Malphegor
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GSiN: Ch. 130
🕑 Added 2025-07-05 00:17:37 +0000 UTC---Third POV---
Letting Kurotsuchi go to Konoha to study wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision, but a carefully considered one.
Right now, Iwa was short on military strength, and it was necessary to find a powerful ally to hold the line.
Besides, Ōnoki was also curious about how Konoha trained its ninja. First Minato, then Ryouma, each one stronger than the last.
"Then I shall immediately lead the Iwa forces back to the Land of Earth and soon dispatch a diplomatic mission to Konoha for peace talks."
He quickly took his leave and led the Iwa ninja forces westward, retreating from the Land of Grass.
Just like that, the war between the two victorious great powers, Konoha and Iwa came to an end in a completely unexpected way thanks to Madara's intervention.
"Huh? That old man actually seemed pretty reasonable. Why would he insist on starting a war?" Obito scratched his head, unable to understand. Wouldn't it be better to just live peacefully?
Minato patted his shoulder. "Sometimes even a Kage has things beyond their control. War is complicated."
There was one thing he didn't say aloud: with Ryouma in his current form, probably no one in the shinobi world would be unreasonable.
"Speaking of which, Ryouma…"
"What is it?"
Seeing that Minato seemed hesitant to speak, Ryouma asked proactively. "That mode of yours—"
"Oh, it's the Super Saiyan Mode."
When Ryouma first developed this jutsu, it was intended to match Ōtsutsuki-level combat power. But that required fully unlocking a delayed seal, so it couldn't be treated as a regular combat state.
Obito couldn't help reaching out to tug on the golden cloak billowing behind Ryouma, but his hand passed right through the hem without touching anything.
"That's chakra transformed into form, Obito. You can't touch it."
"Can it get hard? I wanna feel it!"
"Of course not." Ryouma pushed back Obito, who was leaning closer and closer. "If it hardens, you'll be blasted away the moment you touch it, I'm not joking."
Since his close friend said so, Obito gave up insisting.
After the two finished chatting, Minato returned to his earlier question.
"How long will you stay in this mode? Should we wait until you're done before returning to Konoha?"
"Well…" Ryouma pinched his chin in thought. "How about this, you guys wait here for me. Oh, right, Shukaku."
Bending his knees slightly to build strength, he left Shukaku with a "Prepare your defenses" under the tailed beast's puzzled gaze, then launched himself skyward with a sudden burst of force.
Cracking the ground beneath him, he shot up, then plunged straight into a nearby lake formed by underground water, stirring up massive waves.
Once activated, this mode couldn't be turned off manually, it only deactivated once all cellular life force was drained. So he had no choice but to find somewhere to safely discharge the remaining chakra.
Sensing the faintly stinging chakra fluctuations in the air, Minato couldn't help recalling the sealing array behind Ryouma.
Even with Ryouma's exceptional chakra control, he still needed to rely on sealing techniques to suppress it. It was hard to imagine just how ferocious that chakra really was.
Deep at the bottom of the lake, the sealing array on the golden chakra cloak behind Ryouma began spinning rapidly. The remaining three tomoe vanished simultaneously. Only then was the full power of the Super Saiyan Chakra Mode unleashed.
The immense pressure caused the newly formed lake to churn violently. Turbulent currents clashed and surged into the sky.
"Is it raining?" Obito reached out and caught a handful of raindrops. "These raindrops are huge!"
"You're a bit of a natural airhead, kid," Son Gokū muttered, taking a jab at Obito.
Shukaku didn't forget Ryouma's instructions and channeled a large amount of chakra into the surrounding earth, forming an inverted hemispherical sand shield.
After a violent tremor shook the land, it sensed the danger had passed and gradually dissolved the sand shield.
Obito immediately looked toward the lake. "Huh? Where's the lake?"
The lake that had formed from the battle between Ryouma and Madara had completely vanished, leaving only several massive cracks still gushing with groundwater.
The water that had filled the new basin had all been blasted high into the sky by an unknown force, creating a downpour that now rained over the vast grassland. Not far away, a massive rainbow bridge had formed in the sky, looking almost magical.
Ryouma stood alone at the now-empty lakebed. The chakra cloak that had covered his body was gone, leaving only golden cracks all over his skin.
Normally, having depleted all his life force, he should be dead. But thanks to the lingering effect of Yomi no Tsurugi, he was still technically alive, at least in the narrowest definition of the word.
Forming a hand seal, his body, now freed from the restraint of a soul, began to disintegrate into dust.
At the same time, a crimson Mangekyō Sharingan pattern appeared and spun rapidly in his right eye. The golden particles began to reverse in time, as if rewinding life itself.
Zzz... crack... zzz...
Like an old, broken black-and-white television, his body distorted and began rewinding at a hundred times normal speed, until it finally stopped, restoring his physical state to exactly 24 hours earlier.
So this is the effect of Ōtoshi? That's insanely overpowered.
He clenched his fist and carefully felt the surge of life force that had returned to his body.
His memories and consciousness remained intact, untouched by the effect, preserved outside the normal flow of time.
Crack... crack...
A sound like something breaking came from his right hand.
Ryouma raised it and looked at Lostvayne now full of cracks. He sighed with a trace of regret. He had already expected this the moment he noticed Ōtoshi didn't reverse clothing or gear.
Chakra-conductive metals had high resistance to chakra wear, but even that had its limits.
Lostvayne was made of fine material, but the forging process wasn't exceptional. The fact that it lasted through a battle while conducting golden chakra was already quite impressive.
At that moment, Minato and Obito approached.
The observant Minato immediately noticed the condition of Lostvayne. If he remembered correctly, it was a gift from Ryouma's father.
"I'm sorry, Ryouma… if it weren't for me—"
"There's no need to apologize. Completing a mission for the village is a ninja's duty. For a ninja blade, breaking after a battle is a worthy end."
Ryouma instantly guessed what Minato was about to say, he was clearly blaming himself for the sword breaking because they had come to rescue Jiraiya. If Ryouma didn't stop him, Minato would likely feel guilty about it for a long time.
"Don't worry. It's just a few cracks."
Ryouma was just about to bring it closer for a better look when snap, without warning, Lostvayne broke apart near the hilt. One half of the blade shattered into several fragments and clattered to the ground.
When Obito saw the shattered remains of his best friend's sword, he quickly crouched down and gathered all the fragments into his hands, then looked up at Ryouma and asked, "This can still be repaired, right?"
If it could be repaired, Minato wouldn't feel so guilty. Once chakra-conductive metal broke from intense use, reforging was the only option, there was no other way to fix it.
"It's fine." Ryouma slid the broken sword back into its sheath and took the fragments from Obito, carefully storing them away. "The war is over now anyway. This sword has fulfilled its mission. Let's head back to the village."
"Wait a second," Shukaku called out. "We haven't re-established the seal yet."
"Oh, right. If we return to Konoha like this, we'll definitely scare the villagers." Ryouma lifted his shirt and said, "This time draw a prettier sealing pattern, okay? Don't use that pattern of yours again."
"Change the pattern? I've got it!"
Shukaku seemed to think of something, formed a hand seal, and channeled its chakra out of its body into Ryouma's. At the same time, its body began to shrink.
A few seconds later, the sealing was complete. A purple circular marking spread across Ryouma's lower abdomen. It formed a four-armed symbol, each arm bent at a right angle, creating a rotating pattern around a central point. The design was perfectly symmetrical.
"How about that? Each arm represents one tailed beast!" Shukaku declared proudly. "If you get more, the pattern will grow, five beasts will add another arm, six will complete the opposite side..."
Ryouma glanced down. At first glance, it looked fine, but the more he looked, the more something felt off... Oh well, whatever. It definitely looked better than the old violet pattern. He reached out and picked up Shukaku, placing it on top of his head.
"So, should we also put our chakra into you?" Kokuō asked softly.
Shukaku glanced at Kokuō and said, "Heh, my design was already made for four!"
"If you're willing, that would be ideal. But if not, I can set up something outside the village—" Ryouma started.
"I'm in!" Isobu cut him off before he could finish.
There had once been a precious offer in the Land of Water that it didn't cherish, and soon after, it had been captured and used as a battery. Now that the chance had come again, only a fool wouldn't accept it. Just as people follow the crowd, beasts follow one another too. With Isobu taking the lead, Kokuō and Son Gokū quickly agreed as well.
"But remember, among the tailed beasts, I'm still number one," Shukaku quickly asserted, worried about its status.
Ryouma reached up and patted its head. "I'll leave it to you."
"No problem. You guys, release your chakra."
Shukaku guided the three tailed beasts' chakra into the newly completed seal.
Before long, with both sides cooperating, the sealing was successfully completed.
Isobu, Son Gokū, and Kokuō all shrank dramatically in size.
Obito curiously leaned in for a closer look and asked in confusion, "Why do you guys seem a bit bigger than Shukaku? Is it because your chakra is stronger?"
"Say that again!"
"Then why is it?"
"Well… that's because…" Shukaku mumbled awkwardly, unable to admit that it had deliberately left the other three with more chakra, at that size, they wouldn't be able to compete with its for the title of "Ryouma's number one partner."
"All right," Minato clapped his hands. "Time to head back. I'll report to the Hokage about the mission later. You all get some rest, especially you, Obito. Your chakra hasn't recovered much, has it?"
"Uhh…" Obito was immediately silenced and didn't continue bickering with Shukaku.
"I'll handle the teleportation," Ryouma volunteered. Right now, he had a massive reserve of chakra.
---
Having learned his lesson from their last return trip from the Land of Hot Water, this time Ryouma chose to land directly at the Senju clan residence. As soon as they arrived, the previously quiet courtyard instantly became lively.
"I'll head to the Hokage's office first." Minato didn't stay. He needed to inform Hiruzen as soon as possible about Iwa's upcoming peace talks with Konoha.
Once Minato left using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Obito also took his leave.
He wanted to go show off to Kakashi. As for the confidentiality rules, he didn't really care about that. It was not like Kakashi was an outsider. As long as he didn't reveal specific mission details, it should be fine.
When only Ryouma and Shukaku on his head were left in the courtyard, the other three tailed beasts exchanged glances. Finally, Kokuō spoke up, "Friend of Shukaku, is this where we'll be living from now on?"
Back when it wasn't sealed, it loved to run freely. Though it was now much smaller, this courtyard still felt a bit cramped. If possible, it hoped for a larger space to roam. Of course, it wasn't a dealbreaker, living here was still far better than being sealed.
"This place? If you guys want to stay here, I'd be happy to have you. But this probably isn't what you really want, right? Don't worry, I won't restrict your freedom."
"Really?" Son Gokū asked, a little in disbelief. It had assumed that in order to gain protection, it'd have to sign some kind of slave contract and follow this human around forever.
"Of course it's real," Shukaku answered for Ryouma. "You guys should go somewhere farther away. You don't even need to come back."
Ryouma thought about it and agreed. After all, most of the chakra was stored inside him now. If anyone wanted to capture the tailed beasts, they'd have to deal with him first. This way, even if Kokuō and the others moved independently, they wouldn't easily become targets.
So he said casually, "He's right. I've got your chakra inside me now, so if anything happens, you can contact me anytime."
"Not me. I'm staying here. I'm not going anywhere," Isobu declared, climbing onto a large rock in the courtyard with a determined expression that said, "I'm desperate to grow stronger."
"But there's no pond in the courtyard. Won't you feel uncomfortable, Isobu?" Ryouma asked in confusion.
"Nope. I feel just fine right here."
Well, with that kind of determination, Ryouma figured there was no harm. It was not like he lacked space to raise a turtle.
"All right then. I'll build you a pond in the courtyard later. Actually, I think adding one here would look pretty nice."
As for Kokuō and Son Gokū, they weren't the kind to stay rooted in one spot like Isobu. He thought it would be better to find them a more suitable place to live.
