Everyone was fleeing desperately, racing to escape through the exit before the ruins completely collapsed.
However, the speed of their escape could not match the speed of the spreading cracks.
Finally, the entire cavern collapsed.
Rasa roared, "Quickly protect yourselves with Earth Release! Those who can't use Earth Release should stay close to those who can!"
At the same time, he summoned a massive wave of gold dust to act as a buffer overhead, hoping it would help.
Even so, he still had little confidence in his ability to protect them.
He already knew upon entering the ruins—the ruins lay hundreds of meters underground. If everything collapsed, the impact would rival a meteor strike. He truly had no confidence in protecting the others.
If even he felt this way, then the smaller factions and solo ninja had it even worse. They couldn't even begin to imagine any chance of survival.
In their desperate gazes, a tall and mighty figure appeared in midair.
[Immortal Art – Wood Release – Tree of Life!]
As the skill was unleashed, a seed erupted from the ground at the center, sprouting rapidly and growing from a tiny sprout into a towering ancient tree.
Its thick trunk supported the ruins, its massive canopy caught the falling rocks, and countless sturdy vines, like roots, deeply embedded themselves into the rock walls before swiftly spreading into the ground, connecting the fractured layers with the intact ones.
Those crouching on the ground with their arms over their heads were trembling, only realizing the sudden silence around them. They instinctively reached out to touch their heads, feeling no pain, and hesitantly lifted their gazes in fear.
Then they witnessed something astonishing—a scene that felt like divine intervention.
Right in the center, a massive tree over ten meters in diameter had suddenly appeared where there was nothing before. With the majesty of holding up the sky alone, it supported the collapsing layers of earth. Its thick, sturdy vines formed a giant net-like structure that caught the broken rocks.
"Is this... is this divine intervention?" A knight muttered in awe at the breathtaking scene before him.
"It wouldn't be wrong to call it divine intervention!" Nord's eyes burned with excitement as he looked at the figure standing atop the giant tree's trunk. "Because this is the masterpiece of Lord Seiki Shimaseki!"
"Lord Seiki Shimaseki?" Haido's eyes widened. "You mean the Ninja God you mentioned earlier?"
"Exactly, so of course this is divine intervention!" Nord shouted, overwhelmed with excitement.
"Never would I have imagined someone this terrifying existed in this world. No... rather, this should be a god—an incredibly terrifying god!" Thinking back to his previous fantasy of conquering the world after obtaining the power of the Greer crystal vein, Haido couldn't help but break out in cold sweat.
Among the Sunagakure faction, Rasa exhaled heavily before sighing, "No matter how many times I see it, this power rivaling a god is still awe-inspiring!"
Pakura looked on tenderly, "You've saved me again... Seiki!"
Han swallowed hard, then sighed, "I really should drag all those stubborn old men in the village out here to witness this. This world should strive for more peace!"
Hikka nodded so fast it looked like her head was bouncing up and down, "That's right—peace is definitely better!"
Everyone gazed with gratitude and admiration at the "majestic" figure standing at the center.
Jumping down from the giant tree trunk, Seiki said to Sasori, "Long time no see, Sasori!"
Sasori calmly examined the surroundings. "To be able to accomplish something like this, you truly deserve the name Seiki Shimaseki!"
Seiki smiled slightly. "A person should keep growing, shouldn't they?"
Sasori's facial muscles twitched. "You call this just a little growth?"
Then he shook his head again himself. "Forget it. I don't have much time to waste on conversations."
"It seems like you still intend to struggle a bit more?"
"While the tide of chakra within my body hasn't passed yet, of course I must challenge you once more. I absolutely refuse to fail without anyone appreciating my art!"
Right after he spoke, all the puppets that had been standing quietly suddenly became violent, charging toward the giant tree at the central position.
Various elemental techniques intertwined into a powerful energy storm, predominantly [Fire Release].
Obviously, Sasori knew his gap with the opponent. The only chance of survival was to destroy the giant tree supporting the ruins.
Even if Seiki Shimaseki still had the strength to use [Wood Release] again, he could seize this opportunity to escape.
Faced with this, Seiki merely formed a hand seal and said, "Rise!"
Then, under everyone's astonished gazes, a pair of eyes appeared below the canopy of the giant tree. The thickest branches transformed into arms, and two massive legs emerged from the ground. It had clearly transformed into a giant!
"What is this?" Even Sasori, who claimed to have lost emotions, couldn't help but exclaim in shock at witnessing this bizarre scene.
With a sweeping motion of its giant hand, the giant dispersed the storm formed by the gathered techniques. Even the flames from the [Fire Release] couldn't sustain long on the branches before quickly extinguishing.
"This giant still retains the [Wood Release]'s chakra absorption ability?" Sasori found it quite troublesome.
This was different from [Yin Release], which absorbed chakra to nullify techniques but couldn't utilize it—its best capability being to release the same technique in the same way.
[Wood Release] couldn't nullify techniques, but the absorbed chakra could be utilized. Combined with [Wood Release]'s powerful vitality, the absorbed chakra could easily restore damaged parts.
"Unless I use an enormous [Ninjutsu] surpassing the giant's absorption limit in an instant!" However, after glancing at the size of the giant tree, Sasori silently shook his head.
Given the size of this tree, he couldn't possibly reach the limit even if he exhausted all his chakra.
"I have no choice but to do this!" Sasori thought, controlling the puppets to attack the giant's ankle.
If the giant's lower body became unstable, the raised rock layer would naturally collapse.
However, the more beautiful the plan, the crueler the reality.
With just one stomp of the foot, dozens of nearby puppets were crushed!
"How is this possible?" Sasori could hardly believe his own eyes. The durability of his puppets surpassed steel. How could wooden materials possibly crush puppets?
"Unless... the giant's feet are the hardest part!"
The result turned out exactly as he had suspected. The Ninjutsu that had previously damaged the tree's branches were now completely ineffective against the roots, not even leaving a scorch mark.
Though the puppets' attacks proved useless, the giant kept moving forward, crushing several of them underfoot with each step.
In addition, the creature extended hundreds of vine-like tendrils from its body. Acting like arms, they grabbed massive boulders from the treetops and hurled them like meteors.
Within seconds, Sasori's puppets suffered heavy losses.
If it weren't for the powerful Third Kazekage puppet holding the line, the losses would have been even greater.
Seeing this unfold, Sasori felt a deep sense of dread.
He knew he'd have a hard time facing off against Seiki Shimaseki, but he never imagined his opponent wouldn't even break a sweat—just transforming into this giant was enough to leave him helpless!
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