Ch.184 Put Naruto Down!

Shinji looked back and saw that Tsunade's squad was already within visible distance.

"So fast!"

He chuckled lightly and withdrew his gaze.

After all, his purpose in capturing Naruto was to draw the strong from Hidden Leaf into pursuit, so he had deliberately not erased his tracks along the way.

But Tsunade catching up so quickly did disrupt his plan somewhat.

Nonetheless, this clearly demonstrated how much the village valued Naruto—they sent a team of sufficient elites—which Shinji was actually happy to see.

At that moment, a sudden feeling washed over him, and a slight look of regret appeared on his face.

Just then, he exceeded the range of "Jikibi" from Yugito, meaning that just in the final moment, he issued an order for the rampaging Yugito to proceed to the next anchor point.

Given Yugito's current state, Shinji couldn't determine whether she would obey his order.

After all, with a distance of a hundred kilometers between them and her being a fully transformed Jinchūriki with an enormous amount of chakra, even with his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, Shinji struggled to exert full control over her.

Nevertheless, successfully severing one anchor point made up for the potential loss. Shinji could only accept it.

Moreover, the ones guarding this particular anchor point were Kokushibo and Nakime—this combination.

At least in the original Twelve Kizuki, they were among the top-tier combatants, second only to the Demon King. Without using the Allied Forces, even if Shinji personally took action, there was no guarantee of success.

"The other four anchor points shouldn't be guarded as strongly, right..."

Shinji analyzed the situation inwardly.

Logically, the strongest entity in the Demon Slayer world should be the "Lantern Bearer" of that world, followed by Muzan Kibutsuji, the Demon King.

But Shinji had encountered Muzan before, and Muzan had already lost the title of Demon King, now reduced to the position of Lower Rank One among the Twelve Kizuki.

Hence, it was reasonable to infer that Muzan's Demon King power had likely been taken by the "Lantern Bearer" of the Demon Slayer world.

This meant that the "Lantern Bearer" and the new Demon King were most likely the same person.

And judging by what Yugito saw from afar earlier—Kokushibo with "Upper Rank Two" etched in his eyes—it indicated that Kokushibo was ranked third in the Demon Slayer world.

Above him, there should only be Upper Rank One and the Demon King.

But more importantly, the power of the Demon Slayer world fundamentally came from the swordsmen's "Breath Techniques" and the demons' "Blood Demon Arts."

And both "Breath Techniques" and "Blood Demon Arts" had inherent limits.

If a demon did not absorb chakra from the shinobi world, even the Demon King would at most have power comparable to an elite shinobi of Kage level.

That's why demons like Nakime, who awakened a unique spatial Blood Demon Art, were the truly troublesome foes for Shinji.

Now, with Kokushibo as Upper Rank Two and Nakime, who controlled the "Infinite Castle," tied up defending the anchor point in the Land of Fire, the strength guarding the anchor points in the Land of Water, Land of Earth, Land of Wind, and Land of Lightning was limited.

At most, the anchor point guarded by the "Lantern Bearer" of the Demon Slayer world would be a bit trickier.

Otherwise, even Upper Rank One wouldn't necessarily be stronger than the combination of Kokushibo and Nakime—there were many Upper Rank demons, but few like Nakime who awakened spatial Blood Demon Arts.

"Among the four remaining anchor points, which one would that bastard 'Lantern Bearer' be guarding?"

Shinji squinted his eyes, contemplating the question. His own Lantern Bearer level was too low; he lacked time, experience, and accumulation. Thus, it was difficult to gauge the potential power of a standard Lantern Bearer.

After all, Lantern Bearers could traverse other worlds through spatial rifts to trade or plunder.

For the Lantern Bearer of the Demon Slayer world to capture the shinobi world and secretly place anchor points to bring the shinobi world to ruin meant they were definitely a seasoned Lantern Bearer, at least one adept at wielding the "Lantern."

In such circumstances, their strength likely exceeded the upper limits of the Demon Slayer world and may even surpass that of the Demon King.

Translated to shinobi standards, this would mean a powerful Kage-level, or even the peak strength of Hashirama and Madara during the Battle at the Valley of the End!

If that was the case, Shinji had to avoid confronting them too soon.

Ideally, he would save them for last, gather every force at his disposal, and then annihilate them completely.

Whoosh!

Just as Shinji was lost in thought, the sound of a swift attack broke through his ears.

His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly turned his head.

However, before he could even complete the turn, he caught sight of Tsunade out of the corner of his eye—she was coming at him at full speed, fists poised to strike!

"What?!"

He hadn't expected that he had only let his mind wander for a brief moment, and Tsunade had seized the opportunity to accelerate towards him.

Bang!

With a muffled sound, Shinji was struck and sent flying.

Boom!

He crashed through several trees before barely regaining his footing.

Then, he heard a cracking sound. Glancing over, he saw a long crack had appeared in the Susanoo protecting him.

Not good!

In that instant, Shinji didn't even have time to complete the motion of turning his head. Without hesitation, he activated "Susanoo."

Thankfully, he was cautious enough. Otherwise, even if he didn't die, he would have ended up severely injured.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The members of Tsunade's squad soon arrived, landing around Shinji, vaguely surrounding him.

Sasuke shouted eagerly, "Put Naruto down now!"

Shinji, shielded by Susanoo, ignored Sasuke and instead looked at Tsunade. "So it's the Princess Tsunade, one of the three legendary Sannin of Hidden Leaf!"

Tsunade replied coldly, "Hand over Naruto, and we'll let you leave."

Seeing Shinji's Susanoo instantly conjured up several concerning thoughts for her. Unless absolutely necessary, she really didn't want to fight to the death with a Mangekyō Sharingan Uchiha.

"Let me leave? Heh, say that again once you've truly cornered me!"

Shinji chuckled, then immediately activated Susanoo to swing its massive arms violently.

Instantly, the earth shook, and all the trees, rocks, and everything else around them were uprooted by Susanoo's arms.

Even Tsunade hesitated to engage directly with Susanoo, let alone the others. Faced with this situation, everyone chose to evade temporarily.

Taking advantage of the opening, Shinji deactivated Susanoo, using "Breath Techniques" to their fullest. With the smoke and dust covering his tracks, he ran off once again with Naruto in hand.

His destination: the anchor point hidden in the desert of the Land of Wind.