He won. Ryuji won.
He shattered the fate of this world. Or perhaps, the world itself never had a fixed fate; it was just the affairs of the Six Paths' family that entangled the entire world.
During the confrontation, there was no sudden power-up, nor any unexpected interference altering the outcome. Naruto survived simply because Ryuji held back at the crucial moment.
Now that it was confirmed this world had no unbreakable fate, or that fate could be broken, Naruto's value alive was greater than his value dead.
Whether it was his physique as a member of the Uzumaki Clan, the Nine-Tails' Chakra, or even Asura's Chakra, all held immense research value.
At the very least, he was also an insurance for the future sealing of Kaguya.
What would a Shinobi Village do upon discovering an enemy spy?
Kill them?
No, that's the final measure.
Before that, the Shinobi Village would pretend not to have discovered them, then use the enemy spy to transmit the information they wanted the enemy to receive.
To put it bluntly, it's about keeping everything under their control.
After all, regarding spies... as long as other Shinobi Villages exist, it's impossible to eliminate them all.
Rather than having unknown enemies lurking in the village, it's better to feign ignorance and keep the enemy's movements firmly in hand.
Ryuji's current situation was somewhat similar.
Killing Naruto would just cause another Asura's Reincarnation to appear, one that would be beyond his control.
Although his own existence and actions were changing the future, pushing the situation into the unknown, this unknown could be anticipated and steered in the direction Ryuji desired.
…
"Naruto!"
Seeing Naruto lying in the deep crater, Minato couldn't help but exclaim.
The next instant, Flying Thunder God Technique was activated. He appeared beside Naruto, intending to take him and leave.
But the moment he heard the exclamation, Ryuji guessed Minato would act this way. Anticipating it, he threw a punch.
Bam!
Minato flew out, dissolving into a puff of white smoke. Another Minato appeared from the other side, picked up Naruto, and flew away.
Minato possessed extremely high combat awareness. Having suffered a setback once before, he knew Ryuji had formidable predictive abilities.
His earlier exclamation would have definitely alerted the opponent. If he foolishly teleported over, he would likely repeat the same mistake.
So, he went along with the situation, first using a Shadow Clone to deceive him into attacking, then seizing the chance to rescue Naruto.
Ryuji also reacted instantly, raising his hand and firing an explosive bullet towards Choza in the distance.
However.
The Chakra gathering in his palm halted halfway, suddenly smoking and ceasing. The mechanical whirring sound also died down.
'Out of Chakra.'
A single Rasenshuriken would consume about one-third of Naruto's Senjutsu Chakra. The Blaze Release Rasengan was also a perfected stage of the Rasengan, with nearly identical Chakra consumption.
Just one use had drained half of Ryuji's Chakra.
Adding the consumption from earlier battles, the remaining less-than-one-fifth Chakra would affect the basic operation of the armor if he used another Ninjutsu.
This was also why Ryuji generally didn't use this Ninjutsu.
After all, the power arm of Armor possessed strength not inferior to Tsunade's, sufficient to deal with most enemies.
In fact, enemies who could force Ryuji to don the Armor for combat were exceedingly rare. This was the first time.
However,
The fact that Ryuji used such a technique despite knowing energy was tight meant he no longer needed to worry about Chakra consumption.
"Give me Chakra!"
Ryuji raised both hands, adopting a posture ready to receive.
Minato, who had just leaped back to Choza's side and was considering whether to seize the chance to defeat the enemy upon hearing the mechanical shutdown, looked up at the sound.
He saw a lightning-bolt-shaped purple Chakra streak shooting from a certain tall tower.
Crackle!
The lightning struck Ryuji, but he remained unharmed. Instead, he absorbed the energy, filling himself with it. The entire armor erupted with purple Chakra.
Yes, Gin had found Mukade's workshop.
And guided by the enslaved people of Roran, she had located this mechanism controlling the Dragon Vein Chakra.
It was precisely because Ryuji knew this through the Sea of Consciousness that he so lavishly used the Blaze Release Rasengan.
Otherwise, to counter Naruto's final attack, he had over a hundred different methods.
"Run!"
Without another word, Minato grabbed Choza and Naruto and leaped away.
"Thinking of leaving now? Too late!"
Powerful Chakra erupted from Ryuji's body. Dense swarms of Scarab puppets scattered in all directions.
The Scarab puppets previously damaged in the battle automatically repaired themselves and joined the search operation.
Then, he raised his right arm, firing a purple ray from his palm.
The ray exploded in the sky like fireworks, but these 'sparks' fell upon the deactivated knight puppets, each one opening purple eyes and starting to move autonomously.
These were artificial souls Ryuji had prepared in advance. They only carried simple combat memories, intended as parts for emergency puppet repairs while in the field.
Now, Ryuji activated them all, implanting them into the puppets Mukade had created. Their numbers were staggering… over five thousand.
"Ahahahaha..."
Feeling this immense quantity, Ryuji couldn't help but laugh loudly. "Today, I'll make you understand who owns this desert!"
Mukade lacked autonomous puppet technology and the ability to control so many puppets simultaneously. Yet, he built so many puppets to dominate the Shinobi World... Was he planning to stay near the Dragon Vein forever, relying on infinite Chakra to exhaust any invading enemies?
But what if the enemy ignored you?
And with that, you still want to dominate the Shinobi World?
Utterly foolish!
While observing the search operations of the puppet army through his vastly expanded Sea of Consciousness, Ryuji walked towards Mukade's workshop.
Gin had captured a very interesting individual there.
A short while later, an explosion sounded from a tower several hundred meters away.
But as hundreds of puppets directly surrounded the area, the sounds of battle quickly ceased.
Minato destroyed several puppets before teleporting away with his comrades.
Yet, it wasn't long before they were discovered again.
The longer the teleportation distance with the Flying Thunder God Technique, and the more people or larger the objects carried, the greater the Chakra consumption.
Repeating this several times, Minato was drenched in sweat, exhausted, with little Chakra left.
After another teleport, they hid inside a tower.
Minato, pale-faced and panting heavily, leaned against the wall, sitting down.
He quickly swallowed a soldier pill to rapidly recover stamina, while his mind raced, thinking of an escape plan.
He hadn't left coordinates outside Roran, and he couldn't teleport three people very far.
Just then, Naruto's figure began to fade.
Minato was momentarily stunned, then realized… Naruto was returning to the future.
Although unsure of the reason, he made a final effort to erase each other's memories.
No matter what, it was best for the past and future not to intersect.
After doing this, the dense puppet army once again surrounded this place.