CHAPTER 141
Roshi was dead.
He had died cleanly, and he had died suddenly. He died so suddenly that, for a brief moment, the entire battlefield seemed to have been frozen in place, as though even the endless chaos of battle had been forced to stop and acknowledge what had just happened. Everyone looked in shock at Uchiha Feiquan, who stood there with his blade still in his hand, blood dripping from its edge. Even many of the Uchiha Clan Members had expressions of disbelief written across their faces. They had fought alongside Feiquan for long enough to understand his decisiveness, but they still had not expected him to actually kill Roshi.
That was Iwagakure's Four-Tails Jinchuriki!
And not merely a Jinchuriki, but a living and heavily injured prisoner who had already been subdued. His intelligence value, his strategic value, and even his potential exchange value were all immeasurable. Capturing a Jinchuriki alive could potentially provide information about Iwagakure's military strength, the movements of its forces, its defensive arrangements, and even the secrets surrounding the Four-Tails itself. Such a prisoner could have become an enormous bargaining chip in the war. Yet Feiquan had not hesitated for even a moment.
How could he just kill him directly?
Guy stood not far away and gave Uchiha Feiquan a deep look. His eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the scene, but he did not condemn the decision. Instead, he understood it. The other's choice was the right one.
With Roshi captured, the enemy had indeed lost their strongest combatant, and on the surface, it seemed as if the Uchiha Clan was finally about to gain the upper hand. However, with a calm analysis of the battlefield, the situation was nowhere near as favorable as it appeared. The remaining enemy numbers were still superior, and the Uchiha Clan had already suffered casualties after enduring one fierce confrontation after another.
Shisui also could not simply abandon Roshi.
He had to remain constantly vigilant and maintain control over the Four-Tails Jinchuriki. Even though Roshi was severely injured, he was still a Jinchuriki, and the danger he represented could not be underestimated. If Shisui loosened his control even slightly, there was always a possibility that Roshi could regain enough freedom to launch another desperate attack. Therefore, Shisui could not pull away to assist the other Uchiha Clan Members in their battles.
Feiquan himself was also in a poor condition.
After successive fierce battles, especially the brutal close-quarters combat with Roshi and the burns he had suffered from the Jinchuriki's Lava Release, his combat strength had already been greatly reduced. His breathing was heavier than before, his body carried numerous injuries, and the heat that had scorched his flesh had not completely faded. Although his eyes remained sharp and his killing intent had not weakened, even Feiquan understood that he could not continue fighting at his previous level forever.
If the battle continued, people from the Uchiha Clan would still die.
And many of them would die.
Most importantly, Roshi's body was recovering rapidly.
The terrifying regenerative power associated with a Jinchuriki was obvious to everyone present. As long as Roshi remained alive, his injuries could gradually recover under the influence of the enormous chakra within his body. Even though Shisui had restrained him and Feiquan had inflicted a fatal wound, nobody could guarantee that the situation would remain unchanged for long. Once the battle dragged on, Roshi might recover some of his strength, or worse, he might break free of Shisui's control and go completely berserk again.
At that point, this temporary advantage would vanish in an instant.
It might even turn back into a disaster.
Therefore, after judging the situation with absolute clarity, Uchiha Feiquan had made the most decisive choice possible.
Kill Roshi.
He had killed him without any hesitation.
The reaction of the remaining Iwagakure Ninja quickly shifted from extreme shock to overwhelming rage, and beneath that rage was an even deeper level of fear. The death of a Jinchuriki was an enormous blow to morale, especially when that Jinchuriki was Roshi, one of Iwagakure's most powerful shinobi and the vessel of the Four-Tails. For the Iwagakure forces present, watching him die before their eyes was like watching one of the pillars supporting their entire formation collapse.
But the death of a comrade and fellow shinobi could also provoke desperation.
It could drive people into a suicidal counterattack.
"Avenge Lord Roshi!"
"Kill them!"
The remaining Iwagakure Ninja, their eyes bloodshot and their hearts consumed by grief and rage, were just about to launch a reckless counterattack when a sudden change occurred.
Roshi's headless corpse, which had remained kneeling on the ground with his severed head rolled several feet away, did not collapse as everyone expected.
Chakra suddenly erupted from the stump of his neck.
Chiii!
A surge of unimaginably violent and viscous dark-red chakra burst outward with terrifying force. It was like a volcano that had been suppressed for a thousand years finally finding an outlet. The chakra erupted wildly from Roshi's corpse, carrying with it devastating heat and a brutal, primitive aura that made the surrounding air tremble.
The dark-red chakra soared into the sky, distorting the air around it as waves of heat spread outward. The ground beneath Roshi's corpse trembled, and the sharp black Obsidian scattered across the battlefield seemed to vibrate beneath the overwhelming pressure.
"He's not dead yet?!"
The expressions of Uchiha Feiquan and Shisui changed drastically at almost the same time. Both of them immediately retreated, putting distance between themselves and the erupting chakra while keeping their eyes fixed on Roshi's corpse.
Waves of shock surged through their hearts.
Could a Jinchuriki really not be killed like this?
No, that could not be right.
Feiquan had personally severed Roshi's head. There was no way a human being could survive such a wound. Shisui had also sensed the moment Roshi's life force disappeared. What was happening now was clearly beyond the limits of an ordinary shinobi.
Then, from within the erupting chakra, an inhuman roar suddenly resounded.
"Roar!"
The roar was filled with endless brutality and fury, and it seemed to come from the depths of Hell itself. It suddenly exploded throughout the Void Realm with such overwhelming force that every other sound on the battlefield was instantly drowned out. Battle cries, clashing weapons, explosions, screams, and the sound of burning earth all disappeared beneath that single monstrous roar.
Everyone, friend and foe alike, subconsciously stopped their movements.
They looked toward the center of the battlefield in terror.
The source of that terrifying roar was the dark-red chakra erupting from Roshi's corpse.
The chakra did not dissipate.
Instead, it rapidly condensed and expanded in the air.
Countless strands of dark-red chakra intertwined with one another, forming a massive phantom that rose above Roshi's corpse. The enormous figure was composed entirely of chakra, yet its shape was unmistakably that of a giant ape. Its body was massive and imposing, covered in dark-red patterns that resembled flowing magma. Its four thick tails stretched out behind it and thrashed wildly through the Void Realm, each violent movement creating visible ripples in the surrounding air and producing low-frequency sonic booms that shook the battlefield.
Four-Tails.
Son Goku.
The moment that name surfaced in the minds of those familiar with the Tailed Beasts, their expressions changed again.
"What... what is that?!"
"A Tailed Beast! It's a Tailed Beast!"
"After a Jinchuriki dies, the Tailed Beast will..."
The faces of the Iwagakure Ninja were now filled with fear and confusion. They knew that a Tailed Beast had been sealed inside Roshi's body. They knew that the Four-Tails was an existence far beyond the strength of an ordinary shinobi. They also knew about the possible consequences surrounding the death of a Jinchuriki.
But knowing something in theory and witnessing it with their own eyes were two completely different things.
The enormous chakra presence before them was enough to make their bodies instinctively tremble.
This was not an ordinary shinobi.
This was one of the legendary Tailed Beasts.
Even the Uchiha Clan Members were equally shocked. Many of them subconsciously tightened their grips around their weapons and took several steps backward. Some activated their Sharingan instinctively, trying to determine whether the massive creature before them was truly alive or merely an illusion created by some unknown technique.
Uchiha Feiquan, however, did not panic.
Instead, after a brief moment of observation, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.
He understood.
Roshi was indeed dead.
This was not Roshi being resurrected.
It was the consequence of the death of a Jinchuriki and the release of the enormous chakra belonging to the Tailed Beast sealed within him. With the vessel destroyed, the seal had been broken, allowing the chakra of the Four-Tails to overflow and temporarily manifest in the outside world.
The enormous creature floating above the battlefield was not Roshi.
It was Son Goku.
The Four-Tails.
The massive chakra phantom remained suspended in mid-air for roughly three seconds, as though silently announcing its existence to everyone present. Perhaps it was instinctive. Perhaps it was simply the enormous amount of chakra being released after the destruction of the seal. Whatever the reason, its appearance alone was enough to leave every shinobi on the battlefield staring upward in terror.
The Four-Tails raised its enormous head toward the pitch-black night sky.
Then it roared again.
"Roar!"
The second roar was even more terrifying than the first. It formed a visible physical shockwave that spread outward from the Four-Tails, violently tearing through the air and shattering the sharp Obsidian scattered throughout the surrounding area. Pieces of black stone were blown apart and sent flying in every direction, while those standing closest to the phantom felt their eardrums sting painfully.
Some of the weaker shinobi staggered backward, clutching their ears as though they were about to go deaf.
The entire battlefield trembled beneath the roar.
Yet after releasing that overwhelming display of power, the massive Four-Tails phantom suddenly began to change.
Its enormous body started to disintegrate.
The dark-red chakra that had formed its limbs and body gradually loosened, breaking apart into countless tiny specks of crimson light. The four tails dissolved first, followed by its limbs and massive torso. Even the terrifying head slowly fragmented, transforming into countless dark-red particles that drifted upward into the night sky.
Everyone watched in silence.
The countless specks of light continued rising higher and higher, gradually becoming smaller as they moved toward the vast darkness above. Eventually, they began to fade one after another until the final traces of dark-red chakra disappeared completely.
Nothing remained.
The Four-Tails was gone.
The battlefield fell into a deathly silence.
The night wind blew through the battlefield, carrying with it the scent of blood, scorched earth, and burned chakra. The survivors of both sides stood motionless, staring at the place where the massive Tailed Beast phantom had disappeared. Whether they were Uchiha Clan Members or surviving Iwagakure Ninja, nobody spoke for several moments.
They had just witnessed something that most shinobi could only hear about in stories.
They had witnessed the death of a Jinchuriki.
They had witnessed the release of a Tailed Beast.
And they had witnessed the terrifying chakra of the Four-Tails.
Uchiha Feiquan slowly lowered his blade, his eyes still fixed on the dark sky. His expression remained calm, but even he could not completely dismiss the weight of what had just occurred.
Roshi was truly dead.
There was no possibility of him standing up again.
The Four-Tails had separated from his body, and the chakra that had manifested after the destruction of the seal had eventually dispersed into the world. Tailed Beasts were not ordinary living beings, and the death of their Jinchuriki did not mean that the Tailed Beast itself had been killed. Son Goku would eventually reform somewhere in the world, just as the other Tailed Beasts would continue to exist beyond the lives of the humans who served as their vessels.
But for Iwagakure, that distinction offered little comfort.
Roshi was dead.
The man who had carried the power of the Four-Tails, the Lava Release user who had stood among the strongest warriors of Iwagakure, had fallen on this battlefield.
And everyone present understood what that meant.
The death of a Jinchuriki was never an ordinary casualty.
It was a message.
It was a declaration.
It meant that the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and Iwagakure had reached a level where even one of the village's most valuable weapons could be killed.
The surviving Iwagakure Ninja stared blankly at the empty night sky, their earlier rage slowly mixing with fear. The Uchiha Clan Members also remained silent, because none of them could truly celebrate the scene before them. They had won a decisive moment, but they had also crossed another invisible boundary in the war.
Only one clear and heavy thought remained in the hearts of everyone present.
Iwagakure's Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Roshi, the man who wielded the terrifying power of Lava Release, was truly dead.
And this meant...
The war was going to escalate.
[Witness: The Death of a Jinchuriki.]
[Obtained monk points: 200.]
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