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After a while, Kagaya calmed down. He was already well aware of how unreliable the damn system was—no need to get angry over it. Besides, even though it said it couldn't guarantee accuracy, it couldn't all be wrong, could it? At least some of it should be correct.
The throbbing in his eyes grew more and more intense, even bringing waves of discomfort that made Kagaya instinctively shut his eyes.
I don't have much time. You'd better hurry up.
Kagaya prayed inwardly. This was his final day. If the Rinnegan didn't finish evolving before his death, then all his efforts would be for nothing.
Actually, for the current Kagaya, whether he had the Rinnegan or not didn't matter much for the time being. Because with or without it, Kagaya was in a state of near-invincibility in this world. So the impact was minimal.
Moreover, in this state of approaching death, Kagaya couldn't be bothered to fuss over the Rinnegan.
Yet, annoyingly, it had chosen this exact moment to begin its final evolution. That was what irked Kagaya. If the final evolution hadn't started, that would be one thing—he didn't care much about the Rinnegan right now, so he wouldn't have felt anything. But the final evolution had already begun... if it ended in failure, wouldn't that be an enormous loss?
That was just human nature. Some things, when you don't have them, you feel it doesn't matter either way. But once you obtain them, you absolutely can't bear to lose them. Kagaya was no exception.
Thus, Kagaya could only keep praying inwardly, hoping the Rinnegan would evolve faster.
"Brat... you really... I always knew you were formidable, but I never imagined you could reach this step."
The Five-Tails' voice echoed from the depths of Kagaya's heart. It had been momentarily at a complete loss for words.
It wasn't that it had never seen the Rinnegan before. In its long life, it had seen the Sage of Six Paths' Rinnegan, and it had seen Pain's Rinnegan. But in the Five-Tails' understanding, both the Sage of Six Paths and Pain had been born with their Rinnegan. Someone like Kagaya, who evolved the Rinnegan through his own efforts—the Five-Tails was truly seeing this for the first time. In fact, it was the first time it had ever even heard of such a thing.
This utterly inconceivable scene had momentarily robbed the Five-Tails of its ability to speak.
But the Five-Tails quickly recovered. In the end, it had developed a certain immunity to Kagaya's surprises.
Kagaya spoke helplessly.
"To be honest, Kokuō... if I had a choice, I would absolutely, definitely, never choose to evolve the Rinnegan at a time like this. This is my last day before death. Is there really enough time to evolve it now? Once I die, it'll all be for nothing. Even if I get resurrected later, I'll have to start all over again. Because after the Impure World Reincarnation, what I have are just fake eyes. I'd need to wait until my true resurrection, put back my real eyes, and then nurture the Rinnegan all over again."
The Five-Tails clearly didn't agree with Kagaya's reasoning.
"Even if you didn't evolve it now, the result would be pretty much the same, wouldn't it? You'd still need to nurture the Rinnegan again after your true resurrection. Whether it evolves now or not makes little difference to you. I think what's happening is—you see it so close to completion and can't bear to fail."
Kagaya gave an awkward laugh.
"Hehe... well, you see, it's almost evolved. If you asked me to give up, how could I possibly bear it?"
The Five-Tails sighed and said nothing more.
Kagaya also quieted his mind and began focusing entirely on the changes in his eyes.
The sun began moving slowly toward the west, and before long, it reached the very center of the sky.
Time was running out.
"Is there enough time?"
The Five-Tails couldn't help but ask.
Kagaya was silent for a moment, then replied.
"I'm not sure either. But I have a feeling... there should be enough time."
"Good."
The man and the beast fell silent once more. Right now, the most important thing was the change in Kagaya's eyes. At first, they still had the mind to chat about it. But as time grew shorter, both fell quiet by unspoken agreement, rarely speaking.
Kagaya still had his eyes closed. He had been sitting by the river since morning, without moving a single inch. Although he was very hungry, none of that mattered. Right now, the change in his eyes took absolute priority.
The pain in his heart grew more and more intense. Fortunately, Kagaya had once experienced the pain of the Susanoo, so he had a certain tolerance for pain. Still, a few beads of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!
Not far away, Yuki watched Kagaya from a distance with a worried expression. She didn't know what was happening. Since this morning, Kagaya had been sitting there alone, motionless, and—uncharacteristically—he hadn't come to teach her the Impure World Reincarnation. This was very abnormal. Yuki wanted to go over and ask Kagaya what was wrong, but her intuition told her—now was not the time to disturb him.
Time passed.
The sun began its descent toward the west. The light shining upon the land slowly weakened. And Kagaya still sat where he was, motionless, like an old monk in deep meditation.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Gradually, Kagaya could even feel his own heartbeat. This wasn't a sign that he had fully calmed himself—it was a sign that death was approaching!
The Power of the World had begun its execution of Kagaya. The system had said that erasing Kagaya would take several days. The preceding days had likely all been preparation. This final day... was probably the moment of true execution!
BOOM!
Nothing happened in the outside world. But in Kagaya's perception, it was as if he had just been struck by an enormous impact. Every inch of his body screamed with excruciating pain.
"Mm..."
Kagaya couldn't help but let out a faint sound. This sensation... felt far too familiar! The feeling of the Power of the World erasing him was almost identical to the feeling of the system teleporting him to a new world!
What was going on? Was it because the system's teleportation to other worlds also required the use of the Power of the World? Kagaya didn't know.
But for now, this was a good thing. Because he had been teleported twice, Kagaya had a certain tolerance for this kind of agony. He could still hold on!
It was at that very moment that the river before Kagaya rapidly dried up, eventually becoming a parched riverbed.
The trees in a small area around him also withered at an alarming rate, as if their life force had been drained in an instant.
The ground beneath Kagaya even began to crack and fissure slowly.
From this moment on, it was as if the entire world was targeting the place where Kagaya sat. However, there were no dramatic scenes of violent storms or howling winds.
But even so, Kagaya was finding it hard to endure. The system had said this world's Power of the World was at least Six Paths-level in strength. Kagaya knew this. Kagaya also knew he was no match for the Six Paths level. What Kagaya didn't understand was—how did this so-called Power of the World work? What was its principle? Why could it attack the inside of his body directly?
This was far too unreasonable!
Time once again flew by rapidly. The light of the sun had already grown very weak. Gazing west, only one-third of the sun remained visible.
The sun was about to set. Night was about to fall.
This meant Kagaya's remaining time had shrunk even further.
The evolution in his eyes continued, but it seemed it wouldn't make it in time.
At first, Kagaya had thought the eye's evolution would make it. But now, he realized he had overestimated its speed.
One day alone... might not be enough!
Time moved forward again.
Night fell.
Yuki stood quietly in the distance, watching Kagaya. She knew this day would come. According to the plan, Kagaya would die on this day. And not long after, once Yuki was ready, she would begin the process of resurrecting him.
Yuki stood there, bidding farewell to the brief parting that was about to come. She didn't know what the strange scene around Kagaya was, nor did she know what was happening to him. But Kagaya had told her—she couldn't help. So Yuki didn't dare approach him. She was afraid that not only would she fail to help, but she might even make things worse. That was something Yuki couldn't accept.
And so, Yuki stood quietly in the distance, watching over Kagaya, bidding farewell to the brief parting that was about to come.
Time continued to pass.
Yuki's decision not to approach Kagaya was the right one. Kagaya was at a critical moment in the Rinnegan's evolution and couldn't afford any disturbance. If Yuki had come over to speak with him at this moment, it might have directly caused all of Kagaya's efforts to be wasted.
At this moment, even the Five-Tails had fallen completely silent, without a single stir.
By now, Kagaya's body could barely feel any pain. In other words... he had gone numb.
And most importantly—Kagaya didn't know how long it had been since he had last felt such an intense premonition of death.
Every cell in his body seemed to be struggling desperately, doing everything in its power to convey one message to the brain—RUN! RUN! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!
But what those cells didn't know was that their brain was fully aware of one fact—running was useless.
So the brain mercilessly ignored the desperate messages those cells were sending.
The throbbing in his eyes continued, faster and faster, as if the evolution would soon be complete.
But death was slightly faster than that throbbing.
If Kagaya was a young man living inside a house, then death at this moment was already pounding frantically on the front door, its face twisted into a hideous snarl, preparing to smash down the door. Meanwhile, the Rinnegan was still on the road, charging toward Kagaya's house without rest.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
That clear, distinct heartbeat truly sounded like death knocking at the door—unceasing, relentless.
Kagaya had no idea how this Power of the World was being unleashed. There were clearly no traces of any attack, yet he felt as if he were under attack at every moment, his vital signs growing weaker and weaker.
It was unreasonable to the extreme.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!!! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!!!
The knocking of death grew more and more violent, while the Rinnegan was still on the road, its arrival nowhere in sight.
Faster! Faster! FASTER!!!
Kagaya roared furiously in his heart. Having come this far, how could he possibly be willing to give up?
How could he?!
CRASH!
The door shattered. Death stepped inside. Its hideous face smiled faintly as it looked at Kagaya.
!!!
That single glance—was an eternal farewell!
His life force vanished in an instant. His chakra dissipated at a terrifying speed. The throbbing in his eyes also began to slow.
THUD!
This time, it wasn't his imagination—a real sound rang out. It was the sound of Kagaya collapsing to the ground.
In the end, he hadn't lasted until the Rinnegan's arrival.
Although he would still be resurrected by Yuki in the future, although he didn't have to worry about permanent death... he had completely and utterly lost the Rinnegan.
In the distance, Yuki's mouth fell open, her face full of sorrow. She knew Kagaya could be resurrected. But for some reason, she felt an inexplicable sadness. Watching Kagaya lying on the ground, Yuki had a strange, vague feeling—it was as if... as if there were still things he hadn't finished! He couldn't die yet!
"Kagaya-nii..."
The figure lying on the ground seemed to exude a sense of unwillingness to let go.
"Ah... I failed."
His consciousness was rapidly fading. In the very end, Kagaya mocked himself inwardly.
Unwilling? Of course! How could he possibly be willing to accept this?! That was the Rinnegan! Having failed this time... in the future, he would have to wait another twenty or thirty years! Maybe even forty or fifty!
It had been so close—right within his grasp!
"But... there's nothing I can do now."
Darkness surged in rapidly. Kagaya's consciousness had already scattered beyond recognition.
He was resisting! He wanted to resist this death! But all he could feel was wave after wave of utter helplessness. Death... was something he could not avoid.
But Kagaya didn't want to avoid death. He just wanted to hold on a little longer. Just a little longer! Hold on until the Rinnegan arrived!
"Heh..."
Accompanied by a voice full of self-deprecation, Kagaya's consciousness sank completely into darkness.
Forget it... maybe it's for the best.
Crimson blazed forth. Light erupted!
"Stand up."
Someone was calling.
"Stand up."
The voice seemed very anxious.
"Stand up, Kagaya-nii! You still have unfinished business, don't you?!"
BOOM!!
Consciousness snapped back in an instant. Kagaya's body instantly returned to its original state.
At the same time, in Yuki's eyes, one Mangekyo was rapidly dimming, eventually becoming a white, lightless eyeball.
Izanagi!
The Power of the World surged again! It wanted to erase Kagaya once more!
Izanagi couldn't save Kagaya. But what Kagaya wanted had never been to escape death! What he wanted was time!
Kagaya turned his head and glanced at Yuki. He pressed his lips together but said nothing. He simply raised a thumbs-up. He would remember this debt. Then, he closed his eyes once more.
This time... death was slower than the Rinnegan!
Pain surged once more, crashing against this body that had suddenly been restored to perfect condition.
Kagaya remained unmoved, sitting in place, waiting quietly.
"Death" still wore its hideous, twisted face. It was sprinting, charging toward Kagaya!
But what puzzled it was—why was there always a figure ahead of it that it could never overtake?
Time passed once more.
The pain inside Kagaya's body grew more and more intense.
But this time, Kagaya felt no panic whatsoever. If Kagaya's body was a door, and both "Death" and the "Rinnegan" wanted to knock it down... then Kagaya had already calmly, unhurriedly straightened his clothes.
KNOCK!
Someone knocked at the door. No one knew whether the one standing outside was "Death" or the "Rinnegan."
Kagaya smiled faintly, without a trace of fear. He walked to the door... and opened it!
Yuki closed her right eye. In her right eye was the Mangekyo that had gone blind from using Izanagi just now.
Not long after rescuing Shiina Momoko, Shiina Momoko had returned the Mangekyo to Yuki. After all, unless absolutely necessary, what mother would take her own child's precious treasure?
Besides, the Mangekyo could only display its true power in the eyes of its original owner.
Yuki didn't know whether her Izanagi had helped Kagaya. She could only stand there silently, praying that her Izanagi had been of help to Kagaya-nii.
"Kagaya-nii... please... please finish what you need to do! If... if it's not enough, Yuki still has one more Mangekyo. I can—"
She prayed very quietly. But someone still heard her.
"It's already enough! Thank you!"
Kagaya appeared before Yuki, offering his thanks with sincere words.
Yuki lifted her head. The first thing she saw was a pair of eyes with white lines, containing a purple radiance within. Dazzling and resplendent. Invisibly, these eyes seemed to proclaim to the entire world—they were the most exalted existence of all.
"Kagaya-nii?"
"Mm. I'm here."