Chapter 169: The Moon and the Ninja World
Orochimaru gazed upward.
A sky of blood.
Even someone like him—who viewed flesh and blood as mere raw materials and dared to toy with forbidden jutsu—couldn't help but feel hair-raising dread at this terrifying pressure.
---
"Kagami…"
"Is your evolution… truly without end?"
---
Elsewhere on the moon:
Crack—
BOOM!!
The emerald blade of Susanoo was shattered.
It crashed to the ground, sinking into the rocky soil.
Inside Susanoo, Hatake Sakumo and Kakashi keenly sensed the disparity in power.
So incredibly strong—Shisui, who had crushed Hamura's stone statue, overcome countless top-tier enemies, become the world's third Mangekyō Sharingan user, a direct student of Uchiha Kagami and Namikaze Minato, who moments ago appeared invincible…
And yet, in a single exchange against that monster, he had fallen to a completely disadvantageous position!
The four-armed demon seemed barely interested in the towering Susanoo, turning its head as though looking off into the distance.
It's an even bigger gap now...
What method will you come up with, Kagami, so I can catch up to you?
Sukuna felt no shame in admitting this to himself.
After fully comprehending the situation, he understood that while Kagami's creed was "shatter or be shattered, with no regrets even in death," Sukuna's creed was "no matter what it takes, I must live."
Live alone.
In Sukuna's mind, a true strong man didn't fear solitude or need any living creature's sympathy—if he wanted to kill, he killed; if he wanted to eat, he ate.
Utterly free.
Nor would he seize this opportunity to flee from Kagami. For one thing, escaping was impossible, and more importantly, Sukuna knew Kagami would help him grow stronger.
Only by killing Kagami himself could he obtain true freedom.
A grin spread across his lips.
I'll relish this struggle.
I'll stand atop your corpse and sing your praises.
---
Turning back to face Shisui, who stood ready, Sukuna's expression morphed into scorn.
"Kagami did all this for you, and this is the best you can do?"
"At your age, Kagami was far beyond this level."
Cold sweat trickled down Shisui's forehead.
Facing Sukuna directly, Shisui sensed a boundless, vicious killing intent. It was pure malice from a being that didn't see humans as equals.
For the first time, Shisui faced such an enemy…
He forcibly suppressed his surging anxiety and laughed. "It's meaningless to compare us like that—I don't feel any shame."
"Not just me, but no one in the history of the ninja world can compare to my brother."
Sukuna paused slightly, curling his lips in a barely perceptible grin.
"I like people with self-awareness."
"I wasn't particularly planning to kill you, as there's no fun in it."
"But now…"
"I'll be merciful and grant you a quick death!"
FWOOSH!!
Sukuna took a step forward, midair suddenly exploding with black-and-crimson lightning!
"Black Flash!"
"So fast!!"
The concept of "Black Flash" wasn't unfamiliar to those in the ninja world after Kagami popularized it. Minato had even spent a while trying to learn it from Kagami, eventually giving up due to unsuitability.
The power of Black Flash depended on the user's physical strength. In Minato's case, using Black Flash was weaker than simply unleashing a Wind Release Rasengan at point-blank.
Similarly, Shisui had heard about it from Minato but never chose to practice it, for basically the same reasons.
Regardless—
Sukuna instantly appeared in front of the three, placing a hand on Susanoo's towering form.
His lips moved in a whisper.
"Hachi…"
Slash!!
A single slash far larger than the Susanoo itself descended diagonally, effortlessly destroying its armor!
Boom!!
The sheer force sent Susanoo hurtling thousands of meters away!
Eyeing the distant, reeling emerald giant, Sukuna frowned slightly.
He'd intentionally adjusted the intensity of Hachi – that blow should've killed Susanoo's occupants in one shot. They shouldn't have just been knocked away.
---
As dust clouds scattered—
A gargantuan Susanoo with a wide mouth stood unyielding.
But the once emerald Susanoo was now covered in black markings.
"Natural energy, huh…"
Sukuna murmured. He wasn't unfamiliar with it.
The "dragon vein" in that prison had been a massive congregation of natural energy, after all.
Inside the Susanoo—
Shisui's eyes bore the black markings of Sage Mode.
Originally, he had to gather a long time to enter Sage Mode, and it didn't last long. But after fusing with the White Slug's molten body, he could now activate Sage Mode almost at will, wielding enough Senjutsu chakra to reinforce Susanoo with an extra layer of armor, barely withstanding Sukuna's slash.
"Sakumo-senpai, Kakashi-senpai…"
Shisui firmly gripped his sword, Shirayuki, and spoke in a low voice. "I can't look after you two anymore in the upcoming fight. Leave while you still can."
"Got it." Kakashi didn't hesitate. He rested a hand on his father's shoulder and teleported away using Flying Thunder God.
Had he enough chakra, he'd have left the moon entirely. This place was far too perilous, beyond what they could handle. Even avoiding the aftermath of these monstrous battles was exhausting.
He thought of the ninja world.
The ninja world was, at that moment, also thinking of him.
---
At a ravaged patch of land littered with corpses and blood, only four figures in black-red clouds cloaks stood.
"Heh, we let a few rats escape. What a pity!"
Kakuzu pulled his tentacles from a lifeless body. The victim, now at his feet, was Ringo Ameyuri, the wielder of the Lightning Blades: Kiba.
"Tsk, only one heart out of all of this. What's even the point of this so-called tournament?"
His tone seethed with grievance.
Sasori retracted the blades of his puppet and carefully stowed away two of his newly-crafted human puppets. He looked off into the distance.
He'd intentionally let his grandmother, Chiyo, go. Even with a heartless core, certain emotions still stirred. Mother and Father…
Stashing the two puppets, Sasori remarked blandly, "Anyway, we achieved our goal."
"Once we extract the Tailed Beast, that Lava-user's body is mine," he continued.
At Obito's feet lay three unconscious figures, bound by chains: Yugito Nii (Two-Tails), Yagura Karatachi (Three-Tails), and Roshi (Four-Tails).
With a hand pressed against them, Obito sealed them into Kamui's dimension, speaking indifferently. "We'll see. We know where the Six-Tails Jinchuriki is; we can grab him on the way out."
He gazed up at the moon.
"Holding the final round on the moon…typical Kagami, always so outlandish."
Kakashi…what are you seeing right now?
Are you lamenting your own inadequacy?
---
Hearing mention of the moon, Black Zetsu grew momentarily restless and spoke anxiously, "We should hurry to capture the Six-Tails. Once Nagato returns with the remaining Tailed Beast chakra, we can revive the Ten-Tails as soon as possible."
"If we're just missing the One-Tail, it shouldn't be a huge issue."
He was truly anxious. If Kagami discovered "Mother" on the moon, what would happen?
Mother must be extremely weak. If that unfilial descendant discovered her…
---
Akatsuki's plan was always to gather Tailed Beasts. Sasori and Kakuzu knew they were reviving some terrifying creature.
But…
"Zetsu, do you seriously think reviving a Tailed Beast with one extra tail is enough to match Uchiha Kagami?" Kakuzu mocked with a cold laugh. "In my opinion, we should do as Hashirama did—sell the Tailed Beasts for a tidy profit. Why bother with all this?"
---
Of course, Obito and Zetsu wouldn't explain the details to him.
"How do you know unless you try? Kagami's a Mangekyō user, and so am I. Who's to say I can't reach that level?" Obito said.
"You're human, and so am I," was the implication he left unsaid.
Kakuzu inwardly scoffed, but kept silent. Obito might fall short of Kagami, but the power he displayed earlier was terrifying enough, singlehandedly crushing the Cloud, Mist, and Stone shinobi. Among them were even two former Kage…
Not far away lay A's corpse, pinned to the ground with the Piercing Stake Technique, the mutilated body beyond recognition.
---
Read up to 20 Chapters ahead on patreon.com/Fanglin
[Please leave a 5 Star review and power stone for this novel]
*Thank you*