Ryoma and Kushina returned to the Uzumaki Courtyard.
"Mother Mito!"
As soon as Kushina saw Uzumaki Mito, she dashed forward and clung to her like an affectionate child.
"You're already this old, and you still act so spoiled," Mito teased gently. Despite her words, her eyes softened with warmth as she ran her fingers through Kushina's fiery red hair.
"Ryoma," she said, glancing at him with calm wisdom. "You came here for something, didn't you?"
"Yes, Grandma Mito," Ryoma replied respectfully. "It's like this…"
He didn't bother with pleasantries and went straight to the point. After explaining the situation, Uzumaki Mito immediately understood and began to assist him without hesitation.
The sealing process went smoothly.
When it came time to seal away the last fragment of the Nine-Tails' chakra still residing within Mito, Ryoma hesitated for a brief moment. He considered extracting it entirely. After all, leaving it behind could become a potential danger in the future.
However, seeing the frailty of Mito's aged body, he decided against it. Forcefully removing it could cause irreparable harm. Instead, Ryoma opted for a safer method—reinforcing the seal so that even someone from the Ōtsutsuki Clan wouldn't be able to undo it easily.
By the time the sealing was complete, Mito's complexion had turned pale and weak. Ryoma pressed a palm against her chest, sending a stream of gentle chakra into her system. Gradually, her breathing stabilized, and color returned to her face.
At that very moment, a thunderous explosion echoed from afar.
Ryoma's eyes instantly sharpened.
While performing the sealing earlier, he had sensed an unfamiliar chakra signature entering Konoha's barrier.
"So," he murmured, his gaze narrowing. "Ōtsutsuki Shiki and Sasuke have already started fighting."
A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "To cause chaos in my village... how foolish."
"Find death!"
In the next instant, a torrent of chakra erupted from his body, shaking the surrounding forest as if responding to his fury. Trees bent under the pressure, their leaves swirling violently.
"Kushina," Ryoma ordered firmly, "stay here and look after Lady Mito."
Before Kushina could respond, a powerful burst of wind exploded from beneath Ryoma's feet. His figure vanished from sight, cutting through the air as he sped toward the source of the explosion near the Hokage Building.
The street near the Hokage Building had been completely devastated.
A powerful energy wave had ravaged the area, leaving rubble and scorched earth in its wake. As the smoke cleared, a towering purple avatar came into view—a half-formed Susanoo, now cracking under the immense pressure.
Inside, Sasuke stood bloodied, his lips and arms streaked with red. Even his second-stage Susanoo hadn't been enough to fully block the enemy's devastating attack.
"Hoho…" A calm, almost amused voice echoed from above.
Floating mid-air was Ōtsutsuki Shiki, gazing down at the fading Susanoo with intrigue.
"So this is the famed ocular power of the Uchiha—the Sharingan's ultimate technique?"
He chuckled lightly. "Interesting. I thought that blast would have ended you… yet you still draw breath."
The ANBU operatives who had followed Sasuke were all pale with disbelief.
What kind of monster is this Ōtsutsuki? they thought. He's terrifying—like a Tailed Beast in human form!
"Let's end this with the next strike,"
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki said with a cruel smile, his voice dripping with arrogance.
But before he could act, the air above them erupted with a sharp, thunderous boom.
Urashiki's pupils contracted as he instinctively looked up.
With his Rinnegan's perception, he saw it instantly—a black shadow, tearing through the air from nearly a kilometer away, moving at impossible speed.
The figure's gaze was locked directly onto him.
Wh—
Before the thought could form, the black shadow had already crossed the distance.
In the blink of an eye, only a hundred meters separated them.
"Impossible!" Urashiki's expression twisted in alarm.
Acting purely on instinct, he activated his teleportation technique—the Thousand Paper Crane Instantaneous Body—vanishing in a blur of white light and reappearing several dozen meters away.
A fraction of a second later—
BOOM!
The world split apart.
The impact hit like a falling meteor. The ground fractured and buckled, shockwaves blasting through the streets as debris rained down. The spot where Urashiki had stood moments ago was now a massive crater, the earth shattered beyond recognition.
And standing at the center of that crater was a man.
Black hair, black eyes—his expression cold and unyielding. His presence alone distorted the air.
Urashiki's eyes widened in disbelief.
"The Rinnegan…?! Who are you?!"
He could hardly comprehend it.
Another wielder of the Rinnegan? Here? How?
Ryoma said nothing. His gaze remained fixed, his tone calm yet suffused with quiet menace.
"Don't you feel it?"
"Huh?" Urashiki frowned, but before he could question further, a strange sensation hit him.
He looked down—and froze.
His left hand, the one that had been gripping his fishing rod, was gone.
Blood gushed from the severed limb, pooling at his feet. The pain hit an instant later.
"You—!"
Urashiki's expression twisted with fury as he quickly gathered chakra to suppress the bleeding. His remaining hand clenched into a fist, trembling with anger and disbelief.
Ryoma stood calmly, holding Urashiki's severed arm as if it were nothing more than a discarded twig.
When…?
Urashiki's thoughts raced. I used the Thousand Paper Crane Instantaneous Body—how did he even touch me? Was it before I cast the technique?
But before he could make sense of it, his Rinnegan pulsed sharply with pain. His body's every cell screamed in warning.
This man… is dangerous. He's nothing like the others I've fought before.
From the edges of the ruined street, the surviving Konoha shinobi stared at Ryoma in awe and relief.
His mere presence seemed to restore order amidst the chaos.
"As long as Ryoma's here… everything will be fine," one whispered.
"Wood Release: Wood Clone."
Ryoma pressed his palms together, forming a single-handed seal.
Dozens of Wood Clones sprouted from the ground and scattered in all directions. Some moved to guard the perimeter, while others knelt beside the injured shinobi, channeling healing chakra into their wounds.
As the warm, life-filled chakra coursed through them, the wounded could feel their pain melt away.
Hatake Sakumo—Konoha's White Fang—watched this in quiet astonishment.
As expected of the man who carries the same power as the First Hokage, he thought. Even his healing chakra feels divine—overflowing with vitality.
"Ryoma," Sakumo called out, his tone serious. "This enemy isn't ordinary."
"Yeah," another shinobi added. "He can absorb chakra—just like the others from the Ōtsutsuki Clan!"
Ryoma's Wood Clone turned its gaze toward them and nodded once, his expression calm but his voice firm.
"I know."
Ryoma's Wood Clone gave a slight nod in response.
He already knew that Ōtsutsuki Urashiki possessed the ability to absorb chakra-based attacks.
That was why Ryoma didn't waste time using ninjutsu — instead, he focused entirely on taijutsu, channeling his physical strength to strike the enemy directly.
Meanwhile, Sasuke's injuries were being treated personally by Ryoma himself.
Thanks to the protection of his Susanoo, Sasuke hadn't suffered any major wounds — mostly superficial cuts and bruises. Within seconds, under Ryoma's precise healing, even those faded away.
When he was certain that Sasuke's condition had stabilized, Ryoma turned his gaze toward Urashiki once more. Without another word, he stood and began walking toward him, each step calm yet filled with pressure that made the air feel heavier.
Sasuke looked up, his voice quiet but steady.
"Dad… be careful."
Ryoma paused for just a moment, his expression unreadable — then continued forward.
...
TN:
🦊 Pa-treon-com/LordMerlin (+30 Chaps)
(Support me! 😊)