An overwhelming aura, like an avalanche or tsunami, surged forth as Might Guy crouched slightly, assuming an unremarkable starting stance. Yet, to those watching, he seemed like a terrifying ancient beast preparing to deliver a final, fatal strike on its prey.
And as the "prey," the Death God felt this pressure most acutely.
For the first time, its cold and sinister face showed a trace of astonishment, as deadly alarms rang incessantly in its mind.
Impossible! How could this be possible?!
It could hardly believe that the mortal before it could pose such a threat.
Even when facing the reincarnation of Asura, the Death God had never felt this kind of danger.
But no matter how much it refused to believe, it had to accept the fact that it now faced a life-threatening crisis.
The Death God hastily retreated, trying to create distance, but it was too slow—too late!
On the other side, after crouching into his starting stance, Guy gathered his strength. All his muscles activated at once, and with a ferocious roar, he launched himself forward like a tiger—or rather, like a raging beast.
"Night Guy!"
Just two simple words, but accompanying them was an endless flood of crimson. The blood-red steam, formed from Guy's blood and chakra, burst forth from his body, spreading wildly through the air.
This display of power didn't last long. As the crimson steam reached a critical threshold, it began to condense and swirl, forming a majestic and ferocious blood-red dragon.
The dragon was terrifyingly fierce, its eyes—though not crimson—gleamed with murderous intent. It opened its massive maw, revealing rows of blood-red fangs like swords. One could almost hear its faint, resonant roar.
But what drew the most attention was the devastating kick at the center of the dragon's mouth—Guy's ultimate strike.
"Underworld Domain!" The Death God screamed hysterically.
A yellow-green field expanded outward as the Death God doubled its power and gained extraordinary abilities.
Within the Underworld Domain, it was the absolute ruler.
Feeling reassured by the surge of power within itself, the Death God extended its long, white-sleeved arms toward the direction of Guy's incoming kick.
"Reinforce space! Slow speed!"
These were its commands, as it concentrated all its power on these two aspects, believing that this would make its defense impenetrable.
But it was wrong.
The blood-red dragon bit into the entire Underworld Domain as if it were a yellow-green rubber ball. The supposedly unbreakable domain, which the Death God believed no one could shatter, crumbled like an eggshell.
"No!"
In its despairing and incredulous roar, Guy's kick once again passed through the Death God's body. This time, however, the blood-red dragon swallowed the Death God whole in one bite.
Moments later, the Death God, as if being digested, began to dissolve. Its spectral form disintegrated entirely, vanishing without a trace.
Silence.
An overwhelming silence engulfed the battlefield in the Land of Whirlpools.
Kakashi was stunned. Tsunade was stunned. Everyone was stunned. Even the observing Sage of Six Paths and his brother were stunned.
Someone had reached such an incredible level of strength—strong enough to slay a god!
If Might Guy had some unique constitution to sustain himself, wouldn't he be practically invincible?
"Guy, are you alright?!" Kakashi reacted first, rushing forward to catch his falling friend.
Guy's entire body showed signs of charring, a result of the immense heat generated by his technique, which had nearly burned him to ashes.
Despite his friend's concerned gaze, Guy did not show any sadness or regret. Instead, he raised his right hand with difficulty, making his signature thumbs-up gesture.
"Kakashi! My youth has surpassed yours!"
"Guy!" Even Kakashi, stoic as he was, felt his eyes redden, tears welling up.
His life had been filled with too much loss—one loved one after another leaving him. And now, even Guy, his closest friend, was about to take his final step ahead of him.
"Kakashi, don't be too sad. Guy can still be saved," Tsunade interjected as she approached, quickly beginning to treat Guy.
Thanks to the enhancement of Hashirama's cells and Tsunade's timely intervention, Guy's life was preserved. However, it was clear he would no longer be able to live as a ninja.
"Really? Guy won't die?" Kakashi's emotions swung back upward, like a rollercoaster.
"Yes!" Tsunade nodded firmly as she continued her treatment.
"Yes!"
"That's great! Guy won't die!" The others couldn't help but cheer in relief.
How could they let a hero die?
But life always has its twists.
Deidara's voice suddenly came through the ring communicator: "Cough! Cough!"
"Sorry to interrupt, but Kakashi, I need you to finish off Guy. Let him die."
!
Kakashi was stunned. Tsunade, wearing the same ring, was stunned. Even Guy himself was stunned!
What kind of outrageous statement was that?
"There's no time to explain. Just look up at the sky," Deidara's voice continued.
The three of them looked up.
At some point, the moon had appeared in the sky.
This wasn't right. Although it was already dusk, the moon shouldn't have been visible yet.
As they pondered in confusion, a massive, purple-black creature emerged. It had countless heads and an unimaginably enormous body, which entirely enveloped the moon, as if attempting to swallow it whole.
"That's Mōryō. Its target is to absorb the Moon Goddess, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, who is sealed within the moon. We must stop it."
"If it succeeds, no one in this world will be able to oppose it," Deidara explained.
"That... that kind of monster... can we really stop it?" Kakashi asked, lacking confidence.
"You can't, but Guy can."
Deidara's bluntness left Kakashi momentarily speechless.
"Once Guy dies, Orochimaru will use the Edo Tensei to summon him, and I'll join him to fight Mōryō on the moon."
"But..." Kakashi hesitated. Even if Edo Tensei could bring someone back, killing his own best friend was too cruel a task.
"Don't worry. Once we recover the Rinnegan, we can use the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to revive him. If the Rinnegan is destroyed, there's still One's Own Life Reincarnation."
"Resurrection is simple! Honestly, it's better to let Guy die and come back refreshed rather than live as a cripple."
That... actually made sense!
Kakashi scratched his head. The ninja world had seemed relatively normal just two years ago. How had it become so fantastical that resurrection was now a casual topic?
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📚 BOOK COMPLETED ON PATREON!📚
This story has reached its conclusion on my Patreon!
🔥 Full story available now
💎 Exclusive bonus content & early access to new books
👉 Join my Patreon community today!
[✨ patreon.com/GoldenLong]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━