Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
The dimensional transition was instantaneous and merciless. One moment they were floating above pools of molten rock, the next they were submerged in an ocean of corrosive death. The acidic liquid that surrounded them was unlike anything in the natural world—a sickly green substance that seemed to hunger for destruction, eating away at everything it touched with relentless efficiency.
Minato's body immediately began producing the telltale sounds of chemical corrosion as the acid attacked the Nine-Tails chakra coating that protected him. The golden energy that normally provided perfect defense against most attacks was being steadily consumed, layer by layer, by the supernatural acidity of this hellish dimension.
"Acid?" Minato's voice carried both recognition and alarm as he surveyed their new environment.
The scope of their predicament became clear within seconds. They weren't standing in a pool or lake of acid—they were floating in an endless ocean of the stuff. In every direction, as far as enhanced vision could penetrate, there was nothing but that same corrosive green liquid stretching to infinity. No landmasses, no safe zones, no refuge of any kind.
The dimensional space was a perfect killing field, designed to slowly but inevitably destroy anyone unfortunate enough to be trapped within it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The effects on their forces became immediately apparent. Naruto's thousands of shadow clones, which had been their primary tactical advantage moments before, began dissolving rapidly as the acid overwhelmed their chakra protection. Each clone that fell reduced their numerical superiority and mobility options, turning their greatest strength into a liability.
The acid itself was remarkably similar to Mei Terumi's signature Lava Release techniques, but the scale was incomprehensible. Where the Mizukage could create localized pools or streams of corrosive liquid, this entire dimension seemed to consist of nothing else. It was as if someone had taken her most powerful technique and expanded it to cover an area the size of a small country.
Sasuke's Susanoo, despite its normally impenetrable defense, was showing visible signs of deterioration as the acid ate away at its ethereal armor. The spectral shinobi's edges were becoming less defined, its protective capabilities diminishing with each passing second.
Only Obito seemed unaffected, his body completely intangible as he employed his Kamui technique to phase through the corrosive environment. His unique ability to exist between dimensions provided perfect protection against attacks that relied on physical contact.
For Naruto and Minato, their Six Paths chakra offered crucial but limited protection. The divine energy that surrounded their bodies was more resilient than normal chakra, capable of resisting the acid's effects for a time, but even that defense wouldn't last indefinitely against such concentrated corrosion.
"Mom, let's finish that troublemaker right here!" Black Zetsu's voice carried malicious satisfaction as it observed their deteriorating situation.
The parasitic entity had been analyzing their opponents throughout the battle, and its tactical assessment was becoming increasingly refined. It understood that Kaguya was reluctant to kill Naruto and Sasuke outright—both possessed chakra that she needed to reclaim, making their destruction counterproductive to her ultimate goals.
What surprised Black Zetsu was the realization that Kaguya seemed to view Minato with similar interest. The Nine-Tails chakra within the Fourth Hokage was identical to what resided in Kushina, making him an equally valuable target for chakra recovery rather than elimination.
But the tactical threat he represented outweighed his potential value. His strategic thinking and spatial manipulation abilities made him too dangerous to leave alive, regardless of what power he might possess.
Kaguya herself wasn't immune to the corrosive effects of the acid dimension. Her pale skin showed signs of minor irritation where the liquid made contact, and wisps of vapor rose from her form as the acid attempted to break down her physical structure. However, her regenerative capabilities were so advanced that the damage healed almost instantly, making the environment's effects negligible for someone of her power level.
Buzz!
The familiar distortion of a spatial rift appeared before Kaguya, her dimensional manipulation capabilities unimpaired by their hostile environment. She stepped through the portal with fluid grace, preparing to eliminate the greatest strategic threat to her victory.
But instead of fleeing or preparing a desperate defense, Minato began forming hand seals with deliberate precision. His movements were calm and controlled despite the corrosive death surrounding them, his strategic mind already several steps ahead of his opponent's expectations.
Bang!
He invested thirty percent of his remaining chakra reserves into creating a shadow clone—a massive expenditure that left him visibly drained but provided a crucial tactical asset. This wasn't a normal clone technique; the duplicate possessed access to both Yin and Yang release, coating itself in the same protective energy that kept Minato alive in the acid dimension.
While the divine powers couldn't render all ninjutsu completely ineffective like the Truth-Seeking Balls, they provided significantly enhanced resistance to the corrosive environment. The clone would be able to function independently for a meaningful period, giving them options that hadn't existed moments before.
As the clone materialized, Kaguya's form emerged from her spatial portal directly beside Minato's position. Her pale hand reached out with lethal intent, moving to capture or eliminate the strategic threat that had frustrated her plans repeatedly.
"Now!" Minato shouted, his voice carrying both urgency and confidence.
His mind focused on a technique that required perfect timing and spatial awareness: "Flying Thunder God: Mutual Instantaneous Revolving Technique!"
Swish!
The advanced application of his signature technique had originally required two users activating Flying Thunder God simultaneously. But through years of refinement and deep understanding of spatial mechanics, Minato had learned to execute it independently by manipulating multiple markers at once.
His position instantly swapped with Naruto's, the father and son trading places through their connected chakra signatures. The maneuver placed Naruto directly in front of Kaguya's reaching hand while moving Minato to a tactically advantageous position.
But the real brilliance of the plan became apparent in the next instant. Sasuke, alerted by Minato's signal and observing the shadow clone that had been left behind, recognized the opportunity immediately.
His Mangekyo Sharingan blazed with power as he activated his ultimate technique: "Amenotejikara!"
Flash!
Sasuke's form vanished from his position, instantly swapping places with Minato's shadow clone. The spatial displacement put him on the opposite side of Kaguya from Naruto, creating the exact positioning they needed for their sealing technique.
In a moment of perfect coordination born from desperate necessity, both young shinobi appeared simultaneously on either side of the chakra ancestor. Naruto's right hand, blazing with Yang release power, and Sasuke's left hand, wreathed in Yin release energy, reached out toward their target with synchronized precision.
Black Zetsu found itself witnessing the complete reversal of its tactical advantage. The acid dimension that was supposed to eliminate their greatest threat had instead become the stage for their most promising sealing attempt.
"Impossible!" the entity snarled. "How did they turn our own strategy against us?"
The palms of both young shinobi drew closer to Kaguya, their combined powers creating a resonance that made the air itself hum with anticipation. For a brief moment, victory seemed within their grasp—the sealing technique that could end this nightmare was mere inches away from completion.
But at that critical instant, the blood-red Rinne Sharingan on Kaguya's forehead began to rotate with ominous intensity.
Space transformation activated once more!
Whoosh!
The acid dimension vanished as if it had never existed, replaced by something entirely different and equally hostile. Bitter cold wind immediately assaulted them, carrying ice crystals sharp enough to cut exposed skin. They found themselves embedded within the heart of a massive iceberg, the frozen water having materialized around them so quickly that they were trapped in place before they could react.
This was a dimension of eternal winter—endless ice and snow stretching beyond the horizon, with temperatures so extreme that normal human life would be impossible within minutes.
The tactical situation changed catastrophically in an instant. Sasuke and Naruto, who had been reaching for Kaguya with their sealing technique, found their arms blocked by tons of solid ice. Their forward momentum was completely arrested, their carefully coordinated attack rendered useless by the environmental shift.
A spatial portal materialized in front of Kaguya, who had been positioned between her two attackers when the dimension changed. She stepped through it with fluid grace, escaping the ice trap that held her opponents immobilized.
Her hand emerged from another portal, this one positioned to target Minato once again. The Fourth Hokage's movements were severely restricted by the ice surrounding him, his normal mobility completely compromised by the frozen prison.
But before Kaguya's reaching hand could make contact, another figure interposed itself between them.
"Obito!" Minato's voice carried both surprise and gratitude.
His former student had used his unique abilities to phase through the ice barrier, positioning himself as a shield just as Kaguya's attack arrived. Obito's form solidified at the crucial moment, allowing Kaguya's palm to make contact with his body instead of Minato's.
"Amaterasu!" Sasuke's voice rang out with desperate intensity.
Black flames erupted from his right eye, taking the form of razor-sharp cutting implements that sliced through the ice restraining both him and Naruto. The divine fire burned with such intensity that even the supernatural ice of this dimension couldn't withstand its power for long.
At the same moment, Obito's hand touched Minato's shoulder, activating his Kamui technique just as Kaguya made contact with his body.
Swish!
The dimensional displacement triggered immediately, whisking both of them away from danger and depositing them safely beside Naruto and Sasuke, who had just finished cutting themselves free from their icy prison.
"Dad, Obito, are you both alright?" Naruto's voice carried genuine concern as he checked on his companions.
The strain of their continuous desperate maneuvers was beginning to show on all of them. Their chakra reserves were depleting rapidly, and each dimensional shift forced them to adapt to entirely new sets of environmental hazards.
"Damn it!" Sasuke's frustration was palpable, his hands clenched into fists. "We were so close! Just a few more inches and we would have had her!"
The near-success of their sealing attempt made the current setback even more bitter. They had proven that Kaguya could be caught off guard, that their coordination could create openings in her defenses—but those opportunities were measured in fractions of seconds, with no room for error or hesitation.
Minato exchanged a meaningful look with Obito, his eyes reflecting both gratitude and recognition. If not for his former student's intervention, the battle would likely have ended with his capture or death.
"Be careful," Obito replied, his voice carrying none of the confusion or self-doubt that had characterized him earlier.
The shared danger and Minato's trust had helped restore something within him—a sense of purpose and belonging that had been missing since Rin's death. He was no longer the broken, manipulated tool that Black Zetsu had used for so many years.
Minato's analytical mind was already processing the pattern of their opponent's abilities. "Lava, acid sea, ice and snow," he murmured, cataloging the dimensional spaces they had encountered.
The sequence proved his earlier hypothesis that Kaguya possessed access to multiple specialized dimensions, each one designed to create tactical advantages or eliminate specific types of threats. By leveraging the unique properties of these spaces, she could potentially eliminate any enemy regardless of their individual power level.
"If Naruto, Sasuke, and I didn't possess power bestowed by the Sage of Six Paths, it would have been impossible to survive even one of these dimensional transitions," Minato realized grimly.
The battle they were fighting existed on a level beyond normal shinobi conflict. Every aspect of it—the scale of power involved, the exotic abilities being deployed, the fundamental forces being manipulated—transcended the traditional boundaries of ninja warfare.
This was a confrontation between entities who had moved beyond mortal limitations, and the slightest tactical error would result in total defeat.
"Summoning these specialized dimensions in rapid succession must consume enormous amounts of chakra, even for her," Sasuke observed, his Sharingan tracking the energy fluctuations around Kaguya.
Despite being the originator of chakra itself, her ability to reshape reality on such a massive scale couldn't be without cost. The repeated dimensional manipulations had to be drawing from finite reserves, no matter how vast those reserves might be.
"If we continue wasting time with these persistent insects, the situation will become problematic," Black Zetsu's voice carried unusual tension.
The parasitic entity was genuinely concerned about how close they had come to being sealed. The coordination and tactical sophistication their opponents had demonstrated was exceeding its projections, creating possibilities for failure that hadn't existed in its original calculations.
"Mom, that man's chakra can be recovered from Kushina later if necessary. Don't hold back any longer—kill him!" Black Zetsu's recommendation carried murderous intensity.
The strategic calculus had shifted. Whatever value Minato might possess as a source of Nine-Tails chakra was outweighed by the existential threat he represented to their victory.
"You are correct," Kaguya agreed, her voice carrying the finality of a death sentence.
For the first time since her resurrection, she was acknowledging a mortal as a genuine threat worthy of her full attention. The tactical nuisance had become something more dangerous—an opponent capable of creating real opportunities for her defeat.
Crack!
The sound of bone piercing flesh echoed across the frozen dimension. Gray, skeletal protrusions began emerging from Kaguya's back, growing through her skin like thorns on some nightmarish plant. Each bone was perfectly formed, razor-sharp, and clearly designed for killing.
"This is..." Minato's eyes narrowed with recognition and alarm.
Similar gray bones were now protruding from Kaguya's palms, having pierced through her pale skin to create natural weapons of incredible lethality. The ability bore an unmistakable resemblance to the Shikotsumyaku—the bone manipulation bloodline limit of the Kaguya clan from Kirigakure.
The connection sent chills down Minato's spine. If this was the original source of that bloodline ability, then they were facing techniques that had been refined and perfected over millennia. Whatever the Kaguya clan could accomplish with their bone manipulation would be nothing compared to what the true originator of that power could achieve.
"This ability again..." Naruto, Sasuke, and Obito all recognized the implications immediately.
Their expressions grew grim as they realized that Kaguya was escalating her offensive capabilities. The dimensional manipulation and overwhelming chakra attacks had been merely the opening moves in her arsenal. Now she was preparing to deploy abilities that could kill them outright, regardless of their defensive capabilities.
This ability was very similar to the Kekkei Genkai of the Kirigakure Kaguya clan, recorded in Orochimaru's research data—the Shikotsumyaku!