The ninjas behind Hiruzen were utterly confused.
To them, a forbidden technique like Shiki Fūjin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal) was too distant a concept.
Only Koharu and Homura understood—Hiruzen was already a dead man walking!
"Raaah!"
With the ghostly figure of the Shinigami overhead, Hiruzen let out a furious roar and charged at Kaede.
At this point, only five jōnin were left trying to hold Kaede back, and they quickly backed off when they saw Hiruzen approach.
Kaede, however, stood calmly, waiting.
Soon, Hiruzen was right in front of him.
"You're not even trying to escape?" Hiruzen glared coldly. "You're quite confident, aren't you?"
"But with space-time sealed, you can't run anymore!"
"Oh?" Kaede gave him a half-smile. "You really think you've got me cornered?"
Hiruzen snorted, clearly irritated by Kaede's composed demeanor.
"Then let's see you try to escape!"
With a thought, the Shinigami overhead reached its hand toward Kaede!
Still, Kaede didn't move.
He let the Shinigami's arm phase straight through his body.
Seeing this, not just Hiruzen—Koharu and Homura too—were overjoyed.
Even though they couldn't see the Shinigami, they could sense it had grabbed something!
They had expected Kaede to put up a fight, to resist in some way.
But he didn't even flinch?
Koharu burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Kaede, you're finished!"
But what she didn't know… was that Hiruzen, facing Kaede directly, was suddenly overwhelmed by dread!
He didn't waste a second—he tried to command the Shinigami to extract Kaede's soul!
The Shinigami's hand began pulling…
But Kaede's soul didn't budge!
"W-What?!"
Hiruzen's face changed instantly!
He tried again with full force—nothing happened.
Now he was truly panicking.
"How is this possible?! Why can't it take your soul?!"
Kaede shook his head slowly and raised Kyōka Suigetsu.
"You know nothing… about true power."
All the remaining spiritual energy within him surged into Kyōka Suigetsu!
The sword erupted in radiant white light.
Hiruzen felt it in his soul.
Even the ever-grinning Shinigami now had a very different expression—
Its face twisted in horror.
For the first time… it feared death!
Without hesitation, the Shinigami tried to retreat.
But then it realized—it couldn't move its arm!
Hiruzen didn't know what was happening, but he could feel it:
From the moment Kaede raised Kyōka Suigetsu, the Shinigami had begun to tremble!
Hiruzen shook his head in disbelief.
"This can't be… That's a Shinigami!"
"How can a human like Kaede make a Shinigami afraid?!"
And yet, the facts were inescapable.
The next moment, the Shinigami abruptly broke its contract with Hiruzen!
In doing so—it became fully visible to everyone.
The entire battlefield went silent.
Even though they had never seen the Shinigami before, everyone instantly recognized what it was.
"The Hokage… actually summoned the Shinigami?!"
"But why… does it look like it's trying to run?"
No one had an answer.
"Guh—!"
A wave of backlash hit Hiruzen. He spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground!
The Shinigami thrashed in desperation while Kaede finished charging his strike.
"Coming here, and now trying to leave?"
Kaede sneered, then swung Kyōka Suigetsu.
A blinding white arc blasted toward the Shinigami!
In that moment, the Shinigami couldn't hide its fear anymore.
Its mouth opened wide in terror.
"No!"
The cry hit everyone like a wave of pure soul-rending agony.
Across Konoha, people clutched their heads in pain.
Everyone… except Kaede.
The next instant, in front of everyone's disbelieving eyes, the arc of light slashed across the Shinigami.
RIIIP—!
Its body was torn from right shoulder to left hip!
"This… how can this be?!"
Hiruzen looked up, eyes wide with horror.
Kaede had just injured the Shinigami—severely!
Not just him, even Koharu and Homura were frozen in place.
But Kaede simply clicked his tongue.
"Tch… Not that strong, but ridiculously tanky."
He could see it clearly—the Shinigami had survived, even after that.
"Damn you! You deserve to die!"
As if responding to Kaede's words, the Shinigami raised its face and let out an agonized roar.
Its soul-rending aura made everyone—Koharu, Homura, the soldiers—shiver uncontrollably.
Its furious gaze locked onto Kaede.
"The Shinigami's pissed! It's going to kill Kaede!"
Hiruzen's face lit up with a glimmer of hope.
They had all thought the Shinigami was defeated, but now… maybe there was still a chance?
"Yes! Kill him! Kill Kaede!"
Hiruzen screamed inside his mind, putting all his hope in the Shinigami.
The others stared, wide-eyed.
What Kaede had just done was terrifying.
He had wounded the Shinigami.
If even a legendary being like that could be harmed by Kaede, how could they ever hope to beat him?
But sadly… they didn't understand what the Shinigami was feeling.
And in the next moment, under everyone's stunned gaze—
The Shinigami… ran away!
Not even a single word of threat.
It vanished in terror!
Kaede shook his head.
"Heh. At least it has some sense."
Although he'd exhausted his spiritual energy, with the Hōgyoku, he could recover at any time.
If things got really bad, he could merge with it and obliterate that so-called Shinigami completely.
But he hadn't done that yet for one simple reason—
The final form of merging with the Hōgyoku was… too ugly.
There had always been a joke in his past life:
The cooler Aizen looked before merging with the Hōgyoku, the more terrifying he was.
After merging?
He looked like a monster—and got utterly wrecked.
(Comic laughter)
Unless he had no choice, Kaede definitely didn't want to go down that path.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Kaede looked back at Hiruzen.
"You've even used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal… That's all you've got, huh?"
"Sensei!"
Koharu and Homura rushed to support the fallen Hiruzen.
Meanwhile, the several hundred soldiers began surrounding Kaede, weapons ready.
But the unease in their eyes was obvious.
Even the Shinigami had fled.
Did they really believe they could defeat Kaede?
Still, they had no choice.
Behind them… was Konoha.
Kaede ignored them all.
He turned to look toward Naoto's side.
Even with the help of his shadow clone, they were barely hanging on.
Casualties had already begun, and several Uchiha had collapsed from chakra exhaustion.
"Looks like… it's about time."
...
(End of Chapter)
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