The pale bone armor did not cover her fully, instead fitting like a tight battle skirt over vital areas and leaving the waist, arms, and legs exposed. Long red hair fell to her waist, a deep Void Hole was visible in her left palm, and the number 1 was marked at her collarbone.
Mid level Great Hollow could retain some traits from life, though their forms were still twisted and covered in bone. Because she had been directly transformed with points, she still held her memories, but her former name no longer mattered.
Now she was called Whirlpool, the number 1 Blade of the Espada. As a lower Great Hollow created through points, she was the earliest to evolve into a mid level one.
The so called Espada referred to the ten strongest Xu, ranked from 0 to 9 by strength. The order was not fixed, and those with lower ranks could challenge higher ones to advance.
At present, the Espada only had Whirlpool. When Sakumo Hatake evolved further, it would also be given a name and a seat among them, but not yet.
"Leave this one to me," Shadow said.
The fierce aura around Sakumo Hatake faded, and it lowered its head in submission. The hollow eye sockets of its mask faced Shadow, showing obedience toward Shadow.
"Yes," it rasped. "I follow your will."
Because their obsessions differed, these Xu could show different temperaments. Yet their obedience to the one before them was carved into the deepest part of their souls.
They might react differently to commands, but they would all carry them out to some extent. As Shadow finished speaking, the lower Great Hollow let out a roar and tried to flee on instinct.
In the next moment, Whirlpool, standing behind Shadow, raised her left hand marked with a Void Hole. Dark chains etched with red runes burst forth, twisting through the air as if alive.
They moved like venomous snakes and wrapped around the roaring lower Great Hollow. A scream tore out from it, filled with pain that reached the soul itself.
Dark red patterns similar to the runes spread across its body. The bloated form stiffened at once, and the surging power inside was forcibly sealed.
"Interesting."
Shadow narrowed his eyes beneath the shadows, having already recognized the core consciousness. Chiyo of Sunagakure.
Only Chiyo, whose son and daughter in law had been killed by Sakumo Hatake, could harbor hatred this strong, beyond life and death. Shadow would have preferred to follow the rule of survival of the fittest, but there were too few spirits with the potential to reach mid level Great Hollow, so he chose to keep this one for now.
"It seems things are going very smoothly on Hanzo's side," Shadow thought. "Even Chiyo has been killed."
With the current soul reserves, nurturing two mid level Great Hollow was already the limit. He sighed inwardly, thinking that the quality of this batch was still lacking.
There were simply too few spirits with the potential to evolve into lower Great Hollow. If there was another chance in the future, he would need to gather spirits with stronger obsessions.
As he was thinking, he sensed something and suddenly looked up. At the same time, the Shadow outside withdrew his consciousness from the Box of Ultimate Bliss and gazed toward the heavy clouds in the distance.
He saw two figures, one large and one small, standing on a platform floating in the sky. His mouth curved into a laugh when he saw the pale blue and white hair and the boy with closed eyes.
The Otsutsuki Clan on the moon.
Good timing indeed.
In the depths of a sky packed with heavy leaden clouds, the cloud layer silently split open with a crack. A strangely shaped circular platform flying Ninja Tool hovered quietly several thousand meters above the ground. A halo of Chakra flowed across its surface, pushing away the pouring rain and forming a dry space untouched by the outside world.
On the platform stood two figures, one tall and one small. Both wore spotless ancient white robes that clashed sharply with the bloody mud of the battlefield below. Without question, they were the father and son who had descended from the Moon to the Ninja World.
The five year old Toneri Otsutsuki still carried childish confusion on his face. His tightly closed eyelids trembled slightly as he curiously sensed this completely unfamiliar world below. What he perceived, however, was nothing beautiful.
Below him was naked death and cruelty far beyond what his young mind could bear. A purple poison dragon condensed from deadly toxins rampaged under the control of a vague figure, leaving only death in its wake. Wherever it passed, life was erased.
Skin rotted and peeled as if soaked in strong acid, muscles melted off bones like dripping wax, and even the skeletons dissolved and snapped apart under the poisonous fog. The entire process was terrifyingly fast, and in moments dozens of living people became pools of sticky sludge that gave off sharp purple smoke mixed with metal and bone fragments. Countless corroded remains froze in their final poses of painful struggle.
Even the ground beneath was eaten away, sinking into foul poison pits that bubbled and burst, spraying toxic mist. The mist hissed as it corroded the air and rain alike, spreading a stench that filled the battlefield. The scene was relentless and without mercy.
"Fa, Father…" Toneri Otsutsuki's face turned pale as he instinctively grabbed the corner of his father's robe. His voice shook as he spoke, begging that they go back because he did not want to see any more. His words trailed off as fear overwhelmed him.
"No," his father replied in a cold voice filled with chill certainty. "You must look, Toneri Otsutsuki." He ordered him to see clearly, because this was the Ninja World.
The father's aged face was as hard as carved stone as he raised his hand and pointed toward the wider frontline in the distance. Trembling, Toneri Otsutsuki followed the direction and extended his senses further. What unfolded before him was even worse.
Bottomless craters scarred the land like flesh gouged from the earth, and broken trees stood as twisted branches pointing at the sky. Hundreds upon thousands of figures fought in the rain, hacking at each other as Kunai, Shuriken, and Ninja Blades flashed with cold light. Every slash and thrust threw up glaring sprays of blood.
Fireballs from Fire Release Ninjutsu fell into crowds and instantly ignited several Ninja, turning them into screaming human torches. Blades of wind from Wind Release Ninjutsu sliced through, cutting several Ninja and even the boulders behind them cleanly in half. Spears of earth from Earth Release burst from the ground, pinning running Ninja in midair as blood streamed down sharp stone edges.
Ninja from different factions rolled and tore at each other in the mud like beasts, using every possible means to kill their enemies. Konoha Ninja and Sunagakure Ninja were already driven mad with slaughter, and Nagato, Kakuzu, and Ouyacheng Yan were also there. Missiles from Nagato's Asura Path, arrows from Ouyacheng Yan's Ninja Tool, and Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear Black Threads tore through the battlefield.
Screams, explosions, the roar of Ninjutsu, the clash of blades, bones snapping, flesh being pierced, and the final short cries before death all blended together. The sounds twisted and magnified in the rain like countless flies buzzing by the ear or needles stabbing into eardrums. It was nothing less than hell itself.