Chapter 119: Value Revealed
The Rinnegan's abilities were undeniably powerful, but for the clone, even sacrificing its life wasn't enough to maintain them. Without the capacity to wield such overwhelming force, it was like a child swinging a warhammer—overbearing and ultimately unsustainable. Even forcing its body to activate the Rinnegan meant a rapid descent into death.
Opening the Rinnegan alone had already pushed it to its limits. Using Shinra Tensei to repel Deidara and Sasori's attacks further strained the clone's body. Then, invoking Chibaku Tensei to try and seal them had pushed it past the breaking point. Within moments, everything below the chest had completely disintegrated, and even the remaining upper half was barely holding together. Cracks began spidering outward from the Rinnegan itself, bleeding faint lines of blood that dissipated into the air as chakra-laced ash, shrouding the clone in a mist of its own decay.
The sphere created by Chibaku Tensei still floated overhead, but given the rate at which the clone was deteriorating, whether it could complete the seal was questionable. Too many variables remained unknown.
A thunderous explosion shattered the silence, its force erupting from inside the seal. Though it failed to break the sphere, the feedback landed squarely on the clone—particularly on the Rinnegan. The already strained eye fractured further, the fine lines of damage widening, deepening.
A second explosion followed close behind. This time, the clone could no longer endure the immense backlash. Despite the Curse Mark continuously pouring energy into its body, the clone collapsed at an accelerated pace.
Cracks webbed rapidly across its form, and in mere seconds, the body dissolved into fine black dust, leaving no trace behind. The Rinnegan shattered first, vanishing without a trace, as if it had never existed. The remnants of the Chibaku Tensei sphere, deprived of the Rinnegan's sustaining power, broke apart. Chunks of land fell like meteors, gouging deep pits in the earth. What remained crashed down and crumbled into a small mountain of rubble.
And then, from within the debris, a single figure emerged—Sasori, miraculously alive.
To survive the gravitational collapse of Chibaku Tensei, he had used every puppet at his disposal, layering them around himself in concentric circles. It created a buffer zone of protection just large enough to shield his core body—the puppet shell and his real form's remaining organ, the core of chakra, the "reincarnation nucleus." While he had survived, it had cost him nearly everything.
Deidara, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.
His escape had relied on Earth Release: Mole Substitution Jutsu, burrowing just deep enough to avoid total annihilation. Still, he'd been caught in the blast, severely wounded. To destroy the gravity sphere, he had used two C3-level clay bombs—each strong enough to destroy a village. The blast had nearly consumed him as well.
Sasori was the first to crawl out, his signature red cloud cloak shredded. He tore it off and threw it aside, surveying his injuries and losses. The puppet body had only suffered minor damage, easily repairable. However, the One Hundred Puppet Technique was a different story—most of his puppets had been destroyed, and his chakra reserves were dangerously low. Even with the efficient energy use characteristic of puppet masters, such a long battle had left him deeply fatigued.
Still, he wasn't frustrated. His emotions had long dulled after abandoning his human form. That detachment—combined with his secret trump cards—meant he remained calm even now.
"I underestimated them. I should've crushed them with overwhelming force from the beginning," Sasori reflected.
Meanwhile, he sent the remaining puppets to dig through the debris, searching for Deidara.
Moments later, a head of messy blond hair emerged—burned, bloodied, and barely recognizable. Only the signature aqua-blue eye gave him away.
"Sasori-senpai…" Deidara rasped, barely coherent, "We're alive… barely…"
"Can you move?"
"No… but I'm not dead yet," Deidara wheezed.
"Don't speak. I'll pull you out."
Even Sasori had to admit that Deidara had bought them both time with his self-destructive bomb assaults inside the gravity core. Sasori's puppets worked fast to extract Deidara from the wreckage.
"What was that technique?" Deidara asked, coughing. "Two Garuda bombs didn't even crack it. That's insane. Each one could've leveled a country!"
"Rinnegan," Sasori said flatly. "You now understand why our Leader can control even monsters like us. What you saw is why he is feared."
Though their target had eluded them, the data they gathered was invaluable. Sasori hoisted Deidara onto a support puppet.
"Think you can still fly?"
"Give me some clay. I'll make it happen."
Sasori fed him what remained of his explosive clay. With great effort, Deidara chewed and produced a small owl-shaped flying mount. Once ready, the two took to the skies again.
"Let's finish what we started," Sasori said.
As they vanished, a shadowy figure with a split black-and-white face emerged from the surrounding trees—Zetsu.
"Well, that was more interesting than expected," he muttered. "A Rinnegan, huh? That wasn't in the prophecy."
Even from a distance, he had seen it—those unmistakable ripple-patterned eyes. And he'd also watched them shatter into oblivion.
"Such power… wasted on a defective vessel. But perhaps this was a clue. Someone made that clone. Someone who broke the Sage's seal on Yin-Yang Release."
Zetsu's voice turned cold.
"This might be the key to reviving her… Mother."
He melted back into the forest, whispering:
"Another path has revealed itself. I just have to find the creator…"
…
Back on the run, Mizuki's squad was at their limit. The clone had stalled the enemy—but now Sasori and Deidara were back in pursuit. Mizuki coughed up blood, exhausted from the earlier battle and pushing his chakra control to the edge.
"We can't keep running. Sooner or later, they'll catch us again," Hiashi said grimly.
"They're flying again," someone muttered. "We can't outrun that."
"We fight," Hiashi said.
There were no other choices.
"Even after all that, those two survived?" Mizuki muttered bitterly.
"Barely," Hiashi replied, narrowing his eyes. "And we're not much better off. If we want to live… we strike now."
Mizuki stared up at the blood-red sky—dawn finally breaking.
The world was still spinning, chaos unfolding, and they were about to throw themselves right back into it.
One more battle…
Maybe their last.
---
Read up to 20 chapter ahead of time on patreon.com/Legendryweeb
{please give this novel 5 Star review and power stone}
*Thank you*