A cold, murderous intent permeated the air.
Looking at the five strongest people in the ninja world standing in a row before him, Ren slowly raised his arm.
But just as he moved, a figure flickered forward, blade in hand, charging in to ignite the spark of the great war.
"Since you're a Soul Reaper, stay out of the world of the living!"
Sasuke's voice was sharp, his killing intent raging like a gale in the dead of winter, carrying a bone-chilling cold.
"Sasuke!"
Seeing Sasuke strike first, Naruto cried out instinctively.
To act so rashly without consulting the others—if the enemy found an opening, he might be killed on the spot.
At that thought, worry flashed in Naruto's eyes. His body reacted faster than his mind as he followed suit and charged.
The pair's reckless charge caught the Sage of the Six Paths by surprise.
Despite his shock, he remained calm and immediately shouted to the people behind him.
"Take your people and get out of here!"
Beside him, Otsutsuki Hamura shouted, "This is no longer a battle you can participate in! Getting involved will only lead to senseless sacrifice."
With that, he turned to the four deceased Hokage, his voice solemn.
"Hokage, we ask for your assistance in facing this enemy together—"
Before he could finish, he saw the expressions of the four Hokage freeze. Their eyes were dull, lacking even a hint of a reaction.
It was as if their consciousness had fallen into a deep slumber.
He snapped his head toward the Soul Reaper and saw that the man had already lowered his arm, a triumphant look in his eyes.
'He really is a Soul Reaper!'
He must have done something to the past Hokage to strip them of their will.
The Sage of the Six Paths also noticed the abnormality. Seeing a situation identical to what Sasuke had faced in the mental world, shock flashed through his Rinnegan.
'Before, he had to make contact to do this to Sasuke, but now he can strip someone's will from a distance!'
'Just what kind of ability is this?!'
"Heh."
The Hokages' sudden loss of consciousness was, of course, Ren's doing.
Long before he appeared in the ninja world, he had already established threads of connection to the four of them, successfully linking them to himself.
Since they had all agreed to submit to him anyway, it made no difference whether the contract was finalized then or now.
He was simply using the power of the connection to temporarily withdraw their spirits and consciousness from their bodies.
Once the battle was over, he would naturally return them.
By now, Sasuke had crossed the distance and reached Ren.
His Kusanagi blade gleamed with a cold light as it lunged straight for Ren's chest.
The straight-tomoe pattern of his Mangekyo Sharingan gave him agility and speed that far surpassed others, even among his clan.
Sasuke was fast, but facing this sudden assault, Ren didn't look surprised in the slightest.
He merely watched the handsome boy with a calm gaze as the youth unleashed his killing intent.
"So impatient?"
The people beside him were the top powerhouses of the pirate world. They naturally saw Sasuke's sneak attack and could clearly track his movements.
Yet they remained indifferent, watching Sasuke swing his blade at Ren with looks of amusement in their eyes.
"He actually just charged right in."
"What a bold kid."
"Not very smart, though."
Just as Sasuke's blade was about to pierce Ren's chest, a short blade intercepted it, parrying the strike.
Clang!
Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the figure that had suddenly appeared before him.
"Father!"
The one who had blocked the attack for Ren was none other than Fugaku Uchiha.
Seeing his attack fail, Sasuke immediately retreated, maintaining a safe distance to respond to any counter.
Naruto arrived just then. Seeing Sasuke's attack thwarted, he jumped to his side. Together, they faced the towering figures ahead.
"Sasuke, acting alone like that is too dangerous!"
Sasuke ignored him, his gaze fixed on his father's face.
Fugaku looked just as solemn as Sasuke remembered from his childhood.
Fugaku's Mangekyo Sharingan was active as he looked at his youngest son, tightening his grip on his blade.
"My Lord, please allow me to handle Sasuke."
"A father-son duel... quite rare."
Ren slowly lowered his arm and nodded, looking at the Uchiha pair destined to fight.
"Fine. You shall be Sasuke's opponent. Knowing your personality, I doubt you'll truly hurt him."
"Thank you, My Lord!"
Fugaku's eyes darkened as he swung his blade at Sasuke.
Sasuke gritted his teeth and hastily blocked.
Naruto was about to help when he felt an aura like an erupting volcano block the path between him and Sasuke.
Realizing he couldn't get through, Naruto abandoned the idea of helping Sasuke and focused on sensing the man before him.
He could sense the man's powerful, dense aura and a clear hostility directed at him.
"Looks like I'll have to take you down before I can help Sasuke."
Ren watched as Sakazuki engaged Naruto, feeling at ease.
With Sakazuki's current power, he wouldn't have any trouble dealing with Naruto.
Just then, a pitch-black staff tore through the air, carrying the power to annihilate all things as it flew toward Ren.
Bam!
A flash of green crossed its path, blocking the staff.
Shisui held a massive blade formed from Susanoo, resisting the staff's erosion.
His Mangekyo Sharingan stared into the Rinnegan of the figure before him. Shisui's Susanoo grinned, revealing sharp, menacing fangs.
"Obito Uchiha, it's time to pay for your sins!"
"To submit to an evil god from another world... the Uchiha name is weeping, Shisui!"
Obito's raspy voice rang out, a mocking smile on his lips.
The two had clashed before, but the battle had been brief and inconclusive.
This time, the true war had begun.
One sought to capture the culprit responsible for the massacre of the Uchiha clan.
The other aimed to protect the peace of the Pure Land and prevent anyone from disturbing the souls of the deceased.
Both were serious, trading lethal blows from the very start without holding back.
For the moment, only Big Mom, her eldest son Perospero, Kaido, and his subordinate Jack remained by Ren's side.
Looking at the four figures, Ren said, "Linlin, Kaido, the only real threats on the other side are the two Sage brothers."
"Once the fighting starts, help me intercept one of them. It won't take long; I'll end this battle in an instant."
"Worororo! These two old geezers have been dead for who knows how long. Just leave them both to me, I've got no problem with that!"
The Azure Dragon raised its head, its laughter wild and unbridled.
His amber vertical pupils reflected the figures of the two Sages. Murderous intent swirled around him, his fighting spirit soaring.
Spending all these years in the Underworld City had left him feeling a bit rusty.
Though he sparred with Linlin, Whitebeard, and the Marines, they were all part of the same faction. There was no true intent to kill.
Such battles lacked the life-or-death intensity that Kaido craved; they just weren't satisfying enough.
Now, facing the peak powerhouses of the ninja world, he wouldn't let this rare opportunity slip away.
"Mamamama! Stop talking big, Kaido! You can't handle them alone!"
"Napoleon!"
Big Mom gave a low shout. Her bicorne hat leaped high, revealing its hidden eyes and mouth. As it tumbled through the air, a blade and hilt extended from it.
"Mama, catch!"
The hilt of the great sword Napoleon fell into Big Mom's hand. She gripped it and swung it to her side.
Boom!
A casual swing whipped up a terrifying sword pressure. The resulting shockwave blew away the surrounding rubble and gravel, exposing the flat, amber earth beneath.
Seeing this, Perospero hopped down from Big Mom's shoulder and planted his cane lightly on the ground.
"Prometheus!"
"Hera!"
Big Mom called out again. The fireballs beside her flared up intensely, their flames clinging to her wavy pink hair.
The thundercloud expanded with a roar beneath her feet, lifting her into the air until she was level with Kaido.
With a blade on her shoulder, a thundercloud under her feet, and flames rising behind her, Big Mom's wild grin made her look like a majestic Valkyrie of slaughter.
While Big Mom prepared for battle, the Sage of the Six Paths' side was also moving—not into battle, but to evacuate the ninjas from the field.
Hearing his instructions, the Five Kage, though reluctant, understood the situation and issued orders to the surrounding ninjas.
"All units, evacuate the battlefield immediately!"
"Go as far as you can! Move, move, move!"
The Allied Shinobi Forces surrounding the area didn't hesitate. They retreated in an orderly fashion, quickly moving away from the center of the battlefield.
As Naruto and the other two fought their respective battles, the masses of ninjas who had previously surrounded them were now far away.
"What about Great-Uncle and the others?"
Before leaving, Tsunade looked anxiously at the unconscious Hashirama and the other three, then turned to the two Sage brothers.
The Sage of the Six Paths kept his eyes on the enemy, answering without looking back, "Their consciousness has been sealed. They should wake up once the enemy is defeated."
Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief hearing this from the legendary Sage himself.
"I understand."
"We will stand by at the perimeter. If there is anything we can do, we will give it our all."
She considered herself a veteran of many battlefields, but tonight's war was becoming increasingly incomprehensible.
In just a few moments, the situation had undergone several startling transformations.
First, an otherworldly Soul Reaper appeared, interrupting the fight against Obito. Then Naruto and Sasuke mysteriously died, only to be miraculously resurrected.
Then the legendary Sage of the Six Paths appeared, followed by his virtually unknown brother descending from the sky.
Afterward, the once-enemy Obito Uchiha switched sides to fight against the otherworldly Soul Reaper and was currently engaged in combat.
Though the Five Kage were stunned by these changes, they realized one thing clearly.
An enemy that required the Sage of the Six Paths to handle personally... this was a war on a scale far beyond what ordinary mortals could interfere with.
Even though they were the Five Kage, the peak of the ninja world, they were no different from ants in the face of this god-like conflict. They were useless here.
Tsunade watched Naruto fighting in the distance, hating her own helplessness with every fiber of her being.
She could do nothing and had to leave the burden of fighting gods to a child like Naruto.
As an elder and as a Kage, she felt utterly unfit for her role.
'Naruto, you must come back safely.'
Gaara used his sand to carry the bodies of the four Hokage away. He looked back and saw Tsunade staring silently at the battlefield, her expression grim.
He could understand her mindset.
But that was just the reality—their presence would only get in the way of Naruto and the others.
He also glanced at the fighting Naruto and gritted his teeth, suppressing his own frustration before calling out to Tsunade.
"Hokage-sama, we must leave quickly."
"...I understand."
Tsunade's voice was weak, but she eventually nodded and followed the other Kage out.
Only the two Sage brothers were left in the clearing.
Sensing that the ninjas were moving away, the Sage of the Six Paths breathed a sigh of relief.
"The ninjas have left. The shockwaves of the coming battle shouldn't reach them now."
"Brother, try to restrain yourself. Avoid using wide-range attacks if possible," Hamura Otsutsuki warned.
If the two of them went all out, the ninja world likely wouldn't survive it; the entire ecosystem could be destroyed.
Their battle with their mother had been like that; the ruins of that battlefield remained a desolate wasteland of sand to this day.
"We should minimize damage, but this enemy isn't someone we can defeat by holding back."
The Sage of the Six Paths nodded. As the guardian of this world's order, he would protect its inhabitants.
He ignored Naruto's group and focused entirely on the Soul Reaper, his eyes filled with profound caution.
Through their chakra connection, he transmitted his battle plan to Hamura.
'Hamura, the people summoned by the Soul Reaper are strong, but we can handle them. The real priority is this mysterious Soul Reaper himself.'
'My chakra is the most abundant in this world right now. I will stall the Soul Reaper while you eliminate his subordinates.'
'Work with Naruto and the others. Once his wings have been clipped, the two of us will join forces to banish the Soul Reaper.'
Hamura gave an imperceptible nod. 'Understood.'
"Let's go!"
The Sage's roar echoed in their minds as they charged the Soul Reaper, staves in hand.
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