Chapter 506

"Haha... ha..."

In the center of the battlefield, the white fox knight knelt on one knee. Senju Tobirama, panting slightly, forced himself to widen his blurred eyes.

Through the cracks in his mask, he reflected the hideous fox monster before him in his scarlet pupils.

The surrounding environment was a mess. The solid earth had been torn open by several bottomless wounds. A radius of several miles had turned into scorched earth, with no signs of any life. Everything was terrifyingly silent, as if the end of the world had arrived.

After settling the unconscious Uchiha Mirror, he had taken the initiative to attack, leading the suddenly appearing stranger away from his disciple.

After a fierce battle, Senju Tobirama, who had just experienced a brutal fight, quickly showed signs of fatigue and was easily crushed by the Heteromorphic Knight transformed by Number Nine.

It was only because the opponent was intentionally or unintentionally going easy on him that he hadn't been defeated hastily, but at this moment, he had been forced into a desperate situation.

Such a strong enemy—did that annoying guy really lose just like me?

Senju Tobirama gritted his teeth, wanting to stand up, but the heart-piercing pain all over his body made him stagger, nearly falling over. Fortunately, he reached out his hands in time to support himself, avoiding a more pathetic scene.

"..."

Number Nine looked down at the fox knight he had easily crushed. The face under the mask revealed the satisfaction of having his great revenge fulfilled. He had returned all the humiliation he had suffered at Uchiha Madara's hands.

Sure enough, what he had encountered before was Hell Mode; this side was the normal level.

Nodding to himself, Number Nine raised his hand. Tiny wooden branches sprouted from his palm, eventually condensing into a seed that radiated an aura of decay.

"That is..."

Looking at the strange seed in the enemy's hand, Senju Tobirama's heart tightened. Based on the detailed intelligence Uchiha Gin had brought back, he naturally knew the purpose of this seed.

"Don't even think about it..."

Even at this desperate moment, Senju Tobirama did not give up his resistance. Holding a determination to die, he contacted the Nine-Tails in the Tailed Beast card at his waist.

In the space of the Tailed Beast card, the Nine-Tails no longer had its previous high spirits. At this moment, it looked like it was mourning the dead, and it had no intention of responding to Senju Tobirama's arrival.

"Nine-Tails, lend me some more of your power."

After entering the space, Senju Tobirama got straight to the point, his tone brooking no refusal. Upon hearing this, the Nine-Tails slowly turned its head, its thin, sharp voice carrying a heavy sense of dejection.

"Don't waste your effort. You are no match for him. If it were that detestable human..."

Facing the high-spirited Senju Tobirama, the Nine-Tails ruthlessly poured a bucket of cold water on him. As a long-lived species that had seen countless people, it could naturally judge the upper limit of this white-haired man.

Compared to the ridiculously strong Uchiha Madara, this human, who was still somewhat pleasing to the eye, was simply like a green recruit who had just started, completely unable to defeat a clone possessing the power of Senju Hashirama and the Nine-Tails.

"How do you know if you don't try?"

Although the Nine-Tails didn't directly say he was too weak, Senju Tobirama could clearly feel the disdain emanating from the giant beast before him. Thus, he applied again, wanting to use his results to slap the other party in the face.

"Don't try. I heard from other beasts that after planting this seed, you won't die for a while. When you go back, find a good physician; wherever the seed is planted, just cut that part off."

But after experiencing so many years of imprisonment, the Nine-Tails was no longer the honest and simple big fox it once was. Even if Senju Tobirama was silver-tongued and claimed he was speaking from the heart, it remained unmoved.

Human hearts?

Too cold; I dare not touch them.

"Fine, fine, fine!"

Watching the Nine-Tails stand by and watch, Senju Tobirama said the word "fine" three times. His scarlet eyes were full of ruthlessness.

The bond that had just been established between man and beast quickly disintegrated; the golden divine fox was a flash in the pan, becoming a swan song.

In reality, Senju Tobirama, whose negotiation with the Nine-Tails had broken down, expressionlessly removed the golden Nine-Tails buckle. The shattered armor on his body immediately dissipated into golden particles.

"Giving up? That saves me some effort."

Seeing this scene, Number Nine raised his eyebrows, thinking Senju Tobirama had lost his will to fight. Thus, he raised his large hand, and countless wooden branches broke through the soil.

"Water Style: Water Severing Wave!"

However, he still underestimated Senju Tobirama's will. Even without the support of the Knight System, he did not give up his resistance. Facing the wooden branches rushing toward him, he puffed out his cheeks, and a jet of water instantly gushed out.

"Squelch~"

A harsh cutting sound followed, and the wooden branches, split in two, fell in swathes. Seeing this, Number Nine's face revealed displeasure.

"Stubborn resistance."

His figure turned into a stream of light and disappeared from where he stood. Senju Tobirama, who was spraying water, felt his internal alarm bells ringing wildly. His perception radar screamed frantically. He immediately leaped backward, but it was ultimately a step too late.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Number Nine's ghostly figure appeared behind him without a sound. Senju Tobirama's eyes narrowed, and he immediately gathered a Hard Whirlpool Water Blade in his hand, slashing fiercely behind him.

"Splash~"

But unfortunately, for some reason, his attack seemed to be a few inches short, brushing past Number Nine's chest without causing a shred of damage.

"Your back-hit detection is a bit outrageous."

Number Nine, who was safe and sound, shook his head and sighed at this. This made Senju Tobirama's already dark face even darker.

"I just don't have anti-air, that's all!"

In a fit of rage, Senju Tobirama stirred up a tornado formed of water around his body. The water tornado expanded rapidly, and it looked like it was about to sweep Number Nine into it.

Not only that, Senju Tobirama also fished a stack of explosive tags from his ninja tool pouch, threw them into the water tornado, and clapped his hands together.

"Bang~ Bang~ Bang~"

Following a puff of white smoke, the explosive tags, which had originally only numbered a few, actually proliferated to over several hundred.

"Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags Technique!"

The damage of the water tornado, mixed with countless explosive tags, instantly changed in quality. A faint look of solemnity appeared on Number Nine's face.

Although he had superb defensive power, facing such a massive number of explosive tags, he was also somewhat stretched thin.

"Ha!"

Senju Tobirama waved his large hand, and the water tornado expanded again. He decided to use this move to perish together with Number Nine; even if he died, he would not bow his head to the enemy.

"I think you're crazy."

Number Nine, who was already too late to retreat, was swept into the water tornado. He looked at Senju Tobirama, who was rushing toward death, in disbelief, unable to understand why humans didn't cherish their hard-won lives.

These clones all lived to become humans; their greatest dream was to experience this colorful world properly as humans.

Therefore, every clone that awakened its intelligence cherished life exceptionally.

"I don't care about that! Explode! Explode! Explode!"

Senju Tobirama no longer had time to pay attention to the bewildered Number Nine. After successfully trapping the opponent in his water tornado, he didn't hesitate for a second and directly pressed the detonation button.

Each explosive tag simultaneously emitted a blinding light, instantly illuminating the entire water tornado. A scorching aura rushed toward them.

"Damn it!"

Feeling the powerful destructive force contained in the explosive tags, Number Nine cursed angrily. The rich Tailed Beast power broke through his body, and the nine fox-tail cloaks trailing behind him expanded rapidly.

The surrounding explosive tags began to smoke; this was the precursor to an explosion.

The fox tails behind Number Nine shook, and his figure began to move.

Seeing this scene, Senju Tobirama curled his lips in disdain. No one could escape the range of this move of his.

"What a pity for this body."

According to the original steps of this move, he would have already used the Flying Thunder God to leave the range of the explosion, arms crossed, back to the explosion—the whole scene would have been incredibly cool.

But now that the Flying Thunder God Technique was forbidden, he could only sacrifice this body to complete the feat of trading one-for-one with the clone.

"Huh? What do you want to do?"

Just as he was regretting his body, Senju Tobirama noticed a figure flash before his eyes and immediately widened his eyes in surprise.

"You can't die yet!"

Number Nine, who had entered a high-speed movement state using his fox tails, grabbed Senju Tobirama by the neck and pulled him to his side. The heat of the surrounding explosive tags rose sharply.

At the moment before they were about to be engulfed by the explosion, the fox tails behind Number Nine expanded and grew larger, wrapping the two of them within.

"Boom!"

The next moment, the sky-high flames shot straight into the clouds. The scorching heat wave generated by the violent explosion swallowed everything around it. Hard rocks were burned into fragments, and sand and gravel turned into shining crystals.

Fortunately, the current battlefield was still some distance away from Uchiha Mirror, otherwise, poor Mirror would definitely have been roasted into a freshly baked suckling pig by the aftermath of the explosion.

As the sky-filling smoke and dust dissipated, a bottomless crater appeared in the center of the explosion. At the bottom of this deep pit, a scorched black sphere was slowly rising.

"Crack~ Snap~ Sizzle~"

The surface was broken and riddled with cracks, with debris falling off from time to time.

Before long, the black sphere unfolded, revealing the two people inside, who were completely unharmed.

"Why did you save me?"

Senju Tobirama frowned. Although he had been shaken by the impact of the explosion, he didn't have a single wound on his body.

"My poor tail~"

Number Nine looked at his scorched fox tail with some heartache. That was condensed from his limited Nine-Tails chakra; every time he used it, there was less left.

"Save you? You think I wanted to save you?"

The furious Number Nine met Senju Tobirama's eyes, which were full of confusion, and instantly became enraged.

Without wasting more breath on the other party, Number Nine directly used practical action to tell this white-haired man why he had saved him.

"Get in there, you!"

He saw him holding Senju Tobirama's neck with one hand, while the other hand fiercely thrust the seed he had just condensed into the back of the other party's head.

"Ah!"

Suddenly struck, Senju Tobirama was in such pain that his eyes nearly split. The tearing pain in the back of his head made him think the other party was sucking his brains.

However, the actual situation was not as he thought. After the seed was inserted into the back of his head, it quickly extended roots to take hold. The hard shell turned into a green, viscous liquid, seeping in along with the roots.

A few seconds later, the seed disappeared without a trace, and there was no wound left on the back of Senju Tobirama's head, as if the pain just now had been an illusion.

Number Nine, having finished planting the God Tree spore, casually dropped Senju Tobirama. Having summarized the lessons of the previous clones' failures, he already knew that not only could the seed not be planted in an obvious place, but it also had to be planted in the vital points of the Tailed Beast knights.

"Hmph! I don't believe it can fail this time."

Watching Senju Tobirama rolling on the ground in pain while clutching the back of his head, a smug smile spread across the corners of Number Nine's mouth. Unless this white-haired man didn't want to live, he couldn't exactly cut off his own head, right?

"Ahhh! What did you do to me?"

The inexplicable tearing sensation deep in his brain caused Senju Tobirama to lose his usual composure. While howling in pain, he gritted his teeth and questioned the culprit before him.

"Mere nourishment..."

Number Nine's mission was complete. After taking one last deep look at Senju Tobirama, who was lying on the ground, he didn't offer any explanation, leaped, and rushed toward the direction of the great battle between Jigen and Uchiha Madara.

As for this fruit that belonged to him, he only needed to wait quietly for it to bloom and bear fruit.

"Huff... huff..."

Watching Number Nine leave with his own eyes, Senju Tobirama, lying on the ground, no longer had the strength to stop him. All the remaining power in his body was being absorbed at a speed visible to the naked eye by the roots deep in his brain.

After being implanted with the spore, he was extremely weak, and even the speed at which he refined chakra had become incredibly slow.

"Is this the seed that curly-haired guy was talking about?"

After the pain deep in his brain subsided a little, Senju Tobirama forced himself to stand up, stroking the slightly raised back of his head, an inexplicable light flickering in his eyes.

"Should I call this a misfortune or a stroke of luck?"

After resting for a while, Senju Tobirama found the location where he had previously placed Uchiha Mirror based on his memory. Looking at his still-unconscious disciple, his face was full of relief.

"It's good that you're okay, otherwise that curly-haired guy would definitely have fought me to the death."

The purpose of the seed the clone planted in the Tailed Beast knight's body was likely to plunder the Tailed Beast's original chakra through some means. If Uchiha Madara had really been hit, Konoha would probably have lost both people and wealth.

But now, it was fine; he had replaced Uchiha Madara as the second Nine-Tails knight.

Although his term was very short, he had blocked the bullet for Uchiha Madara.

Not only that, even luckier things were yet to come.

He, who had been planted with the seed, was not the real her.

"Now, your abacus beads have truly missed their mark."

Looking down at the Tailed Beast card flashing with light in his hand, a hint of smugness appeared in Senju Tobirama's eyes.

A moment later, his expression turned nostalgic again.

"Nine-Tails, although I haven't spent much time with you, I can feel that you aren't as evil as the legends say."

"Human, what do you want to do?"

The Nine-Tails in the Tailed Beast card space was bewildered. After it had actively accepted Senju Tobirama's call just now, it had already established a connection with this white-haired human.

Even though their views had diverged later, the bridge of communication between man and beast had not disappeared. Senju Tobirama could still use the Tailed Beast card to transform, but he could no longer transform into the golden divine fox.

"I hope you can continue to be Konoha's Tailed Beast in the future, protecting everyone's smiles."

Senju Tobirama chuckled and actively cut off the connection with the Nine-Tails. The Tailed Beast chakra that had been supplying his body instantly disappeared.

"No, you're crazy..."

The Nine-Tails widened its eyes, and its voice disappeared along with the collapse of the bridge between the two. The light of the Tailed Beast card gradually dimmed until it turned gray-white.

Lacking the supply of Tailed Beast chakra, the God Tree spore buried in Senju Tobirama's brain went on a rampage, swallowing his already bottomed-out chakra in the blink of an eye.

In his final moments, Senju Tobirama placed the driver and the shackled Tailed Beast card into the arms of the unconscious Mirror.

After completing this series of operations, his life force was completely exhausted, and he slowly fell backward.

The generation's pride, Senju Tobirama, fell just like that (lol)~

The Senju clan lowered their flags in mourning, while the Uchiha decorated with lanterns and streamers, offering congratulations to everyone they met, holding banquets for three days, then three days after that, and three days after that... (End of chapter)