Chapter 413: Akahoshi
Fundamentally speaking, the main contradiction occurring within Hoshigakure (Village Hidden Among Stars) was a conflict of ideas about how much price one can pay for power.
Akahoshi believed that without sufficient power, one could not gain a foothold in the ninja world. Natsuhi, on the other hand, believed that acquiring power was to live better, and the terrible side effects of the Mysterious Peacock Method had completely deviated from the original intention of living better.
Neither could be said to be unreasonable, so Hoshigakure had been constantly swaying between the two ideas, tossing and turning: when tasting the bitterness of lack of power, the Star Ninja would re-enable the Star meteorite; when tortured by the side effects of the Mysterious Peacock Method, or even when someone died because of it, the Star Ninja would turn their heads and spurn this secret method...
Because the level of power was not high, in the eyes of outsiders, all this was like a clumsy third-rate ninja palace drama novel. The Star Ninja nestled in a small mountain corner far away from the disputes of the Five Great Nations, engaging in sordid conduct for a secret method not worth mentioning.
—Of course, speaking broadly, the humans of the Naruto world or even the Earth world, nesting on a small planet and fighting endlessly, might also be seen as engaging in similar sordid conduct and unworthy of creation in the eyes of higher-level "existences," right?
Back to Hoshigakure.
The focal figure of the Star Ninja in this struggle, the Fourth Acting Hoshikage Akahoshi, was a character full of flaws: coming to power by assassinating the Third Hoshikage—a shady means; narrow-minded, with crude and clumsy methods, leaving endless troubles; not recognized by everyone even after being in power for so many years, the word "Acting" remained firmly on his head and couldn't be taken off. He was a typical case of ambition completely mismatching ability.
With Natsuhi's help, Naruto quickly collected evidence and found the right time to expose the true face of the Fourth Hoshikage in front of the whole village; Jiraiya thought Akahoshi would create some difficulties for Naruto, but he didn't expect his response to be so clumsy. In his panic, he actually admitted the bad things he had done.
Thus appeared the scene in the previous two chapters where Naruto and Akahoshi engaged in a verbal battle in front of the training hall.
Then, unsurprisingly, the side that failed the verbal battle—Akahoshi pressed the meteorite to his chest in exasperation, activating the Mysterious Peacock Method to the maximum!
"To be able to condense chakra into such a substantial form, the Mysterious Peacock Method can be considered quite a remarkable ninjutsu outside the Five Great Ninja Villages." Jiraiya looked calmly at the purple-red chakra dragon extending from Akahoshi not far away, thinking to himself, "However, to achieve this level, even if Akahoshi wins this battle, I'm afraid he won't be far from death..."
He could see very clearly that under the majestic dragon body, purple ugly tumors were quietly growing on Akahoshi's body one by one!
Sticking the meteorite to the chest could indeed maximize the enhancement and activation of chakra, but the radiation damage to the physical body also increased accordingly, so much so that in a short time, it deteriorated to the point where the body could collapse at any time...
"Unfortunately, even fighting with the resolve to risk his life like this cannot change the outcome of his failure. If relying on crooked ways to improve chakra could contend with Tailed Beasts, Naruto wouldn't have needed to work so hard these past few years!"
Jiraiya muttered to himself, concluding the battle below.
The battle below, just as Jiraiya said, quickly fell into a situation where Akahoshi was completely suppressed by Naruto.
Bang! The giant dragon and the thick fox tails behind Naruto collided head-on again, triggering a violent explosion and emitting a deafening roar!
Akahoshi's face turned pale, his figure retreated a few steps violently, his body swayed, and he finally stood firm with difficulty. He felt that the substantial purple chakra dragon above his head was already crumbling, almost becoming a phantom; while the orange-haired boy standing not far away still stood steadily, four slender and powerful demon-red tails waving agilely behind him, seeming completely unaffected by the collision just now!
Where did this monster come from... The Mysterious Peacock Method is completely suppressed by him! The gap between this boy's chakra cloak and the Mysterious Peacock Method is like the gap between an elephant and an ant!
He began to feel a little headache, and his whole body was itching.
When chakra filled his body just now, he felt everything was great. Now once the chakra began to decline, Akahoshi found that it was just an illusion. The side effects of the Mysterious Peacock Method gradually surged up, destroying his body thoroughly. An extremely bad premonition rose spontaneously from the bottom of Akahoshi's heart.
"D-Damn it, you damn guy!" Akahoshi panted and cursed, "Who exactly are you?!"
"I am Naruto, Konoha Genin." Naruto frowned, not knowing why he asked this question again, so he had to repeat the previous answer.
Genin?
Akahoshi was disheartened for a moment. Hoshigakure's pride inherited for hundreds of years, the invincible Mysterious Peacock Method, was actually thoroughly trampled underfoot by a mere Genin? His ambition, his planning, suddenly became worthless!
Wanting to laugh wildly, but the headache surged up like a tide. Akahoshi had a splitting headache, pain and laughter mixed on his face, his expression extremely ferocious.
"Ahhh—!"
Akahoshi shouted madly.
"You have lost! Surrender, Akahoshi!" Naruto looked at Akahoshi in confusion, frowned and said, "The village will give you a fair trial!"
"Shut up—!" Akahoshi shouted frantically, clenched his teeth, and squeezed another stream of chakra from his body to supplement the purple dragon. Then, he waved his right hand vigorously, and the re-solidified chakra dragon charged again!
"Go to hell!"
The dragon roared, carrying unmatched power, rushing towards Naruto like splitting bamboo.
Is this the last blow? While sensing Akahoshi's rapidly declining chakra after using this move, Naruto calmly extended his right hand.
The Tailed Beast Cloak extended a long chakra claw, casually grabbing the menacing giant dragon into his hand.
Then, squeezed tight.
The giant dragon, solidified harder than steel, was forcibly crushed by Naruto!
Akahoshi fell limply to the ground, silent.
"It's over, Akahoshi! Surrender!" Natsuhi, who had been watching for a long time, walked over and shouted loudly.
"No need to shout, he has... fainted." Naruto walked to Akahoshi's side, felt his pulse, and said solemnly.
The Star meteorite fell from Akahoshi's chest. When Naruto opened his jacket, he saw a body full of newly grown purple tumors, huge, thick, and fat, with uneven surfaces, extremely disgusting.
"This is the sequela of the Mysterious Peacock Method." Natsuhi walked over slowly, her tone quite solemn. She peeled off Akahoshi's jacket, exposing all the ferocious tumors, turning Akahoshi into something inhuman.
"Radiated too much, he can't be saved." Natsuhi stood up and sighed. For some reason, although she had overthrown Akahoshi's rule, she didn't feel happy at all. There were many, many ninja in the village like Akahoshi who cultivated the Mysterious Peacock Method and suffered great side effects...
Naruto stood silently aside.
He was once treated as a demon, suffered so much, and spent so much effort to gain the recognition of "Naruto Uzumaki" from his companions' hearts; Hoshigakure ninja were willing to turn themselves into disgusting things like demons just to gain power.
Is it worth it?
Naruto felt his values were strongly impacted.
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 400 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you!