"Working together with a guy like you really is a strange feeling."
Not far from the battlefield below, Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama stood together atop the True Several Thousand Hands wrapped in Susanoo armor.
As they looked down over the earth, a surge of bold exhilaration rose in both their hearts. Madara turned to Hashirama with a grin and said,
"It is strange. But the most urgent matter right now is still dealing with this fellow."
Hashirama was smiling as well, but his eyes never left the movements below.
Looking at Kinshiki, whose body had been burned into a miserable state by the Senjutsu-infused chakra, he could not help but sigh.
"This guy really is ridiculously hard to kill. To still be alive after taking that… he really is an Otsutsuki."
Hashirama had seen Kinshiki's condition clearly.
He knew very well that if even his own Edo Tensei body had taken that previous attack head-on, he probably would not have had much fighting power left either. Edo Tensei allowed regeneration, but every jutsu had its limit.
Once that limit was exceeded, no amount of immortality would help.
"We have to speed this up as much as possible. The world is already in terrible shape…"
Sweeping his gaze across the surroundings, Hashirama's voice grew heavy.
The ninja world before their eyes had become a scene from hell.
There was no trace of trees or vegetation anymore. Every mountain had collapsed and turned to dust. The land was covered in flowing magma and bottomless ravines.
At this point, it was impossible to tell where this even was anymore, and impossible to imagine how far the effects of this battle had spread, or how many regions had already been devastated.
But he knew one thing clearly.
They had to end this quickly.
Otherwise, their battle would only cause even greater destruction to the ninja world.
"That's true. The current situation is terrible."
Madara nodded.
He felt the same. If this continued, they really would end up smashing the whole world to pieces.
"You two… are truly impressive."
Below them, Kinshiki suddenly spoke in a somewhat weakened voice.
"To force me to this extent with your level of power… that is not something one sees often."
"You're still absurdly arrogant."
Madara let out a cold snort, his eyes blazing with power as he stared at Kinshiki.
"Perhaps those words suit you better. For us to have to join hands to this extent… now that is something truly rare!"
"Uh, Ren did that too…"
Hashirama thought for a moment, then casually added.
Madara immediately turned a furious glare on him.
Could this idiot not keep his mouth shut for once?
"Hmph. Enough talk. Move. That thing is too dangerous…"
Watching Kinshiki's immense chakra gather once again, Madara could not be bothered to dwell on what Hashirama had just said.
Against an enemy this dangerous, the only sensible approach was to strike while he was weakened. Hesitation would only invite disaster.
"I know. Then…"
Hashirama nodded.
At that exact moment, Kinshiki launched another attack!
His roaring chakra seemed capable of shattering the heavens themselves. His entire body turned into a meteor, hurtling straight toward them.
"Senjutsu: Top Transformed Buddha!"
Hashirama did not hesitate in the slightest. His hands remained in seal position as immense power poured through him.
Buzz—
The gigantic Buddha coated in Susanoo armor moved.
An overwhelming chakra pressure blanketed the entire area. Countless fists, carrying the crushing force of Susanoo's power, swung down all at once.
In that instant, it was as though all force had been compressed to its absolute limit before being unleashed in a rain of destruction.
Boom—
Boom—
Boom—
The countless fists produced an endless chain of thunderous impacts.
Kinshiki's figure was like a lone boat tossed about in a sea of fists.
Faced with that power, he resisted desperately. Crimson chakra erupted all over his body.
But against such dense and terrifying assaults, that red chakra could not hold for long. In mere moments, it was already covered in cracks.
Boom—
At last, with a muffled blast, that red chakra shattered completely.
"Argh!"
The horrifying pressure from the fists crushed his body, turning his muscles into pulp, and he let out a furious roar.
Under that savage barrage, he clearly understood that he was reaching his end. Yet no matter how he struggled, it was meaningless.
At last, his body began to collapse.
"So, this is how it is…"
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Hikari and Tsunade continued their coordinated struggle against Kaguya.
As she faced the two women, who were working together with increasing synchronicity, a trace of impatience finally appeared on Kaguya's face.
In her eyes, although the two possessed remarkably powerful chakra, and even faintly displayed shades of Indra and Asura themselves, the gap between them and her was still enormous.
In both Kaguya's and Black Zetsu's expectations, this battle should have been a one-sided slaughter.
But reality had once again gone far beyond their expectations.
Though Tsunade and Hikari were indeed being suppressed badly, and both looked somewhat battered, they had still managed to genuinely hold Kaguya in place.
Compared to Kaguya and Black Zetsu's astonishment, Tsunade and Hikari, on the other hand, were growing more and more confident.
"As expected… there's a serious problem with this so-called Progenitor of Chakra."
As shinobi, Tsunade and Hikari were both highly skilled at reading battle conditions and analyzing information.
This Progenitor of Chakra was nowhere near her peak state.
Her chakra had long since been scattered across the entire ninja world.
Every shinobi, every person who had ever learned chakra refinement, was fundamentally using chakra that originally belonged to her.
Only by reclaiming all of it could she truly return to full power. Right now, she was in an extremely weakened state.
"And beyond that… her combat skill is terrible."
Even while at the lowest point of her life, Kaguya's chakra was still unimaginably vast.
But in terms of battle technique and combat experience, she was startlingly immature.
Yet, thinking about it carefully, that was not strange at all.
She had always been too powerful.
Every opponent she had ever faced could simply be crushed through sheer force. If overwhelming power alone was enough to flatten everything in her path, why would she ever need something as trivial as "technique"?
"But that left behind a flaw. One we can exploit right now."
The more Tsunade and Hikari fought Kaguya, the more they understood the meaning behind the information left in the root. They were beginning to understand why the Sage of Six Paths had arranged things as he did.
"This really was a way to save the ninja world. But the problem is… how do we actually finish her off?"
In terms of technique, they were not afraid.
Even if they were weaker than Kaguya overall, they could still hold the line.
But holding the line was not the same as ending the battle.
At this point, they simply did not know how to bring her down.
Their attacks were having a hard time producing any truly meaningful effect.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Kaguya's gaze shifted into the distance.
That was the direction where Sasuke and Naruto stood!
"That chakra…"
"Mother, it seems to be the chakra of Indra and Asura!"
Black Zetsu's voice echoed from within Kaguya's sleeve.
"They… seem different now!"
"Yes. I know."
Kaguya nodded, her expression turning far more solemn.
"Sasuke? Naruto?"
It was not just Kaguya who noticed the change—Tsunade and Hikari sensed something off as well. When they glanced behind themselves, they realized that the two boys had already appeared there somehow.
"How did you two get here? And your—"
"I met a rather interesting old man."
Naruto's face was full of bright excitement.
Sasuke also walked forward calmly, the wind brushing aside his hair to reveal the Rinnegan in his left eye!
"A very interesting one. Although he talked way too much."
"Rinnegan?"
Both Tsunade and Hikari raised their brows.
Just what had happened to Sasuke? He had awakened the Rinnegan?
And it was clearly no ordinary Rinnegan. It had tomoe within it, making it look completely different from a standard one.
"Explaining it now would take too long. We should deal with her first."
Sasuke knew how strange his appearance looked, but he merely shook his head, clearly having no intention of elaborating.
"That's true."
Hikari nodded and did not press further. Instead, she fixed her eyes on Kaguya, whose expression had turned cold, and said in a low voice,
"Let's deal with her first. Everything else can wait."
In the starry void, Momoshiki's eyes had already turned red.
Being humiliated like this by Ren was something he simply could not accept, even if his opponent was clearly no ordinary "lower life-form."
What made it even more unbearable was that the two of them together still could not defeat him alone!
Two against one, and they were still the ones being beaten down.
Which side was supposed to be the Otsutsuki here?
"Hm?"
At that moment, Momoshiki seemed to sense something, and his eyes instantly turned toward the planet below.
"Kinshiki… actually lost?"
The Otsutsuki were peculiar beings.
Calling them life-forms was not incorrect, yet it was arguably more accurate to call them pure manifestations of chakra.
The very existence of Kāma already proved part of that truth.
Through Kāma, they could parasitize any body, using their overwhelming chakra to gradually transform someone into a vessel suitable for an Otsutsuki.
As long as that person's body possessed enough potential to endure the enhancement, they could eventually resurrect themselves through that vessel.
And beyond that, Otsutsuki chakra itself could be compressed into medicinal pills.
Even after death, their chakra could still be gathered.
For example… right now.
"But perhaps this is for the best. The situation is different now."
The pressure Ren created was simply too immense. Even with Urashiki going all out beside him, they were still unable to contend with him.
Momoshiki could not understand what exactly was wrong with this bastard, but he knew that if they did not get rid of him, they would not be able to leave this place safely.
There would be no talk of absorbing Ren's power or harvesting the planet afterward.
"As your guardian, this is where you make your contribution!"
Momoshiki roared.
He raised his hand, and in that instant a stream of scarlet chakra pierced across space and rushed up into the stars.
It rapidly gathered in Momoshiki's palm, condensing into a pill.
"Oh? So Kinshiki died?"
Ren noticed Momoshiki's action as well.
The moment he saw it, he instantly understood—Madara and Hashirama had won.
Those two were both Edo Tensei, yes, but their combat abilities were far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
Kinshiki was certainly an Otsutsuki, but he was still only a guardian. In actual strength, he was probably around the same level as Six Paths Obito.
It was not surprising at all that those two together had managed to kill him.
"That works too. It means it's time to end this."
Ren murmured to himself.
Momoshiki had already swallowed Kinshiki's chakra pill without hesitation.
At once, his aura began to change. Just like Urashiki, black markings spread across his face, and his chakra roared violently.
A crack also appeared in the middle of his forehead.
Clearly, that was where his third eye would manifest.
"So this is the power that truly belongs to me. This is my real power!"
Momoshiki clenched his fists hard. The golden Rinnegan in his forehead locked onto Ren.
"No matter how strong you are, you die today!"
"Is that so?"
Ren tilted his head, not caring in the least what form Momoshiki had taken.
He shook his head and answered calmly,
"Then come claim your death."
Those words were delivered so flatly, so indifferently, that both Momoshiki and the recently repelled Urashiki grew even angrier.
Neither spoke.
They simply stared at Ren.
Then, in the next instant, both of them charged at him at once!
They had already decided that no matter what, this bastard had to die.
In a blink, the three figures crossed paths once more. Their terrifying shockwaves tangled endlessly throughout the starry void.
The increasingly violent pressure spread in every direction as the three of them fought harder, farther, and faster.
"Divine Art: Tengai Shinsei!"
Momoshiki roared.
In that moment, countless meteors were drawn in and hurled straight toward Ren.
"So he can use this too?"
Ren was briefly surprised, but soon shook his head.
After all, the Rinnegan was still the Rinnegan. The basic abilities were all there—it was only a matter of whether one chose to use them.
He himself could use the same power if he wished.
"Something like this is hardly worth showing off."
Ren snorted lightly and swept his sword forward.
In an instant, every meteor before him was split apart by a single slash.
"Die!"
Urashiki also screamed as he launched himself at Ren again.
The power of his Kekkei Mora surged wildly inside him. The ferocity of it even made Ren raise an eyebrow.
Urashiki whipped his rod through the void, and a terrifying storm howled out together with his chakra.
"Ame no Suba Ryūseimei Ryūgū!"
In an instant, his chakra turned a brilliant violet, dazzling against the blackness of space.
A monstrous creature—part serpent, part ribbonfish—over a thousand meters long burst forth roaring, surging straight toward Ren.
"Takami Musubinokami!"
Momoshiki raised both hands at the same time.
Even without absorbing someone else's chakra, he could still use this technique through his own power alone.
Golden radiance lit up the stars like a second sun blazing into being.
The two of them had poured every bit of their power into a single combined strike. With their Kekkei Mora unleashed to the fullest—
"You damned monkey, die!"
"You may be strong for a native, but today is your end!"
With their furious roars, the two attacks fused together.
The thousand-meter ribbonfish and the blazing "sun" collided as one, descending along with the rain of meteors toward Ren.
"So now you're really fighting for your lives…"
Faced with such terrifying opponents, Ren remained perfectly calm.
This was indeed the strongest display of power he had seen so far.
But instead of fear or pressure, what rose in him was excitement.
At the end of the day, he was still a stats monster.
To fully unleash his own numbers like this was thrilling in a way words could not capture.
"In that case, let's see what else you've got."
Ren raised the golden sword in his hand.
At the same time, another unique power spread through his body at extraordinary speed.
"Divine Tree?"
Momoshiki and Urashiki both instantly noticed something was wrong.
Ren's own power was already virtually identical to that of the Divine Tree itself. Why, then, was the power of the Divine Tree also surging from within him again?
Neither of them had time to think further.
Ren's sword had already fallen with a divine radiance capable of opening heaven and earth itself.
Buzz—
The starry void twisted violently.
The golden light split through the cosmos like the first dawn of creation.
The pitch-black universe lit up like day under that radiance. Space itself warped and fractured.
In the next instant, the golden slash collided with the thousand-meter ribbonfish and the scorching sun.
The destructive force that erupted from the collision seemed to spread throughout the entire universe.
It was as though time, space, and everything material and immaterial had been overturned by those three forces, only to collapse utterly in the next heartbeat.
Within that broken and chaotic expanse, a dazzling white burst forth, overflowing with incomprehensible energy.
Then the energy detonated completely, as if the entire cosmos were about to cave in.
Countless meteors were reduced to dust in an instant, scattered into the endless stars by the shockwave.
Even distant barren worlds shuddered from the impact, while the moon and the living planet of the ninja world below both trembled violently.
The Otsutsuki were that kind of existence.
Even one with no real combat sense could still destroy a planet outright.
It was not just that they could plant Divine Trees using the Ten-Tails—their own inherent power was already monstrously vast.
Toneri Otsutsuki could split the moon in half with a proper Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion.
Momoshiki, Urashiki, and Ren were all far beyond Toneri!
"That monkey…"
The endless energy blast sent both Momoshiki and Urashiki hurtling backward. Chakra cloaks instantly formed around them as they tried to defend themselves.
Staring at the storm of force before them, Urashiki cursed under his breath.
"Monkey? Are you saying we're even worse than monkeys now?"
Momoshiki shot him a cold glance.
"This opponent is a native, yes—but not an ordinary native."
Momoshiki still had some pride left. Being driven back by one man already humiliated him enough.
If he kept belittling Ren now, would that not mean belittling themselves as well?
"Use Chibaku Tensei. This opponent has gone beyond easy prey."
Momoshiki stared at the center of the destructive blast, his expression dark.
"He may have hidden his true level all along. His power is absolutely on the level of one who has devoured countless life-bearing planets.
Killing him outright will not be easy. The best option is to seal him first, and only then slowly extract his life force."
"Hmph. What a hassle."
Urashiki looked annoyed, but ultimately nodded.
Whether he liked to admit it or not, the truth was already right in front of him.
"In that case…"
Urashiki and Momoshiki exchanged a glance.
Then the two of them acted simultaneously, their chakra combining into one.
"Divine Art: Chibaku Tensei!"
A terrifying flood of chakra burst forth again.
In the next moment, countless meteors were drawn in from every direction.
Within moments, it looked as if an entirely new planet had appeared in the starry sky.
On the battlefield below, the great melee seemed to finally be reaching its conclusion.
The morale of the Iwa and Kumo shinobi had long since collapsed.
First, Ren's one line about the Tsuchikage and Raikage being manipulated by Obito had already thrown their hearts into chaos.
Then the appearance of the Otsutsuki, followed by Ren's absurd display of power, had utterly crushed what little confidence remained.
Faced with Konoha's final advance now, they truly had no desire left to resist.
Looking at the world around them—already a vision from hell—and feeling those boundless violent energies still surging everywhere, their will had simply been broken.
"So it's ending…"
Jiraiya seemed to understand that everything really was coming to a close.
Looking at the Third Raikage, whose body was steadily crumbling away, he could not help but shake his head.
"Tch. So that bastard's finally choosing a side?"
Tobirama had no way to join the battle his elder brother was fighting, so all he could do was sense the clash between Hashirama and Madara.
That alone already irritated him immensely.
Now, seeing the other villages' Kage beginning to dissipate while his own side showed no such issue, he let out a cold snort.
"So it really is about to end."
Kakashi also sighed quietly.
They all understood now—this was the end.
But Ōnoki, the Fourth Raikage, and the others wore expressions so ugly they could hardly be described.
They too understood that everything was ending!
"Damn it… why did it turn out like this…"
Ōnoki looked utterly wretched, his face full of rage and unwillingness.
The Fourth Raikage said nothing.
Blood ran from wounds all over his powerful frame, and his fists were clenched so tightly that it looked as though he might crush them.
Yet despite everything, there was nothing left they could do.
Looking at the shinobi around him, all of whom had long since lost the will to fight, he gritted his teeth.
But the despair and pain in his heart only deepened.
He did not understand how things had spiraled into this.
But he did understand one thing—
After his death, the ninja world would almost certainly be unified into one whole.
Buzz—
At that moment, however, the dim sky above suddenly flashed with an impossible whiteness.
A radiant power like divine judgment poured down from the heavens, and every shinobi felt an inexplicable chill seize their hearts.
"What is… that?"
Everyone lifted their heads at once to stare upward.
At some point, the sky itself had already changed.
And the starry heavens above were no longer the familiar sparkling night of memory.
They had become deep, dark, and terrifying.
At a glance, they resembled a vast black hole.
"What… what is that?!"
Suddenly, a sharp-eyed shinobi pointed upward and shouted.
The clouds above had already become a field of lightning, the whole sky transformed into a thunder realm!
At the same time, countless flaming meteors were crashing down toward the ground, and layer after layer of horrifying shockwaves rolled ahead of them.
Boom—
In that instant, it felt as though the whole world began to shake.
Sand and dust filled the air, the seas seemed to rise toward the heavens, and distant mountains—until now somehow spared—finally collapsed.
Every volcano within the devastated zone erupted one after another.
The entire world had become an apocalyptic painting.
Seen from the stars, many parts of the ninja world were now crisscrossed with glowing red magma.
"What is happening?"
Countless shinobi stared upward in confusion.
They had never seen anything like this.
Especially not now.
Because in the sky, a bizarre sphere was beginning to form.
At first it seemed small and insignificant.
Then it grew larger. And larger.
Until at last, it resembled a brand-new planet hanging above their heads.
"That seems to be Ren's battlefield."
In the distance, Madara and Hashirama, shielded by Perfect Susanoo, had weathered the first meteor impacts.
They too stared up into the sky.
After a while, Madara finally spoke.
"And that technique… is that Chibaku Tensei?"
"You mean… he's in trouble?"
Hashirama kept his gaze fixed on the heavens, unease filling him.
"Should we go help? We did defeat that Otsutsuki, after all."
"That might be an option. But how exactly would we get up there?"
Madara sighed.
He did want to help, but he had absolutely no idea how.
Those maniacs had fought their way straight into outer space. No matter how willing he was, there was nothing he could do.
And at that thought, an unwilling realization rose in his heart.
"So this is what Six Paths truly means… So this is what Kekkei Mora really is…"
"Hey, look over there!"
At that moment, Hashirama suddenly pointed upward and shouted.
Madara's eyes snapped in that direction at once.
Not just Madara.
At that instant, every single person in the ninja world looked up at the sky—
At the beam of light that had suddenly appeared above that bizarre new planet, as if it were piercing the very heavens themselves.
In the next moment, a deafening sound exploded across the world.
That strange new planet in the sky was split cleanly in two!
And that ray of light showed no sign of stopping.
It illuminated the entire cosmos.
It illuminated the entire ninja world.
"Did it work?"
In the starry void, Momoshiki and Urashiki had completed their combined Chibaku Tensei.
Looking at the huge planetary mass before them, and sensing all the violent forces vanish into silence, Momoshiki muttered softly.
"I'm afraid not."
The voice that answered him did not belong to Urashiki.
It came from atop that "planet."
Looking carefully, a lone figure stood there.
He gazed indifferently at the two of them in the distance and spoke with absolute calm.
"And to be more precise, the level of power you two displayed was somewhat beneath my expectations.
Still, it was enough."
"You damned native, you—"
Urashiki roared furiously.
But Ren only shook his head slightly.
The golden sword in his hand shone so brilliantly that it pierced the darkness.
That radiance silenced Urashiki at once.
In that instant, an instinctive terror had crawled down his spine.
"I told you before—dealing with you isn't particularly difficult.
The reason I let things go this far was simply to better adapt to my own power.
Of course, I also intended to use you as actors.
There were things I needed your help to accomplish.
I needed the world to witness the threat of the Otsutsuki. I needed everyone to understand how terrifying you are.
Only then could I unite them. Only then could I make them obey. Only then could I make everyone understand what must be done.
If I had started from the very beginning by going all out—if I had simply used every dirty method available to erase you outright—wouldn't that have made you look far too weak?
And if that happened, none of this would have had the effect I wanted."
For the first time, Ren openly laid everything bare.
In truth, whether it was Obito, or his willingness to let Kaguya appear, or even his prolonged fight with Momoshiki and Urashiki while allowing them to transform—
His goal had always been the same.
To make everyone see.
Ren had no interest in learning from Kaguya and hanging everyone from a tree.
Nor did he intend to shoulder the burden of fighting the Otsutsuki alone.
As a transmigrator, he had long since become dissatisfied with the so-called Five Great Nations. That was one of the main reasons he had never truly respected Hashirama's path.
Now that the mindset of separate "nations" had already taken root, Ren could certainly have tried to unify everything through absolute violence.
But what would that make him, if not another Danzo?
Once hatred was planted, someone would always emerge willing to turn himself into a human bomb and take revenge.
So Ren had chosen a different approach.
Economic integration.
And overwhelming external threats.
Both were tools he had deliberately used.
Especially the latter.
With Obito, Kaguya, and now Momoshiki and Urashiki appearing one after another, and devastating everything in their path, countless matters had suddenly become much easier.
Ren had always believed that no amount of reasoning compared to one unforgettable lesson carved directly into people's hearts.
And now—
That lesson had been fully taught.
As for the future?
Was there not still Kara… and Otsutsuki Isshiki?
"Actors?"
Momoshiki and Urashiki heard that word and nearly exploded from rage.
Their pride had just been smashed to pieces.
They were the "celestial clan."
They were the Otsutsuki, rulers of worlds.
And in Ren's eyes, they had merely been performers reading lines in his stage play?
"In fact, there's one more thing I forgot to tell you."
As Ren raised his sword, the giant golden blade that pierced heaven and earth seeming ready to obliterate everything, he let out a faint laugh.
"I overestimated you a little.
But it doesn't matter. This all ends here."
"Divine Art: Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
The golden light in the sky descended in an instant.
At that moment, the world itself seemed to change.
Everything fell into an eerie stillness.
All things, whether tangible or intangible, froze inside that range as if the world had ceased moving.
The violent power devoured and destroyed everything around it.
The massive planetary body beneath Ren's feet split apart in an instant, while all space around Momoshiki and Urashiki became chaotic and unstable.
"Argh!"
Both of them roared in fury.
Yet under the invasion of that power, their bodies began to break apart.
No matter how desperately they tried to repair themselves with chakra, no matter how much they tried to hold together—
None of it mattered.
At last, cracks spread across their bodies.
Then the cracked parts began to crumble into powder.
"No—no!"
They still struggled.
To watch themselves disintegrate and die like this was the purest despair.
But all their efforts were futile.
As the collapse spread further and further, their screams and howls grew weaker and weaker.
"It's over."
Ren looked at them and muttered softly,
"Now go in peace."
Slowly, the two of them turned to dust.
And at last, they scattered into the endless starry sky.
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