Fubuki screamed. Naruto fell to his knees just two steps away.
“I will tell you why you lost, Fubuki, Kougon,†Sayoko spoke, sadly and calmly.
Fubuki screamed as the white flames ate at her chakra, her Void fire flickering briefly and pathetically, too feeble to consume the white fire.
“You lost because you have barricaded yourselves behind fallacies and contented yourselves with what you were given,†Sayoko continued. “Am I supposed to be impressed by how many Void spears and light beams you can fire at the same time?â€
It was hard to believe Fubuki was listening. She groaned and cried and moaned, and she glared at the boy who had fallen prone on the ground while panting heavily. Both the nine tails of flame and the blazing coat embracing his body were weakening and on the verge of disappearing.
Naruto’s soul was burning out.
“Higashiyama Sayuri-sama is a Kyuubi. It was a Kyuubi you were fighting, Fubuki. You lost because you stuck to the physical, while Naruto-sama and Sayuri-sama enter the realm of the conceptual.â€
Sayoko looked down at the fallen Kougon.
“You too, Kougon. You, the Bodhisattva of Shinkirou, should be the one creature in this world that jutsu should not have worked on.â€
And Nue, but that’s beside the point.
“If I can annihilate the probability of you defeating me, recreating that probability should be within your capabilities.â€
Despite its name, Naruto’s Rebellious Fox Beheading did not involve any severed heads. What Naruto struck with his guillotine of white flame was something deeper and intangible.
“Guuuuh…! Aaaargh!†Fubuki growled and howled like a desperate beast, but her eyes caught sight of the boy who had struck her so deeply. Even as her rage and hatred reached a boiling point, she could feel something, a part of her she had taken for granted all this time, fading away into ashes of ashes.
She felt so weak…
“For thousands of years, the lives of all kitsune have been ruled by fallacy and contentedness; it just so happens that the ignorance you and all kitsune share works in your favor.â€
Sayoko shook her head.
Fubuki glared at the boy, Naruto. The muscles of his back swayed upwards and downwards with his heavy breathing; it appeared the last attack took everything from him. With a briefly blinding gasp of white light, human and youkai separated, leaving the ever-nude little nine-tails kneeling at the boy’s side.
“Mugyuu?â€
Beastly, guttural sounds were all that escaped Fubuki’s throat by that point. Eyes injected with blood glared at the barely conscious boy who could not even turn his body face-upwards to see how despised he was.
“You…what…what did you do to me…?†Fubuki spoke throatily. Slowly, black fire gathered over her right hand…and faded. All capability for movement had been sealed as well.
“Guh…!†Fubuki grunted, and it was only her posture which allowed her to notice the small band of blackness attached to her own shadow.
“Kage…Shibari no Jutsu…â€
“The latest generation is calling it Kage Mane,†Sayoko pointed out while briefly glancing at her shadow bound to the Void Kyuubi’s—normally an impossible feat, made possible by the Flame of Destruction eating so much of Fubuki’s chakra.
“I think I like it better. Now, will you listen properly? You should know I am normally not so…vocal.â€
“Onii-chan…? Hey, onii-chan? You okay? Did Sayuri burn too much…?â€
Sayoko also knew Sayuri well enough to know she would not pay attention at the moment. Fortunately, she was the one person there who did not really need to be educated.
“Uzumaki Naruto-sama, Shinkirou Kougon-kun, Kuromiya Fubuki…all the human and youkai I sent to my Shrine Realm and may be watching this from there, and those who may be watching these events through their scrying techniques. Listen to me, Kurosaki Sayoko, and listen well.â€
Sayoko walked backwards, moving thus away from the fallen Kougon and the captured Fubuki.
“All this time, kitsune have built their society under the assumption that the number of their tails defines their individual greatness. This is wrong.â€
Sayoko’s eight perfectly black tails swayed at her will.
“An increase in spiritual energy is a natural consequence of ageing healthily; kitsune are in no way special by gaining more chakra as they become older. The one and only advantage of more tails is the increased potential for dexterous control of larger amounts of chakra, as is to be expected from gaining a whole new, highly-developed circulatory system every hundred years. Is that not the reason kitsune have to relearn chakra control every time we gain a new tail?â€
The oldest Void kitsune caressed one of her tails with her left hand while the right one accompanied her speech with gestures.
“The gift a Kyuubi receives from Inari-sama in his kindness and affection for you: the ‘Pinnacle of Systematic Mastery’…when did Inari-sama ever state that this is the only way to achieve that power? Where in the Codex of the Void does ‘SaSa’ write you need a certain number of tails to reach whatever level of Mastery over the Void? Why would gaining a ninth tail suddenly unlock the mysteries of the Four Aeons?â€
Sayoko shook her head again, like the very words caused her exasperation. While Kougon watched and listened quietly and attentively, Fubuki crudely scratched her skin with her own nails until blood was drawn, as if somehow a new source of pain could dispel the first. Her legs wanted to give out, but Sayoko’s Kage Mane held her in a standing position.
The eight-tails looked down on Fubuki.
“I hoped it would be you, Fubuki. I hoped it would be you who stepped into the Void and claimed the Aeon of Nothingness for yourself. But you have complacently lived gazing into the Mouth of Oblivion, letting it taint you.â€
She then glanced at Sayuri, who was carefully turning Naruto’s body so that he faced upwards. For a moment, his eyes met Sayoko’s, and she knew he was listening, even if he probably could not make sense of her words.
“Sayuri-sama needs no guidance. She has internalized Destruction to a greater level than I have Nothingness. I dare say she would have reached Kakuton before her third tail, even without Inari-sama’s gift. What she will become from now on is anyone’s guess.â€
Sayoko looked up at the sky, now tinged with yellows and oranges as the sun descended to the distant horizon.
“The strongest kitsune who has lived in this world achieved the pinnacle of her power at the age of two-hundred and sixteen.†The remembrance brought a smile to Sayoko’s face. “She was…bright beyond compare: undaunted, unflinching, unshakable, utterly unstoppable. Undefeated in battle…and so, so…so bright…â€
Sayoko’s shoulders trembled. What could those watching and listening to her make out of that?
“Yuria-sama has taken the first step, but walking the road towards that person will take more than a few years.â€
To finish her round, Sayoko centered her eyes on Shinkirou Kougon.
“And then, there’s Creation. Among all kitsune, the only one with the potential is you, Shinkirou Kougon-kun. If only you will reach for it. Otherwise some celestial or some dragon will claim it. But you just do not understand, do you?â€
Her eyes caught Naruto, who had finally succumbed to the lull of unconsciousness. Sayuri cuddled next to him, seemingly no longer caring about the other two Kyuubi. Sayoko nodded, both to the brave boy and to herself.
“I am the only one left standing. I believe that leaves the decision of what to do with you on my ancient hands.â€
“What…did they…!?†Fubuki managed to gasp out, her twitching hands vaguely pointing in Naruto’s direction. “What did they…do to me…!?â€
“They Destroyed the…’connection’ to the Void—no, the connection to He Who Whispers. You probably took it for granted, and you would be right of thinking of it as your genetic birthright, but it is also something that must be nurtured, and developed, and your tails have nothing to do with it. Right now, Higashiyama Yuriyo-sama is closer to the Void than you are. You exist at the level of the shadow-users of Konoha.â€
“Guh…!†That was a harsh insult to Fubuki, so proud of her power over the annihilation of all things.
“Do not fret, Fubuki,†Sayoko said in something like a comforting voice. “You simply need to retrain. Allow me to help you.â€
What followed was a dizzying succession of hand seals, at the same time Sayoko’s tails speared the ground and her shadow morphed itself into an arcane arrangement of curves underneath Fubuki and Kougon.
“If you wish to regain what you have lost, or perhaps gain something else, you must go to the source,†Sayoko explained while tendrils of Void-stuff poured out of the black array, slowly merging into a rising dome. Fubuki’s horrified gasp could be vaguely seen before her form was concealed by the darkness.
“You can’t—†Fubuki’s last words before even her voice was swallowed by the black hemisphere.
“The Labyrinth will be your instructor this time. I pray you learn from it what neither I nor your families could teach you, chosen of Inari.â€
Of course, the two banished Kyuubi could not hear her words anymore, and when the dome imploded upon itself, it revealed only empty space in its passing.
Alone in the realm of consciousness, she looked fondly upon the unconscious boy and the sleeping foxgirl, pressed against his body and clutching his side as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
“How enviable.â€
But Sayoko still had one last thing to do before she could rest like those two.
“Kuuton Kuchiyose.â€
Like a sunken city rising from the depths, the Village Hidden among the Leaves, no longer consumed by flames, emerged from a vast pool of darkness which spread across the village’s surface. Ruined buildings aplenty and metric tons of rubble crafted the scenery of an urban battlefield after hours of chaos. And among them, shinobi and civilians, all equally confused, all equally blinded by the sudden return from the realm they had been sent to. They were confused, but alive and well. It was time to gather the bodies of the dead, clear out the rubble and then build from what remained.
The confusion would hopefully be dispelled by their leaders. And it was they who stood a dozen or so meters from Sayoko, Naruto and Sayuri. It was not only the Third Hokage and Jiraiya. People from the main clans, the Hokage’s advisors and Shimura Danzou were also present.
Aside from the Konoha group stood most of the main family of the Great Spirit Clan of Higashiyama. Yurimi, Yurina and Yurine were kneeling around the unconscious Yuriko, while the others stood tall and awfully still, staring at Sayoko with expressions not much different from those seen on the humans’ faces. Sayoko noted the distance between the two groups; it was likely the forceful summoning to a place as gloomy as her Shrine Realm drove a wedge of mistrust between the humans and the youkai.
As for the expressions on their faces, well, it is both human and youkai nature to fear the unknown. Sayoko was sure they had watched the fight through the scrying pool in her Shrine Realm, and the things they likely saw in that place only furthered their wariness around her. It was not hard to guess the questions in their minds.
How powerful is Kurosaki Sayoko, really?
And perhaps more importantly, how old is Kurosaki Sayoko, really?
Hence, when faced by the awe, distrust and fear of both youkai and humans, Kurosaki Sayoko did the most Sayoko-like thing she could do.
“Fumyaaa~â€
She yawned. Loudly, and most open-mouthedly.
“Hauuuuu…†She then moaned to express her tiredness. After all, she had overcome an over-64000-layered Celestial-Void barrier jutsu, neutralized a wide-area Kuuton technique, reverse-summoned away an entire village and its population, defeated a nine-tailed kitsune and then summoned back the aforementioned village and population while smothering whatever structural fire which remained present.
It was a lot of work.
“Sa…Sayoko-san…?†Yuri inquired lamely when the purple-wearing Void kitsune groggily closed the distance between them. When Sayoko planted her hands on Yuri’s shoulders, the taller fox-woman dropped to her knees like she could no longer bear with her own weight. Sayoko quickly followed, cuddling up to Yui’s lower half and resting her head on the silver youkai’s generous thighs.
“Fumyaa~â€
And with one last yawn, the greatest Void kitsune to ever live abandoned herself to a most pleasant sleep, for there are few hypnotics as effective as the satisfaction from a job well done. Others could claim the stage and the spotlight now; she had returned to the place she truly belonged to.
Yuri’s comfortable lap, that is.
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CHAPTER 22 – END