"Commander! We can't hold on any longer!"
Hakukei Gekko's voice was already hoarse from shouting, and the broken knife in her hand was stuck in the chest cavity of a vampire. Seven gaps had been torn in the temporary defense line on the border of the Land of Fire. Tenmei, covered in blood, leaned against the broken wall, still clutching the last bundle of unlit Explosive Tag in his arms. The blood-red tide in the distance was getting closer and closer, and those blue-faced, fanged vampires surged forward, stepping over the corpses of their companions, even the sunlight was blocked and turned gray.
"Brothers... let's fight these bastards!" Tenmei pulled out a powerful rune bullet, about to strike it, when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.
It wasn't the claws of a vampire—it was the wind.
A pale golden streak of light tore through the clouds, and the shockwave it created upon landing sent the vampires in the front row flying. Hakukei Gekko squinted and saw a child in a black robe standing in the ball of light, his black hair flowing straight in the wind, his fingertips pinching a rune that shimmered with blue light.
"Space-time teleportation?" Hakukei Gekko suddenly remembered what Tenmei had said about his elder brother's clone, his hand trembled, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Third Hokage!"
The true form of Tsubasa, who had just arrived from the Land of Ghosts, didn't look at them. He looked up at the vampires covering the mountains and plains, and raised an eyebrow slightly. The pressure of Golden Core Sage spread out like an invisible mountain along his gaze—the vampires in the front row suddenly froze in place, their fangs stopping three inches from Hakukei Gekko's throat, their eyes wide open as if about to burst; the vampires behind them were like frozen lava, their claws raised in mid-air and their gaping maws all freezing into statues in that instant.
"What's going on?" Tenmei peeked out from behind the sealing wall, still clutching half a rune bullet in his hand. "Big brother... you've frozen them all in place? Why didn't you use this trick sooner?"
Tsubasa didn't turn around. He simply took a bird from his pocket and tossed it into the sky, waving it upwards. A clear, melodious cry came from the clouds, and a Golden Crow with wingspans that blotted out the sky swooped down, its fiery wings distorting the air wherever its tail feathers swept. When the bird landed beside Tsubasa, it shrank to the size of a palm, nuzzling his wrist with its head, but the flames in its eyes were even fiercer than the fireball that had just burned through the defenses.
"Go." Tianyi tapped the top of the Golden Crow's head with his Tsubasa.
When the Golden Crow spread its wings again, its entire body was engulfed in inky flames. These were not ordinary orange-red flames, but black flames that could burn even bone fragments clean. As it swept past the frozen vampire horde, the immortal monsters melted away like ice meeting the blazing sun, leaving not even a wisp of smoke behind, turning directly into a burnt, pungent smell that drifted in the wind.
"My mother..." Hakukei Gekko collapsed to the ground, staring at the bare earth revealed where the black flames had swept through. "Has the sun come to life?"
Suddenly, Hakukei Gekko knelt down in the direction of Tsubasa, and the remaining soldiers of the Azure Dragon Corps followed suit. The black flames continued to burn forward, and the crimson tide receded at a visible speed. Those monsters that were thought to be invincible now had no chance to struggle in front of the Golden Crow. It was truly a case of one thing subduing another.
Who exactly are you?
Blood mist condensed in mid-air into the figure of the Jashin Blood Ancestor, his bone-spiky fingers clenched tightly at his chest—he had just been struck by Tsubasa's immortal Senjutsu, and although the wound was healing rapidly, the golden energy that had penetrated his bone marrow had made him taste pain for the first time.
Tsubasa, riding on the light of the Flying Thunder God, weaved through the blood mist, his fingertips forming Senjutsu runes that rained down like a meteor shower. "I will destroy your people."
Before he finished speaking, the earth suddenly cracked open, and countless chains bearing runes burst forth, binding the Blood Ancestor like a dumpling. This was a modified Adamantine Sealing, with the power of the Golden Core flowing through each chain. As the Blood Ancestor struggled, the runes were like red-hot irons, burning him until he emitted a piercing scream.
"You think you can trap me like this?" Blood Ancestor's body suddenly exploded, turning into thousands of blood arrows that shot in all directions.
"I've been waiting for this move." Tsubasa chuckled, his hands Hand Seals so fast they left afterimages. " Senjutsu: Rune Barrier: Amaterasu Prison"
A pale golden barrier descended from the sky, enveloping all the blood arrows. Just as the Blood Ancestor was about to reconstruct his body, his wings were scorched by the black flames seeping from the barrier walls—the primordial fire of the Golden Crow, which was specifically designed to extinguish evil spirits. Half of his wings was instantly burned to ashes, and he thrashed wildly inside the barrier in agony.
"Impossible... How could you simultaneously master Senjutsu and this kind of flame?" For the first time, fear lingered in the Blood Ancestor's voice.
Tsubasa didn't answer, but simply summoned back the Golden Crow. Black flames spread along the barrier, and the Blood Ancestor's body was constantly decomposing and reforming in the fire, burning even more horribly each time it condensed. When Tsubasa unleashed his final immortal Senjutsu, the Blood Ancestor's wail resounded through the sky, and his reformed body, like shattered glass, scattered into countless drops of blood.
"Trying to run away?"
Tsubasa saw through his trick—the blood droplets were drifting towards the sea, and once they fell into the ocean, his immortality would give him a chance to make a comeback. Golden Crow blocked their path first, and black flames burned a wall of fire on the sea surface. The blood droplets sizzled as soon as they touched the fire droplets, forcing them to spin in circles in the air.
"I cannot let you live." Tianyi rode the Tsubasa, a jade tablet engraved with runes appearing in his hand. This was a sealing artifact he had refined with the power of his Golden Core, specifically designed to restrain the immortal. He caught up with the last clump of blood beads attempting to dive into the deep sea. The moment the jade tablet touched it, it burst forth with dazzling golden light. The Blood Ancestor's screams came from the jade tablet, gradually fading until only a faint sob remained.
The Golden Crow circled once above his head, its black flames receding into its feathers, transforming back into a bird the size of a palm. Tsubasa tucked the jade tablet sealing the Blood Ancestor into his robes, glancing back at the direction of the Land of Hot Water —the crimson hue there had faded, revealing its original bluish-green color.
When the crack in the Pure Land reopened, the figure of the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, was much more ethereal than before. Golden blood was still seeping from the wound on his chest, and the luster of his Rinnegan was dim, as if covered with a layer of dust.
"You won." He looked at the jade token in Tsubasa's hand, his voice as soft as a sigh, "Even I couldn't do this..."
"Just lucky." Tsubasa placed the Golden Crow on his shoulder. " The Blood Ancestor's immortal body is afraid of the Golden Crow's black flames, and I just happened to run into it."
Hagoromo smiled, a deep weariness in his voice. "Don't be modest. Just now in the Pure Land, I could sense your power—a realm beyond the Six Paths." He paused, his gaze suddenly turning solemn. " The Shinobi World cannot be without guardians. My injuries are too severe; I cannot interfere in the mortal world for the time being..."
"You want me to take over?" Tianyi raised Tsubasa.
"It's not about taking over." Hagoromo head, raised his hand and formed a complex hand seal. A rune flashing white light flew from between his brows and landed in Tsubasa's palm. "This is the mark of the Pure Land. Holding it allows one to freely travel between the two worlds. I'm entrusting the affairs of the Shinobi World to you from now on."
Tsubasa held the warm rune in his hand, suddenly recalling how majestic the legendary Sage of Six Paths had been when he first met Hagoromo, but now he resembled an old man who had been relieved of his burdens. He gazed at the Land of Hot Water gradually regaining its vitality in the distance, then looked at the cheering Azure Dragon Corps soldiers behind him, and nodded gently.
"Alright." He tucked the rune into his robes. "As long as I'm here, I won't let that happen again."
Hagoromo's figure began to become transparent, and the crack in the Pure Land slowly closed behind him. "Thank you..." As his last words dissipated in the wind, his gaze swept over Tenmei and the sealing team members, a relieved smile on his face.
Tenmei ran over, still clutching the half-finished talisman in his hand. "Big brother, is it really over now?"
Tsubasa patted his head, and Golden Crow nuzzled his cheek against his shoulder. The sea breeze carried a salty smell, and the rice paddies of the Land of Hot Water turned green again. Smoke rose from the border of the Land of Fire, making it look as if it had never been stained by blood.
"Well, this should be the end, but the rest of the place hasn't finished yet," he said softly, gazing at the cloudless sky.