Chapter 102: The Throne of the Sky
It was rare for the rain in Konoha to last this long. The Land of Fire was usually blessed with good weather, but now it seemed as if something unexpected had happened.
A torrential downpour of pitch-black rain poured from the sky, as if trying to hide something, filling the air with unease. The residents of Konoha Village could sense that something was wrong. The ninjas they were used to seeing on the streets had seemingly vanished.
Only those who made their living on the edge of the Forbidden Forest knew that something enormous was happening there.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!!!"
Amidst the storm, a hoarse, grief-stricken roar echoed through the Forbidden Forest, like the howl of a wounded beast.
A pale golden figure streaked across the sky, slamming again and again into the golden light barrier before it like countless falling meteors. Each impact exploded with thunderous sound, even suppressing the lightning cracking overhead.
Yet the golden light membrane remained unmoved under this terrifying bombardment, as if it existed in a world apart. It allowed those golden meteors to hammer against it without response, only leaving mottled, scar-like marks on its surface.
"It is useless, Minato-kun."
Watching that figure hurl itself toward the barrier yet again in an attempt to shake it, Aizen adjusted his glasses with a hint of pity and explained quietly,
"This is the latest enhanced barrier anti-membrane technology I developed. Neither reverse recording summoning nor space-time ninjutsu can interfere with the world inside it. In essence, the moment this light descended, we were already in two different worlds, Minato-kun. Even my voice is only being transmitted through a special technique."
"You come out here! Come out now, Aizen! Face me directly!"
"Stop throwing a tantrum like a resentful child, Minato-kun. This is reality. Whether you accept it or not, reality is an objective fact. There is nothing in this world that will change just because you wish it to. Only your actions and the reality born from them truly exist."
Hundreds of shinobi in white haori slowly rose within a dazzling golden light, looking down at the people of Konoha below, who seemed to be weeping in the black rain.
Some of them had once sworn eternal love. Some had once become close comrades who could talk about anything. But now, knowing their own powerlessness, they did not attack the formation like Minato Namikaze. They only looked at their former friends in despair.
A thousand thoughts churned in everyone's hearts, countless words clogged in their throats. They wanted to speak, to shout, but faced with this sight, nothing came out. After all, nothing was more real than reality. They had made their choices, and that meant a rift had already opened between them in both feeling and belief.
All except for that lone golden figure who still refused to accept it.
"Why! Why is space-time ninjutsu not working?!"
Why am I this powerless?
Why am I completely powerless?
As he watched the figures within the barrier slowly being wrapped in a layer of golden light and rising into the air, Minato's eyes went bloodshot with rage. With his mouth full of blood, he unleashed every technique he knew.
In the overlapping space around him, Minato's body seemed to transcend the usual boundaries, appearing from all directions at once as he tried to suppress the pale golden barrier blooming from the void.
Yet no matter what he did, it was useless. Whether it was his so-called scalpel that could sever space, the Heavenly Maiden Reversal that could devour and reflect all ninjutsu, or every space-time technique and bizarre, unbelievable move he had ever created, he poured them all into the teleportation array, but nothing took effect.
Just as Aizen had said, once the anti-membrane was formed, the inside and outside became two separate worlds. No matter what he did outside, he could not interfere with its internal operation. Aizen had never taught Minato the theory of this strange spatial structure. It was one of Aizen's trump cards, a deeper layer of space-time research built atop conventional spatial techniques.
No matter how much he regretted it now, no matter how he tried to make up for it, it was too late.
Halfway through forming his final technique, Minato suddenly staggered and dropped to his knees, panting heavily.
After three days without sleep and the torrent of emotions he had just endured, Minato's physical strength had already reached its limit.
He had taken and used Strength Sealing Technique before coming here, but even their effects had reached their limit under such high-intensity bombardment and battle.
His muscles were nearly dissolved, leaving him unable to move. He could not even draw out a single drop of chakra. His Sage Mode had long since been emptied, and every card he possessed had already been played.
He was a man who could easily suppress Jiraiya, yet at this moment, in front of his brother Aizen Sousuke and that gentle smile, Minato could only use the last of his strength to stubbornly raise his head and stare at the figure in midair, gradually fading into nothingness.
"Aizen, Aizen! Have you really betrayed us?! Did you really betray Konoha just because the experiment is over?! Do you truly have no feelings for Konoha at all?!"
"Answer me! Stop staying silent! From beginning to end, you have never given me a clear answer to this question! Say something!"
Aizen, have you fallen?
"You are far too arrogant, Minato Namikaze."
The figure slowly rising within the light membrane looked down at the man below, whose face was twisted with pain, and spoke softly.
"No one is born standing in the heavens. Not you, not me, not even gods. No one begins at the summit. But the vacancy of the throne in the sky is about to end."
He reached out, removed his glasses, and swept his hair back.
The non-prescription lenses that had concealed his ambition were quietly crushed in his palm.
"From this day forward, I will stand in the heavens."
"..."
Seeing how his entire bearing had suddenly changed, no further explanation was needed.
Aizen's appearance and attitude had always been calm and gentle, like a kind older brother next door. But now, within the light membrane, he looked coldly down on the Konoha shinobi before him.
That mysterious yet unwavering presence was absolutely real, and the arrogance and disdain flowing from his very bones were just as genuine. He did not answer Minato directly, yet just by looking into Aizen's calm eyes, anyone could tell that everything was true.
From beginning to end, everything had been in his plan.
Minato Namikaze, Konoha's reaction, the movements of all parties, every detail…
Under Aizen's calm, indifferent gaze, nothing in this world seemed able to escape his sight. And what he pursued appeared to be only the terrifying truths hidden behind the world itself.
"Farewell, people of Konoha. If the opportunity arises and the time is right, perhaps we will meet again."
The figures standing in the sky were slowly swallowed by the dark void. Aizen turned his head one final time and gave the kneeling figure below a faintly contemptuous glance before vanishing into nothingness.
In the next instant, the nearly indestructible light membrane was swallowed by the void. Hundreds of shinobi representing the core of Konoha's research silently completed their transfer.
Before the eyes of all the ninjas, this defection, which could not even be called a defection in the usual sense, had already taken place.
There was no logic they could accept, and no one understood the truth. Those who did understand had either left or chosen complete silence. It all seemed like an absurd farce, with only the Konoha shinobi who had given their hearts ending up as clowns in this ridiculous comedy, pouring in everything and receiving nothing in return.
Every relationship shattered, everyone's world began to fracture. Only now were they truly beginning to feel the pain.
Looking at the ruined ground where the teleportation array had been, everyone subconsciously clutched at their hearts and their chests, confirming that they were still alive in this cold world and had not simply been killed outright by this lethal joke.
"..."
Boom.
Another deafening crack of thunder tore across the sky, driving the downpour into an even more furious roar.
It was as if some blade had sliced open the heavens, and the sky itself had begun to cry. The black rain wrapped the entire Hidden Leaf Village in a curtain of darkness, beading into mist at their feet like the haze in a person's eyes after they have cried too long.
If you had never possessed something, perhaps the pain would not be so intense. But to have held it in your hands and then lose it, to confront that reality, to grasp what it means, was an unbearably cruel and terrifying thing for those rich in emotion.
Seeing the figure kneeling at the edge of the teleportation array, refusing to rise, draped in a white haori, the other Konoha shinobi also slowly raised their heads to stare at the empty sky.
If they could pray and bring back the ones they knew and loved, they would pray. If they could plead and call those people home, they would beg.
But reality was that no one came back.
The torrential, pitch-black rain poured down ceaselessly, chilling every heart present.
Everyone clenched their fists, lowered their heads, blood and rain running together down their faces as they stared at the places where their relatives and friends had stood. Their hearts were filled with too many emotions to name.
As the storm pressed down, accompanied by thunder and rain, a strange, rippling emptiness began to blanket every feeling.
[On May 10th of the 45th year of the Konoha Calendar, Aizen Sosuke led one-third of Konoha's ninjutsu researchers in defection.]
[The following day, Hiruzen stepped down to take responsibility and announced Minato Namikaze as the Fourth Hokage.]
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