Boom—
The Rasengan, powered by planet chakra, and Nagato's Super-Shinra Tensei collided, generating a massive energy shockwave.
The invisible energy roared, tearing apart the entire ground, and the colossal mushroom cloud incinerated everything around it.
Under the immense power, Nagato's body was sent flying backward. Even he found it difficult to withstand such destructive energy.
His body tumbled repeatedly before he finally landed steadily on the ground. However, his clothes were severely damaged, and he was panting heavily.
On the other hand, Takemi's figure had long since vanished.
Only when the surging energy had mostly dissipated did he leisurely reappear atop a pile of rubble.
"Not bad, I admit you have made some progress."
"Hmph."
Nagato snorted, a jolt of fear running through him as he looked at the unharmed Takemi.
However, he had long known Takemi's strength and understood his methods, so he quickly calmed down.
"Relying on Flying Thunder God can indeed avoid a lot of trouble. This space-time Ninjutsu is truly a headache."
In Nagato's view, Takemi being unscathed was entirely due to Flying Thunder God.
Of course, he would never deny Takemi's strength.
That special Rasengan, capable of directly countering his Super-Shinra Tensei, already said it all.
"But that Rasengan was extremely peculiar. What exactly was that power?"
Nagato was also very puzzled, but he didn't have time to think too much because Takemi had already moved.
Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence.
With hands clasped, without a single extra hand seal, a vast expanse of vines burst from the ground, intertwining and wrapping madly.
The massive amount of tree vines continuously surged towards Nagato, forcing him to quickly dodge.
Before long, countless colossal trees soared into the sky, intertwining like an ancient forest.
Moreover, on these giant trees, there were still buds waiting to bloom.
And as Takemi's Chakra surged, a giant Wood Golem roared and stood tall, with Takemi already circling the Wood Golem, standing on the head of its wooden dragon.
"Nagato, you are no longer the same as you were three years ago."
Takemi chuckled, controlling the Wood Golem as he looked at the grim-faced Nagato.
"This also means you're no ordinary thug anymore, so I must strike hard."
"?"
Nagato didn't understand the connection between being no ordinary thug and striking hard.
But seeing Takemi's posture, he knew he couldn't let his guard down.
"But this is good. Only by overcoming you, this stumbling block, can I go deal with Ōtsutsuki Takeshiki."
Nagato roared, his power erupting again, and he charged towards the colossal Wood Golem.
Boom—
Boom—
Boom—
Above this ruin and canyon, the ear-piercing roar erupted once more, and the ground began to shake violently again.
"They are actually fighting so intensely…"
Not far from them, Black Zetsu's figure quietly appeared.
Looking at the massive dense forest in the distance, and hearing the roar of the Wood Golem, Black Zetsu couldn't help but sigh.
"Blacky, what terrifying power."
White Zetsu trembled beside him, seemingly unable to withstand such power.
"That Takemi is amazing! I didn't expect him to not even fear Nagato now."
"I know."
Black Zetsu nodded. In fact, the stronger Takemi was, the better it was for him.
After all, he had 'helped' Takemi a great deal, and now that he was fighting Nagato, he could see the results of his efforts.
But the more he watched, the more he felt that his previous conjecture might be true.
"No matter how talented or powerful an ordinary person is, they cannot escape certain predetermined factors, and that is the power of bloodline."
Without sufficiently strong bloodline power, the limits of a 'human' are visible.
Because the Chakra of this world all came from his mother!
If there was no connection to his mother, then it would be impossible to cross that boundary no matter what.
"Unless… one takes that almost impossible path!"
That impossible path was, of course, self-integrating the Kekkei Mora.
The Kekkei Mora was the only way out for ordinary people given by heaven, but to achieve all of this…
It was better to be realistic!
"Takemi can learn so many Kekkei Genkais, and his growth seems to have no limit, even the recovered Nagato finds it difficult to deal with."
Black Zetsu slightly clenched his fists. He felt he had found the truth.
"Perhaps, he truly possesses the bloodline of the moon, and his bloodline has already awakened."
"If that's the case…"
Black Zetsu's breathing became somewhat ragged. He was increasingly certain of what he needed to do.
"Blacky, should we move further away?"
But just as he was deep in thought, White Zetsu spoke again.
"It's so dangerous, this is too terrifying!"
"You fellow…"
Having his thoughts interrupted by White Zetsu, Black Zetsu was somewhat annoyed.
"What are you afraid of? If it's really dangerous, we can leave. Why weren't you so scared when we went to Konoha?"
"Nah, can you compare them?"
White Zetsu sighed innocently, he couldn't even smile now.
"We went to Konoha to fake things, there was no fighting, but here…"
"Shut up, what faking?!"
Black Zetsu's face turned ugly, cutting him off roughly.
"I'm warning you, don't talk nonsense again, understood?"
"I get it, don't be so fierce."
White Zetsu seemed to sense Black Zetsu's bad mood and immediately nodded, but he quickly looked into the distance again.
"Let's run quickly, I feel it's getting more and more dangerous over there!"
"Dangerous?"
Black Zetsu turned his head in confusion, and then his eyes widened.
Boom—
Boom—
Boom—
The colossal roars continued, and Nagato kept dodging within the forest, but at this moment, he was facing a true 'enemy everywhere'.
The surrounding vines would attack, and the Wood Golem and wooden dragon would continuously compress his space.
Furthermore, Takemi's Flying Thunder God was elusive, constantly ambushing him from various angles.
This left him with no options, he could only continuously try to use Super-Shinra Tensei to counter.
'But this consumes a lot of my Chakra now, and there's also poison…'
Constantly dodging, constantly shattering the continuously attacking vines, Nagato gritted his teeth.
'I'm not afraid of poison, but those trees can continuously recover. Is he trying to exhaust my Chakra?'
Looking at Takemi, who stood on the head of the wooden dragon, indifferently surveying him, he was now truly in a world of pain.
"Is this your full power?"
Just then, Takemi's voice suddenly echoed leisurely.
"Damn it…"
Nagato cursed under his breath, but the next instant, Takemi had already appeared beside him.
This dense forest was entirely constructed from Takemi's Chakra. One could say his Flying Thunder God Marks were everywhere.
"Ha!"
Nagato once again unleashed a terrifying repulsive force, but Takemi was clearly much faster than him.
Before his repulsive force could take effect, he was already sent flying backward, crashing into a pile of rubble.
"It seems…"
The voice faded from near to far. Takemi had returned to the head of the wooden dragon.
"Compared to back then, you haven't changed much at all."
Takemi's words brought back painful memories for Nagato. Back then, he was also suppressed by Takemi with no ability to fight back.
He hadn't expected that even now, the situation would still be the same.
This kind of suppressive power was not as despair-inducing as Ōtsutsuki Takeshiki's all-encompassing suppression, and was different.
Takemi, on the other hand, targeted his weaknesses, relentlessly attacking and outputting, giving him no breathing room at all.
The two were different, but both made him feel as if he couldn't turn the tables at all.