Naruto: Limit Breaker-Chapter 337: Fight or Not Fight

Chapter 337: Fight or Not Fight

What Hinata saw in such a short time was so unbelievable that she could barely accept it as reality.

A world’s direction could be pulled back and forth so easily, even changed at will. In that process, every trace of Hinata as an outsider was erased in an instant. Even the people stationed there vanished like they had never existed. What was this supposed to mean?

"Rest assured."

Seeing the disbelief on her face, Ryosuke spoke to calm her.

The sphere in front of them shifted again, and everything returned to its original state. Tiga appeared, Hinata appeared, the two sides made contact again. Scenes of their cooperation resurfaced.

Even Hinata and Ryosuke themselves were present in those images.

"This..."

Hinata froze again, thrown into confusion because she was now inside the picture.

If the timeline was pulled back and she went through the time gate again, would she meet her past self?

If there were two Hinatas, which one was real, and which one was fake?

And even more troubling, if the Hinata in that world opened a time gate while in a daze and came back, would she return to her current timeline, or the one she had been standing in?

"Of course she would return to the world line she belongs to."

Ryosuke seemed to read her thoughts. With a single mental push, the sphere split into several faint, hazy spheres.

Each sphere corresponded to Ultraman’s world, yet every image was different.

Some showed timelines after Hinata had intervened. Some showed timelines where she never stepped in. Some showed timelines that no longer matched other worlds at all.

"Parallel worlds."

Ryosuke looked at the stunned Hinata and explained evenly, "Managing timelines is a pain, so I usually avoid creating too many parallel time spaces."

"Once a new parallel world forms, there is one more me. In the end, no matter how many worlds exist, there will only be one me, but I will gain extra memories that never belonged to me in the first place."

Since his figure appeared in those timelines, a second Ryosuke naturally existed inside them.

But no matter which timeline’s Ryosuke was stronger, the one who finished first would be the one who remained.

Even if he crossed into the past and met his earlier self, even if that version fought bravely to comprehend the rules, the one sitting here at the end would still be him in this timeline. The other Ryosuke would become nothing more than memory.

Even so, it was unpleasant to suddenly carry memories that were not his.

Hinata nodded silently, not knowing what to say.

After seeing all of this, she finally understood what Ryosuke meant by strength.

Before she could fully take it in, another sphere floated toward her.

This time, Hinata’s entire body stiffened.

Not because of any enemy, but because the image inside that sphere was the study itself, showing only her and Ryosuke.

This was the rules of their world made visible.

If Ryosuke wanted, he could rewind this world to the past, or even restart it entirely. He could erase every chain that led to Kaguya Otsutsuki ever coming here, so this planet would never gain energy like chakra at all.

His power had grown so terrifyingly vast that Hinata felt her heart sink straight to the bottom.

Before, Ryosuke’s strength gave her confidence.

This time, it was different.

"This is my current strength."

Those simple words left Hinata unable to respond.

She finally understood why Ryosuke had looked so conflicted when he came back, and why she had felt that strange, distant isolation from him the moment she saw him earlier.

Maybe he had been walking toward this from the very beginning.

If time and fate could be changed at will, what kind of feelings could Ryosuke still carry when looking at everyone in this world?

What kind of feelings could he even have toward her, toward their children, toward their family?

Hinata stared at him blankly, memories rising one after another.

She could not recall much from when she was little. She only knew that Ryosuke had been in their house for as long as she could remember.

And his identity was her husband.

His presence seemed to fill the regret of not having a boy in the clan.

From the earliest days, he had been outstanding. Her father had always been grateful that Ryosuke became his son in law.

Ryosuke was obedient, sensible, sharp minded, and far too mature for his age.

His talent in training was extraordinary. Even while young, he could advise her father with clever words and clear judgment.

When they grew up, the three of them worked together to find a path for Hyuga.

From the battle in Wave Country, to the battle for Konoha, and then the battle in the Land of Water, they established the name Hyuga in this world.

And using this world as a foundation, they marched into the heavens and myriad worlds beyond.

So many memories, yet in Hinata’s mind they flashed by like a single moment.

When she snapped back to herself, she did not study Ryosuke’s expression or try to decode his meaning. She simply reached out and seized his arm.

"You are my husband!"

Her tone was firm, almost righteous, but the fear and unease inside her spilled straight into Ryosuke’s mind.

He did not want to pry, yet with his abilities, he could sense her heart without her even realizing.

Hinata did not want to become like Daigo in Ryosuke’s hands, a person whose fate could be rewritten at a whim.

She did not want to be a character in a play.

She did not want everything she had lived through to be edited and tampered with by someone else.

She only wanted to know that her life was real.

But she did not have the power to prove it.

No wonder she was shaken so badly.

Wasn’t this exactly how he had felt when he first suspected his own destiny was controlled by someone else? Back then, he had nearly gone mad, like a lunatic on the edge.

These questions were cruel by nature. Ryosuke could keep them buried only because he had the strength to endure them.

Hinata might not be able to do the same.

The fact she could say those words right now already shocked him.

"Yes, my lady."

Ryosuke’s voice was gentle as he pulled her into his arms.

"I am your husband. But how should I face you now?"

Hinata was too smart. The moment all of this was laid bare, she understood the trap they were in.

It was hard to decide how to settle her own mind, and how to deal with the underworld’s guidance.

Yet no matter how powerful Ryosuke was now, this world and these memories had still been created by him.

If not for him, Hinata’s personality, the Hyuga’s future, and the ninja world’s road would have been completely different.

This timeline was built by his hands. That truth was absolute.

"Just like before."

Hinata was silent a long time before speaking.

"Pretend nothing happened."

Ryosuke had already thought of that answer too, but how could he pretend nothing happened?

Once his memories awakened and he was marked for the underworld, his view of the world had changed.

The gap between immortals and mortals was not just words.

His distance from everyone in this world now was far greater than "a day in heaven, a year on earth."

It was a cliff.

No bridge.

The only difference was that Hinata and the others stood at the very edge, while everyone else stood deeper back.

Saitama’s world was special. Even though that consciousness had been born from rules, it was never guided away.

There were loopholes in that world, and later those loopholes were filled.

That consciousness’s reincarnation was not caused by Ryosuke. The rules decided everything from the start.

The moment Ryosuke regained full awareness and mastered rules, Saitama’s world had two masters, two law enforcers, an existence outside the rules.

That consciousness wanted to be human. It wanted humanity.

Because of that, the rules rejected it.

With Ryosuke’s help, it was expelled from Saitama’s body, pushed into reincarnation, and all its memories were erased.

"If I pretend nothing happened, someone else will take my place."

Ryosuke’s expression turned bitter.

"But if I refuse to give up all this, then I will have to leave you."

That position had not existed before because Boros had killed all law enforcers. After that, the rules in each world had not yet birthed new consciousness, so no one was born divine enough to fill those roles.

But now a master had appeared, someone capable of holding that seat, so naturally he had to go to the underworld and take up the post.

The moment he entered office, every world Boros once controlled would be fully handed to Ryosuke.

But once he took the post, he could only remain there, managing reincarnation for endless dead beings according to the underworld’s rules.

If he refused, he would be forced into reincarnation like the consciousness from Saitama’s world, or have his mastery and memories stripped away.

After all, the underworld held countless dead waiting to be processed. It needed law enforcers.

"After you leave, are you sure you can come back?"

Hinata was quiet for a long time, then asked with painful clarity.

"Since you can master all this, then the place you are about to go... if you are not the one who makes the decisions there, do you even have a chance to return?"

Ryosuke nodded, but his face did not relax.

"I am not sure."

It was not that he had no way back.

Rules could be modified anywhere, even in the underworld. He could create loopholes in reincarnation itself.

Boros had done exactly that, leaving Ryosuke all those back up plans.

If Ryosuke could master the rules of the underworld and reincarnation, he could return to this world.

At that point, he could tamper with everything at will and truly become master of all heavens and worlds.

But what if by then, there were beings above even the underworld?

Ryosuke’s road had always felt like a set of nesting dolls.

Just when he thought he had reached the peak and could rest, another layer appeared.

He had once believed that being the strongest was the top, that sitting there would be the end.

Then he learned there was a Supreme above that.

Then beyond Supreme, a higher realm, and etc.

Who knew if there would be a Outer God after that?

Thinking about it made his head ache.

The underworld’s existence had to come from some cause and effect.

If that cause and effect was natural, a gift of heaven and earth, something born divine, then fine.

He would master the underworld’s rules, master reincarnation, and it would end there.

But if the cause was human, like him, if something behind the curtain was pushing all of this, then it would be trouble.

Layer after layer.

When would it ever end?

There was not much left of the arrogance Ryosuke once carried.

Maybe having children had matured him.

Maybe awakening his past lives affected him.

Maybe it was both.

The underworld’s rules were formed by countless law enforcers together. What Boros had failed to do, Ryosuke might fail to do as well.

And this time, he had no backup plan waiting.

Everything he had relied on before had been left to him by Boros.

Cultivation talent, the golden finger in his mind, the time space gates, even the paths of training.

Boros had planned for everything.

Even though Ryosuke was not Boros and had his own complete consciousness, he could not deny how much help he had inherited to come this far.

But beyond this point, he was alone.

No family walking beside him.

No past life shielding him.

He no longer had the fearless confidence of before.

"This is not like the Ryosuke I know."

At that moment, Hinata, who had been panicking just a minute ago, grew calm instead. She reached up and gently stroked his face.

"The Ryosuke I know, whether the road ahead is bright or dark, is always cautious, but he always has the courage to cross it."

"It would be one thing if we did not know. But now we do. We cannot let an outsider sit above our heads, watching our lives and deciding our fate."

She paused, then seemed to make her decision.

"Go."

"Do not forget that behind you stands Hyuga, me, and your two children."

"If you lose, if you fail, then leave traces behind. I will make the two children find you."

"At the very least, I will finish what you could not."

Hinata might not have understood all of this at first, but once Ryosuke explained it, she grasped the stakes in a single breath and crushed her panic down.

She would break if she truly had to give this up.

Even if she did not know what Ryosuke would face, she believed that if he held that position, their children could at least grow safely.

But if someone else replaced him, their children would be in danger.

Even beyond the children, their whole timeline could be reorganized in an instant, the same way Ryosuke had rewritten Ultraman world.

For beings like that, it only took a thought.

The one who replaced Ryosuke might not tolerate a threat rising beneath him.

"...Yes. I am also the father of two children."

Ryosuke felt the weight on his shoulders suddenly grow heavier.

His love for those two kids was no less than his love for Hinata.

He had always believed beings born holy and without emotion would not care about such things.

But now that Hinata said it, he could not stop himself from wondering.

What if they did?