At that moment, Black Zetsu suddenly widened his eyes in realization as he shouted,"Mother! That's his jutsu! Damn it, he can even harness the magma inside Amenominaka?!"
Of course, Black Zetsu recognized Natsuro's Flame Release: Vermilion Bird, he had seen it a few times before. But he never imagined the Vermilion Bird could even draw upon the magma within Kaguya's Amenominaka dimension!
Kaguya frowned slightly. Right now, even she couldn't enter the magma to drag him out, her body couldn't withstand that environment for long either.
And since she couldn't lock onto Natsuro's position, she couldn't use Amenominaka to switch to another space, unless she was willing to bring the entire sea of magma into the next dimension.
Which was clearly not what she wanted.
So… would she really have to wait for Natsuro to emerge?
That wasn't a viable plan. It was obvious Natsuro was gathering power within the magma, and she couldn't allow him to build up such a massive force uncontested.
Or perhaps… she could just leave him trapped in Amenominaka? But then she recalled Umbreon.
If that little creature could freely leave, then it meant he likely could too. So trapping him in one of her dimensions wasn't going to work.
Besides, the chakra radiating from Natsuro was something Kaguya was unwilling to give up on.
"In that case…" Kaguya stretched out her palm, and in the next moment, the magma below began to surge and part under her control.
The endless sea of magma was abruptly sliced through by an unseen force. Along that massive divide, magma churned upward violently.
Very quickly, this division flipped the entire magma field, revealing everything hidden beneath, including the radiant form of the Vermilion Bird.
Even in the heart of magma, the heat surrounding the Vermilion Bird was clearly more intense than the lava itself!
Seated atop the Vermilion Bird's head, Natsuro opened his eyes and looked at the vertical walls of magma around him. He understood Kaguya's move.This level of ability—if it were the ocean, she probably could've split it in two as well.
The Vermilion Bird raised its head toward Kaguya. Behind it, several towering magma columns twisted upward, streams of lava visibly reversing their flow and merging together.
A massive magma sphere was forming.
Natsuro wore a slightly odd expression. While he could sense the immense chakra gathered inside that magma orb and didn't doubt its devastating power… was she really trying to use a fire release technique against the Vermilion Bird?
"Go, Vermilion Bird!" Natsuro shouted. If that was her plan, then it was time to give her a proper lesson.
The Vermilion Bird flared its blazing wings—then, to his speechless dismay, it let out a huge… burp.
Instantly, Natsuro's gaze changed. The Vermilion Bird, slightly embarrassed, had apparently absorbed a bit too much magma. To hide its awkwardness, it let out a thunderous cry that echoed through the entire magma space of Amenominaka.
Then, it flapped its wings and charged toward Kaguya.
Kaguya stared at the incoming Vermilion Bird. Even with the distance between them, she could feel the scorching heat radiating from it.
She swung her arm down.
"Solar Deity!"
The massive sphere of magma, immense and radiant like a miniature sun, hurtled toward the Vermilion Bird with overwhelming force.
Compared to the blazing sphere, the Vermilion Bird looked no larger than an insect before an elephant. But it showed no fear, its wings surged forward, diving straight toward the oncoming molten sun.
In mere moments, the Vermilion Bird was swallowed whole.
Yet Kaguya didn't relax. At the very instant the Vermilion Bird was engulfed, she clenched her hand.
BOOM...The magma sphere exploded in an earth-shaking blast.
Still, even though the Solar Deity had unleashed its full might, Kaguya could sense a figure moving rapidly within the explosion's core.
Slowed, yes, but not by much.
Then, her expression shifted.
A flaming bird burst out from the explosion, wings blazing, trailing a sea of fire, charging straight toward her!
"Impossible! How can a human possess power of this level?!" Kaguya stared in astonishment at the dazzling Vermilion Bird and at Natsuro standing atop it, looking directly at her.
"That's why you shouldn't underestimate humans!" Natsuro said, seemingly hearing her thoughts. From within the Vermilion Bird, his eyes, illuminated by flame, blazed like fire themselves.
As Kaguya came into range, Natsuro formed hand seals, something he rarely did now, to better channel chakra into the Vermilion Bird.
"Sage Art ~ Flame Release: Vermilion Bird!"
The moment he shouted this, just as the Vermilion Bird was about to consume Kaguya in its flames, a spatial ripple tickled Natsuro's senses.
Another Amenominaka?
He couldn't stop it. Even if he resisted, he could only avoid being dragged into the next dimension himself, he couldn't stop Kaguya from escaping.
And since his goal was to defeat Kaguya, he couldn't afford to remain behind.
In the blink of an eye, even within the burning heat of the Vermilion Bird, he felt a chill.
This wasn't an illusion. He was now in a realm of ice and snow, a white world where snowflakes fell from a pale sky, and everything was built of ice.
Natsuro, the Vermilion Bird, and even Kaguya were all trapped within a massive iceberg, frozen solid.
But it was obvious, the ice surrounding the Vermilion Bird was already boiling and melting rapidly. Soon, it broke free, soaring upward, melting everything in its path with explosive heat. Nothing could slow its ascent.
Kaguya was no longer inside the ice. The moment she entered this world, a black, puzzle-piece-like spatial gate appeared beside her and she had exited through it ahead of time.
Natsuro, riding the Vermilion Bird, emerged into the icy sky above.
"You did great, Vermilion Bird."He jumped down from its back, patted it gently, and then sealed it back into the fiery-red orb.
Although the Vermilion Bird hadn't landed a decisive blow, it had forced Kaguya to use Amenominaka again.
And it was likely she wouldn't return to the magma space now.
That place had been perfect for Natsuro. In fact, he had engraved a Flying Thunder God seal at the very bottom of that realm.After defeating Kaguya, he could bring the Vermilion Bird there, it would probably love it.
But that was for later. Right now, he looked around at the eternal glaciers, untouched by nature or time... Kaguya was nowhere in sight.
Yet despite not seeing Kaguya, he felt as though her presence was everywhere, her chakra permeated every glacier in this realm.
Then suddenly, Natsuro noticed the sky above him had gone dark. He instinctively looked up, only to see an enormous avalanche cascading down, blotting out the heavens.
His pupils shrank.
He didn't even know when it had begun.
There was no sound.... Everything had happened in complete silence.
"…So she's merged with nature," Natsuro murmured, finally understanding.
The omnipresent chakra he had sensed from Kaguya, it wasn't just diffusion, it was integration.
Compared to the lava dimension, this was far more troublesome!
Facing the avalanche, he reached out a hand and tapped the air. Instantly, a ripple spread, like the surface of water being disturbed.
This was the same space-time jutsu he'd used before to retrieve Six Paths Obito's body.
It took time to activate, which made it impractical in most fights—but now, it was the perfect choice.
He took a step forward, and vanished into midair.
The ripple faded, and the avalanche swallowed the spot where he had just stood.
Elsewhere, another ripple emerged, and Natsuro stepped out once again.
But before he could even stabilize, countless ice spikes shot up from beneath and from nearby glaciers, stabbing toward him from every direction.
It was as if the entire world had become hostile to his existence.
Natsuro dodged continuously in midair. These ice spears weren't fast enough to hit him, but they kept him so occupied that he had no chance to search for Kaguya's real location.
He glanced at the frost on his body—ice crystals were directly forming on his skin.The temperature in this space had fallen to an extreme threshold.
"…Hoo."
Of course, such cold couldn't truly hinder a Six Paths-level shinobi.
Natsuro took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He expanded his sensory field to the limit, searching for Kaguya's presence, even if she was hiding within her Yomotsu Hirasaka, he would find a way to drag her out.
In his mind, blurry images began to coalesce. A detailed mental map of the entire ice world took form.
His sensing hadn't improved...
Rather, it was because every part of this snowy realm was saturated with Kaguya's chakraa and he was a master at detecting chakra.
So even if he couldn't pinpoint her exact location, his evasive movements—dodging ice spikes and avalanches—became almost effortless, as though he could predict them.
"Yomotsu Hirasaka… what a troublesome ability." Natsuro frowned.
It was truly the pinnacle of space-time ninjutsu. Even with his own mastery of such techniques, he couldn't find her.
If Kaguya didn't want to leave that black void of a dimension, there was nothing he could do to reach her directly.
Slowly, Natsuro opened his eyes.
So… the question now was... How do I force her out of Yomotsu Hirasaka?
Option one: let himself be defeated. That would definitely draw her out, but that wasn't happening.
Option two: prove to Kaguya that even this icy realm is ineffective against him.
Natsuro looked down at the icy ground, like a massive maw, and the jagged ice spikes were its fangs, lunging toward him.
"Seriously now… Do you really think I don't know Ice Release?" Natsuro muttered, almost like he was asking the world itself.
Then he extended his hand. Facing the maw that was trying to devour him, he didn't move, didn't resist.
But just before the ice spikes could pierce him, they froze in place, like they'd hit an invisible wall.
The gaping mouth of ice locked up, unable to close even another inch.
Natsuro stood there, unmoving, his eyes now an icy white, glowing like snow.
In that moment, he had successfully fused Ice Release into his own power.
And for him, this wasn't that difficult.
He'd long known that Ice Release came from combining Water and Wind.
He hadn't attempted it before because it felt like a waste of time, and he didn't know many Ice Release techniques—so he had little incentive.
But that didn't mean he couldn't master it.
Before reaching Six Paths level, Natsuro had already figured out both Magnet Release and Swift Release on his own.
Now, having ascended to a higher plane of chakra control, this was a natural progression.
Not to mention, he had absorbed chakra from the Three-Tails, which also used Ice Release.
And this entire frozen dimension? The perfect training ground for it.
The timing, environment, and internal mastery were all aligned.
So it was no surprise that he could not only comprehend Ice Release, but use it.
He landed gently on an icy cliff and stood there, feeling the frozen terrain underfoot.
It was now a contest of wills, his own versus Kaguya's.
In truth, he was still at a disadvantage. In a pure power struggle, Kaguya's strength, her natural integration with the world, was unmatched.
No one could beat her in that regard.
But he wasn't trying to outpower her here.
All he needed to prove was that even in your own world, Kaguya....
You. Can't. Kill. Me.
So, even if his Ice Release couldn't compare to Kaguya's nature-fused control, it was enough to defend himself.
Which meant Kaguya couldn't rely on this domain to defeat him.
Natsuro looked up.
"So what now, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki? Still not coming out?"
If you want to read more...
Check out the patreon and get 55 chapters in advance -> SaintXI
Next Chapter: A Sage vs The Mother of Chakra II