"Hoh! Good lord, a Sky Fortress… what is this, S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters?"
In White Snake's hand spun a memory disc, "These bastards really know how to hide. Luckily, the two of us think fast, otherwise we really might not have been able to find it."
After Ryosuke ordered breakfast, he activated the Hermit purple. Using the declaration posters as a medium, he performed mind-writing to lock onto one Sky Ninja Corps shinobi.
But when he followed the direction over, he didn't see any terrorists flying in the sky. He only found a plain village.
Ryosuke caught the Sky Ninja lurking in the village, and after White Snake pulled out the disc to watch the memories, only then did he learn that in order to deal with the Hermit purple, these people had actually thought of the method of "leaving behind those related to causality."
That Sky Ninja himself didn't know where the Sky Fortress had flown. Normally, even if Ryosuke caught him, it wouldn't have much meaning, but…
"Knowing the Sky Fortress's flying speed, knowing its destination, and knowing that its maximum flying altitude can't escape normal visible range. To avoid ninja pursuit, the Sky Fortress must hide inside the clouds."
Based on that information, he could draw out a general range on the map.
Then check where there were large patches of cloud. After trying a few times, he could pretty much find it.
Ryosuke's finger slid across the clouds, tearing open a "crack," and from inside he slowly drew out the Blade of Ruin.
"For most opponents, as long as they willingly admit defeat, I always give them a chance. But…"
On the way here, Ryosuke passed through the city that had been bombed last night.
It was very quiet.
No crying, because the tears had already run dry last night.
No wailing, because the dead had already died out last night.
On ordinary nights when staying up late, he could casually endure an all-nighter. When going to work the next day, that night's sleep time would feel extremely short. But under disaster and pain, that same length of night was stretched out infinitely.
Whoosh~
A gust of wind blew by, and a wisp of golden flame burned across Ryosuke's fingers gripping the blade. The fire traveled up along the hilt until the Blade of Ruin was completely drawn out.
The long blade swung, igniting the sky.
Even separated by the fortress's glass, the generals and soldiers inside could still feel this heat hot enough to scorch hearts.
And even more terrifying than the golden flames… was Ryosuke.
In his eyes burned a sharp anger, a heat that would burn everything. Ryosuke said calmly,
"…All of you must die."
General Hōjaku snapped back to his senses, rushed to the main console, and slammed a fist onto the army-wide broadcast, "Sortie!"
"Full army sortie!"
One by one, Sky Ninja Corps soldiers piloting flying tools swarmed out like insects.
Their flying skill was superb, constantly shifting formations midair, unleashing crossfire with no blind spots against Ryosuke.
But what greeted them was a machine gun with a firing rate of 1,400 rounds per second.
Two of them.
The exploding-tag shuriken they hurled didn't even get close before being blasted apart midair.
The storm of dense bullets continued to surge, shredding the flying Sky Ninja Corps soldiers into sieves.
"Comrades!"
General Hōjaku's voice came through the earpieces of every sortieing Sky Ninja soldier.
"Our enemy is a demon who kills without blinking, a monster. Ordinary attacks can never achieve victory. The only thing left for us to rely on now, is your fighting spirit!"
"The Sky Ninja Corps will remember you forever!"
Hearing this, the flying Sky Ninjas went silent for a few seconds. One of them lifted his clothes.
Beneath was a special vest, stitched all over with exploding tags.
The soldier yanked a cord, all the tag fuses ignited, and he roared "Revive the Sky Ninjas!" as he charged Ryosuke.
Even with his body riddled with bullets, he forced his last breath of strength to keep his flying tool stable.
An endless series of bombings erupted, explosions staining the sky red.
A slash of golden blade light flared, swallowing all the suicide attacks. Thousands of Sky Ninja Corps human bombs screamed in the flames and perished.
"It's not over yet! Take this, Ryosuke!"
General Hōjaku's eyes reddened as he roared at the top of his lungs, "Fire the Sky Cannon!"
At the fortress's front, the enormous barrel lit with crimson glow.
The next second, a laser blast with power equal to a Tailed Beast Bomb shot out, hitting dead-center in the core of the suicide explosions.
Storm and blasts rampaged. General Hōjaku panted hard, "Dead yet? Scout! Search the target!"
No reply.
He turned and shouted, "Scout! Are you deaf?!"
The scolded scout's face was deathly pale. Trembling, he raised a hand and pointed, at General Hōjaku's side.
The general froze. Half a second later, his pupils shrank, his heart filled with dread, and his neck stiffly turned.
He saw a focused profile.
Ryosuke was looking out the window,
"From this angle, your soldiers really are just a swarm of flying bugs."
"As for the people and cities on the ground, in your eyes, they must be even less than bugs, just bacteria, right?"
"But I'm curious, since the big screen just snowed out, who were you talking to earlier? Don't tell me…"
Ryosuke glanced at General Hōjaku.
"It was that 'boss' of yours who tricked you here to die, wasn't it?"
"You..."
The general went to draw his sword.
Smack!
White Snake slapped his face from behind and, without a word, drew out his memory and jutsu discs.
The maniacs of the Sky Ninja Village, who knows what kind of brainwashing they'd undergone, their suicide reaction speed was unbelievably fast. Delay even half a step, and the disc couldn't be pulled in time.
"Done." White Snake said.
Ryosuke took the disc, tilted his chin toward the fortress's pilots.
"These ones, I'll leave to you."
Ryosuke was very interested in the Sky Fortress's technology.
If it could be made widely usable, it could absolutely raise current productivity massively. Maybe one day, they might even develop flying equipment to reach the moon.
The Hermit purple was released, binding all the pilots in the command room, lining them up in front of White Snake for it to write commands.
"Watch this."
White Snake flexed its wrist, "Brother's about to show you a real trick, Eighteen Firecracker Slaps, each one crisp."
It lined its hand up on the first person's face, just about to move, when Ryosuke felt his Ripple senses stir, and his face hardened.
"Back, White Snake."
White Snake dispersed.
At that instant, the steel floor beneath them split apart, flames and shockwaves bursting out from the cracks.
All Sky Ninjas remaining in the fortress were instantly burned to cinders, then blasted into black fragments by the shockwaves.
Self-destruct sequence.
Ryosuke realized, the Sky Fortress had a self-destruct installed.
"I made sure of this, that's why I pulled the top leader's disc immediately, to stop him from triggering it… Could it be someone else also has authority to activate it?"
Ryosuke turned, staring at the shattered screen.
Maybe it was the person General Hōjaku had been communicating with earlier.
Well, he had the memory disc. After returning, there would be plenty of time to study it.
'Star Platinum: The World!'
Time stopped flowing. Ryosuke pushed aside the mangled corpses blocking his way, but just as he was leaving the fortress, his hand touched a thick protective barrier.
Unlike normal barriers, this one defended not against the outside, but against the inside.
Ryosuke understood. This was a trap aimed at him.
The "boss" hiding behind the curtain knew very well that just one Sky Fortress could never stop Ryosuke, and had set this up.
If the plan had gone smoothly, the fortress would have exploded above Konoha.
Even if Ryosuke survived the blast, the falling wreckage and secondary explosions would have turned Konoha into ruins.
That was the sincerity Shinnō wanted to show to "them."
Unfortunately, Ryosuke came too quickly, too abruptly, and wrecked the plan without reason.
Together with Star Platinum, one on each side, he easily tore open the barrier and left the explosion's range.
A few minutes later, he returned to Konoha.
"Morning training finished?"
The vendor handed over the wrapped breakfast.
"Something like that."
Ryosuke took it, grabbed a rice ball, and went back to the Hokage building's conference room.
Inside, the elites were still discussing the battle two days later.
Ryosuke picked up a rice ball and handed it to Jiraiya.
"Want one?"
Jiraiya rubbed his forehead, "Can't eat. Last night, drunk, I wished we could start fighting immediately. But now, thinking of how many people will die, I just get a headache."
"No one's dying." Ryosuke said casually.
His voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the room were sharp-eared shinobi. They all heard it clearly, each one giving him doubtful looks.
The two advisors were blunt, "Mr. Ryosuke, if you're too tired, Konoha has a rest room. You can sleep for a while and come back once you've cleared your head."
Ryosuke still had rice ball in his mouth. He didn't have the habit of talking while eating. So he just pulled something out of his pocket and slapped it onto the table.
It was… General Hōjaku's memory disc.
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