Chapter 591: What a Coincidence

A strange bird flew over the ruins of Konoha, the center of the village reduced to a massive crater, surrounded by a ring of collapsed buildings.

Su Xiao looked down at the scene below; the state of Konoha could only be described as horrific.

The scene before him was nothing like anything portrayed in the anime—over 99% of Konoha's civilian villagers were dead, nearly all genin had perished, and chunin survival rate did not exceed 50%, even with Tsunade's summon, the slug, offering protection.

The death rate among jonin was low, with only a few jonin buried beneath the rubble.

Among the ruins at Konoha's edge, a white creature emerged from the debris, enveloping a pink-haired kunoichi.

Sakura crawled out from the split body of the slug, gasping for air.

After greedily inhaling several breaths, Sakura lifted her head—the sight before her left her dazed; then, seeing the massive crater where Konoha once stood, her eyes widened, pupils contracting sharply.

Tears streamed down her dusty face—her home, where she had lived for over a decade, had been destroyed.

"What happened? Why are we being treated like this? What did we ever do wrong?"

Tears fell onto Sakura's wrist as a strange bird flew over her head.

Sakura instinctively looked up and saw a man seated on the bird's back—a man with a cigarette dangling from his lips, expression calm.

"Roar!!"

A roar echoed as a grotesque "beast" appeared.

The beast was Naruto—eight chakra tails lashed behind him, his body and head transformed, now resembling living flesh and blood, like a real, living nine-tailed fox.

Naruto was between the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails state; his own consciousness was gone, replaced by the blood-red, vertical pupils filled with brutality—the gaze of Kurama, the Nine-Tails.

"Just a little more—once the seal breaks, I'll be free."

The tailed-beast-transformed Naruto spoke aloud—his appearance was now indistinguishable from the fox.

Su Xiao, watching from above, saw Naruto in the Eight-Tails state; he had no interest in fighting such a monster—it would be suicide, and he had already sensed that the body was no longer controlled by Naruto, but by Kurama.

Naruto in a rage and Kurama about to break free were two entirely different things—Naruto's rage granted immense brute force, but he only charged forward, tearing enemies apart mindlessly.

Kurama was different—tailed beasts were intelligent beings, having lived for countless years, their battle experience immense.

Su Xiao had no desire to fight Kurama, but someone else did—our Tendo brother was sprinting toward Kurama at full speed.

True courage faces the Nine-Tails head-on—but unfortunately, Kurama was simply too strong.

Seeing Tendo charging, Kurama tilted his head back, made no preparatory motion—his belly simply began to swell.

His massive, blood-red mouth opened wide, and a tailed-beast cannon fired straight at Tendo.

"Shinra Tensei."

Boom.

The tailed-beast cannon was repelled, veering off into the distance.

With a thunderous explosion, the cannon detonated in the forest near Konoha, a spherical fireball erupting skyward, shaking the ground.

"So this is Kurama's power? Not so impressive…"

Before Tendo finished speaking, another tailed-beast cannon fired at him—Shinra Tensei could only be used once every five seconds; Tendo could not deflect this one.

Boom!

Dirt sprayed as Tendo was blasted far away, his upper body embedding itself directly into the Hokage Rock, precisely at the nose of the Hashirama statue.

Tendo's legs twitched once, then went still—his appearance suggested poor signal reception.

Though Tendo had been blasted away, the other five Pain bodies had arrived, surrounding Kurama.

Without a word, Pain and Kurama clashed, explosions continuing nonstop, Konoha's ruins suffering further devastation.

The strange bird carrying Su Xiao also charged toward the battlefield—the main quest was complete; he had no reason to continue fighting.

Jumping off the bird, Tendo, just freed from the Hokage Rock, stared at Su Xiao, his eyes filled with confusion.

Su Xiao waved at Tendo; though the distance was great, Tendo clearly read his lips.

"Good luck. Farewell."

Su Xiao prepared to return to the Lunhuileyuan —though devouring Kurama would cause Qinggangyingsuo's level to surge, one must know one's limits; Su Xiao knew he was no match for Kurama—at least not yet.

Though Konoha was destroyed, many jonin and ANBU survived—they would not stand idly by while Kurama was captured; even if Kurama could be defeated, Su Xiao would then face a siege from Konoha's jonin.

Su Xiao had gained much in the Hokage world; lingering further held no meaning.

Sitting atop a pile of ruins, just as Su Xiao prepared to return, a massive boulder nearby was pushed aside—a disheveled little girl crawled out of the debris, missing one arm.

"Cough, cough—what bad luck. That must've been Nagato's Shinra Tensei. Why did he use it right above me? So rude."

Gulu slapped the dust off her body with her single arm—the arm was pierced through by rebar, yet she paid it no mind.

Gulu suddenly froze—she felt someone watching her. She turned her head stiffly, and upon seeing the face of the man nearby, her mind spun violently.

"Isn't that the guy from the auction… that guy… what was his name? Darkness? Night? Right—Bai Ye!"

Gulu slapped her thigh, sending up a small puff of dust.

"It's Bai Ye! What a coincidence! Hi, haha, ha, ha."

Gulu laughed awkwardly; inside, a thousand wild donkeys galloped through her mind, her frail fists clenched, whispering under her breath.

"He doesn't know about the Demon Hunter Set—he must not know, please don't let him know—I've only 19% HP left, how am I supposed to fight?"

Gulu stood muttering to herself as Su Xiao flicked ash from his cigarette.

"I heard you have a decent ring."

Hearing this, Gulu's eyes widened unevenly, her expression crumbling.

"Rumor—it's all rumor!"

"Is that so? Then how did Cila die?"

Su Xiao smiled calmly—Gulu was in terrible shape, clearly hunted for a long time, and her old wounds indicated she had no recovery items left.

Gulu sighed, and a long dagger appeared in her hand—the blade was slender, its surface shimmering with dark purple light.

Seeing the dagger, Su Xiao's mind tensed—it was a dark purple quality weapon, enhanced +10 or higher, with gemstones embedded.

For Gulu's level, possessing such a weapon was normal; she had once obtained a pale gold quality dagger, but after careful consideration, she still chose this one.

This long dagger was more than just dark purple—the hilt was inlaid with four pale gold gemstones!

The four pale gold gemstones were: Nitela of Speed (reduces air resistance, increases attack speed by 20%), E of Sharpness (increases weapon attack power by 10%), Bloodthirsty Sprite (restores 11% of damage dealt as HP), and Spirit Shatter (inflicts 18 true damage per hit).