A colossal golden sword phantom hung high in the sky before crashing down with overwhelming force.
For a brief instant, even space itself seemed to freeze. Kakashi could clearly see the intricate patterns etched along the blade, as if time had slowed just for him.
A violent storm of energy erupted outward, forming a hurricane that swept everything aside. Dust and debris surged like ocean waves, rolling across the battlefield.
In that moment, something within Kakashi sharpened.
Countless figures flashed through his mind. His comrades, his battles, everything he had experienced as a shinobi. The scattered arcs of lightning around him flickered, and a powerful conviction surged in his chest.
All of it gathered into a single point.
Into the White Fang in his hand.
"White Fang: Sky-Shattering, Path of Extremes!"
"Slash!"
Boom!!!!!
The two forces collided head-on.
A piercing screech tore through the air as the point of impact began to collapse inward, then spread outward in a circular wave.
In the next instant, it exploded.
Smoke and dust billowed violently, swallowing everything in sight.
Both Kakashi and Ōtsutsuki Sōjitsu were blasted away, their figures disappearing into the cloud of debris.
...
Moments later, silence fell.
Only drifting dust remained.
As the smoke gradually cleared, Kakashi's figure came into view.
His body was drenched in blood, half-kneeling on the ground. The sword that should have been in his right hand was now gripped in his left.
His right arm hung limp at his side.
His left hand drove the blade into the earth, supporting his weight.
His mask had shattered halfway, revealing part of his pale, composed face.
Across from him, Ōtsutsuki Sōjitsu stood as well.
His breathing was heavy, a deep scar now carved across his face. His clothes were torn, his body marked with countless cuts.
Those wounds were laced with sword intent, slowing their recovery.
Then, he laughed.
A loud, unrestrained laugh, as if he did not care about his own battered state.
It was clear that his injuries were not severe. At most, he had overexerted himself.
In that final clash, Kakashi's blade had nearly broken through his defenses. Forced into a corner, he had drawn out more power than his body could comfortably handle, suffering internal backlash as a result.
At the same time, Kakashi's attacks had been too fast. He had not even had the chance to use Shinra Tensei.
Still, within this domain he controlled, the damage he sustained was far less than Kakashi's.
His gaze locked onto Kakashi.
That final strike had left a deep impression on him.
The sharp penetration, the extreme speed, and the fine, precise blade energy were entirely different from his own swordsmanship, which relied on overwhelming force.
Kakashi's style carried a dense and refined sword intent.
Though it did not reach the level of Uchiha Shisui, it was undoubtedly among the very best in the shinobi world.
Even so, he was the one still standing.
"Hahahaha… Hahahahaha!!!"
"Foolish shinobi of the Ninja World. In the end, I am the victor!"
"I never expected you to hide such a technique!"
Ōtsutsuki Sōjitsu laughed wildly as he slowly walked toward Kakashi, deliberately closing the distance, as if he wanted Kakashi to witness his own end.
Kakashi lifted his head slightly.
His gaze swept across the battlefield.
Broken walls and rubble lay everywhere. The ground was soaked with stagnant water, remnants of his earlier jutsu. The air was still hot from the explosion, and faint arcs of electricity crackled intermittently.
"You… won't succeed…"
Kakashi spoke slowly, his voice strained. Pain flickered across his face as he felt a violent energy rampaging through his body.
That was Sōjitsu's foreign chakra, tearing through him from within.
He had no time to purge it.
"Ignorance. Do you have any idea how powerful Ōtsutsuki Shiki-sama truly is?"
Fanatic devotion filled Sōjitsu's expression as he spoke.
"There are so few of you left in this universe. You should have stayed hidden. To offend Ōtsutsuki Shiki-sama is to see a thousand years of accumulation erased in an instant."
His understanding of the Ninja World was limited.
He only knew that a thousand years ago, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had come to this planet to plant the God Tree. Beyond that, he knew almost nothing.
To him, the Ninja World was simply a minor civilization that had developed in secrecy.
Very few knew how rapidly it had truly risen.
Aside from certain members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan and a handful of others, most believed the Ninja World had existed for far longer than it actually had.
In the past, no one paid it any attention.
Now, it had become a force visible across the cosmos.
Kakashi's eyes flickered.
If they had been given another hundred years…
Things would have been different.
"You are a worthy opponent," Sōjitsu said, a trace of respect appearing in his gaze, "but you must die."
He raised his weapon slowly, aiming it at the half-kneeling Kakashi.
Energy began to gather.
From all directions, it converged like starlight, condensing around him.
"Chaos Produces Aurora!"
The golden radiance suddenly erupted, its aura suffocating.
Kakashi felt his breath catch.
But in the very next moment, a different light appeared in his eyes.
The light of victory.
He slammed both hands onto the ground.
Tiny arcs of electricity spread outward from his palms.
Boom!!!!
In an instant, countless bolts of lightning erupted across the battlefield, all converging toward Ōtsutsuki Sōjitsu.
Like a powerful attraction force, thin strands of lightning, sharp as needles, pierced through his body from every direction.
"Ahhh!!!"
A scream tore from Sōjitsu's throat, filled with agony that seemed to reach his very soul.
The technique he had been preparing collapsed immediately. Before he could react, he was completely engulfed by the storm of lightning.
The surrounding space began to tremble.
The constructed mental domain wavered violently, as if it were on the verge of collapse.
Kakashi's vision flickered.
In the next instant, everything changed.
All the injuries that had covered his body were gone. His torn flesh, his broken arm, even the exhaustion, all had vanished as if they had never existed.
It was as though the entire battle had been nothing more than an illusion.
"Ah!!! How is this possible?!"
Sōjitsu's furious and disbelieving voice rang out.
Kakashi focused his gaze.
Ōtsutsuki Sōjitsu clutched one eye tightly, blood mixed with tears streaming between his fingers. His body was hunched, trembling in pain.
At the same time, tiny beads of blood began to seep out from across his skin.
"What… kind of ability is this?"
He forced himself to endure the pain, staring at Kakashi with disbelief.
Kakashi remained calm.
"I had already spread lightning chakra throughout the area, and even left traces on your body."
"When opposing charges are triggered, the reaction becomes uncontrollable. You were standing at the very center of it."
His tone remained steady as he raised a finger and tapped his temple.
"I knew I couldn't defeat you through brute force alone."
"What we shinobi rely on… isn't just power."
Understanding dawned in Sōjitsu's eyes.
"So that's it…"
In that moment, he finally grasped the meaning behind Kakashi's earlier movements, the seemingly meaningless actions that had quietly set everything into place.
A faint light flickered across his body.
Then, he vanished.
His form dissipated completely, as if erased from existence.
This technique was born from Kakashi's precise control of lightning chakra, acting on an almost microscopic level. It attacked from within, breaking down the target at its core.
Its destructive power was comparable to, and in some aspects even surpassed, the Dust Release of the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.
Kakashi had given it a name.
"Lightning Release: Purple Lightning."
(End of Chapter)
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