Chapter 96 (Patreon)

A silent scream of despair had barely formed in Honoka’s mind when the attack she had no hope of evading abruptly stopped.

At first, she thought her fūinjutsu had finally taken effect. However, she quickly realized that her panic had disrupted the flow of her chakra. The sealing formula had stopped functioning some time ago.

Then, a fireball appeared out of thin air before her.

It struck the immobilized ultimate artificial summoning beast and sent it flying more than ten meters.

Someone had appeared and saved her. Honoka was certain of that now.

But where were they?

Why could she see the techniques being used but not the person using them? Even when she focused on sensing her surroundings, she could not detect anyone nearby.

Although she had yet to master her clan’s Kagura Shingan, her sensory abilities already surpassed those of many ordinary sensor-type jōnin.

As Honoka struggled to understand what was happening, her body suddenly rose into the air.

A single incantationless Hadō #31: Shakkahō had been enough to drive the creature back, but Roy already knew that Kidō alone would not be enough to defeat it.

This artificial mutant beast was much like Ashisogi Jizō. It could absorb the abilities of the creatures it devoured and use those abilities as its own.

Unless Roy inflicted enough damage to destroy it in a single attack, it would recover almost instantly.

His Spiritual Pressure was too precious to waste. Just as in the original story, the safest option was to use the terrain to kill it.

Roy lifted Honoka with Bakudō and flew toward the shore. While taking her to safety, he intended to lure the artificial summoning beast over the lava and knock it into the crater.

No matter what abilities it possessed, it was still a carbon-based life-form. The extreme heat of the lava would destroy it completely, rendering even its formidable regenerative abilities useless.

To Roy’s surprise, however, the artificial summoning beast did not appear to have devoured anything capable of flight. It pursued him for several steps, but once it realized it could not reach him, it returned to the culture tank and began digesting the researcher it had just swallowed.

Roy could not decide whether the creature was intelligent or foolish.

It was smart enough not to continue chasing an enemy it could not reach, yet despite knowing its hiding place had been exposed, it made no attempt to escape.

Was it planning to remain there and wait for Roy to return and kill it?

“Who... are you?”

After recovering from the initial shock, Honoka began wondering about the identity of her unseen savior.

However, she could neither see nor hear Roy, and she could not touch him either. Even if he answered her question, she would never hear his voice, so there was no point in wasting time.

She was not truly flying. Roy was merely keeping her suspended through a precise application of Bakudō.

He planned to take Honoka to Yakushi Nonō first, release his Zanpakutō, and then return to deal with the artificial summoning beast.

He could not leave it alive.

Given the current situation, once Honoka had been taken away, there would be no one left on Summoning Island capable of destroying it. If the creature continued devouring everything it encountered, there was no telling what kind of terrifying existence it might eventually become.

There was even a good chance that Naruto would never be able to travel to the Hidden Cloud in the future to learn how to control the Nine-Tails.

More importantly, the creature had devoured several people without allowing even their souls to escape.

How could Roy, a Shinigami from another world, overlook something like that?

He had to destroy it.

Before long, Honoka found herself being pulled through the air in a rather uncomfortable position until she finally reached the boat waiting by the shore.

“Roy-kun, is this the Uzumaki survivor?”

Honoka’s eyes widened at those words.

She hurriedly looked around, but no matter where she searched, she could not see the person Nonō was speaking to.

“That’s her. However, there’s still a problem on the island that needs to be dealt with. I have to release my Zanpakutō. It won’t take long, so please endure it for a little while.”

Honoka was about to ask Nonō about the person who had saved her when she noticed the woman’s cheeks suddenly flush. Nonō’s eyes also became unfocused for a moment.

“L-Lady Nonō, are you all right?”

Nonō clenched her teeth and managed to shake her head, indicating that she was fine.

She had tried her best to endure the sensation, yet Honoka had still noticed her reaction. That meant her composure still fell short of what was expected of a proper shinobi.

She would have to train harder.

Once Roy released his Zanpakutō, his entire presence changed.

He returned to the foot of the volcano, went straight to the culture tank, and brought his blade down.

“Kyōka: Grudge Snake!”

A streak of gray light sank into the ultimate summoning beast’s body.

The infant-like face that had only just fallen asleep immediately opened its eyes.

The creature had been fed summoning beasts with illusion-based abilities. It had also devoured numerous intelligent beings, including humans.

Although its intelligence had yet to develop fully, its mental strength already surpassed that of an average jōnin.

That mental power was formidable, but it was also chaotic and impure. As a result, it became the perfect cradle for the Grudge Snake to grow within.

Grudge Snake was an ability that caused its victim to doubt everything around them. Those doubts would gradually intensify into paranoia until the victim’s mind eventually collapsed.

Against a creature with powerful mental energy, constantly active thoughts, and limited intelligence, the technique was devastatingly effective.

Before long, steam began rising from the infant-like face’s forehead. Its mind had clearly been driven far beyond its limits.

The creature lacked human emotions, so ordinary self-doubt would not have been enough to create an internal conflict. However, its active mental energy still made it perceive danger everywhere.

Its survival instincts and perception of danger began sending it contradictory signals, setting the two halves of its brain against each other.

Its instincts told it to flee to the left.

Its perception warned it that the left side was dangerous.

The temperature of its forehead continued rising until it resembled a boiling furnace. The vapor pouring from its head soon became dense enough to rival the Hidden Mist Jutsu.

“You’re holding up better than I expected. Then how about a second strike?”

Roy also wanted to test whether using Grudge Snake twice on the same target would strengthen its effect.

This was the first time he had used the ability since awakening it. After all, finding a suitable test subject inside Konoha had been nearly impossible.

He was not Danzō.

The experiment soon gave him his answer.

Only the first strike affected a given target. Any further strikes merely inflicted physical injuries and could not deepen the mental destruction caused by the original attack.

Back by the shore, Nonō finally regained her composure after that awkward moment. She then explained to Honoka that finding her had been the entire purpose of their journey.

“Lady Kushina Uzumaki is currently the Fifth Hokage of Konoha. Kaorui Uzumaki is also living in the village.”

“We received information that another member of the Uzumaki clan was living on Summoning Island, so Lady Kushina sent Roy-kun and me here to bring you home.”

Home.

That single word made Honoka forget all about her curiosity regarding Roy.

The very idea of having a home felt almost unfamiliar to her.

She had been sent to the island when she was still very young. Alongside studying fūinjutsu, she had been required to assist in controlling several unusual summoning beasts.

Every day of her life had been divided between practicing fūinjutsu and participating in research experiments.

Home was something that appeared only in her dreams.

After a long silence, Honoka finally returned to her senses and asked earnestly, “Lady Nonō, may I ask who Roy-kun really is...?”

“Well... Roy-kun is unlike anyone else. You should wait until we return to Konoha and ask Lady Kushina about the details. Or, if Roy-kun gives me permission, I can explain some of it to you myself.”

“Then... where did he go?”

“He returned to the island. He’s probably dealing with whatever trouble remains there.”

“Good.”

The immense mental pressure, combined with the steadily accumulating sword wounds, finally caused the artificial summoning beast to explode into countless fragments of flesh.

Even then, its terrifying vitality had not been exhausted. The scattered pieces began writhing across the ground, attempting to gather together and restore the creature’s body.

The explosion had allowed the pressure inside its mind to escape, but Roy had no intention of standing by and watching it resurrect.

He immediately set the remains ablaze and finally killed the creature for good.

The mental energy he absorbed afterward caused his Spiritual Pressure to surge, raising it directly to the level of a captain-class Shinigami.