Space rippled, then Rakuya stepped into a boundless desert. The sun burned white. Heat writhed in the air. Sand baked like iron underfoot.
He started sweating the moment he arrived.
This was a different dimension, not the One Piece world. He had tossed the bald Elder here right after capturing him.
Now that he had set foot on this ground, he looked around and swore under his breath. No sign of the old man anywhere.
"Ran, did you?"
He glanced down. A pair of footprints cut across the sand, then vanished over a dune.
"Moonwalk, is it?" Rakuya snorted. The Five Elder had no idea where he was. He probably still thought he was somewhere over the Grand Line, which was why he ran without a second thought.
"Repulsion pulse."
Rakuya closed his eyes. Invisible waves fanned out from him like ripples in a pond. Every twitch in the world brushed his senses. Fifty meters. One hundred. The sweep exploded outward. In a blink he held the whole desert in his mind. Nothing that breathed could hide.
"There."
He smiled, cold and sure, and shot forward.
In moments he closed the distance. A white-robed figure streaked through the air ahead, fleeing hard.
"You will not get away."
Rakuya blurred and closed in.
"Impossible. He is still faster." Panic flared behind the Elder's eyes. Muscles bunched. He hammered the air with Moonwalk, bolting ahead.
"Kamui."
Rakuya's gaze tightened. The Elder's figure twisted. The world buckled around both of them. The desert fell away. They stepped out onto a field of snow.
"What is this place?"
The Elder's head snapped up. His eyes met Rakuya's.
The Mangekyo Sharingan spun.
"Kotoamatsukami."
A whisper of power passed. The Elder's fear and confusion unspooled and were gone. He dropped to his knees before Rakuya and bowed his head.
"Master."
Kotoamatsukami, the famed genjutsu of Uchiha Shisui, could enter a mind without the target ever noticing and rewrite the will there, permanently and completely.
Rakuya had just used it in battle for the first time. He forced the Elder's will to turn and the man never felt the knife.
In the Elder's mind, Rakuya was his rightful master. Even his status as one of the Five Elders existed by that master's arrangement.
"Good."
Relief loosened Rakuya's shoulders. First use, first success.
"I will ask, you will answer. Have you five lived eight hundred years?"
"Yes, Master."
"Did you split a Life Fruit among you?"
"Yes, Master."
"Then why fear the Celestial Dragons?" Rakuya's eyes narrowed.
"If the Celestial Dragons die, we cannot live. They must not die."
"Why?" Rakuya's brow rose.
"I do not know. The highest secret rests with Eldest and Second Brother. I was not told," the bald Elder said, frowning as if the ignorance bothered him.
Rakuya's gaze went thoughtful. Digging out the truth would not be simple.
He sent the Elder into the System space and slipped out of the dimension with Kamui.
Kotoamatsukami drained ocular power and carried a long cooldown. Ordinarily it would take a great while to recover. The System had shaved that time down to a few months.
Back on Fish-Man Island, Rakuya opened his System panel.
Max-level summons unlocked. Any powerhouse could be called.
He skimmed the numbers and clicked his tongue.
Too expensive.
Out of reach.
After the update, Kaguya Otsutsuki had jumped from eighty thousand points to one hundred sixty thousand, and the Sage of Six Paths had doubled as well.
When he had first unlocked max summons, Kaguya had listed for 80,000. Hagoromo had been 50,000.
One upgrade and both had spiked.
"System, get out here." Rakuya's expression darkened. He felt swindled.
[System Notification] How may I assist, Host?
"Explain why Kaguya and the Sage are pricier. They used to be cheaper."
[System Notification] Ah… yes. Due to high cross-world usage of Kaguya and Hagoromo, demand now exceeds supply, therefore prices must be adjusted.
"Hagoromo is booked solid? Please." Rakuya nearly spat blood. "Do not try that on me."
Of course it was price gouging. The five thousand points he had just squeezed out would be clawed back in minutes at this rate.
[System Notification] I am forced to upgrade. If I do not, I shut down automatically. QAQ
"Spare me."
He waved the complaint away and scrolled the list.
"Tsunade, Orochimaru, Uchiha Itachi, Hashirama Senju, Uchiha Madara, Saitama…"
Still too rich for comfort.
His eyes lingered, then settled on Uchiha Itachi. The man drew crowds wherever he appeared, and Rakuya wanted to meet him face to face.
"You it is, God Itachi."
He swept a hand. Thirty thousand points winked out. In their place stood a solitary, cool-eyed man. No red-cloud cloak on his back, but the quiet, melancholic air fit him like a second skin. The Mangekyo Sharingan burned scarlet in his gaze.
"Uchiha Itachi."
Rakuya smiled slightly at the man he had just called.
"Master."
Itachi inclined his head, solemn.
"Wear this."
Rakuya flicked his wrist. A black cloak patterned with red clouds fell into Itachi's hands. Itachi nodded and put it on.
Twenty-six thousand four hundred points remained.
Tsunade listed for twenty-five thousand.
"You next, Big Sis Tsunade."
The world shimmered. Two perfect arcs filled his field of vision.
"Master."
Tsunade stepped out, saluted, then glanced sideways and saw Itachi.
"Itachi?"
"Granny Tsunade…"
"You little brat, Granny? Do I look that old?"
Her knuckles met the crown of his head with a sharp flick. Itachi rubbed the spot and gave a small, embarrassed smile.
The ease between them told Rakuya what he needed. Tsunade knew the truth about Hiruzen, Danzo, and Itachi. There was no old resentment left to sour the air.
"Since you have a compatriot, catch up."
Rakuya smiled, then brought the Nine-Tails and Momousagi out of System space.
Tsunade and Itachi stiffened the instant the fox's chakra filled the room.
"Mm?"
They both turned, wary in an instant, as the Nine-Tails' tails unfurled behind it like a storm
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