Chapter 77 CHAPTER 77
Only after Pakura's figure completely disappeared did Guy finally lose the strength to hold on.
His body went limp as he nearly collapsed.
Ebisu and Genma reacted almost simultaneously, each grabbing one side of him and barely managing to support his body.
The moment they touched him, both of their expressions changed drastically.
Guy's body was completely limp, as though all strength had been drained from it.
He could barely summon even a trace of power.
"Guy! Guy!"
Ebisu's voice trembled violently.
He patted Guy's face as Guy's lips twitched slightly.
"Won't... won't die..."
Only after hearing those words did Ebisu and Genma finally let out a breath of relief.
Then Guy simply closed his eyes.
Not because he had lost consciousness.
But because he was too exhausted to even keep them open anymore.
After such a prolonged battle, both his Chakra and stamina had already been pushed to their limits.
At the moment Pakura revealed an opening earlier, even swinging the final strike of the Precept-Breaking Blade had already been extremely difficult for him.
That was why he chose to use the Calamity-Crossing Blade.
Although the Calamity-Crossing Blade was classified as a High Grade Supreme Technique, its physical consumption was not actually that terrifying.
However, it required two extremely harsh conditions.
Two contradictory states that could hardly coexist.
Ultimate killing intent.
Ultimate mercy.
They had to exist simultaneously!
Neither could be absent.
Both had to reach their peak at the same time.
One must possess the determination that "this enemy must be slain," not killing for slaughter's sake, but for the sake of protection.
One must also possess the compassion of "being unwilling to kill," not crossing over for salvation's sake alone, but for redemption.
These two emotions had to coexist simultaneously.
Mutually conflicting.
Mutually balancing each other.
If there was only pure killing intent, then what would be unleashed was merely the Precept-Breaking Blade.
If there was only pure mercy, then what would appear was only the Mercy Blade.
Only when both emotions reached their utmost limits and achieved that delicate balance at the instant the blade descended...
...could destruction give birth to transcendence.
Only then could that singular slash...
...the Calamity-Crossing Blade be unleashed!
Naturally, Guy possessed killing intent toward Pakura.
This was a battlefield.
The two of them stood on opposing sides in a life-and-death war.
Behind him stood his comrades of Konoha.
Ebisu.
Genma.
And all those comrades still desperately fighting.
If he wished to protect them, then he had to defeat the enemy blocking the path forward.
When that blade descended, there had not been the slightest hesitation in his heart.
Yet toward Pakura, deep within his heart, there also existed a trace of pity that even he himself found difficult to explain.
Because he knew this woman's fate.
During the Third Shinobi World War, Pakura would be hailed as a hero of Sunagakure.
Yet in the end, she would be betrayed by her own village and by Rasa himself.
She would become a sacrifice used for negotiations with Kirigakure.
And ultimately be sent to die.
A death filled with humiliation.
A meaningless death.
An elite Jonin...
...shot to death by ordinary Kunai.
It was precisely because of this mixture of unavoidable killing intent on the battlefield and the compassion born from future memories.
That at the instant before the blade fell.
Those emotions intertwined together.
Triggering the exceedingly harsh conditions required to activate the Calamity-Crossing Blade.
"Cough... cough cough..."
After recovering slightly, Guy gasped heavily while being supported by Ebisu and Genma.
Inside his body, the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic circulated at full power.
Like a dried-up riverbed finally receiving a trickle of water.
It slowly restored the almost completely exhausted strength within his body.
At the same time, his empty left hand struggled toward his Ninja tool pouch.
His fingertips touched something warm and hard.
A Small Restoration Pill.
Also the final Small Restoration Pill remaining on his person!
Guy stared at the pale yellow pill in his palm as hesitation flashed through his eyes.
He was reluctant to eat it.
This was his final life-saving Medicinal Pill.
But his gaze quickly swept across the battlefield.
Battle cries shook the heavens.
Blood and flesh flew everywhere.
Konoha Ninja were being besieged by Sunagakure forces several times their number, and people were falling every second.
The battle was far from over.
If enemies noticed their weakened state and swarmed them...
...then this Small Restoration Pill would have to be consumed.
Guy gritted his teeth tightly and clenched the Small Restoration Pill in his palm, prepared to swallow it at any moment.
"Lord Rasa! Pakura, she..."
A Sunagakure Jonin noticed Pakura leaving the battlefield and cried out in shock.
"Shut up!!"
Rasa's furious roar exploded from the sky above.
Naturally, he had already seen Pakura's departure.
The fury of being deceived and betrayed instantly overwhelmed all rationality within him.
He glanced over the battlefield.
After the brutal exchange of lives, only around three hundred Konoha Ninja were still capable of fighting.
Meanwhile, although Sunagakure had also suffered enormous losses, they still retained over fifteen hundred combatants!
A ratio of five to one!
An overwhelming advantage!
"Enough... this farce ends here!"
Rasa's bloodshot eyes locked firmly onto Akimichi Choza, who had blocked him repeatedly throughout the battle.
"I'll kill you first, you meddlesome wild boar!"
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Cube!"
Rasa rapidly formed hand seals as Chakra poured from his body without restraint.
The floating Gold Dust around him instantly became violent.
No longer scattered attacks.
Instead, it began frantically gathering, compressing, and reshaping itself!
Within the blink of an eye.
A gigantic cube formed from Gold Dust condensed high in the air.
Each side exceeded ten meters in length.
Its edges were sharp.
Its mass terrifyingly heavy.
"Die!!"
Rasa slammed both palms downward!
"Rumble!!"
The gigantic Gold Dust Cube descended like a meteor crashing from the heavens toward Choza below!
The compressed air produced explosive sonic booms as shadows instantly covered the entire area around Choza.
Choza raised his head, his pupils shrinking violently.
He instantly understood Rasa's intention and the horrifying destructive power behind this attack.
He had only just sent a Sunagakure Ninja flying moments earlier.
His gigantic body enlarged through the Multi-Size Technique was already riddled with wounds.
The effects of the Small Restoration Pill he consumed earlier had long since faded.
Without the slightest hesitation, Choza reached into his robes.
When his hand emerged again, there was now an extra pill in his palm.
A crimson pill.
The Chili Pill!
The forbidden pill that guaranteed death after consumption!
At this moment, Choza's eyes were incomparably calm.
There was even a trace of relief within them.
He did not look back toward the surviving Konoha comrades behind him.
Nor did he look toward Guy, who was being supported in the distance.
His gaze remained fixed only upon the descending Gold Dust Cube and Rasa's twisted face behind it.
At the exact moment Rasa unleashed his technique and the Gold Dust Cube descended.
At the exact moment Choza resolutely raised the Chili Pill toward his mouth, prepared to swallow it.
A cold and hoarse voice suddenly echoed from the air behind Rasa like the flicking tongue of a venomous serpent.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
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