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"Cough, cough… I let my guard down, Brother."
Hamura clutched his chest, a bitter smile touching his lips.
He'd believed that even if he couldn't defeat their mother, he could at least retreat safely. He never imagined she'd seize control so instantly—killed before he even knew what hit him.
If Hagoromo hadn't awakened the Rinnegan in time, and if not for Manji's Toad Sage Talisman… he'd already be dust.
"Don't worry, it wasn't your fault."
Hagoromo placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. The grief in his eyes had crystallized into unwavering resolve, the purple glow of his Rinnegan deepening with every passing moment.
"If anything, I should thank Mother for that blow. Without it, I never would've unlocked the Rinnegan this quickly."
As his words faded—an ancient, ornate staff materialized behind him, hovering in the air. Chakra flowed along its surface in pulsing currents. Surrounding it, several perfectly spherical Truth-Seeking Orbs floated in slow orbit—each one radiating the paradoxical aura of simultaneous creation and annihilation.
The Six Paths Staff—making its first appearance.
"Brother?? What are those?"
Hamura stared at the Truth-Seeking Orbs in wide-eyed wonder.
The brothers stood shoulder to shoulder—Byakugan and Rinnegan reflecting each other's light. Their chakra resonated and intertwined, forming an aura that felt utterly unbreakable.
.....
Meanwhile—the battle raging in the sky above had reached its boiling point.
Kaguya had recovered from her initial shock and shed every last shred of restraint.
Her chakra erupted to its absolute peak. Silver-white hair billowed without wind. And on her forehead—the Rinne-Sharingan slowly opened.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Manji's technique and Sage Art fusion had given him a temporary advantage—enough to suppress her.
But he knew the truth. The System's ceiling held firm. He could never truly reach Six Paths tier.
This dominance was temporary. Kaguya's chakra was a bottomless ocean—limitless, self-replenishing. In a drawn-out fight, the one who fell would inevitably be him.
And the instant Manji felt his stamina beginning to wane—two figures rocketed into the sky carrying world-ending force.
"Master—we're here to help!"
Hagoromo and Hamura arrived side by side, Truth-Seeking Orbs blazing with radiant light behind them. Twin attacks forged from Yin-Yang Release screamed toward Kaguya's exposed back.
"Perfect timing!"
Manji's eyes flashed with understanding. He disengaged instantly—flash-stepping backward and landing on a distant mountain peak.
In canon, these two brothers already possessed the power to seal Kaguya. Now—with the Rinnegan and Byakugan at full maturity, reinforced by the Sage Art foundation Manji had laid for them—they were more than equipped to handle this.
No reason for Manji to burn through his reserves in a battle that destiny had already assigned to someone else.
Kaguya sensed the lethal intent closing in from behind—her expression twisted violently as she spun to block.
BOOM!
Three surges of chakra collided with titanic force. The resulting shockwave shredded the cloud layer and howled across the sky like a hurricane.
"You think this is enough to challenge me??"
Kaguya roared—and her Rinne-Sharingan blazed with overwhelming intensity. Her gaze shot toward the Divine Tree still towering in the distance.
The next instant—the Divine Tree began to shudder violently. Its trunk warped and contracted. Branches fell away. Roots tore free from the earth. The colossal structure collapsed inward—reshaping, compressing—until it became a beast the size of a mountain range.
The Ten-Tails.
"RRRAAAAAOOOOGHHH!!!!!!"
Its roar split the sky. The creature charged toward the battlefield in a frenzy—and everywhere its feet struck, the earth disintegrated. Mountains cracked. Rivers reversed.
"This is bad!"
Hagoromo's face darkened. Through his Rinnegan, he could clearly perceive the apocalyptic energy churning inside the Ten-Tails—enough power to destroy the entire world.
He was about to channel his chakra to manifest Susano'o as a shield when—
"Save your strength!"
Manji moved.
He stepped onto platforms of condensed Sage chakra and shot above the Ten-Tails in the blink of an eye. His voice boomed down from above:
"Sage Art—Myōjinmon Gate!"
No hand signs. Direct activation.
The moment the words left his lips—dozens of massive, jet-black torii gates materialized from thin air. Every surface was carved with intricate Sage Art script. They plummeted earthward with the weight of divine judgment, slamming down onto the Ten-Tails!
This was Manji's version of Hashirama Senju's iconic Myōjinmon—reconstructed using the Shikkotsu Forest's Sage energy. Slightly less potent than the original, perhaps—but terrifyingly close.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!
A cascade of earth-shaking impacts echoed across the world. Dozens of gates hammered down onto the Ten-Tails—pinning its limbs, torso, and skull to the ground like colossal shackles, locking the rampaging beast in place.
"RAAAAOGHH——!!!"
The Ten-Tails shrieked with fury, its tails thrashing the earth, desperately trying to break free. The ground fractured and split beneath its struggles.
Manji's eyes sharpened. "Summoning Technique!"
The next instant, three figures materialized at his side.
White-Brow Toad—ancient now, leaning on a gnarled cane, but his eyes still burned with fierce determination.
The White Snake Sage—still in the bloom of her youth, radiant and sharp.
And the White Monkey King—fur gleaming silver-white, bristling with barely contained power.
The dream team.
"I need your help—all three of you!"
Manji bowed to his companions.
The White Monkey King gaped at the pinned Ten-Tails, awe written across his features. "What a horrifying creature… this kind of power is absolutely insane."
The White Snake Sage gave a graceful nod, her voice carrying a playful edge. "Relax, Manji—leave it to us."
White-Brow Toad planted his cane firmly, his gaze sweeping across the Ten-Tails with the gravity of a general surveying a battlefield. "Everyone—this fight determines the future of the world. Every life hangs in the balance. Hold nothing back!"
The instant his declaration fell—White-Brow struck first.
Simultaneously, the White Snake Sage unleashed the Ryūchi Cave's sealing techniques in a coordinated assault!
"White Monkey King!"
Manji turned to his oldest ally, eyes flashing with silent instruction.
"ON IT!"
The White Monkey King understood without a word. He threw his head back and roared at the sky: "White Monkey King—TRANSFORM!"
His body shifted—muscles swelling, white fur receding—and in a flash of light, he became an enormous Adamantine Staff, covered in Sage Art inscriptions from end to end. The weapon rocketed upward—then came crashing down on the Ten-Tails' skull with the force of a falling star.
KRAAAASH——!!!
The impact drove the Ten-Tails' head into the earth, cratering the ground beneath it in a chasm dozens of meters deep.
When the dust cleared—the beast's struggles had weakened to almost nothing.
Under the combined sealing techniques of the Three Great Sage Region representatives and the crushing blows of the Adamantine Staff, the Ten-Tails was finally, completely subdued—pinned motionless in its crater, barely breathing.
Manji descended and landed atop the beast's skull.
Arms crossed. Black-and-red robes whipping in the wind. He looked down at the creature beneath his feet.
"Stay down, you overgrown mutt."
.....
From the distance, Hagoromo watched the entire spectacle unfold—Rinnegan shimmering with barely contained awe.
"Master truly is beyond anything I imagined! With the Ten-Tails neutralized, fighting Mother just became far more manageable!"
High above—
Kaguya stared down at her restrained Ten-Tails, then at the man standing on its head—and her expression could not have been darker.
A storm of emotions churned behind her eyes—rage, disbelief, wounded pride—and beneath it all, a thread of something she couldn't quite name. Something close to confusion.
This man, the one she'd personally betrayed, the one who should have been dead and gone—was not only alive, but wielded power that rivaled her own. And he'd united her own sons against her.
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