Again?!
After Ryou smashed a patch of muddy ground with a punch below, he couldn't help but complain in his heart.
Fine, fine, fine, you want to play like this? Then I'll play too!
Ryou's body shifted, and he used the Body Flicker to vanish, grabbing a Root Ninja and releasing Raikiri aimed at the man's head.
Ryou shouted at Minato, "Minato, don't think you're the only ones who can do this. Look closely, this is a Konoha Ninja, a fellow villager of yours."
"Now his life and death are within my grasp. Turn around and leave this country immediately, or I'll kill him."
"..."
Minato looked at the Konoha Ninja caught by Ryou and was suddenly stunned.
Although the people of Root were mission machines who killed without blinking an eye abroad, the Konoha headband on his head meant he was a Konoha Ninja.
Everyone in the Village spoke of the Will of Fire, of protecting comrades and protecting the Village.
But when the critical moment truly arrived, most people still prioritized their own interests, choosing the side that benefited them most.
Minato could not leave the Land of Rain and allow Ryou or Madara to obtain the Rinnegan.
But doing so meant abandoning a comrade from his own Village.
He could find countless reasons to convince himself.
For example, the Rinnegan was more important, the mission was more important, and Madara must never be allowed to obtain the Rinnegan.
The Root Ninja always wore a mask, and Minato had never even seen his true face; such a person was a die-hard loyalist of Danzo and could be discarded by Danzo at any time.
But abandoning a comrade was still abandoning a comrade; even if Minato became Hokage, he would feel guilty because of today's events.
Yet a Hokage was no naive 'White Lotus'; he was someone capable of bearing the darkness, and he would always make the best choice under the most unfavorable circumstances.
"I'm sorry, Root Ninja."
Minato looked at the Root Ninja in Ryou's hand with a expression of guilt.
Ryou smiled, "If the one in my hand were Kushina, Minato, would you still be able to say those words?"
"..."
Minato fell silent; he suddenly gained insight into his own heart, realizing that he, too, was a selfish person.
He couldn't help but feel ashamed for it.
The person below chose to abandon, but the person above would not give up even if it happened ten thousand more times.
Nagato reached for his eyes, even more decisive this time than the last.
It was true that the Rinnegan gave Nagato great power, but in the end, it could not compare to the bonds of comrades!
If he couldn't even protect his most precious comrades, then how could he speak of breaking the curse of the shinobi world?
Konan watched with extreme pain.
This group of them was too naive, too green.
They thought the world could be set ablaze and human hearts awakened, but in reality, the world was occupied by a group of cold monsters with human blood all over their mouths.
Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from the ground; it was Ryou's clone hidden beneath the earth, which grabbed Hanzo's leg and released powerful lightning.
Hanzo cried out in pain from the electricity and couldn't help but let go of Yahiko.
Nagato was pleasantly surprised and used Bansho Ten'in on Yahiko, who moved rapidly toward Nagato's direction.
Everything seemed to be heading toward a happy ending; Nagato and Konan were on the verge of saving Yahiko.
At the critical moment—
Aburame Ryoma made his move, transforming into a swarm of insects to block the path in front of Yahiko.
Danzo laughed loudly, "That's it, Ryoma! Now it's my turn to control Yahiko."
But Danzo suddenly stopped laughing, because Yahiko held Exploding Tags in the palm of his hand while his other hand formed a seal.
Yahiko gave Nagato and Konan a brilliant smile, just like when they first met.
"Nagato, take good care of Konan!"
"No—"
BOOM—
A violent burst of fire erupted from Yahiko's body, blowing him to pieces.
Nagato was instantly stunned in place, his palm still held in the pose of the Bansho Ten'in jutsu.
This time it was no joke; Yahiko was not Ryou, he didn't have those forbidden jutsu, nor was he as hard to kill.
Yahiko only had one life.
Yahiko was dead, died before Nagato and Konan's eyes, died in the flames, died because of his own naivety.
In the next moment, the Rinnegan was fully unleashed!
Boundless dōjutsu power erupted from Nagato's pupils, and shockwaves resembling Shinra Tensei surged outward in all directions with him as the center.
The Amegakure Anbu were sent flying into the sky one by one.
Nagato let out a roar to make the world feel pain: "Summoning: Gedo Statue!"
Konan tried desperately to stop him: "Nagato, you can't use that move!"
Once the Gedo Statue was summoned, it would drain Nagato's life force.
Such a grand commotion drew everyone's gaze.
Minato gripped his Kunai, looking at the hills above with a trace of sadness: "Yahiko is dead!"
Minato agreed with Yahiko's ideas on peace; if it weren't for the matter of Madara and the Rinnegan...
Perhaps they would have sat down, brewed a cup of tea, and chatted about the issue of peace, discussing how to break the curse of the Ninja world.
But the world was simply like that; eight or nine times out of ten, life does not go as one wishes, and unbelievable things are everywhere.
Perhaps one day, Minato would die at the hands of his own student.
Ryou also turned to look at the Rinnegan's dōjutsu power erupting from Nagato; it was a visibly powerful force, and at this moment, Ryou was no longer a match for Nagato.
He looked at Yahiko's body, which had been blown into only half a torso; at this moment, Konan was holding Yahiko's corpse and weeping bitterly.
Ryou felt extremely pained for them and sighed, "Yahiko, in the end, you still couldn't escape this fate."
Taking advantage of the moment Ryou let his guard down, the Root Ninja in his hand suddenly moved, detonating the Exploding Tags all over her body.
"Lord Minato, I am very grateful that you could spare a few extra glances for someone like me. To be cared for by a great person like you, I am already satisfied."
In the light of the explosion, the Root Ninja took off her mask.
The pupils of both Ryou and Minato constricted simultaneously.
Beneath the cold mask was actually the face of a young woman; she was quite delicate-looking, and she gazed at Minato with a very gentle smile.
That was likely the first time she had smiled since joining Root!
BOOM—
Those of the Root have no name, and no feelings. No past, no future, only the mission in their hearts.
But as long as one is human, how could they have no feelings?
Perhaps that female Root Ninja was a former classmate of Minato's who secretly loved him, and felt no regrets because Minato could spare a few extra seconds on someone like her.
Perhaps she had always been in hell, and it was Minato's struggle over his choice that allowed her to grasp a beam of light, a light to escape from hell.
Minato's azure eyes reflected the light of the explosion, also carrying a hint of tears, as he blamed himself: "But I clearly already abandoned her."
Yes, Minato had already abandoned her; was it because of his earlier hesitation during the decision?
She, simply, only needed that insignificant bit of concern.
After the smoke from the explosion cleared, Ryou crawled out from the ground and wailed loudly.
"Sister, if you had taken off your mask earlier, I wouldn't have grabbed you!"
Ryou hadn't even cried when Yahiko died, but when such an unrelated beautiful female Ninja died, he cried like a child.
When Ryou was at the Konoha Hospital, he didn't know most of the Jonin who had made outstanding contributions to the Village.
But for the slightly attractive female nurses, he was familiar with every single one; he could even call out the childhood names of those female nurses who had just entered the hospital for internships.
This comrade's greatest characteristic was his love for looking at beautiful women.
Minato held his Flying Thunder God Kunai and looked at Ryou solemnly: "Uchiha Ryou, I will kill you today."
Ryou squeezed out some hypocritical tears: "Minato, I won't kill you, but I will take away everything you love most."
"Your Village, your comrades, your... Kushina!"
Minato bit his finger and pressed it against the earth: "Summoning Technique!"
Ryou also bit his finger, pressed it against the earth, and activated a summoning.
But even more violent than theirs was Nagato's Summoning Technique; he summoned the Gedo Statue!