Late at night, the whole city was silent.
The sky suddenly started to drizzle. The sound of the rain, pattering softly, landed in people's ears and became the most comfortable kind of white noise, making everyone sleep even more soundly.
In the midst of this fine rain, pieces of flesh and bone mixed with the raindrops and silently landed on the roof of the shrine behind the daimyo's mansion.
All the flesh and bone gathered back into Ryosuke.
Rainbow Catcher + Weather Report.
This was the first time Ryosuke had used the stand combo after drawing Weather Report, and it turned out to be surprisingly convenient and discreet.
Since the situation of the Land of Demons was still unclear, Ryosuke and Konan split up.
Guided by Ripple, Ryosuke investigated the shrine, while Konan used her Dance of the Shikigami to turn into tiny bits of paper and infiltrated the corners of the city, learning about its state from the perspective of the common people.
Kakashi stayed where he was, partly to watch over Naruto and the others, and partly as a mobile force, whichever side encountered trouble, he could go and support them immediately.
That was the idea, at least. But Kakashi didn't think there was much that needed supporting.
The Akatsuki had been crushed, the Five Great Nations had been taken, and Ryosuke would get stuck in a tiny Land of Demons?
Still, years of being a ninja had drilled professional ethics into him. Kakashi sat under candlelight, holding Icha Icha Paradise to stay awake.
———
After forming his body on the shrine roof, Ryosuke didn't rush to go inside. He lightly tapped the roof with his right hand, and a thread of Ripple seeped down the wall, probing the inside.
No signs of life. No energy fluctuations.
Just an empty building.
Ryosuke slipped inside.
The shrine enshrined a statue of the first shrine maiden. Perhaps intentionally on the sculptor's part, the statue's face was extremely blurry.
In the darkness, at first glance, it looked like a faceless person, yet also like there was a gaze silently falling from the statue, no matter what angle you stood at, you would meet its eyes.
Ryosuke walked up to the statue, groped around its foot for a moment, found a button, and pressed it lightly. A soft rumbling sounded, the statue shifted aside, and a passage leading downward appeared.
It's down there.
Ryosuke could hear the city's wails and suffering intertwined with something beneath this place.
The passage was pitch black. Ryosuke snapped his fingers, and a few strands of red-gold flame appeared, floating beside him, illuminating the path forward.
Stepping into the passage, Ryosuke walked deeper. The walls on both sides were covered with murals. A rough glance told him they depicted the story of a demon descending upon the world, humans falling into despair, and the shrine maiden stepping forward to seal the demon Moryo.
'This must be the shrine maidens' version of corporate culture indoctrination.'
Thinking this, Ryosuke passed through the tunnel and arrived at a massive underground palace.
In the center of the palace floor was a complex array of barrier seals.
The moment he stepped inside, the hairs on Ryosuke's arms stood up. Wisps of faint, icy cold aura swirled above the array.
Ryosuke walked toward the core of the formation.
Embedded in it was a deep-purple gem about the size of a palm. The icy aura radiated from this gem. On the ground beside it were warning words carved into the stone.
[This gem contains the power of the Demon God. It is sealed here. Only after the array weakens its strength may one train with it. Under no circumstances may it be removed or touched.]
Ryosuke understood.
This place was where generations of shrine maidens trained.
The first shrine maiden had sealed a small portion of the Demon God's power into the gem, and after the array's moderation, it was released in a relatively "gentle" form for shrine maidens to practice sealing techniques.
'So this is the Demon God's power?'
Ryosuke felt the coldness drifting in the air. Something about it felt familiar.
Golden flames surged over his body, Ripple surrounding him to ensure absolute safety. Ignoring the warning, Ryosuke reached out and touched the gem.
Freezing cold climbed up his fingers. Like venomous snakes, it rapidly spread up his arm. Wherever it passed, his skin turned corpse-white, his muscles numbed, its hostility terrifying.
However…
The Demon God's power barely reached the first joint of Ryosuke's finger before it was forced to a halt.
No matter how it corroded or attacked, it could only watch itself get pushed back bit by bit, returning to the purple gem.
Ryosuke kept a small amount of the power on his fingertip and held it up to observe.
It was a wisp of ghostly blue light, emanating freezing aura.
Even surrounded by Ripple flames, this blue radiance kept crashing around instinctively, even absorbing outside power endlessly to expand itself.
The more Ryosuke watched, the more familiar it seemed. He thought for a moment, then took out the Dragon-Serpent Pearl from the ghost room.
The Demon God's power clinging to his finger leapt into the Dragon-Serpent Pearl like a wandering child returning home.
Ryosuke suddenly understood, "So this so-called Demon God's power is also a type of natural energy!"
Unlike normal natural energy that embraced all things, the Demon God's power was extremely cold and extremely yin. Living humans could barely control it, resentful spirits, demons, and the dead could use it much more easily.
Still, it wasn't absolute.
Ryosuke placed two fingers on the gem again. With a light hook, he pulled up a dense surge of Demon God's power, and with a point toward the Dragon-Serpent Pearl, the power sealed in the gem surged into it.
After the Pearl processed and refined it, the energy became a extremely pure form of extreme cold.
Ryosuke leaned toward the Pearl and inhaled softly. Thick purple energy flowed into his nose and mouth.
The extreme cold natural energy circulated in his body following his breathing technique, until, extreme yin turned to yang.
Ripple flames burst forth.
The natural energy and Ripple, always sharply distinct, actually underwent transformation under this special extreme cold power.
Ryosuke clenched his fist tightly, sensing the additional Ripple inside him.
After his Ripple reached the third stage, he'd hit a bottleneck, unable to improve, but now…
Ryosuke had glimpsed a chance.
'The amount of Demon God's power in the gem is still too little. After all, it's meant for shrine maiden trainees. Too much would hurt a maiden before she even graduates.'
'And Masked Man's group, along with the mysterious White Snake organization, definitely aren't here just for old texts. What they really want is the method of using this Demon God's power.'
The Second Hokage invented Edo Tensei originally to create fearless suicide soldiers wearing white veils.
After Orochimaru's first round of improvements, it became summoning elite warriors (weakened version).
Now Kabuto and the White Snake Sage were undergoing a second round of improvements. To raise the strength of Edo Tensei puppets, natural energy, especially cold yin-type natural energy better suited for the dead, was the most ideal power.
Ryosuke's guess was correct.
Especially after the White Snake Sage analyzed Edo Tensei's logic and discovered a flaw, if the revived individual had strong willpower or was too powerful, they could break free of Edo Tensei's control.
For example…
Uchiha Madara.
Obito was no longer the naïve boy he once was.
He'd done far too many terrible things.
He had witnessed human cruelty, grown used to controlling everything himself, even if the other party was his ancestor, even if all his power, identity, and trump cards came from Uchiha Madara.
Still unacceptable.
Who becomes the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki didn't matter.
Who activated Infinite Tsukuyomi didn't matter.
Obito might devote everything for Rin, but Uchiha Madara? Hard to say.
Think of Nagato, changing sides at the last moment, reviving tens of thousands of people, even handing information to Ryosuke.
So noble, so admirable.
And what happened?
Ryosuke swept through three great nations like breaking bamboo, severely cutting down the time Obito had to fish in troubled waters.
That was why, after stealing Nagato's body, Obito and the White Snake Sage immediately came to the Land of Demons.
He didn't want something like that happening again.
———
Ryosuke couldn't guess Obito and Madara's deep schemes, but he was certain of two things.
First, the daimyo of the Land of Demons must have made some kind of deal with the Masked Man and handed over a portion of the Demon God's power.
Otherwise, with how Obito never moves without benefits, he wouldn't have left so peacefully.
As for the second…
Ryosuke recalled touching the daimyo, 'He's already possessed by a demon.'
Ryosuke looked at the formation's center, the now-empty gem, and remembered the feeling of extreme cold turning into Ripple. A smile slowly appeared on his face.
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