novelraw Chapter 366 366 Giving Yahiko And Nagato a Small Shock
Chapter 366 366 Giving Yahiko And Nagato a Small Shock
"Impossible!" Yahiko refuted almost instinctively, his face bearing reverence for Hanzo: "Hanzo-sama is the hero of Amegakure, the Demigod dedicated to peace in Amegakure! How could he possibly do something so despicable!"
He paused, his tone resolute as he continued, "If it were other Ninja who kidnapped Konan and Nagato, if my death could give them a chance to live, I would not hesitate..."
"Yahiko!"
"Don't!"
Konan and Nagato almost simultaneously interrupted him, their faces etched with anxiety and opposition.
Looking at Yahiko's unhesitating, sacrificial expression, Menma suddenly laughed, the smile carrying a trace of pity and helplessness: "Congratulations, Yahiko. You chose wrong."
Without waiting for the stunned Yahiko to retort, Menma continued: "First, enemies, especially those who resort to kidnapping and coercion, have no credibility. They won't honor their promise just because you kill yourself. Trusting an enemy's promise is the biggest, most fatal mistake in battle."
His gaze turned sharp: "Even when the First Kage of the Five Great Nations established a relatively peaceful order under the pressure of the God of Ninja, Senju Hashirama, didn't they, within a few years, tear up the alliances they signed in the face of interests, plunging into continuous wars?"
"Using the history of the Ninja World as a reference, your approach is tantamount to seeking your own death and pushing your friends into even more dangerous, desperate situations! Your sacrifice is worthless, only causing pain to your loved ones and joy to your enemies!"
Yahiko opened his mouth to refute but found Menma's words like heavy shackles, using the bloody history of the Ninja World as evidence, leaving him momentarily speechless.
Konan and Nagato also fell silent.
Yahiko clenched his fists. He raised his head, his eyes still flashing with that unextinguished flame of idealism, stubbornly countering: "But! If we can't even try to trust and understand our enemies, how can we make other people in this world understand each other? How can we make this Ninja World, full of war and hatred, truly move towards peace?!"
His voice carried a tremor, the instinctive tenacity of his beliefs when under attack.
Seeing the obstinate light in Yahiko's eyes, Menma knew that simple verbal persuasion could hardly shake his deeply ingrained ideals.
He said no more, instead slowly taking out a seemingly ordinary, blank bamboo scroll from his clothes, gently placing it on the wooden table.
The scroll was ancient, exuding an indescribable mysterious aura.
"Do you want to see for yourselves?" Menma's voice lowered, carrying a strange allure: "Not my conjecture, nor empty theories. But... your 'future'."
His gaze swept over Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato.
Yahiko, with almost no hesitation, took a deep breath and was the first to reach out, firmly placing his hand on the blank scroll.
Konan and Nagato exchanged a glance, then also simultaneously reached out, covering the scroll.
The moment all three hands touched the scroll simultaneously—
Hum—!
A soft, pale red light suddenly radiated from the seemingly blank bamboo scroll!
The light wasn't dazzling, but instantly enveloped Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato!
Their bodies trembled slightly, their eyes instantly losing focus, as if their souls had been drawn away, entering an illusory world constructed by Menma through the [Red Moon Scroll], based on the 'history' he knew.
In that world, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato, from a bystander's perspective, clearly 'saw':
A mysterious man calling himself 'Uchiha Madara', wearing a spiral mask, actively seeking cooperation, his words filled with temptation and traps.
They saw the deeply respected [Demigod] Hanzo the Salamander conspiring in secret with Konoha's Shimura Danzo, laying a scheme.
They saw Konan kidnapped, becoming a bargaining chip for coercion.
They saw Akatsuki's members ambushed by mysterious enemies, dying one by one.
They saw Yahiko, to secure Konan's chance to live, resolutely impaling himself on a kunai, choosing suicide.
They saw Hanzo coldly breaking his promise, issuing the order to 'kill them all'.
They saw Nagato, in extreme grief and rage, summoning the terrifying Gedo Statue, only to have his legs blown off by pre-planted explosive tags, letting out a mournful howl.
They saw the original Akatsuki almost completely annihilated, only Konan and the severely injured Nagato remained, embracing and weeping amidst the ruins.
Finally, they saw Nagato, having lost everything, dragging his crippled body, accepting 'Uchiha Madara's' cooperation, embarking on the path of gathering the nine Tailed Beasts, creating the ultimate weapon, Ten-Tails, attempting to use the terror of a 'god' to make the world feel pain, forcibly realizing 'peace'...
Scene after scene, like the cruelest drama, presented before their eyes with various details.
The cries of comrades before death, Yahiko's smile as he fell, Nagato's heart-wrenching roar, Konan's tears of despair...
Everything was so real, so searingly vivid!
"Urgh—!"
The light dissipated, the Genjutsu ended.
Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato almost simultaneously jerked their hands back as if burned.
They gasped heavily, cold sweat covering their foreheads, faces as pale as paper, their eyes filled with lingering horror, grief, and disbelief.
Yahiko, in particular, gripped the edge of the table with both hands, knuckles white from the force, his body trembling uncontrollably.
He breathed heavily, as if just rescued from drowning.
He couldn't fathom that his choice ultimately led to such a tragic ending!
'So many like-minded comrades sharing the same ideals, dead.'
'And Nagato and Konan, they ended up...'
'Walking such a path filled with pain and destruction!'
"The fu... future... that was... our future?" Yahiko's voice was hoarse and dry, each word seeming forced from his throat with difficulty.
When Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan struggled to lift their heads from that all-too-real, all-too-cruel Genjutsu, what met their eyes was Menma, holding a coarse earthenware teapot, calmly refilling Kanon's tea beside him.
Hot water poured into the cup, rising in wisps of steam, clashing with the oppressive atmosphere in the room.
Menma gently placed the teapot back on the table, his gaze calmly meeting the three's shaken eyes, filled with shock and pain, his voice still steady: "No need to dwell on it too deeply. That was merely one possibility among countless 'futures'. Of course, on the road to the future, you always have the right to choose. Different choices lead to different paths."
Yahiko's breathing remained somewhat ragged. He forcefully shook his head, trying to dispel the images from the illusion: his own death, comrades fallen, Nagato's corruption.
Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, he seized upon the most crucial name from the illusion, his voice hoarse and urgent: "So... the mastermind manipulating everything is that person calling himself 'Uchiha Madara'? He planned all this? Including Nagato's eyes and his parents' death?"
The last sentence was directed at Nagato, his eyes filled with anger and heartache for his comrade's suffering.
"It is him, but not only him." Menma nodded, then shook his head, his answer deepening the mystery in their hearts rather than solving it.
"The truth behind the Ninja World is far more complex and cruel than what you just saw. For a thousand years, the cycle of war and hatred on this land has repeated. The conflicts and schemes between the Five Great Nations and the Five Great Ninja Villages, even including your Akatsuki, the pain you've experienced, the ideals you hold... before the cruel truth of the Ninja World, are merely grains of sand on a vast chessboard, insignificant and helpless."
"Even the 'Uchiha Madara' manipulating your fate is merely a puppet chess player." Menma gave a light laugh.
"The Ninja World... cruel truth?"
"Even the Five Great Ninja Villages... are merely grains of sand?"
Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan exchanged glances, their faces filled with confusion and disbelief.
Menma's words seemed to lift a corner of an even larger, darker curtain before them. What lay behind was unimaginable!
They had always thought that conflicts of interest between nations and villages, and the inability of people to understand each other, were the root causes of war and suffering.
But now, someone was telling them that even more terrifying manipulators might exist behind it?
Just as the three were immersed in this astonishing information, their thoughts in turmoil, Menma suddenly set down his teacup, lightly patted Kanon's shoulder beside him, and casually instructed: "Alright, Kanon, get ready to take action."
'Take action?'
'Against whom?'
Yahiko and the other two instantly became alert, instinctively assuming defensive stances, thinking Menma meant them harm.
However, Menma's next action left them stunned.
They saw Menma slowly extend his right hand, palm facing up.
The next moment, a dark red Chakra, carrying a hint of ferocious aura yet firmly restrained by some force, gathered and swirled in his palm like leaping flames.
It was Chakra originating from the Kokyu.
"Grab my hand." Menma's voice brooked no argument, his gaze sweeping over the three, suspicious and uncertain.
Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan looked at each other. Though filled with doubts and wariness, recalling Menma's previously displayed power far beyond their understanding and that despair-inducing Genjutsu World, they ultimately chose to believe.
Or rather, chose to verify.
Yahiko was the first to reach out, firmly grasping Menma's wrist. Konan and Nagato followed closely.
The moment the three's hands made contact with Menma, that dark red Chakra, like living water, rapidly spread along Menma's arm, covering their hands, wrists, and continuing upwards, like a thin energy membrane completely covering the surfaces of their bodies.
This layer of Chakra did not invade their bodies, nor did it bring any pain or discomfort… instead, it felt warm.
However, just seconds after this dark red Chakra coating was completed, a sudden change occurred!
"Urgh!"
"What is this?!"
"So itchy!"
Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan exclaimed almost simultaneously!
They saw, horrified, that beneath the skin of their arms, shoulders, backs...
Even all over their bodies, something seemed disturbed, forced, starting to writhe and bulge uncontrollably!
Immediately after, tiny white protrusions, the size of rice grains, resembling fungal spores, visibly drilled out from their pores, rapidly growing, enlarging!
Pop!
Pop!
Pop!
Accompanied by a series of spine-chilling, slight sounds like plants breaking soil, those white spores grew wildly on their skin, transforming in the blink of an eye into six vague, twisted, not-fully-formed humanoid creatures!
They were sickly white all over, lacking complete facial features, only roughly humanoid outlines, as if crudely molded from clay.
"Ah—!"
"Pain! So painful!"
"What is this power?! Get away!"
These white creatures, once separated from the three's bodies, let out shrill, piercing, inhuman screams. They seemed to suffer immense agony, writhing and rolling on the ground, still attached to Yahiko and the others' bodies by white threads like plant roots, rapidly withering and breaking under the influence of Menma's dark red Chakra.
They struggled, all turning to look at Menma, their voices filled with extreme fear and hatred, screeching: "You! Who are you?! How could you find us?! What is this Chakra?!"
And by now, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan were already chilled to the bone, hair standing on end!
They stared in horror at these six bizarre white creatures 'expelled' from their bodies, their stomachs churning, intense nausea and retrospective fear washing over them!
'These things... had been lurking inside our bodies all along?!'
'And we were completely unaware?!'
"What exactly are you?! Why were you inside our bodies?!" Yahiko, shocked and furious, stepped forward, demanding harshly.
The thought that every move, every conversation, every idea he and his comrades had might have been under the surveillance of these monsters sent shivers down his spine!
However, those White Zetsu merely writhed and wailed in pain on the ground, ignoring Yahiko's questioning, all attention focused on Menma, as if he were the only entity worthy of fear.
Menma looked at the struggling White Zetsu on the ground, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile.
He signaled to the prepared Kanon beside him.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
Kanon didn't hesitate in the slightest. Raising her hands, two brilliant golden chains shot forth, like dexterous and precise hunters, instantly firmly binding the six still-struggling White Zetsu, dragging them together, rendering them immobile.
Only then did Menma leisurely take out a blank storage scroll from his clothes, spread it on the ground, then take out an ordinary kunai.
He walked to the cluster of White Zetsu bound by golden chains, still emitting incomprehensible hisses, his gaze indifferent.
"No need to waste effort interrogating them, Yahiko. These guys are just expendables, they won't say anything." Menma said while swiftly and expertly wielding the kunai.
The cold glint of the kunai flashed, accurately slicing across each White Zetsu's neck.
Thud!
Thud!
Accompanied by the dull sound of blades cutting through peculiar tissue, the White Zetsus' wails abruptly ceased. Their bodies rapidly lost vitality, becoming rigid like truly withered plants.
Menma then formed a few simple hand seals, pressing them onto the scroll.
"Seal!"
A faint light flashed, and the six White Zetsu's corpses were all sucked into the scroll, disappearing.
The scroll automatically rolled up, and Menma casually put it away.
After finishing this, Menma finally looked up at Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, their faces pale, eyes filled with shock, anger, and a hint of bewilderment.
Deathly silence fell in the room.
Only the seemingly never-ending sound of dripping rainwater reminded them of the cold reality.
Yahiko looked at Menma's impassive face, then at the spots on himself and his comrades where they had been parasitized. A bone-chilling cold shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
He finally understood and completely believed everything Menma had said earlier.
All their actions, perhaps even their meeting, their ideals, had been under the surveillance and manipulation of some entity, or entities, hidden in deeper darkness.
Their self-righteous struggles and efforts, their dreams of peace, perhaps...
Were truly, from the very beginning, just a few insignificant lines in a script already written by others.