Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

The Shinden Saga – Arc 3: The Dragon Sage

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Chapter 138 – Untouchable

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Yamitsuki Otsutsuki, the ruler of Ashihara, just presented himself to the Konoha, in by the main gate, as any foreigner would. Obviously, this surprise visit isn't taken lightly. The security forces of the village are already on the move. A squad led by Shino Aburame is positioned on the nearby roofs. In their minds, Ino Yamanaka, director of the intel division of the village, ensures communication.

Rebekka, Shiba and others who were near the gates step back and away. Kiba Inuzuka, left alone in front of the calm intruder, focuses his senses. He can smell this man's atypical yet proper odor, he can see him despite not daring to look up to his face, but he can't sense any chakra coming from him. He isn't the only one to notice this.

"Why are you hiding your chakra, intruder?" Shino asks with a straight tone.

Yamitsuki, ignoring Kiba who slowly steps away before him, looks up to the Aburame and answers.

"Sir, I am not suppressing anything. It appears that your senses are simply not accurate enough to feel my energy."

"Even I can't sense him." Ino confusingly comments in everyone's mind, which the Ryu Shinsen hears as well since he feels the ongoing communication, but keeps it secret.

Joining the troops of Shino on the roofs arrive the special forces of Konoha: an elite made of rehabilitated black ops ninjas. Their leader, Koji Kashin, former lieutenant in the ANBU's root, takes the lead in the discussion.

"What do you want, Otsutsuki?" he says.

Yamitsuki now discreetly looks up with his eyes while facing down to hide his sight with his hair. He sees the elder ninja, his imposing figure, manly face and beard collar.

"I believe I have already answered this question." he replies. "Shall I repeat, I seek to discuss, from leader to leader, with the Hokage about matters that this village should be aware of by now."

"You don't deserve his audience." Koji replies.

"It's fine. Stand back." a reassuring voice is suddenly heard by everyone.

Naruto Uzumaki, followed by Shikamaru, Izuna and Inoue, arrives at the gate. All those accompanying the Hokage stop on a nearby roof, behind the armies of Koji and Shino. Further away, Yamitsuki notices the suicide corps of Rock Lee, also ready to intervene. Naruto lands next to Kiba, setting him free to get away.

"I'm here." Naruto declares. "I recognize you. What do you need to talk about?"

The Dragon Sage, before giving an answer, looks at the Hokage from head to toe, somehow disappointed.

"Lord 7th…" he sighs and says. "I do you the honor of being present in person, therefore would I appreciate the same consideration from you." he demands, referring to the fact he is only talking to a clone and not the original.

"Sorry, but that's not possible at the moment." Naruto answers. "My original isn't here right now."

"I apologize, for I cannot accept such conditions." Yamitsuki remarks as he discreetly comes closer. "May I ask permission to have this conversation in a more convivial place, such as your home for instance?"

"... I guess we could do that." Naruto replies, eased by the celestial's calm behavior yet still on his guards, alerted by his forward move.

"Then I shall wait for you there." the Dragon Sage bows and says, then suddenly gets closer in an instant, before Naruto can answer.

Though he was standing ready, the Hokage crosses the gaze of the celestial and is struck by an illusion that dispels every single of his clones, including this one. In the land of Wind, the original Hokage is sitting with Gaara in a meeting room in the Kazekage's mansion when he's suddenly troubled by the dispelling of his clones, and a glimpse of the Dragon Sage's eyes. He abruptly stands up, to Gaara's surprise.

"I have to go!" he exclaims.

In Konoha, everyone is startled by the sudden disappearance of their ruler. Yet no one dares to move. Yamitsuki, unbothered, starts walking forward to his own destination. His move sets everyone on guard, which he notices.

"As you have just heard, I will proceed to wait for the Hokage at his house." he announces as he keeps walking forward, expecting a negative reaction from the surrounding ninjas.

The ninjas all look at each other in confusion, still unable to sense the intruder's chakra, and unsure of how to stop him. Sakura arrives and lands on the roof next to her son, Shikamaru and Inoue. She's followed by Kakashi and Takeshi Minamoto, who's still on a visit in Konoha.

As Yamitsuki is slightly distracted by their arrival, Koji Kashin and the special force squad are the first to engage resistance, taking advantage of this tiny moment of inattention. In a few seconds, they surround the target and prepare a joined jutsu.

"You won't go anywhere!" the leader of this elite says as he performs the tiger hand seal to join his army's combination.

Raiton – Jurokuchu Shibari

All together, the special forces squad trap the intruder in a stone oven filled with electricity to paralyze what's inside. Koji, with 2 of his disciples, adds a final touch to this jutsu.

Katon – Suyaki (Fired Pottery)

They set the inside of this oven on fire. The flames rage until totally bursting and collapsing the enclosure. When the fog and ashes settle, to their surprise, they see the Dragon Sage, calmly resume his walk. He is unfazed, unharmed. Not even a burn or scratch on his clothes.

Noticing the ambient confusion, Yamitsuki calmly looks around and accidentally crosses the gaze of most of the former ANBU's squad. With no more than this rapid eye contact, he causes them all to seemingly faint, as their chakra completely vanishes. Koji and those who remain from his squad look around at their fallen comrades fearfully.

"This is regrettable." Yamitsuki calmly comments. "These ninjas have inadvertently looked into my eyes. It appears none of them could endure it. If you are not used to the Sharingan, my gaze will end your life. I will keep my eyes closed from now on, to avoid more useless casualties."

To this explanation, Koji stays frozen. He stares at his immobile subordinates who dropped to the ground as Yamitsuki walks past him unbothered. Are they really dead? Were they really killed so easily? As he comes to this realization, Koji thinks of the eyes that he didn't cross. The same eyes as the Uchiha.

Full of anger, he turns around and prepares to attack on his own, but is preceded by Izuna who gets in the Otsutsuki's way to gather intel in a quick and efficient way, using his brother's Mangekyo Sharingan ability.

Futsunushi

With this power, Izuna attempts to read the body memory of Yamitsuki and instantly become aware of all that he can do. However, the cost of this jutsu depends on the difference between the user and their target. For Oshio, reading the abilities of Sasuke Uchiha was tiring enough. For Izuna, attempting the same thing on the Ryu Shinsen immediately brings him to his knees, near exhaustion.

This has nothing to do with the mystical nature of this man's body and energy. It is only due to the nearly unlimited amount of knowledge and mastery he has. There seems to be no end to what he knows. Seeing the Uchiha collapse from the amount of information he took in, Yamitsuki replicates his jutsu and uses it against him.

Futsunushi

"An Eien no Mangekyo Sharingan, able to summon Kanzentai Susanoo, instantly transport you anywhere within your sight, and become aware of the abilities of your opponents before seeing them in action. Tremendous strength, highly trained in Taijutsu, and great mastery of Katon. The most impressive thing about you remains the Sengo seal on your forehead, its unequaled regenerative ability and Shinsen chakra… I recognize you, Izuna Uchiha."

"Yeah, I know who you are." Izuna answers as he hardly gets back on his feet. "You were in my dream 4 years ago. You gave me the eyes I used to fight Oshio. Why?"

"This is a matter that I will be discussing with your master." Yamitsuki answers as he comes closer.

Feeling threatened, Izuna leaps away just as Choji Akimichi and his clansmen, who were among Shino's troops, expand their bodies to become giants and stand in Yamitsuki's way.

"You won't go any further, Otsutsuki!" Choji exclaims as he raises his only fist.

Yamitsuki notices the missing hand of the giant and comments on it.

"A lost limb in the ranks of the Hokage? Has he not tried to restore it, Akimichi?" he asks as he walks forward carelessly.

Too worried about his movements, Choji doesn't listen and answer this question. In a hurry, all the giants crash their palms into the ground to crush the Dragon Sage. Yet, just like earlier, they see him walk out from the crowd. It appears as he phased through the legs of Choji and keeps going toward Izuna who's still on the road. Bothered by what he's been seeing, Takeshi Minamoto leaves the roof he was on and leaps into action under Tentoki's command.

Shiden

With his lightning blade, he tries to scalp the celestial from behind, but like any other offensive until now, he just passes through, doing no damage. So, instead, he gets by Izuna's side and helps him up. Kakashi joins the two ninjas in front of Yamitsuki. Before he has to ask, Takeshi explains what just happened.

"Lord 6th, it's not what we thought." he explains. "He's not just dodging us by moving too fast for us to 's actually phasing. Right now I just passed right through him like a ghost. He's untouchable."

"… So you're not canceling our attacks. They simply can't reach you." Kakashi theorizes. "In that case, it must be similar to Kamui."

"Kakashi Hatake, this is an interesting suggestion." Yamitsuki replies. "Yet, I am not using Kamui. This ability may be too simple and obviously flawed for me."

"Kamui? Too simple?" Kakashi interrogates, surprised that someone would refer in such a way to one of the most elaborated and powerful jutsu he's ever seen.

In Takeshi's mind, Tentoki is trying to figure out these abilities just like Kakashi does.

"If it relies on a disturbance like the 6th Hokage thinks, then freezing space and time could work." he suggests.

Before Takeshi can react to his tengu's comment, he's startled by the Dragon Sage who suddenly vanishes and appears inches away from him instantly. In panic, he tries to hit him again before Izuna and Kakashi even notice him. But once again his fist phases through Yamitsuki's face. He pointlessly prepares a second attempt but his arm is caught still before he can.

Izuna and Kakashi only now notice him and, instinctively, try to strike him as well. But both their chakra coated fist and Shiden also can't reach. Just to try, Kakashi actually holds his hand within the still enemy, to notice how it actually phases through.

"We should have followed Tentoki's idea." Makura comments in Takeshi's mind.

"Well sorry, but my dad isn't there to stop time." the Minamoto answers aloud, which gets Yamitsuki's attention.

"Hm. You think Kala, or Jikanteido as you call it, would bypass my jutsu?" he says to Takeshi, before pulling on his own collar to lower it and show a scar on his neck that looks like he was stabbed by a thick needle here. "I have never healed this scar, for I keep it as a reminder. It is all that someone could do, using Kala in an attempt to behead me by surprise. And the individual who did this is much more powerful than anyone who ever lived on this planet."

Kakashi, Izuna, Takeshi and his tengu, are all flabbergasted by this little revelation. Kakashi and Izuna are starting to doubt the relevance of a fight against him. Meanwhile, Takeshi is distracted by something else. The Daitengu, only visible to him, appears to comment on this as well.

"He knows another user of Jikanteido?" Sojobo says confusingly. "And it's someone stronger than I am?"

As Takeshi is distracted by an invisible presence, Yamitsuki notices it. He follows his gaze to look by his side, where he doesn't see or feel anything. Yet he's certain that someone is here. Intrigued, he doesn't let it bother him any longer, as he has something to ask Takeshi.

"Takeshi Minamoto, is Sakitsuki doing well? More importantly, is she happy?" he asks, to which he gets a light and hesitant nod as an answer.

Reassured, he slowly lets go of the ninja's arm. Yet, as it slips from his fingers, he's suddenly intrigued by an odd sensation. He catches firmly on Takeshi's wrist and looks suspiciously at his hand. For a moment, he felt the aura of a late fellow.

His curiosity is however brought back to action by Koji Kashin who tries to take advantage of another moment of inattention but fails again. As he leaps over the enemy and the 3 ninjas holding him, Koji notices that, even though he is making physical contact with them, Yamitsuki is still untouchable. This eliminates the hypothesis of Kamui as this strategy would have worked otherwise.

When he lands on the ground again, he's joined by two of his subordinates, including Denki Tatari, former student of Konohamaru. Together they try a different offensive.

Katon – Zanmai no Shinka

They expel a large cloud of flames toward Yamitsuki who frees Takeshi's wrist to let him get out of range with Kakashi and Izuna. Koji and Denki imbued their jutsu with a curse that makes the pain of the burns last forever, to see if a curse would affect the target. To show them it doesn't, Yamitsuki first lets the flames strike, to no damage, before absorbing them in the palms of his hands with Gakido.

"You and your squad have been quite consistent and annoying." he says to Koji. "If you attempt one more offense, I will have to strike back."

Frustrated, and willing to avenge his dead soldiers, Koji brings his open hands together, palms and fingers together in a quite special hand seal, ready to use his mightiest move.

"This will not be any more efficient." Yamitsuki warns again, recognizing the hand seal and stopping Koji's impulsive move.

Then, a dozen of ninjas in green chakra coats abruptly crash onto the Dragon Sage all together. These are the ninjas of the Suicide Corps, including Metal Lee and his mother Wakasa. After this strike, they leap away and let 12 more ninjas do the same before the dust settles. Rock Lee, captain of this squad, lands next to Kakashi.

"Lord 6th!" he exclaims. "How does it look, do we have any chance?"

"Lee… I'm starting to doubt even Naruto could handle this one alone…" he admits. "He's using a space-time jutsu that makes him untouchable."

"Our only option would be to have my father and Hokage-sensei together against him…" Izuna suggests.

"But Sasuke is still unavailable. And so is Naruto right now…" Sakura completes. "We can't just let him roam free like that."

"He's here for Boruto and Toneri…" Takeshi repeats what the Daitengu thinks, which quite confuses everyone who now sees the invader as an immediate threat.

Rock Lee, hearing the worries and pain in Sakura's voice, and weighing the situation considering the absence of Naruto and the nature and grade of the enemy, thinks of the worst scenario. Shikamaru comes back to them with Inoue and gets Lee's attention.

"… Is he really the ruler of his clan?" Lee asks Shikamari with a thoughtful voice. "How desperate are we?"

"Considering that we didn't even figure out his abilities, even if Naruto manages to come back he won't have a chance without Sasuke's intellect." the Nara quietly says as he thinks. "If the task is to beat him or get him away from the village, then there's no hope at all."

Rock Lee looks over at his squad doing no damage and stepping back, and tries to think of a plan. He seems untouchable, yet he is physically present since he touched Takeshi earlier, which gives him an idea

"Lord 6th… If we reach him but not touch him, do you think that distorting and breaking him along with the fabric of space could hurt him?" he suggests.

"I don't know, it's worth trying I guess." Kakashi cluelessly says, not minding how absurd this idea sounds before suddenly realizing what Lee is thinking of. "Wait, you're talking about the Shimon? You can't do that. It's not worth dying. And you don't even know if you'd actually surpass him."

"But it could help." Shikamaru interrupts Kakashi, ready to explain a sudden plan. "Even if he uses the Death Gate, all Lee needs is to hold on long enough until Naruto arrives and saves him like he saved Gai during the war. And we don't need him to defeat the enemy. Just to keep him busy until we set up a seal or something that could work."

"How do you intend to seal him?" Kakashi asks, unsure about this plan.

"We could ask Anko and Rebekka to try their Fuinjutsu." Shikamaru suggests. "Whether it works or not depends on the container we use."

"For that, Tenten has the Rikudo's treasures. With her help we could contain him." Lee suggests.

"If you're doing that, I'll go with you." Sakura tells Lee. "I'll go first. With my Sengo's strength, I can lightly bend space too. If that seems to work, you'll know it's worth it."

"I'll assist you in that case." Inoue exclaims, willing to participate as well.

"I'll go find Tenten and Rebekka. Ino, get me in touch with them." Shikamaru says before running away to proceed with this plan.

Sakura, with trust in her eyes, stares at Inoue and Lee, and gets into action. Kakashi and Izuna stay there speechless, mistrustful about this plan. Ready to go all out, Sakura unleashes her Sengo seal Creation and Rebirth jutsu at its fullest and jumps toward the Dragon Sage just as the suicide corps gets away.

Seeing her fall on him with her chakra loaded fist and Shinsen chakra flowing through her opened seal, Yamitsuki focuses on Sakura and carefully catches her wrist right before she lands a punch in his face. Right after catching it, he pulls her arm up to prevent her punch from damaging anything. To this prompt reaction, Kakashi and Lee stay flabbergasted.

"Do not misinterpret this, Sakura Uchiha." the Dragon Sage tells her as she's immobilized above the ground. "I did not stop you to avoid being touched, but to prevent your attack from destroying this village. The strength of Shiva should not be used so carelessly."

He then looks up to Rock Lee while still holding Sakura who struggles to get away.

"Breaking or bending the space you are in would not affect me either." he says. "Therefore, you should not risk your life with that jutsu, Rock Lee."

Lee takes a step back, unsettled by the enemy's calm and wisdom. His squad, after their last failed attempt, retreats to the nearby roofs with the Akimichi clan and Shino's squad. Inoue, seeing Sakura's struggle, tries to help her get away.

Shinranshin no jutsu

Using her favorite move, she attempts to trouble the spirit of Yamitsuki and lightly control his movements to free her boyfriend's mother. But similarly to what happened to Izuna, she instead feels her own mind being troubled and nearly faints. The body and mind of the Dragon Sage, even though in her reach, seem to be immune to such mind tricks.

Distracted by this attempt that he could still feel, Yamitsuki confusingly looks at Inoue. In a moment of inattention again, Denki and other subordinates of Koji Kashin try to strike again, despite the Ryu Shinsen's earlier warning.

Katon – Hibashiri

Together, they create a circle of flames around the celestial that rapidly gets narrower and closes on its center. Before it swallows him, Yamitsuki tosses Sakura away, toward Kakashi who catches her. The 6th Hokage is rather surprised by this move. As it seems, Yamitsuki just made sure to keep Sakura out of harm.

It seems like they've got the wrong idea and the celestial ruler really has no violent intentions at all. His seemingly belittling attitude is actually just honesty, and the casualties earlier were really a stupid accident.

However, now that his warning was ignored, he can't maintain this pacific behavior.

"I told you not to strike again, And you did anyway." he tells Koji. "I have to keep my word now". He adds as he raises his right hand.

Takami Musubi

From the palm of his hand, he releases the cursed flames he absorbed earlier. Those flames, twice as large and fast as they were earlier, engulf Koji and his squad mates in a second, inflicting fatal burns and eternal pain. Sakura, seeing this happening, immediately recognizes the ability of Momoshiki. Why is he able to use it despite having no Rinnegan?

Yamitsuki looks at her again and notices the confusion in her eyes. She looks back at his closed eye sockets and wonders what exactly his powers are. Earlier, he also used Oshio's Futsunushi. Is it just a coincidence for him to have these familiar skills, or did he steal or copy them somehow?

"Sakura Uchiha, your medical skills may be of help to save these ones." he tells her about Koji and his squad before going on his way by foot.

Rock Lee, seeing his suicide corps waiting for his command on the roofs, looks at Sakura.

"… I guess I shouldn't try the Shimon." he says. "You should heal the injured, including Inoue."

Sakura just slowly nods, a bit frustrated by how powerless this opponent makes her feel. She then signs to Izuna and they get down to help Koji and his subordinates.

"There's no point in this." Kakashi quietly says. "He's… just waiting to meet Naruto. We should leave it to him."

"But Shikamaru is still on the move." Lee adds.

Kakashi, as he realizes that Shikamaru could just be endangering others with his plan, tries to stop it. He calls for Ino in his mind, but it seems like she undid his connection to the rest earlier, now focused on Shikamaru's needs.

Yamitsuki, just as he reaches the end of a street into the main square of the village, is stopped by Rebekka Tabiki, Shikamaru, Anko Mitarashi and Tenten who land on the corners of the roofs surrounding him. They all carry a scroll that they open to unleash a seal mark. Tenten brought the Kohaku no Johei with her. Without a word, they all lay their scrolls open at their foot and print the seals on the ground.

Yamitsuki quietly witnesses it like a spectacle, taking this as another refusal to let him reach his destination. Just as they're about to activate this seal, the mark at Anko's feet is suddenly made unusable by a stain of ink making it inconsistent. Shikamaru, unsettled by this, looks up to see where it came from.

Up above, they see Sai standing on the back of an ink bird, here to stop their attempt. Yamitsuki stays silent and waits for Konoha's ninjas to discuss this visible disagreement. Shikamaru, not willing to look confused or out of control in front of the enemy, stays quiet.

"Bruh, what was that about?" Rebekka exclaims, not as calm as Shikamaru.

"It's on behalf of the 6th Hokage." Sai says. "This attempt, like all others, will most likely fail. Lord 6th gave order to let the Dragon Sage wait for Lord 7th as he intends to, and let him handle this."

"This is insane!" Anko exclaims. "He's murdered ninjas of Konoha. We can't let him have his way."

"There's nothing we are in position to do against him." Sai replies. "So far, he's displayed actions tending to encourage our cooperation. He will not use violence if not forced to. Isn't that right, Ryu Shinsen?"

Yamitsuki doesn't answer and just looks up to Sai, with his eyes still closed to avoid any deadly eye contact.

"We can't do that. What if he is really after Toneri Otsutsuki and Boruto?" Tenten asks, concerned.

"I am here to talk with the Hokage. I will not partake in any other objective before that." Yamitsuki calmly precises to reassure them.

Shikamaru looks at the enemy and thinks for a second, before sitting down on his roof.

"What a drag… We'll leave it to Naruto then." he says. "Ino, tell everyone to stay out of the Dragon Sage's way."

"I very much appreciate your intervention, Sai Yamanaka." the god of knowledge tells Sai before abruptly vanishing.

Shikamaru, seeing him disappear, gets confused by this being's approach to the situation. If he could have teleported to Naruto's house from the beginning, why didn't he do it sooner? It seems like Kakashi is right. Yamitsuki was really trying to avoid any collateral damage. Now, what happens next depends on what he wants to discuss with Naruto.

"Ino, you better warn Hinata that something's coming." he adds, wondering how this will go down.

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Hinata, doing chores alone at her family's home, only has time to hear a voice yelling half of a sentence in her mind before being shut down when she hears someone knocking. Clueless and confused she goes to open the door and finds herself face to face with a nearly 2 meters tall divine figure. She doesn't say anything, nor does she dare to move, until he speaks.

"Good Evening, Hyuga princess." Yamitsuki greets her politely. "I apologize for the unannounced visit. My name is Yamitsuki Otsutsuki. I am expected to wait here for your husband… May I come in?"

Hinata, unsure of what to do, steps back and lets him in. Oddly, she can't sense his chakra, but doesn't feel threatened. Naruto doesn't tell much about all he knows of this clan, but he does sometimes share his hopes for a peaceful common future. This individual's calm behavior is pretty encouraging in that way. Also, even if she wasn't willing to comply, there isn't much she could do. To be welcoming is the smartest thing she can do for now.

After walking in, Yamitsuki quietly looks around, opens his eyes to stare at the stairs to the second floor, and looks down to see the shoes and jackets next to the entrance. Hinata closes the door and stays behind him in silence, not sure of what she should do. Right as she was about to say something, out of courtesy, the god of dragons speaks.

"Shall I leave my shoes at the door?" he asks.

"Um… Yes, it is custom practice here…" she shyly says. "Should I… prepare tea?"

Yamitsuki turns around to see her, waits a moment, and replies.

"If it is of custom practice, I will gladly accept a cup of tea."

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Just a few minutes later, Izuna and Takeshi are still with Kakashi, Sakura and Inoue on a roof. As they're discussing all they could get from this encounter, they're interrupted by a loud sound of wind pushed above them. It is Naruto who just arrived by flight. He comes down closer, expecting to receive information. Inoue speaks first, giving immediately what should be most of interest to him.

"Hokage-sensei, he's at your home!" she exclaims.

Perplexed by what this may mean, Naruto doesn't wait to hear more and immediately hurries to his house. Hinata is there alone, and he senses no troops nearby. Yet the crushing chakra of the Dragon Sage is indeed present there.

"How are we gonna handle this?" Kurama asks in his mind.

"I don't know." Naruto answers. "But I swear Hinata better be fine, or else, I'll just have to kill him."

In panic, worried for his wife left alone with the intruder, he barges into his own house. There, he finds a much surprising scene. Yamitsuki Otsutsuki, the Dragon Sage, has left his white mantle and his boots at the door. He is standing there in the hallway, with his hands joined in his back, gazing around curiously.

Standing at the door, Naruto catches a glimpse of Hinata in the kitchen. She seems at peace, not much bothered. He can also sense his daughter Himawari in the backyard. She may not even be aware of what's going on.

Alerted by the sound of the door, Hinata looks up and sees Naruto behind the Dragon Sage. Reassured now that he knows his wife is safe, Naruto turns off his Biju Chakra Mode. Yamitsuki slowly turns around and sees the Hokage closing the door and looking at him mistrustfully.

"So you are the original." the Ryu Shinsen gladly says. "I suppose you should leave your shoes at the door, Lord 7th."

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End of Chapter 138 – Next Chapter: Sacrifice for Peace