Chapter 123: No One Left
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +1,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +1,000,000!]
[Chakra (675,070,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +1,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +1,000,000!]
[Chakra (676,070,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +100,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +100,000!]
[Chakra (676,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
...
As Renji approached step by step, the system notifications kept ringing.
Too many ninja littered the field to pinpoint the sources, but Renji knew the truth: the spike intensified with every inch closer to Naruto.
Naruto stood motionless, watching Renji's approach through the haze of dust and despair.
Surprisingly, calm. No terror in those eyes, no plea for mercy.
Renji halted inches away, towering over him. "Are you scared?" he purred, flashing a grin that revealed gleaming white teeth, sharp as a predator's.
Naruto's Nine-Tails Mode flickered like a dying flame, his form battered and ragged—a disheveled stray cat after endless torment. And oh, the joy in toying with such a broken thing—who could resist?
Naruto shook his head slowly. "No."
His eyes held layers of sorrow as they flicked to Kurama, the great fox's neck strangled by Madara's unforgiving chains. No more Tailed Beast Mode. No escape.
He couldn't save Kurama. Couldn't redeem Renji. Couldn't even cling to his own life.
"Naruto, let me tell you a truth: I've always hated you. I never saw you as a friend. I've always wanted to crush you."
The words hung in the air like poison mist. Renji watched Naruto's eyes redden, his own manic smile gleaming back from those shattered pupils, savoring the raw agony blooming there.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +10,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +10,000,000!]
[Chakra (686,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
"Renji! No!"
Sakura's voice cracked across the wasteland, hoarse and desperate. Hands clawed at her, allies trying to drag her back, but she broke free, charging like a ghost driven by madness. "He's Naruto!"
Too slow. Far too slow.
Renji's palm slammed onto Naruto's seal.
Power erupted in a violent torrent. Kurama's colossal body convulsed, a thunderous roar tearing from its jaws as the Tailed Beast was wrenched free, bonds of flesh and chakra ripping apart in slow, excruciating agony.
"Roar!"
Kurama's crimson slits blazed with primal rage, locking onto Renji as if to swallow him whole. But the beast's struggles were futile against the Outer Path Demonic Statue's purple chains—they coiled like serpents, yanking the fox into the abyss of its maw with merciless force.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +10,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +10,000,000!]
[Chakra (696,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
The spark in Naruto's eyes dimmed, fading to nothing. A Jinchuriki's life ends with the beast's extraction—simple, inevitable.
Naruto's chin slumped against Renji's shoulder, body sliding down like a discarded puppet.
Renji shoved him away as if tossing garbage, the corpse hurtling back into the rubble with a dull thud.
Eight-Tails Killer Bee followed suit, his end just as swift, just as meaningless.
Now, all nine Tailed Beasts lay sealed within the Outer Path Demonic Statue.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +10,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +10,000,000!]
[Chakra (706,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +10,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +10,000,000!]
[Chakra (716,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +1,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +1,000,000!]
[Chakra (717,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
...
"Naruto!"
Sakura collapsed beside the body, hands pressing rhythmically in futile CPR, ignoring the still heart beneath. Lost in denial, she poured her last chakra reserves into him, as if sheer will could defy death.
"Enough."
Sasuke's grip clamped her wrist. He glared down at Naruto's pallid face, cold as stone. "He's dead."
Sakura froze, her form rigid, a hollow shell.
Only when Sasuke turned toward Renji did she stir, staring at his back with wide, haunted eyes.
"Where are you going? Don't go, Sasuke!" she pleaded, voice breaking.
She couldn't witness another slaughter at Renji's hands.
Sasuke shrugged her off effortlessly, striding forward without a backward glance.
The Kusanagi hissed free from its sheath. A glacial light gleamed in Sasuke's eyes.
In a blur of lightning, he surged at Renji.
Boom!
Renji sidestepped with effortless grace. An invisible, unbreakable ice blade coalesced in his hand, clashing against the Kusanagi in a shower of sparks.
"I taught you Chidori," Renji taunted, his gaze piercing Sasuke's scarlet Sharingan. "And now you're wielding it against me?"
The air trembling between them. Renji's lips curled into a sadistic smile, his eyes glinting with cruel amusement. "Sasuke… you don't actually believe those borrowed eyes from Itachi make you my equal, do you?"
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +1,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +1,000,000!]
[Chakra (718,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
Sasuke remained wordless, a shadow in motion. Flames erupted, engulfing Renji in a roaring sea. Water cascaded from Renji's palm like a deluge, birthing thick white mist that shrouded the field.
As it parted, Susanoo's blade cleaved downward. Renji vanished, reappearing at Sasuke's back, lightning crackling hungrily in his fist.
The Sharingan whirled. Susanoo interposed just in time, deflecting the killing blow. Between the giant's palms, a ferocious Kirin of sapphire and silver coalesced, roaring forth in a storm of destruction.
Renji stood rooted, unflinching. He extended a single palm.
The beast dissolved into nothingness upon contact.
"Absorbed?" The distant remnants of the Alliance gasped in terror. Renji's eyes now swirled with the Rinnegan's ominous rings.
"Sasuke, you'll forever be that pathetic child. Utterly outmatched."
"And do you know why you'll stay that way?" Renji locked eyes with him. "Cuz you don't have enough… hatred, ahaha," Renji burst into laughter.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +5,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +5,000,000!]
[Chakra (723,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
Echoes of Itachi's words fueled Sasuke's fury, pushing his Eternal Mangekyō to the edge.
A colossal giant surged from the ground—Complete Susanoo, mountain-tall, longsword raised. It descended like divine judgment.
Renji's expression held no fear. What better to humble Susanoo than Wood Release?
"Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
Atop a thousand-foot wooden behemoth, Renji stood unyielding. Massive palms shot forth, seizing the blade mid-arc.
Sparks ignited the air.
But this was mere foreplay. The statue's myriad arms unleashed a tempest—fists raining down in a barrage, shattering the indomitable armor. Cracks webbed, widened, until Susanoo crumbled to dust.
"Sasuke, enough of this childish tantrum."
Renji flickered into view. His ice blade plunged through Sasuke's chest.
Sasuke's eyes bulged, defiance warring with defeat. Not again—not to him.
Blood bubbled up, splattering Renji's face in warm crimson.
"Sasuke, to claim these eyes, you sacrificed everything," Renji grinned, his pupils drinking in the reflected gore. "Parents, clan, brother... Yet you squander them so carelessly."
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +1,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +1,000,000!]
[Chakra (724,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
"You oppose me... but look around—who stands with you?" Renji's eyes scanned the huddle around Naruto's corpse. "No one. They're all scrambling for a dead fool. Not a soul spares a thought for your fate."
Renji's brow creased in feigned sympathy. "How ironic, isn't it?"
He kept the blade embedded. Waiting, savoring.
"Nothing... to ponder," Sasuke gasped through the fire in his chest. "Renji, you still don't grasp it. I'm not their ally. I'm just... your opposite."
A weak smile etched his ashen face. "Now... remember: I'm Uchiha Sasuke."
Renji absorbed the words. Waited. No notification.
He yanked the blade free. Blood sprayed hot across his skin.
"Sasuke!"
Karin's cry shattered the silence, her chakra bursting wild as she ran toward him.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +10,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +10,000,000!]
[Chakra (734,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
"Sasuke!" She cradled his limp form, slashing her arm and pressing it to his lips. But it was pointless.
"I'll kill you!" Karin howled, Adamantine Chains bursting forth like vengeful serpents.
Bang!
They cratered the ground. Renji had evaporated. A frigid hand seized her neck from behind.
"Since you're begging for it, I'll indulge you."
Crack!
Bone snapped clean. Karin's body went ragdoll limp. Renji discarded her like debris.
Suigetsu and Jugo stared.
"I want him dead!"
"Same!"
"But we're outclassed!"
Their eyes turned to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru: "Even I can't touch him."
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +10,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +10,000,000!]
[Chakra (744,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
"I don't understand."
Sakura muttered, shambling forward, brushing off restraining hands. Tears long gone, she halted before Renji.
"You'll end me too, right?" Her voice was a chilling monotone. Eyes dead voids. She extended a trembling hand, pressing it to his chest, feeling the rhythm. "It's beating."
Renji smiled, indulgent. "It can stop."
And it did—ceasing abruptly. Yet he breathed, moved, unchanged.
"Are you... dead?" An epiphany flickered in her eyes. "Renji, you perished long ago, didn't you? This you... a revived puppet under control. Hasumi Maki too. It has to be—the Revivalist Alliance."
"Heart or no heart," Renji murmured, "it lost meaning to me long ago."
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: +10,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: +10,000,000!]
[Chakra (754,170,000 / 10,000,000,000)]
His fingers crept upward, encircling Sakura's neck. "I'm sorry, Sakura."
From her head downward, she bloated like a grotesque balloon, warping into a four-armed abomination—forehead protector clinging stubbornly. A monstrous bellow escaped as she exploded into fragments.
Now, from Team Seven, only Renji endured.
He pivoted. Far off, Madara had devoured the Divine Tree, ascending as the new Ten-Tails Jinchuriki—white robes flowing, Truth-Seeking Orbs orbiting like dark sentinels.
Senju Tobirama, the revived Hokage, hung impaled on Madara's chakra rods, nailed to the soil.
"I've longed for this," Madara's cold eyes bored into Tobirama.
The Five Kage were dead. The Jinchuriki were dead. Sasuke was dead. The Alliance was 99% dead.
A peculiar aura prickled Renji's senses—novel, ancient.
Fused with the three Sage Arts, capable of birthing his own Truth-Seeking Orbs, Renji recognized it instantly.
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths.
He was here to give Naruto and Sasuke a revival buff.
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