Chapter 9 (Sasuke Retsuden)

This is chapter 9 of the Sasuke Retsuden manga.

## Summary [ ]

With all of the dragons starting to surround them, Sasuke tells Menō to focus on the Titan; he uses Chidori Senbon to create an opening among the approaching dragons and then uses Susanoo to throw Menō onto the Titan's back. Upon landing, Menō begins charging at Zansūru , but Zansūru flees using a flying dragon before Menō is able to attack him. Annoyed that Menō has now turned against him, Zansūru urges the many dragons to kill Sasuke quickly. As Sasuke continues repelling the dragons attacking him, Menō lures the Titan to a lake near the Astronomy Research Institute . Once the Titan has gotten close enough, Menō attacks its legs, causing it to topple over into the water.

Because of its huge size, the Titan is not able to free itself. Zansūru instructs the flying dragon that is carrying him to help the Titan get out. Because he is not its original controller, this replaces the flying dragon's previous instruction to carry him, causing Zansūru to be dropped and subsequently die on impacting the ground. With him dead, the dragons revert back to their previous instructions of attacking the prisoners. As Sasuke is about to pursue them, he notices a hawk with a letter .

Elsewhere, Sakura continues to protect the prisoners from the dragons. She is joined by Penjira and Ganno , who repeatedly attack the dragons she defeats in order to cancel out the healing of their reincarnated bodies. When she sees Jiji coming after her, Sakura starts running away. Jiji uses an Earth-Style Wall to block her, and then approaches her on foot, expressing regret for what he must do to her. Once he gets near, a seal activates, preventing him from moving. Jiji is confused about where the seal came from, so Sakura explains that she noticed he had the chakra of a ninja when they first met, and placed the seal on him as a precaution.

Even though he cannot release himself, Jiji believes he will be freed once Zansūru comes for him. When he senses the approach of Sasuke with Menō instead, he realises this won't be happening and accepts defeat. Sasuke asks why Jiji got involved in Zansūru's plot in the first place, not believing him to be the type to slaughter innocents out of patriotism. Jiji explains that he was originally hired to be part of the Land of Redaku 's army, but he fell in love with a maid from the royal palace named Margo . Redaku's Prime Minister offered to let him leave the army to be with Margo if he would first assist Zansūru with creating a dragon army.

Jiji fell out of contact with Margo during his time helping Zansūru. Just as his service period was about to finish, he was notified that Margo had died of an epidemic. Distraught, Jiji agreed to continue assisting Zansūru in exchange for Margo's body, his hope being that he could reincarnate her just as he'd done with the dragons. Although Sakura confesses she might have considered doing the same thing in his position, she doesn't believe it's something Margo herself would want. Sasuke recognises Margo's name and shows Jiji the letter he received earlier: it mentions that King Nanara has overthrown the Prime Minister with the help of a woman named Margo.

Jiji cries at the realisation that he's been manipulated for so long. When he sees a dragon approaching Sakura from behind and about to attack her, he releases all of the dragons from their reincarnated bodies. Dragons throughout the Institute begin dissolving as their souls depart to the afterlife. As Menō's body also starts falling apart, Sasuke wishes him a peaceful rest; Menō growls and embraces Sasuke before he vanishes.