Chapter – 644 Commencing the Ritual II

Kakashi slowly pulled aside the bushes that were obscuring his eyesight, revealing a distant scene...

"This…" The spectacle in front of him astounded him; it was a massive army; on a rough count, Kakashi counted over fifteen hundred shinobi gathering outside the volcano, implying that all the shinobi who were surreptitiously transported outside the village by Danzo had assembled here...

"However, this makes no sense..." No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with a reason why over a thousand shinobi would meet here from all locations... This is in the middle of nowhere!

Suppressing the shock in his heart, Kakashi pulled a monocular telescope from his shinobi pack and peered towards the Volcano.

Although Kakashi is significantly benefited in the sense that he is no longer concerned about low Chakra reserves as a result of losing the Sharingan, the insight and vision advantage that he had as a result of the Sharingan is also no longer available... As a result, he must now rely on equipment like binoculars and monoculars.

"That's…!" Kakashi was taken aback when he discovered the patterned array beneath the assembled shinobi's feet.

"This isn't your typical assembly...! There appears to be a Fuinjutsu drawn beneath their feet..."

'What on earth is Danzo doing?' he wondered inwardly, his heart pounding.

Despite the fact that Kakashi had no idea what Danzo had planned, his instincts told him it would be a terrible thing, so he instantly wrote down all he observed in a scroll and sent it to Sarutobi Hiruzen via a Summon.

"The answer to all my doubts should be in that volcano!" he said as he followed the Fuinjutsu network that connected roughly fifteen hundred shinobi all the way to the volcano's entrance.

The security at the volcano's entrance, on the other hand, is extremely strict. On the positive side, there are four teams watching the entrance, and in the dark, there are over a dozen Root shinobi watching the entrance. When Kakashi saw this, he scowled and said, 'How do I go in?'

…

On the ritual altar inside the Volcano.

Three persons exchanged a strange smile and then silently diverted their gazes as the steps leading up to the ritual's start were accomplished.

Danzo tossed his crutch to his attendant and sat cross-legged on the ritual altar as he proceeded towards the altar's center.

On Homusubi and Orochimaru's side

Homusubi drew a storage scroll from her cloak and extracted an observation tool.

According to logic, she should be able to observe the entire ritual with the help of the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, but just to be safe, she carried this observation equipment with her to keep a close eye on the ritual.

This 'Kekkei Genkai Absorption Ritual' is, after all, one-of-a-kind. She just has one chance, and she wants to get as much useful information out of this ceremony as possible... In this case, no mistakes will be accepted.

As a result, observation equipment is required.

Orochimaru gave Homusubi a long, thoughtful look before asking, "Are you the only one from Amatsukami who is going to observe this ritual?" At the very least, I anticipated Fujin to show up..."

"Our objective is only to collect data," Homusubi replied casually. "I am more than sufficient for this; others are not required."

"It appears that Fujin's condition is far worse than I had previously imagined..." "Danzo seems to have some other notions too..." Orochimaru said, then silently peered at the Root Shinobi encircling them.

Homusubi nodded and cast a sly glance around the room.

Many Root Shinobi gathered around Homusubi and Orochimaru, and she deduced that they were all elite shinobi based on their chakra reserves.

But that was the end of it; Homusubi had lost interest in them. All of Danzo's acts are worthless to her as long as she achieves her goal.

Furthermore, Homusubi was unsure whether Danzo intended to kill them or if he was simply taking precautions to avoid Orochimaru and Homusubi... Anyway, she doesn't care what Danzo's intentions are.

Soon after, the root shinobi who had been assisting Danzo stepped away from the ritual altar, and Danzo softly closed his eyes.

He straightened up and yelled, "Begin!" in a grandiose tone after taking a few deep breaths.

Orochimaru followed this instruction and moved towards the Fuinjutsu formation's starting point, weaving a sequence of Hand Signs before slamming both hands on the ground and shouting, "Kai!"

Whoosh!

A red brilliance suddenly enveloped the ritual altar as Orochimaru finished the key, and a swirling air current appeared inside the volcano.

The targets who had been comatose until recently regained consciousness together with the swirl of hot air current.

"Wh… What am I doing here?!"

"Who are you people, and why did you bring me here?"

"Please... Woo... please don't kill me..."

People from a civilian background who had not had any formal Shinobi training were clearly crying and begging.

They are just fortunate individuals who were born with unusual Kekkei Genkai, but their good fortune did not endure long... Despite having the potential to become great shinobi in the future, they became Danzo's target and are now victims of this ritual.

Clearly, Danzo, Orochimaru, and Homusubi felt no sympathy for those three, and they didn't even blink when they heard their pleas.

And, unlike the three crying targets with civilian backgrounds, the shinobi from Kumogakure and Kirigakure who were also tethered to the torture posts carefully studied the situation and upon noticing the person at the center of the ritual altar, they yelled at him, "Shimura Danzo... do you know the consequences of what you are doing?"

"You traitor... you have broken the alliance, Mizukage-sama will not forgive you!" yelled a shinobi from Kirigakure.

Danzo sniffed angrily at the remarks of Kumogakure and Kirigakure shinobi, "Humph... as if I care..."

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