I Am Uzumaki Menma

Chapter 379 379 Be My Subordinate!

Menma's cold, mocking words were like a red-hot branding iron, searing Isshiki's proud self-esteem.

To hurl his own verdict back at him unchanged was the height of contempt!

"You bastard—" The anger in Isshiki's chest instantly breached the dam of reason. The majesty belonging to the Otsutsuki vanished without a trace, leaving only the fury of being repeatedly provoked by an 'inferior being'.

His golden Kokugan blazed with rage, the Chakra around him fluctuating uncontrollably, scattering the puddles at his feet.

However, before his angry roar could fully form, the golden figure before him blurred!

The next instant, Menma suddenly appeared beside Isshiki, his speed surpassing the limit of visual capture.

His right fist, wrapped in the golden Chakra Cloak, without any flourish, tore through the air with the purest force and speed, solidly smashing into Isshiki's pale, twisted cheek!

Thump—!

The dull impact sound was teeth-grating.

Isshiki didn't even manage an effective block or dodge. His entire figure was hurled away violently by this immense force like a kite with a cut string.

He tore through the heavy rain curtain, accompanied by a series of loud crashes of twisting steel and shattering masonry, crashing headfirst into the ruins of a half-collapsed sheet-metal building in the distance, stirring up clouds of dust and broken parts.

At the same moment he punched, Menma's other hand had already rescued the nearly suffocated Nagato from death's grip.

Smoothly, he brought Nagato back beside Yahiko and the others, gently setting him down.

"Cough! Cough cough cough—!" Nagato slumped on the ground, hands clutching his neck, coughing violently, breathing in the cold, damp air. The cyanotic hue from oxygen deprivation slowly faded from his pale face.

His Rinnegan held lingering shock and a trace of humiliation. He looked up at Menma, his voice hoarse as he thanked him: "Thank you… I'm okay."

Menma nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the injured Akatsuki's members.

He raised his right hand, palm aimed at the black Chakra Rods still piercing Konan, Kyusuke, Daibutsu, and the others.

"Bansho Ten'in!"

A powerful suction force emanated from his palm. Those black rods deeply embedded in flesh, interfering with Chakra Flow, seemed forcibly pulled out by an invisible hand. With traces of blood, they detached from the injured bodies one after another, flying towards Menma.

He casually grasped them, crushing all these rods imbued with Yin-Yang Release power into black Chakra Dust, dissipating into the air.

"Ugh—" Konan grunted. Blood gushed from the wound on her arm, but that detestable feeling of Chakra Obstruction was gone.

She immediately controlled paper to perform emergency hemostasis for herself and her companions.

Kyusuke, Daibutsu, and the others also stood up enduring the pain, their gazes towards Menma filled with gratitude and awe.

Yahiko, who had gotten up from the ground, and Kanon also gathered around Nagato. After confirming he was unharmed, Yahiko looked up at Menma. His eyes held complex emotions… gratitude, worry, and shock at the unattainable power.

"Yahiko, take everyone and immediately evacuate this area." Menma's golden Tenseigan still stared in the direction of the ruins where Isshiki had fallen. "The aftershocks of the next battle are beyond what you can withstand."

Yahiko nodded heavily, without the slightest hesitation.

He knew well that Menma and that enemy's battle had escalated further. Ordinary Ninja like them staying here wouldn't help… they'd just become burdens.

"Let's go!" Yahiko shouted lowly. Together with Konan, Kanon, and the others, supporting their injured companions, organizing the surviving Amegakure's Ninjas and terrified villagers, they rapidly retreated in the opposite direction from the battlefield.

At this moment, trust was no longer the issue. Survival and reducing unnecessary sacrifice were paramount.

Just then, that collapsed building rubble exploded violently!

Shattered stones and twisted metal flew in all directions. Isshiki's figure stepped out from within.

On his pale cheek, where Menma's fist had struck, a clear bruise remained, appearing particularly jarring on this inhuman face.

Isshiki's aura grew even colder. The golden Kokugan burned with suppressed rage. But unexpectedly, he didn't immediately attack.

He walked step by step towards Menma, his steps steady, as if the earlier disarray hadn't happened. Only his gaze sharply appraised Menma, attempting to dissect everything about him.

"That Rinnegan—" Isshiki slowly spoke, his voice regaining some arrogance. "Although I don't know why that red-haired boy awakened it, you deliberately getting close to them must be for those eyes, right?"

He made a seemingly reasonable deduction, trying to understand Menma's behavioral logic.

Menma walked forward to meet him, his steps equally composed. Golden Chakra burned like sacred flames in the rain curtain.

"So what if I am? So what if I'm not?" His answer was ambiguous, carrying a hint of playfulness, making it unfathomable.

Isshiki stopped, waving a hand grandly.

The next moment, a set of well-tailored, luxurious pure white long-sleeved tailcoat appeared out of thin air, elegantly draping over him, covering the damaged undergarments. Simultaneously, loose black trousers replaced his previous lower garments, covering his bare feet.

Instantly, he transformed from a slightly disheveled combatant into a gentleman with an eerie aura, as if about to attend a court banquet.

After completing this rather ritualistic change of attire, Isshiki's right hand elegantly extended forward. A goblet filled with crimson liquid appeared in his hand.

He gently swirled the glass, the scarlet wine leaving arcs on the sides.

Isshiki took a sip, as if savoring peerless fine wine. Then he looked at Menma: "Although your Otsutsuki bloodline is pitifully thin,"

Isshiki's voice carried a condescending arrogance. "Your strength indeed meets the standard of a lower-ranking Otsutsuki warrior. If you are willing to submit, I can make an exception and recommend you to join the noble Otsutsuki Clan. Moreover, I can bestow upon you the secret method of creating Chakra Pills."

He paused, his gaze meaningfully sweeping over the direction where Yahiko and the others had retreated, continuing to tempt: "You can dig out that Rinnegan from that boy and turn it into a pill… or, go hunt the scattered Tailed Beasts on this planet and use their Chakra to create pills."

"Whichever method, it will allow your power to make a qualitative leap. How about it? This is the only shortcut for you, a 'native', to touch supreme power."

After several clashes and analyzing Menma's behavioral patterns, Isshiki had basically ruled out the possibility that the other was a backup left by Kaguya.

His new guess was: This youth before him might be a descendant of Kaguya's bloodline, but more ambitious, more adept at utilizing power. By some unknown method, he had gained control of a peculiar Nine-Tails and a Tenseigan. And now, his target was likely that accidentally awakened Rinnegan.

For such a 'native' with strength and ambition, coercion and temptation, making him a usable pawn, was far more in line with Otsutsuki interests than a fight to the death.

Especially after he had lost the Ten-Tails and was not in optimal condition.

Hearing this, Menma's face showed a trace of amused interest, as if hearing a funny joke.

"Oh?" He drew out the tone, with obvious mockery. "I 'ate' the Ten-Tails you worked so hard to nurture, and you can still be so magnanimous as to recruit me?"

He deliberately emphasized the word 'ate', full of provocation.

Though unclear about the specific promotion and absorption mechanisms within the Otsutsuki Clan, recalling that in the original work, Urashiki, facing Toneri, had said his bloodline already counted as an Otsutsuki clansman, not to be easily executed, only sealed in Ryugu-jo.

From this, it could be inferred that the Otsutsuki Clan might have rules for 'converting' or 'recognizing' mixed-bloods as clan members.

Isshiki elegantly held the wine glass in his right hand, no trace of anger on his face. Instead, he revealed a deep, mysterious smile.

"You wouldn't naively think—" He gently swirled the glass, his tone flat yet resounding. "—that I, Otsutsuki Isshiki, have only one Ten-Tails in hand?"

Menma raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

However, he immediately thought of the sealed Kaguya, and her Ten-Tails that had been divided by the Sage of Six Paths.

"You mean… Kaguya's?" He probed. "But that Ten-Tails was long ago split into the nine Tailed Beasts by the Sage of Six Paths, scattered everywhere. For you to re-coalesce it to plant the God Tree, it's probably not that easy."

"You indeed know many secrets you shouldn't." The interest in Isshiki's eyes grew stronger, further convinced the other was no ordinary 'native'.

"It seems your origins are even more complex than I imagined." He took another sip of wine, continuing. "Correct. Kaguya indeed consumed a Chakra Fruit borne by this planet back then. However—"

Isshiki's tone shifted, evaluating this planet's resources. "This planet's energy foundation is far richer than other planets we have visited! It fully has the potential to bear Chakra Fruit again, even multiple times!"

Isshiki extended the olive branch to Menma again, his tone seductive. "How about it? Join us, become a higher existence transcending mundane life. I can let you become my subordinate partner. When a new Chakra Fruit matures, it might not be impossible to give you a share."

Hearing this, the corner of Menma's mouth lifted slightly, his eyes filled with unconcealed ridicule.

Subordinate partner?

How could he not know what a so-called 'subordinate partner' meant in the Otsutsuki Clan.

That was merely a servant used by higher-ranking Otsutsuki for dangerous missions, who could even be sacrificed as an 'offering' or 'nourishment' when necessary!

Like Kinshiki beside Momoshiki… a consumable to replenish Chakra at critical moments.

"Hah," Menma let out a light laugh, the sound particularly clear and piercing in the rain.

Meeting Isshiki's seemingly generous yet essentially arrogant gaze, he said word by word: "If you mean you becoming my lower-ranking subordinate partner, handling trivial matters for me, contributing your Chakra when necessary… then perhaps I could consider it."

"You—!!!"

The elegance and composure on Isshiki's face instantly shattered!

That golden Kokugan trembled with rage. The originally restrained Chakra around him erupted like a volcano, instantly pulverizing the wine glass in his hand along with the wine inside!

Menma's attitude, contemptuous to the extreme, these words treating him as a servant, were like a sharp blade piercing his pride as an upper-ranking Otsutsuki.

The recruitment attempt was rejected in the most humiliating way. The negotiation door was completely welded shut.

Isshiki looked at Menma, who was slowly approaching in the rain, golden Chakra around him brilliantly shining like eternal flame. That pale, inhuman face could no longer maintain so-called elegance and arrogance, leaving only livid gravity.

He clenched his teeth, his heart filled with the humiliation of being forced to fight.

This body, this vessel named 'Jigen', in the earlier fierce battle with Menma, to counter the other party's seemingly bottomless strength, had activated Kma state one and even state two. It was already operating overloaded.

And being forced to undergo incomplete reincarnation prematurely was even more like drinking poison to quench thirst. Though it exchanged for brief main body strength, the price was this body's life flowing away swiftly like sand in an hourglass.

Only seven days of lifespan remained!

He had to defeat Menma here, seize that Tenseigan, and if possible, even refine that strange Nine-Tails. Only then might he compensate for his losses and extend his lifespan.

As for escape?

Where could he escape to?

Finding a qualified Vessel on this planet, which he viewed as a nursery, within a mere few days, capable of bearing his soul, was a minuscule possibility.

This was almost a fight with no retreat.

Menma stopped about ten steps away from Isshiki. The golden Tenseigan seemed able to see through Isshiki's soul, taking in all his inner struggles and weakness.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, his tone carrying a cat-and-mouse-like mockery. "What's wrong? You look rather nervous."

Menma slightly tilted his head. "Could it be that this forcibly reincarnated body of yours has a pitifully scant few days of lifespan left?"

"!!!"

Isshiki's pupils shook. The blood in his body seemed to freeze instantly!