Uchiha Chizumi absolutely could not be allowed to fall.
Even though Jiraiya had never seen the power of a nuclear-level catastrophe, he understood perfectly well that Uchiha Chizumi absolutely could not just drop out of the sky and land on Konoha like that. It would destroy the village.
Of course, Chizumi wasn't that insane. The truth was, there was a reason he had unconsciously turned himself into a sun—and Hinata Hyuga had something to do with it too.
After Hinata entered Tenseigan Chakra Mode, Chizumi had almost instinctively wondered whether he could create a Radiance Release Chakra Mode of his own.
Radiance Release wasn't complete Six Paths-level power, but Chizumi had already experienced what it felt like to have Six Paths chakra wrapped around his body and form that divine robe-like state. Reproducing a similar state with Radiance Release didn't seem all that difficult.
And that was exactly what he tried.
As the power of Radiance Release spread over his body, a layer of golden-red chakra transformed into a special kind of energy and wrapped around him. This chakra mode looked more like Naruto's Sage Mode than anything else.
The moment he entered Radiance Release Chakra Mode, Chizumi instinctively flew upward. He wanted to get closer—closer still—to the sun, and learn a more complete form of Radiance Release from it.
Yes, he could clearly feel that his current Radiance Release was still incomplete. Guided by the instincts of higher bloodline power, he sensed that Radiance Release should also incorporate Wind Release.
Or rather, he needed yet another kekkei tōta in order to elevate Radiance Release into an even higher-tier bloodline.
"Too far!"
"After entering Radiance Release Chakra Mode, I can probably survive in outer space now—but reaching the sun is still far too slow!"
"I don't know how far the sun in this world is from this planet, but if I keep ascending at my current speed, it'll take me at least several years to get anywhere near it."
Chizumi shook his head, but he was extremely satisfied with Radiance Release Chakra Mode.
Not only because Radiance Release perfectly inherited the power of Lava Release, but because it filled in yet another weakness of his. With Radiance Release Chakra Mode, the sky was no longer forbidden territory for him.
From high above, Uchiha Chizumi looked down on Konoha below and felt a strange illusion.
An illusion that all he had to do was wave one hand, and the whole of Konoha would become scorched earth.
Or rather—
it wasn't an illusion at all.
He truly did possess that kind of power now. If he wished, he could create terrifying spheres of Radiance Release with a simple gesture. These Radiance Release spheres had no special trait other than one thing:
the purest possible destructive force.
They embodied the sun's fission.
They embodied the sun's fusion.
At this point, Uchiha Chizumi could genuinely be called a walking humanoid nuclear weapon. Deidara's so-called C0 art didn't even compare to the Radiance Release spheres Chizumi could now create casually.
High in the sky, Chizumi slowly began descending again. But he had flown so high that, by this morning, more than half of the Land of Fire had already seen a second sun rise over Konoha.
"Black Zetsu, what the hell is that?"
In a town somewhere in the Land of Fire, Obito stared dumbfounded at the descending Uchiha Chizumi and couldn't help asking the Black Zetsu beside him. This thing was supposed to be the embodiment of Uchiha Madara's will, so it was the one who knew everything—let it explain.
"Can I say I don't know either?"
Black Zetsu stared hard at that Radiance Release sun, its eyes full of uncertainty and alarm.
It was absolutely certain that a power like this had never existed in the shinobi world before. For a brief moment, even Black Zetsu itself had almost mistaken the thing rising above Konoha for a brand-new sun.
At this point, Black Zetsu could only suspect that it was a new bloodline limit—possibly even a new kekkei tōta.
"Where are the White Zetsu?"
"The White Zetsu around Konoha?"
"Have they reported anything yet?"
Obito immediately fell back on the White Zetsu's intelligence-gathering abilities. He and Black Zetsu had planted quite a few of them around Konoha, and every single one of them had deliberately stayed well away from Uchiha Chizumi.
"No reports yet. But I strongly suspect this disturbance was caused by Uchiha Chizumi."
"You know the Tsuchikage of the Land of Earth possesses a power called kekkei tōta. It's a special bloodline produced by combining two kekkei genkai."
"During the Third Great Ninja War, I saw the Tsuchikage's Dust Release."
"And now I strongly suspect Uchiha Chizumi has created a new kekkei tōta."
Black Zetsu's face grew darker—though being black to begin with, that was hard to notice. Still, Obito could clearly hear the gravity in its voice.
In truth, Black Zetsu and Hiruzen Sarutobi had arrived at exactly the same suspicion.
Could Uchiha Chizumi really be a genius?
A genius with an overwhelming instinct for bloodline powers—someone capable of creating kekkei genkai, or even understanding them on an absurd level?
"If he really did create a kekkei tōta, then his possession of Wood Release makes sense too."
"If he can create a brand-new kekkei tōta, then recreating Wood Release isn't impossible. The information on Wood Release may have been secret in Konoha, but he killed Orochimaru. He definitely understands Wood Release in far greater depth."
"The only thing that still doesn't make sense is Uchiha Chizumi's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."
At that moment, Black Zetsu's fear of Uchiha Chizumi actually lessened slightly.
Before, Chizumi's powers had seemed endless and impossibly mysterious.
But if he was simply labeled a bloodline genius, then most of those mysteries could be explained. The only thing that still remained unexplainable was how he had gotten the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
"So… are we still going to Konoha to steal the Tenseigan?"
"I'm starting to feel like that even if I mastered the Tenseigan, I still might not be a match for Uchiha Chizumi."
Obito asked, sounding distinctly less confident than before.
To be honest, Obito had never really bowed to anyone in his life—not even Kakashi.
But watching Uchiha Chizumi become stronger and stronger, and in ways that increasingly defied common sense, had planted a quiet certainty in Obito's heart:
Uchiha Chizumi might really be someone impossible to defeat.
"Of course!"
"If stealing the Tenseigan was merely something we hoped to succeed at before, then now it's something we must succeed at!"
"The Tenseigan's power is true Sage-level power. Uchiha Chizumi may be strong, but the power of a kekkei tōta is still beneath a Sage's power!"
Black Zetsu nodded fiercely.
Its awe toward Uchiha Chizumi had diminished a little—but at the same time, it had realized one thing even more clearly:
Uchiha Chizumi could not be allowed to keep growing like this.
Other people might not know what Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's power truly was—
but Black Zetsu certainly did.
And what Black Zetsu feared now was that if Uchiha Chizumi continued developing like this, he might one day truly unify all seven chakra natures and obtain a kekkei mōra of his own.