Arima stepped into the strange dimension where Isshiki resided. Looking up, he saw no sun, no moon, no stars, only a dim and oppressive sky that pressed down on his chest.
At the long dining table sat Isshiki, calmly eating his meal. Beside him were the newly gathered members of his "Kara" organization.
The first figure to catch Arima's eye was an old man seated on Isshiki's left. His hair was snow-white, his body slightly hunched beneath a black cloak.
His face was hidden in the shadow of his hood, but his cold, detached gaze and quiet confidence made him impossible to underestimate.
Below him sat a young man, impeccably dressed, with a full beard and orange spectacles. His manner was rigid, every movement precise.
Arima's gaze moved on from him and settled on the right-hand side of Isshiki.
Directly across from the old man sat a stern-looking middle-aged Hyuga. He wore a loose white robe with six tomoe embroidered around the collar.
The instant his eyes met Arima's, his Byakugan focused on Arima's right eye, and his expression twisted with sudden agitation.
Isshiki noticed this. With a casual tap of his silver knife against a wineglass, a clear chime rang out. At once, the Hyuga's emotions quieted, his body freezing like a statue.
Beneath him sat another cloaked figure, shorter in stature, with a black eyepatch covering his right eye.
Behind Isshiki, a group of shinobi stood silently. Among them, Arima recognized his young disciple, Uchiha Kaito, but Kaito's face was cold, his demeanor empty, as if he didn't recognize his own master.
Arima also spotted Hanzo and the infamous Kinkaku among the crowd.
Clapping lightly, Isshiki dismissed them all.
The cloaked old man, the bearded youth, the Hyuga, and the eyepatched shinobi withdrew alongside the rest, leaving only the two of them in the vast dining hall.
Pouring himself a glass of wine, Isshiki swirled it, breathed in the fragrance, then drained it in one motion.
Arima remained still, waiting, wary.
At a wave of Isshiki's hand, the chair at the far end of the table slid back on its own. With a faint smile, Isshiki gestured for Arima to sit.
No sooner had Arima taken his seat than a glass of red wine floated over and landed softly before him. He ignored it, instead asking directly, "Why have you called me here?"
Isshiki's lips curved. "Tell me, do you know who those people were at the table?"
Arima shook his head, silent, waiting for the answer.
Propping his head on one hand, Isshiki drawled lazily, "Of course you know. Speak boldly. You, the chairman of the Shinobi Alliance, should be able to piece together such a simple truth."
Arima exhaled slowly. "The hunched old man at your left must be Uchiha Madara. As for the Hyuga on your right… I believe he is none other than Otsutsuki Isso, the one I've been hunting for years."
Isshiki stood, applauding as he strolled toward Arima. "Sharp as ever. I knew you'd been searching for them all this time. If I hadn't hidden Madara and Isso in this place, you would have already found them."
Arima's voice hardened. "What are you planning?"
Isshiki smiled, faint amusement flickering in his eyes. "So impatient. Until the very last moment, you'll never know the truth. And even if I told you now… would you believe me?"
Arima caught the hidden meaning instantly. Without hesitation, he asked, "You intend to gather the Tailed Beasts. To revive the Ten Tails."
Isshiki nodded, unabashed.
"Indeed. You are the ideal vessel I've dreamed of, exceptional in every way. If not for your battle with Isso tearing apart the seals of this world and exposing the shinobi realm to my kin, I might have continued playing this game with you a while longer.
But they are coming. And so, I must act."
Arima frowned. "So it isn't only the Tailed Beasts you covet? There's something else in this world you want?"
Isshiki shook his head slowly.
"Not something else. Everything. This planet itself was grown by the Otsutsuki as a nursery for the God Tree.
My mission once failed, but there is still time to remedy it. So forgive me, outstanding foreigner, but your world will be harvested."
He didn't wait another moment. Power surged around him as he lunged at Arima, instantly entering his Second State, intent on crushing him.
But Arima had been ready. His left eye flashed, the Eye Technique and Isshiki's movements faltered, time itself tugged at his limbs. Arima retreated swiftly, opening distance.
Yet from behind, another attack came. Arima blurred, his body slipping into Kamui's intangibility, the strike passing through harmlessly.
He turned, and saw Uchiha Madara himself lowering his hand from the attempted ambush.
Before he could react, Isshiki tore free from the temporal snare, once again bearing down on him with overwhelming momentum.
Surrounded on all sides, escape cut off, Arima pressed his hands together. Natural energy flooded his body as he entered Sage Mode.
"Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
With a thunderous roar, a colossal Buddha nearly a kilometer tall rose into existence, sheathed in a gleaming blue chakra armor.
Arima stood in the crystalline helm upon its brow, his features marked by the sage's visage.
His left Rinnegan and right Tenseigan both opened wide, power surging to its peak. Against Isshiki's Second State and the army of elite shinobi, he could afford no mistakes.
But as his Buddha loomed, another giant rose to meet it, a stone statue, manipulated by none other than Otsutsuki Isshiki.
Forming the Ram seal, Arima bellowed, "Top Transformed Buddha!" Thousands of wooden hands erupted, raining down upon the statue.
With a deafening crash, the stone colossus shattered into rubble, only to reassemble and stand tall once more.
'So long as Isshiki stands, the statue will not fall. I'll need to seal it, even if only for a moment!'
Crimson torii gates slammed down, pinning the statue to the ground.
But before Arima could catch his breath, Isshiki was already above him, fist descending.
The blow pierced straight through Susanoo's armor on the Buddha's chest, slamming into the great figure itself.
Cracks raced outward, and in less than a heartbeat, the mighty Buddha splintered apart into nothing but broken wood.
Suspended in midair, Arima stared in disbelief. His ultimate technique had been annihilated in a single strike.
Isshiki's calm voice drifted up to him. "Raw power trumps all skill. With enough strength, even time and space can be torn apart."
Dodging desperately, Arima had no answer. The enemy was simply too overwhelming.
Then, like music from the heavens, the system chimed in his mind:
"Special circumstance detected. 'Contract' Seal may be exchanged for 500,000 Virtue Points. Bloodline evolution will terminate upon exchange."
No time to think. Arima agreed. The mark vanished from his hands, a weight lifted from his body, the unseen surveillance gone.
His system account swelled with half a million points. Enough to redeem the Three-Tomoe Rinnegan.
At the same moment, Isshiki's face twisted in rage. "What did you just do?!"
Realization struck Arima. The Contract Seal had been watching him all along, hidden even from the system's scans.
And yet, the system had torn it away effortlessly. 'The system… it isn't something created by the Sage of Six Paths. Its level surpasses the Contract itself…'
Isshiki's scheme had collapsed. He had hoped to let the seal devour Arima's body and mind through battle. Now, that hope was gone.
Snarling, Isshiki resolved to finish this himself. His right eye blazed, shrinking his target to the size of an insect. He would then trap Arima with the other eye technique, sealing him into another dimension.
Few could resist such absolute powers of rule. And Isshiki had rarely revealed them before. The element of surprise was his.
But before he could cast them, Arima's new eye flared, the Three-Tomoe Rinnegan, its unique time technique.
In an instant, the world froze. Everyone in the hall went still, paused mid-motion like statues.
Arima too was bound by the same freeze, he had poured all his chakra into the technique, unable to exempt himself.
But he had prepared for this. Spending Virtue Points, he purchased a surge of chakra. Energy returned, his body moving once more.
Reinforcing the temporal cage, he saw Isshiki straining, Ten Tails' chakra bursting from within him, threatening to tear the binds apart.
Layer after layer, Arima poured in his chakra, desperate to hold him down. Yet Isshiki's thoughts still moved, his power still churned, he was not like the others, frozen completely.
'Even this isn't enough… What else can I do against him?'
Then Arima remembered the ticket in the system's exchange list.
'System, can I bring others with me on the ship?'
[No.]
'What if I force them?'
[Those without tickets will be lost in the void, or scattered randomly into space.]
'Can I pawn my own power for a ticket?'
Silence. Then: [One Family Cabin ticket to the world of One Piece. Cost: one Three-Tomoe Rinnegan, to be repaid with double Virtue Points within ten years.]
Arima calculated quickly. The price was worth it. Only a million per ticket. And the time ratio favored him, ten years in the One Piece world would be only three years in the shinobi world.
In three years' time, he could return, stronger, ready to face Isshiki again.
Time was short. Arima slipped back into the shinobi world, returning to Konoha's capital.
He would entrust leadership to Hiruzen, then depart with his family under the guise of another journey across the land.
The only way forward was to leave this world behind, at least for now.
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