Konoha's Mission Master

The first time, Yakumo used the Hagun mode, which was roughly equivalent to using 80% of his strength.

The second time, Yakumo unleashed his full power, using his strongest attack, Extinction of Life, but still couldn't budge the gate.

The third time, an attack using soul energy that had reached the level of immortality was used. It was a bold test, but the result was still not ideal.

"Do you want to try again? It's no use..." Aoki Trump, who was sitting in the rattan chair, had already sat up. His eyes were like a pool of clear spring water, clear and deep, as if he could see through people's hearts.

His voice was soft, but it was a definitive statement.

"No." Yakumo shook his head and put away the Demon-Slaying Staff. He was certain that he couldn't break down the door on his own.

To achieve your goal, you need to proceed gradually.

The failure did not diminish Yakumo's confidence. If he could prove that Aoki Paku was not a threat, he would have more than a decade to destroy the gate.

Alternatively, we might be able to obtain intelligence from Aoki Trump and thus find the weaknesses in this door.

In particular, the Aoki Trump in front of him was completely different from the person Runyu described. He lacked the domineering arrogance of being the only one who mattered and the determination to destroy everything in order to achieve his goal.

"Do you want to know why you can't destroy this door?"

Aoki asked, his voice like a gentle breeze rustling through a bamboo forest, carrying a magical power that calmed Yakumo's somewhat agitated heart.

"I want to know," Yakumo replied.

“Actually, you are in an infinite Tsukuyomi state. All your experiences are just illusions that evolve from your inner self,” Aoki Trump replied with a light laugh.

“This joke isn’t funny,” Yakumo replied.

"Haha, just trying to lighten the mood," Aoki chuckled, then his tone shifted, his smile fading. "Don't you ever doubt whether the world you live in is real?"

Yakumo stood up and found a clean step to sit down.

"I have no doubt that I can't prove it's false or true, so I don't intend to waste my precious brain cells thinking about this problem."

All he could think about was how to destroy the door.

Aoki sat back in his rattan chair, and after hearing Yakumo's answer, he simply shook his head slightly. He then changed the subject and began to introduce the gate, while simultaneously taking out a fruit plate from somewhere and handing it to Yakumo beside him.

"This door represents the gate through which I have mastered the rules. It looks like a door, but it is actually the embodiment of the Dao. To manifest the concept of nothingness into a physical form is the privilege of the ruler."

"Rules?" Yakumo asked, puzzled.

"Yes, the rules."

“Only rules can fight against rules. This door is centered on virtual energy, with the other rules as auxiliary. To destroy it, you need to use energy that is no less powerful than virtual energy.” Aoki explained patiently to Yakumo.

Virtual energy is one of the ultimate energies in the universe, and destroying this gate would require the use of other ultimate energies.

"For example...hope?" Yakumo asked tentatively.

"That's right, but the one who holds the hope cannot enter this world, and there is no other energy that can destroy the rules constructed by the illusory energy."

Yakumo was somewhat disheartened. He understood what Aoki had said: it was a vicious cycle. Those who could destroy the gate couldn't get in, and the rest weren't qualified.

Are there no exceptions?

"No."

There are still many things about this that are hard to understand, such as why Aoki Trump didn't stop Yakumo from destroying the gate that represented his own rules.

"Will the destruction of that door affect you?"

Yakumo picked up a pear that looked juicy and took a big bite. It tasted slightly sour, but overall it was quite good. Most importantly... this was the first time he had tasted food in months.

“That door is a seal on me.” Aoki Trump’s voice turned low, referring to an experience that happened many years ago.

When his beloved died, his will began to split. In the end, the will to revive his beloved took the upper hand, sealing away the kindness and compassion he no longer needed with the gate. This is why Yakumo sees Aoki Trump now.

The part of his will that wanted to revive his beloved was shattered by Runyu in conjunction with many other rulers.

However, the gate to his evolution through the rules of virtual energy remains open. With the expansion of virtual energy, he may break free from the state of death at any time and once again reign supreme over the universe.

By destroying the gate in front of him, Yakumo can stop the recovery of Evil Aoki Trump, while Good Aoki Trump will be freed from this world and gain the ability to travel to space.

The current problem is... Yakumo cannot destroy this door.

“You can bring other people here too, you have plenty of years to live anyway,” Aoki Trump said, lying back in the wicker chair with a relaxed expression, before closing his eyes.

He had been trapped in this tiny place for too many years and had gotten used to passing the time by sleeping.

"I want to try again." Yakumo quickened his pace, ate the whole pear in a few bites, casually tossed the core into the distant forest, stood up, and drew his weapon.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding..."

Yakumo swung his sword with all his might at the black gate. As the sword fell, blood occasionally shimmered across the surface of the gate, but it still looked unremarkable, without any sense of pressure or danger.

Within half an hour, a total of 30,000 strikes were made, but the surface of the gate remained unchanged.

A water droplet can wear through stone over thousands of years, but even a water droplet cannot penetrate a star over hundreds of thousands of years, because it will be absorbed and swallowed up before it can even reach it.

This was how Yakumo felt at that moment; he was certain that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't destroy the gate in front of him.

Deep within his soul, a black crystal was slowly rotating. Yakumo could sense the crystal's presence, and after absorbing some of its ethereal energy... the crystal underwent a peculiar change.

"So...that's why Runyu thought he could destroy the gate?"

After 30,000 years of trying, Runyu should know that only the ultimate power of the universe can lead to success.

"No!" If he detonates that crystal, he himself will have no chance of survival.

That level of explosion was simply beyond his control.

"Let's try again..." Yakumo regained his fighting spirit and continued to swing his sword at the gate.

From the Waltz to the Mighty Nation, and even the Extinction of Life and the Extreme Blade Slash, Yakumo has experimented hundreds of times with the techniques he has mastered, from basic to advanced, from ninjutsu to energy transformation, and further to the fusion of multiple elemental energies.

As a result, the damage was zero.

Yakumo turned his head and looked at Aoki, who was sleeping soundly in the rattan chair. He slowly closed his eyes, feeling the breeze and the flow of natural energy. This was the last bit of life in the world.

He always felt that it was all absurd.

The final level arrived, but there was no boss, only an indestructible gate.

This is clearly not a reasonable game level unless the player has a way to break the deadlock.

That... black crystal.

If it were just Yakumo alone, he would have the patience to try for another ten years or so to test the possible loopholes in the gate, but obviously... he doesn't have that much time.

Although Mori Masako and Yuuki Chiyuki were protected by the power of hope and were temporarily immune to the erosion of the void energy, being in this distorted world for a long time would definitely have an irreversible impact on their spirit and psychology.

Yakumo knew clearly that his time was running out, and in order to get Mori Masako and Yuuki Chiyuki back to their world as soon as possible, he needed to make further decisions.

Perhaps Runyu couldn't judge the appearance of that black crystal, but he clearly saw an opportunity in himself.

Or perhaps, one is a pawn oneself?

"Ding."

Yakumo pressed the Demon-Subduing Thorn against the surface of the gate, but it still couldn't budge it. He took a step forward and stepped onto the gate, slowly squatted down, and placed his hand on the surface of the gate... carefully sensing it.

His expression hardened, and Yakumo thought for a moment... This wasn't necessarily a bad thing. If it weren't for the system created by Runyu, he wouldn't have gotten to where he is today... He might have died like cannon fodder in the Ninja World War long ago.

Since we've gained a lot of help from the system, it's only right that we make sacrifices now.

Yakumo sensed the fluctuations emanating from the gate and found that it seemed to be in a slumber, its aura extremely ethereal and unfathomable. Moreover, from the gate's breath, he felt a sense of parting that was gradually fading away.

As the sense of loss and sorrow in his heart intensified, Yakumo's emotions began to be influenced by Daimon. It was as if he was indirectly involved in a life-and-death separation, with too many regrets and reluctances that were difficult to express in words.

The next second, Yakumo suddenly woke up, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with a book, and remained silent for a long time.

Only now did he belatedly realize that his emotions had been affected by the door.

His heart felt as if he had lost something extremely important, as if a torrential downpour had ended and the sky was now gray and heavy with leaden clouds, so oppressive that they could not contain any good mood.

"You haven't given up yet?"

Sensing the change in Yakumo's emotions, Aoki Trump opened his eyes and asked casually.

“I have my reasons for having to shatter it,” Yakumo said solemnly.

A powerful rationality once again suppressed the negative emotions in his heart, and Yakumo's eyes became resolute again, whether for the sacrifice of Aoyama Reiko, for the ninja world deeply mired in the threat of ethereal energy, or for bringing Mori Masako and Yuuki Chiyuki back to their own world.

“Everyone who comes before me has a reason to break down the door, but they all fail,” Aoki said with an undeniable certainty.

“But I want to try.” Yakumo was not swayed by Aoki’s words.

Yakumo stands here, carrying the expectations of so many people; he cannot let them down.

“Only the ultimate power of the universe has a chance.” After saying this, Aoki Trump closed his eyes again.

Yakumo didn't respond. He could sense that Aoki was guiding him to use the black crystal, more like testing him... testing whether he had mastered the black crystal.

But the price was their lives.

Yakumo wanted to live, he really wanted to live, which is why he didn't detonate the black crystal.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

In the past few days, Yakumo returned to see Masako Mori several times, spent a lot of time comforting her, and also spent a lot of time trying to break down the gate, but he did not bring Masako Mori to the small courtyard in the back mountain.

Through his observations over the past few days, he has come to understand a few things.

Aoki Trump wasn't lying; he truly couldn't control any of his ethereal energy, nor could he leave the back mountain. He was like a prisoner locked in a cell, even more eager to destroy the gate than Yakumo.

They possess eternal life, yet have no freedom whatsoever, and can only while away their time in slumber.

That ever-repeating world has its own rules.

Yakumo didn't truly trust Aoki Chuanpu. After all, who knew how twisted he would become after tens of thousands of years of solitude? It's said that... some people from dozens of teams came to the back mountain and lived with him for thousands of years, but later, unable to bear the loneliness and solitude, they chose to end their own lives.

Aoki buried him in the bamboo forest behind the mountain.

In the afternoon, Yakumo slashed at the gate tens of thousands of times, but the damage was zero.

At this point, he had exhausted all his methods.

I've said everything I wanted to say in three days.

Yakumo glanced at the sleeping Yukotsu Chiyuki and found that his aura was relatively stable and was slowly increasing. He figured that he would be able to wake up from his slumber in a few years.

At this moment, he finally made a decision.

"Aren't you going to give up yet?" Aoki Trump asked again.

“It’s about time to give up,” Yakumo replied, sitting directly on the surface of the gate. He had decided to detonate the black crystal for one last attempt, even if it meant losing his life.