Given the aura Qianyu was radiating, any ninja with half a brain would know not to make a rash move. But Naruto wasn't just anyone. He didn't give a damn about consequences.
Qianyu caught Naruto's wrist. A gentle push was all it took. The kid lost his balance and went flying.
Naruto scrambled to steady himself mid-air and immediately charged right back.
He plowed straight into the Yomotsu Hirasaka portal.
"This is bad."
Fortunately, Qianyu had lived long enough to be well past the stage of life where he enjoyed beating up children. Naruto's hostility didn't even register.
Just then, Sasuke finally circled around, his timing impeccable. He saw the exact moment Naruto, unable to brake, vanished into the spatial rift.
"Qianyu… could you explain exactly what you plan to do?" Sasuke asked.
Qianyu glanced at him. "Sasuke, we're at this stage already. Why are you still running on the ground? Doesn't everyone here know how to fly?"
Sasuke was silent.
It was true. The logic was sound. Sasuke refused to answer.
"You met the Sage of Six Paths?" Qianyu continued.
"Yes. He bestowed some of his power. If you hadn't interfered just now, we would have already sealed the Ten-Tails," Sasuke said.
"Don't kid yourself. If I hadn't 'made a mess,' would you two have even gotten close to Kaguya?"
Alright. Sasuke couldn't refute that.
"You… just ripped the Nine-Tails out?"
"Yep."
"I don't get it. You allowed the nine beasts to merge into the Ten-Tails. But now, moments later, you're separating them again? Isn't that just running in circles?"
"Not at all. How could Kaguya have re-emerged if the Ten-Tails didn't appear first?"
"Why did she need to emerge?"
"Because sealing doesn't actually solve the problem. Sasuke, let me ask you. Kaguya is, in essence, the Ten-Tails. Would you be willing to become the vessel that seals her?"
"Huh? Is that necessary?"
Sasuke instinctively recoiled. Becoming a jinchuriki was bad enough. But beasts were still beasts; you could grit your teeth and overcome the aversion. Stuffing a human-shaped being into your own gut, though? Ugh…
"I did find a better prison earlier," Qianyu mused. "Sealing her into my teacher, the Sage himself. The jailer is the jail. Could seal her for eternity. But I thought better of it. Ethical issues. What if, in the future, someone asked the Sage whether he gave birth to Kaguya, or she gave birth to him? How would he answer?"
The Sage of Six Paths was dead, yes, but his spirit was a massive energy entity. If he reclaimed the power he'd given Naruto and Sasuke, he'd undoubtedly have the capacity to cage Kaguya. Who knew how he'd maintained such vast energy for a thousand years after losing his body.
Maybe the Sage's energy hadn't diminished with time. Maybe it had grown.
Sometimes Qianyu wondered if the Sage was the true parasite of the shinobi world.
Anyway. Where there was energy, there was binding power. It might have been enough to trap a Kaguya stripped of the tailed beasts.
Good thing Qianyu wasn't one for traditional shinobi customs. The scene of a disciple trapping his master never came to pass.
"T-teacher? Seal Kaguya?"
It was too much information, all beyond comprehension. Sasuke's brain short-circuited.
"Forget it. I've abandoned the plan of using the old ghost as a rice cooker," Qianyu waved a hand.
"Then Kaguya…"
"If she truly can't die… then someone has to be the jailer."
"You mean…?"
"Don't rush. One step at a time. Let's release the beasts first."
Qianyu placed a single hand on the "Moon Rabbit's" flesh. The awakening service continued.
"Eight-Tails! Is the Eight-Tails here? Gyūki, you arrived? Sound off if you're here."
As it was awakened, the Eight-Tails began to squirm. Once its form stabilized, Qianyu's blade flashed again, severing more flesh.
The sight was almost too much for Sasuke's stoic expression. Yes, it was separating tailed beasts. But honestly, what was the difference from slaughtering a pig?
"It's hard to believe the nine beasts were separated from the Ten-Tails like this… The method is so primitive," Sasuke muttered.
"I'm sure the Sage's process was different when he did it. I just can't be bothered with Yin-Yang Release right now. Don't mind the process. It's effective."
When the Sage split the Ten-Tails into nine, technical precision was undoubtedly paramount. Qianyu was different. The groundwork was already laid. He just had to cut.
If Qianyu had extracted the Nine-Tails then the One-Tail, the chakra balance within the "Moon Rabbit" might not have been shattered so completely. But he went Nine-Tails, then Eight-Tails, picking at one spot. The "Moon Rabbit" couldn't even stand anymore. Its form began to disintegrate.
Like molten fat, the "Moon Rabbit" began to spread across the ground, flattening out like dough. It spread wider and wider.
And so, in an unnoticed corner, the spreading flesh covered half of someone's body.
Isshiki Ōtsutsuki was in agony. What could he do now? His body was finished. He was utterly powerless.
But then, the flesh ahead began to squirm. There was no choice. This body was packed too full. The only mode of movement for everyone inside was squirming.
Gradually, the upper half of a male torso emerged.
It was Obito Uchiha.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's consciousness was in chaos. Black Zetsu was preoccupied. This was his moment. Obito Uchiha briefly regained control of his mind.
Conscious, yes, but Obito knew he was helpless. To escape, he needed outside power. No. Even if escape was impossible, he had to get revenge.
The one Obito hated most was the one who had manipulated him: Black Zetsu. So he would act.
Isshiki saw Obito. Obito saw Isshiki.
"Come! Merge with me! We can escape this!" Obito shouted toward Isshiki.
He didn't need to say it. Isshiki Ōtsutsuki was at the end of his rope. If a donkey had appeared before him, he would have tried to use it for reincarnation. A person was a godsend.
The two began to squirm toward each other.
Squirming slowly had its advantages. It gave Obito ample time for preparation.
First, his eyes shifted into the Mangekyō pattern. He had no time to use their power for escape. Instead, he focused his spatial senses, searching desperately for something…
Found it.
The Rinnegan. They weren't on him, but they were buried somewhere within this massive tailed beast body.
Sensing their location, Obito's form dissolved. He chose to merge once more with the beast-flesh. In this moment, his body was Kaguya's body. Kaguya's body was his. They were one and the same.
When Obito's form coalesced again, the Mangekyō Sharingan in his sockets were gone. In their place, a pair of Rinnegan.
He had swapped his own eyes for the Rinnegan.
But Obito was encased in a layer of flesh. Isshiki, with seconds of life remaining, didn't notice the change.
Five minutes later, the two finally met in a grotesque docking procedure.
Upon contact, Obito used Kaguya's regenerative power to begin repairing the damaged body. Isshiki immediately seized Obito by the throat.
It didn't matter. Neither had good intentions.
"Karma!"
"Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique!"
Isshiki's consciousness surged into Obito's body. Their compatibility seemed frighteningly high. It appeared Isshiki had succeeded in his hostile takeover.
He was alive again! Isshiki Ōtsutsuki was ecstatic.
But the next moment, he watched as the "self" opposite him slowly opened its eyes. The emotion within was one of utter confusion and alienation. Utterly unfamiliar.
Then, his own face, his own body, began to rapidly change. In an instant, he became a stranger.
Immediately, Isshiki Ōtsutsuki felt a violent tearing sensation. An irresistible force was yanking his consciousness out of this body.
Why irresistible? Because it was the power of the Pure Land.
Even an Ōtsutsuki could not defy the rules of the Pure Land.
Obito had used the Rinnegan to cast a resurrection technique. Something had to be sacrificed, right? He had intended to sacrifice his own life. But just as he began, another consciousness flooded in, suppressing his own.
One could only say it was supremely unlucky. Obito had already signed the contract with the Pure Land. Then someone rushed in to take his place.
Oh well. Who they took didn't really matter. The perpetually unlucky Isshiki Ōtsutsuki had finally hit the jackpot of misfortune. If he wanted his luck to change, he'd have to hope for the next life.
Isshiki left gently, as he had come. He didn't even leave behind a last word.
Though a bizarre twist of fate, the manner of Isshiki's departure was perfectly in line with the average Ōtsutsuki IQ.
That was Isshiki for you. Either dying by possessing a shadow clone in a panic, or willingly diving headfirst into the Pure Land. His life was nothing great. His death was pathetically embarrassing.
As for the person swapped in Isshiki's place… who else could it be but the ancient ancestor of the Uchiha Clan?
Forget combat prowess for a moment. In terms of IQ alone, it was a profitable trade. Swapping an overdrawn account for a deficient one. A net profit of a hundred million.
Madara Uchiha had returned to the Shinobi World.
Obito had remade Isshiki's body. Madara Uchiha borrowed this vessel for his resurrection. And at this moment, Madara had a pair of eyes.
"What is this situation? Is that… Obito over there?"
Madara Uchiha had no clue about his circumstances. The human-shaped figure embedded in the flesh-wall opposite was hard to identify. But he sensed his Rinnegan.
"Hmph. I'll take my eyes back first."
Madara Uchiha scratched at Obito's face a few times, like a cat on a scratching post. Of course, his fingernails couldn't breach the "Moon Rabbit's" defense.
No choice. He began using Lightning Release. Like a careful welder, he started cutting.
Once a section of flesh was parted, Madara swiftly retrieved his eyes. Immediately, the wound healed over.
"Obito. How goes the plan's execution?"
"Where is Black Zetsu? Where is he?"
Any time Madara mentioned Black Zetsu, it was a moment of exposing his greatest folly, a showcase of his intellectual deficit. To this day, he still firmly believed Black Zetsu was a fragment of his own will.
"To what stage has the Eye of the Moon Plan progressed?"
"What of the plan to reshape the world…"
One could only say Madara Uchiha was truly Madara Uchiha. Freshly resurrected, still nestled within the skin folds of the "Moon Rabbit," and he was already talking about grand schemes of world domination.
The progress of the Eye of the Moon Plan? It had progressed to the point where it never needed you, Madara Uchiha, at all.
Separated by the "Moon Rabbit's" bulk, Qianyu and the others were still unaware of Madara's return.
But not for long.
Right now, Qianyu was methodically separating the tailed beasts from the "Moon Rabbit," like slicing rolls of mutton for hot pot. When the One-Tail, Shukaku, was finally named and extracted, the massive body became a hollow shell.
With no chakra to fill it, a cloud of dust erupted. The gigantic form dissolved into nothingness. Kaguya's true body was revealed.
She was fully conscious now. She understood what she had lost. The only difference was that the Rinne-Sharingan in the center of her forehead was gone.
The instant Kaguya reformed, a Yomotsu Hirasaka portal opened just below her chin, just above her shoulders. It snapped shut.
Above, Qianyu opened his palm. A spatial rift opened directly overhead. A head with long white hair dropped into his hand.
Qianyu casually passed the head to Sasuke, who stood beside him, then quietly observed the changes in Kaguya's body.
Sasuke was silent.
What was he, a bag carrier?
A few breaths later, a new head grew from Kaguya's neck stump. Simultaneously, the head in Sasuke's hand vanished, dissolving into a stream of chakra that returned to Kaguya.
"I see. Truly unkillable?"
Even without the Ten-Tails, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's power was theoretically immense. But a quantitative change had caused a qualitative one. Her life-form tier had plummeted.
The being who ate the Chakra Fruit and the being who spit it back out were fundamentally different.
Could this form of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki still cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi? Yeah, that joke wasn't funny.
Qianyu was about to speak. But now, the "Moon Rabbit's" chakra was completely gone. His Six Paths-level sensory abilities finally kicked in fully.
Qianyu's head snapped to one side. Hovering in the air, he peered down. His eyes widened. He bellowed:
"MADARA UCHIHA…"
"PAY ME BACK!"
Pay. Me. Back.
The creditor's anguished cry echoed through the strange space.
What is the most painful thing in the human world? It's being resurrected only to find your debts are still there… and your creditor is still very much alive.
And the creditor shows not a single sign of senility.
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