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It hurts so much... What is this feeling of utter powerlessness... I remember... I still remember... So, in these past two years... have I truly made no progress at all?
No... that's not right. I should have become stronger. But... it's not enough. It's still not enough!
Clutching his stomach, Naruto climbed up from the ground. Although he had been kicked by Kagaya, Kagaya had deliberately held back, so Naruto's condition wasn't to the point where he couldn't stand.
Lifting his head and looking ahead, that familiar figure had already vanished. All that remained... was that member of the Akatsuki.
He's gone, huh?
This was a vast expanse of starry sky.
Only "starry sky" existed here. Beyond that, no other scenery existed. There was no "earth," no "ocean," no "forest"—none of those things existed here.
Kagaya knew this place.
"System?"
Yes, this was the internal space of the system.
He didn't know how long it had been since he had last entered this place. This time, after Kagaya had used the Flying Thunder God to carry Jiraiya out of the stone cavern, without any warning whatsoever, Kagaya's consciousness had been drawn into this space.
The appointed time has arrived. The next world... is about to be initiated.
The system's voice suddenly resounded throughout this space.
"I see..."
Toward this outcome, Kagaya felt both surprise and a lack thereof.
The lack of surprise was because, several years ago, the system had already told Kagaya to prepare to travel to the next world. So, Kagaya had been mentally prepared for this.
The surprise was because, although the system had mentioned it years ago, the prolonged silence afterward had once made Kagaya completely forget about it. Now, suddenly receiving a response about it—that was what had caught Kagaya off guard.
[You may choose to depart at any time. You may also temporarily remain in this world. But at most, you have half an hour. After that, you will be forcibly transported to the next world.]
Kagaya's eyes flew wide open.
"Half an hour?! Are you serious?! That's far too unreasonable! I still have so many things to deal with here! Half an hour isn't nearly enough!"
[There is no need to deal with anything! After you leave, time in this world will continue flowing at an extremely slow pace. There is no need for concern.]
"Is that your justification for forcibly transporting me?!"
[You may interpret it that way.]
Kagaya furrowed his brow. The next world... In truth, not long ago, when the system had transported him to the past, Kagaya had already realized that this event couldn't be far off. However, now that it had truly arrived, Kagaya still felt a slight sense of unease.
He had already grown accustomed to this world of Naruto. So accustomed that he didn't want to leave. The next world...
"May I ask... what the next world is?"
[Unable to provide notification. It can only be revealed after the transportation is complete.]
"..."
Kagaya fell silent. To be honest, the arrival of this matter had been far too sudden. He was still in the middle of "cultivating" Naruto. He had just reached the halfway point. Everything was still within a controllable range. Everything was still developing in a favorable direction. So what was with this system suddenly popping up out of nowhere?
No... at the very least, let him finish dealing with the matter regarding Naruto first.
"Half an hour... can't it be any longer? How about one hour?"
[Rejected]
The system's voice was completely flat and emotionless. Yet, it was precisely this kind of flat, emotionless voice that declared the system's unyielding, resolute will all the more clearly.
[You have already remained in this world for far too long. Even longer than I anticipated. It cannot be delayed any further.]
Listening to the system's words, Kagaya felt an ever-growing sense of displeasure—the feeling that "everything had been thrown into disarray."
"Fine. Then let me go deal with my affairs first. Let me out of here."
[Granted]
The green forest, the earthy yellow ground, the azure blue sky—everything indicated that Kagaya had emerged from the system's mysterious space.
He glanced at his side. Jiraiya was still there. He had been brought out by Kagaya's Flying Thunder God.
"Stay here for now."
Hurriedly leaving behind those words, accompanied by a flash of black light, Kagaya vanished.
Originally, Kagaya had intended to use Kakuzu as a whetstone for Naruto, to help him grow. But that plan had been completely thrown into disarray by the system's sudden appearance. Time no longer permitted Kagaya to proceed slowly. He didn't even have time to return to Karin and the others. He could only hastily deal with the matter regarding Naruto.
Whoosh!
A kunai, moving at a speed that seemed to nearly tear through space itself, instantly appeared before Kakuzu's head. Immediately after, a flash of golden radiance blazed forth. Kagaya, with his Susanoo activated, materialized above Kakuzu. The colossal skeletal hand clenched into a fist.
One punch!
BOOM!
A massive cloud of earthy yellow dust was thrown into the air. The very earth trembled ceaselessly.
Crack... crackle...
Enormous fissures, centered on the spot where Kagaya had landed, rapidly spread outward in all directions. Within seconds, those fissures had climbed up the walls surrounding the stone cavern. Immediately after, the entire cavern began to collapse.
RUMBLE... RUMBLE...
Massive boulders tumbled downward.
"What?! He collapsed the entire cavern with just one strike?!"
Chiyo retreated two steps. She had only ever witnessed such immense destructive power from particularly powerful ninjutsu. But this—without forming any hand seals, producing such an effect with a single casual strike...
"Is that brat... some kind of monster?!"
Putting away her scroll, Chiyo rushed to Gaara's side at incredible speed. She hoisted Gaara up, then turned to look at Naruto.
"Naruto, retreat for now!"
"Right!"
Naruto forced himself upright and shouted in response. Then, ignoring the pain wracking his body, he rushed to Kakashi and Sakura's side. Grabbing one person in each arm, he hauled them both out of the cavern.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The cavern collapsed rapidly. At the very last moment, Naruto and Chiyo finally made it outside, unharmed.
"Wh-what... what happened?!"
Guy stared at the ruins before him with a face full of utter disbelief. Team Guy had been busy undoing the barrier earlier, so they hadn't entered the cavern at the first opportunity. In fact, because undoing the barrier forced them to face illusions of equal strength to themselves, Team Guy had already lost their combat capability. That was also the main reason they hadn't entered the cavern.
While Naruto and the others were fighting, Team Guy had been outside, hurriedly recovering their strength and preparing to rush in and support Naruto's group as soon as possible. But before they could recover much strength at all... an astonishing sight unfolded before their eyes.
—The massive stone cavern before them... had collapsed!
"Is it... an earthquake?!"
Rock Lee, sprawled on the ground, spoke in a panic.
The collapse of the cavern continuously sent violent tremors through the surrounding earth, making it feel very much like a massive earthquake. Lee had been unable to keep his footing, which was why he was lying prone on the ground.
A look of sheer incredulity surfaced in Neji's eyes.
"No... this is... the shaking is only happening near us. There's no tremor in the distance. So this cavern's collapse wasn't caused by an earthquake. If you ask me... could it be..."
Neji swallowed hard and didn't dare finish his sentence.
Cold sweat streamed down Tenten's forehead. She picked up where Neji had left off and spoke cautiously.
"Could it be... man-made?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
Tenten's words were met with complete silence.
One had to understand—the cavern before them wasn't some small cave. It was an immensely massive cavern, easily hundreds of meters in both length and width. The thickness of its stone walls was anything but a mere few meters. What kind of ability could cause such a massive cavern to collapse entirely?
"Was it someone from the Akatsuki?"
Guy voiced the question.
Chiyo, who had just rushed out, shook her head.
"No. It wasn't. It was a young man I didn't recognize. He seemed to possess the Sharingan. Whether he... no, forget it. Talking about it won't help. You'll see him soon enough. At that point, we'll see whether you Leaf shinobi recognize him."
Just as Chiyo finished speaking, a thunderous explosion suddenly rang out. From the collapsed ruins of the cavern, a colossal golden arm shoved aside massive slabs of rock. Then, using the ground as support, it gradually pulled its main body upward.
"Did I use too much force? Or did I just fail to control it properly?"
Kagaya spoke calmly. He hadn't originally intended to collapse the entire cavern. But because he now possessed the Five-Tails, Kagaya's taijutsu attack power had skyrocketed by several tiers. For a moment, he truly couldn't control his strength properly. Just now, he had only wanted to kick up some dust and smoke, then use the cover to quickly deal with Chiyo. He never expected that simply adding a tiny bit of the Five-Tails' steam power into his Susanoo would collapse the entire cavern.
"But it doesn't matter. Let's get down to business."
Right now, the distance between Kagaya and Chiyo, Naruto, and the others wasn't far at all. It was actually very close. Therefore, there was no need for the Flying Thunder God. The Body Flicker Technique would suffice.
In an instant, a Kagaya appeared before each of Chiyo, Guy, Lee, Neji, and Tenten.
Body Flicker Clones!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Neji, Tenten, and Lee were sent flying without any suspense, with no time to react whatsoever. Their injuries weren't light. As for Guy and Chiyo—although they too were sent flying before they could react—their extensive combat experience allowed them to quickly disperse the force upon landing, so they didn't suffer overly serious injuries.
But that was of little use. The most terrifying aspect of Kagaya's speed wasn't whether the opponent could react. The most terrifying part was that, even if the opponent did react, continuous, unrelenting rapid attacks could still defeat them before they could bring their true strength to bear.
"Th-this—"
Guy had only just been sent flying and had only just landed when Kagaya appeared before him once more. Another punch!
No time to defend!
Then, Guy was sent flying again.
'No good... I have to open the Eight Gates.'
In midair, Guy realized the severity of the situation. His body simply couldn't keep up with the opponent's speed. If he didn't open the Eight Gates, he would be toyed with to death.
But the very moment this thought appeared... his body took another punch. His chakra was directly scattered and dispersed by the impact!
He didn't even have time to open the Eight Gates!
This was the terror of Kagaya—once an opponent failed to guard against him from the start, they could very likely be pursued and beaten to death without ever getting to demonstrate their true abilities.
Of course, if an opponent was meticulously wary of him from the very beginning, then Kagaya couldn't achieve this kind of effect.
Take Guy, for example. If he had, upon seeing Kagaya, unhesitatingly opened the Sixth or Seventh Gate of the Eight Gates at the very first moment, then Kagaya might have needed to use the Susanoo and suppress him with overwhelming force.
Unfortunately for Guy... he hadn't gone all out the instant he saw Kagaya.
From this perspective, Kagaya and Hidan were somewhat similar. Both were the type who became immensely, overwhelmingly powerful when fighting opponents unfamiliar with them. But once their abilities were fully understood, their effectiveness would drop drastically.
Take Pain, for example. The first time Kagaya fought Pain, relying on his terrifying speed, he had directly denied Pain any chance to demonstrate his power and beaten him down in just a few blows.
But the second time he faced Pain—after Pain had grown familiar with Kagaya's speed and taken precautions—Kagaya had even nearly been killed by Pain's Planetary Devastation.
It was clear: speed, against familiar enemies and unfamiliar enemies, produced two entirely different results.
And Guy and Chiyo—what category did they fall into?
At present, they certainly belonged to the category of "enemies unfamiliar with Kagaya." As a result, they hadn't excessively guarded against Kagaya's speed.
Thus, the outcome was already decided.
In just a few seconds, Guy was beaten directly into unconsciousness. Chiyo was also beaten to the ground, unable to move.
In truth, neither Guy nor Chiyo was weak. Even with Kagaya's current strength, if he had faced these two in their full-power states, it would have taken considerable effort to defeat them.
The reason he had been able to defeat them so easily this time was, as mentioned before, because neither Guy nor Chiyo had excessively guarded against Kagaya's speed.
This was no longer within the realm of pure strength. It was simply the inherent nature of Kagaya's speed.
Against enemies unfamiliar with him, a single lapse of attention could lead to instant defeat. It was perfectly normal.
Just like Hidan. In the original story, Hidan had easily killed Asuma. Was it because Hidan was far stronger than Asuma?
No. Hidan's true strength wasn't even on par with Asuma's. If both sides had known each other's abilities clearly in advance, Asuma would absolutely have been able to defeat Hidan.
So why had Hidan killed Asuma so easily?
It was precisely because of the inherent nature of Hidan's ability. Kagaya's situation was much the same.
When facing first-time opponents—against enemies unfamiliar with them—Kagaya and Hidan were the type of shinobi who were immensely, terrifyingly powerful.
Of course, what was being discussed here was solely Kagaya's "speed," that one single ability.
If Kagaya also added "Susanoo" and "Five-Tails" into the mix... then, no matter whether the enemy was familiar with him or not, they could never defeat Kagaya.
Next, Kagaya kicked Naruto flying with a single blow and walked over to Kakashi's side. He pulled out a kunai and aimed it at the unconscious Kakashi's forehead, smiling faintly.
"What was destined to appear... has finally appeared, after all. Knowing full well that I'm here... you still dare to show yourself?"
Crimson chakra materialized behind Kagaya. It was chakra brimming with malice. It was chakra of immense, colossal magnitude. It was also... the very purpose of Kagaya's trip here.
"I wonder... how many more times you'll have to go berserk... before you can finally master the Nine-Tails' power?"
Letting out a soft sigh, Kagaya turned around. Looking at Naruto, who had now clearly gone berserk, he prepared to begin his final task.
Going berserk was beneficial to the Nine-Tails, but it was also beneficial to Naruto. Every time he went berserk, Naruto's body grew more accustomed to the Nine-Tails' chakra, laying the groundwork for his eventual mastery of its power.
At the same time, every berserk episode was also a trial. Just like exams at school—take enough of them, and eventually, you'd know how to handle them.
The more times Naruto went berserk... the less he would lose his sanity.
The Eternal Mangekyo blazed crimson like fresh blood, like the most ominous object in all the world. This sense of ominousness even overpowered the malice within the Nine-Tails' chakra.
"Get back inside... Nine-Tails."