Shikaku's mind worked like clockwork. With first-hand intelligence from Mui and a single target to focus on, it didn't take long for him to craft a comprehensive strategy.
According to his plan, the Third Hokage mobilized ten elite interception squads.
Each unit was composed of one Earth Release specialist, two shinobi skilled in weaponry and trap deployment, and one member of the Hyūga branch family for long-range observation.
In addition to the squads, Hiruzen himself led the operation—accompanied by Roshi and Tenzo, both masked under their ANBU identities.
The operation had barely been underway for an hour when a messenger hawk descended through the clouds, landing neatly on Hiruzen's arm.
The urgent seal tied to its leg bore the crimson mark of the border outpost.
The moment he read the message, Hiruzen's expression hardened.
He raised one hand—a simple, practiced signal. The entire formation halted as one, tension crackling through the air.
Roshi and Tenzo landed silently beside him.
"The situation has changed." Hiruzen's voice was low, but sharp enough to cut through the wind.
"Latest report: Satori"—he paused briefly, the name itself heavy, "— is advancing toward Konoha. The Box of Paradise is in its possession."
What he didn't say was that the outpost that had sent this warning no longer existed. Their last transmission had ended mid-scream.
Hiruzen's thoughts darkened. Why Konoha? It was Kusagakure that killed Kazuma. Kusagakure that sacrificed the boy to the Box.
Or perhaps… it wasn't Sora anymore. Perhaps it was Kazuma's hatred steering the beast.
Either way, they couldn't allow it to reach the village.
The Third Hokage straightened, his aura shifting from quiet gravity to iron command. "Form the first defensive line here. Hyūga shinobi—immediate visual tracking and early warning."
He turned toward the rest of the group. "Earth Release users—if Satori attempts to strike, erect defensive walls and terrain barriers at once."
"To everyone else—maintain distance. Harass from range. After each volley, relocate immediately. No one is to engage at close range!"
"Remember—it senses killing intent. You attack it, it will find you."
Orders rippled through the squads. In moments, ten teams dissolved into the forest, vanishing into the terrain, positioning themselves along the ridgelines and ravines.
Roshi exhaled softly, forming a quick seal. A shadow clone materialized and darted into the treeline to assist with coordination, while his real body followed Hiruzen up a rocky hill overlooking the valley.
The sky had begun to darken—and then, in the distance, a black dot appeared.
It grew fast. Too fast.
"Target sighted!" came the synchronized reports from scattered Hyūga. "High altitude — approaching from the northeast! Speed, extremely high!"
There was no mistaking it. Satori had arrived.
Hiruzen's form flickered—he shot forward first, leaping into the open, with Roshi and Tenzo close behind.
Moments later, the forward squads launched their first attack.
Kunai, shuriken, and arrows rained upward in a deadly lattice, explosive tags igniting like streaks of lightning across the sky.
The detonations echoed like thunder—smoke, flame, and shrapnel tearing through the air.
Satori moved with terrifying agility. Its enormous, ink-black wings flared, lifting its body high above the blast radius in an instant. The explosions rippled below it, firelight licking at the edge of its feathers but failing to touch it.
But the attack had done its job—the monster's attention shifted, fury blazing in its eyeless visage.
The great wings trembled once—and in the next instant, dozens of black feathers shot downward like spears.
"Scatter!"
The command came barely in time.
The Byakugan scouts had already predicted the counterattack, allowing most of the squads to reposition. The few who couldn't were shielded by freshly raised walls of earth—Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!
The deadly feathers slammed into the barriers, shaking the ground.
"Direct hit avoided!" one squad leader's voice crackled through the communicator. "Attention drawn! Preparing second volley!"
"Second and third squads, continue suppression fire!" came the return order.
But as the barrage continued, Satori suddenly shifted its posture.
It dropped something.
A massive, stone-like box—the Box of Paradise itself—fell from its claws, crashing through the canopy and embedding deep into the forest floor. Trees splintered, the ground quaking under its weight.
Then, the monster hovered unnaturally in the air, its body twisting. The huge mouth gaping across its torso began to glow—gathering dark red chakra so dense the air itself vibrated.
The ground teams froze. A chakra blast…!
But before it could fire, a golden flash of movement erupted from afar.
"Enma!"
Hiruzen's voice cut through the chaos. His Adamantine Staff elongated at blinding speed, thrusting like a spear through the air.
For that split second, the staff's living chakra suppressed all traces of killing intent—slipping beneath Satori's sensory field.
The strike hit dead-on.
BOOM!
The impact resounded like a cannon blast. The staff smashed into Satori's midsection, sending the beast spiraling backward with a deafening roar.
"RRAAAAHHHHHH—!!"
Its body slammed into the forest below, uprooting trees, ripping through the soil like a meteor, and vanishing in a storm of debris.
Dust erupted skyward—a thick, yellow-gray cloud that swallowed the clearing.
No one needed orders.
Before the last echo of impact faded, Roshi's hands were already in motion.
"Wood Release—Deep Forest Emergence!"
The earth beneath their feet trembled violently.
From the cracks in the ground, enormous roots and trunks burst forth, unfurling into an expanding labyrinth of trees. Within moments, the forest came alive—twisting, growing, spreading like an ocean of green.
Beside him, Tenzo placed his hands on the soil, flooding it with chakra. The growth rate exploded. The newly born trees thickened, their bark hardening, their branches converging into a living cage.
Countless vines and roots whipped forward—snapping, coiling, piercing through the air toward the pit where Satori had fallen.
Within seconds, that entire section of the forest had become a living weapon—a shifting, suffocating maze of wood and life.
A death trap.
But deep within that cage, something stirred.
And the next roar that erupted from the heart of the forest made the earth itself quake.
Satori—still staggering from its earlier fall—let out a guttural roar as it plunged into the living forest of Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence.
Its talons tore through the first wave of grasping vines, shredding trunks as thick as towers. The monster's chest-mouth gaped open, and dark red chakra condensed like molten light before erupting in a barrage of energy spheres. Each blast carved burning craters through the growing trees, tearing apart swaths of the forest in thunderous explosions.
But before the embers had even cooled, the trees grew back.
Fueled by Roshi's relentless chakra flow, the shattered forest mended itself in seconds—denser, wilder, more aggressive. The living sea of wood surged forward again, swallowing everything in its path, choking the air with the scent of resin and ash.
The monster bellowed, hurling smaller chakra projectiles to clear space. Taking advantage of a brief gap in the regrowth, it spread its massive wings, beating them furiously to climb higher into the air.
"Don't even think about it!"
The Third Hokage's voice thundered across the battlefield. With a flick of his wrist, the Adamantine Staff elongated once more, streaking through the air like a golden spear aimed straight at the base of Satori's wings.
From the forest below, kunai and explosive tags soared upward, detonating in synchronized bursts that painted the sky with fire.
But Satori reacted with monstrous cunning. It twisted its torso midair, using the edge of its wings to meet the staff head-on. The force of the collision created a violent backlash, the monster attempting to use it to propel itself out of the forest's reach.
"Tch—!"
Hiruzen's eyes sharpened. The staff, obeying his will, retracted instantly, robbing Satori of leverage.
Even so, the creature refused to retreat. It powered through the storm of explosions, wings thrashing, forcing its way upward. The shockwaves slowed its ascent—but at that exact moment, several thick wooden tendrils lashed up from below, coiling tightly around its ankles.
Satori snarled and unleashed a chakra blast downward, vaporizing the vines and shaking the earth. Its claws tore through the remnants of restraint as it roared in fury.
"Damn you… Konoha!"
The air trembled from the sound. Then, with a command-like growl, it directed its power toward the Box of Paradise embedded below.
The monstrous mouth carved onto the box's surface twisted open, and from the gaping mouth, dozens of figures stumbled out.
They were shinobi—wearing Kusagakure headbands—but their eyes were empty, their bodies stiff, movements jerky and unnatural.
At first they staggered. Then, unnervingly, their speed accelerated—charging forward in a rush of hollow rage toward Roshi and Tenzo, who were sustaining the Wood Release.
Roshi's brow furrowed. The forest responded instantly to his will; countless branches whipped out like serpents, binding, crushing, and tearing apart the puppet-like enemies.
Still, the distraction gave Satori the opening it needed. It surged upward, wings beating hard, ascending to a height where even the tallest trees could no longer reach.
From above, its eyeless face glared down at the battlefield, frustration rumbling from its chest. The Konoha shinobi below moved like shadows, scattered and disciplined—too many, too unpredictable. Its negative emotion-reading ability couldn't lock onto any single killing intent.
From the Box, more bodies spilled out—Kusagakure nin and prisoners alike—each now nothing more than puppets animated by the Box's cursed chakra. They began to spread, moving to flank Konoha's lines.
Hiruzen landed amidst them, his staff spinning into a defensive wall. Each strike shattered a puppet's body, yet they kept coming, heedless of pain or injury.
Above, Satori circled, releasing smaller chakra projectiles from its chest-mouth. Each crimson orb streaked down like a meteor, exploding in fire across the forest canopy, forcing Konoha's forces to scatter.
The barrage pressed dangerously close to Roshi and Tenzo's position.
"Tenzo," Roshi said, his tone steady. "Hold the formation. I'll handle the rest."
"Understood!"
Tenzo channeled his chakra deeper into the soil, roots thickening, branches weaving to reinforce the forest's structure.
Meanwhile, Roshi released his shadow clone from afar. The natural energy it had been gathering rushed back into him like a returning tide.
Under his ANBU mask, black markings spread across his skin.
Sage Mode—activated.
The air hummed around him.
In a blur, Roshi appeared atop one of the highest branches, wind whipping his cloak. His hands moved through a rapid sequence of seals.
"Sage Art: Thousand Flowing Wind Blades!"
The atmosphere exploded.
The calm air above the forest turned wild, spinning into chaotic turbulence. Invisible currents collided, diverged, and merged—forming a vortex of raw, violent hurricane.
Caught within it, Satori's massive wings became a curse instead of a gift. The creature lurched, buffeted from every direction, unable to steady itself.
Its movements became erratic—each flap tearing at its own balance, its body pitching violently in the storm.
Seeing the chance, Hiruzen appeared beside Roshi in a single leap, landing lightly on a nearby branch.
"Nicely done," he muttered, forming seals with practiced speed.
"Fire Release—Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
He exhaled, and three blazing dragons erupted from his mouth.
But instead of flying straight, they followed the wind currents generated by Roshi's jutsu—spiraling upward with unnatural precision.
Wind fed flame. Flame devoured wind.
The sky turned crimson.
The three dragons merged into a single inferno, a howling firestorm that swallowed Satori whole.
"ROOOOOAAARRR—!!"
The monster's screams shook the sky. Fire clung to its wings, searing through its black feathers. The stench of burning flesh spread across the forest.
Moments later, Satori's blazing form broke through the flames—its body scorched and smoking. It wavered, losing altitude, then plummeted like a meteor, crashing violently into the forest below.
The moment it hit the ground, the puppets pouring from the Box froze mid-motion—locked in place as if their strings had been cut.
Roshi landed silently beside the crater, his hands pressing to the ground once more.
"Wood Release—Binding Burial."
From the soil, massive trees erupted outward, their vines twisting and coiling over the fallen beast. The forest itself rose like a living tide, wrapping, squeezing, and sealing the monster within a writhing cocoon of wood and chakra.
Within seconds, the entire area was swallowed—forming a colossal wooden cage that quivered faintly before growing still.
The battlefield fell silent.
Only the crackle of fading fire and the rustle of settling leaves remained.
For now, the beast was contained.
But deep within that cage, the faint pulse of dark chakra still beat—slow, steady, and alive.
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Next Chapter : 129 - Heartfelt words
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