Inside the laboratory, John stood behind a secret door.
Brie slept peacefully at her desk not too far from him, her head resting on a pile of papers. Her body sagged against the desk, clearly showing the effects of long hours of work.
The whoosh of the entrance doors broke the silence, allowing Ryūzetsu to walk in. At first, she yawned, but then her expression turned to astonishnt when she saw that it was John who had summoned her.
"Good morning, Ryūzetsu..."
"Eh..." she said after adjusting her face. "I— It's good to see you, lord John. What's going on?"
John rested his back against the wall before asking, "How are you feeling these days?"
The question almost caught her off guard.
"Honestly?" she began. "I've been feeling great."
"And what do you think about being here in the Jungle?"
"It's a big change from being an Anbu," she said after giving the question so thought, "but... I wouldn't go back to that."
John appreciated the candor and said, "That's good to hear."
It's then that he pressed a button on the wall, causing a section to slide open. Ryūzetsu watched in disbelief as an entrance appeared, revealing a secret room. With interested eyes, she questioned, "What is this?"
"You've been here for months and never noticed this?"
That's when it finally dawned on her what those noises she'd been hearing before were. As well as why Brie was working so hard lately.
"No, I never had a clue!" she said, stepping in.
The air was even colder here. But what took her aback was the walls that were lined with rows of cloning tanks. She breathed heavily when she saw that each clone inside the tanks was her!
"I'm so sorry!" she said, falling to her knees in shock. "I didn't know."
He regarded her for a mont and knew why she was behaving this way.
"Why apologize now, Ryūzetsu? This doesn't reflect a lack of usefulness. You were cloned because of your abilities, not because of any flaws."
She slowly raised her head and avoided his stare as she looked around at the lines of clones.
"What does this an for ?" she whispered. "Will lord Arthur dispose of now?"
He took a mont to let the seriousness of what they were saying be understood. Only then did he explain that Arthur viewed her as an important resource and that the idea of cloning them was intended to maximize the value of that resource rather than to substitute her.
To keep her spirits up, John also relayed the significance of her talents, talents that were being used better than when she was in the Anbu.
She shook her head, still taking it all in, and even though John's words were significant, the sight of her own face repeatedly reflected back at her was too much to handle.
It was believable that she couldn't fully process this. But if it was Arthur here who spoke, the Evil Illusion Flattery technique would have been more effective.
But who was John to care what she felt?
At the snap of his fingers, the doors of all the cloning tanks hissed open, and each clone opened its eyes in a coordinated movent that made Ryūzetsu shudder. They then lined up, exactly like her physical self, mirroring each other with a startling accuracy.
John stood next to Ryūzetsu as she shifted, struggling to keep her cool. She counted at least three hundred clones who stood in a perfect line. All of them were motionless.
She finally uttered, "This is... really weird, lord John."
"You should be happy," he said, defusing any tension. "Your lord Arthur spent quite a number of resources to bring them into existence."
It was confusing to be the focus of so many identical gazes, and Ryūzetsu felt the weight of each pair of eyes on her despite all of them looking forward.
From what she knew about clones, being that John was also a clone of Arthur's, they could share the sa experiences based on their birth and might have even had her sa personality.
Ryūzetsu asked, "What are you planning to do with them exactly?"
The mont her question finished, she found that they were all teleported to the outskirts of the Water Country. As soon as they arrived, John collapsed to the ground.
With worry on her face, she hurried to his side and asked, "My lord, are you okay?"
She was interrupted by a voice that said, "Don't bother..."
It was Hoshikaze, walking forward. Arthur was slightly behind, as well as the enormous Six-Tailed Slug. The two lords were wearing their white cloaks, making it difficult for her to see their faces.
Hoshikaze's eyes were cold as he said, "He's served his purpose by using up all his chakra to get you here. We'll handle his chakra exhaustion once things are done."
Unsure of how to interpret Hoshikaze's lack of interest, Ryūzetsu straightened up to ask, "What do you need to do then, my lord?"
Before she could be given an answer, the air around them changed. Arthur had taken a rainbow-coloured chakra pill. His chakra pulsed, and Ryūzetsu felt it perating her very lungs.
She stumbled, clutching her head as the natural energy smashed into her senses like a physical force, and she struggled to stay upright. He hadn't even fully transford yet, and she was already being overwheld.
She shook her head, trying to make sense of it, but then Arthur's form shifted into his Angelic Sage Mode. Majestic wings ford on his back, streaking his body with an unearthly aura.
Even the morning light around them looked dark compared to his illuminating presence.
Her heart couldn't stop pounding. Only when Hoshikaze transferred so of his chakra by placing a hand over her shoulder did she finally calm down.
"Is he..." she started, but the chakra's intensity kept her quiet—she had almost fainted.
Ryūzetsu barely understood what was happening as a series of vibrations shook the ground beneath them. Arthur clapped his hands together to start the technique.
'Forbidden jutsu: reanimation...'
The ground suddenly burst open as rows upon rows of coffins exploded out of the ground. The sound resonated in the still air like thunder. So much so that Ryūzetsu was knocked off balance by the force of the eruption.
Coffin lids then creaked open one by one to expose the remains of innurable corpses; cracked faces were seen inside, while so figures were dressed in the familiar shinobi gear.
"Th... They're from the Leaf Village," Ryūzetsu managed.
Hoshikaze calmly replied, "Indeed... They're all from the fallen Uchiha clan, and they've been reanimated to serve lord Arthur's purposes."
The idea made Ryūzetsu's stomach drop. The Uchiha clan was widely known for having been slaughtered by their own clanmate, Itachi. To think she was standing before them.
"I think I understand now," she said.
The clones of her were to be used as instrunts for the resurrection of this clan, all part of a complex sche. And she wasn't cloned because she was unworthy, but rather because her value had been increased to serve a higher purpose—just like John tried to tell her.
"Saiken," Arthur finally said with his arms crossed, "get ready..."
"You got it!" the beast squealed.
It's then that Hoshikaze took a step back as Arthur took to the skies.
Ryūzetsu turned to her many clones and boldly announced, "All right, everybody! Give it your all on this one!"
A sweat drop ford on her face when the clones remained motionless; they were expressionless and drained her bravado.
With a detached air, Hoshikaze watched her struggle: "They use your thod of reviving the dead, but their personalities have been taken away. They're just shells made to serve, not to think."
"Why'd you make them like that?" she asked as they just stood there.
"Because there can only be one Ryūzetsu..."
His words caused her cheeks to flush. She blushed unexpectedly, and for a mont, despite their predicant, she took solace in the fact that he was being sincere in his statent.
It's then that everyone got into their positions. Arthur had the strength of his Sage Chakra, Gift of the Hermit Chakra, and the Six-Tails' Tailed Beast Chakra all flowing freely through him. He anchored himself in the sky accordingly.
Then all of the Ryūzetsus unleashed their technique.
A stream of colourful chakra was released. The ground exploded with a brilliant light that was so intense it was blinding. There was an electric feel to the air as Ryūzetsu and the clones combined their techniques.
Hoshikaze could see them directing the spirits of the dead to join the corpses that were waiting. Within the dead forms, each soul appeared inside of soone and glowed brightly as it languidly drifted towards a body.
Ryūzetsu felt a remarkable connection to the chakra flow and was engrossed in the mont. However, as the light flared brightly, she felt tired.
The connection between the world of the dead and this world began faltering. Even the Six-Tails' sheer strength was expelled like a syringe running dry.
She beca aware of how many bodies were being animated simultaneously in a startling mont. One by one, her clones fell to the ground, dead, as the light finally went out.
Their shapes collapsed like marionettes, while the Six-Tails appeared to tremble, finally worn out from the strain.
"It's done," declared Hoshikaze.
Ryūzetsu stumbled, breathing heavily as her heart ca to a slow beat. The world seed on the verge of spinning out of control. She struggled to stay upright until her vision faltered, her throat dried, and she fell to the ground with what was left of her strength.
She had exhausted herself by the overexertion, and she was finally paying the price.
Arthur slowly drifted back toward the ground, not once looking in her direction. He didn't want to help. Instead, he ordered Hoshikaze, "Go see how she's doing..."
Hoshikaze knelt next to the girl and held her head to ask, "Are you okay?"
Ryūzetsu's eyes gradually opened, allowing her to see Hoshikaze's face. She had a smile on her face as she asked, "Did I serve lord Arthur well?"
Her voice was faint.
Observing the light draining from her eyes, Hoshikaze responded, "You did..."
The smile remained on her face. "I feel... as if I'm going to die."
"You are..."
The only thing Ryūzetsu asked for in her last monts was, "Can I see his face?"
Hoshikaze considered her for a mont. It was an interesting request. As such, he used a genjutsu to conjure up images of her childhood friend, Muku. That made her close her eyes and feel warm inside.
It was a gentle last mont, an act of rcy he was willing to show. Then she finally died.
Arthur dismissively looked at Ryūzetsu's waning form and flatly said, "She was going to die eventually."
"I know..." Hoshikaze said after standing up. He then scanned over the other dead clones. "There was no point in telling them that the act of reviving the dead would still kill them in the end... They were walking on borrowed ti."
"How long do you think she had if she didn't co here?" Saiken wondered.
"Perhaps a few days," Hoshikaze answered. "Maybe weeks at best."
"Aren't you sad, Arthur?"
"Why would I be?" he answered with a straight face. "When I can duplicate her dozens of tis..."
For the first ti, a Tailed Beast found a man disturbingly terrifying!
Arthur looked at the Uchiha clan, who had been brought back and were still arranged in their coffins. Not a single one of them showed signs of having been reanimated—their cracked faces were restored, and blood coursed through their veins.
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