Second Inheritance!

The Six Paths of Pain, the terrifying group that had nearly destroyed Konoha, had all been defeated by the black-haired boy before them alone.

The battle was over.

The smoke hanging over the battlefield slowly settled.

All the surviving Konoha ninja stopped what they were doing, their gazes converging on the solitary boy holding a blade.

They could sense that, after the battle, the aura around Ye Chuan seemed to have changed.

Much of his earlier sharpness had receded, replaced by a peculiar, unfathomable quality.

He stood there quietly, yet gave them the illusion of facing an endless ocean.

"This kid..."

In the distance, Tsunade watched the scene as she struggled to hold herself upright, murmuring with relief.

"He's gotten stronger again... he's an absolute monster!"

She withdrew her gaze, no longer probing the secrets surrounding Ye Chuan, and turned her attention back to the village as a whole.

Although the strongest enemies had been dealt with, the earlier battle, particularly Deva Path Pain's wide-ranging Shinra Tensei, had still inflicted devastating casualties on Konoha.

"Katsuyu: Network Healing!"

Tsunade formed hand seals, the Yin Seal on her forehead long since released, pouring out her vast chakra without holding anything back.

Through the Katsuyu clones already spread throughout the village, she delivered healing power to every injured ninja and civilian.

Soon, the enormous chakra expenditure left her face pale, and her delicate body trembled slightly.

Just then, two immensely powerful presences descended from the sky like meteors.

They were Jiraiya and Naruto Uzumaki, returning from their training on Mount Myōboku.

Both looked shocked at the ruins before them and the remains of Pain, which no longer gave off any chakra fluctuations.

"Th-this is..."

Naruto stared at the devastation before him, then at Tsunade in the distance, putting everything she had into Medical Ninjutsu, and... that familiar figure holding a white katana. His jaw dropped.

"Were we... too late? Is the battle... already over?"

Jiraiya's expression was grave as well. He could sense the terrifying traces of chakra lingering in the air.

With a few Body Flicker Techniques, Naruto rushed up to Ye Chuan. He looked at Pain's remains around them, then at the largely uninjured Ye Chuan, his mouth hanging open.

"Hey! Ye Chuan! You really know how to steal the spotlight, you know!"

"Something this huge, and you finished it all without even waiting for me?!"

"But... nice work! Still! Next time, I definitely won't lose to you!"

Although he had missed the battle, seeing that the village had been saved still brought him relief, even if he refused to admit defeat aloud.

Looking at the blond boy before him, who had clearly grown considerably stronger again, Ye Chuan merely smiled faintly without saying a word.

He bent down, picked up one of Pain's black chakra receivers from the ground, and casually tossed it to Jiraiya beside him.

Jiraiya instinctively caught the Black Rods, and the instant they touched his hand, his expression changed drastically!

With his sage-level sensory abilities, he immediately followed the faint residual chakra signal on the Black Rods and sensed a location somewhere in the distance.

It was a trace of Rinnegan chakra... both familiar and unfamiliar.

"So that's it... the Six Paths of Pain really were just puppets controlled by someone behind the scenes!"

Jiraiya understood the truth in an instant!

His gaze fell involuntarily on Deva Path Pain.

When he clearly saw that lifeless face, his body jolted, and his eyes filled with sorrow, pain, and... guilt.

"Yahiko..." he murmured hoarsely.

"It seems you already know what to do," Ye Chuan said calmly.

Jiraiya fell silent for a moment, glanced at Naruto, then at Yahiko's body, and finally made his decision.

"Naruto," he said to his student, "follow this signal and find Pain's real body."

"There may be things only you can talk to him about."

"Me?" Naruto froze.

"Go on. Believe in yourself." Jiraiya patted Naruto's shoulder. "Some mistakes need someone to set them right, and some kinds of peace need someone to fight for them."

Looking into Jiraiya's eyes, Naruto nodded firmly. "Got it! Pervy Sage! Leave it to me!"

Without further hesitation, he immediately followed the Black Rods' guidance and rushed toward Nagato's real body.

Jiraiya watched Naruto's retreating figure without following him.

When it came to Nagato, his heart was filled with guilt. Perhaps... sending Naruto, who was also a Child of Prophecy and had inherited Yahiko's will, was the best choice.

He slowly walked over to Yahiko's body, bent down, and carefully lifted him into his arms.

"Yahiko... your teacher is taking you home."

Carrying the remains of his once-beloved student, Jiraiya left the battlefield, his figure forlorn.

He was going to find a quiet place to give his student a proper burial.

Ye Chuan watched all of this without interfering.

Just as he had thought, Naruto's way with words was the key to resolving Nagato's inner conflict. This hero's script still had to be carried out by him.

At that moment, his attention had already been completely drawn to something else.

Just now, at the moment he defeated Deva Path Pain, the system's notification had announced more than the completion of his inheritance.

[...First Inheritance Template (Hawkeye, Dracule Mihawk) completed!]

[Analyzing host data... calculating optimal evolution path...]

[Lock-on complete! Second Inheritance Template unlocked!]

[Inheritance activation countdown: 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds...]

The second inheritance... is it finally about to begin?

Ye Chuan's heart was full of anticipation.

He was incredibly curious about what this so-called [Second Inheritance] would actually be.

A powerful figure from another world? Or some special system of abilities?

Ideally... something that directly increases my raw strength, or offers special life-saving abilities-something sufficient to deal with enemies on Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's level in the future.

"Ugh..."

A pained groan came from nearby.

Tsunade, who had been maintaining the large-scale healing, finally could no longer support herself after consuming too much chakra, and slumped backward.

Ye Chuan reacted extremely quickly. With a single Soru step, he instantly appeared behind Tsunade and reached out, catching her burning-hot body securely in his arms.

Through his hands, he could clearly feel Tsunade's soft, delicate body.

Just then, a gentle green light spread from the distance like a tide, swiftly enveloping the entire Konoha battlefield.

The bodies of the Konoha ninja and civilians who had unfortunately died in the earlier battle began to emit a faint glow. Their previously lifeless bodies actually began regaining vitality.

"Th-this... they've come back to life?!"

"I... I'm still alive?!"

"Has Lord Hashirama manifested a miracle?!"

Countless ninja and civilians who had returned from the dead stared blankly at their hands, crying out in disbelief.

[Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique]!

Holding Tsunade, who had fallen unconscious from exhaustion, Ye Chuan watched the miracle-like scene before him, his eyes also filled with shock.