The surrounding space was barren and had no spiritual power at all.
There was no doubt that this space was not Shadow Island, and there was a very high possibility that it wasn't even in the shinobi world.
The reason was simple: as the fourth sacred ground that birthed the Quincies, Shadow Island had always been overflowing with spiritual power. And in this era where everyone had spiritual power, the shinobi world was already filled with spiritual power.
But in this world, Yoru couldn't feel a single bit of spiritual power!
"Is it similar to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's ability, Amenominaka?" Yoru's eyes narrowed slightly. Although Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki did not show this kind of power in the original work, or even show much at all.
But as Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's biological son, the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki, and the existence closest to the Rabbit Goddess, it would not be strange at all for Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki to have some of this level of power.
However...
"A clone?"
Gazing up at the figure suspended in midair, Yoru spoke indifferently:
"Since you've chosen to expose yourself—shaking the world from its slumber, rousing the hidden powers into vigilance—yet even now you hold back, refusing to strike with your full might… Does this mean you're still scheming in secret, unable to fight at full strength? Or do you truly believe that just this clone is enough to crush me?"
The figure standing in the sky looked down at Yuki Yoru. A layer of faint pale chakra was condensed on his face, covering his face like a veil.
A god cannot be looked at directly or seen through. This guy seemed to want to use this to show his uniqueness and mystery.
"Looks like it's the former." Yuki Yoru gave a light laugh and looked around: "Otherwise, you wouldn't have chosen to pull me into this space. You would have directly used your vast divine power to crush me like last time."
"…It seems you do indeed know quite a lot."
The figure in the sky did not make a move directly. Instead, he slowly spoke: "Do you know… I don't actually care about the powers you've acquired. Whether soul or chakra—these things are not so different. In truth, they're meaningless."
"What intrigues me is this: why do you know so much?"
"From the Third Great Shinobi War onward, everything you've done has been fascinating. Your moves against the Uchiha, against White Zetsu, against Obito. Your maneuvers involving Konoha, your grasp of hidden truths and sacred treasures across the shinobi world… You act as though you were prescient, foreseeing it all."
"Oh? So you've been watching me all this time from the Pure Land? What an honor indeed."
Yoru's expression hardly shifted. He had known for a long time that the old man Six Paths was watching the entire shinobi world from the Pure Land. His sudden rise would definitely be a key focus of his attention.
It's just that his rise was too rapid. A great war directly put him on a pedestal, so much so that by the time Six Paths wanted to make a move, it was already too late.
"Still… if you've been watching this world all along, then tell me, 'Sage who pacified the chaos'—was it truly right to sit idly by, while the shinobi world spiraled into a thousand years of endless war?"
Yoru tilted his head slightly, speaking in an almost casual tone:
"Or perhaps… this thousand-year cycle of chaos and strife is precisely what you wished to see?"
The man gave no reply, but the chakra surging around him blazed like solar flares, causing ripples in the sky.
"…So I was right, then."
"This world requires guidance—and adaptation. Only then can chakra take root in the hearts of men, becoming an inseparable part of them." The agitation soon subsided. Hagoromo's manifested clone spoke calmly:
"For a thousand years, chakra has already seeped into every corner of human life. It has become indispensable.
"But you, Yuki Yoru—you are like an intruder, forcefully disrupting it all. Destroying the hard-won harmony and fragile stability. You—"
"…Aren't you an intruder yourself?"
The sudden retort cut Hagoromo's words short.
A mocking smile curved Yoru's lips as he chuckled softly:
"Ah, my mistake. That's right, you're not the outsider. Your mother was."
"Arrogant!"
With the furious roar of Hagoromo's clone, a torrent of chakra surged skyward from his body, vast enough to suppress heaven and earth.
The barren world around them instantly roared with storms, space itself trembling.
No—that wasn't simply the force of raw power. In Yoru's perception, as the power of the figure before him erupted, the surrounding space itself… was responding to him.
Yes—this space was responding to the power of the one before him. Everything in this space resonated with the chakra unleashed, as if there was a strange connection between the two!
"How interesting."
Yoru's gaze flickered, and without hesitation he struck back.
The spritiual power in his body burst out without any reservation at this moment. The pitch-black spritiual power was like a gushing spring, dyeing this new space a pitch-black color.
Yoru did not use Hyōrinmaru. His opponent clearly knew his situation—this space held not a trace of moisture, drier even than the deserts of the Wind Country.
Besides, Hyōrinmaru's strength was meaningless in a battle at this level. Only the clash of pure sources of power would decide this fight!
The instant Yoru's spiritual power erupted, the figure in the heavens had already raised his staff, striking mercilessly toward him.
Deep-blue spiritual power flared like a raging spiritual flame as Yoru clashed with the Six Paths' staff. At the moment of impact, a deafening detonation resounded from the unleashed force.
In the blink of an eye, the two had already exchanged hundreds of blows. Every punch and kick could produce a brilliant white light like a nuclear explosion, and each was a world-shaking explosion..
The space itself cracked apart. The ground wailed in agony.
If the place where the two were fighting was Shadow Island at this moment, then the entire Shadow Island would probably have already crumbled and shattered during their close combat!
After hundreds of pure taijutsu clashes, the Six Paths clone suddenly raised his yin-yang staff. At its tip, black lightning gathered—then thundered down.
"Six Paths Senjutsu: Yin Release · Thunder Descent!"
"Sacred Destruction Arrow!"
As the black thunder fell, Yoru swept his hand in reverse, rending open the air. A brilliant deep-blue arc of spiritual power split the void, shaping into a colossal bow of light above the battlefield.
BOOOOM!!!
The earth convulsed once more. A blinding radiance spread outward from the sky, flooding every corner within a hundred li.
Within the explosion's domain, the land itself collapsed—then vanished utterly under the blast, erased as if consumed by Dust Release.
And this was but one casual clash between them. In the past few dozen minutes, they had already exchanged hundreds of such blows!
Their battle filled the heavens with smoke and dust. Then, from within that haze, an icy, detached voice rang out—not loud, but like the murmur of a god.
"Hadō Number 99—"
"Goryūtenmetsu! (Five Dragon Destruction)"
KAAAA-BOOOOM!!!
Spiritual power surged violently, sweeping away the choking clouds. With an earth-shattering roar, an indescribable spiritual pressure erupted, as though to crush the entire world.
Before the stunned eyes of the figure above, five colossal dragons of spiritual power burst forth from the smoke, coiling and twisting, then hurtled straight toward him.
The Six Paths clone furrowed his brow, hurling wave after wave of yin-yang senjutsu from his staff.
Yet whether it was Yin-infused Lightning Release, Senjutsu Wind Release, or other techniques—they were all torn apart effortlessly by the five dragons, shattered like brittle twigs before a flood.
In the instant he faltered, unable to summon more arts, the five spiritual dragons crashed down upon him, smashing him violently into the earth below.
The world itself seemed ravaged—heaven collapsing, earth splitting!
"Yin-Yang Reversal!"
Beneath the dragons, the Six Paths clone raised his staff high. Yin-Yang chakra burst forth, erupting into blinding white light that spread from his form, illuminating this world.
And under that radiance, the apocalyptic dragons of spiritual power began to fracture, breaking apart into countless motes of spiritual power, scattering swiftly into nothingness.
Yet in that very instant, Yoru's figure suddenly appeared behind him, a deep-blue spiritual blade condensed in his hand, slashing toward the Six Paths clone in a flash.
"Hm?!"
The clone's reaction was flawless—at the very moment Yoru's strike came, he raised the yin-yang staff to block.
But Yoru, with a twist of his wrist, clenched the void itself. The space around the Six Paths clone was completely sealed by spiritual pressure. Densely packed particles gathered in midair, forming layer upon layer of radiant barriers. Upon those walls of light, countless spiritual pressure converged into sacred arrows, which then fired forth in an instant!
"Sprenger!"
"..."
The brilliance of spiritual pressure illuminated the Six Paths clone's face. His gaze shifted—and suddenly, his eyes transformed. The black pupils vanished, replaced by concentric rings resembling tree rings.
The next moment, a tremendous repulsive force erupted from him, blasting apart the bindings of Sanctuary Benediction!
"The Rinnegan, huh."
Yoru curled his lip. The Rinnegan's power was indeed vast, all-encompassing. But whether it was Nagato, Shisui, or even the current Obito wielding those eyes, Yoru had never truly regarded them as threats.
For the level of their power fated that they could never fully wield the true strength of these eyes.
The Sage's Eyes themselves were destined to be artifacts with their lower and upper limits equally high.
"Divine Art! Universal Pull! (Banshō Ten'in) "
The moment Sprenger's bindings were shattered, a raging gravitational force surged forth. At the same time, the yin-yang staff in the clone's hand began to shift—its form transforming in an instant into a strange longsword.
The Sword of Nunoboko!
This sword was called the Sword of Creation. It was a sword created by combining a powerful Yin-Yang Release with the belief in one's heart.
Legends claimed the stronger one's faith, the greater the sword's might. It was a true sword of the soul, the divine blade of Ninshū's progenitor, the Sage of Six Paths—Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo's Sword of Nunoboko!
The violent pull dragged at Yoru's body, drawing him uncontrollably toward the sword's edge.
Yet Yoru showed no fear. Against that suction, he advanced instead of retreating. Around him, infinite reishi condensed into countless Sacred Arrows.
In the next instant—
Those arrows burst into radiant brilliance!
Holy light erupted, blasting apart all that existed in the heavens above. Even the very fabric of space cracked under the bombardment. This was the dominion of the soul itself—terrifying beyond compare!
But in a single instant, that overwhelming assault was utterly annihilated by a power vast and irresistible.
The divine glow scattered the dust of the explosion. High above, the Six Paths clone raised the Sword of Nunoboko. Endless force of All Creation gathered at the sword's tip.
"Shatter!"
With that cold utterance, the divine blade fell. Wherever the sword-light passed, the skies tore, space shattered, and a gray-white arc of sword energy seemed as if it would cleave the world itself in two!
RUMMMBLE!!!
That strike landed squarely upon Yuki Yoru, slamming him viciously into the earth. The impact carved a chasm across the ground—ten thousand meters deep and vast like an abyss beneath the world.
Beneath the shattered earth, Yuki Yoru lay somewhat battered on the ground.
The Six Paths clone floated downward, looking down upon him with aloof detachment. Sacred chakra radiated from his body, and combined with his cold expression, he seemed every bit a god of the heavens passing judgment upon a sinner.
"It's over, Yuki Yoru."
"…Is this all?"
Lying on the ground, Yoru spoke slowly, causing the Six Paths clone to furrow his brow.
"This power of yours—the power you thought sufficient to crush me. The power you infused into this clone, even after manipulating Ashura and Indra like mere pawns, even after channeling your wrath into it. Is this all it amounts to?"
"The strength you cultivated over a thousand years in the Pure Land after severing the Ten Tails and scattering its chakra across the shinobi world… yes, it is impressive. But… it is still far from enough."
Yuki Yoru slowly raised his head, staring at the Six Paths clone:
"In this battle with you… I see nothing."
"..." The clone's brows tightened further. He did not seem to fully grasp Yoru's words. In his palm, the Sword of Nunoboko rippled with the omnipotent force of All Creation, already poised to strike again.
Yet in that instant, a strange power began to radiate from Yoru's body. At its emergence, the Rinnegan in the clone's sockets suddenly contracted, shock flashing in his gaze.
Yoru's fallen form slowly rose into the air until he was level with the Six Paths clone. And whether it was illusion or not, within Yoru's eyes… the clone beheld countless eyes staring back.
"You… what are you?"
"I thought that as kings, our battle would be fought as equals. Yet you treat me with disdain—sending only a clone, as though that would suffice to deal with me."
"Well, perhaps it is to be expected, since I am of the younger generation. But now…"
Yoru's expression remained blank as the eyes within his sockets turned.
KUHNNNNG!!!
Spiritual Pressure!
Vast, boundless spiritual pressure!
Endless spiritual pressure!
Like a volcano erupting, like a tsunami crashing, his power erupted in full. Under its overwhelming weight, the very fabric of this space began to collapse!