"My mother, the 'Rabbit Goddess' Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, is indeed venting the fury of a thousand years of imprisonment," the Sage of Six Paths said helplessly. With his mother caught in the act, he had no choice but to admit it.
Sasuke Uchiha didn't quite understand. If this person before him really was the Sage of Six Paths, why would he appear now?
"A thousand years ago, the Ōtsutsuki clan—"
"Yeah, can you get to the point?"
A war was raging outside. Defeat meant the end of the world. Some blonde kid had already been captured. Sasuke was in no mood to listen to the Sage's stories.
"The point?"
Sasuke wanted the point. For a moment, the Sage didn't know where to begin. He was old, and his logical thinking wasn't what it used to be. Once his train of thought was disrupted, he had trouble finding his place again.
Over there, the vessel for Asura's Chakra didn't even know who the Sage of Six Paths was. Over here, the vessel for Indra's Chakra was far too blunt… He had to admit, their personalities did bear a striking resemblance to the two brothers.
At this thought, the Sage almost smiled like a proud father.
"I want to confirm something," Sasuke said, taking the initiative since the Sage seemed at a loss. "My return from the era of Konoha's founding… was that your doing?"
"Yes. Summoning you back was difficult. If I hadn't observed you beforehand and sensed your Chakra, your return would have been nearly impossible," the Sage admitted.
When Sasuke traveled to the founding era, he didn't carry Indra's Chakra, which made the Sage's job more troublesome.
"Why observe me? Why summon me back?"
"Simply put, to prevent what is happening now. Since it has already occurred, I need you to stop my mother to protect this shinobi world."
The Sage had indeed been watching over the Chakra his sons left behind. It was likely thanks to him that their Chakra hadn't dissipated over a millennium.
A son fights his own mother, and now he was teaching his 'grandsons' to fight their grandmother. This was the Ōtsutsuki way of filial piety.
"What should I do?" The moment Sasuke asked, he realized why the Sage was here. "What can you do?"
"Sigh…"
All my stories about the Ōtsutsuki's arrival, the world's creation, the spread of Ninshū, the brothers' conflict… and you just cut me off? the Sage thought. No appetizer? Straight to the main course? This feels wrong.
"Hold out your hand."
If Qianyu were here, he'd say Sasuke did the right thing. The Sage was just an NPC delivering a power-up. Why did he need to hog the spotlight?
Even without the long-winded explanation, would the chosen one who received such power not save the world? Even if not for the world, they'd have to save themselves.
Sasuke's consciousness returned to his body. In the real world, almost no time had passed. One couldn't really blame the Sage for being talkative; inside that mental space, no matter how many stories he told, only an instant would pass outside.
Sasuke opened his right eye. No change. Then he slowly opened his left—
The power of the Six Paths had evolved his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan into a Rinnegan.
Sasuke focused his Rinnegan on Naruto. The next moment, a rock appeared abruptly before the weeping Kaguya, and Naruto was swapped to a spot in front of Sasuke.
"Huh? Sasuke? Why are you here? Wait, you look bigger somehow! And what's with your eye?"
Naruto had a lot of questions. That was fine. Sasuke didn't plan on answering any of them.
"Deal with the enemy first."
Sasuke ignored him, charging straight for Kaguya. Naruto, of course, wasn't about to be left behind. His drive to act was second to none.
The Five Kage no longer needed to hide. Never mind why Naruto was here; as the Hokage, Genkai Haimiya had to step up and help.
Once the Hokage moved, the other Kage had to follow.
On this battlefield, Kage-level combatants couldn't decide the outcome, but they weren't useless. In fact, their contribution was significant. It wasn't about raw power. The problem was Kaguya. In her struggle to suppress the immense Chakra within, she found it difficult to focus on multiple targets at once.
Simply put, Kaguya's CPU was busy elsewhere, making her reactions a half-step slower against multiple foes.
"Lord Qianyu!"
Genkai Haimiya tried to call for their powerhouse while 'distracting' Kaguya (though it looked more like he was the one being distracted).
But over there, Qianyu was staring up at the night sky, seemingly lost in thought. He regretted it. He shouldn't have thrown that expanding Truth-Seeking Orb at the moon.
He had just realized he'd done something very, very stupid.
The moon itself didn't matter. It was just…
"Mother, let's change locations. These people are insignificant. Once you stabilize, they won't even withstand the Infinite Tsukuyomi," suggested Black Zetsu, the external brain hidden in Kaguya's sleeve. Its assessment wasn't wrong. The people present posed no real threat. Kaguya could crush them easily… provided her own condition was stable.
Right now, Kaguya's priority was suppressing the Chakra within her.
"Agreed. But we're taking those two."
Kaguya looked at Sasuke and Naruto. Behind them, she saw not the phantoms of Indra and Asura, but those of Hagoromo and Hamura.
This made Black Zetsu feel deeply wronged. So, who was the real son here?
Thankfully, Kaguya's next words stabilized its emotions.
"I must reclaim the Chakra they possess. They can threaten me. They cannot be left here… The blonde one also holds another Tailed Beast."
Ah. So it's about reclaiming Chakra. That makes sense. That's fine, then.
Just as Kaguya activated Yomotsu Hirasaka, preparing to take Naruto and Sasuke to one of her Amenominaka dimensions, something shot towards them.
A person. Or rather, half a person. Ōtsutsuki Isshiki—crippled, but tenacious.
A normal person cut in half might still find the strength to scrawl 'miserable' seven times on the ground. An Ōtsutsuki? They were just that determined.
Isshiki's body—or rather, Jigen's—had been grazed by the expanding Truth-Seeking Orb, which had cleanly sheared off his lower half. Yet, he still refused to give up.
It was precisely because he was backed into a corner that he had to gamble everything.
If Isshiki wanted to abandon his old shell and find a temporary host, it wouldn't be hard. There were many targets. The Five Kage and their elite ninja were all decent choices. Few could truly adapt to a Kāma, but was this the time to be picky? It was just a temporary vessel. He wasn't planning on living there forever.
But Ōtsutsuki Isshiki didn't see it that way. In his life, he was second to none. When choosing a vessel, he'd rather have none than settle for less. Ōtsutsuki must have some spine.
From the crowd, he selected the best of the best: Sasuke Uchiha.
Sasuke had just received the power of the Six Paths. With his physical condition and Ōtsutsuki compatibility, there was no reason he shouldn't be able to bear Isshiki's Kāma.
Isshiki's palm was about to touch Sasuke's neck when Kaguya's Yomotsu Hirasaka instantly swallowed the entire area.
By sheer, rotten luck, Isshiki had caught a ride.
Space shifted. Amenominaka.
Isshiki maintained his lunge, seemingly ignoring Kaguya's space-time ninjutsu. He was single-minded, desperate to claim a new body and continue his fight.
But he was met with consecutive blows. A new body was probably off the table. Once he made his move, there was no turning back.
A black orb the size of a fist smashed into Isshiki's arm, severing his forearm at the elbow. Then a black rod cracked against his forehead, sending the one-armed Isshiki plummeting to the ground.
Sasuke glanced at Naruto. He was enveloped in golden Chakra, several Truth-Seeking Orbs floating behind him. Naruto had entered Six Paths Sage Mode.
One look was all it took for Sasuke to understand.
This guy can actually float. Sasuke looked down at himself, standing on a black, disc-like platform.
In a battle at this level, someone actually couldn't fly…
"You met the Sage, too?"
"That old man? This is the second time I've seen him. Seriously, if he could help, why wait until now?"
Sasuke was speechless. The guy lends you power, and you complain.
"Who was that just now?" Naruto asked when Sasuke didn't respond.
"Don't know. Probably unimportant."
True. The one hammered into the ground was unimportant. The one floating in the sky deserved their full attention.
They both instinctively looked up and saw Kaguya Ōtsutsuki floating even higher.
Except Kaguya was motionless, as if stunned.
"Where are we?" Naruto asked again.
"Don't know… Kaguya doesn't seem to know, either." Sasuke was right.
Theoretically, Kaguya should know where she was. In reality, she was completely baffled.
"Mother? What's wrong?"
"This place… isn't this supposed to be my Super-Gravity Dimension?"
It was her Super-Gravity Dimension—or what was left of it. The gravity here was once immense, but the entire dimension's energy had later become nourishment for a God Tree.
Kaguya couldn't even spare a thought for Naruto and Sasuke. She performed consecutive spatial jumps, only to find it wasn't just the Super-Gravity Dimension that had lost its gravity.
The Lava Dimension had cooled and solidified. The Acid Sea had become a freshwater lake. The Desert Dimension had lost its heat, the Ice Dimension its cold. Even the Core Dimension had a giant hole in its center, the entire space cracking open from it.
What happened? Had her dimensions been robbed? She'd only been gone for a thousand years. Why was it like this?
"Mother, perhaps… the world just changes over time?" Black Zetsu ventured.
"No." Kaguya shook her head, utterly bewildered.
Whatever the case, she needed a moment.
"What do we do? Did the enemy run away?"
Naruto was just as confused. He felt abandoned, and by the enemy, no less. How irresponsible. Wasn't this supposed to be an epic, drawn-out battle?
"We're likely trapped. This is a separate dimension. Only space-time ninjutsu can get us out," Sasuke analyzed. He felt the enemy might be smarter than he thought. Fighting wasn't the only way to win… Well, he was overthinking it.
"Space-time ninjutsu? Right, you just saved me with—"
"It's different. With this eye, I can only perform short-range spatial swaps."
"Meaning…"
"We're stuck."
"What about Reverse Summoning? Could that work?"
"Setting aside how we'd contact someone to perform the summoning, this place isn't in the same space as the shinobi world. Reverse Summoning is unlikely to work."
Sasuke was about to grudgingly admire the enemy's strategy when Kaguya reappeared. Huh? You would've won if you'd just left. Why come back?
"Mother, is now really the time to reclaim their Chakra? Your condition is already unstable. Adding more will only make it worse," Black Zetsu advised. More Chakra was a burden for Kaguya, but the Progenitor of Chakra's craving for it was instinctual.
Of course, Kaguya wasn't acting completely recklessly. She had her reasons.
"It's fine. Within my own dimension, a slight loss of control is manageable."
As she spoke, Kaguya stopped deliberately suppressing her internal Chakra. Her form began to swell uncontrollably.
Soon, she became a massive, misshapen rabbit.
"Hey, Sasuke! According to that old Sage, if we touch her with Yin and Yang Release at the same time, we can seal her. Now that she's so huge… doesn't that make it easier?"
Naruto watched Kaguya expand, feeling that monstrous Chakra. He wasn't worried; he was thrilled. It was a rare moment of brilliance from him, but his brilliance was usually the 'seems clever' kind.
"Is it really that simple?" Sasuke hesitated.
"Only one way to find out."
No sooner had he spoken than Naruto shot toward Kaguya's colossal form. But before his palm could connect, a gigantic tail swatted him out of the air.
Sasuke shook his head. Try and you might die.
"Let's start with the fight. We'll properly wear down her combat strength. When she's weakened, then we'll try the seal."
Sasuke flexed his wrist. He took a step forward, as if about to fall from the Truth-Seeking Orb disc. The next moment, something caught him.
He was lifted higher, his line of sight nearly level with the massive 'Moon Rabbit.'
What Sasuke stood upon was his Complete Body—Susano'o.
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