Kakuzu thrashed desperately, trying to unleash his Earth Grudge Jutsu, but the Universal Pull from the Deva Path's hand crushed him in place.
"Animal Path… Asura Path… and now even the Deva Path…"
Kakuzu's eyes locked on that expressionless face—
That was the strongest among the Six Paths of Pain, the Deva Path. He remembered it vividly.
Impossible!!
How could the Deva Path be here!?
Yahiko's corpse—Nagato alone should have it!
His thoughts collapsed into chaos.
But at that moment, though the face was identical to the one etched into his memory, within those familiar Rinnegan eyes shimmered faint, symmetrical triangular marks in sets of eight.
This wasn't Nagato's Deva Path.
This couldn't be reproduced.
"…Who the hell are you…?"
Kakuzu's voice rasped, trembling with dread.
Ryota didn't answer. He simply willed it.
Boom!!!
A dull detonation erupted within Kakuzu's body.
One of his hearts was crushed from the inside by an unseen power.
"Gah—!!"
Blood burst from his lips, his pupils contracting violently as his face turned deathly pale.
He carried five hearts within him—five chakra natures, five lives. The shinobi world had long dubbed him "the man who lives as long as the earth and sky."
As long as he could swap hearts, he was immortal.
That was his confidence—
And yet, now, for the first time, he felt the certainty of death with a single strike.
"…How… how do you know?"
Ryota still gave no answer. His gaze stayed calm as his will shifted again.
Crack—
"AAAAHHHHHH!!"
Another heart ruptured!
At last Kakuzu understood.
Ryota wasn't attacking him—
He was stripping away his very existence.
Kakuzu looked down at his own hands, once able to tear through enemies with ease, now trembling uncontrollably.
This body—was rotting for the first time, in the truest sense.
"D-don't… don't do it again…!"
"I… I'll talk…!"
"The Akatsuki are all here—Pain's Six Paths, Konan, Zetsu, Sasori…"
Kakuzu, ever the master of selling out his comrades, spilled everything.
Or rather—there had never really been a plan.
Akatsuki's real goal was to destroy Konoha. Seizing the Nine-Tails was just a "side mission."
Ryota stood unmoving, expression blank as he listened.
The silence that followed was suffocating.
"I see."
His Rinnegan gleamed faintly.
From the Hokage's death to the Nine-Tails' rampage—everything had fallen neatly into Akatsuki's sight.
He recalled the Tailed Beast Bomb he himself had unleashed. That blast truly had the power to shake the shinobi world's foundation.
And the system's main quest, still incomplete…
The answer was clear:
"Controlling Konoha" wasn't the end.
Maintaining order in Konoha after the chaos of the Tailed Beast attack—that was the true requirement.
And now, with Akatsuki forced into the open early, the quest had reached its climax.
In the original timeline, Akatsuki should only just be laying out their Tailed Beast plans, not yet taking action.
But Ryota had disrupted that.
The Tailed Beast Bomb destroyed Konoha's surface and ignited fear across the world.
So Akatsuki moved early.
Too bad—they'd picked the wrong target.
The instant those words left Ryota's lips, Kakuzu's three remaining hearts seized in terror.
"I… I told you everything… I—"
Before he could finish, his body convulsed violently.
Boom!!
The first heart burst. Then the second. Then the third.
Blood poured from his orifices as the once-proud gleam in his eyes dulled, his vision blurring.
He collapsed bonelessly to the ground, lifeless.
The man who had boasted of living as long as the heavens and earth hadn't even managed to use a single jutsu before Ryota reduced him to pulp.
The Deva Path stepped forward, standing before Kakuzu's corpse.
Those cold, pitiless Rinnegan eyes had never flickered once.
Slowly, he raised a hand, fingers spreading toward the corpse—then clenched.
BOOM!!!
A warped spatial wave rippled outward as Kakuzu's body exploded from within, fragments scattering to the winds before all who watched.
The Deva Path vanished with a whisper.
Almost simultaneously, the Asura Path and Animal Path beside Ryota shimmered and dissolved into fading phantoms.
Silence fell again.
The stench of blood lingered thick in the air.
It took more than ten seconds before anyone moved.
"…Gulp."
Uchiha Fugaku swallowed hard. Watching Ryota step toward the unconscious Naruto, he rushed forward, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head.
"Clan Head!"
"This was my negligence… letting these two infiltrate Konoha, nearly taking the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki away."
The other Uchiha hurriedly dropped to their knees, fear plain on their faces.
Ryota only waved a hand dismissively.
"They weren't opponents you could have stopped."
"You heard it too—"
"Akatsuki isn't just those two."
He glanced down at Naruto, confirming the boy was merely unconscious and otherwise unharmed, then continued:
"Konoha's defenses aren't enough anymore."
"Go to the Hokage Building. Find Ais."
"She knows what to do."
Fugaku blinked, then quickly bowed again and left with the others.
Once they were gone, Ryota knelt beside Naruto, studying his still face.
He raised his right hand and pressed two fingers to the boy's forehead.
Channeling chakra, he closed his eyes, following the pathways into Naruto's inner world.
BOOM!
The instant he entered, a massive, violent chakra surged toward him.
Fury, hatred, killing intent—it all blended into a storm that churned through Naruto's mindscape.
Ryota's eyes snapped open. He snorted coldly.
"…So it's already this restless, huh…"
The Nine-Tails slammed against its seal, its blood-red vertical pupils glaring murderously from behind the iron bars.
In the shinobi world, Tailed Beasts were called "weapons."
But in truth, they were chakra lifeforms, fully sentient and intelligent.
The stronger the beast, the sharper its instincts—and the more keenly it sensed anomalies.
And the Nine-Tails, strongest of them all, bowed to no one.
Now, within Naruto's body, it felt that familiar aura again—the essence of its own chakra radiating in the outside world.
The Nine-Tails was enraged.
It realized—there was a second version of itself.
To it, that chakra was blasphemy.
It slammed itself against the seal, forcing its chakra outward.
Not to kill Naruto—if the host died, so did it.
But enough to knock the boy unconscious.
Ryota's lips curled in disdain.
This beast was really taking itself too seriously.
He focused, gathering the golden chakra of the Nine-Tails within himself until it shimmered at his fingertip.
He pressed his hand to Naruto's brow.
Instantly—
The violent Nine-Tails chakra inside Naruto fell silent, like a raging beast soothed.
Because it had felt it—power more pure, more overwhelming than its own.
And then, suddenly—
The Nine-Tails' chakra within Naruto began pouring out wildly, surging toward Ryota's fingertip.
"Oh?"
Ryota smirked. So that was it—the beast wanted to see who dared mock it.
It amused him. His intent had only been to calm it, to let Naruto wake.
But now it wanted to challenge him?
"You ungrateful beast. If you're so desperate…"
"Then return to me."
At his command, the Nine-Tails' chakra tore free from Naruto, flooding into Ryota's body.
In an instant, the air behind him twisted like boiling water.
Scarlet light condensed into nine spectral tails.
Ryota's face remained calm.
"…Hm?"
He looked down at his palm, sensing his chakra flow.
"…Full?"
Yes.
At the moment Naruto's Nine-Tails chakra entered him, the already near-perfect fusion within Ryota surged past its final barrier.
Like the last drop filling a brimming cup—
His chakra system was complete.
That sense of maxed-out power was clearer than ever before.
Not the wild flood of when he first gained it.
Not the exhilarating surge of breaking a new boundary.
This was like a bottomless furnace, swallowing the Tailed Beast's might in perfect, serene harmony.
From the silence emanated overwhelming strength.
[Ding—]
[Nine-Tails Chakra Fusion: 100% (Maxed)]
[Status Updated: Master of the Nine-Tails]
[Note: The Nine-Tails' chakra has fully merged with the host. Naruto's Nine-Tails consciousness will no longer exist independently.]
"…."
Ryota was briefly speechless.
He'd only meant to stabilize the chakra to wake Naruto, since the beast rejected his presence so violently.
Yet this had become the final piece of the puzzle.
"Well…" he murmured,
"It was mine to begin with."
The Nine-Tails' chakra wasn't a copy, wasn't a fragment, wasn't a knockoff.
It was the purest, most original essence.
And now, with Naruto's portion restored, the fusion was complete.
This was the true meaning of Master of the Nine-Tails.
"But still—"
Ryota glanced at the unconscious boy, then pressed a hand to his chest.
"Relax. I'm not some bastard who steals a host's Tailed Beast."
"You're just… not ready to handle it yet."
With that, a faint chakra flowed into Naruto's body—Ryota's own, carefully reshaped to replace what had left.
It wouldn't grant him the Nine-Tails' power, but it would be enough to let Naruto awaken, and continue training in the future—
Without becoming an empty shell.
"Time to wake up, Naruto…"