I Am Uzumaki Menma

Chapter 373 - 373 Hanzo's Death

At the core of the battlefield.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The chakra black rods condensed in Menma's hands collided continuously with Jigen's black rods, sending out blinding sparks and teeth-grating impact sounds.

The more they fought, the more alarmed Jigen became. He clearly felt that the fighting spirit of this black-haired youth opposite him not only hadn't diminished due to prolonged combat but, instead, burned like a flame, growing more and more intense! His power was also continuously rising!

Finally, a dark red Chakra, filled with a savage aura, surged from within Menma's body like a volcanic eruption!

This Chakra quickly condensed on his body surface, forming a Chakra Cloak that swayed like flames.

Dark Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!

"So you're the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki… is this your confidence?" Understanding dawned on Jigen, but he immediately frowned again.

"That's not right… this aura, although vast and savage, it feels completely different from the Nine-Tails' Chakra I know… this definitely isn't that Nine-Tails!"

As an old monster lurking for millennia, Jigen knew the nine Tailed Beasts of the Ninja World inside out. After all, if reviving the first Ten-Tails, he might be able to condense another Chakra Fruit.

So he was certain that the Tailed Beast within this kid was anything but ordinary!

[Daikokuten!]

Jigen focused his mind, activating his Dojutsu once more.

Countless black Chakra Rods, fine as ox hair, almost invisible to the naked eye, shot towards Menma like invisible dust, attempting to attach themselves to him and disrupt his chakra flow.

However, as these tiny rods approached the layer of dark red Chakra Cloak surrounding Menma, they were completely blocked by an invisible barrier, unable to penetrate at all.

Jigen's eyes turned cold. He immediately changed tactics, activating the Dojutsu that could shrink or enlarge objects.

[Sukunahikona!]

He attempted to instantly enlarge these micro black rods into deadly spikes!

But Menma's reaction was faster than he could imagine!

He didn't even need to activate the highly draining Tenseigan Chakra Mode. Relying solely on the insight of his right Byakugan, connected to the Tenseigan's Ocular Power, he had already detected in advance the presence of those micro black rods.

At the same instant Jigen activated [Sukunahikona]—

"Shinra Tensei!"

A terrifying repulsive force, immense beyond imagination, erupted from him as the center like an invisible tsunami, exploding outwards in all directions!

Bang bang bang bang—!

Those black Chakra Rods that had just been enlarged and were preparing to spike were blasted away like fallen leaves in a violent wind under this powerful repulsive force!

Even Jigen himself, who had just finished the technique, was forcefully hurled away by this sudden repulsive force, tumbling several times in the air before barely stabilizing his posture and floating in the air again, an extremely grave expression appearing on his face.

It wasn't that he didn't want to use the absorption ability of the Kama to neutralize it, but the repulsive force of Shinra Tensei was a force field attack, not a highly condensed form of Chakra. His Kama couldn't directly absorb it.

Jigen hovered in the air, filled with doubt and uncertainty as he looked at Menma opposite him, also hovering, enveloped in dark red chakra.

'Sharingan, Byakugan, black Chakra Rods, and this powerful repulsive force… this means he likely masters even higher-level Dojutsu, like the Rinnegan, or even… but he hasn't used it—' Jigen's mind was filled with confusion

Shinra Tensei was not a rare ability among the Otsutsuki Clan… figures like Momoshiki and Urashiki could use it after awakening the Rinnegan.

If the opponent truly possessed Dojutsu of the same level or higher, his strength had likely already reached the level of a standard Otsutsuki.

But if that were truly the case, it was less likely he was a backup left by Kaguya.

After all, Kaguya was only a lower-ranking Otsutsuki. If Kaguya had had a subordinate of this strength back then, how could she have been sealed by her two rebellious sons?

On the other side, Menma, having activated the Dark Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, with Chakra rising like flames around him, slightly raised his head. With those heterochromatic pupils, he looked down at the contemplative Jigen with an arrogant gaze looking down from above, his voice clearly penetrating the rain curtain: "If this is the extent of your pitiful ability… then next, you might die."

"Arrogant!" Jigen was completely enraged!

Except for that one time a millennium ago when he was betrayed by that despicable woman Kaguya, he, the noble Otsutsuki Isshiki, who had traveled countless planets and lived for ages, had never been subjected to such barefaced contempt by a planet's 'native'!

Overwhelming rage and killing intent burned madly within him.

'I must go absorb the Ten-Tails' Chakra, unlock a higher form of the Kama! Otherwise—' He instantly made a decision. In his current state, he indeed wasn't a match for his opponent.

However, just as Jigen prepared to temporarily disengage from the battlefield and head to the alternate dimension to absorb the Ten-Tails' Chakra, a vast amount of dense, suffocating purple poison mist, like a curtain of death, rapidly spread from the battlefield's edge, surrounding the area where he and Menma were in the blink of an eye.

Jigen slightly turned his head, his icy gaze penetrating the poison mist, seeing the Amegakure's leader who had returned, standing atop the giant salamander.

Hanzo of the Salamander was in an extremely terrible state.

The skin around the bruise on his abdomen from Jigen's kick had completely turned deep purple, and this purple color was spreading like creeping vines across his entire body.

That was the sign of the salamander poison sac completely rupturing, the deadly poison backlashing against him!

But he seemed not to care in the slightest, his face only showing a near-mad, determined resolve to perish with the enemy!

Standing atop Ibuse, brandishing the chain sickle, in the name of Amegakure's protector for the last time, he let out the most tragic roar at the end of his life!

He controlled Ibuse, charging without hesitation into the poison mist, rushing straight towards Jigen in mid-air!

"Chain Sickle, Two-Stage Strike!"

At the moment of approaching Jigen, Hanzo first violently swung out the chain in his hand, wrapping it around Jigen like a venomous snake, attempting to restrict his movement.

Then he himself leaped up from the salamander's head, pouring all the last strength of his body, along with the rampant deadly poison within him, into the sickle. He unleashed the strongest attack of his life, a final, lethal strike fusing his lifelong training and last bit of life force!

The sickle's blade sliced through the poison mist, carrying a piercing whistle, aiming directly for Jigen's head!

Temporarily entangled by the chain, Jigen looked at this ferocious, body radiating an aura of death and poison, charging at him like a moth to a flame 'insect'. There was not a trace of emotion in his eyes, only extreme impatience at being interrupted in important matters.

"Truly… an annoying insect."

He spat out the words coldly, then his entire figure vanished into thin air!

Hanzo's sure-kill strike, invested with all his determination, slashed through empty air!

The immense force carried him forward, throwing him off balance in the air.

His face was filled with shock and unwillingness.

And at that very moment, when his old force was spent and new force not yet generated, his body completely exposed in the air—

Pfft pfft pfft pfft—!

Countless pitch-black chakra black rods, like deathly thorns growing from the void, suddenly thrust out from all directions, above, below, left, and right, without any warning!

Instantly piercing through every vital point of Hanzo's body!

Heart, lungs, throat, limbs—

Hanzo of the Salamander, this Ninja who had once shaken the Ninja World, hailed as the [Demigod of the Ninja World], the hero who had protected Amegakure for a decade, suddenly stiffened in mid-air. The sickle in his hand slipped from his grasp, falling powerlessly.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, only foam mixed with organ fragments and poisoned blood gushed from his mouth.

The light in his eyes rapidly extinguished. He took one last look at the ruined Amegakure he had fought for, protected, and would finally be buried in. His head tilted, his breath completely ceasing.

Hanzo's corpse, carried by those cold black rods, fell. Supported by the rods that landed on the ground, it hung suspended in mid-air, like a cruel trophy, or a silent tombstone, declaring the end of an era.

In the distance, Yahiko, Konan, Nagato, and all the Akatsuki's members, who had just organized the villagers' evacuation to a safer area, all witnessed this tragic and brutal scene.

Yahiko clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug deep into his palms, blood flowing from between his fingers, yet he was completely unaware.

Konan closed her eyes, unable to bear watching.

In Nagato's Rinnegan was reflected the image of Hanzo's corpse pierced by countless black rods. An indescribably complex emotion grew wildly within his heart.

As for Menma, hovering in the air on the other side, he only coldly glanced at Hanzo's corpse. For this timeline's Hanzo, dying in battle protecting his village might be a good thing for him.

Immediately, Menma locked his gaze back on Jigen, who had reappeared, his face looking even uglier than before.

"The troublesome guy is gone." Menma's voice was calm and without ripple, as if someone completely irrelevant had just died.

He raised the black Chakra Rod in his hand, pointing towards the location below where Jigen had hidden after shrinking his size with Sukunahikona.

"Now, it's time for us to continue."