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Obito stared down Guy and Minato, his expression frostbitten.
Unmasked or not, he felt no regret. The reveal changed nothing.
Minato took in the weathered half of Obito's face and sighed. "…I never thought it would come to this."
That look pity without blame cut deeper than any kunai. Obito's jaw tightened.
"Enough."
He moved first toward the Eye of the Moon Plan and the world he intended to force into peace.
CRACK—BOOM—
Every head whipped skyward as the [Ultimate Chakra Aegis] shattered like glass.
Freed, the Ten-Tails loosed a world-rending roar and began to form another Tailed Beast Bomb.
A vast magic circle unfurled above it, rings within rings, and lances of golden lightning fell like spears, pinning the monster through.
A colossal golden paw slammed down, grinding the Ten-Tails into the earth.
Lightning coursed along the glowing sigils.
[Awakening: Judgment Gold-Thunder Tiger]!
The thunder-beast descended in full, regal and merciless, holding the Ten-Tails beneath its claws.
Atop its crown stood Neji, gaze sweeping the battlefield past Hashirama's titanic wooden Buddha, past Madara straining under scarlet torii, past Obito bristling with killing intent.
His voice rolled across the plains like a bell.
"This war ends now."
The tiger's roar shook the sky.
All around, golden lotuses bloomed from nothing, opening one after another across the torn earth.
[Awakening: Thousand Lotus Bloom]!
A second cry rose a lightning dragon coiling from the storm, spiraling above the field.
Neji stepped off the tiger, emerald light washing over him as he entered [Tenseigan Chakra Mode].
Black Truth-Seeking Orbs hovered at his back; the pressure alone pressed on lungs and ribs.
On a nearby ridge, Tobirama flashed to Hashirama's side, grave.
"He's stronger than Madara."
Hashirama shook his head. "I can't beat him."
Tobirama's teeth clicked. They were finally turning the tide on Madara only for the board to be flipped again.
But Neji had already achieved what he wanted. Next came peace two centuries of it, if no one broke the spell. History suggested that comfort curdled into decadence; civilizations collapsed not from hunger, but from meaninglessness. Neji meant to reset the pattern before rot could take root.
He brought his palms together.
Overhead, the lightning dragon detonated its essence pouring into every golden lotus.
The Gold-Thunder Tiger answered with a thunderclap; light flooded the field.
Sound died. Time went thin, and then the gold consumed everything.
Reanimated legends and living shinobi alike every last soul on the battlefield vanished into the radiance.
Naruto's stubborn grimace, Tsunade's steady calm, A thousand faces in the moment before death all erased.
When the light collapsed, only a vast crater remained bare earth and, at its center, the Ten-Tails like a withered trunk.
Neji removed his mask. The system prompt in his mind clicked over: Level 85 Second Awakening surpassed.
Power surged, The world's latticework sharpened into focus threads, vectors, seams.
He reached out and sank his arm into the void.
His fingers closed around a throat and yanked.
Obito tumbled from Kamui's pocket dimension, eyes wide.
"You… It's you—! How did you get into Kamui!?"
Neji's look held pity—the kind that made Obito's skin crawl.
"You don't understand my power. Kamui isn't a sanctuary."
Obito tried to phase, to twist space, to flood chakra into his eye nothing answered.
Neji held him one-handed and reached again into the air.
A wave of cold, oily chakra slid free Black Zetsu, a slough of tar in human shape, writhing in Neji's grip.
"So you're back to this form already," Neji said mildly. "Black Zetsu."
Terror flickered across that inky face. He'd survived the light. He'd hidden. And still still this man found him.
"Hand over the other Rinnegan. No… I'll take it."
At Neji's will, a Rinnegan tore itself free of Zetsu's body and floated to his palm. Two Truth-Seeking Orbs drifted forward and crushed Black Zetsu flat.
A thousand years of scheming ended as wet pulp.
Obito's pupils shrank. He scrabbled for power any power.
A hand slid into his chest like it was water. He looked down, numb.
"You—"
The light left his eyes.
Neji withdrew his arm, face unreadable, and reached for the Sharingan at Obito's face.
"For what you've done," he said quietly, "your life is the payment."
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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