In front of a palace atop Mount Meru, Kakashi battled four strange shinobi dressed entirely in black, a short ninja blade clenched in his hand.
One of them—a snake-like man who had fused with a two-headed serpent through the Ghost Bud technique—let out a warped laugh.
"Kid… you were lucky enough to escape death once, yet you come back just to die again? Truly stupid."
"I have to get Obito out!" Kakashi growled.
Despite his body being covered in wounds, the fighting intent burning in his eyes showed no sign of weakening.
With another sharp swing of his blade, he severed a venomous snake flying toward him.
"Over here, brat!"
A crushing impact struck Kakashi from the left—another of the strange shinobi had slammed into him, kicking him through the air.
As the four enemies closed in, Kakashi's hand quietly reached for the explosive tags in his pouch. If it came to it, he was ready to take them down with him.
But before he could act, a familiar figure appeared in front of him in an instant.
"L-Lord… sensei!?"
"Leave the rest to me."
Under Kakashi's stunned gaze, Ryoma stepped forward. Chakra radiating a terrifying, destructive aura poured out of him in waves.
"He called you teacher… Are you—are you Ryoma!?"
Among the four enemies, the scantily clad woman suddenly went pale.
The other three realized it too, their bodies trembling as they stared at him.
After all, the man standing before them was a legend of the shinobi world—no, at this point, a legend of the entire continent.
While they had prepared themselves mentally to oppose Konoha, the reality of facing him was overwhelming.
The pressure of Ryoma's presence alone felt like a mountain crushing down on them, making even breathing difficult.
"Don't fear him… Don't fear him…"
The snake man hypnotized himself repeatedly. Then he suddenly bit the tip of his tongue and weaved hand seals.
"Summoning: Twin-Headed Snake!"
"Snake Web!"
At his command, the twin-headed snake spat out a newborn two-headed serpent… which in turn produced two more, and so on—multiplying like a binary tree until an overwhelming net of serpents surged toward Ryoma.
But the moment the technique clashed with Ryoma's chakra, the snake man realized how foolish he had been.
The ninjutsu he prided himself on was worthless before this monster.
Before the countless snakes could even reach Ryoma, they were pulverized by the pressure of his chakra alone.
Less than a tenth of a second later, Ryoma was already standing before the snake man.
In Ryoma's eyes, the man had no existence at all—nothing more than a pocket of air.
Bang!
A single shockwave turned the snake man into shredded flesh. He hadn't even lasted a second.
Ryoma flicked his hand casually.
Another of the black-clad shinobi exploded into pieces before he could utter a word.
His gaze shifted to the terrified woman.
With one downward strike of his palm, her skull shattered.
"Kakashi, let's go."
Ryoma then stepped forward and kicked the massive palace gates.
The ten-meter-tall doors shattered as he strode inside without hesitation.
Inside the palace, Hiruko stood at the center of a ritual array.
Before him were five wooden X-shaped frames, each holding an unconscious shinobi possessing a Kekkei Genkai.
Above them, the ceiling opened into a massive hollow that faced the sky.
The sun was in the midst of a solar eclipse. Darkness covered the heavens, the full moon blocking the sun's brilliance. Only a thin golden corona shone through, falling onto five circular skylights of different colors.
This refracted light illuminated the five Kekkei Genkai hosts.
Their bodies immediately began to blur, as though fading from the physical world.
"When the sun hides behind the moon… when the evil light of the golden ring eclipses the earth… the conditions of Heaven and Earth shall be complete."
Gazing at the bound Obito, Hiruko's voice trembled with excitement.
"Uchiha Obito… your Sharingan will become mine!"
As soon as his words fell, Hiruko's body began to twist and writhe. His lower half melted into a mass of slime-like flesh that split into countless tentacles, wrapping around the five shinobi possessing various Kekkei Genkai.
"Ah… after receiving the power of the Golden Ring Eclipse Radiance… finally! My fusion is perfect!"
After dragging the five into his grotesque body, Hiruko closed his eyes in pleasure, unable to suppress the shiver of ecstasy running through him.
At that moment, two figures dropped into the ritual chamber.
"Obito!"
Seeing Obito and the other Kekkei Genkai hosts being consumed, Kakashi shouted in rage and shock.
Hearing Kakashi's voice, Hiruko's attention shifted.
His gaze swept past Kakashi without a hint of interest—landing directly on Ryoma.
As the ruler who had unified the entire continent and the shinobi world, Ryoma's image had long spread across every land. Hiruko had studied it obsessively, regarding him as the highest peak to surpass.
And now, after consuming Obito and the others, gaining five Kekkei Genkai at once, he believed the time had finally come.
"Ryoma! You're too late!"
Hiruko laughed wildly.
"Uchiha Obito has already merged with me!"
Power surged violently through his body, steam hissing from the seams of his swollen form.
"So this is the power of the Uchiha clan… hoh… magnificent."
Despite having absorbed only a portion of Obito's chakra, Hiruko could feel it flooding through him like a chemical reaction boosted by a catalyst—rising endlessly, overflowing, threatening to explode.
A single gesture felt powerful enough to create a storm.
He looked at Ryoma, who stood there with the same expression as always—calm, unmoved, almost bored.
Instead of angering him, this only made Hiruko sneer.
Now that he had achieved perfection, he believed Ryoma no longer mattered. A "weak creature" like him wasn't worth getting upset over.
"Just wait. I'll change that expression of yours into pure fear and despair."
But before he even finished speaking, a dark blur filled his vision.
Ryoma had already moved.
Within a heartbeat, faster than the limits of Hiruko's dynamic vision, Ryoma stepped forward. Only when the air cracked like thunder did Hiruko register that he had appeared directly before him.
Countless tentacles shot toward Ryoma in reflex, but they were a fraction of a second too slow.
Ryoma calmly pressed a palm onto Hiruko's swollen torso.
From that touch, more than ten Wood Release arms erupted—piercing directly into Hiruko's body.
"Aaaaah—!!"
Hiruko's scream echoed across the chamber.
"Found it."
The wooden arms, attuned to chakra signatures, had located the presence of Obito and the others inside Hiruko's fused form.
With a single pull, Ryoma ripped all five of them free—completely unhindered.
(End of Chapter)
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