Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

Just as the Raikage was about to finish off Ebizo, he suddenly froze. The arcs of electricity leaping on his Lightning Release armor all tilted towards the southeast.

Sasuke's Rinnegan contracted slightly.

He saw the faint halo of the star-shaped family emblem swirling in the thin mist rising from the horizon.

Naruto suddenly pressed his hand to his pounding chest. The Nine-Tails' roar reverberated incessantly in his consciousness, far more agitated than when facing the Ten-Tails.

The setting sun cast long, ghostly shadows of everyone.

The words of celebration stuck in their throats, and were replaced by the sounds of blades being drawn one after another.

The blood and phlegm coughed up by the Third Tsuchikage condensed into ice crystals in mid-air, and star-shaped dust had somehow appeared at the cut on his shattered right arm.

Chapter 454 The Limits of Jinchūriki

The cold light of the Kusanagi sword reflected Sasuke's furrowed brows, and the cursed seal on his shoulder blade was still seeping dark red.

The blood that seeped from Naruto's neck rolled onto the gravel, making a sizzling sound as it corroded the ground.

The Nine-Tails' chakra tail swept uncontrollably past the Third Tsuchikage's side, slicing the makeshift chair that Onoki had created using Rock Release into two pieces.

Is this the limit of a Jinchūriki? Chiyo took three steps back, her fingers still wrapped in puppet strings, and her pupils suddenly contracted beneath her aged eyelids—those demon fragments that should have been annihilated by Dust Release were now absorbing crimson chakra and gathering together again.

The sealing scroll hanging from her waist suddenly burst into flames, and star patterns identical to those on the surface of the Raikage armor emerged from the ashes.

The Fourth Raikage roared and slammed his lightning-infused fist into the ground.

The attack, which was supposed to shatter Ebizo's head, mysteriously turned southeast in mid-air.

His lightning armor emitted a piercing screech, and the cheetah phantom formed by electricity bowed and growled towards the starlight clan emblem in the thin mist on the horizon.

"Not a reorganization..." Sasuke's Rinnegan suddenly rippled with purple light. He saw that the golden chakra net Naruto had spread out was being devoured by some kind of force, and this energy was mimicking their ninjutsu. Before he could finish speaking, Naruto suddenly groaned and knelt on one knee. His sensory net, which had spread to a distance of five kilometers, seemed to have hit an invisible barrier, and his nine chakra tails were severed at the root.

Crimson mist rose from the ruins of Yanyin, and the reassembled demon fragments transformed into the shapes of people.

The Raikage's Lightning Release clones, Onoki's Rock Fist Technique, and even the mechanical sounds of Chiyo's puppets rose and fell in the mist.

Just as Sasuke's Susanoo condensed his ribs, he saw a black shadow in his own image wielding the Kusanagi sword, stabbing towards Naruto's back.

It's a chakra mirror image! Naruto swung his Rasengan, but when it hit the shadow, 30% of his chakra was absorbed.

The magical markings on his face suddenly twisted, and his originally azure eyes turned an eerie golden-red. Kurama said that this energy was copying our battle memories.

Suddenly, star-shaped dust seeped from Onoki's shattered right arm, and Old Earth Shadow's cloudy pupils cleared abruptly.

His blood-stained beard moved without wind, and when he slapped the ground with his palm, he stirred up not an ordinary wall of earth, but a special layer of rock mixed with crystals.

The crystals refracted the setting sun, projecting dense seal runes across the ruins.

"Retreat into my barrier!" With the Third Tsuchikage's roar, a 100-meter-diameter earth-style array appeared beneath everyone's feet.

Chiyo manipulated the puppet to tear open her own forearm, using the blood mist to draw the Sunagakure Shukaku sealing array around the barrier.

The instant Raikage's lightning touched the barrier, a deafening roar, as if the earth were about to collapse, suddenly came from the southeast.

Naruto suddenly pressed his hand to his violently heaving chest, and the Nine-Tails' roar materialized into a sonic wave in his consciousness: Kid!

This isn't chakra! The blond boy was shocked to realize that his perceptive power was being eroded in reverse. The ends of those spiritual tendrils, which should have been invisible, were now entangled with chains that shimmered with starlight.

Sasuke's Rinnegan suddenly shed tears of blood.

In his unique perspective, a thousand meters underground on the entire battlefield, a giant device covered with star-like patterns is awakening.

The chains that bound Naruto's chakra clearly shared a similar aura with the stone tablet left by the Sage of Six Paths, yet they were also entangled with malice that did not belong to this era.

As the last rays of the setting sun were swallowed by the thin mist on the horizon, the Third Tsuchikage suddenly coughed violently.

The blood he coughed up condensed into ice crystals in mid-air, each crystal having a miniature star pattern embedded in its center.

To everyone's astonishment, the old man placed his blood-stained right hand on the crystal in the center of the barrier—a groove that had somehow appeared there, perfectly matching the cut on his arm.

The moment the blood from Onoki's palm seeped into the crystal, the entire barrier emitted a trembling sound similar to a giant beast grinding its teeth.

Chiyo's puppet strings suddenly snapped three times, her aged face reflecting the distorted shadowy image outside the barrier—those clones were folding their bodies at bizarre angles, gradually revealing starlight patterns like clay figures being sculpted by an invisible chisel.

Earth Release: Rock Crystal Coffin! The old man's blood-stained beard stood on end, and countless hexagonal crystal pillars instantly grew from the inner wall of the barrier.

Naruto suddenly realized that his Nine-Tails chakra was no longer leaking out, and the starlight chains wrapped around his spiritual tentacles were being refracted by the crystal into millions of broken light spots.

Sasuke's Rinnegan suddenly detected the operation of the underground device. He then thrust the Kusanagi sword into the ground, and purplish-black flames flowed into the rock layer along the blade.

The Fourth Raikage's Lightning Release armor suddenly emitted a high-frequency buzzing sound. He roared and tore his shirt apart, revealing his chest covered in lightning patterns: "Get out of the way!" His right arm, crackling with blue-white electric arcs, slammed into the top of the barrier. The crystal wall, which should have been indestructible, rippled like the surface of water.

Chapter 455 Valley of Fallen Stars

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Chiyo flicked out her ten puppet strings, wrapping them around the necks of the soon-to-be-formed clones.

"Sand Rain!" Ebizo's voice came from outside the barrier.

Sand and gravel, carrying sealing talismans, pierced through the mirrored shadows, and the clones immediately began to melt like wax figures touched by flames.

Naruto suddenly noticed that each clone had a star-shaped core flashing on its chest, just like the one in the underground device.

Sasuke's Rinnegan suddenly focused on a spot of light refracted by a certain crystal pillar: 37 degrees northeast! His Susanoo Bone Hand shattered the corresponding crystal wall, and the refracted light precisely connected the core of the starlight into a sealing array.

Onoki's cloudy pupils suddenly gleamed, and his hands, covered in age spots, suddenly formed strange, rock-like marks.

A screeching sound of gears jamming came from underground, and the rock beneath their feet began to writhe strangely.

The Raikage's Lightning Release chakra surged uncontrollably into the earth's veins, forming a fountain of lightning a hundred meters away.

Chiyo's puppets suddenly exploded en masse, the flying parts precisely embedding themselves in the joint gaps of each replica.

Now! Onoki coughed up blood froth mixed with icy shards, and the barrier's crystal wall shattered into countless points of light.

Sasuke's Kusanagi sword, wreathed in Amaterasu's black flames, pierced into the ground's fissure, while Naruto's Nine-Tails chakra transformed into a giant claw that tore open a thirty-meter-square rock formation.

The star-shaped device emerging from the ground is frantically reassembling, and the surface of those gears is even showing chakra circuits identical to those used in everyone's ninjutsu.

The Fourth Raikage suddenly knelt on one knee, his lightning armor covered in star-like patterns: This thing is analyzing our chakra attributes! He endured the excruciating pain of his meridians burning and compressed his lightning chakra into a ball of lightning, which he then hurled at the core of the device.

Chiyo seized the opportunity to throw out the sealing scroll, but it was bounced away the moment it touched the device—the sand-hidden runes on the surface of the scroll were perfectly replicated on the surface of the device.

It wasn't a copy... Onoki's Earth Release senses extended along the rock veins, cold sweat beading on his wrinkled forehead. These things were... learning and evolving. His right hand, covered in crystal dust, suddenly pressed against his chest, pulling out a ball of chakra shimmering with starlight from his heart. The ruins on the border of the Land of Rain thirty years ago... So that's how it is!

Sasuke's Rinnegan suddenly revealed the energy flow trajectory deep within the earth's ley lines: four hundred kilometers to the northwest, there was a similar chakra reaction. Before he could finish speaking, the core of the device suddenly emitted a crimson beam of light, instantly turning the starry sky dark red as it pierced through the clouds.

Naruto's expanded sensory network suddenly picked up a roar coming from the distant horizon, a sound that made even the Nine-Tails' chakra tremble.

It was the Valley of Fallen Stars. Onoki used his Rock Release technique to create a miniature sand table, his trembling fingers tracing the ancient terrain between the grains of sand. The First Tsuchikage's notes recorded that a creature that devoured chakra was sealed there.

A sudden clap of thunder rang out, and everyone looked up to see that the once clear night sky was now shrouded in leaden-gray clouds.

Streaks of purplish-red lightning danced among the clouds, each flash leaving a brief afterimage of starlight in the sky.

Ebizo's sealing scroll spontaneously combusted without wind, and the ashes miraculously pieced together patterns in the air that were identical to those in the thunderclouds.

This wasn't natural weather. Chiyo tore open the puppet's abdomen and took out the cracked Shukaku Jar, even the tailed beast's chakra was trembling. Before she could finish speaking, the jar suddenly exploded, and the flying fragments automatically arranged themselves into an arrow pointing northwest.

Naruto suddenly pressed his temple, which was throbbing with pain, and the Nine-Tails' roar stirred up a storm in his consciousness: Kid!

That thing was calling upon all chakra! The blond boy was startled to realize that his Sage Chakra was uncontrollably surging towards his fingertips, automatically drawing a star pattern on the ground.

Sasuke's Rinnegan shed a second tear of blood as he saw the chakra flows of everyone intertwining in the air to form the outline of a giant stargate.

"Set off immediately!" The Fourth Raikage ripped off the star-shaped chains binding his right arm, and his lightning-bound feet left charred footprints on the ground. Before the device could fully activate... his roar was interrupted by a series of thunderclaps. Purple lightning struck a rocky mountain a hundred meters away, carving the entire mountain into a giant star-shaped totem.

Onoki created a floating platform using rock crystals, within which were sealed fragments of a still-wriggling device: "Sunagakure kid, use your Magnet Release for navigation." The old man turned to Naruto, who seemed hesitant to speak, "Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, your chakra will be the best guide."

Sasuke silently wiped away the bloodstains from the corner of his eye, the cold light of the Kusanagi sword cutting through the increasingly thick fog.

Under the purple lightning, everyone saw a pillar of starlight rising on the distant horizon. The outline of something resembling the Ten-Tails was vaguely visible in the light, yet it also had a suffocating mechanical feel.

As the last sealing talisman disappeared into the floating platform, a torrential downpour began.

The raindrops vaporized into a crimson mist the moment they touched the star-shaped patterns, engulfing everyone in a chaotic mix of blood mist and lightning.

The Nine-Tails' chakra cloak automatically enveloped Naruto's entire body, and every hair sensed the primal hunger emanating from afar, originating from the very beginning of chakra's creation.

Chapter 456 Composite Barrier

The crimson mist sizzled against his skin as Naruto swung his right arm, which was enveloped in the Nine-Tails' chakra, but the burning sensation shot straight to his heart along his meridians.

The lightning that exploded around the Fourth Raikage tore a three-zhang-wide passage through the mist. Arcs of electricity leaped across the rocky surface of the floating platform, reflecting the fine beads of sweat on Onoki's forehead. The fragments of the devices he had trapped with his barrier were twisting into a centipede shape inside the crystal, and the sharp metallic scraping sound made the puppet scroll at Chiyo's waist tremble slightly.

Thirty degrees southwest! Rasa's magnetic sand-gold carved a golden path through the fog, but the floating platform suddenly tilted violently.

Sasuke's Rinnegan suddenly contracted, and the Kusanagi sword slashed through the air to the left, the blade colliding with something invisible and sparking blue-purple sparks.

Nine chakra tails suddenly wrapped around Chiyo, who was about to fall, while chakra threads that popped out from the old woman's sleeve precisely wrapped around the rubble kicked up by the Fourth Raikage as he retreated.

Guided by the magnetic escape technique, the ground cracked open in a spiderweb pattern, and twenty-seven dark figures emerged from the cracks one after another.

Their bodies, like flowing mercury, solidified into twisted sculptures under the Fourth Raikage's powerful punch imbued with Lightning Release. These were... Onoki's Crystal Prison enveloped one of the remains, its surface instantly covered with vein-like patterns—a chakra-embodied guardian, its core located in the third cervical vertebra!

Just as Sasuke's Susanoo skeleton solidified to his ribs, three kunai were already driven into the joints of the three black figures.

Naruto leaped and flipped through the air on the rubble, and thick liquid chakra gushed from the abdomen of the black shadow shattered by the Rasengan, but emitted a shrill scream like a baby crying when it came into contact with the Nine-Tails' outer garment.

The Raikage's Lightning Release armor suddenly dimmed, and he roared as he tore off the silver threads wrapped around his ankles. The other end of the threads was connected to a fragment of a device sealed by Onoki.

Don't let the guards touch the sealing container! Chiyo's Chikamatsu Ten Puppet Masters formed a swastika pattern, and the ten chakra threads twisted and rushed towards the shadowy figure on the floating platform.

Sasuke's Rinnegan suddenly drew a third streak of blood. In the depths of the mist where his sword tip was pointing, seven stone pillars engraved with starlight patterns burst forth from the ground, and the chakra crystals embedded at the top of the pillars were absorbing the scattered remains of the guardians.

When Onoki clasped his hands together, the floating platform broke into countless rhomboid rock fragments.

The Third Tsuchikage's greyish-white Dust Release barrier enveloped everyone, and the device fragments attached to the rock crystals began to vibrate at a high frequency. "Gem Release brat from Sunagakure, fill the cracks in the earth with your gold dust!" The old man turned to look at Naruto, who was marking the area with Flying Thunder God kunai. "Nine-Tails, channel Yang Release chakra into the southeast Earthquake Zone."

The Fourth Raikage's Lightning Release chakra transformed into a forty-meter-long blade of light that slashed at the stone pillar, but the point of impact created ripples like water.

When the seventh stone pillar was fully raised, the ground beneath everyone's feet suddenly turned into a translucent crystalline substance.

Naruto's leaked Nine-Tails chakra refracted into countless spots of light on the crystal surface, and a phantom resembling the Gedo Mazo slowly raised its head at the intersection of the light spots.

It's a complex barrier constructed using Yin-Yang Release. Sasuke's Rinnegan finally detected the point of chakra flow; the trajectory of his sword left behind spatial distortions and cracks. Raikage, attack the location I marked!

The moment the Lightning Release Blade collided with the Kusanagi Sword, the rock crystal fragments suspended in the air exploded simultaneously.

Deep within the mist torn open by the shockwave, a colossal bronze gate bound by chains of starlight was revealed.

The door is decorated with a relief of the Ten-Tails devouring the Chakra Fruit, but where the Divine Tree should be, there is a mechanical device with interlocking gears.

Chiyo's puppets suddenly stiffened, and the old woman's wrinkled fingers trembled violently: "These chains... are draining natural energy!" Before she could finish speaking, Rasa, who was closest to the bronze gate, suddenly knelt down on one knee, and Magnet Release Sand flowed through his fingers like melted butter.

Just as Naruto's chakra hand reached out from behind and grabbed the collar of the Sand Village advisor, sharp spikes suddenly rose up from the entire crystallized ground.

Earth Release: Earth Rising Dig! Onoki's technique raised the spikes thirty meters, and the Third Tsuchikage's gray eyebrows were covered in frost.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Fourth Raikage injected Lightning Release chakra into the ground, and the electric grid spread along the crystalline cracks to the base of the Bronze Gate.

When the first chain broke, what seeped out of the crack in the door was no longer chakra, but dark red steam that smelled of rust.

Naruto suddenly pressed his throbbing temples, the Nine-Tails' roar reverberating deep within his consciousness: Kid!

These steam are diluted sap from the Divine Tree! The chakra flames on the blond boy's outer garment suddenly surged, and the tomoe patterns of the Sage of Six Paths faintly appeared on the side of his neck.

His three shadow clones simultaneously formed different hand seals, but melted like wax figures the moment they touched the steam.

Use Sage Chakra to defend! Sasuke's Rinnegan suddenly reflected the changes in the door relief—the mechanical Ten-Tails' pupils were turning towards where everyone was.

Before the Amaterasu black flames he unleashed could even touch the bronze gate, a giant wooden hand covered in pipes suddenly emerged from within. The Sharingan with nine tomoe rotating in its palm made everyone's heart skip a beat.

In the intense light that erupted from the collision between Onoki's Dust Release barrier and the giant hand, the remaining rock crystal fragments from the floating platform began to fly backward toward the Bronze Gate.

The Fourth Raikage grabbed Rasa, who was being pulled toward the door, and Rasa's lightning-wrapped calves sank deep into the crystallized ground.

Naruto's chakra tail suddenly split into dozens of tails, each tail ending in a shadow clone forming hand seals.

As the ninth wave of spikes fell from the inverted crystallized dome, Sasuke's Rinnegan finally revealed the gap in the center of the door—where the sealing talisman should have been, but instead, a vortex of chakra originating from the same source as the Ten-Tails was spinning.

He glimpsed a shadow clone of Naruto suddenly pause as it was forming hand seals, the boy's true form's azure pupils reflecting a rhythmic chakra pulse within the steam...

Chapter 457 Double-layer nested structure

Naruto's fingertips, enveloped in Nine-Tails chakra, brushed against the crystal wall, and he suddenly noticed that the light spots refracted by the steam revealed regular patterns at certain angles.

He rolled away to avoid the rock spike that pierced his chest, and as he leaned back, the magatama pattern on his neck focused the three scattered chakra beams onto the crystal cluster in the southeast corner.

Deep within the illuminated rift, twelve dark gold runes were slowly flowing along some mysterious trajectory.