Shigeo answered Kakashi first.
"Then why could bijū chakra kill Zero-Tails?" Kakashi asked again. He would report details to the Third. Myōjinmon and Mokuton had failed. Why did bijū power work?
Everyone wondered.
"Because of Zero-Tails' origin." Shigeo turned. He still looked eight or nine, but now he seemed like a terrifying, strange giant to them.
Their eyes showed distance, suspicion, fear, reverence.
Shigeo ignored them and said, "You probably don't know. Zero-Tails arose from the darkness of human hearts. It's more an existence of consciousness than a flesh body. That's why physical attacks can't kill it. As long as that darkness lives in Shinnō and Zero-Tails, it keeps manifesting. Unless you can purge all the darkness inside it…"
"And then? Bijū attacks will work?" Kakashi was confused.
"If Zero-Tails is born of human darkness, the best way to remove darkness is sunlight—yang, warmth. So I called the bijū chakra inside me, and I used yang-type chakra. Bright, vast, it drives darkness nowhere to hide. I used yang bijū chakra to burn Zero-Tails and Shinnō to ash. White against black. Yang against yin."
They admired him. The child was sharp and capable.
"Then… if we tried, could we remove Zero-Tails?" someone asked cautiously, hoping for a polite answer.
"You mean can human kindness reform Zero-Tails?" Shigeo read his thought.
The man nodded. Shigeo said, "I'm no saint. I don't know that. But converting a monster without humanity is harder than cutting it down."
He turned to leave. Someone asked, "And Wuyouhua? Did you really use a chakra pathogen to infect the Fagui through hair?"
"Chakra has no virus. Hair might." Shigeo called back from the sky. Then his figure vanished. Wuwang Castle drifted away into the distance.
On the shore the Five Villages' shinobi stood looking south, stunned and quiet.
The boy's name was Shigeo.
—
Above the southern sea, in Wuwang Castle, the crowd on the ramparts erupted in earth-shaking cheers.
Below, Wu Mang stood ready with three thousand soldiers. Wu Qianling stood with a dozen guards. Each guard had a large jewelry chest at their feet.
Shigeo landed before Wu Mang and Wu Qianling. "Ah. You prepared all this for me?"
"Yes. Thank you!" Wu Qianling rushed forward and hugged him. Tears fell. She clung to him, moved.
"Did you find your mother?" Shigeo asked. He remembered the real Wuyouhua. They had not seen her.
"We found her. She's been taken to the hospital." Wu Qianling wiped tears and smiled.
People surged forward. "Little hero, thank you! Let me see him—don't crush him—move back…"
Shigeo floated and waved them quiet. "Don't get worked up. We're alive."
The simple fact moved everyone. If Shigeo hadn't come, they might all have been sacrifices for that witch.
"Master, three thousand soldiers await your order. Please inspect." Wu Mang dropped to one knee. His soldiers followed. The entire city knelt.
"Stop that." Shigeo landed and helped them up. "You don't have to. I did it for money, right?"
He reached and folded the ten great treasure chests into extra-dimensional space. "These are all mine, yes?"
"Of course, Shigeo-oniisan. They're yours!" Wu Qianling cried.
"Enough thanks. I should return and report." He handed Wu Qianling a book of medicinal formulas. "This is the antidote recipe for the witch's poison. Prepare one pill per person and it'll cure the toxin."
"Shall you stay?" Wu Qianling clung to his finger.
"I must go. The mission is over. I need to report." His meaning sank in. He had come on the witch's commission but did nothing for her; she had died by his hand. It was not a failed mission.
"Shigeo-oniisan, please stay." Wu Qianling hugged him again. Others begged him to remain. "The lord will reward you when she wakes. We haven't thanked you properly."
"No." Shigeo pushed gently. "Ten chests are enough. I'll take the pay and leave. I'm a wanderer. I can't stay with so many people. It's late."
"Master!" Wu Mang knelt again. "If you refuse, we can only die to show gratitude!" He drew a curved blade. Three thousand soldiers followed suit, drawing weapons.
(End of Chapter)
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