For days, the chaos around the Divine Tree showed no signs of stopping.
Even after all their probing and failed attempts, no one wanted to leave.
Eventually, the dozens of assembled tenth-tier powerhouses reached a grim consensus—
They would combine their strength to destroy the tree.
Officially, their goal was public safety.
But privately, they hoped to reap insights from the tree's destruction—
perhaps enough to break through their own bottlenecks.
With terrifying might, the strongest warriors on the planet attacked in unison.
The sky lit up like a second sun as they unleashed their full power.
Their weapons expanded—
some looking like giant avatars of their martial spirits, growing hundreds of times in size.
These titanic armaments surged toward the main trunk of the Divine Tree.
The crowd below watched with bated breath.
It looked like this might finally work.
In fact, many bystanders were already preparing to swoop in afterward—
to scavenge divine scraps from the wreckage.
Just as the attacks were about to strike—
Naruto appeared, standing calmly before the tree.
A lone figure…
Facing a cataclysm of destruction.
"That guy's crazy!"
"Isn't that the champion from the Global Tournament?"
"He's too handsome to die like this!"
The air tensed.
And then—Naruto transformed.
His body shifted into a demonic form, cloaked in overwhelming energy.
The sky darkened.
Every single attack—
those apocalyptic blows meant to fell a world tree—
landed on him directly.
But Naruto didn't move.
He stood firm.
Unbroken.
Unshaken.
At most, his clothes were slightly scuffed.
"How… is he still alive?"
The tenth-tier elites were horrified.
Those were their most powerful techniques—and they didn't even bruise him.
Before they could react—
Naruto countered.
"Bloodline Reincarnation Burst – Demon Form."
A slashing wave of crimson energy—
a cut that split sky and soul—
raced toward the tenth-tier coalition.
Long Aotian, the Dragon Nation's strongest, bellowed:
"Together! Give it everything!! Or we're finished!"
He summoned Nine Golden Dragons to counter.
Others followed with their greatest arts.
But their might crumbled like sandcastles before a tsunami.
The crimson slash ripped through everything, disappearing into the horizon…
And when the dust settled—
not a single tenth-tier warrior remained.
All dead.
In one strike.
And then it got worse.
Naruto raised his hand.
Behind him, a colossal gate—nearly a kilometer tall—tore open reality.
The Purgatory Demon Gate.
Out came legions of demons.
Thousands of them—
each one grotesque, nightmarish, and otherworldly.
But towering above all were Twelve Greater Demons.
Some humanoid, some draconic, some… indescribable.
Every one of them radiated absolute malice and killing intent.
And yet—
As soon as they beheld Naruto's Demonic God form,
they all knelt.
"This… is true authority."
Not one dared to question their new master.
Having witnessed Naruto destroy the strongest on the planet and summon literal hellspawn—
Everyone knew Long Aotian had been right.
The Divine Tree wasn't salvation.
It was the herald of apocalypse.
"Guard the tree. Kill any who disobey."
Naruto's voice thundered across the land.
"YES!" the Twelve Greater Demons roared in unison.
Now truly terrified, the crowds scattered like ants.
Even the boldest cultivators lost their nerve.
Not even tenth-tiers could survive.
What hope did they have?
Time passed.
The Divine Tree continued to grow, absorbing planetary energy at an ever-faster pace.
Around its base, the land withered.
The skies grew dimmer.
The air thinner.
Even the beasts began to sense it—
the slow death of their world.
Panic swept the globe.
But Naruto?
He stood tall above it all—
like a demonic god of fate, unmoved.
The world trembled.
And this… was only the beginning.