"Kiyosuke, where's Shion-san?"
"She went inside to reinforce the seal."
At those words, Kiyosuke's expression darkened.
"There's a sinister chakra inside. Shion's in danger. Killer Bee, let's move! Pakura, I'm leaving things here to you."
"Got it. Go quickly!" Pakura nodded.
"What? I'm going too!"
The moment Naruto heard that Shion was in danger, his fatigue vanished. He jumped up and followed Kiyosuke and Killer Bee as they dashed into the underground shrine.
...
They ran through the pitch-black passage, the air growing thicker, hotter, and filled with the stench of sulfur.
A flicker of firelight appeared up ahead. Bursting out of the tunnel, the three of them found themselves facing a raised platform built directly above the magma.
On that high platform, Shion stood inside a glowing purple barrier. Her hands formed seals as she chanted under her breath. Beside her, on a palanquin at the edge of the barrier, slumped a long-haired man with a sickly, wasted face, his body weak and frail.
"Shion!"
Naruto called out her name. Shion glanced at him but kept her hands steady, continuing her work.
The barrier pulsed with violet light. From within it, a stone coffin slowly rose, sealed tightly with the spirit of Moryō inside.
Kiyosuke felt a surge of dread. In an instant, he lunged at the long-haired man.
But the man moved faster. Before Kiyosuke could reach him, he appeared behind Shion, speaking in a hoarse, duck-like voice.
"Well now… thank you ever so much."
The man suddenly collapsed, his skin shriveling as his body went limp. From within him, a voice rang out with mocking laughter.
"Hahaha! You panicked, priestess. You should have waited until he wasted away—he no longer had the strength to open the seal. But because you were too hasty, you handed me the chance I needed."
"You mean… the reason for all this was just to get inside here…"
Shion's gaze shifted to the coffin. A black mist erupted from the man's body, slamming into the coffin as its lid cracked open. The dark chakra surged inside.
Kiyosuke struck the barrier with his fist, but the force rebounded, sending pain lancing through his arm.
"As expected of a barrier capable of containing Moryō… this thing's incredible. So that was Moryō just now? Then this weakling here must be Yomi."
The man sprawled on the ground was indeed Yomi—the instigator of this incident. He had released Moryō, dreaming of using its power to conquer the Five Great Nations and establish a so-called Thousand-Year Kingdom.
Over a decade ago, Yomi had unleashed Moryō once before, bringing calamity. But back then, Shion's mother had defeated him, sealing Moryō away once more.
This time, Yomi had returned. Because Moryō's soul and body had long been separated, the soul would have eventually dissipated. To prevent that, Yomi had performed a forbidden jutsu, placing Moryō's soul within his own body, allowing the spirit to survive.
But it was only borrowed time. Yomi's frail body couldn't contain such a vast soul. His life was already at its end—too weak to break the seal, too weak even to resist Moryō's control. All he could do was use words to manipulate Shion, an inexperienced young priestess, into opening the seal herself.
By exploiting her moment of hesitation, he had succeeded in reuniting Moryō's body and soul.
"Damn it… so we failed after all! But this world won't end here!"
Kiyosuke growled, only for Moryō's voice to echo inside the chamber.
"We cannot escape this underground barrier, priestess. From the moment you stepped inside, neither of us could leave. This barrier was made to bind us—two halves of the same being! The only way for it to open… is if one of us devours the other. The one who survives shall live on, chosen by our chakra!"
"The priestess and you… you have the same power?" Kiyosuke asked grimly.
"Oh? Such an unusual chakra… what a peculiar human you are. Very well, I shall answer. The priestess and Moryō are indeed one and the same. Long ago, to prevent our overwhelming power from being misused, our soul was divided into two—separate wills, separate minds. Each half has ever since guarded against the other, unwilling to be consumed, yet equally unwilling to fully let go.
"Over time, humans called one side Moryō, the other the Priestess. Light and darkness… good and evil… none of those terms can fully describe us. But because the centuries dragged on, differences in thought inevitably grew. I came to desire the world's destruction. The priestess sought to protect it. And so began our endless battle."
So it was true—the priestess and Moryō were two halves of one mighty existence. Moryō had lingered across the ages, while the priestess reincarnated through generations, living among humans, passing down the bloodline.
"Shion's mother, Miroku, sealed me with her very life in our last battle. That is the only way to bind me. But now… hahaha! My body! Return to me!!"
The coffin slammed shut. The barrier dissolved.
Neither priestess nor Moryō could ever destroy the other without a willingness to die themselves. But now that Moryō had regained his body, the fate of the world rested entirely in Shion's hands.
"Shion!"
Naruto rushed to her side. Shion's eyes brimmed with tears.
"I'm sorry, Naruto… I failed. I don't deserve your protection, or everyone else's."
"Hey, hey—this isn't the time for self-pity."
Kiyosuke booted Naruto lightly on the backside.
"Hurry up and get Shion-san out of here! Our mission isn't over yet."
"But… Moryō's almost free. The world's going to be destroyed!" Shion protested.
"Not yet, it's not. And it won't be."
A shadow spread over Kiyosuke's face as his eyes shifted—purple markings darkening around them, golden serpent pupils gleaming cold and mad.
"We'll just kill it right here. Problem solved."
"Yo! Sounds good to me! No way I'm letting you hog the spotlight!"
Killer Bee roared, donning the cloak of his Tailed Beast. Eight tails whipped behind him as he fully transformed.
Naruto hefted Shion onto his back and sprinted away.
"Are we really just running?" Shion asked.
"If we don't, Kiyosuke-san's gonna blow this whole place sky-high. We'd all die."
"But the barrier—"
"I told you, he'll blow it up anyway! Barrier or no barrier, it won't matter."
A chill swept through the chamber, like a freezing gale even though they were so close to the magma.
Then, a monstrous chakra surged forth. A beastly roar shook the underground shrine.
"Hahaha! Pathetic humans! You dare to stand before me? You're courting death!!"
"Then today," Kiyosuke declared, his voice steady and fierce, "we fight to the death. Are you ready, Moryō?"
"With just you, human?"
"With just me!!"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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