Konoha's Mission Master

Yakumo did want to live, but he didn't have much fear of death. His immortal soul and strong rationality allowed him to treat life in an almost indifferent way.

“The last one tried for an afternoon and gave up, started to despair, and finally accepted his fate.” Aoki said with a smile, as if he was genuinely happy that Yakumo had chosen to give up. Although he had become accustomed to loneliness, having someone to talk to was a form of entertainment.

"Give up on yourself?" Yakumo asked.

“If you don’t resist the erosion of the void energy, there are still many delicious foods in Konoha Village. When the hope of protecting your body is completely extinguished, you will be eroded by the void energy,” Aoki explained.

“I see.” Yakumo nodded. He still couldn’t completely trust Aoki Trump, and even considered trying to kill him, but was worried about the uncontrollable consequences.

The previous challenger definitely tried to kill Aoki Trump in front of him, but obviously that person failed.

“You can’t be killed within the area behind the mountain…right?” Yakumo asked rather directly.

“I should say I’m immune to any attack. You can try,” Aoki said with a smile, appearing confident and relaxed.

"Then... never mind." Yakumo put Fuma back into its sheath.

Anyway, once the black crystal explodes, nobody will survive.

It makes no difference whether it's earlier or later.

Yakumo extracted the black crystal from his soul. It had now transformed into a cube, about the size of a normal person's clenched fist, and its slow rotation seemed capable of devouring everything.

"What did you do?!" Aoki Trump immediately stood up, an incredulous expression on his face. After tens of thousands of years, he felt the threat of death again.

This deadly threat excited him, even made him yearn for it.

This death signifies his escape from confinement and his return to freedom.

"It's nothing." Yakumo chose to keep it a secret. As expected, apart from himself, no one else could sense the presence of the black crystal.

Ba Yunduan gazed at the black crystal floating in his palm. It seemed capable of devouring everything, but unlike the ethereal energy, its aura was exceptionally stable, breathing and growing according to a certain regular frequency.

After being exposed to air, it becomes less stable and could explode at any time.

Yakumo sat quietly on the surface of the black gate, slowly closing his eyes and immersing himself in his inner world. All the memories echoed in his mind like a series of spinning film reels, relentlessly and without stopping.

Yakumo recalled all the past events, and the joys and sorrows of the past flashed before his eyes.

From being timid and cowardly at the beginning of his transmigration, to being unrestrained and carefree after gaining strength, until he heard about the chaos of the void energy and had to act according to Runyu's plan.

There have been joys and sorrows, unforgettable moments and reluctance to part along the way; life is truly wonderful.

He took a deep breath, his reason controlling the surging memories, calculating in his mind the goals of Runyu and Qingmu Chuanpu, trying to find clues and analyze their true objectives.

As a result, Aoyama Reiko died, and Yakumo no longer trusted Runyu.

Yakumo is certain that Runyu has his own plans and selfish motives. Both the evil-minded Aoki Chuanpu and the benevolent Aoki Chuanpu naturally have their own plans and ideas. They are chess players using the universe as their chessboard.

“If it were me, I would never destroy this gate and let you regain your freedom,” Yakumo said to himself.

Upon hearing this, Aoki Trump's smile remained unchanged, still gentle and soothing. Tens of thousands of years had allowed him to reach a state of profound tranquility, and he would not easily let external events shake his emotions or state of mind.

"But destroying that gate could at least buy us two hundred thousand years."

"Delay?" Yakumo was a little puzzled, but then he figured out the problem.

Although Aoki Chuanpu was killed by Runyu and others many years ago, for a powerful being at the Dominator Realm, given enough time... he can recover from death.

“I feel you are more dangerous,” Yakumo said bluntly.

Extremely strong people are not scary, because excessive extremism will lead to destruction. But the Aoki Trump in front of us seems to have undergone a long period of time, washed away the superficiality and completed a transformation.

“At least, I don’t intend to destroy the universe,” Aoki Trump replied with a smile.

Yakumo slowly pressed the black cube towards the black door, his eyes filled with complex emotions. Perhaps this was the scene that Runyu and Aoki Chuan wanted to see.

In a massive explosion... the cosmic order is redefined.

The black crystal made contact with the gate, and the fragile stability was immediately destroyed.

The gray ripples spread, forming a gray semi-spherical sphere that enveloped the entire back mountain.

Yakumo immediately realized that his connection with this universe had been completely severed, and he could no longer feel the passage of space and time. Even the air was being repelled by the spreading gray light.

Absolute airspace.

"Has this day finally come?"

Aoki Trump stood up from the wicker chair and walked towards where Yakumo was. His smile deepened. He wanted to get closer to the center of the fluctuations so that he could more easily embrace death.

Yakumo discovered that even the energy within his body was suppressed and could not be used, and even the surface of his body was rapidly losing its proper color, with formless and intangible energy filling the entire back mountain.

This energy was completely different from any of the energies he remembered.

Light enough and pure enough to be imperceptible, yet extremely domineering. If ethereal energy is a chaotic and frenzied devourer, then this energy is an orderly army that suppresses everything.

When Yakumo first obtained the black crystal, he used it as a trump card to be unleashed when necessary. However, as the amount of energy absorbed by the black crystal increased, the energy it possessed eventually exceeded the limit that he could control.

Using it at this point would be tantamount to mutual destruction.

Swah——

The diffusion of gray energy firmly fixed Yakumo and Aoki in place.

Everything within the semicircle is coming to an end.

The black crystal collapsed inward, and the blackness spread outward, opening a passage to an unknown place. Black energy surged out of the passage continuously, cleaving the black gate like a battle axe.

This time, the black gate finally reacted, with a burst of dense ethereal energy colliding with the black pillar of light. The two began to contend with each other, just as the two chaotic energies that separated at the birth of the world began to merge again.

Everything seemed like a new beginning, yet everything seemed like destruction.

At this moment, Yakumo was even deprived of the ability to move his eyes, like a fish on a chopping board.

In the still space, a gentle breeze suddenly arose, like the scythe of death spreading across the empty land.

Also destroyed were the bodies of Yakumo and Aoki. Their bodies gradually cracked like glass, turning into fragments that slowly dissipated under the influence of a gentle breeze, leaving only a few specks of light before disappearing rapidly.

Both of them have been completely lost, including their souls.

The collapsing black hole not far away continues to spew forth water, just like the ocean showing no signs of atrophy.

From top to bottom, it covers the falling debris.

The owner of the black gate had fallen tens of thousands of years ago, and the successor was somewhat weak. As time went by, the gate was gradually suppressed by the surging black energy, and cracks gradually appeared on its surface.

The black energy continued to be output, like a pure spear piercing through a black gate. The blood-red light was completely cleaved by the black light, and the dark red tentacles in the distance turned into nothingness.

At the same time, the entire back mountain also disappeared. Pure energy was extracted from the rocks, radiating outwards like ocean waves, sweeping in all directions... transforming the surrounding rocks into transparent sand.

Moreover, the black energy continued to spread outwards until it destroyed the entire virtual energy world, before returning to that unknown world through the black hole.

In the final moments before the world's destruction, white light surged from Mori Masako and Yuuki Chiyuki, reconnecting space with the world, breaking through the enormous gray barrier, and teleporting the two away.

In fact, Yakumo ultimately suppressed this energy; when it erupted, the entire world was already restricted, severing the connection between space and this world.

"You can't kill me. The end of the universe, the destruction of worlds, will come again!!"

From within the shattered...black gate, the furious roar of Aoki Trump could be faintly heard. His path to resurrection had been severed, and it would take hundreds of thousands of years for him to return.

In a daze, Yakumo saw an utterly desolate world.

Outside, gray bubbles spread from the roots of the Void Ancient Tree, and a certain world parasitizing it was gradually devoured by the gray energy, directly severing the ritual for the return of the blood-red ruler.

The Void Tree let out a mournful cry, and the part representing Void Energy spread wildly as if out of control. Its dark red roots twisted into tentacles and lashed fiercely at Qi, who was hovering in the air.

Keqi did not dodge, but was directly struck by the huge tentacles and sent flying tens of thousands of kilometers away. When the gray bubble disappeared, it once again lost the aura of its creator.

The cruise ship at sea lost the lighthouse's illumination and once again lost its direction.

The Milky Way collapsed due to the great war, and the universe returned to darkness.

Qi's anger arose from within, like flames destroying everything, dark red flames covering her body.

But in fact... it shouldn't have the emotion of anger. Being a creature born from the void, it is inherently flawed and unable to possess normal human emotions. Its appearance is mostly that of beasts and plants.

Qi swung her weapon, unleashing a wave of energy that instantly stopped her retreat. At the same time, she gripped the blood-red longsword in her hand. It possessed all the skills that Yakumo had, but it did not include the seventh technique, Guardian, which was driven by the intention of protection and the heart of protection.

Born from chaos, it did not understand what protection was, and naturally could not master it. But when it lost its connection with Yakumo, it suddenly had an epiphany and found another way to reverse the protection.

Driven by anger, it found its way.

"Akuta!"

Guardians rely on the will of others to achieve their own strength and transcendence, uniting the hearts of many to defeat an invincible opponent. Devourers, on the other hand, devour the souls and energy of others, integrating them into their blades to enhance the power of their other attacks.

Qi transformed into a dark red light and shadow, relentlessly wielding its blade to dismember the body of the Void Ancient Tree. After losing its connection with its creator, its attack pattern became even more frenzied... like a gambler driven to the brink of desperation.

The Void Ancient Tree was powerless to resist Qi's attack. Perhaps it was because of the broken gate that it lost its most important source of power and the meaning of its existence.

In the pitch-black space, Yakumo slowly regained consciousness, but not completely. His soul could not leave his body, and now Yakumo could sense the existence of his own body.

No, it's not a physical body, but a spiritual body.

It couldn't even move, as if it were fixed inside the resin, and couldn't even breathe.

"Where am I? Am I dead?"

Yakumo quickly thought to himself, but he soon dismissed the idea. What he saw before him was definitely not the afterlife; it was more like... his soul was imprisoned by some kind of power.

In a hazy state, distorted, unfamiliar characters appeared before her eyes. Each character was moving, like countless tiny venomous snakes, bringing a unique twist and chaos to Yakumo. However, upon closer observation, one could find patterns among these characters amidst the chaos.

Although Yakumo did not recognize the script, he was still able to understand its meaning.

"First, fifty thousand years from now, you will become the first person to master the power of causelessness."

Second, abandon the process of recognizing the Lord, reassemble the body, and leave this world.

"leave."

Yakumo's mind stirred slightly, and he made his answer in his heart.

The words before my eyes vanished quickly, disappearing without a trace.

The surroundings remained pitch black, without any threat or danger; there was only pure silence.

Fifteen minutes later, the text reappeared.

'By abandoning the ceremony of acknowledging the master, you will lose your right to become the ruler and be reduced to a pawn. Are you willing to accept this?'

Yakumo sensed a seductive influence between the lines, as if it were guiding him to continue the ritual of recognizing a master.

"I am willing to leave."

Fifty thousand years is too long, enough to erase everyone from his memory. Even if he had the status of a ruler by then, there would be no familiar faces in his sight. What difference would such a life be from death?

In particular... Yakumo didn't want Masako Mori to grow old and die while waiting.