"Older Brother..."
Ashura's voice came from behind him.
Only then did Indra finally react.
He was probably the last person to realize that something had happened to Ashura behind him.
Originally, Indra had been standing in front of Ashura, blocking their father from this era and preventing him from sealing Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
He was not doing it for the mission on Naruto's mission scroll. To be honest, he was probably just trying to prove a point.
Indra had always regarded Ashura as weak, naive, and easily manipulated, someone who belonged within his protection. Even after the trial mission, that view had not changed. It was only because of their father's choice that Indra had refused to see Ashura again, unwilling to face his own defeat.
Later, his battle against Ashura had begun as an attempt to discover exactly how he was inferior to his younger brother. But because their father had given all his power to Ashura, it ultimately became a battle between Indra and his father.
Even now, Indra still could not understand why their father had chosen Ashura over him. He had only begun to recognize some of his own problems after comparing Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, as well as Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki.
But this time, having Ashura stand behind him reminded Indra of the little brother from their childhood who had needed his protection.
When Ashura passed his power to him, wind and lightning rubbed against and restrained one another. After a moment of silence, they gave birth to a new and even stronger power.
That power also happened to counter their father, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, to a certain extent.
Indra had obtained what he wanted.
It was much like the feelings Sasuke Uchiha had confessed to Naruto during their final battle.
He wanted his younger brother to remain behind him so he could protect him. At the same time, he feared Ashura surpassing him and was terrified that Ashura might disappear from before his eyes.
Fighting their father alongside Ashura today had filled Indra with exhilaration.
It felt as though Ashura, who had never understood him before, finally did.
Ashura was beside him.
Indra no longer needed to be troubled by Black Zetsu's old threat.
He would never need to sacrifice Ashura's safety in exchange for greater power.
Ashura would always be there.
"Ashura!!"
Right beside him...
Naruto's horrified cry interrupted Indra's thoughts.
From the corner of his eye, Indra saw Naruto's terrified expression as he rushed toward the space behind him.
Then Sasuke, Obito, Sakura, and the others charged over as well.
Even their father stopped trying to break through their defensive line and stared past Indra with wide eyes.
The Sharingan's vision was simply too sharp.
Reflected in those pale purple Rinnegan, Indra seemed to see everyone rushing toward Ashura behind him.
He also saw Ashura standing there in a daze, unable to react.
Everything else in Indra's field of vision rapidly contracted and expanded.
Only after everyone had gathered behind him did Indra stiffly turn around.
Ashura stood frozen in place. A dark gray object had pierced through him from behind, its tip protruding from his abdomen.
The area surrounding the wound had turned pale gray, like lime. The discoloration spread outward as his body cracked and shed fragments of dust.
"This is..."
Naruto went numb with shock. After those two words, he could not continue.
Adult Obito finished for him.
"It's Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's fatal technique, All-Killing Ash Bones."
While experiencing the life of Naruto Uzumaki from the main timeline, the mission scroll's special treatment had briefly returned him to the role of Obito Uchiha, allowing him to experience being killed by All-Killing Ash Bones firsthand.
It was a certain-kill technique.
Being struck by it meant inevitable death.
"Looks like... I let my guard down..." Ashura tried to sound relaxed, even making a joke that was not particularly funny. "Probably because I don't have Older Brother's Sharingan... or Uncle Hamura's Byakugan."
"Ashura... Ashura!!"
Indra's face showed a terror none of them had ever seen before.
After freezing for a moment, Sakura and Rin immediately rushed forward and began using Medical Ninjutsu on Ashura.
Young Kakashi noticed that the instant their hands began applying Medical Ninjutsu to Ashura's body, both girls trembled violently and recoiled slightly.
Naruto, Sasuke, Obito, and the others remained motionless behind them. They all knew that there was no cure for All-Killing Ash Bones.
It was the technique that had killed Obito Uchiha in the main timeline.
Even Naruto, after obtaining the power of the Six Paths, had been unable to stop it.
Minato still tried. He turned to Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki and Hamura Ōtsutsuki of this era and asked whether they knew of any solution.
Hamura Ōtsutsuki looked uneasily toward his older brother. This was the first time he had seen their mother use such an ability.
Their mother had ultimately never brought herself to use such a powerful, certain-kill technique against her own sons.
Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki thought of the same thing. He looked toward his mother, who was still fighting Madara Uchiha, Hashirama Senju, and the others, and was overcome by complicated emotions.
Madara, Hashirama, Izuna, and Tobirama had also noticed what was happening on the other battlefield.
But to prevent Kaguya from breaking through their defensive line, they could only maintain their rhythm and continue fighting, keeping the powerful Rabbit Goddess occupied for everyone else.
Ashura remained standing in the same position.
He looked like a statue on the verge of crumbling.
The part of his back touched by the All-Killing Ash Bones had already turned completely to stone. It broke down into ash and fell through the air with a soft rustling sound.
His chest and abdomen were in slightly better condition, but no blood flowed from his damaged skin, muscles, or internal organs. Everything around the wound had transformed into gray ash, cracking and shedding dust.
Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki attempted to use Yin-Yang Release.
Just like Naruto in the main timeline, the most he could do was slow the spread of All-Killing Ash Bones.
The young Rikudō Sennin gritted his teeth.
"You truly should never have traveled to our era."
This was the first time Naruto had experienced such a crushing sense of helplessness.
Sasuke felt the same way, especially after recently regaining the warmth of family he had once lost.
So did Sakura, Rin, Young Obito, and Young Kakashi.
Almost every journey through time had brought danger, but never true disaster. With Naruto's courage, Obito's passion, Sasuke's intelligence, Kakashi's calm judgment, and the steadily improving Medical Ninjutsu of the two girls, they had saved parallel world after parallel world.
They had believed that their persistence would change something this time as well.
But...
Sakura and Rin continued trying.
Hamura Ōtsutsuki activated his Byakugan and examined the flow of chakra inside his future nephew's body.
"Starting from the wound, his chakra pathways have been completely severed. His heartbeat and blood flow are also becoming extremely slow and weak, as though they are gradually turning to stone."
He looked at Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki beside him.
"Older Brother..."
A trace of grief passed through the young Rikudō Sennin's eyes.
"Even Yin-Yang Release is powerless. It can only sustain him for a little longer and delay his death."
After a pause, Hagoromo asked, "Is there anything you want to say?"
In other words, did Ashura have any final words or anything he wished to entrust to someone?
Indra had remained completely dazed until now.
His pupils suddenly contracted.
Within those tightly narrowed eyes, an overwhelming madness began to brew.
Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki and Madara Uchiha, both of whom possessed the Rinnegan, seemed to sense something. They spared a glance toward Indra, who was about to lose his brother.
Indra's attitude toward Ashura had always been difficult for them to understand.
At first, they had assumed that Indra simply disliked Ashura and looked down on him.
Only recently had they begun to realize that this was not the case.
Perhaps it was the exact opposite.
Hagoromo seemed to understand Indra's emotions through his own experience. He remembered awakening the Rinnegan when Hamura had died before his eyes.
At least back then, Hagoromo had known that Hamura could be revived with the talisman Gamamaru had given him.
But now...
He could only place a solemn hand on Indra's shoulder.
"Anything you wish to say to your younger brother, say it now."
Smack!!
Indra slapped Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki's hand away as though he were the murderer who had killed Ashura and now stood there mocking him.
The fury and despair within Indra resembled a carp preparing to leap through the Dragon Gate. A dark purple silhouette fought against the current, thrashing its powerful tail again and again as it struggled to cross the final barrier.
It was as though the chakra within their bodies had begun resonating.
Madara Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha turned toward Indra.
The deaths of their brothers had paved their paths into hell.
Rage and despair had driven them against the vortex that threatened to swallow them, hurling themselves upward again and again toward the gates of hell.
They had transformed ordinary mortals into demons and gods.
As that same rage and despair grew within him, Indra heard the words Black Zetsu had spoken to him when he was a child.
["An even greater power lies dormant inside you. Training alone cannot awaken it."]
["You must lose love."]
He had to lose the one he loved.
["For example, the person you love most must die."]
Ashura's... death.
For so many years, Indra had feared this possibility.
Black Zetsu's words had haunted him like a curse, driving him to become stronger, even stronger than his father, until he no longer needed Ashura's death to gain power and could protect his most important person.
His one and only younger brother.
He wanted to protect Ashura's innocence and smile.
But why...
Why had things turned out this way?
Even though Indra resented his father for choosing Ashura instead of him, he had never imagined that Ashura, whom he had always kept safely behind him, would one day leave him like this.
Thump.
Thump.
As his despair approached the limit of what he could endure, Indra felt the scene before him contract uncontrollably.
Every sound in the world faded away.
"The last time... I saw Older Brother look like this... was probably when Shiro died... Hehe..."
"Ninshū... really should... be inherited by Older Brother..."
"I'm sorry... Older Brother..."
...
An emotion that a thousand years of reincarnation could never erase.
Countdown to Indra's madness.
***
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