Chapter 298 – Are You Even Worthy?
"That fast, huh?"
Gen raised an eyebrow, his eyes narrowing toward the rapidly approaching figures in the distance.
He had barely finished glancing at his new system reward — a fragment of Sasuke's Yin Release — before being interrupted.
A pity. He had been curious to test it.
Even though such fragments didn't add much to his current power, every bit counted.
At his level, only godlike boons — a divine fruit, or a miracle catalyst — could give him a "leap overnight."
Everything else was built through slow, meticulous accumulation.
And this particular reward?
It suited him perfectly.
Still, the interruption soured his mood.
"Tch… being bothered by a bunch of idiots. How annoying."
He shook his head, sighing lightly, and dismissed the colossal True Thousand Hands behind him.
Wood Release was never his specialty anyway.
Besides, the ones coming now… weren't weaklings like those Cloud ninjas.
They were stronger — enough to warrant a touch of seriousness.
"Though really, what's with those Cloud guys being so dark? And…"
A stray thought flashed through his mind — absurd, and entirely out of place.
"The Ōtsutsuki are pale as ghosts, treating planets like farming plots…
Then the Cloud ninja— big, loud, and—"
He froze mid-thought.
"Nope. Nope. Don't go there. I'm a good person."
He cleared his throat, forcing the tangent out of his head.
---
At the Allied Shinobi Forces Base
The army was still half in shock.
They had just witnessed hell itself — and now another chakra storm was approaching.
"More?"
Even the seasoned ninja felt their hearts tighten.
Sensor-types quickly detected the incoming chakra signatures — and their faces went pale.
Tsunade and Jiraiya both turned toward the horizon at the same time.
Jiraiya's expression hardened immediately.
"It's them. Uchiha Obito… and Nagato."
"And another," Tsunade added coldly.
"Kimimaro."
Her jaw tightened at the name — she still remembered that boy, back when Orochimaru had come to her for help.
It stirred an old irritation.
"Damn it. These bastards just can't stay dead, can they?"
"What now?" one of the jonin asked.
Tsunade exhaled slowly.
"Stick to the plan. Track the White Zetsu remnants and prepare to redeploy. We'll reinforce the other fronts when ready."
"And us? Should we stay and back up Gen?"
Tsunade hesitated — then muttered under her breath:
"Just don't get in his way."
For the first time in years, she felt… unnecessary.
Excluded from the true fight.
It wasn't a feeling she liked.
But times had changed — and Gen stood far beyond the scope of "ordinary Kage."
---
At the Center of the Battlefield
The last echoes of the True Thousand Hands faded into silence.
The earth still smoked.
Then — three chakra signatures tore through the haze.
Nagato. Obito. Kimimaro.
The three landed across from Gen, each expression carved from a different emotion — fury, bitterness, resolve.
They said nothing for a long time.
The air between them was thick enough to burn.
They hated him.
Nine years of humiliation — nine years of being crushed under his shadow — had left scars that words couldn't erase.
And yet, in their eyes, Gen was also something else:
The first to evolve.
The proof that evolution was possible.
The path they themselves sought to follow.
And that contradiction burned like poison in their hearts.
"This time," Kimimaro said softly, his pale eyes cold as bone,
"we're settling everything."
His killing intent seeped into the air like frost.
"You've been tormenting Lord Orochimaru for years… and I've never forgotten our first meeting."
"Hm?"
Gen tilted his head, genuinely confused.
Even Nagato and Obito exchanged puzzled looks.
"Our first meeting?" Gen asked. "You mean the time I made that Earth Wall sculpture of Orochimaru's face?"
Kimimaro's expression froze.
Even Nagato looked lost.
But Obito —
His fists clenched so tightly they trembled.
"So it was you!" he snarled.
"No wonder Kakashi's student turned out to be such a disgrace — an 'evolutionary,' yet still utterly shameless!"
Gen blinked.
"…Huh?"
He looked between them, genuinely baffled.
"I've flattened so many of you people I can't even remember who's who anymore…"
He sighed and rolled his shoulders, a lazy smile curling on his lips.
"But sure. Let's play your little revenge game."
"You lunatics talk about peace while starting wars… spouting nonsense that doesn't even make sense.
So tell me—what is it that you actually want?"
Gen's voice was calm but razor-sharp.
Nagato exhaled slowly, his expression unreadable.
He was already tired of arguing, especially with the two standing beside him.
"Gen," he said softly, "I've told you before—my goal has always been the same.
World peace."
Gen tilted his head slightly.
"Peace? Coming from you?"
Nagato's eyes narrowed.
"This world is already terminally ill. No matter how strong you are, war will never end.
Why can't you understand that?"
"Understand?"
Gen's tone shifted—quiet amusement beneath the words.
Then he shook his head.
"Why should I try to 'understand' you?
People are the key to this world. As long as people exist, there will always be conflict.
And you—" he smirked faintly, "—you think you can change that?"
"It's better than doing nothing while the world rots!"
Nagato's voice rose, his chakra trembling with emotion.
"I've seen too many wars. Too many corpses.
Jiraiya-sensei once told me this world shouldn't be like this.
And I believed him. But the truth…?"
His eyes darkened.
"This world is hell."
He clenched his fists.
"Hanzo of the Salamander worked himself to death for the Land of Rain—and what did he achieve?
When we came to him with peace, with sincerity, he joined forces with Danzō and tried to kill us!
It was him—this world—that destroyed my hope!"
Nagato's voice cracked; his pain was raw and naked.
"So tell me, Gen—do you need to have your own ideals shattered before you finally understand?"
Gen fell silent.
For a long moment, he simply looked at Nagato, an unreadable glint in his eyes.
Was Nagato… trying to convince him?
(Because of Ōtsutsuki Genshiki?)
The thought was absurd—
and yet, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
Which was… awkward.
After all, he was Ōtsutsuki Genshiki.
---
"Hmph. He'll never understand pain like ours," Obito muttered, his Sharingan flaring red.
"And even if he did, he'd just destroy everything in his own way."
He was done talking.
For him, all that mattered was this—
when the Ten Tails was released and Genshiki descended, Gen would have to act.
Until then, he would simply draw out that power.
"This world is hell," Obito said coldly.
"It's hollow. It's meaningless. And whether you like it or not—it must be reborn."
Blue flames erupted around him.
The colossal Susanoo rose from his back, its aura shaking the battlefield.
"This battle will decide everything. The world will change—no matter the cost!"
Nagato lowered his head, whispering an incantation.
A surge of white smoke burst across the battlefield—
and from it, came the monstrous roars of beasts.
A three-headed hound.
A rhino with black rods driven through its flesh.
A giant centipede, a chameleon, an eight-winged bird—
each towering like a mountain, their presence warping the very air.
The ground quaked beneath their feet.
Their combined chakra shook the sky.
Gen was at the center of it all—
calm, unblinking, unfazed.
"Done talking? Good. Then let's get started."
Kimimaro stepped forward, drawing a long, pale spine from his back.
The bone gleamed white under the firelight, cold and sharp as a blade.
Gen smiled faintly.
"Interesting… but I'm curious about one thing."
He lifted his short blade of Yin–Yang chakra, pointing it directly at them.
"Haven't any of you noticed yet… that there's something wrong with your bodies?"
"Tch. That's just evolution," Obito snapped—
and then froze.
"—Wait! Move!"
Before he could finish, a storm of chakra pressure exploded around them.
Gen vanished.
He appeared right in front of Obito—
a blur of light and shadow—
and his blade cleaved down.
BOOM!
The explosion drowned everything.
The shockwave hurled all three backward like rag dolls.
"Damn it—still the same dirty tricks!" Obito spat.
Kimimaro's Byakugan flickered open, scanning rapidly.
"Above us—he's coming again!"
"Hmph!"
Nagato thrust his hand forward, summoning a black staff of Yin–Yang chakra.
The ground trembled as his summoned beasts surged toward Gen, roaring.
Their size alone split the battlefield apart—
but Gen only sighed.
"Bigger doesn't mean better."
He flashed forward—
and sliced the giant crab clean in half.
The explosion of chakra sent debris flying like shrapnel.
Gen stepped off the carcass, leaping higher.
From his hand, black chakra surged outward—
shaping itself into dozens of black rods that rained down like divine spears.
They pierced the rhino, the centipede, the boar—
pinning them to the earth before they could even move.
Then his blade shimmered again—
a single arc of light severing the airborne Yatagarasu, the great bird of flame.
It didn't even have time to scream.
"Besides…"
Gen stepped lightly onto the falling corpse, his form twisting midair—
then shot down like lightning toward his enemies.
"You really think you're like me?" he said softly.
"That you've evolved?"
"Go to hell!"
Obito roared, charging to meet him, while Nagato and Kimimaro followed in unison.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The world erupted.
Each clash split the sky, each shockwave tore the ground apart.
The screams of the beasts mixed with the roar of the earth itself,
and even miles away, the Allied Forces could barely keep their footing.
The flames painted the battlefield blood-red,
and the tremors made the ground itself breathe.
Even Jiraiya and Tsunade were forced back, shielding themselves from the debris.
"This… this isn't a battle we can even join," Jiraiya muttered hoarsely.
Tsunade gave a grim nod.
"I told you. Staying here just gets in his way."
Jiraiya managed a bitter smile.
"Heh. Guess you were right."
---
At the heart of the chaos, Gen's voice rang out again—calm, merciless.
"You don't even understand what's happening to you."
"You're pathetic."
He raised his blade.
"And even if true 'evolution' existed…"
He smirked.
"Do you really think you're worthy of it?"
His words cracked through the battlefield like thunder—
and the explosions only grew louder.
As Gen crushed them beneath that question,
another war was already raging elsewhere—
in Konoha, where the shadows of Madara and Sasuke began to collide.