Malphegor
patreon
HSU: Ch. 167
🕑 Added 2025-01-29 21:23:45 +0000 UTCMatatabi pondered for a long while before finally understanding what Masashi meant. "But if someone bullies me, how do I call you to help me fight them?"
"Good question!" Masashi waved his hand dramatically. "I have a technique called the Summoning Jutsu. I summon you, and you summon me. Distance will no longer be a problem! As long as our hearts are connected, there's no one we can't beat. So, tell me, who do you want to beat up?"
Matatabi raised a paw and pointed at Nagato.
"Can you beat him? He feels very dangerous to me."
Nagato, expressionless, said to Konan, "Fly farther away later and stick close to Kakuzu."
Masashi, on the other hand, turned to look at Nagato. "Sorry about this."
"I don't need your fake pity," Nagato replied coldly, though he was already prepared for battle.
He genuinely believed that Masashi could launch an attack in the next second.
However, with Konan here, he couldn't afford to use his full power.
"But," Masashi turned to Matatabi, "you wouldn't lie to me, right? Honesty is the most important thing between partners. If you have any doubts, just say them out loud."
Matatabi looked at Masashi, then at the others.
For a tailed beast to acknowledge a human being, that human had to be an exceptionally powerful individual. It was just how things were—tailed beasts, after all, were living creatures. They couldn't pay attention to individuals too weak to stand before them, at most merely choosing not to harm them.
But communication? Impossible.
The brutal survival of the fittest on the continent of Konoha had always been out in the open. Strong individuals treated tailed beasts as tools and weapons, which had been the norm since Hagoromo passed away. Since then, tailed beasts had lost the ability to communicate with humans.
The so-called perfect jinchūriki was essentially the tailed beasts' way of compromising and self-soothing when they had no other choice.
It was like trying to make life in prison a bit more comfortable.
What Masashi described was a mode of interaction that Matatabi had never considered before.
And the earlier test proved that Masashi had the ability to protect it.
This was still a compromise, but it was far more acceptable than the perfect jinchūriki scenario.
However, his question also touched upon Matatabi's doubts.
Could it trust Masashi?
Matatabi began carefully pondering the question.
Masashi, meanwhile, was in no rush and quietly waited.
But the others grew impatient.
"This is so boring," Kakuzu said to Nagato. "Are we going to continue capturing the tailed beast or give up? Say something already."
"My personal suggestion is to give up this time," Orochimaru chimed in.
In his view, the opportunity to capture the tailed beast had already slipped away.
An Uchiha who could use the Susanoo combined with a tailed beast wasn't just a matter of adding one plus one.
Facing such an opponent without thorough preparation would be a grave mistake.
He hoped Nagato would see reason, but considering Jiraiya was a fool, it was likely that the disciple he trained wasn't much better.
As he expected, he saw that same stubborn expression forming on Nagato's face.
It ultimately solidified into determination.
Masashi also noticed this expression—Jiraiya would look the same when he got serious.
"Jiraiya didn't teach you guys very well…" he sighed.
It wasn't that he disliked Konan or Nagato personally.
Perhaps he was simply used to the mindset of his first life in the shinobi world: striving harder the more difficult the circumstances.
He didn't like this kind of attitude toward one's own life.
People who easily gambled their lives on someone else's dream could end up doing all sorts of things, as he'd seen many times in his first life.
Such people weren't necessarily bad; on the contrary, they could be incredibly kind-hearted individuals.
Like Nagato and Konan.
But they could commit acts so horrifying that even the most ruthless villains would be stunned, all while remaining unaware of their own actions.
For this reason, he couldn't bring himself to like them.
In the original timeline, Nagato and Konan were exactly this type of people.
After being provoked by Tsunade, Nagato unhesitatingly used a massive-scale Shinra Tensei to destroy an entire village. While he was later convinced to stop through talk no jutsu, that moment of decisiveness had been very real.
As for Konan, she might have had some reservations, but her primary concern had been whether Nagato would tire himself out while destroying the village.
That was how Masashi saw it.
Known in his first life as the Hollow, he wasn't a clean individual himself. He wouldn't hypocritically criticize others.
However, even at his worst, he'd never razed an entire village. When he'd unleashed the Edo Tensei against the Land of Lightning, he'd specifically set conditions to only target ninjas, minimizing collateral damage as much as possible.
Everyone had the right to choose how they handle situations, and he wouldn't judge anyone's choices. But he could choose not to like them.
Having power in hand and choosing to be an unrestricted oppressor? There was nothing to say about that.
But if an unrestricted oppressor started criticizing a group of restricted oppressors, that was just bizarre.
At this moment, Matatabi finished its thoughts. It leaped up and landed behind Masashi.
Its attitude was clear.
"You help me drive them away, and I'll go with you."
"Alright."
With that, Masashi lightly jumped onto Matatabi's head.
Nagato raised a hand, sending Konan into the sky.
"Go!" he ordered coldly. "Kakuzu, Orochimaru, you leave too. Kakuzu, protect Konan. Consider this a personal request from me."
In the air, Konan spread her paper wings, seemingly wanting to say something. But in the end, she sighed and flew off.
Kakuzu's eyes lit up, and without another word, he chased after her.
Orochimaru chuckled and walked in the opposite direction.
In an instant, only Nagato, Masashi, and Matatabi remained on the battlefield.
"Matatabi, I'm about to use a jutsu. It might feel uncomfortable the first time. Bear with it."
Sensing the chakra flow within Nagato's body, Masashi wasted no time activating his Armament.
Under his full power, the white armor quickly covered Matatabi's entire body.
It was faster than ever before.
At the same time, Masashi activated his Susanoo.
As Nagato prepared his jutsu, a titan riding Matatabi appeared before him.
Unlike his usual preference for creating Prometheus, this time, it took the form of a burly warrior wielding a great bow.
Atlas in all his glory, just with a bow.
The titan, like Matatabi, was clad in the armor created by the Armament.
Matatabi indeed felt a little uncomfortable, especially with a "person" sitting on its head. It shook its head to adjust to the "helmet" it was wearing, like a divine beast adapting to its first suit of armor.
But it also felt a sense of security and began to feel more at ease.
At that moment, Nagato unleashed his jutsu.
In his palm, a black orb of highly concentrated chakra formed—a large one, filled with immense power. And with a flick of his hand, he launched it into the sky.
Having anticipated this move, Masashi remained calm, commanding Atlas to raise its bow.
Today, he would shoot down this Chibaku Tensei as the titans once challenged the very laws of nature.
He didn't know how to fully counter a complete version of Chibaku Tensei—perhaps only through decoys using clones or substitution techniques.
But when it came to understanding the incomplete version, the manga had already given him the answer.
Among Susanoo's three treasures, the Yasaka Beads was the only one Masashi hadn't yet used—today was the perfect opportunity to break it in.
Nagato wanted to probe his strength. Well, why couldn't he do the same?
As the pitch-black chakra sphere rose to its peak, Masashi loosed his arrow.
Considering the size of the sphere, he amplified his chakra output, firing three consecutive arrows.
Using the Yasaka Beads like throwing shuriken was fine, but under these circumstances, shooting arrows was faster.
At the moment the Chibaku Tensei activated, the arrows collided with the chakra sphere.
The world seemed to freeze in time.
A dazzling white light filled the sky.
Shockwaves rippled outward, creating visible disturbances in the air, as if a massive Shinra Tensei had just been unleashed.
By the time the tremors reached the ground, they were greatly diminished, but the trees still bent low, as if bowing in homage to the two ninja who had caused this scene.
Nagato hurtled toward Atlas like a cannonball, his hand already reaching out.
Though his Chibaku Tensei might not be complete, his usage of Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in had become instinctual.
The moment his hand made contact with Atlas, he activated Shinra Tensei.
Matatabi, feeling the impact, dug its claws into the ground, standing firm with its body closely merged with the armor.
Not to mention Matatabi, even Atlas itself possessed substantial weight. Only a tailed beast could serve as its mount.
Nagato's body was repelled but remained unharmed—it had only been a test.
"This chakra entity… has significant mass."
Now aware of Atlas's strength, he landed back on the ground, just in time to see Atlas's massive sword swing down.
The bow and arrow in the hands of this titan had already transformed into a great sword.
Nagato sidestepped to evade, and before the blade could touch the ground, another Shinra Tensei pushed it aside.
Releasing chakra of this magnitude must put a burden on the body.
Thinking of his own sacrifices when using the Gedo Statue, Nagato doubted that Masashi could wield Atlas without consequence.
While Shinra Tensei might not harm the titan's body, its physical attacks wouldn't face such limitations.
Furthermore...
He charged toward the descending great sword.
Before Masashi could retrieve it, Nagato appeared by the Totsuka Sword, grasping and pulling at the sword.
A portion of the chakra forming the sword was torn out, forming a long strand connecting to Nagato's palm, where it began disintegrating and being absorbed.
Clearly, when it came to dismantling an opponent's chakra, the Preta Path operated on a higher level.
"Impressive—truly the eyes of a sage," Masashi praised, severing the chakra strand and retracting his great sword.
While it was true that Madara, who awakened the first Rinnegan since the Sage of Six Paths, was immensely powerful, Nagato's mastery of the dōjutsu was equally astounding.
Madara had likely chosen Nagato as his vessel after recognizing his extraordinary potential.
If he had been born in one of the great ninja villages, he would undoubtedly have risen to Kage-level even without the Rinnegan.
Lifting the Totsuka Sword again, Masashi replenished the damaged sections with surging chakra.
"Do you know the origins of your eyes?" Masashi asked.
"Jiraiya told me," Nagato replied, absorbing the chakra in his hand and looking visibly more composed. "Where they came from doesn't matter—what matters is what I can achieve with them."
Although he had chosen a different path to realize Yahiko's dream, he had given serious thought to the origins of his eyes.
The memories of his childhood were blurry, but years of contemplation had led to suspicions.
If the eyes were his innate ability, they wouldn't function this way.
He wasn't foolish—after growing up, he understood that the Land of Rain wasn't purely a victim of war. Small nations and the great powers, their rulers and ninja, were all cut from the same cloth.
There were no truly innocent countries in this world, but precisely because of that, change was necessary.
It had to change!
In the end, he chose to ignore the mystery. If he couldn't uncover the truth, so be it. Instead, he focused on making himself strong—strong enough to counter any potential schemes.
After all, he needed the power of his eyes to realize his dream.
"Even if it's someone else's conspiracy?" Masashi said. "The dream you three share is likely unattainable."
"You may have wide-ranging intelligence, but don't think you know me," Nagato responded. "Those from the great nations live in the light, far from hell. A few skirmishes, and they think they've seen darkness. Compared to those who've struggled in hell, it's nothing."
The Two-Tails was right before him, yet he no longer spared it a glance.
There was no way to take the Two-Tails in this situation, but Masashi's intimate knowledge of him was unnerving.
Since that was the case, he was more important than the Two-Tails. There was no need to hold back.
After all, unlike Orochimaru, Masashi was someone Nagato deemed worth recruiting.
Moreover, his methods for achieving peace aligned closely with Nagato's own philosophy.
"Since you think you understand me, let me tell you: compared to achieving peace, my own life is insignificant. In this cruel world, believing that mutual understanding can end hatred is naive. Only pain can create peace."
Nagato let out a cold laugh.
"Killing the Raikage was your plan—using the threat of pain to achieve peace is your method."
Pointing at Masashi, he said:
"What you've done is exactly what I intend to do."
Masashi looked at Nagato below.
This guy had really gone off the deep end.
Sure, he wasn't as extreme as Obito and was relatively pragmatic, but the problem was that deep down, Nagato still believed in Jiraiya's ideals.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been provoked into unleashing his full power by Tsunade and ultimately talked down by Naruto, sacrificing himself in the end.
If that weren't the case, why would Masashi bother with Konoha? He could've just joined Akatsuki and set up a branch office. Back then, Konoha was already on the verge of hell mode.
He had developed multiple plans, only to find that sticking with Konoha was more reliable. Difficult as it was, the foundation was there. Most importantly, while the people in the Hokage Building were far from saints, their loyalty was firm—they wouldn't betray him in an instant.
"Mutual understanding is indeed impossible," Masashi said, before looking at Matatabi below.
"I'm switching techniques. I'll need your help for this one."
The high-tier Sharingan was thoroughly outmatched by the Rinnegan.
Using Uchiha-style techniques against the Rinnegan was far too inefficient—it was time to bring out the Senju-style!
