In the midst of the ruins, Sasori walked forward, his gaze sweeping across the mountains of corpses piled around him.
At this moment, his official identity was that of a Special Jōnin personally recruited by Ryoma. His role resembled the former operations of Danzo's Root—an operative meant specifically for the village's darkest work.
Draped in a black robe, Sasori kept his hands clasped behind him as he walked. On the corpse-littered ground, he resembled an Asura striding through hell; every step he took left a faint smear of blood.
Because he had used his Hundred Puppet Technique to outright crush his opponents, none of the shinobi killed by Sasori possessed an intact corpse. The scene had become a grotesque tapestry of shredded limbs and pulverized flesh.
The Konoha ninjas tasked with cleaning up would occasionally sneak fearful glances at him, but none dared to speak unless absolutely necessary.
Most of these shinobi were teenagers—seventeen or eighteen years old—children of peacetime who had never truly experienced war. In the first few days of working alongside Sasori, several had vomited for entire afternoons.
Sasori's fighting style was too lethal, too overwhelming. His puppet's arsenal created a battlefield so brutal that dismembered limbs, spilled intestines, and torn-open torsos were commonplace. Combined with the fact that Sasori had been recruited from outside the village, the Konoha ninja instinctively kept their distance.
Among the current pillars of Konoha, if Kakashi symbolized the warmth of spring, then Sasori was the depth of winter—cold enough to make one tremble.
A few minutes later, a trembling shinobi approached, stepping as carefully as if walking on thin ice.
"L–Lord Sasori, we've finished the count… b-but we didn't find the bodies of the Akatsuki leader or the one they called 'the Rider'…"
He glanced at Sasori's face, and upon seeing no change in expression, he released a quiet sigh of relief before continuing,
"L-Lord Sasori… should we dispatch another search unit?"
"Of course."
Sasori nodded, his tone flat—yet a chilling glint flashed through his eyes.
"Notify Kumogakure. Have them send search teams as well. Within two days… we will find him."
————————————
After returning to Shion's palace, Ryoma dismissed Konoha's forces. Immediately, Naruko and Sako clung to him again.
Ryoma didn't entertain them for long. He simply nudged Shion forward to accompany the two girls on their shopping trip and headed straight for the study, immersing himself in the ancient tomes left behind by the shrine maidens of the former Oni Country.
Like a sponge, he absorbed the knowledge—rituals, chakra theory, sealing arts—everything.
With his immortal body, his physiology far surpassed that of humans. He didn't need food, sleep, or rest. Once he entered a study session, he could remain shut-in indefinitely.
After a full day of uninterrupted reading, he had absorbed the equivalent of four to five years' worth of learning.
Click.
Shion opened the study door and found Ryoma sitting cross-legged amid towers of scrolls. Several large boxes filled with texts surrounded him, and the books in his hand flipped at a speed incomprehensible to normal eyes.
Setting down the bundle of scrolls she carried, Shion said,
"Lord Ryoma, I found additional texts related to sealing and purification. Where should I place them?"
Ryoma set aside one scroll and picked up another effortlessly.
"Place them here. I'll go through them soon."
"Yes."
Seeing how focused he was, Shion spoke no further and quietly withdrew from the room.
Ryoma's mind absorbed and analyzed information simultaneously. Once he finished reading a text, the entire book's knowledge had already been perfectly memorized—almost like the quantum-speed reading that legends from his previous world described.
"Oooo—"
The soft, crisp sound of pages flipping never stopped. From time to time, Shion brought food and water into the study, but Ryoma remained completely immersed in the ancient texts. His concentration was so absolute that neither hunger nor thirst could interrupt him.
Even so, Shion continued replacing the cooled meals with freshly prepared ones every few hours—despite knowing he wouldn't eat them.
Unnoticed by both of them, a full week had already passed. During this time, Ryoma had absorbed all the knowledge inherited from the shrine maidens, and he had finally deciphered the magic formations and inscriptions inside the ancestral hall. As he suspected, they were connected to the remnants of the Gelel Stone.
As recorded before, the world of Naruto was vast, and the Ninja Continent itself was merely a single small world.
The texts from the Land of Demons also described the realms beyond this continent—the Underworld, the Land of the Dead, and the Six Heavenly Realms governed by the Heavenly Emperor.
The original world of Mōryō, the witches, and the domain from which the Gelel ore descended were actually separate dimensions. They only appeared in this world through similar summoning rituals, which was precisely why Ryoma had sensed a strange similarity between them.
"But this also proves that, many years ago, there existed a group of magicians here—masters of cross-world summoning… yet the records before that period are completely missing."
Ryoma could sense a clear historical rupture. Reflecting further, even chakra itself was not originally a product of the Ninja Continent—it was introduced by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki when she arrived through the God Tree.
Thinking deeper, why did Kaguya come to this continent?
Why did the Ōtsutsuki clan plant the God Tree here specifically?
Ryoma felt a hidden truth buried beneath these events—a secret obscured because most older records had been erased long ago.
Kaguya had arrived a thousand years ago. Black Zetsu had schemed for a thousand years. During that vast span of time, Ryoma doubted the world's people truly understood anything of what came before.
Though he now possessed the full inheritance of the shrine maidens, he still had no method to enter the Emerald Plains—the true world on the other side. Only by mastering the special summoning array buried beneath the Gelel ruins could he uncover the path needed to explore that truth.
Click.
Just as he was about to step outside and breathe fresh air for the first time in days, he opened the door and immediately saw Shion curled up against the corridor wall, yawning softly after keeping vigil for days.
Ryoma couldn't help but reach out and gently rub her head.
"You worked hard."
"Mmm~"
Feeling his touch, Shion squinted her eyes like a sleepy cat, enjoying the warmth.
Turning toward the mountains and forests outside, Ryoma took a deep breath. An invisible wave of power immediately rippled outward in every direction.
It was one of the techniques he had learned from the witches' knowledge—using pure spiritual power to extend his perception.
But midway through testing his expanded senses, Ryoma's expression darkened.
His brows drew together, and a cold sneer tugged at his lips.
"So… someone out there is looking for death."
…
(End of Chapter)
📝 Limited-Time Offer (Ends Soon): $9 → 20 chapters ahead (Ends Today!)
🦊 Pa-treon-com/LordMerlin
😊 Thank you for your support!