A violent gust poured through the hole torn open in the Truth-Seeking Orb shield.
Naruto instinctively raised both arms to block.
Boom!
The force behind the incoming punch was so overwhelming that his face changed instantly.
But what truly filled him with shock was the emotionless face behind that fist.
"Sakura…!?"
Naruto trembled as he called out the name, his mind racing to explain why this face was here.
Edo Tensei?
No… there were no characteristic cracks on the skin.
And accompanying the familiar face of Sakura Haruno was not the pink hair and green eyes he knew so well.
Instead, there was silver hair and a pair of cold, emotionless Rinnegan.
He had experienced something similar not long ago.
Something unforgettable.
In an instant, the answer surfaced.
"N-No way…"
Yes.
Exactly that.
The figure before him was not Sakura Haruno.
It was Divine Tree Human — Sakurako.
!!!
In the next instant, a thick foreign object exploded through his flesh, and the agony turned Naruto's mind blank.
Crack!
Dozens of grotesque wooden spikes burst outward from Naruto's crossed arms, tearing through his chest and back in all directions.
In an instant, his body became a sieve of blood.
Hagoromo was stunned.
Impossible.
No actual Wood Release had struck Naruto.
And yet this person had triggered forced implantation merely through the impact of a monstrous punch!
"Gahhhhhh!!!"
Naruto coughed up a torrent of blood and crashed diagonally into the earth.
"This wound… this is bad!"
Boom!
The instant his body faltered from such severe injuries, the Six Paths Susanoo protecting the thirty-six thousand surviving allied shinobi collapsed.
Sakurako was a Divine Tree Human created by Kaguya using Sakura's chakra and a Thorn Soul forged from a Truth-Seeking Orb, implanted into a White Zetsu body.
She possessed medical capabilities through the Divine Tree.
And beyond that, she could use the Divine Tree's Wood Release and monstrous strength to deliver physical blows far exceeding the Strength of a Hundred.
When she struck a living being, she could forcibly trigger implantation.
When she struck nonliving matter, she could summon devastating Wood Release structures from the surrounding terrain.
Sakurako descended from the sky.
Her punch carried a stormlike blast and smashed into the northwestern sector of the allied forces.
Rumble!!!
The ground collapsed beneath her fist.
Hundreds of shinobi, still reeling in fear, were launched into the air by the tilting terrain.
Then they were skewered by the Violent Spear Trees erupting from the cracks below.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
"Tell us—how are we supposed to fight monsters like this!?"
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
Blood rained from the sky.
And this was only the beginning of despair.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Seven more figures, each dressed in the same black cloak as Sakurako, landed in different sectors of the allied formation.
Northeast Sector
"It's her!"
"Her hair color has changed! Her eyes are different too! But I know that face!"
"She's Konoha jonin Shizune!"
"She's an enemy, right!?"
"Die!!!"
A Cloud jonin charged, swinging a sword empowered by Naruto's golden chakra.
Shinju Human — Oto did not even glance at him.
She merely raised her slender white wrist.
Clang!
The jonin stared in horror at his shattered blade.
"This… this isn't human!"
Unlike Isshiki's Divine Tree Humans, Kaguya's versions possessed Adamant Bodies in addition to regeneration.
Oto formed a seal with both hands.
— Wood Release: Poisonous Flower Tree World
Crack!
A forest erupted from the ground.
The charging jonin was torn apart instantly.
Hundreds nearby were crushed into meat.
Then flowers blossomed throughout the vast forest, releasing clouds of pitch-black pollen.
This pollen was dozens of times more toxic than the original yellow-brown spores.
Its lethality rivaled the venom of Ryūchi Cave's sage snakes.
One breath was enough to kill.
Those trapped within the forest and around its perimeter—over a thousand shinobi—fell dead without even managing to scream.
Southeast Sector
A cold silver-haired man landed.
His high-collared cloak covered his jaw, with pockets for both hands.
This was Shinju Human — Mushi, created from Shino Aburame's chakra.
After landing, Mushi simply stood there with his head lowered.
"What's with this guy?"
No one dared attack.
No one dared retreat.
One Sand chunin, unable to bear the pressure, hurled a kunai with an explosive tag.
Clang!
The kunai struck Mushi's face and dropped to the ground.
Boom!
The explosion engulfed him.
"Did we get him?"
When the smoke cleared, Mushi stood untouched.
"What is this thing!?"
Then—
Pop.
The chunin who had thrown the kunai disintegrated into ash.
Not burned.
Not torn apart.
Simply erased, like parchment consumed by flame.
His chakra cloak vanished with him, leaving only his uniform and sandals.
The horrifying scene sent chills through the entire formation.
Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.
A chain reaction began.
Shinobi started vanishing one after another in great swaths.
"Monster!!!"
Those who tried to flee watched their limbs crumble, their skin peel away, and their bodies dissolve into hollow shells.
Within moments, thousands had disappeared.
Then, from the piles of abandoned clothing, countless sparrow-like insects rose and circled above Mushi's head.
These were Divine Tree-bred insects known as Intruding Sparrows.
Their eggs were nanoscopic and dispersed through the air.
They entered the body via breathing or through pores, fed on chakra, matured into adults, and devoured the host from within.
Adult Intruding Sparrows lived only thirty seconds.
In that brief time, they completed their mission:
To return the chakra they had consumed to the Divine Tree.
Mushi slowly withdrew his hands from his pockets.
Two thick wooden branches extended from his sleeves.
The insects landed in orderly fashion, melting into resin and merging with the branches.
The branches retracted.
Mushi put his hands back into his pockets and began walking forward.
Fresh eggs were already dispersing.
Southwest Sector
Created from Rock Lee's chakra, Shinju Human — Luo possessed a tall, perfectly sculpted body.
A pure black bodysuit outlined every muscle.
His thick eyebrows were silver like his hair.
Beneath them, Rinnegan stared ahead with cold intensity.
Blue aura—the unmistakable aura of the Eighth Gate's Seventh Gate technique, Daytime Tiger—surrounded him.
From the moment he landed, the aura neither increased nor diminished.
The screams echoing from other sectors told everyone the truth.
The figure before them was death.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
"You never told us we'd be facing monsters like this!"
"You drag us into your reckless crusade without caring what we think!"
"Heh… I envy the lucky ones who died before they even knew what was happening."
Luo raised a hand.
What looked like a frozen pose was actually a high-frequency vibration that blurred both arms.
— Daytime Tiger: Hundred Forms
Boom boom boom boom boom!!!
Compressed air tigers blasted forth one after another.
They shattered incoming jutsu, tore apart the golden chakra cloaks, and pulverized flesh.
"AAAAAHHHH! UZUMAKI NARUTO!!!"
Blood and limbs flew everywhere.
As Luo slowly turned, the barrage of Daytime Tigers swept across the battlefield.
Though his movements appeared relaxed, every muscle in his body was operating at maximum intensity.
Nearby, Madara—recently released from Kamui with only half his body restored—stood atop a giant tree created by Wood Release, observing the slaughter.
"That is Might Guy's Seventh Gate technique."
"That Divine Tree Human was made from his disciple, wasn't it?"
"To produce Daytime Tigers continuously… what terrifying physical strength."
Obito stood on the same tree, but his attention was fixed elsewhere.
East Sector.
Created from Neji Hyuga's chakra, Shinju Human — Ci stood before a large contingent of Sand shinobi…
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