As Hikaru's chakra trembled, the golden chakra cloak around his body gradually began to change color.
When the golden radiance completely faded, what replaced it was a hazier but still distinct Nine-Tails chakra cloak of brilliant blue.
At this moment, Hikaru had truly brought out every power he possessed.
In truth, Hikaru had lied.
He had never planned not to use the power of the Jogan. He had merely intended to take things slowly.
But Ōtsutsuki Maha's move had forced him directly into a dead end.
Sealing spatial transmission—Hikaru had never heard of such a method before, and Maha's move had genuinely startled him.
The greatest reason he dared to come here alone was because, if he encountered danger, he could use Flying Thunder God to escape.
But now Ōtsutsuki Maha had directly sealed space itself, making it impossible for Hikaru to use Flying Thunder God.
That left Hikaru with no choice but to fully unleash all of his strength.
After all, he had absolutely no intention of staying here forever.
The moment Jogan Chakra Mode fully formed, Hikaru suddenly felt as if the entire world had changed.
This was truly the first time he had covered himself with so many chakra modes at once.
The stacking of these powers made him feel as if he had stepped into an entirely new realm.
Of course, he also knew that this was only a feeling.
What kind of effect it would truly have still depended on the battle that followed.
His eyes locked onto Ōtsutsuki Maha.
He looked at the man who had forced him to this point.
After a brief moment, the smile on Hikaru's face suddenly became even brighter.
It had truly been a long time since he had felt this kind of pressure.
Ever since he learned Flying Thunder God, any troublesome enemy he could not defeat could simply be escaped.
And as his strength continued to rise, as he obtained more and more seeds, his trump cards had also become more complete.
Some battles did bring him pressure, but honestly, that pressure was not enough.
Because Hikaru always knew that, at this stage, those people could no longer cause him any real trouble.
But now things were different.
The strength of these Ōtsutsuki was truly not something the current shinobi world could compare to.
Even though each of them was in terrible physical condition, their strength was genuinely impressive.
Even that Ōtsutsuki Ran, who had already been reduced to ashes—if he were placed in the shinobi world and sent to deal with the previous war against Kumogakure, Hikaru felt he could probably have achieved an overwhelming victory with ease.
If he had gone all out, it might not have been impossible for him to destroy all of Kumogakure.
That kind of overall quality, that kind of individual strength, was truly terrifying.
Especially the opponent Hikaru was facing now.
Not only was Maha powerful, he could also control the "planet-destroying cannon"—that giant Tenseigan.
Facing this man, Hikaru was under tremendous pressure.
But this pressure gave him a strange feeling.
Sometimes, pressure was a good thing.
Especially when he always remembered that even more terrifying beings would appear in the future.
Unfortunately, the current shinobi world did not have a practical comparison for him, which had always left him somewhat directionless.
But now, it seemed he had found a good target.
What he needed to do was display every bit of his power and carry out a genuine full-force collision.
This was not only for himself.
It was also for the eyes he had obtained through the system.
Ōtsutsuki Maha looked at Hikaru with the same indifference.
When he saw Hikaru's current state, an extremely bad premonition suddenly rose in his heart.
This state looked far too similar to the Tenseigan Chakra Mode recorded in their texts!
Could this man's eyes actually be the Tenseigan?
The thought had only just appeared before he crushed it himself.
After all, the Tenseigan depended on the power of the Byakugan.
And he was far too familiar with the aura and fluctuations of the Tenseigan's power.
Hikaru's eyes did not possess the same fluctuations as the Tenseigan.
But no matter what kind of eyes this man had, as an enemy, Ōtsutsuki Maha had to kill him.
Once this man was dead, he could study him slowly.
"What an unbelievable power. What a world-destroying power."
Ōtsutsuki Maha looked indifferently at Hikaru, who had flown to the same height as him.
His expression was calm.
It seemed he was no longer surprised by Hikaru's current state.
Or perhaps the number of surprises today had already numbed him.
"Whether it is world-destroying or not, I don't know, and I don't care."
Hikaru gently shook his head and spoke quietly.
"Actually, if you hadn't wasted so much time talking earlier, I might really not have been able to withstand your previous attack."
"Who knows?"
Ōtsutsuki Maha looked at Hikaru with disdain and raised his head arrogantly.
"In truth, no matter what power you use, it is only a struggle.
"Your end was decided long ago. No one can rewrite anything. Before absolute power, you have no room to struggle."
"I told you, being too confident is not a good thing."
For a moment, Hikaru did not know what else to say. In the end, he could only shake his head.
"Come. Let me see what your absolute power really is."
The moment his voice fell, Hikaru moved without hesitation.
In the blink of an eye, his fist shot toward Ōtsutsuki Maha like lightning.
As his fist swung out, even though Hikaru was flying in the sky, the terrifying pressure of the punch instantly sent countless shattered stones flying as the ground below tore apart.
Ōtsutsuki Maha's expression remained indifferent.
Holding the shakujō, he tapped it toward Hikaru's fist.
A hazy white chakra radiance spread from the tip of the staff.
Boom!
A deafening roar instantly filled the interior of the moon.
The shakujō and Hikaru's fist did not truly touch.
It was as if an invisible force had separated them.
But at that moment, a visible shockwave suddenly spread in every direction.
Everything the shockwave passed over was destroyed without exception.
Many floating buildings in the sky collapsed and shattered.
Only the towering temple at the very center remained unharmed.
"I told you. You will die."
Ōtsutsuki Maha looked at Hikaru, who was close enough to touch, his tone still icy.
But Hikaru had no intention of paying attention to him.
When the power in his fist was almost completely worn away, Hikaru quickly kicked toward Maha.
However, this attack was just as ineffective against him.
With a light wave of his hand, Maha blocked Hikaru's strike.
The terrifying recoil made even Hikaru feel his leg go numb, but he used that force to pull back and open up distance.
"Yin–Yang Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
As Hikaru flew backward, his hands rapidly formed seals.
Vast chakra flashed around him, and immediately after, a pitch-black, enormous wooden dragon surged out from his body.
The wooden dragon roared and lunged toward Ōtsutsuki Maha.
A terrifying torrent of chakra rippled across its body.
Seeing this, Ōtsutsuki Maha gave a cold snort.
Then the terrifying Yin–Yang Release chakra within him erupted.
He pointed the silver shakujō in his hand at the roaring wooden dragon, then lightly lowered the staff.
"Yin–Yang Release: Eighty Gods Air Attack: Seventieth Form!"
Eighty Gods Air Attack had never been a fixed single move.
The complete Eighty Gods Air Attack included fist techniques, palm techniques, and even weapon usage.
As Ōtsutsuki Maha's shakujō descended, a beam of light that seemed capable of splitting heaven and earth appeared in an instant.
It slashed down fiercely with the fall of his staff.
At that moment, even the artificial sun in the sky, powered by the Tenseigan, seemed to dim.
That daylight-like brilliance illuminated the entire interior of the moon.
Even space itself seemed fragile at this moment.
The wooden dragon seemed to let out a series of roars.
Amid the violent eruption of power, it collided with Ōtsutsuki Maha's shakujō.
Under the thunderous collision of these two forces, the surface of the temple standing above the clouds began to blur.
Cracks like spiderwebs appeared one after another.
Clearly, the temple's surface was protected by a barrier.
Before the impact reached him, Hikaru had already quickly pulled away and begun forming seals.
"Yin–Yang Release: Five-Layer Rashōmon!"
Hikaru would not foolishly allow himself to be struck by these forces.
How could he not understand the current situation?
Besides, Ōtsutsuki Maha had already opened a barrier.
His movements had been hidden, but they could not escape Hikaru's Jogan.
Because Maha was too close to the center of the impact, ripples had already appeared across his body.
Clearly, he was using Yang Release to defend himself.
Otherwise, that collision would have caused him serious problems.
The white shockwave moved extremely fast.
The instant Hikaru's five Rashōmon gates rose, the first gate was directly reduced to dust.
Then the second gate quickly followed the first and turned into powder as well.
The third gate finally managed to resist the impact slightly, and it was not destroyed as quickly as the first two.
It held for a moment before cracking apart, then finally crumbling into powder.
The fourth gate lasted even longer before it was destroyed.
When the shockwave reached the fifth gate, this time, Rashōmon did not collapse.
Although the fifth gate was covered in cracks, it had still endured.
As expected of the strongest defensive ninjutsu mastered by Senju Hashirama.
Even though this technique was technically a summoning technique, and Rashōmon was more accurately a type of tool, its defensive power was truly unmatched.
After all, this was a technique that could withstand and alter the trajectory of the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball.
Even if this technique ended up shattered just like it had when facing the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball, it had at least blocked a fatal attack.
Hikaru could not ask for more.
He raised his head slightly and looked toward Ōtsutsuki Maha.
The man's condition was also poor.
His entire body was covered in cracks, and his face was deathly pale.
But as the shakujō in his hand trembled slightly, the cracks on his body vanished in the next instant.
His complexion also seemed to improve somewhat.
However, Hikaru saw it clearly.
Maha's flame of life had become unstable, as if it could go out at any moment.
But the old man did not care about his own condition at all.
Hikaru also noticed that the pale yellow chakra inside Maha's body was becoming denser and denser.
"The Tenseigan on the moon."
Hikaru silently thought to himself.
He still remembered the color of the Tenseigan that Ōtsutsuki Toneri used.
Speaking of which, the Tenseigan came in many colors.
Aside from the regular Tenseigan, which shone with the same brilliant blue as Hikaru's eyes but had a different pattern, the Tenseigan used by the Ōtsutsuki during their internal war was a purple Tenseigan.
How that eye came to be, Hikaru could not be entirely certain.
After all, he remembered that it seemed to have been created by sacrificing all of their eyes.
But the eyes of the branch family had the Caged Bird seal.
If they did that, what difference was there between that and suicide?
Aside from that purple one, there was also the golden Tenseigan, the one placed in Hamura's temple during Ōtsutsuki Toneri's era.
That eye was clearly the one Ōtsutsuki Maha was currently using.
It was also Hikaru's target in this operation.
With the old man's current condition, forcibly using the Tenseigan was completely suicidal.
After all, he was old and injured.
Although he could continuously replenish his power through the Tenseigan, there was a limit to how much power his aged body could withstand.
If this continued, Hikaru would certainly be in danger, but he might not necessarily die.
Ōtsutsuki Maha, however, probably would not be able to endure.
"In that case…"
Thinking of this, Hikaru already had a plan.
He formed seals again, and vast chakra poured out in that instant.
"Yin–Yang Release: Sage Art: Wood Human Technique!"
As Hikaru completed the seals, the ground began to shake.
The giant wooden dragon Hikaru had previously summoned was already damaged.
But at this moment, under the repair of Hikaru's chakra, it rapidly began recovering.
Not only that, its body began to split apart.
Immediately afterward, a massive black figure appeared inside the moon.
The giant, infused with Hikaru's Yin–Yang Release chakra, looked so imposing that it inspired despair.
And because Hikaru was outputting his full strength without any restriction, its size had reached roughly two hundred meters.
Two hundred meters.
That was the height of Uchiha Madara's peak Perfect Susanoo, and also Uchiha Sasuke's Complete Body Susanoo.
Although Hikaru still had an even more terrifying technique—the True Several Thousand Hands, which could be called one of the strongest techniques in the entire shinobi world—he had not used it yet.
That technique consumed far too much power.
It was also Hikaru's final trump card.
He wanted to see how Ōtsutsuki Maha planned to deal with him in this state.
Hikaru slowly landed on top of the Wood Human's head.
His chakra surged again.
The wooden dragon from before let out a roar, quickly flew up, and coiled around the Wood Human's body.
"I have to admit, you are indeed strong. But does that power truly belong to you?"
Standing atop the Wood Human, Hikaru wore a playful smile.
"I don't know where your power comes from, but your body seems unable to continue bearing it.
"Your flame of life is about to go out. As long as I wait until you die, your clansmen will truly have no hope left."
"I must admit, you have exceeded my expectations, descendant of Asura."
Ōtsutsuki Maha's expression remained cold.
The shakujō in his hand continuously released dazzling radiance.
"But this is only the beginning.
"I told you, the power I wield is not something you can resist.
"You have only one ending, and that is death."
Hikaru smiled as he looked at him.
This time, he gave no reply.
But at that moment, the Wood Human suddenly charged forward.
It clenched its fist.
The wooden dragon coiled around that fist.
Accompanied by an unbelievable surge of chakra, it smashed fiercely toward Ōtsutsuki Maha.
Unlike Susanoo, the Wood Human had no weapon.
But for the Wood Human, was its entire body not a weapon?
Ōtsutsuki Maha continued to look at Hikaru indifferently.
The chakra around him grew stronger and stronger.
The pale yellow chakra also became denser.
At the instant the Wood Human's fist was about to strike him, he lightly tapped his shakujō.
A black hole suddenly appeared in the void.
"Yin–Yang Release: Stone Statue Summoning Technique!"
A vast wave of chakra surged upward.
From within the black hole, a huge stone statue emitting terrifying destructive power suddenly appeared.
The stone statue let out a roar.
A terrifying stream of chakra burst out.
It directly raised its hand and caught the Wood Human's enormous fist.
In an instant, the torrent of chakra completely obliterated the surrounding area.
That silent destruction was even more terrifying than noisy devastation.
Everything nearby quietly turned into dust, as if it had never existed at all.
…
In the shinobi world, Nagato stood silently in the rain.
Rain continued to fall in the Land of Rain as always.
These raindrops had long been mixed with his chakra, allowing him to know whether any stranger had entered the country.
The rain soaked his entire body, while he calmly raised his head and looked at the sky, at the bright moon hanging in the night.
He did not know when it had started, but he had developed a habit of looking up at the moon.
It was as though something in that moon was attracting him.
The feeling was mysterious, and he was willing to follow it.
Especially late at night, when he quietly watched the moon alone, his heart could calm slightly.
Ever since Black Zetsu and the man calling himself Uchiha Madara left, Nagato had examined his body thoroughly.
The examination had been detailed and careful.
With the power of the Rinnegan, he had truly found certain things hidden inside his body that should never have been there.
This discovery was not beyond his expectations.
But it still chilled him to the core.
Those damned men truly wanted to control him.
They truly wanted him to do something terrifying.
Nagato was calm.
Although the urge to kill those two could no longer be suppressed in his heart, he knew that if he acted rashly, it might create unpredictable consequences.
He had to endure.
If he had been alone, perhaps he would have resisted immediately.
But he was not alone.
For Konan's sake, he had to endure.
"I already pretended to be a fool once. What does it matter if I pretend to be blind again?"
Standing in the rain, Nagato suddenly laughed mockingly at himself.
Even now, he remembered just how foolish he had looked when he pretended to be that idiot who pitied the world.
But no matter how foolish it was, he had to pretend.
He had to do it.
These days, aside from examining his body and adapting to his current power, he had also been seriously thinking about one question.
Was the path he was walking now truly correct?
In the past, he had never considered this problem.
Because back then, he had always lived with difficulty inside hatred.
The reason he listened to that man calling himself Uchiha Madara was because that man had provided him with a path to revenge.
He had also told Nagato how to bring peace to the shinobi world.
According to him, the best way to end this chaotic world was to use the Rinnegan to create a world of "losers."
The great nations and shinobi villages bathed in sunlight, while small nations could only survive in the cracks between them.
If everything was to become peaceful and beautiful, then the best method was to make those great nations disappear.
That had been Nagato's understanding.
That was what Obito had told Nagato when he first found him.
However, at that time, Yahiko had stopped all of it.
After Yahiko died in the conspiracy between Konoha and Hanzō, Nagato believed that man.
But now, doubt had begun to grow in his heart.
Once the seed of doubt was buried in the soil of the heart, it took root and sprouted at an astonishing speed.
Humans were suspicious creatures.
That was undeniable.
Even if it challenged his own beliefs, now that Nagato completely distrusted the other party, even his beliefs began to shift.
Moreover, he now remembered Yahiko.
He remembered how strongly Yahiko had opposed the man calling himself Uchiha Madara.
"Was I wrong all along?"
Nagato thought quietly.
His gaze remained fixed on the bright moon above.
After a long time, he suddenly laughed mockingly.
"Yahiko opposed that man so strongly, yet I self-righteously chose to cooperate with them.
"Now, is this my punishment?"
He let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, his gaze had become incomparably firm.
Perhaps he had been wrong.
But fortunately, he had not yet committed an unforgivable mistake.
What he needed to do now was think carefully.
Think about how true peace could be obtained.
When he had cooperated with Uchiha Madara before, he had not believed everything the man said.
According to Nagato's own thoughts combined with Uchiha Madara's ideas, he had intended to seize all the tailed beasts.
Only by gathering all the tailed beasts and making every village lose its strategic weapon could peace be achieved.
Then he himself, as the god of the shinobi world, would become the world's only enemy, forcing them to unite solely to oppose him.
Only then could the shinobi world become peaceful.
But Black Zetsu and the others' actions had made Nagato truly afraid to continue down that path.
If he truly obtained all the tailed beasts, only to be controlled by them in the end, then the entire world would likely fall into endless terror.
"Perhaps I should find a way to contact those two sides."
Nagato silently thought.
This idea became firmer and firmer in his heart.
There were two groups he wanted to meet.
One was the person Konan and Sasori had encountered—the one who had perfectly mastered the power of a tailed beast but remained hidden.
The other was the man who possessed eyes called the Jogan, the current Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure, Senju Hikaru.
He had a feeling that perhaps only these two sides could give him an answer.
And only these two sides could oppose that damned Uchiha Madara.
Thinking of this, Nagato looked toward the sky once again.
But after only a moment, he frowned slightly.
Because he had noticed that the moon recently seemed somewhat strange.
…
"Lord Hokage, are you still not planning to return?"
In Hikaru's home in Konoha, Kakashi looked helplessly at the Hikaru before him and spoke.
Hikaru had been gone for some time.
The cave he entered had already been heavily surrounded by Konoha's Anbu.
In truth, Kakashi really wanted to go in.
He wanted to see what was inside.
He wanted to search for the Hokage's true body.
However, putting aside the fact that the barrier inside the cave prevented them from entering, even Hikaru's shadow clone would not allow him to go in.
Kakashi had no choice but to give up.
After all, there was nothing wrong with Hikaru's shadow clone.
That also proved that Hikaru's main body was fine.
"As for when exactly I'll return, I'm not sure either. Actually, I didn't expect to be gone this long."
Hikaru's shadow clone also looked rather helpless. He spread his hands and said,
"Maybe I ran into some trouble. Maybe I'm learning something new. Who knows?
"But trust me, my main body has no problems."
"Lord Hokage, what exactly is inside that place?"
Kakashi finally could not hold back anymore.
His tone became somewhat forceful.
"As Hokage, abandoning your subordinates and citizens like this is terrible!
"Please stop being so willful. No matter how attractive the things inside are, you should return. If that really won't work, let me go in and take a look."
"All right, Kakashi."
Hikaru's shadow clone shook his head.
His plan had never included letting Kakashi go over.
Although he himself did not know what situation the main body had encountered, or why he had not returned after being away for a month, it was still as he had emphasized.
As long as the shadow clone still existed, that meant the main body had no problem.
After a light sigh, Hikaru's shadow clone continued,
"Don't get tangled up over this. Just do what needs to be done. And don't let anyone else find out."
"You've emphasized that countless times."
Kakashi could see Hikaru's persistence.
In the end, he could only nod helplessly.
After all, Hikaru was the Hokage.
He could only obey.
"I understand. I only hope you return sooner.
"But don't worry. I'll properly cooperate with whatever you need."
"That's good."
Only then did Hikaru's shadow clone smile.
He stood up and patted Kakashi on the shoulder.
"If I return, I'll tell you immediately. Don't worry."
"I know."
Kakashi remained helpless and smiled bitterly.
"I never imagined that one day, I would lie to all of Konoha together with the Hokage."
Hearing Kakashi's self-mockery, Hikaru's shadow clone smiled but did not reply.
He turned and walked to the window, then looked up at the bright moon in the sky.
At that moment, his smile disappeared.
Even his expression became faintly solemn.
He was truly curious as well.
What kind of trouble had the main body encountered for him to still not have returned?
…
Inside the moon, the paradise that had once looked like something out of a painting had now become like hell.
The ground had become uneven.
Deep and shallow craters covered every corner.
Cracks that seemed to tear the earth apart could be seen everywhere.
The forest had vanished completely.
The winding stream had been evaporated by fire.
The once peaceful village had been erased from the earth.
In the sky, the buildings floating on stones around Hamura's temple had nearly all been destroyed.
Those lucky enough to remain had only broken walls and ruins left behind, as if testifying to their former existence.
Those less fortunate had already become dust, completely vanishing inside the moon.
The artificial sun in the sky, once bright like a morning sun, now looked as if it had fallen into dusk.
The aura of death covered every corner.
Despair lingered in the hearts of every Ōtsutsuki ninja.
Too terrifying.
Too powerful.
As Ōtsutsuki of the moon, they truly could not believe that someone from the shinobi world could single-handedly force them to this point.
They looked at the two broken giants still locked in battle.
Their hearts were filled with powerlessness.
Every collision between those two monsters produced destruction of terrifying scale.
And once that destruction spread, everything nearby suffered fatal consequences.
In the sky, two figures—one brilliant blue, the other pale yellow—continued to cross and clash.
It was the battle between their clan leader, Ōtsutsuki Maha, and that descendant of Asura from the shinobi world.
Both of them were moving at extreme speed.
And their destructive power was no weaker than those two giants.
Perhaps the range of their destruction was far smaller compared with the two giants.
But their combat power and strength were probably no lower than those monsters.
Suddenly, the two crossed paths again in the sky.
Immediately afterward, both retreated at almost the same time.
Hikaru panted slightly as he looked at Ōtsutsuki Maha in the distance.
At this moment, he was in a rare state of disarray.
He knew very clearly that several parts of his body had fractures.
Blood also flowed from the corner of his mouth.
If not for the Jogan Chakra Mode combined with Nine-Tails Mode, he would not merely be in such a sorry state right now.
After all, this old man was truly powerful.
He was absolutely the most terrifying enemy Hikaru had encountered so far.
In contrast, the old man had no obvious injuries on his body.
In fact, with the help of the Tenseigan, it was impossible for him to show many wounds.
But Hikaru knew that the old man's flame of life was flickering unsteadily.
He had reached his limit.
"Looks like I'm going to win."
Thinking of this, a smile appeared at the corner of Hikaru's mouth.
"I have to admit, you are indeed powerful. But you can't hold on much longer."
"Indeed. I cannot hold on much longer."
Facing Hikaru's provocation, Ōtsutsuki Maha remained as indifferent as ever.
He nodded calmly, his tone cold.
"But I told you. Since I said I would kill you, I will certainly kill you.
"This is an established fact."
"Is that so?"
The smile on Hikaru's face also turned cold.
His voice became icy.
"Then how do you plan to kill me? With your current self? Or with those rats who have already been scared witless?"
"Arrogance leads to death. So does ignorance."
At that moment, Ōtsutsuki Maha's aura suddenly rose once more.
He raised the shakujō in his hand high.
At the same time, Hamura's temple suddenly erupted with golden radiance.
Hikaru's expression changed slightly.
Because Ōtsutsuki Maha's eyes had begun to disappear.
Not only that, Hikaru also heard faint, rustling screams from all around him.
Inside Hamura's temple, it was as though an ancient beast had awakened.
That violent aura, as if it wanted to destroy everything, made even Hikaru feel a chill.
"The power of the Tenseigan is something you will never know and never understand."
This time, Ōtsutsuki Maha's voice had grown weak.
His flame of life continued to shrink, continued to fade.
Even his body began to wither.
"Tenseigan: Starfall!"
As his chakra erupted, terrifying light burst out from Hamura's temple.
Hikaru clearly felt a beam of light beginning to gather.
He truly had not expected that, in the end, he would still have to enjoy a bombardment from this "planet-destroying cannon."
But now he had no time to think too much.
Looking at Ōtsutsuki Maha, whose life was constantly draining away, Hikaru suddenly clasped his hands together.
The little chakra left in his body rapidly gathered.
"You really think I don't have a backup plan?"
A mocking smile appeared on Hikaru's face.
"Although even I don't know what the result will be, I do know one thing.
"All of you are going to die!"
"Yin–Yang Release: Sage Art: True Several Thousand Hands!"
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