At the edge of the battlefield, the four youngsters who had been dragged into this high-level clash stared at the battle raging in the sky with their jaws hanging open.
This level of combat had completely surpassed their understanding of what a ninja battle was supposed to be.
Ninja fights could be like this?
Wasn't it supposed to be throwing kunai, casting jutsu to force movement, analyzing the enemy's weaknesses, and then seizing an opportunity to win with a decisive strike?
But now?
What would they even do if they faced opponents like this?
Would tactics matter?
Against absolute power, even the best tactics would only end with being crushed outright.
Naruto said, "If we were caught in the middle of that, we'd probably be killed almost immediately."
Young Sasuke slammed his fist into the ground.
"Damn it! What kind of battle even is this? I'm way too weak. I can't contribute at all."
Boruto said, "So this is what Sensei and Urashiki look like when they go all out? Then why didn't they show this kind of power before? Suddenly, I feel like there might be something wrong with my world."
Sakura said, "What are you all thinking? Shouldn't we be focusing on running for our lives right now?"
Makoto's original body suddenly appeared behind them.
"Run from what? As long as I'm here, none of you are dying. Opportunities like this don't come often. Watch carefully. Learn carefully."
Young Sasuke asked, "Sensei, can we really reach that level?"
"Of course you can. You're Sasuke too, aren't you? Don't rush it. Train hard. Give it another twenty years, and you'll be stronger than that older Sasuke."
Naruto immediately asked, "What about me, Sensei?"
"In Boruto's world, Naruto is no weaker than Sasuke. So what, do you not have confidence in yourself? Do you think you can't surpass the Naruto from another world?"
"No, Sensei. Now that you put it that way, I've got confidence. So even in another world, Sasuke still can't beat me."
Young Sasuke: "..."
For fuck's sake, are we really never letting that go, you bastard Naruto?
Makoto said, "Alright, focus on the battle. You're actually not weak at all. If you find the right opportunity, you could still inflict serious damage on Urashiki."
"Yes, Sensei!" ×4
...
Meanwhile, in the sky, Urashiki suddenly realized he was starting to struggle.
Even after unleashing his Crane Form, he still couldn't defeat these lowly creatures from the ninja world.
The realization dealt a devastating blow to the pride he had always taken in being a member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
At the same time, a trace of fear crept into his heart.
If things went badly, he might actually die here today.
Die at the hands of these inferior lifeforms.
How could that be allowed?
Absolutely not.
In his eyes, the people of the ninja world were nothing more than slaves and food.
Amenosubaruboshinomikoto: Ryūgū!
Urashiki released purple chakra in the shape of a four-pointed star from his palm.
The chakra transformed into a gigantic black-and-purple oarfish.
The enormous oarfish floated through the sky like a divine dragon, its presence terrifying, as though something straight out of myth had descended upon the world.
Urashiki hid himself inside the creature's body, using it to block the arrows fired by the older Sasuke's Susanoo.
At the same time, the oarfish opened its massive mouth and condensed an even larger purple chakra sphere.
Its target, however, was not the older Sasuke.
It was the four youngsters on the ground.
Attack what the enemy must protect.
Urashiki understood that principle perfectly well.
He was polite on the surface, but beneath that façade he was exceptionally cunning and deceitful.
Especially in his Crane Form.
These ninja always threw themselves into danger to save their juniors.
Some were even willing to sacrifice their own lives.
He considered that incredibly foolish.
But that foolishness could be exploited to secure victory.
The older Sasuke could dodge.
Those four brats couldn't.
If he wanted to save them, the older Sasuke would have no choice but to take Urashiki's strongest attack head-on.
Strangely enough, however, he couldn't see Higashino Makoto standing behind the four children.
"Not good!"
The older Sasuke couldn't see Makoto either.
After fighting for so long, he had already expended an enormous amount of chakra.
Moreover, Susanoo's flight speed wasn't fast enough to catch the incoming chakra sphere.
There was no way he could reach them in time.
After estimating the chakra he still had left, he settled on a final strategy.
Amenotejikara!
In an instant, the older Sasuke swapped places with a chunk of rubble in front of the four youngsters.
Then he drove his Susanoo forward, charging directly toward the purple chakra sphere speeding through the air like a cannonball.
"Ahhh—!"
He seemingly no longer had enough strength left to fire another Susanoo Arrow.
Instead, he intended to use Susanoo's armored body to withstand the attack directly.
And he deliberately made himself look as though he were struggling tremendously.
High above, Urashiki grinned smugly.
Just as expected.
Judging from Sasuke's performance, his chakra reserves were nearly exhausted.
Very soon, he would get to watch all these annoying bastards be blown into ash.
As for the Tailed Beast?
The Nine-Tails would surely protect its jinchūriki.
Naruto wouldn't die.
That would make it all the easier for Urashiki to harvest its chakra and recover today's losses.
As for the One-Tail through the Eight-Tails, he would collect them afterward as well.
Not a single one would escape him.
The vision of such a wonderful future once again caused him to fall victim to carelessness and underestimating his enemies.
At the very instant Susanoo made contact with the chakra sphere, the older Sasuke suddenly dispelled Susanoo and activated Amenotejikara once more.
He swapped places with Urashiki.
Urashiki had been smugly waiting for victory, only for space-time to shift in the blink of an eye, leaving him the one forced to tank the chakra sphere's attack head-on.
He got careless.
Once again, he failed to dodge.
By the time he tried to escape, it was already impossible.
The chaotic energy within the chakra sphere prevented him from even gathering the power needed to activate his teleportation abilities.
All he could do now was brace himself with both hands against his own strongest attack and desperately try to absorb it before it exploded.
His ninjutsu absorption ability was practically divine against the ninja world's ordinary five elemental natures, capable of absorbing them instantly.
But absorbing his own attack wasn't nearly that fast.
On the ground, as he watched Urashiki drawing closer and closer, Makoto said, "Look, here's your chance. Hit him with your strongest attack. Don't worry about the explosion. I'll protect you."
At that moment, Naruto and Boruto seemed to share a single mind.
Together, they formed an enormous and unusual Rasengan.
Sasuke had originally intended to fire a Great Dragon Fire Technique at Urashiki.
But seeing the sudden synchronization between Boruto and Naruto left him feeling somewhat irritated.
Sensing the distinctly Lightning Release chakra flowing from Boruto, he immediately poured a large amount of similarly resonating Lightning Release chakra into the Rasengan.
The countless streams of rotating chakra inside the Rasengan suddenly disappeared, transforming into a dazzling mass of white light.
It looked like they had created a giant incandescent bulb—dangerous and blindingly bright.
The three of them thrust forward together.
The brilliant sphere vanished the moment it left their hands.
When it appeared again, it had already struck Urashiki squarely in the back.
In an instant, the unfortunate Urashiki found himself caught in a pincer attack from both sides.
The explosion of the Lightning Release Rasengan disrupted the balance of the purple chakra sphere ahead of schedule, triggering an even greater detonation.
BOOM—
The earth shook and the heavens trembled.
The sound carried for hundreds of kilometers.
At the center of the explosion, Urashiki became a tiny wooden boat trapped within a raging storm, blasted so thoroughly that he lost all sense of direction.
At the moment of detonation, Makoto casually molded a black Truth-Seeking Ball and transformed it into a spherical barrier that enclosed the five of them.
As for the older Sasuke, he was perfectly capable of protecting himself and didn't need anyone worrying about him.
Inside the Truth-Seeking Ball barrier, everything was pitch black.
Naruto exclaimed excitedly, "I never would've guessed your chakra works so well with mine, Sasuke! Putting Lightning Release chakra into a Rasengan has such an amazing effect. Looks like this can become our shared ultimate move in the future."
Young Sasuke snorted.
"Hmph."
Boruto was equally surprised.
He hadn't expected that, completely by accident, he had helped the father and sensei of this world create a powerful new technique.
Sakura: I should've stayed back in the village. I shouldn't be here watching how perfectly in sync you guys are!
Tears streamed down her face like a river.
...
After the explosion, everything within the barrier's radius had become a dead zone.
Every tree had been reduced to ash.
Several layers of earth had simply ceased to exist.
The contrast with the untouched landscape beyond the blast zone was striking.
It looked as though someone had dug a gigantic crater in the middle of the forest.
Once it eventually filled with rainwater, it would become a sizable lake.
Makoto dismissed the barrier and saw the older Sasuke in the distance, protected within Susanoo.
At the center of the explosion lay the pitiful Urashiki.
His body had been blasted apart to the point that he was nearly reduced to scattered chunks of flesh.
It could only be said that an Ōtsutsuki's body was absurdly durable.
An ordinary person would've been blown apart so completely that not even ashes would remain.
Naruto asked, "Sensei, how's that guy doing?"
"Not dead yet. But he's close. His vitality is truly astonishing."
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki could no longer maintain his Crane Form and had automatically reverted to his previous appearance.
However, the red glowing fish basket on his back was gone.
Now he lay motionless on the ground, not far from death.
But he didn't want to die.
He still wanted to live.
And he still had a way to survive.
Urashiki's eyes shifted into red Rinnegan.
He desperately activated the power of Yomotsu Hirasaka, trying to open a portal and escape through space.
Yet for some reason, the ability simply wouldn't activate.
Makoto walked over and smiled.
"Stop wasting your effort. While you were fighting Sasuke, I already sealed off this entire space. You're not getting away."
Urashiki turned his Rinnegan toward the unfamiliar human.
"Bastard. So you're the one behind this."
"That's right. The Ten Directions Spatial Lock Barrier. It was specifically designed for people like you who try to run away through space-time abilities whenever you can't win. Surprised?"
"What a pleasant surprise indeed. I never expected someone like you to exist in this world. Sasuke's chakra was restored by you too, wasn't it?"
"That's right."
Urashiki closed his eyes.
Then he opened them again and suddenly smiled.
"You're different from those lower lifeforms. If not for your appearance, I'd almost think you were one of my clansmen."
"What a pity. There's not much I can do against you."
"But you shouldn't have let that brat stay here."
"Thank you."