After listening to Ryun's explanation, Minato could not help but show a look of shame on his face. The next moment, he actually took the initiative to stand up and bow to Ryun.
"So this is the real purpose behind your actions. We were the ones with a limited perspective, misunderstanding you, Ryun."
Ryun's arguments were reasonable, well-founded, and logically coherent. As someone who controlled the entire world, Minato felt Ryun had no reason to fabricate these things to deceive him.
As the strongest existence on this planet, Ryun was actually deeply wary of those enemies from beyond the sky, even to the point of having to gather everyone's chakra into one entity to use that power to resist the external enemies. Minato could no longer imagine just how terrifying those people must be.
Originally, Minato thought Ryun was an evil person. He never expected that Ryun actually had the entire world in his heart. Unifying the nations was to achieve lasting peace, and gathering chakra was to obtain sufficient power to resist the alien enemies.
Such a polar reversal was most capable of shaking one's soul. Clearly harboring compassion for all living beings, yet willingly bearing numerous bad reputations and misunderstandings. In Minato's view, this was a great hero who stood tall between heaven and earth.
'Ryun has actually never changed. He is still the Konoha hero he once was.' Minato's look towards Ryun had changed.
His eyes no longer held fear, but were instead filled with admiration.
"I only hate that I am too weak and incompetent, unable to fight side by side with Ryun and resist the great enemies from beyond the sky."
Minato's face was flushed, clearly looking somewhat carried away by emotion.
"Why doesn't Ryun explain these things to everyone? Then everyone could understand your good intentions."
Hearing this, Ryun could not help but chuckle and ask in return, "How would I say it? Say, 'Hand over your chakra to me'? Would you be willing?"
"I remember mentioning it before, right? The result was that your alliance commander said I wasn't leaving you any way out, and everyone insisted on fighting me."
Hearing this, Minato could not help but show an embarrassed expression. Ryun did indeed mention this demand, but everyone regarded him as a paranoid madman.
Most people in the world are ignorant and selfish. Even if they knew the truth about the invasion of external enemies, Minato felt people would not obediently hand over their own chakra.
Thinking about it carefully now, Ryun's current approach might be the correct one.
The more Minato pondered these matters in his heart, the more he admired Ryun.
Unconsciously, the night had gradually deepened. Several women came to the garden together, and Asuna intended to call Minato to go home together.
"Isn't Mikoto coming along?" Minato asked in surprise.
"Mikoto-chan is staying with me tonight. Minato, when you return to Konoha, tell Sasuke to come to Otogakure by himself." Kushina insisted on keeping Mikoto.
"Is that so. Well, alright then."
Minato smiled and nodded. After bidding farewell to everyone, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to take his wife back to Konoha.
He needed to share the information he learned tonight with Naruto and Sasuke. He could not let the two of them misunderstand, or even be hostile towards Ryun, any longer.
"Kushina, maybe I should sleep in another room. That way, Ryun he..."
Before Mikoto could finish speaking, Kushina interrupted her.
"Ah, don't worry about him. That guy can go for days without sleep and still be full of energy. He only sleeps two or three hours a day anyway. Whether he sleeps or not doesn't really matter."
Kushina's blunt truth left Mikoto speechless. She never expected Ryun's daily routine to be so different from others.
"Then what does he do every night when he's not sleeping?"
"Him? Most of the time, he's training in the practice room, or else..." Kushina suddenly paused, her face turning slightly red.
What else could one be doing late at night besides not sleeping or training? And, most of the time, she was the active party...
"Or else what?" Mikoto asked curiously.
"Nothing. He's either training or exercising. Anyway, he's a training fanatic. Let's just ignore him." After saying this, Kushina pushed Mikoto into the master bedroom.
Ryun glanced at the two women, then continued to mentally control the Divine Tree to absorb the chakra seeds from the living beings within the ninja world.
"Dad is so pitiful. Mom won't let him sleep with them." Nanaise looked at her father with sympathy in her eyes.
"Silly child, what nonsense are you talking about? Mom is sleeping with your Aunt Mikoto, so of course he can't sleep with them. Besides, there are so many rooms in the house. He can just find any room to sleep in. What's pitiful about that?"
Asuka gave Nanaise a sidelong glance. She felt her granddaughter was a little bit silly.
Late at night.
Ryun, who felt no drowsiness, performed a Flying Thunder God Technique and quietly appeared at the top of the Divine Tree.
"It seems it won't take more than a few days for this Chakra Fruit to ripen and be ready for picking. I just don't know what quality of fruit I'll ultimately obtain."
At this moment, six tomoe had already appeared on the Chakra Fruit. Completing such progress in just over half a day made Ryun surprised by the speed of chakra convergence.
By reading Kaguya Otsutsuki's memories, Ryun had learned that Divine Tree fruits also have grade classifications. Some high-quality Chakra Fruits are difficult for even the Otsutsuki clan to cultivate. For example, the one Kaguya picked a thousand years ago.
The Naruto world possesses very dense natural energy. Such life-bearing planets are extremely rare in the entire universe. Planting a Divine Tree in such a place would definitely yield a good fruit.
Among good fruits, there are also lower-grade fruits, middle-grade fruits, upper-grade fruits, and the supreme divine fruit, which is seen only once in tens of thousands of years and is only fit for consumption by true gods.
The fruit that Kaguya Otsutsuki consumed was a rare upper-grade fruit. For this one fruit, she even dared to betray the Otsutsuki clan.
The price of betraying one's clan would certainly not be light. But the appearance of an upper-grade Chakra Fruit undoubtedly gave Kaguya Otsutsuki the courage to betray.
The memory reading of the Human Path was still ongoing. Ryun was gradually gaining a clearer understanding of the Otsutsuki clan and the Divine Tree.
"Boss."
The Akatsuki members sensed Ryun's presence immediately. Deidara rode his clay bird to Ryun's front.
"Mm. Go down and notify everyone. They can go rest first. I will stay by the Divine Tree tonight."
"Okay, boss."
As tranquility returned to the top of the Divine Tree, Ryun sat cross-legged on a branch and took active control of the tree.
He began using his own power to influence the dream of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. He needed to divide the dream into friend and foe camps. Ninjas whose chakra could be absorbed would have their chakra seeds preserved. Those who could not be used by him would be completely neutralized.
Ryun started screening from Konoha. After determining whether to neutralize or preserve, he directly withdrew the Divine Tree's roots.
As the Divine Tree's roots receded, all of Konoha visibly began to revert to its original state. Some people had even already started waking up.
"Damn it! It was just a dream."
Most people longed to continue dreaming. Only a small portion felt it was good to return to reality.
All the ninjas who woke from the dream shared one common point: the chakra in their bodies was gone. The vast majority could not even refine chakra anymore.
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