Black Zetsu died.
With this, the motive that had sustained the Ōtsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths, Indra, and Asura for a thousand years was ended. At this moment, a crack appeared at the root of the shackles of fate.
From now on, no one would go resurrect Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, and they wouldn't even remember a person called Kaguya.
This woman, the most powerful in the history of the ninja world, would truly and completely vanish in the long river of history.
What was even more ironic was…
No one cared.
Black Zetsu turned to ashes. With Hidan as a precedent, Ryosuke was extremely wary of unknown beings, and he listened carefully to the system prompt sound.
[Killed Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's son, Black Zetsu, obtained 700 Soul Fragments, obtained…]
[One drop of Destiny Ink.]
'Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's son?'
'What kind of thing could give birth to a puddle of black rotten mud?'
'And also… what is Destiny Ink?'
Hearing this unfamiliar system prompt, Ryosuke only felt a bit confused. He really wanted to open the system and examine it carefully.
But he didn't have the time.
Most ninjas have high offense and low defense. Whoever's ninjutsu hits the opponent first and catches their stiffened state will win.
For the vast majority of ninjas, this was common knowledge. Their teachers taught them this from a young age.
This caused the frequency of battles between ninjas to be extremely high.
Ryosuke used Time Stop to blow up White Zetsu, then immediately switched to Killer Queen and took out Black Zetsu. From start to finish, it was only one second before Pain led the remaining famous ninjas to rush in and attack.
Uchiha Itachi saw reinforcements arriving and immediately gave up on fleeing. Zetsu was dead, he lost mobility, and couldn't possibly release Amaterasu from a distance again. Besides, that ugly little man made him extremely wary.
If Itachi's right eye went blind too, then he would truly be a cripple.
An orange-red radiance appeared around Uchiha Itachi's body, condensing into bones, flesh and blood, skin, and then a layer of armor. A "gourd" even appeared at his waist.
Perhaps to commemorate that Itachi only had Susanoo's armor after he set the fire in Konoha Village and killed hundreds of villagers, the armor had shallow flame patterns on it.
Pain and Itachi were not opponents to be taken lightly. Facing such enemies, Ryosuke had no time to check the system messages. He could only suppress his curiosity for now and throw himself wholly into the battle.
Ryosuke looked at Pain nearly a hundred meters away.
The Deva Path, Animal Path, and Hell Path had all been killed by Ryosuke. Without Zetsu as the transporter, even if Nagato could control other puppets to rush over, it would take a great deal of time.
"Before that… take out Uchiha Itachi first!"
"Killer Queen!"
Killer Queen appeared beside Ryosuke.
"And then…"
"Aerosmith!"
The little plane hovered in midair.
Sss~
Scarlet-gold flames once again burst from the back of the Breaker Blade. Ryosuke's body leaned slightly forward, he stepped out, and stomped, sending Black Zetsu's ashes scattering everywhere.
Using the force rebounding from the ground, Ryosuke closed the distance between him and Uchiha Itachi in an instant.
Dadadadada!
Killer Queen's hand reached into the little plane's bullet chamber, sticking closely beside Ryosuke. Bullets attached with the First Bomb flew out even faster and hit Susanoo's armor first.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three consecutive silent explosions.
The armor, flesh, and bones vanished with a roar, exposing the shocked Uchiha Itachi.
'Too fast!'
Uchiha Itachi would never blindly believe in Susanoo's "invincible defense" effect.
Thinking back to the year he was on the border of life and death, when he first manifested Susanoo, it was punched through by Star Platinum's flurry of attacks, and he almost had his neck twisted like a little chick.
He was mentally prepared for Susanoo being broken. Summoning Susanoo was not only for defense, but even more as a means of direct frontal combat.
But…
It really was too fast.
Uchiha Itachi caught a glimpse of the approaching Six Paths of Pain.
The Deva Path had not arrived yet.
'Do I use the 'last trump card' now?'
But Ryosuke had already reached him. If he didn't use it now, Itachi would really die, and wouldn't even have the chance to use his trump card.
Besides, to stop Zetsu from using the Mayfly Technique to escape underground, Ryosuke had just used a space-time ninjutsu earlier.
Which meant that, within a short time, he couldn't use that ability again.
"Now… now is the moment…"
Uchiha Itachi closed his eyes, and Shisui's final words echoed by his ear, "Protect the village and the Uchiha name."
Itachi's eyes snapped open.
He made his decision. His remaining right eye stared dead at Ryosuke and he said softly, "Now is the time to protect the village and the Uchiha name. So, Shisui, lend me your strength."
It was hard to imagine, if Shisui were really alive and saw the flame-patterned armor on Uchiha Itachi's Susanoo, and then learned it came from burning villagers to death… what would he think?
Might as well not call it Susanoo, but call it Colonel.
Unfortunately, the dead are gone. Along with Uchiha Itachi's resolve, a crow swiftly swept in from the distance.
Its speed far surpassed an animal's limits, like a streak of black light. In an instant, it cut across the sky and flew past Ryosuke.
The moment it flashed in front of Ryosuke, in the crow's eyes appeared a spinning Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Kotoamatsukami!"
The strongest genjutsu of the Uchiha Clan activated.
Uchiha Itachi stared at Ryosuke, uncertain.
Ryosuke, who trained Ripple and Golden Rotation, had an extremely firm will and possessed a very strong resistance to genjutsu. Ordinary Sharingan genjutsu had no effect on him.
Only a genjutsu on the level of Tsukuyomi could work on Ryosuke.
But because of the White Snake's existence, even if Uchiha Itachi cast Tsukuyomi, it would be dispelled instantly by the White Snake.
However, for the White Snake to dispel genjutsu, there was one small condition.
It needed to consume one "substitute slot."
Ryosuke could normally use two substitutes, and if they were 5-star and above, he could use up to three simultaneously for at most three seconds.
Since the White Snake was Ryosuke's method for defending against genjutsu, Ryosuke had given it very high permissions. As long as it sensed genjutsu, it could appear.
But if, at the moment he got caught in a genjutsu, Ryosuke was already using two substitutes in combat, he would have to cancel one substitute summon first, then the White Snake could appear.
That made the speed half a beat slower.
The info that Ryosuke could only use two substitutes at the same time had long ceased to be a secret, after so many recorded battles by the Foundation.
Ryosuke knew this, so before his left eye went blind from using Tsukuyomi, he had always used only a single substitute, just to guard against genjutsu.
Only after confirming that Itachi could no longer cast Tsukuyomi did he summon Killer Queen and Aerosmith in succession to deal with Susanoo.
No one expected that Itachi still had a jutsu even stronger than Tsukuyomi, "Kotoamatsukami."
'Will it work?'
Uchiha Itachi wasn't confident. His palms were full of sweat. Ryosuke had already reached him, the blade falling, stopping right at the tip of his nose.
"It worked!"
"Hah, it worked!!!"
Uchiha Itachi let out a crazed laugh and shouted to the sky, "Pain! Now!"
A figure fell from the sky, it was the Deva Path who had rushed over alone.
Without Zetsu transporting, this was the final Deva Path that could still appear on the battlefield.
A small black sphere appeared in the Deva Path's hand. He violently threw it, and it stuck onto Ryosuke.
He clapped his hands together.
"Chibaku Tensei!"