The Chibaku Tensei successfully activated!
Dragged by a small gravitational sphere, Ryosuke floated up into the sky. The land of Kyoto City shattered, huge chunks of rock shot toward Ryosuke, gradually sealing him inside the stones bit by bit.
But it wasn't over yet.
"Amaterasu!"
Pitch-black flames appeared once again.
Uchiha Itachi's vision became dark and blurry. He was almost driving himself into madness using his Mangekyō. Itachi's eyesight suffered irreversible deterioration.
Luckily, he didn't need to aim.
Because Uchiha Itachi's target was the debris being pulled by gravity, scattered all over the sky.
Chunks of rock burning with Amaterasu flames crashed fiercely onto Ryosuke, continuously scorching his body.
But Ryosuke…
It was like he couldn't feel pain at all. He was frowning, deep in thought.
It was the same "Kotoamatsukami," yet the result when Danzo used it and when Uchiha Itachi used it was completely different.
Danzo's Kotoamatsukami, Ryosuke noticed something abnormal in less than three seconds, and easily broke it and counter-killed him.
But Uchiha Itachi himself was a genjutsu master, a member of the Uchiha bloodline, and then using the strongest genjutsu "Kotoamatsukami" on top of that… Ryosuke's state became very strange.
He understood that he was under a genjutsu.
He also understood that all of this was a strategy the enemy designed specifically to deal with him.
Ryosuke had simply fallen into a unique train of thought.
It was as if he detached from his own body, viewing from a higher, overlooking angle, looking down at the life he lived after coming into this world, reading the past, present, and future of the shinobi world.
Ryosuke had always moved forward with a certain belief that supported him.
But now, that persistence had become fragile.
Just like how, when a person reaches middle age and sees a delicate 4WD toy car again, or finally buys a game console they always wanted, he knows it's something great, but the passion he once had is gone.
'Since that's the case, what am I still insisting on?'
'Whether this world lives or dies, whether the civilians live or die, what does that have to do with me?'
'If none of it has anything to do with me… then as someone who never belonged to this world to begin with, do I still have any meaning in staying alive?'
It sounded ridiculous, but Ryosuke was wholeheartedly thinking about these ridiculous questions, to the point he had not a single spare thought to break free from Chibaku Tensei.
Uchiha Itachi stared fixedly at Ryosuke, who was gradually buried by flames and rocks. Controlling Susanoo, he took the gourd off his waist and slowly drew out a long flaming sword.
The Totsuka Blade.
A blade that could eternally seal whoever it pierced inside the hilt (the gourd).
Chibaku Tensei's seal was ultimately physical. With Ryosuke's vitality, who knew if Amaterasu could truly burn him to death. Only the Totsuka Blade's sealing was the safest option.
Uchiha Itachi had already made up his mind. As long as he sealed Ryosuke in the Totsuka Blade, he would immediately destroy his own right eye, making himself forever unable to summon Susanoo again, cutting off Ryosuke's chance of escape from the very root.
This was his resolve.
The only problem was that drawing the sword was far too slow.
Uchiha Itachi had only just grasped this power. Adding to that his left eye was blind, relying on just one right eye to wield something of the Totsuka Blade's level was simply too exhausting.
He needed a little time.
Just a tiny bit.
———
The white snake was about to go crazy.
It grabbed Ryosuke by the collar.
"Ryosuke! Wake up! I left you a backup plan, but you need to be conscious for it to work!"
The white snake had already helped Ryosuke escape the genjutsu.
But the greatest difference between Kotoamatsukami and other genjutsu was that it rewrote one's way of thinking.
A normal genjutsu is deception just for that moment.
Kotoamatsukami was like when we walk into a movie theater and watch a touching film.
Even knowing it's fake, acted out, we still feel moved, still cry, still want to go home and hug family and friends.
The deception is temporary, feelings and thoughts are eternal.
Ryosuke said to the white snake, "Population, since it's a bonus, a consumable resource, if it's not used and you let people naturally age, then that is the greatest waste of resources."
"From the perspective of human history, consuming one or two generations of population resources in exchange for a longer period of peace and happiness..."
"That is an extremely cost-effective trade."
The white snake stared blankly at Ryosuke. "Y-you… what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about Pain's ideology. From an economic perspective, Pain's 'Tailed Beast Weapon Plan' isn't wrong. With it as the core, it really could produce peace and prosperity."
"Just like nuclear deterrence during the Cold War."
"But…"
Ryosuke looked at his palm.
'Once you reach a certain age, you'll understand, after a man starts working, if a friend invites him to play games, many people will blurt out...'
'If we win… so what?'
Age wipes away the youthful spark. Oil, rice, firewood, salt bind people to a tiny corner of life, turning them into what Pain calls "population resources."
"But life shouldn't be like this."
"People are not cold numbers."
The confusion faded from Ryosuke's eyes.
Kotoamatsukami had forcibly altered his thinking, throwing him into Pain's perspective, looking over the shinobi world. And from Pain's perspective, Ryosuke once again confirmed his own belief, "Humans can, for their ideals, voluntarily embark on a journey of self-sacrifice."
"But absolutely cannot, because of the decisions of one or two people at the top, be forced onto the list of the dead."
Ryosuke's gaze grew brighter and brighter.
"Pain, you are wrong!"
As his voice fell, a crow's mournful cry echoed from the sky.
"Caw!"
In the crow's eye sockets, Shisui's eyes burst violently. The crow screamed and fell straight down, splattering at Uchiha Itachi's feet with a smack, scattering a ring of blood.
Uchiha Itachi's eyelids twitched nonstop; panic filled his heart.
'Hurry! Faster!'
Blood flowed from his right eye.
Star Platinum's roar shook the heavens, no one knew how long Chibaku Tensei could still hold Ryosuke.
Whoosh~
A violent gust swept through, blowing the clouds apart.
An aircraft hovered above the clouds. The hatch was wide open, revealing a thin, frail figure.
It was Nagato.
To avoid Hidden Purple's search, Nagato had continuously flown the aircraft in circles around Kyoto City. As for the aircraft's technology, it came from Shennong's Sky Ninja Army.
Shennong received support from the Foundation, so of course he had to show sincerity back then.
With Nagato's real body present, Chibaku Tensei's power surged drastically. Medicine was continuously pumped into his body, turning into vapor that evaporated from his skin, releasing billowing pale-purple smoke.
His face turned a strange purplish-red.
"Itachi!"
Nagato roared hoarsely.
Uchiha Itachi did not disappoint him. Blood streamed from his right eye; Susanoo jerked the Totsuka Blade free and thrust it at Ryosuke.
At that moment, Konan closed her eyes.
Uchiha Itachi was laughing hysterically.
Great daimyō, ninjas, Oda Ieyasu, little Hideyoshi, Sakamoto, and all the people living in Kyoto subconsciously held their breath.
Nagato clenched his fist tight, waiting for the moment the dust settled.
Suddenly, he heard a whistling wind and, from the corner of his eye, saw a figure all too familiar.
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