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Seven long years… The Second Shinobi War lasted seven years. It dragged on far longer than originally expected. Once it ended, the Elemental Nations were left in shambles or at least the nations that had participated in the war.
The years of peace and stability they had acquired for their respective countries were thrown into jeopardy, causing the flames of war to slowly die out.
At last, in Year 51 since Konoha's founding, the Second Shinobi War came to an end. The following week, the nations held a parley in Akihara Village for peace negotiations.
The whole process lasted almost a month, with every village signing a non-conflict treaty that would last for five years.
The treaty was enforced by Akihara Village. After the peace negotiations came the talks regarding the profits from the train tracks.
The second negotiation, unlike the first, only lasted an hour. The reason: Mirai threw her weight around the Elemental Nations and bullied them out of their money.
A profit split of sixty to forty was decided, with Akihara taking sixty percent of the profit from all stations within their territory and giving only forty percent to them.
That might sound too little to some considering the tracks and trains belong to Akihara but not everything works on straightforward logic. Akihara had to share at least this much to keep the others interested and allow the trains to run smoothly in their territory.
If the others gained profits from the trains, they would not only avoid harming them but would also actively protect them. The tracks were laid out with maximum visibility to Akihara Village; nearly every train had to pass through Akihara to traverse the Elemental Nations, especially the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Since they did not want to connect other villages directly, each only allowed two tracks to link to their village: one that connected with the capital of their nation, and a second that connected with Akihara.
Because the one connecting to their capitals had too many tolls, a longer distance, and higher prices, everyone preferred the Akihara route, making Akihara truly the center of the continent.
While these decisions were, on Ryoichi's side, everything progressed well. He not only found ways to create dimensions and destroy them to extract their essence, but he also narrowed down the things needed for his body to become capable enough to not collapse while absorbing the essence.
The two things he needed were the DNA of the Kōritenshi Patriarch due to its adaptability in absorbing such high energy and something with the best healing power, so his body could heal while absorbing spacetime essence.
Both things were attainable for Ryoichi if only he had enough strength. So he trained like never before. His energy broke through to Sage Tier after he used a method similar to particle collisions.
He used many potent chakras like Kurama's, Asura's, Indra's, and the Ten-Tails' that he acquired from Jigen and made them collide with his Chakra until they created a superior chakra: a Sage-Level Chakra.
Ryoichi also pushed his body firmly into Sage Tier and mastered his Kekkei Genkai to a level that made him untouchable to almost anyone in this world. Through mastering Time Release, Ryoichi acquired immeasurable speed, a speed that transcended time itself. Through a jutsu he simply named Leap, he could jump through time by a few seconds.
This jutsu not only allowed him to leap through time and arrive at where he would have been a few seconds later with his speed, but it also removed the preparation time his other jutsus required.
And with jutsus like Eternal Banishment, Eraser from Timeline, and Time Freeze, he could fight universal-level beings as long as they didn't possess some kind of time resistance. But even if they did, Ryoichi was confident he could hold his own. His Soul Release ensured that.
With his preparations complete, Ryoichi left the planet after notifying Tsunade and his people of his absence.
Ryoichi stood on a chakra platform, gazing down at the blue and green planet below. A golden cloak of chakra enveloped him, protecting him from the harshness of infinite space.
Taking one last look at the planet, he took a step into the ever-expanding void. His surroundings blurred as the planet and solar system started to pass by. In a single step, he crossed thousands of solar systems, arriving above an uninhabited planet.
Ryoichi gazed at the planet for a second before taking another step. Again, space compressed as he arrived on yet another uninhabited planet. The third step took him directly out of his galaxy.
Four… five… six… Casually, Ryoichi continued walking, and galaxies began to pass by. Like that, he walked for a month until he reached the part of the universe controlled by the Kōritenshi.
Ryoichi continued traveling toward the center of their empire without much thought.
At some point in his journey, he started encountering beings under the Kōritenshi who questioned him, but Ryoichi walked past them as if they weren't even there.
Finally, he reached the home planet of the Kōritenshi, where he flew straight toward the largest energy source he could find.
Not long after, Ryoichi stood face-to-face with the Kōritenshi Patriarch.
Their battle became a legend, spreading far and wide across the universe. The aftermath of the fight left a third of the entire solar system destroyed.
After battling the Kōritenshi Patriarch for eleven days, Ryoichi retreated. He had collected all the DNA and energy samples he needed from the celestial being.
Once done, Ryoichi started moving toward his next destination: the Dragon Sage. But before reaching it, he decided to lick his wounds and evaluate his battle with the Kōritenshi.
The fight had been far too close for Ryoichi's liking. He had nearly died multiple times to the Reincarnation Lord. The only reason he didn't was that he had reversed time.
So he decided to train and remove his weaknesses.
Ryoichi reached one of many uninhabited planets and began training, filling the gaps he identified in his battle with the Kurōtenshi Patriarch.
He trained for a year on that planet, and when he was done, the very planet trembled from the chakra pressure his body released.
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