Shinji's offhand joke sounded especially grating to Sasuke.
His face flushed red as he shouted, "One day, I'll surpass you! These Sharingan of mine will awaken into Mangekyō Sharingan, too!"
"Oh, I'll look forward to it!"
After giving him a perfunctory reply, Shinji looked at the clump of black ash left behind by Rengoku Kyojuro, which was about to vanish into the windblown sand.
Shinji hadn't been making things up earlier.
Although Rengoku Kyojuro had seemed to fight with all his might, Shinji hadn't sensed the slightest killing intent in any of his repeated sword swings.
Clearly,
Rengoku Kyojuro had been conflicted, too.
Saving his own world was an unquestionable duty for him as the Flame Hashira. But if the price was the destruction of another world, then for someone like him, it would be torment.
So Shinji could feel the anguish in Rengoku Kyojuro's heart.
In fact, he suspected Rengoku Kyojuro had deliberately walked into his trap—or rather, that Rengoku Kyojuro had realized it might be a trap, yet stepped into it anyway.
Judging from how Rengoku Kyojuro had dodged Susanoo's attacks, Shinji felt he had almost certainly mastered the Clear World.
In other words,
to some extent, Rengoku Kyojuro could be considered to possess a Kekkei Genkai dōjutsu similar to the Byakugan.
So even now, Shinji couldn't say for sure whether Rengoku Kyojuro had already spotted his real body hidden beneath the yellow sand.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Shinji was glad he didn't have to agonize over things the way Rengoku Kyojuro had.
All he had to do was protect his own world. His answer to every invader, whether they came willingly or were forced into it, was the same: destroy them!
And so,
the ripples Rengoku Kyojuro had stirred in his heart soon faded away,