This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 263 The End of the War and Ashura, Indra, and the Sage of Six Paths

Black Zetsu just can't understand this!

When he said he was relegated to Sunagakure, he wasn't asking why he should stay there... Ryuji Ayaki was born in Sunagakure, and it was inevitable that he would rise to power with the village's strength.

But what he couldn't understand was that Sunagakure had started setting up the defensive system of the castle walls five years ago, embedding the Twelve Golden Men into the walls.

With twelve warriors possessing combat power comparable to the Wood Release: Wood Release or the Complete Susanoo, plus a floating continent that no other force in the ninja world possessed, giving them the advantage of flight... if Sunagakure had acted then, they could have unified the entire ninja world effortlessly.

No, not only unifying the ninja world, but even ruling the world would not be a problem.

Throughout the history of the ninja world, there have been those who attempted to unify the world using ninja power, but all of them failed because of other ninja forces that sided with the Daimyo.

However, with the power of Sunagakure or Ryuji Ayaki, they could easily destroy other ninja forces or the power structures of various daimyo's territories, and everything in the world would be within their grasp.

But they didn't do anything.

If Ryuji Ayaki were someone like the First Hokage, it would be understandable.

But Ryuji Ayaki's actions were completely unlike those of a person, even the complete opposite... He created a puppet of the Third Kazekage to seize power in Sunagakure, took advantage of Konoha to gain benefits, and constantly absorbed ninja clans... All of Ryuji Ayaki's actions seemed to be aimed at satisfying his own ambition and constantly expanding his power and influence.

Such a person shouldn't be taking action only now.

Why should we live in Sunagakure?

Yes, why should I confine myself to Sunagakure?

Upon hearing Black Zetsu's question once again, Ryuji fell into deep thought.

The clouds drifted by as the wind blew, and violent commotion continued to emanate from one side of the battlefield, but Ryuji remained unusually calm.

When Ryuji first arrived in this world, all he wanted was to have the ability to protect himself in this war-torn world.

It's not about clinging to life like those who struggle to make ends meet, but about being able to live a normal life.

Therefore, he chose to become a ninja.

Although becoming a ninja means facing more dangers, even residents of the five great ninja villages might not be able to survive peacefully if they only live as ordinary civilians.

Then, the system awakened.

With greater potential as his foundation, he wanted to live a better life. At the very least, he wanted to rise from the common people to the wealthy.

Then there is no more then.

He didn't have the typical desire of a transmigrator to conquer the world, nor did he have any dream of becoming the strongest, let alone any idea of ​​overthrowing the Daming Prefecture and unifying the world on his own.

None of these exist.

Whether you call him unambitious or a detached, Buddhist-like person who has seen through the ways of the world, it doesn't matter. In any case, Ryuji Ayaki has no interest in these things.

In particular, as his scientific and technological abilities became more and more powerful, his desire for worldly power diminished, and he even became annoyed by things that disturbed his research.

However, humans are social animals.

Even if someone is very withdrawn, they still crave recognition, friends, and family.

While Ryuji felt annoyed by those troublesome things, he also felt warm towards the people who cared about him, looked after him, and even caused him trouble.

"I have no interest in unifying the world, nor am I a madman intending to destroy it. I just want to live a quiet life..." Ryuji snapped out of his thoughts, looked down at Black Zetsu at his feet, and said, "But as long as a person is alive, all sorts of troubles will always come their way. In order to avoid being bothered by troubles, I'm going to resolve them all at once."

"Zetsu, I know everything about you..." Ryuji paused, then continued, "Whether it's the Allied Shinobi Forces, Kaguya, or even the Otsutsuki clan in the universe, you are all destabilizing factors that disturb my life, so you must be eliminated."

"..."

The reason is surprisingly simple.

Black Zetsu opened his mouth, but said nothing.

A grand plan that has been brewing for thousands or tens of thousands of years has been ruined by such a simple and ridiculous reason, which is really laughable.

But Black Zetsu couldn't laugh; he even wanted to roar in resentment.

But he knew that in the end, the winner takes all.

He had endured for so many years, witnessed countless stories and endings, and knew that no matter how unwilling he was or how much he threw a tantrum, he could not change the outcome.

It will only make people look down on you more.

"Bang!"

Nagato was thrown down to his feet from thousands of meters away.

His body was badly mangled, and the injuries that should have healed instantly had inexplicably stopped working, with thick, oily blood constantly gushing from each wound.

Red arrived gracefully.

She was covered in red steam, but apart from her somewhat tattered clothes, she was completely unharmed. Her aura became even more imposing.

Black Zetsu closed his eyes in despair.

"it's all over!"

Black Zetsu closed his eyes in despair.

It was clearly a plan to curb Ryuji's growth, it clearly prepared so many escape routes, it clearly had so many alternative plans, it clearly... so why did it develop like this?

Is it because the gap in strength is too large?

No, that's absolutely not true.

Black Zetsu himself is not strong. Throughout his life, he has encountered countless powerful enemies who could easily crush him. There are even those stronger than Ryuji Ayaki and Red, but in the end, he always emerges victorious.

But why did it turn out this way?

It's because that bastard Ryuji Ayaki has information that's more accurate than his own, which he doesn't know where he got it from.

We can't compete in strength, and we can't compete in intelligence.

How can we fight then?

There's no way to fight!

It's like a match in the Rift where the enemy team is level 18 with six items and is using a global cheat. Meanwhile, your team only has three core items and barely enough wards for vision.

In this kind of match, even a Gold player could beat a Challenger! Not to mention that the opponent is a Challenger while you're only an Iron player.

Yes, it's all over!

Ryuji grabbed Nagato by the neck and lifted him up. Sunlight shone from behind him, causing Ryuji to squint.

"etc!"

The sound of hurried footsteps came quickly from behind, and a little girl of about ten years old came to Long Er's side and knelt down prostrate herself.

"Please be magnanimous and spare Nagato this time!"

"Xiao, Nan, don't...beg him!"

Xiao Nan remained unmoved and continued to prostrate herself on the ground.

Ryuji glanced sideways at him, then turned back to Nagato's pained face. "Nagato, in this world, where there is light, there is darkness; where there is joy, there is sorrow; where there is happiness, there is bound to be pain. Wanting only the good and discarding the bad—this world isn't that wonderful. Go pursue the life you desire in your next life!"

"don't want!"

Xiao Nan raised her head, pleading tearfully, but there was nothing she could do to stop her.

As the Golden Fairy whom Ryuji believed to be controlling reincarnation, she was unable to resist Ryuji and could only watch helplessly as the Ten-Tails was extracted from Nagato's body and absorbed by Ryuji.

A Jinchuriki will die once they lose their Tailed Beast!

Xiao Nan knelt down, burying her face in her hands, and wept bitterly.

Ryuji ignored him, absorbed the Ten-Tails completely into his body, and extracted it along with Nagato's soul, smashing it into the glass bottle.

"Keep him safe!"

Ryuji suppressed the changes in his body and threw the bottle containing Nagato's soul in front of Konan.

Konan stared blankly at the bottle containing Nagato's soul, then realized what was happening and burst into laughter through her tears.

"Thanks……"

"Get away from me, I can't hold it in any longer!"

With Ryuji's roar, Hong grabbed Konan and instantly retreated to a distance of 10,000 meters.

Ryuji's body underwent an astonishing transformation. A large tree burst forth from his back and continued to grow, as if it were supporting the heavens and the earth.

Eventually, the tree grew to a point where it was level with the sun at eye level and stopped growing.

then……

"Splash..."

The tree was sucked back in and returned to Long Er's body.

During this process, Ryuji's skin turned deathly pale, and a hard stratum corneum grew on his forehead.

It's like the Otsutsuki clan.

Ryuji opened his eyes, and everything in his world had changed.

The blue sky is still the blue sky, yet it is not the blue sky; the earth is still the earth, yet it is not the earth. Instead, a more direct and clear existence is presented before him... It seems that the world has no secrets in his eyes.

Ryuji extended his right hand, then mobilized his chakra, flames ignited on his palm, and then transformed into magma, sulfuric acid, ice and snow... various bloodline limits changed at will in his palm.

"Is this the Realm of All Things?" Ryuji examined his hands and murmured to himself, "Because it is a being that grows by absorbing the life of planets, it contains all things within its body, and once you master this power, you also master the truth of all things."

"Master, you've finally reached this point!"

Hong, who had appeared beside him at some unknown time, congratulated him.

The realm of all things in the universe—Ryuji Ayaki had already reached this level when he was studying the essence of chakra.

Once you reach this level, combined with an understanding of chakra, it's equivalent to mastering chakra.

It's not that chakra is born from within the body, nor is it that it's formed by absorbing natural energy, physical energy, and spiritual energy and fusing them into Sage Chakra, but rather...

"Whoosh..."

The changes in Long Er's palm disappeared, replaced by an endless vortex, where something unseen was sucked in, compressed, strengthened, and evolved.

Feeling the changes in his body, Ryuji concluded: "Now I can absorb the life force of a planet to condense into fruit, just like the Divine Tree... No, there's no need for that. I can just use the absorbed life energy directly to strengthen and evolve."

However, despite saying that, Ryuji released his grip.

The vortex dissipated, and the life energy no longer gathered.

It's not because I'm worried that doing so will cause the planet to lose its vitality or leave humans without a place to live... Although Ryuji would certainly consider these things given his personality, according to the experimental calculations, if we evolve to a certain level, creating a planet that people can live on is something we can easily do.

Ryuji ultimately gave up because it was too inefficient.

"With my current strength, it would take at least three hundred years to absorb all the life force on a planet. Even if I absorbed all the life force on this planet, I still wouldn't be able to create a life-bearing planet. However..." Long Er paused, a smile appearing on his face, and continued, "This is all within the results of the simulation experiments, and it's not unexpected. And the plan on how to quickly evolve to the final stage has also been derived, which does not conflict with my purpose."

With that, Ryuji transmitted his command to the Third Kazekage through his mental ocean, "The war is over, clean up the battlefield!"

"yes!"

Having witnessed the immense power of Ryuji and Kurenai, the Third Kazekage's tone shifted to that of a subordinate.

Although he was originally a puppet created by Ryuji, the memories and thoughts of the Third Kazekage have always influenced him, and he has not placed himself below Ryuji because of this.

But now, everything has changed.

The aftermath of the war was left to the Third Kazekage to handle, while Ryuji and Kurenai remained outside the city, still standing on Black Zetsu.

However, his appearance as an Otsutsuki has returned to normal.

Once you reach the realm of all things in the universe, creating your own Yang Release technique that alters your physical form is incredibly easy.

He stood on the edge of the floating continent, gazing outwards, waiting to descend upon Konoha.

Time passed slowly, and when the full moon hung high in the sky, the Mechanical City arrived above Konoha.

The Konoha garrison, already reeling from the Allied Shinobi Forces' crushing defeat, surrendered before the Gold Saints even launched their attack.

Ryuji didn't make things difficult for them; he simply brought up Naruto and Sasuke, who were only five years old at the time.

"You bastard, I'm not afraid of you!"

Naruto's first reaction upon seeing Ryuji was to kick him, while Sasuke remained silent.

Although he was only five years old, the clever boy knew that it was all meaningless.

"What an energetic little fellow!" Ryuji chuckled softly and said, "I didn't mean to hurt you, but there are some things I need to take from you."

After saying that, he reached out and grabbed Naruto and Sasuke's shoulders respectively.

The chakra orb containing the consciousness of Asura and Indra was drawn out.

Ryuji glanced at the dumbfounded Naruto and Ashura, then looked at the ball of light in his hand.

"Although Black Zetsu instigated this, you two also have your own problems. Just become my nourishment and then disappear!"

As he spoke, Long Er clasped his hands together, intending to merge the sphere of light into one.

A blinding burst of intense light erupted.

When the light faded, the world around us had changed.

The night sky and the earth transformed into a blue ocean; this is the spiritual world.

In front of Long Er was an old man sitting cross-legged, suspended in mid-air.

His skin was similar to that of a normal human, but he had horns like those of the Otsutsuki clan on his forehead, and a Zen staff lay flat on his thigh.

—The Sage of Six Paths!

The Sage of Six Paths slowly opened his eyes, and upon seeing Ryuji, he couldn't help but sigh, "I knew it would turn out this way someday!"

"Oh~, you don't seem surprised to see me?" Ryuji said with a half-smile.

"Alas!" The Sage of Six Paths sighed again, "The Asuras and Indra are constantly fighting in the cycle of reincarnation, and the disasters they bring to the world will one day be stopped by others. It is only natural that I am not so arrogant as to think that it is impossible for someone to surpass them to appear in the world."

"I see, it seems you've considered all possible outcomes!" Ryuji paused, then continued, "So, is there anything you'd like to say?"

"Even if I wanted to say something, you wouldn't listen!" the Sage of Six Paths said. "Someone who has reached this level wouldn't listen to others."

(End of this chapter)