Chapter 177: Half-Tailed Beast Rampage, Hollow Cannon Unleashed! Konoha Earthquake!
In the center of the courtyard, Tsukasa's eyes narrowed. A surge of violent dark chakra condensed into the shape of a Rasengan in his palm, then began to spin wildly around its center!
With his current control, he couldn't stabilize it or compress it properly.
From the moment it formed, this dark and ominous Rasengan spontaneously began to expand uncontrollably.
However—
Tsukasa had no intention of controlling it!
He could use this opportunity to test whether the expanding Rasengan could replace the Tailed Beast Ball and fire the Hollow Cannon!
Standing amidst the sea of fire, he slowly raised the expanding Rasengan in his hand—
And then, shockingly, opened his Half-Tailed Beast-transformed mouth, which stretched to his ears—
And swallowed the about-to-explode Dark Expanding Rasengan whole!
The next moment, violent dark chakra erupted within his body!
Anger, pain, emptiness, frustration, jealousy, fear—
Countless negative emotions instantly flooded Tsukasa's heart, igniting an impulse to destroy everything!
His throat, chest, and abdomen swelled violently, stretching him like a balloon.
Even his skin cracked from the strain. The pent-up power within him overflowed, forcing him to drop onto all fours to maintain control.
Just then, the four fire dragons in mid-air slammed down before him!
The fire dragons exploded—the intense heat and impact instantly blasted the bloated, immobile Tsukasa backward. He bounced three times across the white sand of the courtyard, carving a deep trench.
After rolling back to his feet—
Tsukasa abruptly raised his head, his face contorted with rage and violence!
The rampaging vein patterns around his crimson serpentine eyes suddenly thickened!
A blood vessel even ran straight across the back of his head, connecting to the Cursed Seal of Heaven on his neck, prying open a gap in the Evil Sealing Method!
The surrounding natural energy was suddenly absorbed!
A powerful force instantly filled his body!
Tsukasa glared at the astonished Uchiha Tekka behind the four giant fire dragons, a murderous intent suddenly rising in his bulging serpentine eyes!
Wait! I didn't mean to kill this old man!
A line of text suddenly appeared before his eyes:
[Warning: Your body is developing a secondary personality under the influence of natural energy.]
[Talent: Battle Intuition (S+) activated. The primary personality has avoided being consumed by this secondary personality.]
Under the influence of Battle Intuition deep within his soul, Tsukasa's conscious mind suddenly seemed detached from his body, observing it from a god-like perspective in mid-air.
At this moment, he watched his Half-Tailed Beast humanoid form as if another person was controlling it.
Looking at the pair of violent, arrogant, seemingly sentient serpentine eyes on the body's face, Tsukasa couldn't help but panic.
"What's going on?!"
Before he could think further, 'Half-Tailed Beast Tsukasa' had a cold and violent gaze. He raised his chin and opened his mouth, aiming at Uchiha Tekka in mid-air!
If he were to unleash the Hollow Cannon, that old man would probably be instantly vaporized!
Tsukasa only had time to forcibly redirect the attack with his consciousness.
The next moment, 'Half-Tailed Beast Tsukasa' gripped the ground tightly—
And unleashed a devastating attack!
A gale roared from his mouth, creating massive recoil that shattered the ground beneath his feet!
The swallowed, violent dark power transformed into a thick, jet-black beam of light that shot forth!
A Hollow Cannon!
It blasted straight out for nearly three kilometers!
It pierced through buildings, destroyed mansions, and evaporated sections of the river.
It forcefully punched through the towering ancestral shrine of the Uchiha clan on the Naka River—
Finally arcing across the river and crashing into the forest on the other side, belonging to the former Senju clan territory!
BOOOOOM!!!
The ground trembled violently, as if an 8-magnitude earthquake had struck!
A dark mushroom cloud rose high from the Senju territory!
The resulting wildfire blazed fiercely in an instant, even more dazzling than the sun in the sky!
And back at the original position, the mere aftershock—having only grazed Uchiha Tekka—blasted him high into the air, violently throwing him into a pond a hundred meters away!
He crawled out of the pond, soaking wet and disheveled, his eyes wide with shock, staring in stunned silence at the black Hollow Cannon that had streaked across the sky. He muttered blankly:
"What... what was that?!"
However, the last knowledgeable member, Uchiha Inabi, was already paralyzed by the Sage Art: Sharingan - White Extreme Attack, and clearly no one could answer his question.
"That brat really tried to kill me just now! If he hadn't somehow shifted position at the last second, I'd be dead!"
Tekka recalled the moment their eyes met—those indifferent, ruthless crimson Sharingan eyes he'd seen—and couldn't help but shudder with fear.
His expression quickly changed as he struggled to his feet, only then remembering that while he'd been sent flying, Uchiha Yashiro was still over there!
"Oh no—Yashiro's in danger!"
Meanwhile, in a seemingly ordinary mansion in Konoha—
At a desk filled with bottles and jars containing various biological specimens preserved in formaldehyde—
Orochimaru was reviewing records he'd retrieved from Root after returning to Konoha.
Although many traces had been deliberately erased, Orochimaru could still keenly find clues—records of training materials used only by Wood Release users.
Seven years ago, in Konoha Year 40...
To obtain Konoha's forbidden techniques, he'd secretly collaborated with Danzō on a project that had long been suspended:
An experiment to replicate Wood Release by fusing the First Hokage's cells.
He'd initially thought this experiment was just an absurd attempt—
But now, it seemed there was something interesting hidden by Shimura Danzō.
"The Cursed Seal is far from perfect. It's only compatible with him now thanks to his terrifyingly resilient body."
"Transforming into a snake, then a dragon—seemingly a shortcut to Sage Mode training, yet it harbors unknown risks. Heh, the White Snake Sage made a brilliant move."
"When he truly masters the Sage Techniques of Ryūchi Cave, will he still be himself?"
"The influence of Ryūchi Cave's natural energy is far more troublesome than imagined. Tsk, we can only start by researching Wood Release, figuring out how the God of Shinobi integrated such power into his body."
"Incidentally, we can also help nurture that pitifully weak artificial Tailed Beast within him."
Orochimaru's serpentine eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze fell on a name on a form from someone who'd just graduated from the Root training program.
[A]!
He curled his lip slightly, revealing a cold smile, like a snake that had spotted its prey.
Just then—
The sky outside the window suddenly darkened!
A pitch-black mushroom cloud rose from southern Konoha—
Followed by a tremor of the earth and the deafening roar of a violent explosion, accompanied by a shockwave that swept across the entire village, crashing into Orochimaru's window!
CRASH!
The window shattered!
Orochimaru abruptly looked up, his smile instantly freezing.
"What's going on?"
"The Nine-Tails has gone berserk?!"
"No, wait—the seal of the Cursed Seal has been broken, and there's this natural energy..."
Orochimaru's heart skipped a beat, a chill running down his spine.
He looked toward the direction of the explosion and saw it was the Senju territory—adjacent to the Uchiha clan's grounds.
Remembering that today was the day his beloved disciple was returning home—
Orochimaru's face contorted in exasperation.
"Uchiha Tsukasa!!!"
"What have you done now?!"
End of Chapter 177
[Reader Event Active]
500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter
10 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter
Thanks for reading!
80+advance chapters on P1treon Soulforger