A heavenly phenomenon was never a good omen. When the heavens changed, great chaos was bound to follow.
At that moment, the sacred sword that had originally been enshrined at the center of Uchiha Kei’s shrine suddenly burst through the shrine as though it had received a supreme divine command, flying straight toward Kei.
Kei caught the sacred sword in one hand.
This ordinary weapon, forged from refined steel with a small amount of chakra-conductive material, was no longer ordinary.
Simply holding it allowed Kei to sense an immense power.
Everyone within the surrounding area who witnessed this phenomenon instinctively fell to their knees and prayed to their respective gods.
And regardless of which god they prayed to, their faith was transformed into power and gathered into the sacred sword.
As that power continued to accumulate, the phenomenon at Naka Shrine became increasingly intense, while the overwhelming pressure continued spreading outward.
Holding the sacred sword, Kei couldn’t help but shout,
"Bloom, Ame-no-Tokotachi!"
All around him, the power of faith gathered into Kei’s right eye.
At that moment, whenever Kei looked at someone who had activated their Fear Armor, the name of a yokai would emerge from his lips.
And every time the name of a yokai was called, another star appeared within Kei’s right eye.
The yokai whose names had been called broke free from the restraints of the Fear Armor and transformed into terrifying yokai manifestations.
Several of the more powerful yokai were not as enormous as Susanoo, but they seemed to possess enough strength to fight Susanoo directly.
Nurarihyon.
Aobōzu.
Tamamo-no-Mae.
Hannya.
Zashiki-warashi.
They manifested as though they possessed physical bodies, wantonly displaying their terrifying might.
Uchiha Hotaru was especially extraordinary.
This woman, who was particularly favored by the snake, had achieved something even more astonishing.
Without ever having learned Sage Mode, an enormous amount of natural energy gathered within Hotaru’s body.
The image of an Eight-Headed Serpent appeared around her.
Yamata no Orochi visibly continued growing larger and larger, as though it intended to swallow an entire Susanoo.
Hotaru didn’t even need assistance from the White Snake Sage’s clan to effortlessly draw upon the natural energy of the shinobi world.
This defied all common sense.
If anyone could casually enter Sage Mode without requiring the approval of the Three Great Sage Regions, then what purpose would the Three Great Sage Regions even serve?
Cases of someone entering Sage Mode without relying on external assistance were exceedingly rare in the shinobi world.
If such a thing occurred, it could only be on the body of Ashura’s reincarnation.
After all, he was the son of the Sage of Six Paths, the very person who had established the rules governing the shinobi world.
The ability to enter Sage Mode required the recognition of the Three Great Sage Regions.
That was an agreement between the three great sages and the Sage of Six Paths.
No one else possessed such a privilege.
And yet, today, an exception had appeared.
A woman was wantonly manipulating the natural energy of the shinobi world without even bothering to notify the Three Great Sage Regions.
Not only that, the representative of the Three Great Sage Regions—the little green snake descended from the White Snake Sage’s lineage—was coiled around Hotaru’s shoulder and desperately drawing upon the power of Ryūchi Cave to strengthen her.
Even though Hotaru didn’t need it in the slightest.
This shamelessly servile behavior not only failed to earn the White Snake Sage’s reprimand, but actually received her support.
A genuine Yamata no Orochi seemed to be on the verge of descending upon the shinobi world.
It was powerful.
It was terrifying.
And it inevitably caused a thought to surface in everyone’s mind.
The World-Ending Serpent has appeared.
And it was precisely Hotaru’s extraordinary performance, combined with Kei’s empowerment of the yokai, that had brought disaster upon the world.
The four Susanoo had originally been puppets controlled by their users.
But the moment Yamata no Orochi descended, they became uncontrollable.
This was completely beyond Kei’s expectations.
The four Susanoo seemed to sense something.
They began merging together, eventually forming a genuine divine statue.
The statue was so powerful that the entire shinobi world could sense it.
A true deity had descended.
At that moment, the shinobi world lost its sunlight.
The sky became shrouded in twilight.
The Sword of Totsuka gathered in the divine being’s hand.
It was as though an actual mythological tale was about to unfold across the shinobi world.
When a human takes a step, he doesn’t feel guilty about crushing an ant beneath his foot.
Likewise, when a god raises his blade, he doesn’t stop to consider whether humanity can endure the disaster that follows.
Kei believed that if this colossal being, formed from four Susanoo and infused with the power of a true god, brought that blade down, the entire earth would be torn apart.
The consequences would be catastrophic.
Forget the Uchiha Clan and Konoha.
Even the entire Land of Fire might not be able to withstand it.
Who could have imagined that Kei had merely wanted to show Fugaku how powerful the Uchiha had become after obtaining the powers of gods and yokai?
Instead, he had created a situation like this.
As expected, humanity’s ultimate destroyer was often its own ignorance and curiosity.
"Ō-Tengu. Shuten-Dōji. Jorōgumo. Half-Dead Spirit. Gaki Skeleton. Red Cloak. Tsuchigumo."
One yokai name after another escaped Kei’s lips.
The only way to resolve the situation before him was to call upon even greater power.
To stop Susanoo, Kei was giving it everything he had.
The power of the yokai continued increasing at an astonishing rate.
The stars within Kei’s right eye began to rotate, and blood flowed from the corner of his eye.
This power had already far exceeded the burden his body could withstand.
But there was no other choice.
Even if he went blind, Kei had to continue.
As Kei called out more and more yokai names, even the One-Tomoe Sharingan-wielding genin who had previously possessed no yokai power began to sense the power known as Fear.
They had all previously exchanged for anti-yokai weapons that interested them, waiting for the day their strength became sufficient to wield the power of the yokai brought by Lord Kei.
Yet now, despite being completely unqualified to wield such power, their bodies began partially undergoing armorification.
The power known as Fear, which had been absorbed by the yokai, began to gather.
Quantity transformed into quality.
The realm of the yokai established by Ame-no-Tokotachi seemed to be descending upon the human world.
"Night Parade of One Hundred Demons!"
Kei himself didn’t know why he had shouted that particular phrase.
But the instant the words left his mouth, the power of the yokai reached its peak.
If the gods were fierce tigers, then the hundred demons were a pack of wolves.
Gods naturally possessed racial supremacy over yokai.
But when one fierce tiger led a pack of starving wolves against another fierce tiger, that racial suppression ceased to exist.
By wielding the authority of a god and commanding the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, Kei granted the yokai a status equal to that of the divine.
Yamata no Orochi, which had absorbed the energy of the entire Ryūchi Cave, lowered its proud head.
As a member of the yokai, returning to the ranks of the Night Parade was its true destiny.
Susanoo, formed from the fusion of four Susanoo, also lowered the Sword of Totsuka.
Ame-no-Tokotachi was one of the Five Kotoamatsukami whom even Susanoo’s father revered.
Kei, wielding the sacred sword, led the host of yokai.
And somehow, they actually suppressed the power of the god.
Susanoo finally separated back into individual Susanoo.
The three people who had summoned Susanoo were finally able to regain control over their techniques.
Because of Kei’s overwhelming intervention, a catastrophe capable of destroying everything was finally brought to an end.
But the shock that had swept across the shinobi world would not disappear simply because Kei had saved everyone.
There was an even greater phenomenon unfolding across the heavens.
The entire sky transformed into a vast curtain.
Upon it, the myth of Susanoo slaying Yamata no Orochi was being reenacted.
Although the scene lasted only a few minutes, it was long enough for everyone across the shinobi world to witness it.
From this day forward, the seed of mythology had finally been planted in this world.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Kei and Fugaku, the two people responsible for everything, needed considerable time to process what had just happened.
"What kind of terrifying power have we actually obtained?"
Fugaku was still shaken to his core.
"Can the shinobi world really tolerate us becoming this powerful?"
Itachi Uchiha was deeply worried.
Kei was equally helpless.
"I really am destined to make a living breaking up fights, aren’t I?"
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