoi arrived at the underground base beneath the Hokage building.
As soon as he landed, a long black snake rapidly approached, trying to bite his foot and connect with his shadow.
Looking in the direction the snake extended, an Anbu wearing a cat-faced mask was making hand seals.
Shadow Mimic Technique!
Because he was only a shadow clone, Izayoi didn't bother to test whether the Shadow Mimic Technique would work on him. Instead, he took off into the air, spread his arms, and shouted, "Shinra Tensei!"
Boom!
The invisible repulsive force storm roared like a fierce wind.
Where it passed, the ground and all buildings in the underground base shattered.
The Anbu, who had surrounded him and prepared to use tactics to subdue or kill the intruder, were completely unprepared for such power and the sudden unleashing of a big technique.
The Anbu hit by the repulsive storm were blasted into the air.
The unlucky ones collided with buildings or stones, sustaining severe injuries.
The lucky ones were blown away a distance before crashing heavily to the ground.
The first-rate Anbu expert Takakura belonged to neither group.
While flying backward, he calmly formed hand seals and used Wood Release to create many vines to block falling debris and catch his flying comrades.
But the repulsive storm tore all the vines apart.
Takakura had no choice but to weave a large net of vines behind him to catch himself and the others.
When the storm cleared, Takakura immediately ordered, "Everyone, leave here and find reinforcements. Notify Lord Jiraiya and the elders. The intruder is a strong opponent beyond your ability."
"Yes!"
The highly disciplined Anbu immediately agreed and, enduring their pain, vanished to other exits to reach the surface.
Izayoi didn't stop them because his target was only Takakura.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
An invisible gravitational force formed a giant hand that grabbed Takakura, pulling him off the ground.
"This is... gravity!"
Takakura's expression shifted slightly under his mask as he muttered, "So that uncontrollable storm just now was actually repulsive force."
At the same time, Takakura hastily formed hand seals and shouted, "Wood Release: Forest Birth!"
Boom...
The devastated underground base shook violently.
Seedlings burst through the earth.
Like under accelerated time, the seedlings quickly grew into trees, turning the underground base into a small forest in an instant.
With the forest as cover, Takakura successfully broke free from the gravitational pull and landed on a treetop.
Just as he prepared to form hand seals to create many wood clones for scouting and gathering intel...
A shout from above caused his face to change drastically as he realized his grave mistake.
"Shinra Tensei!"
A green dome floated over the forest, a distorted air current swirling around Izayoi.
He converted a large amount of chakra into repulsive force, compressing and releasing it.
In an instant, a transparent white barrier expanded from Izayoi's body.
The barrier was like an unbreakable shield. Everything it touched was mercilessly smashed, even the dust and mist were kept outside.
Even the trees of the forest shattered the moment the barrier struck, unable to even bend or block.
With nowhere to hide, Takakura dove into a tree hollow, forming hand seals.
"Wood Release: Wooden Pillar Wall!"
Rows of wooden pillars shot up, curving to form an arch, cocooning Takakura like a silkworm's chrysalis.
Boom...
A tremendous explosion echoed beside his ear, shaking the ground violently.
Crackling sounds of wood breaking reached Takakura's ears, filling his face beneath the mask with despair.
Boom!
He was submerged in something, losing consciousness instantly.
The violent tremors even affected the surface above.
At this moment, several figures sped toward the Hokage building on the surface.
Leading them was a tall white-haired figure about 1.91 meters tall, rare in the ninja world.
Feeling the tremors through the earth, Jiraiya flew swiftly, urgently asking, "Are you sure the intruder is a man wearing a black cloak embroidered with red clouds, with orange hair and purple ripple eyes?"
"Yes, Lord Jiraiya," the Anbu assured him hastily.
Upon hearing this, Jiraiya was filled with mixed emotions.
He thought his long-dead disciple was not only alive but nearby. He wished he could fly faster to meet him.
But soon his expression grew worried as he thought, "Renge, what have you experienced these years? Why are you wearing Akatsuki's cloak? Why do you have the Rinnegan of Nagato... and why is it in you?!"
When Jiraiya and the Anbu arrived at the underground base, both Takakura and the Deva Path had already vanished.
Only a huge crater remained, as if struck by a meteorite, with rubble and broken trees surrounding it.
Seeing this, both Jiraiya and the Anbu's pupils constricted.
The Anbu were shocked by the scale of the technique and worried about Captain Takakura.
Jiraiya's heart weighed heavy.
There was no doubt—this was definitely the power of the Rinnegan!
He had a premonition his former disciple had taken a dark path.
What on earth happened in these years?!