Carrying the completely sealed Isshiki with him, Seiryū arrived just in time to witness what was happening on the battlefield.
"Night Guy!"
Seeing that his companions were still unable to defeat Madara, Guy finally unleashed his last resort and opened the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
With the others helping to create an opening, the full power of the Eight Inner Gates erupted from Guy's body. The crimson aura surrounding him transformed into the shape of a dragon, radiating an overwhelmingly fierce presence.
'Boom!'
Guy's final kick struck Madara squarely in the chest.
Terrifying power erupted instantly. Even Madara, who had become the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, could not withstand the attack. He violently coughed up blood as nearly half his body was destroyed by the kick.
'Rumble!'
Madara plummeted from the sky like a meteor. He crashed into the ground with a deafening roar, creating an enormous crater as countless cracks spread outward from the point of impact.
"The rest is... up to you."
After unleashing his final attack and burning away his life force, Guy's remaining time began to run out. This was the price of opening all Eight Inner Gates.
His body looked like scorched charcoal and barely retained a human shape. His right leg had been shattered, while his life force had weakened to an almost imperceptible level.
With nothing more than an ordinary human body, Guy had temporarily unleashed Six Paths-level power and severely injured Madara in a single strike!
"Guy!"
Kakashi flashed to his side. The moment he saw Guy's condition, he drew in a sharp breath.
Kakashi had also trained in the Eight Gates, so he knew perfectly well what opening the Eight Inner Gates Formation meant.
A trace of grief appeared in his eyes.
"Haha... This is my youth, Kakashi. This is enough!"
Perhaps it was one final moment of clarity. Although Guy's voice was extremely weak, he still forced himself to raise a thumb toward Kakashi.
His father had once protected the people important to him, and now Guy had done the same.
That was his youth.
"You."
Kakashi looked at him, the sadness in his eyes deepening. Still, he kept his composure and spoke softly.
"If this was another one of our contests, then you won."
"Then you... won't get the chance to... even the score later. Hahaha."
Guy's voice was barely louder than a whisper, and his life force flickered like a candle on the verge of going out.
Kakashi said nothing. He simply stayed beside his best friend, powerless to stop what seemed inevitable.
"All right, enough with the sentimental drama."
Seiryū suddenly appeared beside them, his tone full of disdain.
"What's with two grown men acting like this? Anyone who didn't know better would think you two were a couple."
"Kaidō."
Yang Power flowed into the Kaidō and descended over Guy, immediately beginning to repair his injuries.
In the original story, Naruto's Yang Power had been enough to save Guy's life. Seiryū was not only capable of using Yang Power, but was also an expert in Medical Ninjutsu. For him, completely restoring Guy was not particularly difficult.
"Ah."
As the Kaidō entered his body, Guy felt his exhausted and ruined body being nourished by an incomparably comfortable sensation. An extremely strange expression involuntarily appeared on his face.
Seiryū's mouth twitched.
If possible, he really did not want to use this particular Kaidō on a man.
It was far too uncomfortable to look at!
Kakashi also fell silent at Guy's strange expression. However, seeing Guy's life force rapidly recovering, he finally relaxed.
"Thank you for saving Guy. I."
"In another timeline, we're friends. Of course I'm not going to stand by and watch one of you die."
Seiryū waved a hand and interrupted him. He had no interest in listening to another sentimental speech when saving Guy had been something he could easily do.
"Stay here and look after him, Kakashi. I'm going to check on that troublesome woman."
With that, Seiryū disappeared and reappeared beside Tsunade elsewhere on the battlefield.
He grinned at her.
"Not bad, troublesome woman. You actually awakened Wood Style."
"But compared with the version of you from my world, you're still far too weak. Make sure you train properly from now on."
"Troublesome woman?"
Tsunade glanced at him. She was still deeply curious about this supposed partner of hers from another timeline.
"Is that some kind of nickname you gave her?"
"You could call it a nickname, but it's also an accurate evaluation!"
Seiryū sounded indignant.
"She's terrible. She has no dignity as an adult at all. If I add everything up, she's cheated me out of nearly ten million ryō!"
He sighed dramatically.
"Since you're technically another version of her, how about paying off the debt for her?"
Tsunade stared at him speechlessly before the corner of her mouth twitched.
"I'm not her! Go collect it from her yourself!"
"Damn, you're a troublesome woman too. Paying back what you owe is only natural, and you're actually trying to dodge the debt?"
"Why would a debt belonging to another version of me have anything to do with me? I didn't even know you existed until today!"
Tsunade curled her lip. This was ridiculous. Had this brat really followed a debt all the way into another timeline?
After a moment, she added, "Wait. Aren't you and that version of me... together? Shouldn't the debt have been written off by now?"
Seiryū immediately put on a serious expression.
"I think that's exactly what she was planning from the beginning. She set her sights on me so she could avoid paying me back by marrying me!"
Tsunade fell silent.
She wasn't that shameless.
Probably.
"Anyway, it has nothing to do with me. I'm not her!"
"Fine, fine. You're both troublesome women, but at least you're more reasonable than she is. If it were her, my face probably would've met her fist halfway through that sentence."
Tsunade was silent again.
The image was disturbingly easy to imagine.
It was absolutely something she would do.
"Can she actually beat you?"
"Do you think that's possible?"
"Then why are you afraid of her?"
"What kind of question is that? I like her!"
Tsunade had no response.
She felt as though she had just been force-fed an unbearably sweet display of affection.
Although she had not known Seiryū for long, she was already beginning to suspect that this brat was somewhat unreliable.
Then she remembered something.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"By the way, you said earlier that you're Rin Nohara's boyfriend. What's that supposed to mean?"
Seiryū immediately adopted a completely righteous expression.
"What else would it mean? Who decided a person can only have one partner?"
Tsunade stared at him.
"???"
What exactly did he mean by that?
Seeing her expression, Seiryū became even more serious.
"Don't judge me by Konoha's customs. I'm the Regent of Rōran."
"Rōran doesn't practice monogamy, and I'm a very law-abiding person. I don't do anything illegal!"
Tsunade's expression became one of complete disbelief.
"I... No. She agreed to that?"
The version of herself from another timeline was actually only one of this brat's partners?
Could that really happen?
Would another version of her tolerate something like that?
Seiryū answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why wouldn't she agree to something that isn't against the law?"
"That's impossible!"
Tsunade knew herself far too well.
There was no way she would accept something like that.
She narrowed her eyes and stared hard at Seiryū.
"What did you do to her?"
Seiryū looked puzzled.
"What do you mean, what did I do?"
Then he seemed to realize what she was asking.
"If you mean why she accepted me liking more than one person, I suppose it had something to do with my determination."
"Determination?"
"Uh... well."
Seiryū immediately became evasive.
That particular incident was one of the more embarrassing moments in his past, and he had no intention of explaining it.
So he very "cleverly" changed the subject.
"Oh, right. Kaguya has been resurrected. I should go check on that!"
Before Tsunade could ask anything else, Seiryū disappeared in a flash.
Watching him leave, Tsunade furrowed her brows and muttered to herself.
"How could another version of me agree to something like that? Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
(To be continued.)