'It's coming!'
The Tailed Beast Bombs entered the three-kilometer gravitational radius.
Almost at the same moment, everyone saw a faint deviation in their flight path.
As they drew closer, the angle of deviation grew larger and larger.
If they continued on their current trajectory, the Tailed Beast Bombs would veer upward and narrowly graze past Kyoto City.
The people within Kyoto City were just about to open their mouths to cheer.
But...
In the distance, Obito's Sharingan spun, controlling the tailed beasts to detonate eight of the Tailed Beast Bombs behind the others midair.
The explosions' shockwaves came from the rear, causing the ten remaining bombs in front to suddenly surge forward at even greater speed.
Under C-Moon's gravitational control, the bombs were still being pushed upward, but because of their accelerated speed, they would hit Kyoto City before they reached the sky.
Nagato stared fixedly at Ryosuke.
He also possessed the ability to manipulate gravity, and he didn't believe the current deadlock could be solved with "gravity" alone, unless one had the legendary power of the Sage of Six Paths, the power to form the moon itself.
"You… what are you going to do?"
Ryosuke stood atop the city wall.
Surrounded by crimson-gold ripple flames, he heard the voice of the world itself, countless gazes, hopes, and concerns converging upon him, like wisps of hazy violet aura carrying intertwined karma, swirling around his body.
Under the watchful eyes of countless people, he raised his right hand.
Rumble!
The earth cracked with fine fissures.
The broken ground began to lift, floating up in chunks of varying size.
Surging crimson-gold flames spread outward from beneath Ryosuke's feet, flowing into the cracks of the earth. All the floating stones were dyed in blazing fire.
But it still wasn't enough.
Ryosuke seized a strand of that hazy violet aura and stripped away the parts belonging to the corporations, Nagato, the daimyos, and shinobi, keeping only the "will" of Kyoto City's millions of citizens, and infused it into the flames.
That shared will resonated through the ripple's connection, becoming the hottest kindling in existence.
Whoosh!
A faint wind brushed by, and at the tip of the crimson-gold flame appeared a tiny, yet dazzlingly pure white blaze.
Now it was enough.
Ryosuke calmly looked at the Tailed Beast Bombs, now less than a hundred meters away.
At that distance, in less than half a second, they would strike.
But they would never fall.
Ryosuke gently raised his hand and pointed to the sky.
In that instant, all the floating stones shot upward like a reversed downpour, or fireworks ascending into the heavens, and exploded against the Tailed Beast Bombs.
Half of the ten Tailed Beast Bombs were destroyed on the spot.
The rest were continuously bombarded upward, until they finally reached hundreds of meters above Kyoto City, then, with a thunderous boom, they exploded.
Brilliant fire bloomed, scattering countless tiny sparks tinged with glowing hues.
The shattered fire-stars drifted gently down.
Nagato weakly raised a hand, catching one small ember.
The faint spark reflected in his eyes.
From youth to this moment, his eyes had once held hope, grief, despair, and resolve, but now, all those emotions were gone, leaving only a hollow gray emptiness.
"I… lost."
Nagato collapsed to the ground, unable to stand again.
———
"Hurry! Faster!"
Sweat poured down Obito's forehead as he urged the six tailed beasts to quickly undo their transformations so he could throw them into Kamui space and escape.
The moment C-Moon appeared behind Ryosuke, Obito had already planned to run.
He had never seen C-Moon before, but if anyone in the ninja world had the most experience getting beaten senseless by Ryosuke, it was him.
He had developed a severe case of PTSD.
Every time Ryosuke summoned a new "Stand" he hadn't seen before, it basically meant Obito's plan was doomed.
Back in the Land of Water, and later at the Roran Ruins, Obito had been too slow to flee and nearly got wiped out. He survived only by sheer luck.
But luck can only save you once, not for life.
After the battle at the Roran Ruins, Obito had made up his mind,
Between him and Ryosuke, there could only be one.
Until he obtained power capable of completely crushing Ryosuke, the two of them would… Never meet again.
BOOM!!!
A massive "firework" bloomed in the sky.
Obito didn't even look up.
That's how ghost stories begin, once there's a strange sound, if you look up, the moment you lower your head again, the ghost is already there in front of you.
His Sharingan was spinning so fast it almost smoked, but the six Tailed Beast hosts were chosen by the corporations, they'd never trained properly, so it was impossible for them to quickly retract the tailed beasts.
"Damn it! Can't wait any longer!"
Obito grabbed two of the half-transformed hosts and threw them into Kamui space, not bothering to wait for the others, and hurriedly activated his space-time jutsu to flee.
Almost the instant he vanished, countless burning stones streaked across the sky and came crashing down.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A chain of explosions blasted the ground and the four remaining tailed beasts.
The earth was left pitted with craters, each one filled with roaring crimson-gold flames, viewed from afar, it looked exactly like a scene from hell.
The four abandoned tailed beasts were Matatabi the Two-Tails, Isobu the Three-Tails, Son Goku the Four-Tails, and Kokuō the Five-Tails.
With Obito gone, the four tailed beasts gradually broke free of his Sharingan's control.
They couldn't remember exactly what had happened, only that they'd once again been manipulated by that wicked Uchiha, and rage swelled violently within them.
Just then, a storm of flaming meteors came crashing down on their heads, making them dizzy with pain from head to tail, all four on the verge of going berserk.
Humans...
Humans had gone too far in bullying tailed beasts.
The four tailed beasts all opened their massive mouths, roaring toward the sky. Their combined voices shattered the clouds, their fury and madness chilling to the bone.
"Shhh."
Ryosuke's voice came from above.
Hearing that voice, Matatabi and Isobu froze at once.
Sealed memories rose from deep within them the instant they heard it, and before memory came another feeling,
A primal, instinctive fear of life itself.
They stiffly lifted their heads to look at the sky, meeting Ryosuke's gaze.
He raised his index finger, placed it against his lips, and said softly, "Be quiet."
Matatabi and Isobu obediently shut their mouths.
They remembered.
They remembered everything.
All the tailed beasts and hosts who had ever challenged Ryosuke, only Killer B, the Eight-Tails host, was still alive.
And that wasn't because of his strength, but because his kneeling-and-begging-for-mercy speed was faster than that of the previous hosts, Yugito Nii and Yagura. That was the only reason he survived.
Matatabi and Isobu had barely been revived for a few days before Akatsuki captured them again.
Now, seeing Ryosuke appear overhead once more, the two shrank their necks instinctively, the turtle-like Isobu doing this especially well, his eyes even turning clear and watery.
They tugged on their two other companions, whispering frantically, "Don't go! Don't be rash!"
But…
They were cowards.
Son Gokū and Kokuō were not.