Uchiha Hikari's Susanoo, flanked by the low-growling Vermilion Bird and Azure Dragon, descended upon the plaza. The impact was so immense that the hardened floor tiles shattered into a spiderweb of cracks.
The group leaped down from the backs of the summoned beasts.
They stood upon a colossal plaza before the floating castle, its floor paved with dark black stone polished to a mirror-like finish. Surrounding the plaza were dozens of black stone pillars carved with twisted stellar patterns, radiating a faint, ghostly luminescence.
In this moment, the plaza—which should have been solemn and silent—was filled with a cacophonous din.
Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack...
The ear-grating sound of grinding joints rang out in unison!
Hundreds, even thousands of puppets surged like a dark tide from the shadows of the plaza. They closed in silently and swiftly, a black mass radiating bone-chilling malice.
The majority were common puppets wrapped in tattered brown robes and bandages. Their obscured faces were locked onto the group in the center, their numbers overwhelming.
Among them were two distinct variations.
The first type was slender and small, resembling young girls of seven or eight. They wore oddly tailored kimonos—matte dark brown on top, with blood-red pleated skirts below, paired with white socks and small wooden clogs. Most unsettling were their heads; instead of bandages, they possessed flawless, deathly pale porcelain doll faces. Their mouths were fixed in a permanent upward curve, revealing serrated fangs, while their long white hair flowed like a waterfall to their ankles.
The second type was rare—only three in total. They were tall, nearly human-sized, dressed in sophisticated black attire with faces covered by matte black veils. They stood clearly above the others, hidden behind the common puppets. Their movements were more refined, and every subtle shift exuded a pressure far exceeding that of a Jonin!
Before the encirclement could close, a much grander presence descended.
The castle's massive doors, several times the height of a man, slid open silently. Flanked by six exquisite maid-servant puppets, a figure dressed in traditional Otsutsuki plain white robes slowly walked out.
His pale white hair was tied in a bunch at the back, and his expression was one of arrogant coldness. This was Otsutsuki Sakuto. Standing to his left was a much younger white-haired boy—Toneri—whose youthful face held a mix of curiosity and alarm, guarded vigilantly by two tall butler puppets.
Sakuto used his "Mind's Eye" to scan the surrounded group indifferently, as if observing lifeless stones.
However, when his gaze fell upon Hyuga Hizashi—specifically the bulging veins at his temples and those pure white eyes—the cracks in his icy composure finally showed.
"The Byakugan... has actually found its way here? What... things are you?" Sakuto's voice carried a suppressed fury and a hint of unbelievable confusion. It was as if the very presence of the Hyuga bloodline on this sacred ground was the deepest desecration possible.
His confusion did not last long; it was quickly replaced by an absolute desire for control. He let out a contemptuous sneer and raised his right hand to the sky, as if to crush ants. An invisible force communicated with a gargantuan entity hidden deep within the castle.
"Very well. Under the gaze of the God's Eye, all travelers return to dust! Awaken, the Ancestor's Wrath!"
BOOM—!
The tops of the two thickest stone pillars at the edge of the plaza suddenly ignited with blinding white light! The light flowed and gathered, accompanied by a world-shaking roar, as a mountain-sized stone statue rose from the edge of the plaza!
The statue was majestic from the waist up, but its lower half vanished into a mass of stacked, shell-like rocks, resembling the bloated body of a hermit crab anchored to the ground. Its massive head was clearly defined, sharing a resemblance to the statues of Otsutsuki Hamura, the brother of the Sage of the Six Paths, complete with two great horns.
Most terrifying were its two thick stone arms, each exceeding five meters in diameter, covered in rugged textures like mountain knots—containing enough power to pulverize mountain ranges!
As the statue solidified, Sakuto's cold command echoed across the plaza:
"Kill them!"
Hum—!
The circle tightened instantly!
At the command, the three types of puppets turned into killing machines that had lost their final restraints. They became a surging tide of death, hissing and clicking as they lunged forward!
Glinting short blades, chakra-infused strikes, and heartless tearing jaws all aimed for the heart of the group!
"Kimimaro, Karin, clear the field!" Menma's voice remained cold and steady, without a ripple of emotion. He blurred, meeting one of the black butler puppets like a ghost.
"Understood!"
"Leave it to me!"
Kaguya Kimimaro fully unleashed his Byakugan, battle intent burning in his pupils. The skin across his body began to ripple as if boiling!
"Macabre Bone Pulse: Dance of the Camellia!"
Clang—!
A pale bone spear over three meters long erupted from his right forearm with a piercing whistle! Simultaneously, sharp bone spikes of various shapes tore through his clothes at his left arm, shoulder blades, spine, and legs!
He became a skeletal hurricane covered in thorny blades, charging fearlessly into the densest cluster of common puppets!
Psh! Psh! Psh!
Wherever the bone spear swept, whether it was tough brown robes or hard wood-and-stone frames, they were instantly pierced and torn asunder! The bone spikes followed his wild, spinning advance like a meat grinder, drawing in, cutting, and pulverizing every puppet that lunged at him.
The glint of white bone mixed with the flying limbs of shattered puppets, filling the cold plaza with the strange scent of rotting wood and rusted iron.
"Adamantine Attacking Chains!"
Uzumaki Karin clapped her palms together and slammed them against the ground! The massive Uzumaki chakra within her erupted!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Seven chains, as thick as giant pythons and flowing with ancient golden sealing runes, burst from her back like enraged dragons! The chains carried matchless power and the demon-breaking properties of sealing jutsu, strangling, whipping, and piercing!
Every swing of the golden whips brought down a swath of severed limbs and broken shells! Those puppets trying to approach or sneak an attack from the side were reduced to scrap under the chains' onslaught. By her strength alone, she tore an ever-expanding blank space into the left side of the plaza!
"Leave these toys to us!" Uchiha Shisui barked, his newly awakened three-tomoe Sharingan spinning at high speed!
"Mirage Body Flicker!"
His form instantly split into dozens of afterimages, real and fake indistinguishable. Shuriken poured out like a rainstorm, precisely striking the joints of the common puppets and the fragile neck-links of the maid puppets.
His true body blurred, closing in on a butler puppet!
Hyuga Hizashi moved in near-perfect synchronization with him! While the Sharingan tracked the enemy's movements, the Byakugan's field of vision locked onto the chakra flow points of another butler and a dozen maid puppets.
Even puppets required chakra to move their bodies. Seeing through these flows, Hizashi—unwilling to be outdone—unleashed his most powerful technique!
"Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!"
Hizashi lunged forward like a falcon, his palms wrapped in a cyan chakra glow! His movements were fierce and swift, taking the precision of striking tenketsu and fusing it with his own robust strength as a Taijutsu Jonin!
A sky of palm shadows!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Where his palms struck, they were incredibly sharp! The porcelain-doll heads of two maid puppets exploded like cheap ceramics under his chakra-infused strikes, their headless bodies twitching to the floor.
Three common puppets to his side had their joints instantly crushed and dismantled! He moved through the horde at high speed; every strike and every parry precisely dismantled the encirclement. He worked in tandem with Shisui's high-speed afterimages, pinning the brunt of the attack onto the two butler puppets!
Between the palms and fingers, there was a hidden, refined rhythm beneath the grand, sweeping motions.
"Hikari, those rocks are yours," Menma's voice cut clearly through the intense metal clashes and explosions.
His duel with one of the butler puppets ended almost instantly. The puppet's speed and power far exceeded a Jonin, its punches tearing the air, but Menma simply tilted his body. With a lightning-fast step, he closed the distance. His left hand hooked around the puppet's wrist joint like a steel claw—a movement so simple it looked like he was merely brushing dust off his coat.
He snapped his right knee up like a battle-axe!
Crack!
An ear-grating explosion! The puppet's seemingly indestructible stone shoulder guard was smashed to pieces! Simultaneously, Menma's left fingers exerted pressure like iron pincers; the alloy skeleton of the forearm joint emitted a sickening groan before twisting into a mangled mess!
Before the butler puppet's other hand could move, Menma's right elbow struck its chest core like a cannonball!
Boom!
The butler puppet was like a clay pot hit by a battering ram; the precision components inside shattered completely. Driven by the massive force, it flew backward ten meters, slamming into a stone pillar and splattering a mess of broken parts and viscous energy fluid.
At that same moment—
RUMBLE!!!
The half-body stone statue with Hamura's face and the insectoid arms moved! One mountain-like arm swung high, carrying ten thousand tons of force and a suffocating pressure. Like a falling meteor, it slammed toward the center of the plaza, targeting Kimimaro and Karin as they mowed down puppets!
The impact zone was massive. Terrifying air pressure arrived first, causing the rubble on the ground to dance wildly!
"Don't even think about it!"
Uchiha Hikari's voice was as cold and sharp as a blade. The Perfect Susanoo stood like the avatar of a god! Facing the mountain-crushing fist, the Susanoo gripped its massive chakra tachi—engraved with dark red magma patterns—with both hands and struck upward!
"Ha!"
The wings on the Susanoo's back erupted with a wave of air that could move mountains! The giant's body advanced rather than retreated. The massive blade rose from below, tearing through the void and tracing a destructive arc of a dark-red blood moon!
The space around the blade seemed unable to withstand the power, becoming twisted and blurred!
Screech—
BOOM!!!
The blade and the stone fist collided!
There was no stalemate. Only total annihilation.
The red chakra blade acted like a branding iron through fat, splitting the incredibly hard, knot-covered stone fist right down the middle! At the massive incision, shattered rock erupted like volcanic magma to either side.
The shockwave tore up the ground for dozens of meters! The statue let out a dull, world-ending wail as its upper body recoiled violently!
"Not enough!" Standing within the diamond crystal of the Susanoo's forehead, Hikari's Mangekyo patterns spun madly. The Susanoo's other hand lunged out, firmly grabbing the statue's arm before it could retract!
Absolute power erupted!
Rumble—
Cr-cr-ack—!
Amidst the flying debris and dust, the mountain-sized upper body of the statue was actually swung into the air by the Perfect Susanoo! Like a gargantuan blunt weapon, it was hurled toward another dense cluster of buildings at the edge of the plaza!
The earth trembled frantically!
As the statue was being swung like a hammer, Menma moved! He ignored the wreckage of the butler puppet he had just slain. His gaze, cold as a sharpened knife, skipped across the chaotic battlefield. It pierced through the flying puppet fragments and surging dust to lock onto Otsutsuki Sakuto standing before the castle gates!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
By the ruins of the puppets Kimimaro had pierced... on the debris swept by Karin's chains... in the shadows where Shisui dodged the maid puppets...
Special kunai, engraved with unique formula runes, landed silently in the ground! They were like lethal coordinates, quietly populating the entire plaza battlefield.
The next second, Menma vanished!
Flying Raijin: Level 2!
The trajectory of the space-time jump was faster than sight itself! Before his afterimage could even fade, his true self had torn through the void, appearing less than ten meters in front of Sakuto!
Without pause, using the momentum of his high-speed movement, he shifted his center of gravity forward like flowing water. A punch wrapped in the power of wind and lightning tore through the air, aiming straight for Sakuto's center!
The movement was refined to the absolute limit, carrying a terrifying sharpness meant to penetrate all defenses! Before the punch even landed, the sheer air pressure sent Sakuto's tied hair dancing wildly backward!
Bang!
At the critical moment, the two butler puppets guarding Sakuto acted as loyal shields. They stepped forward simultaneously, throwing their bodies into the path of the punch!
The massive force exploded against the puppets, creating a visible white shockwave of air! The puppet joints let out a piercing scream of agony! The two butler puppets were actually blasted back several meters, their feet plowing deep furrows into the ground! Deep cracks were left in the chest of one of the puppets!
Sakuto's pupils shrank! This method of attack—arriving in an instant and completely ignoring distance—shattered his understanding! This taijutsu, which combined fierce penetration with intricate destruction, was unheard of!
"Repulsion!"
A strong sense of crisis made Sakuto raise his hand without hesitation. Drawing upon the power of the Giant Tenseigan, he activated his ocular jutsu! A pale cyan glow erupted from his hand!
An invisible but gargantuan repulsive force exploded outward with him as the center!
Vroom!
The repulsive power swept across the field! Menma's advancing figure felt as if it had hit an invisible steel wall. He was blasted back by the irresistible force, his feet carving long white marks into the icy floor. The maid puppets and common puppets trying to lunge at him were caught in the ripple, sent tumbling away like leaves in a gale.
"Unacceptable!" Sakuto shouted in shock and rage!
The power the opponent displayed had completely exceeded his estimates. He looked up, his hollow sockets seeming to pierce through the layers of the castle walls, connecting directly to the Hamura Shrine floating in the distance, radiating eternal, ghostly light!
"In the name of the Ancestor!"
BOOM—!!!
A pillar of blazing light, too massive for words, erupted from the top of the Great Shrine floating behind the castle! The pillar was a dark, deep purple that seemed to swallow everything. Wherever it passed, space distorted violently!
It was like a spear of divine punishment piercing heaven and earth. It ignored the stone statue currently wrestling with the Susanoo, and it ignored the struggling puppets. Its world-ending point was aimed squarely at the entire castle plaza!
It intended to wipe this entire region—along with the invaders and the lowly puppets alike—completely off the map of existence!
The light descended faster than thought! Terrifying pressure and the scent of annihilation filled every inch of space!
Shisui, battling maid puppets, froze. Kimimaro, his spear through a puppet's chest, looked up in shock. Karin's golden chains hung mid-air. Hizashi's Byakugan was instantly filled with that destructive purple radiance!
"Arrogant!"
Amidst a cold, contemptuous shout, Uchiha Hikari's Mangekyo Sharingan erupted with an unprecedented, eerie red light!
BOOM!!!
The already-prepared Perfect Susanoo let out a roar that shook the void! At the exact moment the purple pillar was about to consume the plaza, the red colossus suddenly retracted its force from the stone statue. Its massive chakra tachi changed from a diagonal slash to an upward parry!
The dark red energy coiling around the blade glowed like ignited volcanic magma, its brightness skyrocketing! The gargantuan chakra blade slashed defiantly at the world-ending purple pillar!
There was no sound.
Or rather, at the moment of contact, all sound was swallowed by a more terrifying phenomenon of annihilation. There was only the collision of ultimate darkness and light!
The dark red blade, with crude and matchless brutality, split the deep purple pillar—wide enough to cover half the plaza—cleanly down the middle!
Screech—!!!
Silent ripples of annihilation spread outward in a fan shape! The split purple light became an uncontrolled torrent, slamming into the towering stone pillars flanking the plaza!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The massive pillars, harder than glass, melted and vaporized like thin ice under high heat as the shredded light hit them! Ghostly blue fragments and energy residue mixed with a rain of purple light, creating a cataclysmic surge that swept through the stone pillar area! A massive vacuum was instantly cleared!
The portion of the shockwave blocked by the blade swept beneath the Susanoo and the ground, shaving the floor down several more meters!
This single strike did more than just shock Shisui and Hizashi.
"How is this possible!"
Sakuto's Mind's Eye "saw" this terrifying scene. His breath hitched as he felt an unprecedented crisis. When had that decaying Shinobi world ever given birth to an enemy so powerful they could face the chakra beam of the Giant Tenseigan head-on?!