Chapter 71: I'll Form the Head!
Under Cursed Energy Burst, Makoto's cursed energy instantly increased tenfold.
It still couldn't match fifteen-finger Sukuna, but it had already surpassed a Disaster-class cursed spirit like Jogo.
The ominous cursed energy carried dense negative emotions as it swept over Temari and Gaara like a storm, striking directly at their senses. At the same moment, a familiar notification sounded in Makoto's ears.
[Ding! Making Fake Become Real has activated.]
[Gaara: Fate Value 30. Trust: 30. Manifestation Points: 9.]
[Temari: Fate Value 20. Trust: 40. Manifestation Points: 8.]
[An unnamed sealed Tailed Beast has successfully manifested within your body. Its chakra reserves equal 17% of One-Tail Shukaku's.]
Makoto immediately felt something new appear in his lower abdomen.
Unlike Naruto, who had a beast locked behind a sealed gate, Makoto felt as though a small golden core had simply appeared inside his body.
'Too bad this isn't a cultivation world. Otherwise, I'd practically be at the Golden Core stage already.'
Makoto was delighted that the manifestation had succeeded, though 17% of Shukaku's chakra sounded a little stingy.
He immediately focused his Three-Tomoe Sharingan inward and connected with the strange core.
His consciousness sank into it.
A brilliant blue-green sphere appeared before him. Makoto reached out and gently touched its surface, but only a faint spiritual fluctuation answered him.
It hadn't even developed true self-awareness yet.
Clearly, it was still far from becoming a complete Tailed Beast.
Makoto then tried drawing out its chakra.
Perhaps because the creature had been manifested by Makoto himself, controlling its chakra came almost effortlessly. The sheer quantity contained inside immediately improved his mood.
He had assumed 17% of Shukaku's chakra wouldn't amount to much.
After actually feeling it, however, Makoto estimated that he could now mobilize at least thirty times Hatake Kakashi's chakra reserves.
That was already more than ten times Makoto's own energy reserves.
More importantly, possessing this enormous pool didn't push him beyond his attribute cap, making it an exceptionally valuable hidden resource.
Unfortunately, Naruto was busy fighting his teacher right now, so Makoto couldn't try manifesting anything through him.
That meant he would have to keep extracting value from Gaara and Temari instead.
Makoto withdrew his ocular power and focused on the siblings again.
After sensing the strange power inside Makoto, both of them looked slightly less guarded.
They still didn't know whether he was friend or foe, but sharing a similar situation had awakened some sympathy.
Gaara in particular had just received a thorough lesson from Naruto's fists. His personality had effectively reached a turning point, making this an ideal moment for further influence.
Once Makoto withdrew his oppressive aura, Gaara looked at him seriously.
"Is there anything else I can do? I want to help Naruto."
Temari hesitated beside him. She knew Gaara probably shouldn't be saying something like that right now, but given her own position, she didn't feel qualified to interfere with his conversation with Makoto.
Makoto rubbed his chin.
"Leave Naruto to his teacher. What you need to do is get Sunagakure to stop this war as soon as possible, though judging by the situation, most of your forces are probably already dead."
"This war started because Orochimaru ambushed your Kazekage, then used his identity to launch the assassination of the Third Hokage. Sunagakure was tricked into becoming disposable cannon fodder."
"The sooner you withdraw, the better it is for everyone."
Makoto added, "That's only my advice, though. It doesn't represent Konoha's decision. If Danzo gets his way, I doubt he'll let Sunagakure off easily."
After speaking, Makoto casually patted Gaara on the head.
Gaara froze and stared blankly at him.
Temari's hair nearly stood on end as she prepared for Gaara to explode.
Instead, Gaara merely looked uncomfortable with the unfamiliar gesture. After several seconds, he adjusted and sincerely thanked Makoto again.
Only then did he turn and let Temari help him leave.
Makoto glanced toward the fierce battle between Naruto and Jiraiya, then simply picked up the unconscious Sasuke and headed back toward Konoha.
He locked onto the Spatial Mark he'd left on Yukinoshita and opened a Spatial Gate.
Makoto stepped through without hesitation.
Now that he understood the black-robed man's true capabilities, he naturally felt much bolder.
The first thing he saw after emerging was Orochimaru floating in the air while controlling the First and Second Hokage in battle against the black-robed man.
The masked Player possessed Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique.
Against Orochimaru, whose soul was damaged, that genjutsu had an especially strong advantage.
Combined with Kamui, the black-robed man's chances of victory should have been overwhelming.
Yet Orochimaru ordered the two Hokage to focus entirely on defense.
Whenever he showed signs of being caught, he used various Orochimaru-style substitution techniques to delay the attack.
The black-robed man lacked a reliable finishing move, so Orochimaru somehow managed to keep him occupied.
Of course, the masked man could escape whenever he wanted.
But his team's objective was to destroy Konoha. Without the Tailed Beasts, they had no choice but to do the work themselves.
Unfortunately for them, Orochimaru had decided to favor Konoha's side.
That left the black-robed man feeling utterly miserable.
Someone he'd thought he could manipulate with ease had suddenly become the second most troublesome enemy on the battlefield.
The first was naturally Makoto.
There were several other battles between Konoha's shinobi and the remaining Players on the ground.
Those Players had removed their black robes, revealing their appearances, and their fighting styles immediately broadened Makoto's horizons.
The first was nearly two meters tall and dressed like a Marine officer from One Piece. Rust covered his entire body, while reddish-brown mist constantly leaked from him.
Any ninja tool thrown toward him rusted away before making contact and seemed to strengthen him instead.
Even shinobi struck by his attacks became covered in rust, drastically reducing their speed and strength.
The second Player was short, round, and dressed like a chef.
Yet an army of soldiers carrying biscuit shields surrounded him.
Every Biscuit Soldier had exactly the same face and equipment.
The chef continuously created more of them and immediately sent each new soldier charging into Konoha's forces.
The third Player was a tall woman carrying a large flag.
Every time she waved it, all of the Biscuit Soldiers seemed to gain another ten percent in speed and strength.
Worse, the enhancement didn't appear to have any obvious upper limit.
The final Player was a massive man nearly two meters tall and equally broad.
He stood with his head lowered, apparently eating something, looking almost harmless.
Then Makoto saw what he was actually consuming.
A chill ran down his spine.
The man was eating modern weapons.
Pistols, submachine guns, rifles, rocket launchers, artillery pieces, and all kinds of other heavy weaponry disappeared into his mouth.
If Makoto's guess was correct, this fourth Player possessed the legendary Munch-Munch Fruit.
In theory, it was an absurdly versatile Devil Fruit capable of consuming almost anything and recombining whatever had been eaten.
Its original owner, Wapol, had simply been too much of an idiot to exploit its full potential.
In a Player's hands, however, the Munch-Munch Fruit had become a terrifying weapon.
Makoto could already imagine the man transforming into a mobile human fortress and bringing catastrophe to all of Konoha.
After all, nearly every major fighter capable of carrying the village was now either dead or had been absorbed by the black-robed man.
"Sorry. It looks like things got out of control."
Yukinoshita looked increasingly guilty when Makoto emerged from the Spatial Gate and remained silent.
She had already tried attacking the four Players.
But their teamwork was nearly flawless.
The Rust-Rust Fruit's corrosion and the Biscuit Soldiers' suicidal charges had easily forced Yukinoshita back.
Her Zanpakuto couldn't affect puppet-like constructs such as the Biscuit Soldiers.
"What do we do now? Are we fighting them?"
Makoto didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked toward Danzo, who stood in the distance surrounded by layers of Konoha shinobi.
Danzo was still issuing orders and having different groups probe the enemy bit by bit.
Judging by his composed expression, he clearly wasn't in any hurry to settle the battle.
Perhaps he believed Konoha's numerical advantage and repeated rotations would eventually exhaust the four enemies.
They were certainly powerful, but they still weren't monsters as unreachable as the First or Second Hokage.
From Makoto's perspective, Danzo was about to pay dearly for that arrogance.
Sure enough, the Munch-Munch Fruit user finally finished eating every weapon he'd collected.
Then, to Makoto's surprise, he grabbed the other three Players standing beside him and swallowed them too.
The most alarming part was that none of them resisted.
'That's bad.'
Makoto immediately used the Body Flicker Technique and appeared behind the Munch-Munch Fruit user.
His hands rapidly formed seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Makoto drew chakra directly from the Tailed Beast inside him.
Combined with the Fire Release experience he'd gained from Uchiha Madara, a vast sea of flames erupted from his mouth and surged toward the Munch-Munch Fruit user.
The scale still fell far short of Uchiha Madara's Great Fire Annihilation during the Fourth Shinobi World War.
But to Konoha's shinobi here, the technique was already clearly Kage-level.
Many people across the battlefield turned to stare.
Danzo looked toward Makoto in confusion.
Then his pupil suddenly contracted as though he'd remembered something.
"Kakashi, you and Tenzo subdue that shinobi. I suspect he's a spy from an enemy nation."
Hatake Kakashi immediately frowned.
"Danzo-sama, this isn't the time for that. We should deal with the enemy first."
He had barely finished speaking when the flames completely surrounding the Munch-Munch Fruit user were swallowed in a single gulp.
Black smoke poured from every part of the man's body.
Crackling noises sounded from within him, as though something were being forged together inside.
Makoto immediately shouted a warning.
"Don't you understand yet? Those people are merging their abilities together. Once they're finished, do you really think you'll still be able to stop them?"
Akimichi Torifu could no longer remain still.
His body expanded into a giant, and a fist the size of a house crashed toward the Munch-Munch Fruit user.
He intended to break the fusion apart with one blow.
The Player's own fist suddenly turned pitch-black.
Despite its absurdly smaller size, it met Akimichi Torifu's gigantic punch head-on.
Their fists collided with a sound like metal and stone collapsing together, painfully ringing through everyone's ears.
More shocking still, Akimichi Torifu's full-strength blow had actually been stopped.
"What is that power? It isn't chakra, yet it's incredibly strong."
Hyuga Hiashi had already entered the battle with the Hyuga Clan.
"It seems to come from some kind of physical presence or force of will, but how could sheer presence reinforce flesh to that degree?"
The Hyuga Clan was now Konoha's strongest surviving clan.
Yet the Byakugan, normally so useful, was practically worthless against four Players who didn't even possess chakra.
Against those four themselves, the Hyuga could at least fight normally.
Against endless Biscuit Soldiers, even the Gentle Fist became almost completely useless.
"If Fire Release and taijutsu don't work, then let's try genjutsu."
Yuhi Kurenai silently moved beside the Munch-Munch Fruit user and cast Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death.
Unsurprisingly, it failed completely.
The enemy possessed no chakra and relied on powers from the One Piece world.
Players could raise Adaptability to force abilities from other worlds to function across different systems, but the native NPCs had no such option.
By now, the Munch-Munch Fruit user had completed the entire fusion process.
He had completely lost his human shape.
What remained was a bizarre creature roughly five stories tall, with mechanical arms and legs but an absurdly small head.
Just as everyone expected the creature itself to attack, the Biscuit Soldiers around it suddenly changed.
Every one of them gained rust-red equipment.
Modern firearms also began forming in their hands, with each soldier carrying something different.
Then one of the fused creature's arms transformed into a flag and swung forcefully.
The Biscuit Soldiers seemed to gain limitless courage.
Carrying modern firearms, they charged straight into Konoha's shinobi.
Modern weapons were already dangerous enough on their own.
Anyone hit by them also suffered the corrosive effect of the Rust-Rust Fruit.
The combination immediately took down large numbers of genin and chunin.
The survivors reacted by raising Earth Release defenses.
What greeted them next was artillery fire.
Exactly as Makoto had expected, dozens of cannon barrels extended from the fused creature's body and began firing wildly.
Explosions tore through the battlefield, blasting shinobi in every direction.
In Makoto's eyes, the Munch-Munch Fruit user had effectively transformed into an enhanced Asura Path that could also summon its own army.
Yet even this level of power could only inflict devastating losses on Konoha.
It still wasn't enough to overturn the entire battle.
'Is that really all they have left?'
The moment that thought crossed Makoto's mind, the fused creature suddenly opened its mouth.
The black-robed man used Kamui and teleported directly inside.
Only then did Makoto understand.
'So that's it.'
The black-robed man forming the head was the final piece of their five-person fusion!
…