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Chapter 239: Releasing the Infinite Tsukuyomi
"That's about it. Release the Infinite Tsukuyomi," Alex said, stopping his conversation with Shion, Hinata, and the others.
They already understood the general situation.
Ryuzetsu, Honoka, and Shion didn't miss their former homes. They didn't care that those villages and countries were about to disappear.
As for Hinata and Samui... one was from Konoha, the other from Kumogakure. They were born and bred ninjas of their respective villages. Hearing that the ninja world would be unified and that Konoha and Kumo would cease to exist, they felt complicated emotions.
But that was all. They couldn't go back, nor did they want to. They had already been molded into the shape of Lady Konan and Lord Alex...
Moreover, only the villages would disappear. Their families, relatives, and friends were still alive. If the ninja world would have no more conflicts in the future, paying a small price was worth it.
Konan nodded. The Rinne Sharingan on her forehead suddenly shone with a brilliant light.
Infinite Tsukuyomi: Release!
Rumble!
In the next instant, the God Tree branches that had spread across the entire ninja world began to retract. The branches pulled away from the wrapped bodies, releasing control over everyone.
Ordinary people across the ninja world paused, coming to their senses. Looking at the cracked ground, they were initially confused about what had happened. Their memories were fragmented.
As for the ninjas on the battlefield... the moment they regained consciousness, they stood frozen in place, at a loss. They didn't understand the situation at all.
Ino, with her blonde ponytail, instinctively fell into a duck sit, looking around helplessly. "Sakura, is the war over? We're still alive... did we win in the end?"
"I don't know either." Sakura barely managed to stay calm, but her heart was filled with deep sorrow. The tragic scene of Sasuke falling to his death from the sky was deeply etched in her mind, replaying constantly.
The person she had chased for so long was dead. For three years, she had trained ninjutsu tirelessly, never slacking off, striving to shed her weak past self. It was all so that one day she would have the strength and qualification to stand by Sasuke's side...
But he died just like that. Truly died, right before her eyes, and she couldn't do anything... That grief, that heart-wrenching pain...
Tears spilled from the corners of Sakura's eyes.
"Sakura..." Ino looked at her with concern.
"Mm, I'm fine." Sakura wiped away her tears, suppressing her sorrow and forcing herself to cheer up. She was no longer the weak girl who loved to cry three years ago. She was the successor of the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, a powerful ninja who had learned her teacher's ultimate techniques!
Sakura turned around to face Ino.
"Sakura... you?!" Ino's pupils shrank slightly in surprise. "The Strength of a Hundred Seal on your forehead... it's gone???"
She had studied medical ninjutsu under Tsunade alongside Sakura. She knew of the seal's existence. Sakura clearly had that green diamond-shaped mark on her forehead before, so why was it gone now?
"G... gone?" Sakura froze, speaking in disbelief. "Ino, are you sure you're not joking? I didn't use the chakra stored in the seal, how could it disappear?"
"It really is gone, look." Ino held up a small compact mirror in front of Sakura.
Sakura could clearly see her own forehead.
"It... it really disappeared..." Sakura murmured blankly. "That's impossible... How could it disappear... The chakra in my body clearly—"
Her voice stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened in shock. "I... Ino, I can't feel my chakra... The chakra in my body... seems to be gone... I can't feel it..."
With the seal vanishing for no reason, she had intended to mobilize her chakra to check. But the chakra that used to be clear and responsive in her body now felt as if it had vanished into thin air. She couldn't sense a trace of it, let alone use it.
"Chakra is gone?" Ino gasped, her mouth slightly open. She hurriedly checked her own body. Instantly, she cried out in horror, "Sakura, my chakra is gone too... not a drop left..."
"But..." She looked up at the moon in the sky, which had returned to its normal color, her face full of confusion. "Sakura, are we... really alive right now? We're not still in that genjutsu, are we..."
Chakra was the combination of physical and spiritual energy. For a ninja, once all chakra was lost, death was inevitable. Many ninjas died from exhaustion in prolonged battles precisely because their chakra ran dry.
No chakra meant death. This was an iron law verified since the emergence of ninjas. But why were they still alive?
"Let me try first." Sakura calmed down first. She sat on the ground, took a soldier pill from her pouch, and stuffed it into her mouth. She closed her eyes and immediately began to mold chakra.
Less than three seconds later, she opened her eyes again, her face grim as she spat out the bitter pill. She whispered weakly, "Ino... I can't mold chakra... I can't mold it at all..."
Since the academy, simply calming down and using the chakra molding technique would quickly extract chakra from the body. She had done this process thousands of times; it was ingrained in her heart, an instinct.
But she had just failed. Following the usual method, her body had no reaction. The chakra molding method seemed to have become a useless, imaginary concept.
Ino tried as well, opening her eyes quickly, dejected. "I can't mold it either..."
"Chakra is gone, and we can't mold it... Will the ninjutsu we worked so hard to learn become nothing but a fantasy..."
Was the inheritance of her clan's secret techniques really going to end with her generation...
As the ninjas on the field came to their senses, it wasn't just Ino and Sakura who discovered the chakra anomaly. Other ninjas discovered it too.
After a brief stupor, they couldn't accept this cruel fact.
"Chakra is gone... and can't be molded... The power I worked so hard to cultivate is gone??!! No, I can't accept this!!"
"I can't accept it either!! What happened?! Why was my chakra stripped away!!"
"Ahhh!! I don't want to be an ordinary person!! I am a ninja!! A noble ninja!! How can I become a commoner!!"
"Who!! Who stole my power??! Give it back!! Give it back to me!!"
Suddenly losing their power was unacceptable to most ninjas. That was the power they had cultivated through immense hardship, time, and effort. It was the foundation of their lives and status. How could they lose it just like that? Why was it taken away!
Becoming powerless ordinary people meant that those commoners they used to oppress and intimidate would no longer fear or respect them. They might even seek revenge...
They couldn't accept it... and wouldn't accept it.
But no matter how much they wailed and screamed, they couldn't change the established fact.
Elsewhere.
On the Five Kage battlefield, somewhat distant from the main force.
Mei Terumi staggered up from the ground, trembling.
Nearby, an aged Orochimaru was supporting an equally aged Tsunade. "Tsunade, without chakra, it seems we've both returned to our proper ages..."
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