"Infinite Tsukuyomi … Release!"
Having just gained two more "Multi-Colored entries," Izayoi—now empowered by a full set of twelve—formed hand‑seals. The Rinne Sharingan that bloomed on his forehead poured out an overwhelming ocular power.
That power shot up toward the moon. Moments ago, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's fall had already turned the blood‑red moon back into a silvery disc, yet now it morphed once more—this time into the pattern of a Rinne Sharingan that blazed with blinding white light. The beam drenched the night‑dark shinobi world and, in an instant, turned midnight into broad noon.
As Izayoi's shout echoed across the land, the entire shinobi world began to tremble.
All over the continent, the massive tree‑like pillars—once towering like mountains—withered, bent over, and gently lowered the countless cocoons that had been hanging beneath their branches. The moment each cocoon touched the ground, it unraveled like a discarded bandage, revealing men and women whose eyes were unfocused, minds still lingering in beautiful dreams.
One has to admit: Uchiha Madara really was a "benevolent villain."
After learning that Infinite Tsukuyomi's true purpose was to mass‑produce White Zetsu, he dropped his plan to sever all karmic chains. Even so, after becoming the Ten‑Tails' jinchūriki he still let all of humanity enjoy one perfect dream.
Inside that dream world, every sleeper became the protagonist, and the whole stage revolved around them.
For ordinary people whose horizons were limited, their dreams granted long‑cherished wishes and desires.
For shinobi with modest talent yet grand ambition, they became saviors of the world, or the Five Kage, or even unified the entire shinobi world as the new "God of Shinobi."
Take Uzumaki Naruto, for example: forever longing for the villagers' recognition and the title of Hokage, he became Hokage in the dream, adored by the villagers, idolized by both Izayoi and Uchiha Sasuke, and even married Haruno Sakura.
Sasuke's fantasy was simpler: the Uchiha clan never perished, Itachi remained the gentle elder brother of his childhood, and he grew up alongside Izayoi and Naruto—eventually becoming the new Hashirama and Madara together with Izayoi.
Even in his ideal world, that "cute second son" Sasuke was perfectly content to play second fiddle to Izayoi.
Countless people mended lifelong regrets inside Infinite Tsukuyomi.
So when they awoke, the entire shinobi world erupted into unrest. Complaints, nostalgia—even desperate pleas to return to the dream—rang from every corner.
Seasoned shinobi with iron wills felt the same; that was how blissful their dream lives had been.
Yet falsehood is still falsehood.
The shinobi soon regained their senses and began post‑war cleanup—only for fresh chaos to break out a short while later.
"My chakra—where did it go?"
"Mine's gone too! What's happening?"
"I can't mold chakra at all. How did I turn into an ordinary person?"
Indeed, many shinobi had reverted to plain civilians.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had reclaimed their chakra—and, with it, their very aptitude for being shinobi. Unless someone donated chakra to them, they could never draw on it again.
Izayoi had not taken anyone's chakra, but he also hadn't returned what Kaguya seized.
By now he had used the Rinne Sharingan to wrest control of the Edo Tensei army, canceling the jutsu and letting all the departed return to the Pure Land. The puppet army he created vanished along with those souls.
With that done, the eye on his forehead slowly closed, leaving behind a vertical black slit.
Summoning a mirror with Chakra Orbs, Izayoi examined the mark, willed it to curve slightly, and its color shifted from black to crimson—so that, at a glance, it looked like a red crescent painted on his brow, soon hidden beneath white bangs.
Business finished, he prepared to meet with Sasuke and Naruto.
Just then, a tiny black hole popped into existence before him and glided toward the ground. Izayoi followed.
By the time he landed, the hole had swollen ten‑fold. Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto stepped out—and froze.
Naruto (stammering, pointing): "Izayoi, w‑what happened to you?"
Sasuke stared at Izayoi's golden Rinne‑Tensei eyes, his own Mangekyō quivering. In a single glance, he realized the gulf between his eyes and Izayoi's was as vast as that between a three‑tomoe Sharingan and a Mangekyō.
How had Izayoi's body changed so drastically?
Where did those eyes come from?
And why had horns grown from his forehead?
Naruto voiced the questions first; Sasuke would have done the same.
Izayoi (grinning): "These are my spoils of war. I am now the second Sage of Six Paths."
He mentioned nothing about the "Rabbit Goddess." With Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo gone, and without his divine assistance, even "uniting yin and yang" as Sasuke and Naruto once did would require extraordinary luck to awaken the Rinnegan again. Their bodies and eyes were still far from their limits, not even meeting the conditions for true dual‑polar fusion. Bereft of hacks, their growth would likely lag behind Hashirama and Madara.
Sasuke might advance, with Izayoi's help; Naruto—lacking Kurama and Wood Release—would top out at Sage Mode plus Izayoi's custom Rasengan variants.
Even so, Izayoi's declaration was terrifying enough.
Naruto: "The second Sage of Six Paths?!"
Sasuke (steadying himself): "So those are Rinnegan after all?"
Izayoi: "Not just Rinnegan. They also contain Ōtsutsuki Toneri's Tenseigan. Together they form the Rinne‑Tenseigan."
Both men sucked in a breath.
Naruto (voice trembling): "A fusion of two Sage eyes—how?"
Izayoi waved the question off. "That's enough about me. The final battle is over. From now on, this world has no Uchiha Madara, no Ōtsutsuki Toneri, and no tailed beasts.
I… am the greatest strategic deterrent in the shinobi world!"
With that he sliced open space itself, a black portal yawning wide. He ushered Sasuke and Naruto through.
Like Doraemon's Anywhere Door—though not as fast as Flying Thunder God, the raw act of tearing space was visually staggering. Compared with Sasuke's Amenotejikara, Izayoi's technique was effortless, instantaneous, and cost virtually no chakra. They were simply not on the same plane.
At that instant Sasuke better grasped what "second Sage of Six Paths" meant.
Legend said the first Sage created the moon and the tailed beasts, fathering all shinobi. Izayoi, now filling that role, felt god‑like—omnipotent. If the tailed beasts were gone, had he erased them? Sealed them? Could he likewise create another moon? The thought shook Sasuke to the core.
The trio emerged near Konoha.
Immediately countless dark flares streaked toward them—Konoha shinobi forming a perimeter.
"Lord Hokage!"
One vest‑clad ninja knelt on one knee before Izayoi, voice reverent. Every face—kneeling or not—was awash in awe. Some seemed on the verge of speaking but dared not.
What kind of eyes were those? A single glance made their souls tremble. And why did the Hokage have horns?
Izayoi offered only a soft laugh.
"The war is over. No Madara, no Ōtsutsuki Toneri. No doomsday. As of today, I shall stand above the heavens."
The kneeling shinobi raised their eyes, zeal blazing. Others were equally moved.
Izayoi's lips curled; he lifted two fingers like a sword. Instantly Konoha quaked; the desiccated tree branches all rose into the air, then vanished without warning.
"Clean up the rest and take the night off," he said, stepping through another rent in space.
Watching their Hokage tear reality as if it were paper, every Konoha shinobi trembled with excitement; goose‑flesh prickled beneath their vests. At last someone shouted:
"Amazing—Konoha sits atop the world again!"
"Even Madara and Ōtsutsuki Toneri were no match for Lord Hokage!"
"Lord Hokage! Lord Hokage!"
The lone victor's cheer shattered the night's stillness, echoing into the clouds.
Without doubt, Konoha was the war's sole winner. Though Izayoi had staged parts of the assault himself, he'd pulled every punch; Konoha's casualties were minimal. The attackers had unknowingly been none other than their own revered Hokage's alter‑ego and subordinates.
Now, of the four super‑tier powers, only Izayoi remained. When a world holds but one super‑tier, that person is "God of Shinobi." Decades ago Hashirama Senju held that title; sixty years later, Konoha again possessed such a being. For years to come, Konoha would reign supreme, free from war.
As news of victory spread, villagers joined the jubilation, and the ripple soon engulfed the entire Land of Fire—indeed, the entire shinobi world.
They scarcely needed to trumpet it; every other village already knew. The puppet army belonged to Toneri; the Reanimation army to Madara and the Akatsuki's leader. Both had vanished. The winner could only be the youngest of the four super‑tiers—Sixth Hokage Izayoi.
Through messenger summons, leaders everywhere confirmed: not only had Izayoi survived, he'd returned enhanced beyond recognition. Plainly, he had seized something—most likely tied to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Those leaders were anxious, sleepless. When four super‑tiers exist, peace balances on a knife‑edge; when only one remains, that single person dictates the world order. Tonight, the real trial was just beginning.