The mushroom cloud of flames from the explosion engulfed the spot where Momoshiki and Madara stood, stacking layer upon layer in an instant—more than a thousand times over!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The ever-expanding shockwaves of blazing fire even shattered the Myōjinmon that had been suppressing Kinshiki, blowing it apart into fragments!
(The Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags were capable of destroying Myōjinmon to begin with—there was visual proof.)
"Lord Momoshiki!!!"
Kinshiki was hurled away by the blast, screaming in despair as if he had lost his parents.
Suddenly, the expanding ripples of the explosion stopped.
Then, layer after layer rapidly collapsed.
In just a few blinks, it was reduced to a thin veil of flame.
That thin veil shrank again, turning into flowing fiery breath that was drawn into a white vortex spinning before a crimson eye.
Crack!
Momoshiki clenched his right fist.
His appearance was indescribably miserable and wretched.
The tips of his rabbit-like horns were snapped off and bent. His hair and clothes were tattered. Half his face was burned away, exposing gums and teeth.
The other half was etched with fury, humiliation, and rage.
"Oh!"
Kinshiki was overjoyed.
"Lord Momoshiki! You endured the initial blast with your body and forcibly absorbed the remaining explosions with Takamimusubi no Mikoto!"
The principle of explosive tags lay in fire-release chakra formations, which could theoretically be absorbed.
However, because explosions occurred instantaneously, absorbing them was extremely difficult.
(Back then, even though Nagato had the Preta Path, he was still injured by Hanzo's explosive fire technique because he couldn't absorb the damage in time.)
Rustle…
Dust gathered once more, forming Madara's figure.
The blood-red cloak custom-made for him by Kaori had already vanished into nothingness.
His upper body was bare. On his chest, Hashirama's face stared with a blood-red single eye, gazing coldly at Momoshiki alongside Madara.
"Look at yourself, Momoshiki."
"What a pitiful god you are."
"Don't get carried away, inferior creature!"
Momoshiki spread his right hand.
Three crimson pills swirled in his palm—elixirs formed from the chakra he had just absorbed from Madara.
He opened his mouth and swallowed them.
Hiss!
The burns on his face healed by seventy to eighty percent in an instant, accompanied by sizzling smoke.
"Not enough…"
"I absorbed too little."
Strictly speaking, Momoshiki had not suffered severe losses so far.
But his dignity as a god had been gravely insulted.
His gaze swept across the battlefield and locked onto Kinshiki in the distance.
Kinshiki's injuries were now far worse than before.
The chain explosions had not only destroyed Myōjinmon, but had also blasted him until he was mangled and bleeding.
If the shockwave had not flung him away immediately, he would have been reduced to scraps of golden flesh.
Sensing Momoshiki's gaze, Kinshiki instantly understood.
"Lord Momoshiki…"
"Kinshiki, let him witness how our clan inherits power."
Kinshiki took a deep breath and knelt reverently.
"I am prepared for this, Lord Momoshiki!"
As he finished speaking, his right eye released a space-time vortex, and he appeared before Momoshiki.
Seeing this, Madara recalled the scene where Naruto and Sasuke had faced Momoshiki in another dimension.
"Devouring one's own kind, triggering a transformation…"
"In that form, chakra, physical strength, and taijutsu all undergo qualitative changes."
"As Akira would put it—preserve the mechanisms, amplify the stats…"
As Momoshiki's hand descended,
"Aaaaaaah!!"
Kinshiki screamed as he was compressed into a heart-sized chakra fruit and absorbed into Momoshiki's palm.
The moment Momoshiki consumed the fruit, the remaining burns healed completely.
Then his horns grew longer and more vicious.
His body became taller and more imposing.
Black markings spread from beneath his open white cloak, running across his horns, forehead, cheeks, and entire body.
His Byakugan and palm Rinnegan both turned golden.
A golden Rinnegan also opened on his forehead.
"Raaah!"
A violent surge of chakra swept across the land with his roar.
Facing the storm, Madara remained expressionless.
"So this is the transformed state that once pushed Naruto and Sasuke into a hard battle…"
"After devouring Kinshiki, he becomes Devouring Kinshiki Momoshiki."
"If I keep holding back for the sake of the artificial body on the statue, this will indeed put me at a disadvantage."
Madara flashed to the front of the Demonic Statue.
Purple flames ignited on his five fingers as he slammed his hand into the ground.
—Uchiha Flame Formation!
Whoosh!
Four walls of lotus-red flames rose up, connecting seamlessly to form a sealed barrier that completely enclosed the statue.
"Now I can loosen up a little."
"Huff!"
Devouring Kinshiki Momoshiki exhaled scorching breath.
Takamimusubi, inherited from Kinshiki, had already merged into his body.
He casually materialized a crimson crescent blade and charged forward.
A point of red light arrived first—
Then the blade followed like a gale.
Madara sensed the presence of Yin-Yang Release within its edge.
He retreated temporarily, then launched alternating Limbo assaults.
Momoshiki's golden Byakugan gleamed.
The crescent blade spun and swept, wide and powerful, yet he remained steady even under the combined attack of four Limbo shadows.
Madara's thoughts raced.
"His Ōtsutsuki Byakugan can see Limbo."
"After transforming, his physical abilities and domineering taijutsu allow him to contend with them head-on."
"No wonder, in the future Akira showed me, he was defeated by Boruto's unseen Rasengan only because he was already extremely weakened…"
"Chakra projectiles can be absorbed by his right palm Rinnegan."
"But Wood Release, which creates living entities powered by life force, falls outside that absorption range."
(Note: Trees are living beings without souls.)
Madara clasped his hands in the Serpent seal and activated Tree World Descent.
Boom!
Sage power surged.
Countless roots burst from deep underground, intertwining like massive serpents, strangling toward Momoshiki.
"Hah!"
Momoshiki roared and swept his blade in a full circle.
The devastating slash severed the approaching trees at the waist.
But behind the broken trunks, even more roots surged forward.
"My Aramubu cutting technique can slice through the God Tree and split the earth!"
"No matter how many come, I'll take them all!"
The crimson crescent blade carved wildly through the battlefield.
Slash waves and shockwaves combined, preventing a single tree from entering within fifty meters of him.
Using the forest as cover, Madara retreated to over a hundred meters away, standing before the Uchiha Flame Formation that protected the Demonic Statue.
"So you're not bluffing."
"Then let me add some weight."
Blue Susanoo bones formed around Madara, taking on a twin-headed form.
Together with his true body, he formed different seals simultaneously.
—Heaven-Obstructing Shattering Star!
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