"What… what is happening?"
Inside Konoha, countless shinobi had gathered around the crimson barrier.
In front of them stood ANBU and Police Force shinobi, blocking their path.
They had all come under orders.
They did not know why, but when their department heads gave an order, they had to obey.
But the moment they arrived, they realized something was wrong.
Especially because the barrier before them was clearly not something ordinary shinobi could touch.
Not only that, but the terrifying roars and frightening chakra fluctuations outside the village made one thing clear.
A battle beyond their imagination was taking place out there.
"But who exactly is fighting?"
The ANBU shinobi wondered silently.
The ordinary Konoha shinobi were just as curious.
Not long ago, a village-wide order had suddenly been issued by Nara Shikaku, head of the Administrative Department.
Through Yamanaka Inoichi's secret technique, his voice had echoed inside everyone's mind.
The order itself had been very simple.
Evacuate all civilians.
Although that order confused them, they were shinobi.
Their duty was to obey.
Especially with the violent explosions constantly sounding outside, they realized the situation was likely extremely serious.
Many of them wanted to rush out and help.
Unfortunately, the moment they reached the village entrance, they were stopped by the crimson barrier.
All they could do was watch anxiously.
As they felt the continuous explosions and the violent tremors that came from time to time, they also began to understand how grave the situation was.
But when towering trees suddenly burst from the ground outside the village, blocking all their vision, they finally realized the situation was even worse than they had imagined.
The only person capable of using Wood Release now was their Hokage.
Especially for those who had fought beside Hikaru during the war against Kumogakure, this technique was not unfamiliar at all.
In that instant, they understood.
The person fighting outside was their Hokage.
"What kind of enemy could force Lord Hokage to be this cautious? What kind of enemy would make him face them alone?"
That question appeared in the minds of every Konoha shinobi.
But before they had time to think too deeply, a horrifying scene unfolded before their eyes.
In the distance, two blurry figures suddenly released two completely different chakra spheres.
The instant the black and purple spheres collided, almost everyone clutched their eyes in pain.
At the moment of impact, a blinding beam of light instantly covered all of Konoha.
The terrifying radiance was something their eyes could not adapt to.
And even more unimaginable was what came next.
Before they could open their eyes again, a vast, suffocating shockwave had already descended.
Many shinobi were directly sent flying by the air current formed by that shockwave.
At that moment, their ears rang violently.
It was as if they could hear nothing, and yet an explosive, bell-like drone kept bursting inside their ears.
No one knew how long it lasted.
When everything finally calmed down, they slowly opened their eyes.
But when they saw what lay before them, a deep shock mixed with despair rose in their hearts.
Konoha had become an isolated city.
Everything around it had been reduced to ruins.
The once-dense forests and the distant towering mountains had vanished from the world.
Only the Wood Release created by their Hokage still stood in the distance.
Only the burning crimson barrier, already badly damaged, remained upright.
Of course, they also noticed the Wood Release defense in front of Konoha, along with the shattered demon-faced gates.
In their eyes, these had all been released by their Hokage to protect them.
Strictly speaking, that was not wrong.
They simply did not know which Hokage had done it.
"What… what happened out there?"
The same question appeared in their minds again.
But this time, they felt an unprecedented shock.
Those who had once fought beside Hikaru against Kumogakure were still somewhat better.
After all, they had seen Hikaru summon a thousand-meter-tall wooden Buddha.
But those who had only heard about it through newspapers and front-line accounts were completely stunned.
They truly could not imagine what would happen if such terrifying attacks landed on them.
They already knew the answer.
They simply did not dare to think about it.
"So this is Lord Hokage's power… Unbelievable."
"If not for Lord Hokage, Konoha might already be gone."
"Look! Lord Hokage is fighting that bastard again!"
"But if even Lord Hokage has to be this careful, and the battle has reached this level, who exactly is the enemy?"
After confirming they were safe, the Konoha shinobi could not help whispering among themselves, releasing the pressure and joy of surviving disaster.
But when this topic came up, almost every Konoha shinobi fell silent.
Yes.
What kind of enemy possessed such power?
What kind of person could fight their Fifth Hokage, a man comparable to the First Hokage, to this extent?
Why had this enemy come here?
Could Lord Hokage really focus on the fight while worrying about Konoha?
For a moment, all kinds of complicated and faintly pessimistic thoughts rose in their hearts.
But they were Konoha shinobi with firm convictions.
No matter how pessimistic they felt, they could adjust and control their emotions.
After all, the shinobi of this era had nearly all experienced the cruelest war.
They knew how to manage fear.
The current situation was unimaginably difficult, but they still chose to believe.
They chose to believe in their Hokage.
Just as they had believed in him when Kumogakure invaded.
This battle had already surpassed their dimension.
They could not contribute anything.
All they could do now was trust him.
Trust their Hokage.
…
Hikaru did not know what was happening inside Konoha right now.
Nor did he have the time to care.
For him, the most important thing was ending the battle in front of him.
The sword formed from a Truth-Seeking Orb cut through the sky, slashing fiercely toward Urashiki.
Urashiki's entire body was numb.
His mind was dizzy.
He knew very well what had happened.
He had been poisoned.
Although he had no idea when he had been poisoned, his current condition was truly poor.
Looking at the sword drawing closer and feeling the pressure of death, something he had almost never experienced before, his blue Rinnegan suddenly turned red.
In that instant, the spatial fluctuations around him became chaotic and disorderly.
A black halo rapidly wrapped around his body.
"Yomotsu Hirasaka? This time it's much faster than before. Is that the ability of his red Rinnegan?"
Hikaru understood many things in an instant.
Although he did not have the same high-speed dynamic vision as the Sharingan, the Jōgan helped him in many other ways.
Besides, from the start of the battle, he had been gathering every bit of information about Urashiki.
The more he gathered, the more jealous he became of this man's abilities.
But the more he gathered, the more confident Hikaru became.
He could find a way to defeat him.
To be honest, Urashiki's abilities were outrageously powerful.
But the feeling he gave Hikaru was not as impressive as the Uchiha Madara in his memory.
Nor did he possess Hashirama Senju's presence.
Urashiki was purely someone who relied on his abilities and fumbled around with them.
In game terms, there was no technical skill, no real mechanics, no meaningful execution.
He was basically someone who had spent money at the start and then crushed everyone with raw stats.
Hikaru had no good impression of such a person.
Because in a battle against him, one had to be cautious and go all out.
But there was almost nothing to gain from the fight.
His combat skill was nearly zero.
There was nothing to learn.
As these thoughts flashed through Hikaru's mind, the Truth-Seeking Blade in his hand slashed down fiercely.
In an instant, the blade brought out a spray of blood.
Unfortunately, Urashiki still escaped.
In the distance, Urashiki appeared again.
Only this time, a clear wound had appeared on his body.
This made Hikaru think of something.
Urashiki had not used that disgusting time ability this time.
"Was he wary because I tricked him earlier, or can he no longer use that ability after changing his eyes?"
Hikaru's reaction was extremely quick.
He immediately thought of several interesting possibilities.
Although he could not confirm which one was true, it was clear that Urashiki had changed his combat approach.
This change was unknown territory for Hikaru.
But the advantage was that Urashiki had also abandoned his regular method of fighting.
An irregular combat method meant he would not be as skilled with it.
And if this guy's regular fighting was already only mediocre, then his irregular fighting would be even more worth looking forward to.
Still, Hikaru had to admit one thing.
Urashiki's abilities were truly abnormal.
Time, space—this guy could use both.
It really proved one saying.
Comparisons could kill.
"If I can really kill him, his body will be the best material imaginable.
"That kind of power, those eyes that can change form… These people are treasures from head to toe."
Hikaru thought silently.
But in the next second, he had already rushed forward.
The sword in his hand slashed toward Urashiki again.
This time, Urashiki had clearly been thoroughly enraged.
He did not dodge.
Instead, he immediately stirred his chakra.
As a member of the Ōtsutsuki, being forced into this state by something he viewed as an insect—even if that insect possessed incomplete Ōtsutsuki blood—was enough to enrage him completely.
In that extreme anger, Urashiki chose to press forward and counterattack without hesitation.
Hikaru had not expected him to be this decisive.
And without knowing the power of those red Rinnegan, Hikaru still maintained a degree of caution.
But even while being cautious, Hikaru was not afraid.
He held the advantage in skill.
More importantly, he had the protection of the Truth-Seeking Orbs.
He only had three Truth-Seeking Orbs, but that was enough.
Two blurry figures, so fast they could barely be seen, collided inside the forest Hikaru had created.
However, one figure was constantly attacking while also pulling toward the edge of the forest.
It seemed he wanted to escape this artificial woodland.
The other figure, wrapped in brilliant blue chakra, gave him no chance.
Every time Urashiki found a small opening, he was intercepted.
Every time he nearly reached the edge or was about to rush out of the forest, he would be blocked by black spheres and blue chakra.
Hikaru's timing was extremely precise.
He had basically already told Urashiki that this forest was poisonous.
No matter how arrogant or foolish Urashiki was, he would not continue staying here and allow the toxins to keep spreading through his body.
Even if he could keep using Yang Release to purge the poison, that would still consume his attention and strength.
He had no intention of wasting either.
But once they truly began clashing in taijutsu again, Urashiki realized this was no longer arrogance.
He had simply lost his temper.
In a direct taijutsu exchange against Hikaru, he could gain no advantage at all.
He even discovered that his advantage in strength was shockingly limited against Hikaru.
Hikaru also noticed this.
He realized Urashiki's mentality had completely fallen apart.
His fighting could almost be described as reckless flailing.
Beyond that, Hikaru noticed another thing.
Urashiki's red Rinnegan did not seem to possess any other special power.
At least during their current exchange, Hikaru had only seen it make Yomotsu Hirasaka activate faster.
Nothing else.
"Blue eyes control time. Red eyes control space. Their strengths and weaknesses are both obvious. If that is all…"
As Hikaru thought, the sword in his hand slashed toward Urashiki again.
This time, Urashiki dodged faster than before.
Hikaru's blade did not land.
But because Urashiki had not retreated cleanly, and because his counterattack lacked sharpness, Hikaru seized the opening once again and suppressed him.
"Then this guy is dead."
Hikaru thought so, and he acted on it.
During their extended taijutsu exchange, Urashiki revealed more and more openings.
Facing those openings, Hikaru kept restraining himself.
He did not rush to strike.
He was waiting for Urashiki to stop paying attention to his situation.
Finally, after the two flashed past each other more than a dozen times like ghosts and lightning, Hikaru no longer gave Urashiki any chance.
The instant his sword landed against Urashiki's fishing rod, Hikaru pulled his body back rapidly.
Urashiki had already prepared tremendous force to meet the strike.
But Hikaru's sudden retreat made him lunge into empty air.
His expression shifted slightly.
In an instant, the red Rinnegan with transparent tomoe began spinning.
A black spatial passage appeared behind him.
But this time, Hikaru was faster.
Before Urashiki could enter the passage, Hikaru had already struck.
"Yin-Yang Release: Konohanasakuya-hime!"
Urashiki saw the phantom of a silver-haired woman appear in the void.
In the next moment, terrifying chakra and a razor-sharp blade surged toward him.
Urashiki's expression became extremely ugly.
At that moment, he knew he could not avoid this fatal strike.
Facing this terrifying scene, he clenched his teeth.
The chakra inside him erupted wildly without restraint.
Just before Hikaru's blade touched him, a giant chakra oarfish suddenly appeared between the blade and his body.
The enormous oarfish used its own body to block Hikaru's blade.
Under the support of Urashiki's nearly endless chakra, its body began expanding rapidly.
"Amenohabakiryū: Ryūgū!"
Madness filled Urashiki's face.
Countless cuts had opened across his body as if carved by blades, but he did not care at all.
He held one hand forward, ignoring the blood constantly spilling from his arm.
In his palm, a four-pointed purple chakra star flashed continuously.
The tail of the giant oarfish-like monster remained connected to that purple chakra.
However, the chakra monster's condition was also extremely bad.
Under Hikaru's blade, the chakra within its body had begun twisting.
Even its form was nearly impossible to maintain.
Only because Urashiki was pouring chakra into it without regard for cost could it continue holding its shape and resisting Hikaru's blade.
And with that insane chakra supply, the monster suddenly opened its huge mouth.
In an instant, a massive purple-red energy sphere formed in its jaws.
At the same time, without Hikaru's precise close-range pressure restricting him, Urashiki could finally use his teleportation safely.
Hikaru naturally saw all of this.
But he did not panic.
His eyes flickered slightly.
One Truth-Seeking Orb suddenly vanished from behind him.
Another one quickly moved in front of his body.
Once everything was ready, the destructive chakra in Hikaru's eyes erupted.
The silver-haired woman behind him became almost solid.
The blade he swung also received the full stimulation and injection of his chakra.
It became even sharper, even more frenzied.
Hikaru had no intention of letting Urashiki leave so easily.
He released almost all of his strongest chakra.
His blade became a vast streak of light.
As it fell, it sliced fiercely through the massive chakra sphere that had just condensed.
Boom!
A roar that seemed to explode directly in the soul rang out.
The streak of light split the purple-red energy sphere in half.
The sphere exploded.
The sweeping energy once again destroyed the forest Hikaru had created.
Not only the Flowering Tree World, but even the chakra beast Urashiki had released was shattered under Hikaru's blade and the exploding energy sphere.
After Hikaru's radiant blade crossed Urashiki's body, it quickly sank into the ground.
At that moment, the earth shattered like tofu.
Combined with the cracks Hikaru and Urashiki had already created earlier, a winding canyon of unknown depth extended from beneath Hikaru as if stretching endlessly into the distance.
Under this extreme roar of power, the barrier protecting Konoha shattered.
The Wood Release and Rashomon gates summoned by Hashirama also collapsed completely.
If a small black sphere had not suddenly flown over at the critical moment and expanded into a shield to block the terrifying force, Konoha would likely have been erased from the shinobi world today.
Hikaru hid behind another shield formed from a Truth-Seeking Orb.
He was panting slightly now.
The consumption just now had been enormous.
Even with Hikaru's powerful recovery, he could barely endure it.
To be honest, Hikaru truly did not like taking risks like that.
That attack had been no different from dragging the enemy into mutual destruction.
Fortunately, Hikaru possessed Truth-Seeking Orbs.
Otherwise, with his current body, enduring the backlash of that power would have reduced him to ash.
In the end, his body had not yet reached the level of an Ōtsutsuki.
His strength was powerful, but it was a composite strength.
When it came to pure foundations, he still could not compare to the Ōtsutsuki.
These people's combat awareness and combat experience were indeed terrible.
But Hikaru had survived only because of the Jōgan, his other powerful abilities, and the experience he had built through years of fighting.
Otherwise, his end would have been no different from everyone else who had been crushed by the Ōtsutsuki's raw power.
"But it is almost over."
Hikaru took a deep breath and recalled the Truth-Seeking Orb that had protected Konoha.
But the moment the orb flew back, it immediately sank into his body.
Hikaru frowned.
After sensing it briefly, he understood what had happened.
Cracks had appeared on that Truth-Seeking Orb.
Clearly, it had been damaged by the earlier impact.
Because Hikaru had expanded it to the maximum size to act as a shield, the orb had endured unimaginable pressure.
Since it was not an Expansive Truth-Seeking Orb, its power could not be distributed tightly enough.
As a result, it had suffered damage.
Fortunately, it was a Truth-Seeking Orb.
If it had been any other defense, it would have ended up like Hashirama's techniques and been destroyed completely.
That Truth-Seeking Orb needed time to recover.
Only after being nourished could it return to its previous level of combat strength.
But Hikaru still had two Truth-Seeking Orbs.
That was enough.
With that thought, Hikaru took a slow breath.
His narrowed eyes looked into the distance.
At this point, Hikaru had also reached his limit.
Whether it was senjutsu chakra, Yin-Yang Release chakra, or the state of his Jōgan, all of them were in poor condition.
He needed to end this quickly.
His eyes locked onto Urashiki, who had escaped at the last moment through Yomotsu Hirasaka.
That man's chakra was still disgustingly abundant.
But his physical condition was nowhere near as good as his chakra reserves.
His body seemed to be soaked in blood from head to toe.
He knelt on one knee and kept panting.
At the same time, he was relying on his Yang Release to heal his wounds.
He was alert.
But no matter how alert he was, he could no longer fully investigate everything around him.
That was Hikaru's chance.
He forced his remaining chakra to surge violently.
Holding the blade formed from a Truth-Seeking Orb, he once again covered it in blue chakra.
In the next instant, Hikaru vanished completely.
In the distance, Urashiki's expression shifted slightly.
A layer of red chakra covered his body in an instant.
The red chakra formed a half-dome barrier, enclosing him completely.
Thud!
A muffled sound echoed across the shattered land.
Hikaru's blade landed heavily on the red barrier.
Urashiki's face was filled with hatred, but also with the last traces of pride.
He gritted his teeth and stared at Hikaru, his voice heavy.
"I truly did not expect to be pushed this far by an insect with such incomplete Ōtsutsuki blood.
"You really should be proud of yourself!"
"Defeating someone like you does not make me feel proud at all."
Hikaru shook his head lightly.
He was telling the truth.
There was nothing here worth being proud of.
If his opponent had been powerful, unmatched in skill, and Hikaru had exhausted everything to win by a narrow margin, that would have been something to be proud of.
But the problem was that his opponent's skill level was basically zero.
He was just lucky enough to be born with premium membership.
Defeating someone like that truly did not make Hikaru feel proud.
Perhaps happy was more accurate.
After all, he had learned something about the Ōtsutsuki.
And perhaps he was about to obtain an actual Ōtsutsuki body as material.
But Hikaru's words made Urashiki's face instantly turn ugly.
He wanted to say something, but for a moment, he could not find the words.
Losers had no right to speak.
That was an eternal truth.
Even someone as arrogant as him could not find a reason to refute his current situation.
He had lost.
He had been defeated by someone he viewed as an ant.
If he still tried to say something harsh now, that would only be even more humiliating.
Urashiki clenched his teeth tightly and glared at Hikaru with hatred.
If he had not been so heavily injured, he would have gouged out his own eyes and launched a final counterattack.
Fortunately, this barrier of his seemed to be something the boy could not break through for now.
Of course, he believed that someone who had pushed him to this extent could definitely break his defense.
When he recalled the power Hikaru had released earlier, even he could not help feeling fear.
He regretted it now.
He regretted being so arrogant.
He regretted not rushing into the village and slaughtering everyone there.
If he had done that, this boy would have been forced to hold back.
Things definitely would not have developed to this point.
But it was too late to think about that now.
There was no real meaning in regret.
Still, this boy was not a true Ōtsutsuki.
His chakra was nearly exhausted.
Urashiki admitted that Hikaru's taijutsu was the strangest and strongest he had ever seen.
But no matter how strong his taijutsu was, if Urashiki retreated into absolute defense and Hikaru lacked the chakra to break through, what could he do?
Urashiki was badly injured, but his chakra was still abundant.
He could afford to wait.
He had already made up his mind.
Once he recovered, he would kill everyone in that boy's village.
Then he would turn this boy into a puppet and keep him by his side forever.
He would make him obediently become a guardian.
"I do not need you to feel proud. But the humiliation you gave me, I will return it many times over!"
Urashiki said through gritted teeth.
At that moment, even his chakra became unstable.
But it did not affect his barrier.
"You have almost no chakra left. You can no longer use the power from before.
"I want to see what else you can do!"
"What else I can do?"
Hikaru tilted his head slightly.
Then he smiled.
In the next instant, the blade in his hand trembled faintly.
The blue chakra spun and aligned with the flow of the red chakra.
Not only that, but along with the vibration of the blade, the blue chakra also began trembling slightly.
Its frequency became exactly the same as the red barrier's chakra.
Buzz!
With a soft chakra vibration, under Urashiki's disbelieving gaze, Hikaru directly cracked his red barrier.
"I naturally have my ways.
"Because I am a shinobi."
Hikaru looked calmly at Urashiki.
In the next second, his blade pierced straight into Urashiki's body without hesitation.
He drove it in deep.
The other half of the blade emerged from Urashiki's back.
The blade itself was formed from a Truth-Seeking Orb, and Hikaru had deliberately covered it with every power he possessed that could harm an Ōtsutsuki.
His target was the heart.
He would not give this man even the faintest chance.
"And you are nothing more than a lucky man born with power.
"We are very different.
"The biggest difference is that I am still alive.
"And you…"
Hikaru's eyes were cold.
"Die."
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