In the audience, the Third Hokage and other ninja with sharp senses all turned their gazes in the same direction simultaneously.
Even Namikaze Minato and Ai, who were engaged in a fast-paced
battle, stopped for a moment.
An invisible pressure emanated from afar, weighing heavily on everyone present.
"What is that?" The Third Hokage's eyes scanned Uzumaki Kushina and Killer B, sensing a dark, ominous, and sinister energy similar to that of a Tailed Beast. For a second, he almost thought it was a Jinchuriki going berserk.
"The match is temporarily halted due to an emergency! Minato!" In an instant, the Third Hokage used the Body Flicker Technique to reach the field and stop the battle between Ai and Namikaze Minato.
Seeing the serious look in the Third Hokage's eyes, Minato nodded immediately and vanished from the field.
"Don't leave!" As Minato disappeared, Ai's body flared with intense lightning, and he pursued at near-instantaneous speed.
Ai's sudden movement stirred the Cloud Village envoy group. Led by Killer B, they quickly followed behind him.
After instructing the gathered Anbu to secure the area and prepare for any developments, the Third Hokage, along with an Anbu team, dashed toward the source of the dark energy.
Cloud ninja Rai was flung back by a powerful force. Shouting, he watched his comrade, who had escaped from the Technology Development Department, steadily fall into a worsening state.
Monim had transformed into a monster. Pale, mutated tissues kept spilling out from his mouth, covering his body in a foamy layer that quickly hardened upon contact with the air, forming a solid shell over his body.
A bone-like mask, twisted and sorrowful, completely obscured Monim's facial features.
The transformed Monim no longer resembled himself. Now he looked monstrous! Standing nearly three meters tall, his muscular body and clothing were encased in a black shell. His face was replaced by the mask, and a thick tail extended from his back, tapping the ground lightly.
Rai's shout caught the mutated Monim's attention, and his golden, cold, violent eyes locked onto Rai, emitting a sense of invisible pressure.
This wasn't killing intent or a powerful aura—it was more like a predator targeting its prey, a primal fear that chilled the soul, as if facing a natural enemy!
Rai, disregarding the Konoha ninja around him, quickly erased himself from sight, vanishing into thin air. Googlᴇ search NoveI(F)ire.net
Kekkei Genkai: Smoke Release!
This ability allowed him to hide his presence and render his body invisible.
Smoke Release was an elite Kekkei Genkai for stealth and assassination, invaluable for evasion in critical moments. Realizing his comrade had lost all reason, Rai immediately decided to flee.
But in the next instant, Rai's eyes widened in shock.
Not far in front of him, the mutated Monim vanished in an instant under his gaze, so fast that even Rai, who was focused entirely on him, couldn't catch a single hint of movement.
Just as Rai was about to vanish into the air, he felt a heavy blow land behind him. He was sent flying forward with no ability to resist the powerful force.
Under the impact, his control over his own body shattered, and most of his body went numb upon hitting the ground.
Despite his strong physique, a trademark of Kumogakure shinobi, Rai felt like several of his bones had fractured under that tremendous force.
With a savage, beastly growl—harsh and inhuman—the mutated Monim let out a layered shockwave of sound.
Rai's mind went blank under the blast of sound. Gathering what chakra he had left, he barely managed to regain control of his body, but he knew that in his current state, his only chance of survival would be to find a place to hide, activate his Kekkei Genkai, and wait for rescue.
However, feeling his critically wounded body and seeing the mutated creature leap high into the air above him, ready to crush him with its heavy stomp, he was filled with despair.
Just as Rai closed his eyes, accepting death, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, his body felt weightless and began to lift.
Opening his eyes, he saw Minato Namikaze carefully laying him down, and a familiar figure surrounded by crackling lightning.
The Third Raikage's son, Ai, appeared right in front of the mutated Monim, his shoulder and elbow bent as he drove them powerfully into the creature with the speed and force of his momentum.
The creature's tough shell cracked instantly, collapsing inward as its massive body flew back like a cannonball. It skimmed across the ground several times before finally carving a deep trench as it came to a halt.
After taking down the creature in a single blow, Ai flashed over to where Rai lay on the ground, his face stern as he asked.
Before Rai could answer, Minato's warning reached Ai's ears. Ai immediately reacted, grabbing Rai and teleporting them to another location in an instant.
A black sphere exploded where they had just stood, leaving a deep crater in the ground.
Following the direction of the attack, they saw the creature Ai had knocked away slowly rising from the loose soil. The fatal wound in its chest, which would have been deadly to any ninja, was rapidly healing before their eyes.
Seeing this scene, Ai and Minato Namikaze were both shocked by the monster's regeneration ability.
However, it was clear that the mutated creature had completely lost its sanity, and was enraged by Ai's previous strike. It crouched like a beast, standing still, its head raised high, its mouth opening at an extreme angle as a black, dangerous-looking sphere continuously grew inside.
This familiar scene made both Minato and Ai think of the Tailed Beast Bomb.
"We can't let it explode in the village!" Minato said with a serious expression. He threw a special kunai at the mutated creature, then, in the same instant, appeared beside it.
Just before the black sphere became unstable and was about to explode, he placed his hand on the creature, and both of them disappeared from the field.
A black light beam suddenly shot through the sky, cutting a half-circle across the clouds before vanishing.
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