The Five Kage and Jiraiya on the tower couldn't afford to get entangled with Akihara Kagura!
The Fourth Raikage leaped down, blue lightning release Chakra swirling around his arm like a sharp blade, slicing through the vines one by one, rescuing the ninja bound and immobilized in the trees!
A wooden dragon seemed to sense the Fourth Raikage's action and suddenly turned, rushing straight toward the Fourth Raikage!
"Lariat!"
The Fourth Raikage lifted his arm, pushing his lightning release Chakra to the limit, dodging the wooden dragon's attack and smashing his elbow into the wooden dragon's head, killing it outright!
However...
At the moment the wooden dragon landed...
The massive dragon's body began to spread...
Vines transformed into more wooden dragons, surrounding the Fourth Raikage!
"I can't use the Dust Release here..."
The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, looked at the ninjas bound to the trees, feeling uneasy. His jutsu is indeed powerful enough to destroy an entire area of the forest...
But...
The Dust Release would also kill the ninjas tied up in the forest!
The forest echoed with cries for help, the numerous Ninja Alliance moved in groups to cut down the attacking vines...
But...
The forest's counterattack quickly swept in.
Different-sized treemen began to appear within the forest.
The entire forest seemed to have come alive with Akihara Kagura's Chakra, sprouting bizarre treemen that rapidly dismantled the ninjas' defenses.
A treeman, roughly human-sized, extended vines to capture a group of ninjas, binding them to itself and quickly transforming into a large tree!
This continued to occur throughout the forest...
Treemen appeared one after another, making it impossible to stop them...
Even if a team of ninjas managed to defeat a treeman, it made no difference as stronger treemen would emerge the moment one fell!
The wooden dragons in the forest continued to roam, aiding treemen in overpowering formidable ninja teams...
Akihara Kagura...
Seemed about to defeat the Ninja Alliance single-handedly!
As for Uchiha Madara...
Uchiha Madara was less concerned about the fate of the Ninja Alliance below; he was more interested in how to break the Rinnegan's Dojutsu, as the barrier's protection is formidable, stronger than even the Uchiha Clan's Barrier Flame Array!
Coincidentally...
This was an awkward time...
Uchiha Madara wasn't at his strongest.
To break through Akihara Kagura's barrier...
Perhaps he needed to use Sasuke's Space-Time Jutsu...
Most importantly...
Uchiha Madara suspected Akihara Kagura had other schemes; he wanted to take Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Obito directly to where the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and Eight-Tails Jinchuriki were hiding, as that was the true battlefield!
Without surprise...
Once Akihara Kagura had immobilized the Ninja Alliance here, he would certainly seek to capture the two Jinchuriki!
Uchiha Madara glanced at Uchiha Sasuke still fighting below, ignoring Akihara Kagura's rampant actions, as he vanished into thin air, intending to intercept the two Jinchuriki himself!
On the high tower.
"There are too many people..."
Akihara Kagura felt the Chakra pouring into his body from the vines beneath, flowing into the Ten-Tails' shell within, and took a satisfied deep breath.
One hundred thousand Ninja Alliance...
This was an unprecedented experience!
As Akihara Kagura monitored the Chakra absorption progress, he cautiously guarded against the awakening of the Ten-Tails' shell within him: "Just a little more left and it will be enough..."
Should the Ten-Tails revive prematurely, Akihara Kagura wasn't sure what changes would occur if he truly became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, fearing potential distrust from Black Zetsu or his new supervisors...
Now the resurrection progress had reached a critical point; just a bit more Chakra to the Ten-Tails' shell would be enough for revival.
This trump card...
Absolutely couldn't be revealed at this moment!
This assembly point of the Ninja Alliance was originally a wasteland, now transformed into a vast forest, its trees laden with ninjas.
Akihara Kagura's immense internal Chakra caused the vines in the forest to continually maintain their assault, leaving only a few powerful ninjas capable of resisting, while most had lost the means to resist.
"This won't do..."
Kakashi Hatake, panting, eyed Akihara Kagura who continued controlling the vines, striving to absorb Kagura's body with his Kamui Mangekyo Sharingan to disrupt the jutsu, but Kamui couldn't penetrate Kagura's barrier at all!
"Kakashi, can you manage?"
Sarutobi Asuma continued to protect Kakashi Hatake; they were nearing their limits under the vines' assault, with more attacks coming!
Swish!
A vine entwined toward Kakashi Hatake!
A Decapitating Carving Knife abruptly slashed the vine in half, halting its attack, as Momochi Zabuza looked at Kakashi Hatake with discontent: "Why are you, the Third Unit commander, here? The subordinates I just gathered have been captured..."