"Boom!"
"Ahhh! Everyone, run!"
"It's the Nine-Tails! The Nine-Tails has gone berserk!"
"Anbu, follow me! Ninjas under the rank of Chunin, guide the villagers to the shelters!"
Hearing the crashing sounds, frantic shouts, and hurried footsteps outside, Shin bolted upright, his face showing relief.
"Finally. If the Nine-Tails hadn't shown up soon, I was ready to leave by morning."
A powerful chakra surged through the night breeze, carrying a terrifying, intense aura. Even though Shin's chakra had nearly broken through to the level of a Kage, it paled next to the enormous power of the Nine-Tails outside.
"That chakra is so strong, even those without chakra-sensing abilities must feel impending disaster," he murmured to himself. He leaped from his room and glimpsed, in the distance, the monstrous orange-red fox roaring into the sky.
"Perfect chance to head to the Hokage Tower," Shin said, vanishing from sight.
With Konoha's forces diverted to deal with the Nine-Tails, Shin moved unimpeded. The stronger shinobi were out fighting, leaving him free to act, as no one noticed his body-flicker technique.
"Who goes there? Stop!"
Near the Hokage Tower, two elite shinobi stepped forward. Despite the crisis, they held their posts, committed to protecting the tower. Their hands moved with practiced speed, releasing a barrage of kunai, which multiplied mid-air into a rain of sharp projectiles.
But Shin didn't flinch. His skin gleamed with a metallic shine, then darkened, enveloped by an obsidian-like coating. He charged through the hail of kunai, unaffected. The projectile ricocheted off his hardened body, splintering into fragments. Even the duplicates created by shadow cloning shattered like glass, while the real ones crumpled into twisted scrap.
The two shinobi froze, shocked. When Shin surged forward, they quickly flung steel wires around him, hoping to restrain him. The wires were crafted from special alloys, were exceptionally tough and razor-sharp, and could cut through almost anything. They pulled hard, expecting to slice him into pieces—only to feel as though they were pulling on a mountain.
Shin smirked, feeling their attempt to test his strength. With a quick yank, he pulled the two ninjas toward him, snapping the wires as though they were threads.
Remaining calm, the shinobi formed seals mid-air, their hands sparking with electricity and flames.
Shin extended a hand, and a dark fog enveloped the two ninjas and their jutsu. A moment later, the mist dissipated, leaving them unconscious, drained of chakra.
He glanced at the Hokage Tower. After a moment's consideration, Shin's lips curled into a mischievous smile.
"No need to be subtle. I'll just take the whole thing and sift through it later."
"Devouring Void!"
Black mist poured out from beneath him, swallowing the entire Hokage Tower in layers. Alarmed ninjas stationed within leaped into action, but their attacks were swallowed by the mist as if it were a bottomless pit. In mere moments, the entire building had disappeared into the void.
"No matter where they hid the Scroll of Seals, taking the whole Hokage Office guarantees I'll find it."
As for the shinobi in the tower, Shin absorbed their chakra, rendering them unconscious before depositing them outside the dark fog.
"Now, off to the Root base. They should have stockpiles of Hashirama cells and Sharingan."
Shin darted off with his next target in mind, following the path he'd mapped in his earlier reconnaissance.
This time, though, things weren't quite as easy. Shin's act of engulfing the Hokage Tower had not gone unnoticed, and while most of the village's elite were still engaged with the Nine-Tails, a few remaining defenders intercepted him.
However, they posed little threat. With his body engulfed in a dark mist, Shin deflected every ninjutsu and projectile, leaving any who approached unconsciously in his wake. As the black fog rolled over them, they slumped to the ground, drained of chakra.
"It's no surprise that the Dark-Dark Fruit does not provide intangibility," Shin thought. "If it were, I'd be a walking black hole. Any weak attacks would be completely extinguished."
"Except for Haki or Seastone, anything caught in the black hole would be annihilated. It would take an incredible amount of chakra—three or five times that of the Dark-Dark Fruit itself—to counter it."
The more Shin used his Dark-Dark Fruit abilities, the more he recognized its terrifying potential. Suddenly, he felt a binding force immobilize him.
"Got him! Hurry, now!"
A ninja from the Nara clan, sweat pouring down his face, had caught him with the Shadow Possession Jutsu.
"Shadow Possession? A Nara?" Shin chuckled. Amidst his obstructive dark fog, he hadn't noticed his own shadow, allowing this unexpected sneak attack.
But he grinned and said, "Did you really think you could hold me with just your chakra?"
'I don't need to weave seals to use my devil fruit!' he mentally added.
Blood trickled down the Nara shinobi's mouth as he strained. "No, I… I can't hold him anymore."
"I've got this," shouted another voice. A towering Akimichi ninja charged, his arm enlarging until it was nearly the size of Shin himself. But Shin broke free of the shadow binding, met the enlarged fist with a darkened fist of his own, and charged forward.
Their fists collided, one massive, the other seemingly small in comparison. The clash echoed through the air, followed by a strangled scream—not from Shin, but from the Akimichi ninja. A gaping wound appeared in the Akimichi's giant hand as blood rushed toward the gravitational pull of Shin's Dark-Dark Fruit, draining him of energy. The Akimichi's massive fist shrank as his life force declined, leaving him pale and unconscious.
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BONUS CHAPTER: 50 Powerstones achieved
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