After the vault doors slowly closed, sealing away enough wealth to buy half the Shinobi World, Chiya did not rush to enjoy the spoils of victory.
He knew perfectly well that the real challenge had only just begun.
Although he had instantly defeated the Six Paths of Pain, that did not mean he was invincible. Nagato's true body had been weak, and he had known nothing about Chiya's abilities. That gap in information had caught him completely off guard.
Against Obito Uchiha at his peak, or Madara Uchiha, who might rise from the dead in the Pure Land at any moment, Chiya might still struggle in his current state.
"So I have to make every moment count."
"And thoroughly digest everything I've swallowed."
[Flame Emperor City · Central Tower · Deepest underground level]
This had originally been the secret chamber where Nagato stored the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Now it had been emptied. Chiya had reinforced the surrounding walls with Dankū, making them strong enough to withstand extremely powerful energy impacts.
Chiya sat cross-legged on a massive slab of black basalt.
Although he was a hundred meters underground, where everything was cold and damp, the area around him was as dry as a desert.
"Sasuke, Konan."
Chiya transmitted his voice through reiatsu, sending it through the thick layers of rock to ring clearly through the corridor outside.
"I'm entering seclusion. For the next three days, whether the sky falls or the Five Great Nations attack, no one is to disturb me."
"Kill anyone who approaches. No exceptions."
"Yes!"
Their respectful replies came from outside the door.
Chiya took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.
"System, begin fusion."
At his command, the immense power he had just plundered, still not fully tamed, instantly surged through his meridians like a wild horse breaking free of its reins!
Boom!
Chiya's body jolted violently, and a strange flush instantly spread across his skin.
That was the power of the Uzumaki Sage Body.
As descendants of Asura, the Sage of Six Paths' second son, the Uzumaki Clan had inherited the "sage's body," possessing unimaginably immense vitality and chakra.
As descendants of Indra, his eldest son, the Uchiha Clan had inherited the "sage's eyes," possessing the ultimate spiritual energy of Yin Release.
In his earlier battles, although the system had strengthened Chiya's body, it had still fallen within the Uchiha mold-high offense, low defense. His chakra reserves were considerable, but they still fell short of a tailed beast's.
But now.
When the Uzumaki's "yang" truly met the Uchiha's "yin" within Chiya's body...
A miracle happened.
Szzzz-!
Chiya could clearly feel every cell in his body rejoicing, dividing, and restructuring.
His previously restless spiritual energy grew increasingly solid and profound under the nourishment of that immense vitality. Meanwhile, that once-rampaging vitality became as gentle as water under the guidance of his spiritual power.
Yin-Yang Release!
All Things in the Universe!
This was the essential path to Six Paths Power!
[Ding! Sage Body fusion progress: 30%...60%...90%...100%!] [Congratulations, host! Your physique has undergone a fundamental transformation!] [Your chakra recovery speed has increased by 1,000%! Your physical self-healing ability has surpassed the Strength of a Hundred Technique! Your maximum lifespan has exceeded human limits!]
As the system notifications sounded, Chiya felt as though he were soaking in a warm hot spring.
The physical strain and hidden injuries caused by activating the Zanka no Tachi Prototype vanished without a trace in that instant. In their place was a perfect body brimming with explosive power.
But this was only the beginning.
The most important part was his eyes.
"Ugh..."
Chiya's eye sockets began to heat up. The burning sensation was stronger than anything he had felt before.
Nagato's Rinnegan ocular power was undergoing a deep, genetic-level fusion with his original Mangekyō Sharingan.
In the original story, only a reincarnation of Indra who obtained Asura chakra had a chance of awakening the Rinnegan.
Although Chiya was not a reincarnation, he had forcibly gathered both powers through the system's plundering!
Hum-!
An eerie purple glow suddenly lit up the dark chamber.
Chiya abruptly opened his eyes.
The once-scarlet Mangekyō patterns had undergone an astonishing transformation.
Their base color had turned entirely into a deep, sacred purple.
Across the concentric ripples representing reincarnation, the black tomoe patterns of Chiya's Mangekyō had not disappeared. Instead, they dotted the rings like stars, becoming more intricate and more uncanny.
Straight-Tomoe Six-Tomoe Rinnegan!
Although the lack of Ten-Tails chakra kept them below the level of Princess Kaguya's nine-tomoe Rinne Sharingan, these eyes already possessed ocular power far beyond Nagato's!
"So this is...the world of the Six Paths?"
Chiya raised a hand and looked at his palm.
In his vision, the world was no longer merely an accumulation of matter.
He saw the nodes of space, the flow of time, and even the fundamental particles that made up matter.
If he wished, he could now casually tear space apart or forcibly distort reality with his ocular power.
"Shinra Tensei, Banshō Ten'in, Chibaku Tensei..."
At a thought from Chiya, the shadow behind him suddenly twisted, slowly taking on a transparent outline that only he could see.
That was Limbo: Border Jail!
After fusing with the Rinnegan's ocular power, Chiya had even gained his first glimpse into Madara Uchiha's exclusive ability!
"Although there's only one shadow, and it doesn't last long..."
Chiya dispersed the shadow, a satisfied smile curling his lips.
"It's enough to catch someone off guard."
"But..."
Chiya suppressed the purple glow in his eyes, and his gaze grew blazing once more.
Compared with these flashy ninjutsu and ocular techniques, what mattered most to him remained the foundation he stood upon-the death god system.
"System."
"Pour all five hundred thousand kill points into it."
"I want to unlock Ryūjin Jakka's...next stage!"
[Ding! Host command received!] [Five hundred thousand kill points deducted!] [Attempting to break through Ryūjin Jakka's unlocking bottleneck...] [Unlock progress: 55%...60%...65%...] [Ding! Congratulations, host! Ryūjin Jakka's unlock level has reached 70%!] [Critical breakthrough achieved! Bankai: Zanka no Tachi's abilities have been further unsealed!]
BOOM!!!
If the Sage Body fusion had been a gentle hot spring, then now Chiya felt as though he had swallowed a sun!
An indescribably terrifying heat erupted from the depths of his soul.
This was not the fire of ninjutsu.
This was the fire of laws.
The ultimate flame, capable of evaporating every drop of moisture in the Soul Society and reducing all things in the universe to ashes!
[Congratulations, host! You have obtained a new skill: Zanka no Tachi, West: Zanjitsu Gokui!] (Note: Densely compresses reiatsu flames reaching fifteen million degrees and coats your body with them! In this state, you are a moving solar core! Anything that attempts to touch you, whether ninjutsu, taijutsu, or divine techniques, will be completely erased the instant it makes contact!)
"Fifteen million degrees..."
Chiya slowly stood.
He could feel Ryūjin Jakka's sword spirit rejoicing, yearning to be unleashed.
"Although my current reiatsu can't sustain its fully realized temperature for long, even if it's only a prototype..."
Chiya's gaze sharpened.
"Zanka no Tachi, West."
"Zanjitsu Gokui."
HUM-!!!
There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor a sea of flames dancing through the air.
Even the lighting in the chamber barely changed.
But a thin mantle of golden-red light, like the lingering glow of sunset, suddenly appeared over Chiya's body.
It did not look dazzling. It even seemed somewhat illusory, as though it might go out at any moment.
And yet.
Szzzz...
The instant that mantle of light appeared.
The incredibly hard black basalt beneath Chiya's feet, reinforced with Dankū, simply...disappeared without coming into contact with any flame.
It did not melt.
Melting required a process. It had to turn into magma.
Instead, it disappeared.
The temperature was too high-tens of thousands of times beyond the material's melting point. The instant the rock touched the soles of Chiya's feet, it skipped the liquid state, and even the gaseous state, turning directly into plasma and dispersing into the air!
Chiya's entire body was "sinking" into the ground at a visible rate.
Like a red-hot iron ball dropping into butter.
"So this is...the temperature of the sun?"
Chiya immediately controlled his reiatsu, using the Reishi Pathway technique to suspend himself in midair. Otherwise, he would burn straight through the tower's foundations, perhaps all the way to the planet's core.
He raised a hand and gently touched a solid steel pillar beside him, as thick as an arm.
Pff.
There was no sound.
A section of the steel pillar vanished into thin air the instant he touched it. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, and the extreme temperature instantly sealed its surface, allowing not even a trace of heat to escape.
"The flames aren't visible because they've been compressed to the extreme."
"In truth, this outer mantle is hell itself."
Chiya looked at the faint golden glow coating his body, unable to suppress the fervor in his eyes.
With this technique.
What did the Raikage's Lightning Release Armor matter?
What did Susanoo matter?
What did Truth-Seeking Orbs matter?
Even if Might Guy opened the Eight Gates and kicked at him, his foot would be vaporized by that fifteen-million-degree heat a millisecond before it touched Chiya's body!
This was true absolute defense, and the strongest close-range offense as well.
"Offense and defense as one. Neither gods nor demons can approach."
Chiya dispersed the mantle of light around his body.
The terrifying drain left him slightly breathless. Even with a Sage Body, maintaining a technique of this caliber remained an enormous burden.
"In my current state, I can probably maintain Zanjitsu Gokui for five minutes."
"Five minutes..."
Chiya gave a cold laugh and once again donned the black robe with red clouds that marked him as the leader of the Akatsuki.
"Enough to slaughter every Kage of the Five Great Nations several times over."
[Three days later · Flame Emperor City · Top floor of the High Tower]
Faint dark clouds still hung over the Land of Rain, but beneath the intimidating pressure of Chiya's reiatsu, the rain that had fallen for decades had stopped completely.
Sunlight filtered through the clouds, spilling into every corner of the steel city.
On the tower's rooftop.
Konan and Sasuke stood respectfully, both looking somewhat haggard. Clearly, the past three days of reorganizing Amegakure and reassuring the Akatsuki's former members had left them overwhelmed with work.
But the instant that man pushed open the doors and stepped outside.
Both of them shuddered.
"Lord...Chiya?"
Sasuke raised his head and activated his Sharingan to look at Chiya, then abruptly covered his eyes and drew in a sharp breath.
"So hot!!"
To Sasuke's senses, what had emerged was not a person at all.
It was a sun forcibly stuffed into a human shell!
Even with his aura restrained, the terrifying heat and vitality faintly seeping from his pores made Sasuke feel as though his retinas were about to burn.
"He's grown stronger..."
Konan was deeply shaken as well.
If Chiya three days ago had been an unsheathed blade, his edge laid bare and brimming with killing intent.
Then the current Chiya was like a bottomless active volcano. Calm on the surface, but everyone knew that once he erupted, he would destroy heaven and earth.
And...
Konan keenly noticed Chiya's eyes.
That fleeting flash of purple light, that surge of ocular power that made her soul tremble.
Were those... Nagato's eyes?
Konan's heart was a tangle of emotions, but above all, she felt a profound awe. He had truly done it. Not only had he integrated the Rinnegan, he had even evolved it to a level Nagato had never reached.
"Is everything ready?"
Chiya walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked down at the city below, now renamed "Flame Emperor City."
In the streets, the once lifeless villagers were now venturing out timidly, repairing their homes in the sunlight. Fear still lingered, but at least the rain had stopped.
"Reporting, Lord Chiya."
Konan took a deep breath, stepped forward, and reported:
"All former members of the Akatsuki have been dealt with. Those who refused to obey have been executed, and the remaining elites have all been split up and incorporated into the Flame Emperor City Guard."
"Also, those six hundred billion Explosive Tags... have all been accounted for and are ready to use at any time."
"What about you, Sasuke?" Chiya looked at the boy beside him.
"Reporting!"
Sasuke straightened his back, his eyes blazing with fervor. "As you instructed, I used the Underground Black Market's channels to deliver the Flame Emperor Decree to the Daimyo's Residences of the Five Great Nations and the Kages' desks!"
"By now, the entire shinobi world should have received your invitation."
"Very good."
Chiya nodded in satisfaction.
He raised his head and gazed into the distance, toward the Land of Iron-the neutral territory where successive Five Kage Summits had been held.
"Judging by the time, those high-and-mighty Kage should be pounding their tables and cursing their heads off right about now, shouldn't they?"
An amused smile curled Chiya's lips.
"Lord Chiya, what do we do next...?" Sasuke asked tentatively.
"Next?"
Chiya stretched lazily, his bones crackling like firecrackers.
"My secluded training is over, and my power is perfected."
"Naturally, we're going to keep our appointment."
Chiya turned around, his black robe snapping in the wind. The entire shinobi world's map was reflected in his purple Rinnegan.
"Since I gave them a month."
"We can't spend that month sitting idle."
"Sasuke, Konan."
"Bring enough men and come with me to the Land of Iron."
"I hear it's a nation of samurai that calls itself neutral and answers to no ninja?"
Chiya sneered and unleashed the full oppressive might of his newly attained "Six Paths Prototype," instantly making the air around him groan under the pressure.
"Since I intend to unite the shinobi world."
"I won't allow any fence-sitters hiding behind 'neutrality' to exist in this world."
"They can either kneel and submit."
"Or... turn to ash."
"Move out!"
At Chiya's command.
That day, the gates of Flame Emperor City thundered open.
The man known as the "World-Ending Flame," accompanied by his henchmen, bearing divine eyes powerful enough to overturn the world and clad in the Sun Garment capable of burning all things, officially set out on the Asura Path to conquer the Five Great Nations.
The Fourth Shinobi World War?
No.
This was nothing more than Chiya Uchiha's own... hunting game.
Before you continue