Chapter 362: Being a "Sphere" Is Hard Work
Never once having gotten to take part in a group quest, Wandering Earth said it was more than willing to admit — openly, on the record — that it was jealous.
Unfortunately, its own size was simply too absurd. Wherever it went, the destination world tended to end up ruined.
Fair enough, really — it was, after all, an entire Earth. A planet of unknown diameter, unknown mass.
Take this latest mission, for instance — helping Ryū and the others wipe out the Void Beasts in the Naruto world. If Wandering Earth had tagged along too, the Naruto world's own planet probably would have been finished off entirely.
The Ancient One's mirror-space, at its absolute maximum, could only stretch to about a fifth the size of the Naruto world — and the Naruto world's planet was roughly Earth-sized. Which meant, at best, the Ancient One could open a mirror-space about a fifth of Earth's own size. Wandering Earth's colossal bulk simply had no way of squeezing in.
It had to be said — a sad and tragic little story, that one. But Wandering Earth wasn't the type to let itself get discouraged. If anything, it had thrown itself into self-improvement with renewed determination.
It had already decided, some time ago, that it wanted to cultivate a "spirit body" of its own — and had been at it for a solid half a month already.
Once it managed to pull that off, maybe it could send its "spirit body" across into other worlds instead — no risk to any mission world's actual planet that way.
Wandering Earth suddenly felt like life was a bit unfair. It had already spent time training in both Haki types, spent more time cultivating Ki, and now it wanted to master a "spirit body" on top of everything else.
There weren't many in the group who'd spread themselves this thin across so many different systems. Really, only Yukari — that youkai sage endlessly fascinated by other worlds' cultivation methods — had dabbled this broadly, touching and actually training in nearly every system going.
Come to think of it, Wandering Earth wasn't the only member who'd never taken part in a group quest — Hinata and Sakura hadn't either. Even the members who mostly lurked, popping up in the chat only once every few days, had all gotten in on a group quest at some point, one way or another. Worst case, they'd tagged along on the fringes of one — and riding along for the Points still counted as participating, didn't it?
Well... they'd all gotten some kind of reward out of it, so close enough.
As time slipped by, the chat group's members drifted off one by one, leaving the Naruto world behind.
The Ancient One found a sprawling stretch of grassland somewhere in the Land of Fire and emptied the mirror-space of Void Beast corpses there.
It was hard to imagine what any of the Naruto world's own inhabitants would think if they ever stumbled across that mountain range of bodies.
As for decomposition — creatures this powerful, even in death, probably wouldn't rot away even after centuries. Let alone breed any bacteria; whether harmful microbes could even take hold on Void Beast flesh at all was practically an open historical mystery of its own.
There was a decent chance that mountain-sized graveyard would end up becoming one of the Land of Fire's more famous landmarks, honestly.
At the edge of what had been Konoha — now a massive crater — four figures stood together: Ryū, the Ancient One, Kaguya, and Yukari.
Ryū swept his gaze over the vast crater. This was where Konoha used to be. Now it was just a hole in the ground — not even Ichiraku Ramen had survived.
Wait — no. As his Observation Haki swept across the crater floor, the corner of his mouth twitched.
Because down at the bottom of the pit, his Haki had picked up a large wooden sign, half-buried in rubble. Only half of it was visible, but he could make out two characters clearly: "Ichiraku."
Just seeing those two characters was almost enough to make him want to say something.
In the middle of a disaster this catastrophic, that sign had somehow survived intact. Was Kishimoto's sheer force of will keeping that thing standing, or something?
Shaking off the stray thought, Ryū turned to the Ancient One. "You're sure the Time Stone can put the whole place back together?"
The Ancient One gave a small nod, not bothering with the Void Beast blood still smeared across her face, and answered with a quiet smile. "After that last hundred thousand Points came in, I spent half of it boosting my proficiency with the Time Stone. Restoring this place shouldn't be a problem."
She drew the Time Stone out from the pendant at her neck, cupped the glowing green gem in her palm, and drew a slow, deep breath.
Under the others' watch, a jade-green magic circle spread across her palm, ancient in design, enveloping the Time Stone entirely.
An instant later, the Time Stone released a blinding wash of green light — bright enough to sting the eyes even from twenty or thirty kilometers away.
Time itself seemed to lurch into motion, running backward — backward — backward — backward...
The reversal seemed unstoppable. Bit by bit, the massive crater began reshaping itself into what it had once been.
Torn-up grass and trees grew back into place. Rubble and soil crept back to fill the pit. The cracks in the earth slowly sealed shut.
It was like watching a video run in reverse — the Time Stone's power on full, spectacular display.
The green glow lasted roughly half a minute before finally fading away, revealing an enormous village standing whole once more.
By pure coincidence, the spot where the four of them stood turned out to be right at Konoha's front gate. Looking up, the characters spelling out "Konoha" were plainly visible, and through the gate itself, glimpses of the village beyond could just be made out.
The Ancient One tucked the Time Stone away, looking rather pleased with herself. "Points really do go a long way. My command over the Time Stone's just reached a whole new level, it seems."
Her gaze drifted, briefly and without lingering, toward Kaguya and Yukari. Something seemed to click for her, and she gave a small cough before continuing. "Well, it's getting late. I'll head out first, Mr. Admin."
Once the Ancient One had gone, it left just the three of them — Ryū, Yukari, and Kaguya.
Seeming to pick up on some faint shift in the mood, Kaguya tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes drifted a little, as if something were weighing on her mind, and she pressed her lips together before speaking. "Um... Admin-sama, Yukari-nee, I should get going too."
Once Kaguya had left as well, a good five or six seconds passed in silence.
Then Yukari's voice broke it, faintly teasing. "Yaraya~ra. Our eternally-single Admin-sama really does have quite the knack for turning heads around here, doesn't he? Wonder where that comes from."
Ryū glanced sideways at her, thoughtful. "Must be the good looks. Born with it — can't really help it."
Yukari: "...Never in my life have I met someone so utterly shameless."
"Learned it from you."
"Oh? Really, now?"
"Really."
"Hmph."
"..."
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