Chapter 622: The Day of the Decisive Battle! Special Tactical Squad!
The chakra fruit of the Divine Tree.
Even now, it remained something Kenichi had been unable to fully understand.
Strictly speaking, he did not possess an actual sample of the chakra fruit.
Expecting him to reverse-engineer its composition purely from Kaguya's current genetic structure was simply asking too much.
It would be like examining someone's body and trying to determine exactly what they had eaten ten years ago.
That was essentially impossible.
Even if consuming the chakra fruit had caused enormous changes throughout Kaguya's body, working backward from her present condition to reconstruct the fruit itself would still be an incredibly difficult task.
Because of that, Kenichi did not place much hope in accomplishing it anytime soon.
He understood perfectly well how difficult the research would be.
And now...
He no longer had the luxury of slowly studying the chakra fruit.
After his discussion with Hagoromo, followed by Hagoromo recreating the Moon after releasing Kaguya, time had quietly advanced to the next day.
The day they had been preparing for had finally arrived.
This was destined to become a moment recorded in the history of the Shinobi World.
Because today...
The operation to surround and eliminate Isshiki Otsutsuki would officially begin.
Kenichi.
Hagoromo.
Kaguya.
And the strongest forces the Shinobi World could gather.
Kenichi did not know whether their plan would succeed.
But deep down, he was still quite confident.
After all, Kaguya had agreed to cooperate with them.
With that foundation alone, Kenichi honestly could not imagine how Isshiki was supposed to escape.
Unless Isshiki himself was secretly a transmigrator with some even more ridiculous cheat hidden away, Kenichi could not think of what qualification the current Isshiki possessed to survive such an encirclement.
One had to remember that after Kaguya betrayed Isshiki and attempted to sacrifice him to the Divine Tree, Isshiki had disappeared into hiding.
He had never dared to openly appear again.
That alone proved how unusual his current condition was.
His body could not sustain excessive consumption.
And in that state, Isshiki was simply not capable of confronting Kaguya at full strength.
"War, huh..."
Kenichi narrowed his eyes.
Honestly, waiting for a day like this was somewhat agonizing.
But he had already experienced something similar.
Back in his own timeline, when he first planned to conquer and unify the entire Shinobi World, he had also felt restless before the decisive operations began.
But once his conquest succeeded...
Kenichi quickly got used to it.
Actually ruling the Shinobi World had turned out to be nowhere near as exciting as someone might imagine.
Once the novelty disappeared, it was simply another responsibility.
And in the end...
Everything still came back to fighting the Otsutsuki.
Kenichi could not help wondering.
Was the true occupation of every transmigrator who arrived in the Naruto world simply to fight the Otsutsuki Clan?
Below him, Konoha rested quietly among lush forests.
Wisps of cooking smoke drifted upward with the morning breeze, mixing strangely with the more modern structures and technology that had begun appearing throughout the village.
The result almost resembled some bizarre fusion of an ancient settlement and a cyberpunk city.
Along the weathered stone roads, old trees stretched their branches overhead.
Birdsong occasionally echoed from the greenery, and the fragrance of flowers drifted through the air.
Everything felt alive.
The old stone bridge near the village entrance stood like the gateway into a peaceful world.
Beyond it, rows of houses with dark roofs and aged walls lined the streets.
Every alley and wooden door carried traces of Konoha's history.
Elderly villagers sat on stone benches outside their homes, smoking pipes and chatting about years long past.
Age had carved deep lines into their faces.
Yet most of them looked peaceful.
Satisfied.
Children ran through the alleys, laughing as they chased one another.
Their smiles were completely innocent.
"It really is nice."
Kenichi sat atop the Hokage Rock and quietly looked down at the village.
Most of Konoha's people still had no idea what would happen today.
Meanwhile, its strongest shinobi had already begun preparing to leave.
They were going to fight.
Not for territory.
Not for money.
Not for the ambitions of a Daimyo.
They were fighting for the future of this world.
And in another sense...
This battle was also an opportunity.
An opportunity to permanently change the political structure of the Shinobi World.
At Kenichi's request, the Daimyo throughout the world had already been pushed aside.
Some had effectively become powerless figureheads.
And after experiencing the new system...
The shinobi discovered something surprising.
Life had actually become easier.
Work had become more efficient.
The existence of superhuman individuals had always created a strange contradiction with the old political system.
Ordinary people stood above warriors who could destroy cities, flatten mountains, and reshape the landscape.
No matter how Kenichi looked at it, that arrangement was inherently unstable.
For beings who gathered such overwhelming power into themselves, willingly accepting an ordinary person as their superior was already bizarre.
The fact that the Daimyo system had survived for so long felt almost miraculous.
"Kenichi."
A voice came from behind him.
"You're here early."
Hagoromo walked over and stopped beside him.
Together, they looked down at Konoha.
Morning life had already begun.
Merchants carrying goods moved between the streets and alleys.
Their calls occasionally echoed across the quiet village, adding a lively rhythm to the peaceful atmosphere.
At one corner of the marketplace, several geese floated lazily across a pond.
Willow branches swayed beside the water.
Not far away, farmers were already working the fields.
Sweat covered them, but smiles remained on their faces.
The land before them represented food.
Livelihood.
And hope.
The morning sun gradually rose.
Warm light spread across Konoha and painted the buildings gold.
Smoke began rising from more and more homes as families prepared breakfast.
For a moment, the entire village seemed wrapped in warmth.
Yet among that peaceful scenery...
One shadow after another quietly left Konoha.
...
"Minato..."
Kushina looked at her husband.
Reluctance filled her eyes.
The day had finally come.
She had always known it would.
But some part of her had still hoped it would arrive later.
Even one more day would have been enough.
Another day with her husband.
Another day with her children.
Unfortunately, the battle could no longer be postponed.
And the enemy they were about to face was terrifying.
Kenichi possessed resurrection techniques.
Kushina knew that.
But knowing someone could potentially be brought back did not erase the fear of watching them leave for a battlefield.
"Kushina, it'll be fine."
Minato smiled and pulled his wife into an embrace.
"Naruto and I will come back."
He glanced toward the children.
"If everything goes well, who knows?"
"Maybe we'll even be back in time for dinner tomorrow."
Then Minato leaned down and kissed the baby in Kushina's arms.
They had recently welcomed a second child.
A daughter.
They still had not decided on her full name.
For now, Kushina had decided she would carry the Namikaze surname.
As for her given name...
That could wait until Minato returned.
"Dad! Mom!"
Naruto called impatiently from nearby.
"Hurry up!"
His grin was filled with confidence.
"With Big Brother Kenichi here, there's no way anything will go wrong!"
During this period, Naruto's strength had improved enormously.
He had even awakened the Rinnegan, just like Sasuke.
At the moment, Naruto genuinely felt terrifyingly powerful.
Standing beside him was Hinata.
She had successfully awakened the Tenseigan and watched Naruto with a gentle smile.
Nearby, Sasuke yawned.
Madara and Hashirama were chatting not far away.
Madara glanced toward the noisy Naruto and Sasuke.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Then his expression returned to its usual cold calm.
"So."
Madara looked around.
"Are we finally leaving?"
"We've been preparing for long enough."
Nearby, Hiruzen was checking and organizing his ninja tools.
Originally, Hiruzen had not needed to participate.
He was already old.
Kenichi had even suggested that he remain in Konoha and enjoy retirement.
Hiruzen refused.
His reasoning was simple.
His own teacher was fighting on the front lines.
So what excuse did he have to stay behind?
When Hiruzen gave that answer, Kenichi had remained silent for several seconds.
Then he looked at Hashirama.
Then Tobirama.
Technically...
Hiruzen was not wrong.
But Kenichi still felt that the old Third Hokage was overestimating himself a little.
Hashirama had been brought back at the height of his power.
Could the elderly Hiruzen really compare with that?
Still, Kenichi did not argue.
If Hiruzen wanted to fight, then he would fight.
Once Konoha's team finished assembling, Kenichi led everyone aboard the airships.
Then they departed.
...
The morning forest was covered by a thin veil of mist.
Everything seemed unusually quiet.
Sunlight slipped between the treetops and scattered patches of light across the forest paths.
Dewdrops clung to the tips of grass, sparkling faintly like traces of the departing night.
Aside from an occasional bird call, the forest felt almost forgotten by the world.
Few people traveled through it.
Far in the distance, the outline of a town appeared beneath the morning light, almost like an enormous phantom silently watching over the ancient forest.
The woodland stretched endlessly.
Towering trees leaned toward one another, their branches forming natural barriers that preserved the peace beneath them.
Then rain appeared beyond the forest.
A curtain of drizzle slowly descended.
Fine droplets struck the leaves with a soft rustling sound.
The rain brought cool air and soaked into the earth, leaving the entire forest fresh and damp.
Then...
Shapes appeared in the sky.
Airships.
One after another.
They moved like enormous fish swimming through the clouds, all following predetermined routes toward the same destination.
The shinobi aboard them carried the future of the Shinobi World on their shoulders.
Their expressions were firm.
The Kage of the various villages had gathered aboard Kenichi's airship.
Officially, they were there to discuss the coming battle plan.
But in reality...
There was not much left to discuss.
Shinobi battles had always been straightforward once negotiations ended.
Find the enemy.
Hit them with everything available.
Prevent them from escaping.
The engines of the airships echoed across the forest, shattering the morning silence.
The shinobi aboard looked toward the distant towns below.
Those places were their homes.
Places they had sworn to protect.
Even while heading toward the battlefield, their thoughts remained with the people they were leaving behind.
Family.
Friends.
Villages.
Peace.
Inside the mist-covered forest below, every heartbeat seemed unusually clear.
The airships gradually disappeared into the distance.
The silhouettes of the shinobi vanished into the morning fog.
Only the fading roar of engines remained.
Along with one shared conviction.
For the peace of the entire Shinobi World.
...
"To be honest, this is the first time I've ever fought side by side with shinobi from all four of the other major villages."
Guy grinned excitedly aboard Konoha's airship.
Naturally...
He was doing push-ups.
Kakashi looked at his friend helplessly.
"It's my first time too."
Then he sighed.
"But Guy, we're on an airship."
"Can you stop exercising for five minutes?"
"What if you somehow damage something and send us crashing into the ground?"
Guy froze.
He immediately stopped.
Although he was a training fanatic, he had no desire to cause an airship disaster because he could not resist exercising.
Kakashi glanced outside.
A Kumogakure airship was flying alongside theirs.
Several familiar faces stood aboard it.
Elite jonin.
People Kakashi had once considered potential enemies.
They noticed him as well.
For a brief moment, their eyes met across the distance.
Then both sides calmly looked away.
Today...
They were comrades.
Not enemies.
Of course, that arrangement only applied to the current battle.
Once Isshiki was defeated, what happened between the major villages afterward would depend on the decisions of their leaders.
The airships continued moving at high speed.
Before long...
Their destination appeared.
A steel-covered village stood beneath a vast curtain of gray rain.
Heavy rain relentlessly hammered against cold metal rooftops, producing an endless roar.
Streetlights cast pale, distorted glows through the downpour.
Only occasional red warning lights remained clearly visible through the rain, resembling navigation signals from distant aircraft.
The residents seemed to have expected the storm.
Doors were shut.
Windows were sealed.
The streets were nearly empty.
Only one or two hurried figures occasionally passed through the rain, as though trying to avoid something.
Tall steel structures rose on either side of the streets.
Electronic screens flickered through the downpour.
The cold atmosphere of modern technology blended with the oppressive rain, creating a strange vision of a bleak future city.
Outside the village...
The arriving airships stopped beyond the heaviest portion of the storm.
Their enormous silhouettes drifted among the clouds like silent beasts waiting for an order.
Then...
The cabin doors opened.
Figures leaped from the airships one after another.
They descended like black shadows and landed quickly on the soaked ground.
Kenichi was among them.
So was Hagoromo.
Kaguya, however, was absent.
"Mother's aura is far too distinctive."
Hagoromo stared toward the village ahead.
"If she approached directly, there would be almost no way to conceal her presence from Isshiki."
"So she'll remain farther back."
His expression remained calm.
"But I already arranged everything with her."
"The moment I contact her, she'll come immediately."
Kenichi nodded.
For the sake of ensuring Isshiki noticed nothing beforehand...
The innocent people inside the village could only be sacrificed.
There was no clean way to launch the opening strike without risking their lives.
"All right."
Kenichi took a slow breath.
"Use my mushroom cloud as the signal."
"The instant you see it, launch the decapitation strike against Isshiki."
"No probing attacks."
"No testing his reactions."
His gaze hardened.
"Everyone opens with high-powered ninjutsu."
"The sealing squad must also be ready from the first second."
"Do not give him room to escape."
"Remember, that bastard can shrink himself."
Hagoromo nodded.
Kenichi inhaled deeply.
He had waited for this moment for so long.
So many experiments.
So many preparations.
So many contingencies.
And now...
It was finally time for the showdown.
"Understood."
Hagoromo paused.
Then he looked past Kenichi.
His expression became strange.
"But..."
"What exactly is going on with that airship behind you?"
The corner of Kenichi's mouth twitched.
What could he possibly say?
That particular airship belonged to the special tactical squad prepared by one of his Shadow Clones.
More accurately...
The heavy weapons squad.
Their mission was extremely simple.
Remain at ultra-long range.
Lock onto the designated coordinates.
Then continuously bombard the target area with every weapon they possessed.
They were not expected to conserve ammunition.
They were not expected to probe the enemy.
They were not expected to engage in ordinary shinobi combat.
Their only job was to keep firing until every last round had been exhausted.
And the ammunition carried by that single tactical group...
Was enough to flatten several mountains.
....
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