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Mui's heart was a churning storm of anxiety and dread.
The closer one drew to the moment when a critical, life-altering decision had to be made, the more intensely one's nerves frayed and coiled. At this very instant, Mui found himself trapped in an impossible dilemma, caught between advancing and retreating with no clear path forward.
Even though his strength was utterly eclipsed by the other members of the Akatsuki, he had not joined their ranks out of any fondness for slaughter. He had done it all for Muku. His son. Madara had told him previously that the power of the Ten-Tails could be utilized to bring Muku back to life. He had seared those words into the very core of his memory, and for the sake of that promise, he had killed many, many people who should never have had to die. After all, in his heart, nothing in the entire world could ever compare to Muku.
However, that cataclysmic battle during the surprise assault on the Hidden Leaf Village had caused his convictions to waver. He had very nearly met his end at the hands of Midorima. In that moment, a single, terrifying thought had crystallized in his mind: if he himself were to die, would the Akatsuki, would Madara, ever truly bother to resurrect Muku?
The answer, he knew with cold, brutal certainty, was an unequivocal no. The members of the Akatsuki were all ruthless killers who murdered without so much as blinking an eye. The fact that they did not haul the corpses of their fallen comrades to the bounty station to collect the reward money was already a rarity in itself. Expecting them to resurrect Muku? He might as well not even entertain the thought.
This harsh realization had forced him to accept a bitter truth: if he placed his entire hope for Muku's resurrection solely in the hands of the Akatsuki, then he was being unforgivably, catastrophically naive. He absolutely had to seize the initiative and take control of his own destiny.
His current predicament was incredibly delicate. The Allied Shinobi Forces were on the verge of making landfall. Once a direct, head-on confrontation erupted, putting aside the question of whether Pain could truly kill the leaders of the various Great Shinobi Villages, even if he could accomplish that feat... what about himself? During the last assault on the Hidden Leaf Village, he had nearly been killed...
Mui's thoughts were a tangled, chaotic mess, his heart torn by indecision. Just then, a thunderous explosion detonated in the near distance, the shockwave so intense it rattled his eardrums painfully. He lifted his head and caught a blurred glimpse of a water spout, easily over ten meters high, rocketing violently into the air.
That damn fool...
Mui exhaled a long, ragged breath.
There was no need for speculation. It was undoubtedly that maniac Deidara launching his attacks again.
He cast a furtive, sidelong glance at the others. Almost everyone's attention was fixed intently on the sea, their bodies tensed in full combat readiness. He reached back and ran his hand over the massive scroll secured to his back. After a brief moment of contemplation, he unfastened the scroll and laid it out. Spreading the opened scroll flat upon the ground, Mui formed a hand seal and executed a summoning jutsu. From within the scroll, a massive black box materialized, roughly seven meters on each side. Each of its four faces bore a distinct mask, grotesquely depicting the expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.
As the enormous black box abruptly manifested, every member of the Akatsuki present turned their heads to stare directly at him.
"Is that... the Box of Ultimate Bliss?" Zetsu inquired.
Mui nodded, forcing a strained, brittle smile onto his face. "This is my trump card."
Itachi's brow furrowed slightly. He cast a couple of discreet, appraising glances at Mui.
"I've heard that this artifact requires a tremendous volume of chakra to activate," Zetsu remarked further.
"Yes, that's correct. Relying solely on my own power, I cannot hope to open it," Mui said, his face a taut mask of tension. The image of Muku's horrifying death flashed unbidden through his mind. He forcibly, ruthlessly suppressed the surge of agonizing emotion, locking it away deep within his heart. "This is the very reason I joined the Akatsuki in the first place."
"And what does that have to do with joining the Akatsuki?" Itachi interjected casually.
"It is capable of granting a person's deepest wish... bestowing upon them immense, unimaginable power," Mui explained.
"In that case, can it also be used against the Allied Shinobi Forces?" Itachi pressed.
"But of course," Mui confirmed. He could feel the slick dampness of sweat coating his palms. His gaze shifted and settled squarely upon the Deva Path. "Lord Pain, may I humbly request to borrow a measure of your power?"
"Are you absolutely certain that the benefit you will provide will outweigh the chakra I bestow upon you?" the Deva Path demanded.
"Without the slightest doubt," Mui declared with unwavering conviction. "At this very moment, we stand on the precipice of a direct confrontation with the Allied Shinobi Forces. Unless we manage to rout them decisively, none of us will survive. Am I wrong? Once a person is dead, what becomes of all their carefully laid plans and cherished dreams? They all crumble to nothing!"
Mui thumped his chest with his fist, the corners of his eyes glistening with barely restrained tears. "I cannot afford to die here. Not even if I must sacrifice everything I have!"
"If that is truly how you believe..." The Deva Path paused, as though sinking into deep contemplation.
Just at that moment, the sounds of explosions drew increasingly closer. They could now clearly discern the silhouette of Deidara's clay bird circling in the air above them.
"Then I shall open the Box of Ultimate Bliss for you." The Deva Path stepped forward and positioned himself beside the enormous box. He placed both hands flat against its surface and began channeling his chakra directly into the artifact.
The Box of Ultimate Bliss suddenly swelled, growing even more massive in size. From the eyes of the carved masks on each of its faces, piercing beams of crimson light erupted, stabbing outward before being swallowed and diffused by the dense, surrounding fog.
Itachi's brow arched upwards with keen interest. He possessed very little concrete knowledge regarding this artifact. All he had ever heard were vague rumors that it was somehow connected to the legendary Sage of Six Paths. Any tool or weapon even tangentially linked to the Sage was, without exception, no ordinary object.
Zetsu watched as Mui stepped directly before the Box of Ultimate Bliss. He clicked his tongue softly and, acting purely on instinct, subtly widened the distance between himself and Mui.
"Please... allow me to see my son once more... Please, let him be resurrected!" Mui raised both arms towards the box in a gesture of fervent, desperate prayer. The words had barely left his lips before hot tears were already streaming down his face.
As Itachi listened to Mui's heartfelt plea, he was momentarily taken aback. Then, he lowered his head, struggling to suppress the bitter, ironic laugh threatening to bubble up from his chest.
The Akatsuki was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most bizarre and dysfunctional organization he had ever encountered. Almost every single member who had been truly, genuinely loyal to the Akatsuki's cause was now dead. And every single one of those who still drew breath harbored their own hidden, selfish agendas.
When faced with the full, combined might of the Allied Shinobi Forces, did an organization like this truly possess the strength to mount an effective resistance? Should he himself also start formulating his own contingency plan for what came next?
Just as Itachi was silently mulling over this question in the depths of his mind, the Box of Ultimate Bliss began to open. The mask directly facing Mui, the one frozen in an expression of abject sorrow, lowered. It revealed an elliptical, gaping void behind it. Deep, violet-hued chakra began to billow and seep outward continuously. And from within that darkness, unbelievably, the figure of a young boy stepped forth.
The moment Mui laid eyes upon that boy, his composure shattered entirely. Without any conscious volition, he found himself stumbling forward, drawn inexorably towards the child.
"Muku... I'm so sorry... I..."
Mui opened his arms, desperate to embrace Muku. But in that instant, Muku's hand, shaped into a rigid blade, drove forward and pierced clean through Mui's chest. Mui crumpled slowly to the ground, yet his eyes never once strayed from Muku's face. Even as he fell, his lips continued to murmur Muku's name in a broken, reverent whisper.
Muku lifted his foot and brought it down with brutal, crushing force upon Mui's skull. Blood sprayed outward in a gruesome fan, instantly staining the pale sand a deep, visceral crimson. A surge of seawater swept in, and in its retreat, it dragged Mui's lifeless corpse out into the churning sea.
Muku clutched his head with both hands and unleashed an earsplitting, agonized shriek. His body was rapidly, terrifyingly consumed by an inky, encroaching blackness. From his back, a pair of monstrous, pitch-black wings unfurled. And where his chest should have been, a grotesquely exaggerated, gigantic mouth stretched open, its gash so horrifically wide it nearly reached from one side of his torso to the other.
"What is happening?" Itachi demanded.
"In all likelihood, this is the very thing Mui had been praying for all along," Zetsu remarked with a dark chuckle.
"But this is beyond anything remotely reasonable," Itachi stated, shaking his head.
"No. The relics left behind by the Sage of Six Paths are not so easily wielded," Zetsu countered, shaking his head in turn.
"You are familiar with its true function?"
Zetsu merely smiled enigmatically, offering no verbal reply. He simply lifted his head to watch as the monstrous, pitch-black entity soared upwards into the sky.
The Deva Path, who had remained utterly silent from the moment Mui had begun his desperate prayer, finally spoke. "Are you the son of Mui?"
"I am. Though you could also say that I am not."
"It was I who summoned you forth. Therefore, you will contribute a measure of effort. Eliminate the shinobi currently charging in from the sea," the Deva Path commanded.
The entity that had been Muku opened its mouth, as though preparing to respond. But at that exact moment, a giant clay bird swept past him, managing to halt its momentum barely a short distance away from his position.
"Is that him?" Deidara asked.
"..." The Deva Path shook his head. "No."
Without waiting for any further elaboration from the Deva Path, the creature known as Muku abruptly wheeled around and lunged directly towards Deidara.