Zander
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Chapter 124 – Final Reaping
🕑 Added 2025-07-20 02:05:45 +0000 UTCChapter 124 – Final Reaping
The battlefield was in ruins.
Smoke curled through the shattered landscape. Fires crackled across scorched earth, their glow flickering against broken stone. The sky above was dark, choked with ash. Once-solid ground had been torn open by jutsu and destruction, leaving deep craters and twisted wreckage.
Only four figures remained standing.
Hajime and Itachi stood at the center of the chaos, calm amidst devastation. The black flames of Amaterasu still smoldered behind them, marking where Hidan had been reduced to nothing but ashes. Not far away, Kakuzu stood slouched and panting, barely holding himself together.
In the distance, Konan had taken to the sky. Her body dissolved into a flurry of paper, drifting through the air with uncanny control. In her arms, she carried Nagato, unconscious, pale, and weakened. She soared over the battlefield, eventually landing in a deep crevice, hidden from view.
Her hands moved swiftly, forming seals.
With precise, practiced motion, she wrapped Nagato’s body in thick layers of reinforced paper, sealing him underground within a cocoon of chakra-tagged sheets.
"Forgive me," she whispered, her voice catching. "I’ll come back. I promise."
She turned and took flight again, her heart heavy. She had no choice. Escape wasn’t possible. Not against someone like Hajime.
His ability to bend space meant that running wouldn’t work. If she didn’t face him now, she would never get another chance.
She returned to the sky above the battlefield. Her expression hardened.
Her arms opened wide.
Paper exploded around her, circling the battlefield like a storm. Sheets multiplied by the thousands, then millions, until they filled the air like a cloud of death. Every single one was a paper bomb, woven with chakra, designed for only one purpose.
To destroy.
This was the same technique she had once prepared to kill the man she believed to be Madara. Now, that Man is Dead, she still have to use it for a enemy she can't defeat.
Konan’s chakra surged. The sky turned red.
And the explosions began.
A thunderous chain of blasts erupted across the land. Each detonation fed the next, rippling in waves of destruction. Towers disintegrated. The ground split open. A dome of fire engulfed the world. For minutes, the explosions didn’t stop, they kept igniting, one after the other, unrelenting.
But Hajime had already moved.
Just before the first blast reached them, he appeared beside Itachi in a blur of space-warping speed. He placed a hand on Itachi’s shoulder. A pulse of light shimmered from his golden halo, and the two vanished.
They reappeared inside a transparent sphere of divine energy, the iron halo shield.
The explosions slammed into the barrier a heartbeat later.
Outside, the world was fire.
Inside, there was calm.
The shield held.
Itachi watched in silence. His cloak fluttered slightly from the pressure outside. He narrowed his eyes at the blinding light beyond.
Hajime stood calmly. "Let it pass," he said, his voice steady.
The storm outside continued.
Meanwhile, far from the center of the explosion, Kakuzu was crawling out of rubble. Three of his five hearts had been destroyed, burned away by Hajime earlier in the battle. Only the Earth and Water hearts remained. His limbs were stitched together by chakra threads, barely functioning.
Beside him, Kisame coughed as he stumbled upright. His cloak was gone. His torso was covered in burns, and his shark-like face was bleeding. Only torn pants clung to his body. Samehada was in his hand, but chipped, missing scales, and weakened.
Both men stared in awe at the center of the explosion.
“She had that much power hidden away…?” Kakuzu said through gritted teeth.
Kisame smirked weakly, blood running down his chin. "That’s the deadliest paper I’ve ever seen."
But then
A sound.
A deep crack echoed through the air.
Smoke parted.
A silhouette emerged.
Hajime stepped forward, unharmed.
His armor gleamed under the golden glow of the halo. Not a scratch marked his frame. His expression was calm, unreadable. Warp energy shimmered faintly around him.
Itachi followed, stepping out beside him. His Mangekyō Sharingan eyes locked on the remaining enemies.
Konan hovered in the air, stunned.
Kakuzu took a step back, heart pounding.
Kisame clenched his jaw and stood tall. He couldn’t flee. There was no point.
Hajime reached behind him.
His hand gripped the handle of his halberd.
He drew it in a single motion.
Crackling arcs of warp lightning danced along its blade. Golden and blue streaks of energy surged outward. The earth beneath his feet trembled.
He raised the weapon above his head.
Then, he charged.
Kisame roared in defiance.
"Water Style: Flooding River Torrent!"
A river burst from the ground, surging like a tidal wave to block Hajime’s path.
But it didn’t matter.
Hajime swung his halberd.
The wave split in two.
Steam hissed and rose as the water evaporated instantly.
In a blink, Hajime appeared in front of Kisame.
Kisame raised Samehada. Their weapons clashed.
CRACK!
Samehada shattered.
SHLKKK!
The halberd sliced through Kisame’s chest.
Time slowed for a heartbeat.
Kisame’s eyes widened. Then his body split apart. The battlefield fell silent again.
Only Konan and Kakuzu remained.
Konan’s chest rose and fell rapidly. Her eyes were wide, her breath shallow.
Kakuzu could barely stand. His body was torn and stitched like a broken doll. Two hearts remained, but his mind screamed at him to run.
Itachi stepped forward beside Hajime. He had watched long enough.
Though once a member of the Akatsuki, Itachi had always been a spy for the Leaf. He had played his part to protect his brother and the village. He had never truly been loyal to the organization.
Now, he stood as their executioner.
Konan hovered above them. Her paper wings flared.
She didn’t want to fight.
But she had to.
She couldn’t let Nagato fall into their hands.
Even if she died.
She inhaled sharply and prepared another jutsu.
But Hajime raised a hand.
His voice rang out.
“Enough. I'll end this farce.”
Konan’s paper faltered.
Itachi stood beside Hajime, silent but resolute.
