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Chapter 195: Beginning the Return
Garp sat paralyzed on the ground, gasping for air. Hearing this, he grinned, revealing teeth stained with blood.
"Heh... Next time? Next time this old man will definitely beat the shit out of you!"
Kizaru also turned into a beam of light and landed, hands in his pockets, looking regretful.
"Oh my, what a pity. I thought I could get a kill reward~"
Orochimaru looked deeply at these three monsters, then waved to the Konoha ninja behind him. "Pack up, return to camp."
Just then.
Black Zetsu, who had been lurking in the Golden Lion's shadow, finally couldn't hold back.
He watched the Golden Lion preparing to turn and leave, anxiety burning in his heart. That Cloud kid had displayed physical talents that were simply unheard of, reminding him of Hashirama Senju back in the day.
A monster who could confront a Susanoo with pure physical strength... if allowed to grow, he would definitely become a huge obstacle to the "Eye of the Moon" plan!
Now was the best chance to kill him!
"Kill him!"
A cold, raspy voice abruptly sounded in the Golden Lion's mind.
The Golden Lion stopped, frowning. "Who?"
"I am the will of Madara Uchiha..." Black Zetsu's voice was full of temptation and urgency. "Tsubasa, you have already opened the Mangekyo Sharingan; you should be able to see the hypocrisy of this world. That Cloud kid is a huge threat. Letting the tiger return to the mountain now will cause endless trouble later! Ignore the cease-fire order, kill him! Do it now!"
The Golden Lion stood still, saying nothing.
Black Zetsu thought he was hesitating and continued to increase the persuasion. "Think about it, as long as you kill him, you eliminate a future great enemy. As for Konoha's punishment? With the Mangekyo, why care about a mere Konoha? Come on, do it..."
"You're noisy."
The Golden Lion spoke suddenly, his voice low, carrying a suppressed rage.
"What?" Black Zetsu was stunned.
"I said, you are very noisy!"
The Golden Lion suddenly whipped his head around, his crimson Mangekyo Sharingan staring dead at his own shadow.
In the next second, he raised his hand without warning, aiming at that patch of shadow.
"Get the hell out of there!"
Right Eye Technique Activated — Amenotokotachi!
BOOM!
A terrifying gravity instantly acted on the shadow. The originally intangible shadow seemed to become solid, forcibly "pulled" up from the ground.
"Wh... How is this possible?!"
Black Zetsu discovered in horror that he couldn't maintain his lurking state. He was forcibly dragged out of the ground by that domineering gravitational pull, suspended in mid-air.
It was a mass of black, sludge-like substance.
"'Madara's Will'?"
The Golden Lion looked at this pitch-black thing before him, an expression of extreme disgust on his face. "Looks like a piece of shit, and you think you're fit to tell me what to do?"
"You... Do you know what you are doing?!" Black Zetsu was shocked and furious. He never expected that this Tsubasa Uchiha would attack him! "I am the mentor who guided you to open the Mangekyo! I am..."
"I don't give a damn who you are!"
The Golden Lion interrupted him arrogantly. His long black hair danced wildly behind his head as his insufferably domineering aura exploded forth.
"Buzzing in my brain like a fly since just now!"
"I am the Golden Lion!!"
"I kill who I want to kill, and spare who I want to spare! When was it ever the turn of a pile of sludge to dictate my actions?!"
As the words fell, the Golden Lion clenched his right hand abruptly.
"Go to hell! Lion: Earth Curl!"
Rumble!
The surrounding rocks and soil seemed to be summoned, instantly shooting into the sky. They converged in the air to form a massive stone lion's head, which opened its bloody mouth and swallowed Black Zetsu whole.
Immediately after, terrifying gravity crushed madly inside the lion's head.
"Ahhhhh!"
Black Zetsu let out a miserable scream. But after all, he was a creation of Kaguya Otsutsuki; his vitality was ridiculously tenacious. Even squeezed into a thin pancake, he didn't dissipate.
"Eh? Pretty tough?"
The Golden Lion raised an eyebrow, the red light in his eyes intensifying.
"Then go up to the sky and get some sun!"
He swung his palm upward.
The giant rock lion head encasing Black Zetsu shot upward like a cannonball, carrying a piercing whistling sound, launching straight toward the sky ten thousand meters above.
Having done all this, the Golden Lion clapped the dust off his hands, looking refreshed.
"Phew... finally quiet."
Nearby.
Orochimaru watched this scene, his vertical pupils vibrating violently, cold sweat instantly soaking his shirt.
What was that thing? That black substance...
And the power Tsubasa Uchiha just displayed... controlling gravity?
Is this the pupil technique of the Mangekyo Sharingan?
Garp, meanwhile, stared dumbfounded at the sky. "That guy... is he crazy? Attacking his own people?"
Kizaru rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "So scary. Attacking at the slightest disagreement. Looks like I can't casually make him angry in the future~"
The Golden Lion turned around, not even sparing a glance for Orochimaru or Garp. Hands in his pockets, he walked with a strut that recognized no kin toward the Konoha camp.
"Let's go! Back to sleep!"
"This damn battle made my back ache."
The rain gradually stopped. Sunlight pierced through the dark clouds, sprinkling onto this devastated land.
Orochimaru watched the Golden Lion's receding figure, his eyes flickering uncertainly, finally hooking the corner of his mouth into a meaningful smile.
"Uchiha... truly an interesting clan."
He turned his head to look at Garp and Kizaru. "Well then, you two, until we meet again."
With that, Orochimaru's body turned into countless small snakes, burrowing into the ground and disappearing.
On the battlefield, only Garp and Kizaru remained.
"Hey, brat."
Garp struggled to climb up from the ground, grimacing as he held his wounds. "Fighting just now felt pretty good, didn't it?"
"Not at all~ I'm very tired too, okay?"
Kizaru shrugged and dissolved into photons, vanishing from the spot, leaving only a light sentence floating in the air. "Go back and treat the wound on your butt, otherwise it'll hurt when you sit~"
"Bastard thing!!"
Garp angrily picked up a rock and threw it fiercely at the sky, only to aggravate his wound, hissing in pain.
"Hiss... That brat Dragon did something big, huh? Kidnapping the Daimyos of the Five Great Nations!"
"When that kid gets back to reality, he won't try to pull this stunt too, will he?"
It was over.
This meat-grinder of a war had ended in such an absurd and dramatic manner.
Land of Fire Border, Nameless Wilderness.
The storm had just ceased, and the sky, cleared of dark clouds, presented a bleak, washed-out blue.
Dragon stood on a towering cliff. At his feet were the Daimyos of the five nations, scared out of their wits. These five old men, who usually held the power of life and death, now huddled together like quails soaked in rain, lacking the courage to even lift their heads.
"Brother Matsu..."
Yahiko stood behind Dragon, his voice trembling slightly. Looking at the back of this man, for some reason, a strong unease surged in his heart, as if he was about to lose something important.
Nagato and Konan also walked up; the three children keenly sensed the strangeness in the atmosphere.
Dragon turned around. That plain face belonging to "Matsu" showed a truly relaxed smile for the first time.
"I'm leaving."
A simple sentence, yet it froze the expressions of the three youths instantly.
"Leaving? Where to?" Yahiko stepped forward urgently. "The war has stopped, and we control the Daimyos. Now is the time to transform Amegakure and achieve peace! Brother Matsu, you are our leader, you can't—"
"Leader?"
Dragon shook his head, interrupting Yahiko.
He extended his rough, large hand, pressing it heavily onto Yahiko's orange hair and ruffling it vigorously.
"A true leader is never someone who sits in that position relying on force or intimidation."
"Yahiko, Nagato, Konan."
Dragon's gaze swept over the three of them in turn, his eyes so deep they seemed capable of holding the entire ocean.
"I have already flipped the chessboard for you."
"Those rule-makers who sat high above are now trembling at your feet."
"I have paved the road for you. How you walk the rest—whether to build a new order or become the next Hanzo—is entirely up to you."
Nagato looked at Dragon through his red bangs. "But... we need power."
"Power is in your hearts, and also in your eyes."
Dragon pointed to Nagato's eyes, then to Yahiko's chest.
Just then, a cold mechanical voice sounded in Dragon's mind, as well as on the battlefield thousands of miles away.
[Ding! Main Mission Completed.]
[Detected Critical Node: Five Great Nation Daimyos Captured, Great Ninja War Forcibly Terminated.]
[Dungeon Cleared!]
[Calculating Settlement...]
Dragon's body began to glow with a faint white light, like a firefly about to dissipate.
"Brother Matsu! Your body..." Konan covered her mouth in horror.
"Don't be afraid."
Dragon's voice became ethereal, his lower body already dissolving into particles of light.
"Remember, do not let hatred blind your eyes, and do not let power corrode your hearts."
"If one day, you lose your way..."
Dragon's figure completely dissipated into the wind, leaving only a sentence drifting in the breeze, deeply etched into the souls of the three youths.
"Go look at the people at the bottom of this world, and listen to their cries."
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