Chapter 431: Fate Ends, Naruto and Sasuke Die
In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
No miracle occurred. Naruto and Sasuke lay motionless on the ground, eyes dulled from exhaustion, filled with despair as they looked up at Li Yao's shadow clone, still brimming with energy and vibrant chakra.
"Not bad, managing to last this long."
Li Yao's shadow clone stood in midair, looking down on the two of them and sincerely offering his praise.
Ever since the Obito clone became the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki again, he had stopped holding back, going all out with the intent to kill Naruto and Sasuke.
Yet the two of them still managed to endure.
As always, space-based abilities were incredibly difficult to counter.
Against the utterly broken Amenotejikara, even Li Yao could do little.
Only now, after depleting all the chakra from their bodies, did victory truly belong to Li Yao.
"Where is the Sage of Six Paths? He still won't come to save you?"
Li Yao's shadow clone descended, landing in front of the two, smiling as he asked.
Two black hole spheres hovered over their foreheads, ready to erase them at any moment.
If the Sage of Six Paths truly cared about the reincarnations of his sons, surely he wouldn't want to see them die.
Li Yao wanted to see if he could force the Sage out. At this point, he was itching to test his power against him.
Over the past two days, Li Yao's strength had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Not only had he obtained the Truth-Seeking Orbs and mastered Yin-Yang Release at the Six Paths level, he had even just copied Sasuke's Amenotejikara space-time ability.
One could now say that Li Yao was a true Six Paths-level powerhouse—not just a pseudo-Six Paths user borrowing the Ten-Tails' chakra.
As for the Sage of Six Paths, a man who had already abandoned his physical body, Li Yao was curious to see how they compared. And if he lost, well, it was just a shadow clone.
His main body still rested safely in Kamui space. Testing the waters with a clone was a great bargain.
But unfortunately, even with the black hole spheres just inches from Naruto and Sasuke's foreheads, the Sage didn't appear. This disappointed the shadow clone a bit.
"You know about the Sage of Six Paths?"
Naruto was shocked. To him, the Sage was a legend. If he hadn't seen him with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed he existed. Now, Li Yao spoke of him with such certainty—it was clear he had known all along.
"Just kill us already. Stop wasting time," Sasuke said coldly. He never begged, never hoped for rescue.
"You two… really are pitiful."
Li Yao looked down at the pair and suddenly felt they weren't worth it.
Since childhood, the two of them had been labeled by Mount Myōboku and the Sage of Six Paths as the Children of Destiny, saviors of the shinobi world. They had fought tooth and nail for peace. But now, when death was certain, not one of the so-called saviors of the world had come to rescue them.
Whether it was the Great Toad Sage or the Sage of Six Paths, they absolutely had the power to save Naruto and Sasuke from Li Yao's hands.
No need to even mention the Sage of Six Paths—he had possessed Six Paths-level strength for over a millennium. His power would have only grown. If he wanted to rescue Naruto, even Li Yao's shadow clone wouldn't be able to stop him.
The Great Toad Sage was no different—an ancient monster that had lived for a thousand years.
Any creature that had survived a thousand years was not to be underestimated.
Moreover, the Great Toad Sage could see into other parallel worlds through dreams, indicating he had some grasp of space-time or other mysterious abilities.
Mount Myōboku, one of the three great summoning realms, was the birthplace of natural energy usage and also held the deepest understanding and research of sealing arts derived from nature energy.
Li Yao himself was an expert in sealing techniques. Now that he could absorb nature energy, he had an even greater appreciation for how terrifying the toads of Mount Myōboku were—especially the Great Toad Sage.
Those sealing techniques, derived from the runes of natural energy and refined over a thousand years, were sure to be fearsome.
To Li Yao, the Great Toad Sage might not be weaker than the Sage of Six Paths—perhaps even stronger.
After all, the toad had lived a full millennium in a physical body. That was no ordinary feat.
Given his power, if he wanted to save Naruto, Li Yao knew the odds of success were high.
But… even as Naruto and Sasuke were about to be killed, the Great Toad Sage remained silent.
Clearly, these toads never cared about Naruto's death—or even the death of humanity in the ninja world.
With their own separate dimension, Mount Myōboku's toads only acted if something like the God Tree appeared and threatened all the natural energy of a planet.
Otherwise, no matter how many humans died, it had nothing to do with them. They weren't human, after all. As long as natural energy remained, they were fine.
Li Yao didn't know their exact thoughts, but he could guess well enough.
Since that was the case, the fate of Naruto and Sasuke ended here.
"Let's end your pitiful lives."
With those words, Li Yao leapt back, and with a thought, the black hole spheres above their heads expanded instantly.
Naruto and Sasuke's bodies twitched—but it was meaningless. They were completely spent, unable to resist any longer.
"So this is death…"
"Maybe it's for the best."
As his vision faded to black, Naruto glanced at Sasuke and smiled.
To die together with Sasuke, side by side in battle—it meant that his once-lonely heart had companionship, even at the end.
"Let it all die…"
Sasuke sighed inwardly. If everything died, maybe there would finally be peace. Destruction before rebirth.
In the end, even at death's door, Sasuke still thought about peace for the ninja world.
Human hearts are truly hard to read.
Pop! Pop!
Without suspense, the two main characters of the Naruto world, the twin saviors, Naruto and Sasuke, vanished completely from the shinobi world—leaving behind only two perfectly round craters as proof of their demise.
At Mount Myōboku, the Great Toad Sage watched in silence as the image of Naruto being consumed by black hole space disappeared from the crystal orb.
"I'm sorry…"
"Naruto…"
The Great Toad Sage turned off the vision and looked up at the sky of Mount Myōboku with a heavy sigh.
Just as Li Yao suspected, he did have the power to save Naruto.
But then what?
What would he do about Li Yao?
He couldn't deal with Li Yao. The destruction occurring in the Land of Fire was exactly what would happen to Mount Myōboku if he tried.
So the Great Toad Sage didn't dare go out. He didn't dare appear before this interdimensional monster, Li Yao.
He was afraid—afraid that by intervening, he would lead Li Yao to Mount Myōboku's hidden dimension.
After living for a thousand years, he had long become calculating, detached, and cold. He put the toads of Mount Myōboku above all else.
Li Yao was a vengeful and utterly ruthless being, without limits.
If he saved Naruto, Li Yao would stop at nothing to find Mount Myōboku and destroy the toad clan.
That was a future the Great Toad Sage would never allow.
So even if it meant sacrificing Naruto, he would never strike at Li Yao.
Because he couldn't be sure he could kill Li Yao. The moment Li Yao used his space-time ninjutsu, the Great Toad Sage believed even the Sage of Six Paths came to the same conclusion as him.
They both knew how terrifying space-time ninjutsu was—especially one with a defensive nature.
They knew they couldn't kill Li Yao.
So both chose to watch Naruto and Sasuke die—indifferent and unmoved.
The Great Toad Sage saw it clearly: as long as they didn't oppose Li Yao, he wouldn't intentionally target Mount Myōboku.
That was the real reason he didn't save Naruto.
(END CHAPTER)
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