Naruto: Tales of Ashihara
The Shinden Saga – Arc 4: The Otsutsuki War
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Chapter 166 – Destruction of Earth
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In the wild valley on the shore of the eastern ocean, south of the land of Earth, Naruto Uzumaki slowly walks through the forest. Having landed near the sea after his fall from space, he followed the track of his son's chakra until finding him.
There in a crater in the forest, he sees him sitting on the soil alone with what looks like the cape and toga of his master by his side on the ground. Boruto is inert in grief, staring with empty eyes at the remaining Hiraishin jutsu formula on the cape. The Hokage looks around in hurry, trying to find a trace of Toneri somewhere. What he doesn't know is that the lone Otsutsuki's soul and body have vanished into energy, absorbed by his student. Blindly thinking he can still do something, Naruto is brought to reason by the wiser voice of Kurama in his mind.
"Naruto, it's too late. He's dead." the fox says, which makes the Hokage freeze.
Feeling self hatred and guilt for letting it happen, but also for letting it hurt his son, he takes a moment to breathe and think before walking to join his son. He saved Toneri in the past because he and Hinata had faith in him to become a better person. Toneri did not disappoint them and managed to make his sacrifice meaningful. Naruto realizes this as he senses something different in his son's chakra.
At first it feels as if Toneri still lives within Boruto. But after focusing more on the output of energy, Naruto finds it mysteriously similar to another chakra he's met when he was young. Curious about it, but also in grief and parenting urge, he offers to help Boruto up. The Hyuga holds on to his father's hand and stands up when they're both suddenly bothered by a strong presence that they sense nearby.
To meet with the source of this feeling, they walk through and between the hills out of the woods until reaching the shore of the great west ocean. There on the surface of the troubled and shaken sea they see him, the Ryu Shinsen, standing alone in melancholy and looking up to the sky in the distance. Though he seems to be gazing toward the moon rebuilt around Tokubei by Sasuke, his mind and attention are actually reaching out of this world, in grief.
With his eyes closed, Yamitsuki makes his last goodbye to the soul of Naobi. Yet he did not accept to let her go. This farewell is because he doubts that he will meet her again in any spiritual or physical form anytime soon. Thanks to the miracle of her own ability, she will not remain in death, and Yamitsuki has paid the price to save her soul.
When he notices the Hokage and his son standing aside, interrupting his loneliness, the Dragon Sage abruptly vanishes out of their sight only to reappear on top of the hills behind them, staring them down. Up there, as Naruto and Boruto carefully watch into his eyes they notice a troubling and decisive detail. In his right eye, the red shine of his Tenjo Sharingan has disappeared.
Instead, he only has a white blind pupil, similar to the blank iris resulting from the Uchiha's Izanagi or Izanami,… or Naobi's Kami Musubi. By using the latter, Yamitsuki sacrificed the power and vision of his right eye, and therefore the combined abilities of his divine pair of Dojutsu. To Naruto, this shocking detail comes with an obvious realization. Now that Yamitsuki did not only injure but entirely lose his right eye to the point where it can't be recovered with regeneration, he must be unable to use Okuninushi anymore.
As these thoughts come with a new strategy in Naruto's mind, the Dragon Sage speaks up to end this silent face off.
"You have my congratulations, Naruto Uzumaki. For keeping this battle up to this point, you have my respect." he says, ignoring Boruto next to him before noticing the change in his chakra and the remains of Toneri in the forest behind him. "It is truly regrettable that it had to go this way. We have both suffered losses that were not meant to be. The selfishness of our challenge to each other has pained us and our loved ones too much already. Yet the battle is not over. And it appears that in its continuation, I have now set foot on Earth."
After this declaration, as he leaves this for Naruto and Boruto to realize its meaning, Yamitsuki looks up to the moon in wonder about the one trapped inside, the masked celestial to whom he assigned an essential mission that still requires to be fulfilled. It appears that the jutsu used by Sasuke efficiently sealed him. He has the means to free his fellow, but has no intention to do so right now. Right now, he takes action toward the warning he gave to the people of Konoha the last time he was feet down on this planet.
"People of Ashihara, let yourselves return to your domains." he declares in the minds of all his fellows on Earth as he forces them all away from Earth.
Kandakoro
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In front of Konoha, Fureya Otsutsuki hears the voice of the sovereign of all things and stares at her fellows who are, like her, each suddenly absorbed by a wormhole that carries them immediately back to Ashihara. Chishiki, Kuboshiki, Taiyoshiki, Hebemi and Seimei all disappear along with Fureya. But so do Sakitsuki and Rihetsuki, who are carried to the red ringed planet even though one of them never even lived there.
Sakura, who went to find her husband, who triumphed in his battle, stops a moment to look around as she notices that all the threats standing before the village disappeared. Kakashi, Shikamaru, Inoue and all of Konoha's citizens and ninjas get relieved in confusion.
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In the chain of mountains marking the frontier of the land of Earth where Izuna was led by pursuing the god of thunder Torushiki, the Uchiha in his Susanoo is standing still, facing the Otsutsuki. After he managed to catch up to the celestial thanks to his Mangekyo Sharingan's ability, they stopped and were distracted first by the reconstruction of the moon by Sasuke, and then by the crash of Naruto and Yamitsuki in the west.
Standing still, face to face, Izuna is left alone in the mountains as he sees Torushiki vanish in a wormhole of Kandakoro like all the other members of his clan. Since this means he won't reach Iwa to help Yasona Otsutsuki, Izuna's job is done. He is now conflicted by the sensation of the battle of his brother in Iwa, in the north direction, and the chakra of his sensei and friend that he senses in the west.
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All over Earth, all the celestials that are present in Yamitsuki's knowledge are taken away and sent back to Ashihara, except for the goddess of beauty. Yasona Otsutsuki is voluntarily left behind and unaware of the situation by the god of nature and knowledge, who has a very different plan for her mischievous mind.
She is left behind in Iwa as she triumphs over the Susanoo of Oshio Uchiha. With her golem of Gaia, she pins down the black giant avatar that she already severely damaged in consequence of their ferocious battle, first by ripping off its two wings to prevent its flight. As she lays down to sit on top of the Susanoo, she digs her golem's sharp nailed fingers in its forehead to reach the user.
During this battle, she was brought to realize, much to her disappointment, the obvious presence of Momoshiki's soul and chakra within this human vessel. Frustrated by his offense against her and understanding the nature and purpose of this host, she speaks to Oshio in hope to be heard by the emerging soul of her past friend within him.
"This is not the right path to reincarnation, Momo! You're cheating the Tenshin! You won't avoid their judgment!" she exclaims with her voice echoing out of her golem as her rock blade fingers break through Oshio's protection.
Purely out of anger and spite, when her nails stab through the abdomen of Oshio, she spreads her chakra and uses Ohoma Gatsuhi to voluntarily boost his sense of touch and make him suffer as much as possible from the wound. In terrible pain, Oshio maintains composure as he did so far in this fight but can't keep his Susanoo in shape. The black armor slowly deconstructs itself.
Takeshi Minamoto, who already gave Oshio's white rod to C to heal the injured, notices the struggle of the Uchiha. In an attempt to get involved, he runs through the fields, up the Susanoo and further to the Gaia golem's body toward the goddess hidden inside. However, he can't seem to find any trace of Yasona in the statue, as she is probably hiding her trace with her Hijutsu.
So before he finds her, she finds him. As she feels the Minamoto run at celestial-level speed on her statue, she shakes the surface of her jutsu and lets it emit a layer of dirty dust that blinds and troubles Takeshi. Then as she keeps the Susanoo down with the lower body or her statue while reaching for Oshio with its left arm, she uses the right hand to simply pinch the ninja off while he's slowing down on her shoulder, sending him fluttering down in the mountains. Takeshi crashes down next to the very few ninjas of the Union who are still awake. In his mind, Tentoki expresses his worries.
"Damn it, Oshio won't be enough to beat her. What is Fuyuko doing? He's taking too much time to get reinforcement!" he complains to his host and his fellow tengu Fear Itself.
Takeshi and Makura however stay calm, distracted by the presence of the Daitengu that only they can see standing among the other ninjas and staring far to the west.
"Something is happening. This battle is coming to an end." Sojobo says, which confuses the Minamoto and his tengu.
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On the shore of the great east ocean, Yamitsuki looks down at his opponents again after making sure to carry all the celestials he wanted away from Earth. Looking at the Hokage, he sees that he is figuring out what just happened as he feels a sudden difference in the chakra present all over the planet. Boruto doesn't seem as alert. The young ninja looks shaken, confused, like he is still processing the loss of his master.
At the same time he is animated by the wish to avenge Toneri and the realistic thought of the impossibility to accomplish this by himself, considering that the one to hold responsible is the Ryu Shinsen. Yamitsuki rapidly loses focus on the Hyuga and looks at Naruto again, seeing him clench his fists as he prepares for the Dragon Sage's next move. Noticing this, Yamitsuki remembers his own promise and threat, and comes to fulfill it.
"I have set foot on Earth again." he says. "You have been warned of the meaning it holds. Naruto Uzumaki, I am sorry."
Alerted by this farewell, Naruto hurries to leap forward in a hope to engage combat again, but the Dragon Sage's swift and simple move cannot be stopped. Knees bent and hand down, with no more than a hit of his palm in the soil, Yamitsuki enslaves the planet to his control only to ignite its very core. Boruto, acting last and distracted, only foresees the consequence of this action, the execution of the Dragon Sage's menace.
Yoton – Chikaku Funka (Earth Core Eruption)
By combining his god sage chakra with the magma control of Yoton and the metal manipulation of Kinton, Yamitsuki causes all deep layers of the Earth, all the way to the core, to erupt into countless columns of energy and molten matter. Too slow on his move, Naruto is suddenly blinded by a blast of magma emerging behind the Dragon Sage.
All over the surface of the planet, the core emerges from the depth of the seas and oceans, then from the lands where all traces of civilization and life stand, causing all continents to collapse inside and out so suddenly that no catastrophic wave of atmospheric effect even has time to occur. And so, as he warned, with a simple touch, the Ryu Shinsen has triggered the rapid and complete destruction of the ninja world.
In the wild valleys through which Izuna is flying with his Susanoo toward his sensei, a blast of magma abruptly emerges and disintegrates the lower body and wings of his armor before growing and multiplying to engulf it whole along with the entire valley and sky.
In Konoha, all ninjas and citizens are startled by a first eruption that they see far in the distance, causing a landslide that spreads and cracks the cliff of their monument. They see the faces of their leaders fall apart and collapse one by one as more and more columns of magma break the land. In front of the village, the ninjas of the army led by Konohamaru close their eyes, awaiting for the fatal eruption that will erase their village along with the whole land of Fire.
In the surroundings of Iwa, the allied forces of the Shinobi Union trip and fall, seconds before the cataclysm begins, as it already shakes the sliding mountains made by the enemy. Yasona, distracted, pauses just as she was about to eliminate Oshio Uchiha and looks worriedly at the cracks between her land plates suddenly glowing and flowing in lava.
Before she can react, a single massive eruption in the area emerges straight from Earth's core specifically out of the soil where her Gaia sits on Oshio's Susanoo, entirely consuming, melting and disintegrating her golem and the Uchiha's avatar, but expanding in range just far enough to spare the head of the black armor of Kakumei's former leader.
Consumed so suddenly by what feels like the raging roar of a planet, Yasona screams out the name of who she knows orchestrated this, and targeted her purposefully. "Yamitsuki! Filthy Traitor!"
On Ashihara, Sakitsuki Otsutsuki, who was transported there seconds ago, is the only one to see this occur from an exterior perspective. Too shocked to move or react, she stares blankly with her dry golden eyes as she sees the ninja world and everybody she knows there, from the young Tojiki to her beloved Takeshi, come to an abrupt and forced end… only to suddenly puzzle back from its pieces before most of the inhabited grounds are even affected.
The bursting core of Earth is sucked back in and all lands and oceans heal, making the planet restore its state as if Yamitsuki had never even initiated anything. In confusion, Sakitsuki looks around just to confirm that her dear ninja in black is well and safe before finding the reason for this salvage.
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Up on his hill, Yamitsuki was calmly bathing in the chaos while focusing on locating a few earthlings he wished to save from the explosion, when he felt his deed being undone. He slowly lifts his hand and stands back up after the annihilation that should have destroyed everything and that only he should have been supposed to barely survive was canceled. As the flashes of his eruptions settle, he is still blinded by an intense white light that seems to have its source standing right next to him. He sees the bright light shine out and reveal the wielder of the Tenseigan, Boruto Hyuga, standing in a gigantic outburst of purple energy.
Shin Tensei (Divine Reincarnation)
Foreseeing the terrible demise of his world, Boruto had left all doubt and thoughts aside to react as quickly as possible and, almost instinctively, fully unleashed the brand new potential of his Dojutsu to use its ultimate power and true glorious purpose. With the power of reincarnation it holds, he has used the famed skill of Hamura to reincarnate dying planets, Since he moved quick enough, he could even prevent the collapse of any major society.
Quite frankly surprised by this so well executed counter, Yamitsuki and Naruto both stare in wonder at the Hyuga who seems already worn out by this sudden effort. He is standing there, in a state that seems like a new awakened version of his Chakra Mode. The flaming chakra leaking from his aura appears more calm, more under control, not exactly but almost like Naruto's perfect Biju Chakra Mode. But most notably, he now has 2 horn-like artifacts protruding from his hair, similar to his dad's ear-horns, but more alike to rabbit than fox ears.
Naruto and Kurama stare in silence, impressed and glad that this could happen at the right time. Yamitsuki, finding his aura reminiscent of Hamura, is however curious about another slight similarity that he senses his the form's appearance but also emotion.
"How odd… Boruto Hyuga, you may seem like the perfect heir of Hamura, but you also appear to have more than only heritage in common with the devil of your kind, princess Kaguya. With her you share a bond greater than ancestry, sadly."
Boruto calmly breathes and lets his aura settle as his Gudodama reconstitute themselves around him. Next to him, Naruto is quite confused by this comment that the Dragon Sage doesn't leave hoping for answers. As he analyzes the Hyuga, Yamitsuki notices obviously that this divine ability is not easy to use for him.
"That power seems to be demanding." he says. "You would not be ready to save Earth a second time. Yet I could very simply perform the same jutsu again. But do not worry. I will not, just out of respect for your initiative, Boruto Hyuga. I will destroy this planet only after I get rid of you two."
Naruto refuses to let the Dragon Sage's speech distract him at the moment and focuses on the battle that shouldn't be left pending. He can feel that the near explosion of the Earth caused a lot of his remaining clones in mount Myoboku to disappear, as he sensed their chakra returning to him. Right now what matters most is that Yamitsuki has lost an eye, which means it's finally time for him to go use his last trick.
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In the land of Earth, near Iwagakure, the few remaining ninjas of the Union look around at the plains and mountains that all just suddenly recovered from earlier chaos. Yet despite the sudden cancellation of the catastrophe, the damage and casualties caused by the eruptions wasn't nullified, and so Yasona Otsutsuki's golem is still burnt and decomposing into dust because of the molten core blast that swallowed it.
In the distance, the ninjas see the Gaia of the goddess inert, carbonized, slowly falling as dust. Still lying under the remaining shape, Oshio uses what remains of his perfect armor to unleash a lower version of Susanoo. With it, he stands up and swings his Futsu no Mitama to destroy the feminine giant's silhouette that breaks into dust and collapses.
As the statue trips and disintegrates, the user, Yasona, falls through and out to crash down, back to the ground, severely irradiated and wounded. On the verge of death, out of strength, the goddess of beauty starts hallucinating memories from her past. She sees herself in a peaceful valley, still lying back to the ground, feeling overwhelmed by a feeling of hate. This hatred, fueled by her feelings toward Yamitsuki, changes to spite for another person in her memories.
Stuck on this feeling, like cursed in frozen emotions, she sees a gentle, handsome man approach and look down at her. It is Oyashiki Otsutsuki, her father. An elder of the clan who lived in the second age, under Ayaka's reign, and succumbed to old age only a century after the birth of his daughter. In the time they knew each other, he brought reason, values and pride to the goddess of beauty.
On the day she is remembering, she felt insulted by the demonstration of superiority and disrespect shown to her by Saetsuki Otsutsuki, the elder sister of Yamitsuki. This curse of frozen emotion she feels is the ability of her father, who can control emotions the same way she can control senses. That day, he used it to teach her a lesson.
"My dear Yasona, My sweet dear beautiful innocent princess… This feeling is not hate." said her father. "You don't hate Saetsuki. You envy her. This is jealousy. And it is absurd for you to know this feeling."
She sees the memory of her father crouch down next to her and smoothly start to caress her face, hair and body.
"You are an image, an embodiment of perfection. You are my masterpiece. Being able to see you with my eyes and know you as my heir is by far more significant than anything else I've ever accomplished in my life. The pride you fill me with, I am certain, is a feeling that even the Queen Mother will never understand. You, my princess, are not to feel envious of anyone. You evoke jealousy in all beating hearts. You are temptation."
Yasona smiles, letting her mind come to peace, pleased by the praise of the man who taught her unbound self love.
"Self love and pride are not words strong enough to describe what you should feel for yourself. In all of existence, seeing, hearing, smelling, sensing are the only ways for beings to feel alive. And you are the pinnacle of beauty for all these ways. You are the mistress of all senses. So you are to be worshiped, appreciated, and pleased. Your simple existence and unmatched elegance are to be rewarded. You deserve everyone's love, and no one can deserve yours."
This message that she lives by has been engraved in her mind since then. Yet after her father's passing a few years later, it may have forged her personality and divine honor, but it also worsened her feeling of inferiority to any being more powerful than her that does not succumb to her charms. The wishes it birthed in her hearts against the Ryu Shinsen obviously didn't go unnoticed, so it is only logic that she became his target. Especially at a time like this, where Yamitsuki can take action toward her demise without becoming the culprit of her murder, like he did for Momoshiki.
Back to modern thoughts, she opens her eyes just as Oshio Uchiha's Susanoo plunges the blade Futsu no Mitama into the ground to impale her dying body. Though one of her hearts could survive the eruption, it doesn't hold on after this. Still, her body stays alive and has just enough strength left to finish off the Uchiha. However, when she notices that the blade impaling her is rapidly sucking out her chakra, she throws all she has left in a hurry.
With a weak scream, she summons a wind push that repels the Futsu no Mitama and destabilizes the Susanoo. Tired by the battle he was so close to losing, Oshio's armor fades away out of his control and lets him drop to the floor. Takeshi Minamoto, seeing the Uchiha fall from height, runs in to catch him before he hits the ground.
He stops and helps Oshio to stand on flat ground in front of Yasona who he sees slowly standing up with the little life she still has. Suddenly, just before she tries to engage in battle again, she's stopped by a loud noise getting everyone's attention. Running up the volcano, coming from Iwa, they hear a loud war cry.
It is the elite of Iwa's resistance, freed and led by Fuyuko Yamanaka who runs front to guide them from the village to the pit. Seeing them finally arrive, Oshio and Takeshi are more confused than relieved, as this entrance seems to be a bit too late. Yasona, already tired and ready to die, feels like her reign and efforts are reduced to nothing as she feels one certain chakra in the crowd, superior to all others. Among the awakened soldiers, one in particular doesn't have the patience of the others and takes action immediately.
Kinton – Koryuheki (Steel-style Walls)
Yasona sees two Steel walls emerge around her and rapidly close together to crush her. Despite her lack of energy, she still has enough strength and attention to hold these walls back. With her arms spread, she looks front and sees Daisuke, the blue samurai, outrun the other ninjas and hurry to her with his sword in hand. To stop him and all the others while holding the walls, she uses the little chakra she has to move the ground.
Doton – Chidokaku
She lowers the ground under their feet and raises it in front of them to block their way and trap them underground, but this doesn't weaken the two steel barriers closing together around her. Then, she sees one single person emerging from behind the elevated ground, not stopped by her trap. It is the Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi, using the Keijugan jutsu to lighten herself and levitate above the moving ground.
There she arrives, back to the rising sun, and sets foot on the same plate as Yasona. Seeing her walk up to her while performing a series of hand signs, she warns her in an attempt to negotiate, conscious of her current vulnerability.
"Tsuchikage!" Yasona exclaims with a worn out voice. "Killing me now will not get you rid of me. It will only seal your fate, and undo the curse that I cast on your grandfather. Without me, your precious old man will succumb to his misery."
Kurotsuchi stops for a moment when she hears this declaration. It is true that Yasona, during a short visit to Iwa's hospital, blessed Onoki by relieving his bodily pain, which will hold only as long as she lives. However, Kurotsuchi knows that if he was in her place, Onoki would reclaim the village without a second thought. As she witnesses the true ruler of Iwa showing her determination, the goddess of mischief realizes that her time has come, and that she should stop clinging on to this life. Instead she tries to think about her path back to life, and the mission she will seek to fulfill when she returns.
"Take your revenge then. But be warned! We will meet again. I will return and I will claim my kingdom, my power, my due inheritance!"
Doton – Sando
Kurotsuchi finishes her hand sign series by slamming her hands into the ground, making it lift itself around Yasona and close like a sandwich, interrupting her speech, forcing the two steel walls together, and crushing the weakened, heartless body of the goddess to death.
As her body is destroyed and her soul is set free, the traces of her spells and curses vanish from the universe along with her chakra, causing all the cursed ninjas in Iwa, and on the battlefield to suddenly wake up. Kurotsuchi, being the one to have killed the goddess, will have to face judgment for her crimes in the future, but this worry doesn't come to her mind now, as a victory has to be celebrated.
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In the east, the death of Yasona Otsutsuki is felt by Yamitsuki who no longer perceives any trace of her life or energy. He takes just a moment to acknowledge it, before fully focusing on Naruto who's slowly walking toward him with a smile showing up on his face as he builds the confidence to ignore the Dragon Sage's failed attempt to simply destroy Earth and get in action again.
"You've lost an eye, Yamitsuki." he says. "And you didn't just injure it in a way that could be healed. You sacrificed it. So you just threw away your all-copying thing."
Yamitsuki stays silent and slowly walks down the hill, coming closer to Naruto as well, and waits for his opponent to get to his point. Boruto stands aside, knowing what point his father wants to make, but unaware of the difference it makes for them. The Hokage completes his claim.
"This means that now, I can truly go all out, and use my new jutsu without risking you copying it."
"I am aware that you have indeed one intriguing skill left." the Dragon Sage answers. "But I have already seen you use your new UchuuRasengan. I have no doubt that your last jutsu would have been too much trouble for you if I were to use it, but do you really think that using it now can make a difference? Even with one eye, I have not lost any of the jutsu I have learned through my thousands of years of existence."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's it." Naruto says, before being honest. "I know that you could have avoided what happened on the moon. You stopped time and did nothing. You probably had tons of ways to dodge and kill me, but instead you let it happen, only for us both to be saved… I guess you foresaw that. I don't know yet why you chose to go that way, but here we are. And I can tell you, confidently enough, that from now on, such a situation won't happen again. When I'll have you cornered, you won't be able to escape."
Yamitsuki, impressed by the Hokage's confidence, is also intrigued by how legit it can be. He raises an eyebrow and stops walking, waiting to see the yellow fox's ultimate jutsu. Naruto slowly raises his hands to bring them together, breathes in and out, and performs the sage hand sign.
In this position, he dispels all the remaining clones he has in mount Myoboku and calls back their chakra to him, adding to the mass he already gathered unintentionally from the clones who died from Yamitsuki's strike on the planet. The Dragon Sage feels this energy flow from the hidden mountains not far away to the Hokage. This is a bold move, as it leaves Naruto no resources to rely on later on from now.
He then joins his hands in a much familiar hand seal. The clone seal cross sign. He has improved his mastery of the Tajuu Kage Bunshin to such an extent that he can produce any amount of clone with no hand sign, so he actually didn't have to perform this one in what feels like forever. He now returns to it, as the sign of a brand new jutsu, designed to be the pinnacle of his abilities. Under the curious eyes of his opponent and his son, the Hokage activates his greatest invention.
Rikudo – Shin Kage Bunshin
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End of Chapter 166 – Next Chapter: The only battle left