Chapter 145

"Yes, just like that, set him down gently; freedom and wealth are beckoning to you."

However, at this very moment,

D-14134's gaze suddenly turned sharp,

and he raised the dagger in his hand, stabbing it fiercely into that mass of a heart.

"Why! Why! You bastard!"

Hearing the angry voice coming from the sound,

D-14134 suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"Hahahaha! You idiot! You moron! You actually believed me? Hahahaha!"

Then, clutching his chest in pain, he said intermittently:

"To be honest, I really should have agreed with you; after all, freedom is something I haven't touched in a long time, not to mention the countless, inexhaustible wealth you promised?"

He then lay directly on the ground, laughing maniacally; as he laughed, fresh blood gushed from his mouth.

"But, I already promised a certain bastard that I would complete this mission for him, although, although that bastard doesn't know me, perhaps he even thinks I'm just an agent."

"But... hahahaha! But I just wanted to be a hero! I just wanted to be a hero respected by everyone before I died."

At this moment, D-14134 was already on the verge of death, blood covering his entire body,

and the light in his pupils was slowly fading away.

Yet, he used the last of his strength to gently raise his hand.

"Although... no one will ever know that a bastard like me became a hero at the very end."

"But..."

Then, D-14134 suddenly widened his eyes and roared out:

"To those who face death! I salute you!!!"

Following that, he collapsed directly to the ground, breathless.

Immediately after, the heart he had stabbed with the dagger also burst open after a moment of silence.

And at the instant that heart shattered with a boom,

an invisible flame ignited in an instant and began to spread crazily into the surroundings.

Then, one could see the black shadows around the heart emitting extremely painful screams.

Immediately after,

those black shadows dissipated rapidly, and those black monsters on the periphery

also vanished without a trace the moment they were touched by the flames.

Very quickly,

the darkness shrouding the surroundings also dissipated completely.

In the entire room, all the heart-shadows had disappeared.

A moment later,

a ray of sunlight shone into the room,

shining upon the corpse that had longed for freedom and wanted to see the sunlight,

yet could never see the sunlight again.

And on that corpse, everyone saw a trace of a smile.

And at this moment, this room

seemed as if it had always been this way,

just a dirty and messy room,

and as for any black shadows or hearts, those were things that simply did not exist.

They had never been seen before.

A long time later,

a group of Foundation agents arrived here.

Upon seeing D-14134's corpse for the first time, these Foundation agents did not feel any surprise...

After scanning the situation, the lead agent began to report the scene.

"Report: Several hours after D-14134 entered Anomaly-1983-1, the anomalous phenomena of the project disappeared; the specific circumstances are currently unknown."

"Now preparing to open D-14134's personal recording device to confirm the cause of the situation..."

Then, the lead agent removed the recording device D-14134 had been carrying.

After watching the content inside the camera,

this group of proud Foundation agents fell into collective silence.

At this moment, the look in their eyes as they gazed at D-14134 was filled with shock and respect.

After all, even for Foundation agents,

it would be impossible to complete the mission under such circumstances.

But such a difficult task

was actually completed by a D-Class personnel.

This was truly unbelievable to them.

And at this moment,

an agent came to their side and handed a crumpled piece of paper to the lead captain.

"Found the suicide note left by Agent B-015."

Looking at the content on the paper, the lead captain took a deep breath,

and with a hoarse voice, said to D-14134's corpse:

"Record: Based on current information, Anomaly-1983-1 has been completely destroyed by D-14134... Salute to those who face death!"

And after this video ended,

a new piece of information appeared on the light screen:

"After his death, D-14134 was posthumously awarded the Foundation Star (this is one of only two awarded to D-Class personnel)."

Then, the light screen slowly dimmed.

Watching the dimming light screen,

the entire Ninja World, after a moment of silence, instantly erupted.

"Oh my god! I'm really crying to death! This D-Class personnel is so brave; is this the meaning of 'those who face death'! Ah!!!!"

"Oh my god, are all people in the Foundation like this, fearless of death for the sake of those behind them! I'm really crying to death!"

"He kept calling himself a bastard before he died, but he wasn't a bastard; he was a hero, a great hero who stood tall!"

"He could have clearly left, clearly gained freedom, but he refused freedom just for that one sentence, for that empty promise; it really makes one cry to death!"

Konoha,

although the light screen had slowly dimmed,

the mood of Tsunade and the others remained extremely heavy.

Although they, as ninjas,

are always enveloped by the fear of death during training and combat,

but,

no matter who they were,

when on the verge of death, when hearing that voice full of temptation,

they would probably agree to the voice's request without hesitation;

after all, every person wants to survive.

Yet this D-Class personnel gave up the chance to live without hesitation.

What kind of spirit is this?

This is a fearless spirit that sacrifices oneself for humanity!

This spirit is worthy of their respect and praise,

just like the Second Hokage who lured away the pursuers alone so his subordinates could survive.

The Third Hokage who sacrificed himself to seal Orochimaru's hands for the sake of the village.

The Fourth Hokage, a hero who died in battle so the village would not suffer disaster.