Countless divine remnants were completely torn apart by the technique Aoba had set up, reduced to their most fundamental essence, pure authority of power.
And Aoba absorbed all of these authorities.
For an ordinary person, even a single authority would be enough to overwhelm them. But Aoba was different, he had already reached a level beyond the comprehension of a conventional ninja.
His chakra was like that of the Nine-Tails in sheer volume, but in quality, it was on the level of the Ten-Tails. He was infinitely close to the Six Paths tier.
After this, he expelled most of the power from his body, as if emptying himself to make room specifically for the divine power.
Countless fragments of divine power fused into his being, rapidly restructuring and merging within him.
He could clearly sense that the once obscure and violent natural energy was now becoming as gentle as chakra itself.
No, it was even gentler than chakra. Natural energy had now become an extension of himself, a special kind of organ within his body.
He no longer needed to form hand seals or gather energy, just a single thought, and he could manipulate all surrounding natural energy, creating any effect he desired.
At this moment, he was even closer to the concept of a god. Fire, ice, lightning, storms, explosions, the growth of all things, the death of all things…
No, something was missing, death. Right, the Shinigami hadn't died yet. This meant Aoba could summon a storm or ignite a blazing inferno to destroy an entire forest with a mere thought.
But he couldn't simply will the trees to wither and die on their own. Because he hadn't yet grasped the authority of death.
Then again, the so-called Shinigami in the ninja world couldn't do that either. All it could do was establish a domain of equivalent exchange, one life for another. It completely lacked the grandeur a true God of Death should possess.
It seemed that the divinity of death itself had been suppressed to the extreme.
As the last divine remnant was utterly annihilated, Aoba immediately sent the chakra sphere he had separated earlier into Sasuke's body.
Sasuke couldn't withstand this level of energy infusion, but Indra could. In fact, this was exactly the kind of power Indra had always pursued.
The moment Aoba's chakra surged into Sasuke, the latter's own chakra was instantly assimilated. But at the same time, another force within him awakened, the Indra seed.
This seed had been passed down through the Uchiha bloodline for countless generations. Whenever a descendant with sufficiently pure blood appeared, the seed would attempt to activate, reviving Indra's power in the ninja world.
However, the Sage of Six Paths always held the advantage. He controlled each reincarnation of Indra and would deliberately arrange for Asura's reincarnation to be his opponent, forcing the two to clash for eternity.
Every generation of Indra spent their entire life trapped in this meaningless cycle.
Even Madara had originally fallen into this pattern. But Madara was too cunning, he refused to perish alongside Hashirama. Instead, he faked his death, deceiving everyone while secretly plotting his return in the shadows.
This made the Sage of Six Paths uneasy. He conspired with Black Zetsu to completely ruin Madara's plans.
There was also an interesting point, undeniably, the Sage of Six Paths knew that Black Zetsu was trying to free Kaguya.
Logically, the Sage should have feared Kaguya's revival more than anything. Yet, he preferred allowing Kaguya to return rather than letting Madara live. Clearly, his fear of Madara, or rather, his fear of Indra, far exceeded his concern about Kaguya.
This was evident even in the original storyline. Kaguya's abilities were undoubtedly formidable, yet she lacked the overwhelming dominance that Madara exuded.
And now, Aoba had personally created the most powerful reincarnation of Indra in history. At least in terms of chakra volume, Sasuke at this moment had already far surpassed his version in Boruto by an unfathomable degree.
It wasn't just the sheer amount of chakra, it was a near-complete fusion of all seven elemental natures, forming a quasi-Six Paths-level power.
Such an immense surge of energy instantly pushed the Indra seed to its absolute peak.
However, something unexpected happened. Aoba had initially thought that this level of stimulation would awaken the true consciousness of Indra.
But at this moment, he realized that Indra would not be reviving. He had never implanted his spiritual consciousness within his chakra, he had only passed down the chakra itself.
This meant that the original Indra was truly dead, with no possibility of resurrection. Every subsequent reincarnation of Indra inherited only his power, not his mind or soul. Their personalities and thoughts were only influenced by him, rather than being Indra reborn.
This saved Aoba a lot of trouble, he had originally planned to help Sasuke fight for control over his body. But now, he didn't even need to interfere, Sasuke was already near completion.
With that, the prelude to the final confrontation was over.
Aoba had his two trump cards in hand. Now, it was time to see how the Sage of Six Paths would respond.
If you would like to read more...
The novel has be completed (Chp. 362) on the patreon -> SaintXI