The moment Terumi Mei and Ryosuke met eyes, she could tell that Ryosuke's mood wasn't right.
But she didn't say anything more. She shook the wine bottle in her hand and walked over to sit beside Ryosuke.
She took two wine cups, and the two of them drank cup after cup. Neither of them opened their mouths to speak.
Fortunately, after knowing each other for so many years, they had long passed the stage where falling into silence would feel awkward.
If Ryosuke wanted to talk, Terumi Mei would listen, would comfort.
If Ryosuke didn't want to talk, she would just quietly accompany him.
No one knew how much time passed before Ryosuke asked, "How many people died this time?"
For Ryosuke's first sentence after opening his mouth to be this question, Terumi Mei wasn't surprised at all. She said, "Eight hundred twenty-four Kirigakure ninjas, nine hundred seventy-three of the Extinction Army, and one thousand three hundred twenty-nine of Oda Ieyasu's samurai."
A total of three thousand one hundred twenty-six deaths.
Compared to the number of deaths in the Three Nations Allied Army, "only" a little over three thousand could be considered a great victory.
But that was for the "history books."
Behind three thousand one hundred twenty-six was the corresponding three thousand and more grieving families.
Ryosuke took a sip of his wine.
"I will make them pay the price."
Terumi Mei didn't ask who "they" were, nor what kind of price would be paid. She just quietly looked at Ryosuke's side profile, just like that night after overthrowing Yagura's tyranny, on the night of the celebration.
That night, Terumi Mei had also sat beside Ryosuke, tilting her head to look at him, listening to him say, "I want to continue this 'fire of happiness' with you, until the world is at peace."
Back then, Terumi Mei only felt those words sounded beautiful, but were too distant, so distant that she couldn't see where the road ahead even was.
No one expected they would actually achieve it.
So, Terumi Mei believed in Ryosuke.
If he said he would make the ones who caused the war pay the price, then they definitely would pay it.
A gust of winter cold wind blew past, and Terumi Mei rubbed her hands.
Ryosuke took out a blanket from the ghost room and draped it over her.
But Terumi Mei raised her arm, like a big-sister type, and covered Ryosuke under the blanket as well.
"I'm not cold," Ryosuke said.
"I think you're cold."
Ryosuke smiled and didn't say anything else.
A single-person blanket, with two people squeezed under it, felt a bit too short. Terumi Mei shifted her hips, and the two of them rested shoulder to shoulder, enjoying this rare quietness.
No one knew how much time passed before an even breathing sound came from beside Ryosuke.
Terumi Mei had fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder.
She was truly exhausted.
Before coming here, Terumi Mei had still been working in the Kirigakure office.
Although she didn't go to the front lines in order to sit in command at the village, the mental stress of ruling the entire situation had consumed a huge amount of her energy as well.
Now that she relaxed, drank a little wine, and with a beauty (?) at her side, Terumi Mei could no longer resist her drowsiness and fell into a deep sleep.
Ryosuke gently tapped his index finger on the ground, releasing a ripple that spread around them, blocking the howling cold wind.
Then he opened the system interface and began checking all the gains from this time.
When Ryosuke was in the Sea Territory of the Land of Hot Water and wiped out the suicide squad, he had accumulated almost twenty-five thousand.
Killing Nagato earned 2000.
Defeating Two, Three, Four, and Five-Tails earned 2300.
Killing Zetsu earned 700, along with a drop of "Ink of Destiny."
Plus the scattered points from the Daimyo ninjas, samurai, and mercenaries, the total soul fragments now were…
'Forty-two thousand.'
He didn't even bother to look at the small change.
Rich.
Ever since Ryosuke came to the Naruto world, he had never been this wealthy.
He finally understood what it meant to profit from war.
Forty-two thousand soul fragments, even if he used six thousand to upgrade C-Moon from level five to the full level of level six, the remaining thirty-six thousand, converted into limited-time pulls, was 360 pulls.
At a probability of pulling one Stand every 160 pulls, he could roughly pull 2–3 Stands, and at minimum five-star.
'Even if my luck is terrible, it'll be one six-star and one five-star.'
'If my luck is better, I might directly get two six-stars. Besides, 160 pulls for one is only my estimation. The system doesn't clearly state a pity system. If luck is even better, maybe I can pull three or four six-stars…'
Ryosuke closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and stopped fantasizing before drawing.
He prided himself on being calm and collected, but every time it came to gacha, he still couldn't help but produce excessive fantasies and expectations.
"Better take a look at the other thing first."
[Ink of Destiny]
This was an item that had never appeared in the system before. Ryosuke opened the detailed description.
[Name: Ink of Destiny]
[Ability: Ink condensed from drawing out the power of destiny of the world, able to grant a Stand that has reached its limit the opportunity to surpass its limits]
[Note 1: Since it is ink, it must be used together with a "pen."]
[Note 2: Using the power of destiny will inevitably require paying the price of destiny at some moment in the future.]
The description wasn't complicated.
But the information it contained was a lot.
The first was the ability, "Grant a Stand that has reached its limit the opportunity to surpass its limit."
What did reaching its limit mean?
The only thing Ryosuke could think of was six-star.
Star Platinum: The World, Killer Queen, Bites the Dust, C-Moon, all of them were six-star Stands, the highest level of Stand that could be drawn from the system.
Even in limited-time pulls, only six-stars could be drawn, "seven-star" Stands didn't exist.
But this led to a problem.
Heaven Ascension?
Gold Experience/Silver Chariot, Requiem?
Soft & Wet: Go Beyond?
These Stands clearly surpassed the six-star category. Among them, Heaven Ascension was even the superior form above C-Moon.
"The power of destiny, this is the key to reaching the ultimate."
Any one of the above Stands, take it out casually, those moon aliens, those ninja-world conspirators, all of them would be nothing but weak chickens and stray dogs before it.
The only question was…
'How do I use this thing?'
Note 1 required using it together with a "pen."
But what pen?
Ryosuke pulled out the fountain pen from Terumi Mei's bun, but it had no effect.
It was obvious that this "pen" did not refer to a real-life fountain pen, but some type of much more special existence.
'The Ink of Destiny was obtained after I killed Black Zetsu.'
'After Black Zetsu died, the system prefix was 'Child of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya'… what normal person could give birth to a puddle of black sludge?'
Recalling the appearance of Black Zetsu attached to White Zetsu's body, Ryosuke couldn't help but think of Venom from Spider-Man.
'This 'Ōtsutsuki Kaguya'… could she be an alien?'
'Mother of Venom?'
Ryosuke shook his head.
'Alien or genetic mutation, whatever.'
Now that Ryosuke had won the war, as long as he spent time and effort investigating, he would ultimately find information regarding Kaguya and Black Zetsu.
As for the price in Note 2.
Ryosuke looked up at the bright moon overhead.
'Only those who survive have the right to consider the price.'
If Black Zetsu truly was an alien, then that meant the "thing" on the moon had started invading the ninja world long ago. No one knew if there were other aliens in high positions, or if they had secretly formed some organization.
Being capable of crossing the universe meant that aliens, whether in technology or in physique, had to surpass the current ninja world in at least one aspect.
Ryosuke had finally defeated the Daimyo and the big corporations, and was about to live a good life with the comrades who trusted him. He did not want everything to end with aliens stealing the fruits of his victory.
Of course, thinking about that now was too far ahead. Better to wait for Junyan Hayato's investigation results on Black Zetsu and Kaguya.
Ryosuke put the Ink of Destiny back into the system.
'Now there's only one question left.'
'For the limited-time gacha, to pull, or not to pull?'
After all, the chance was only once.
The more he saved, the more he could pull.
Should he keep hoarding like a storage mouse?
Ryosuke silently stared at the system.
'Draw!'