Watching the intimate behavior between the four members of the Kessoku Band and their man, the corners of many young women's mouths unconsciously turned down. This kind of thing had happened countless times already, but a toppled vinegar jar was still a toppled vinegar jar.
"The Infinite Tsukuyomi wasn't so bad."
Hiyori stood outside the crowd, muttering to herself.
In the dream just now, in that world, Makoto only had her by his side, only doted on her. Those other women? Hah~ they could only go mine ore to solve their problems. That feeling was way too good.
"Then you go back."
Itsuki pouted.
Watching other women kiss her own man, how could she not be jealous?
But she wouldn't go to that world.
Not because that world wasn't good enough, but because she remembered how she had gotten to where she was today.
It was Makoto who helped her eliminate the estrangement with her adoptive father, allowing them to return to a normal father-daughter relationship.
It was also Makoto who helped her punish that irresponsible biological father.
He did so much for you, and you run off to a dream world to enjoy being the sole focus of affection? That's no different from those cheap bitches who asked for divorce after just being married and run away with half of the man's money.
"What do you mean by that? I was just saying."
Hiyori bared her teeth and snapped back.
The tension in the air was palpable.
The young women around quickly stepped in, pulling the two apart with busy hands.
Just then, Sakura's voice came from behind.
"Sasuke, are you okay?"
"Stop bothering me. You're really annoying!"
Sasuke's voice was full of coldness.
Sakura's hand froze in mid-air, her fingers still holding the position of grasping Sasuke's sleeve, but he had already walked away.
"Hey, Sasuke! How can you talk to Sakura like that?"
Naruto's voice chased after him from the other side.
Everyone turned to look.
After receiving the Six Paths Yin Power, Sasuke's left eye had turned from an ordinary Mangekyo into a Rinne Sharingan.
But he showed no sign of joy.
Ignoring the grieving Sakura and Naruto, who was chasing after him and chattering non-stop, Sasuke walked straight up to Makoto, stopped, and bent slightly as a sign of respect.
"Commander, you said that after we killed Uchiha Madara and Obito, you would let me re-enter the Infinite Tsukuyomi world. Does that promise still hold, right?"
Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and even Guy, Kurenai, and the other natives all opened their mouths wider and wider.
"Ka-Kakashi-sensei," Naruto turned to look at Kakashi, his eyes pleading, "what is Sasuke talking about?"
Kakashi did not answer, but looked at Makoto instead.
Makoto did not avoid the question and said calmly: "He discussed it with me before he defected. I promised him that if he went to the Akatsuki to help me gather information on Obito and the others, after it was done, I would let him re-enter the Infinite Tsukuyomi World."
The battlefield was quiet for a moment.
"..."
Kakashi opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He now understood why Makoto hadn't sent anyone to chase Sasuke on the day he defected.
He had assumed it was because Makoto didn't have much of a relationship with Sasuke and couldn't be bothered.
Turns out it had been arranged from the very beginning.
Mrs. Yukinoshita glanced at the God Tree, which had already retracted into the ground, and asked curiously: "But now that the Infinite Tsukuyomi has been released, how can you possibly send him back?"
She asked the question that everyone present wanted answered most.
"Th-that's right, isn't it..."
Sakura squeezed out a strained smile, an optimism in her voice that she herself didn't believe. "Sasuke-kun, wouldn't it be better for everyone to work hard together in the real world?"
Her hands were wringing together, her fingers pinched white.
Naruto stood beside her, not joining in, his blue eyes fixed straight on Makoto.
The two of them truly did not want Sasuke to return to that fantasy world.
They desperately hoped to hear the word 'no' from Makoto's mouth.
But Makoto's answer disappointed them greatly.
"There is, brother, there is."
Under everyone's surprised gazes, Makoto continued: "Besides the Infinite Tsukuyomi, there is actually another technique that allows people to enter a world of illusion... the Limited Tsukuyomi."
Minato and the others tilted their heads. They had never heard of this technique.
"If the Infinite Tsukuyomi targets all the people on an entire planet, then the Limited Tsukuyomi restricts that range to a single person."
"In a sense, the Limited Tsukuyomi is more merciful than the Infinite Tsukuyomi. After the Infinite Tsukuyomi sends its target into the illusion world, it soon turns the person into a White Zetsu... they don't get to dream for long before they just become a puppet of the God Tree."
"The Limited Tsukuyomi, on the other hand, makes a person's body fall asleep and their spirit enter the illusion world, without the side effect of turning into a White Zetsu. As long as the body doesn't die, they can keep dreaming forever."
Makoto paused slightly, then continued to explain: "The Infinite Tsukuyomi requires Nine Tailed Beasts. The Limited Tsukuyomi only needs seven, and it doesn't require the Rinne Sharingan... an ordinary Mangekyo Sharingan is enough to activate it."
Naruto's face went from expectant to ashen. Sakura's eyes grew increasingly red.
Sasuke's expression went from calm to delighted.
"I am willing to go. To that world called the Limited Tsukuyomi."
In the world of the Infinite Tsukuyomi just now, he had dreamed of his childhood.
Itachi was still that perfect brother.
His father, mother, and clansmen were all there, and they were all good to him.
His father, Uchiha Fugaku, would say, "That's my boy," and his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, was as gentle as ever.
Although Sasuke also knew it was fake, he would rather sleep in that beautiful false world than spend another second in this real, painful world.
Makoto looked at him, was silent for a moment, and nodded. Then his gaze fell on Sasuke's eyes.
The left eye was a Rinne Sharingan, the right eye an ordinary Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Since you're going to that world, you won't be needing these eyes anymore. Can you give them to me?"
"Yes."
Sasuke's answer had no hesitation whatsoever.
For Sasuke, power no longer mattered.
Looking at his entire life trajectory, from childhood to the night of the massacre, from defecting to the Akatsuki, from the Akatsuki to the Fifth Great Ninja War... what Sasuke had always been seeking was never power.
Power was just a means. What he truly wanted was a past that no longer existed in the real world.
Makoto glanced at the four members of the Kessoku Band.
Nijika immediately understood his meaning. She took two Poké Balls from her belt and called out the Tailed Beasts Makoto had just left with her.
Bocchi, Ikuyo, and Ryo followed suit, releasing the Tailed Beasts from their Poké Balls.
The seven Tailed Beasts emerged from the red light.
The Eight-Tails asked in confusion: "What are we doing now?"
Makoto did not answer. He formed hand seals.
Snake - Boar - Ram - Hare... Summoning Technique!
What was summoned was the Gedo Statue. That giant, withered body rose from the ground, its ten empty eye sockets facing the night sky.
When the Eight-Tails saw the Gedo Statue, its tentacles involuntarily twitched back.
"Go inside."
Makoto's voice was not loud, his tone very calm. The Tailed Beasts looked at each other.
Like elementary school students called out by their homeroom teacher, they each hung their heads and dared not respond, but ultimately could only obediently comply.
The Eight-Tails grumbled as it walked, its voice neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for those around to hear: "You're treating us like testicles, stuffing us in and spitting us out, stuffing us in and spitting us out again..."