The seasons themselves seemed to rebel. It was only summer, autumn had barely begun, and yet snow now blanketed the battlefield. What fell upon the world was no ordinary snow—it spread across the entire shinobi world, a storm birthed from one woman's presence.
The winds howled, sharp and merciless. Around Ayanami Kaito, the air itself twisted like a descent into hell.
This was the terror of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, the progenitor of chakra. Her mere killing intent bent the skies and scarred the earth, forcing the very climate to obey her wrath.
In an instant, the frozen wasteland warped. The blizzard vanished, replaced by blistering heat. The battlefield burned alive, the ground splitting into rivers of molten fire. The suffocating stench of sulfur filled the air as lava bubbled and burst below.
Kaito's eyes narrowed. He recognized it immediately—Kaguya's dimensional jutsu, the ability to drag her opponent into one of the Expansive Dimensions she commanded. Each realm—ice, lava, sand, acid, and gravity—was a complete world of its own, created through her overwhelming power.
This was the ultimate ability of the Rinne Sharingan, a power that even Madara Uchiha had never reached. To shift reality with a thought—this was the domain of a goddess.
But Kaito also knew the truth: this technique came with a cost. Even for Kaguya, maintaining these dimensions drained her.
He smiled faintly.
"As expected of the goddess herself. To bend the heavens and earth in an instant… Truly worthy of awe."
Suspended in the molten sky, he felt the scorching air press against his skin—but not a single ember touched him. The Truth-Seeking Orbs circling his body dissolved the heat, forming an impenetrable barrier.
Kaguya's strength was tremendous, but Kaito understood something deeper. Her greatest power lay in the manipulation of space itself. In pure combat, in raw clash of will and battle experience, he had no doubt that his bloodline—bearing mastery over seven chakra natures—would not falter against hers.
And unlike Madara, Kaito would not crumble under her hand.
"Kaguya," Kaito's voice rang across the dimension, calm yet unyielding, "since you've chosen to reveal your hand, it's only right I respond. I have walked the path of the Sage to its peak. Even Madara could not force me to my limit."
He clenched his fist, lightning crackling around him. "Let's see if you can."
With a roar, chakra surged from his body. A storm of thunder burst outward, and from the surge emerged a colossal dragon of gray lightning. It coiled around him like a living guardian, its scales flickering with destructive power.
Kaito thrust his fist forward, and the thunder dragon answered. With a deafening roar, it lunged toward Kaguya, tearing the air apart as the very fabric of space bent under its passage. Where lava sprayed upward, the beast's aura devoured it—ice and fire vanishing without trace.
The thunder dragon's cry was like that of an ancient beast reborn, a force of nature determined to rend the heavens.
Kaguya's pale eyes narrowed. She raised a hand, voice cold as void.
"Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack!"
The dimension shuddered.
A storm of chakra erupted from her body, the ground splitting as fountains of magma surged upward. With a motion like striking the very world, countless massive fists of chakra materialized around her, each carrying crushing might.
The fists rained down, colliding with Kaito's dragon. Lava waves swallowed the battlefield, but neither combatant flinched. At their level, such natural phenomena were meaningless.
Still, Kaito did not underestimate her. Lightning surged across his form, forming armor of pure thunder that wrapped him in radiant defense.
The dragon slammed forward. Kaguya's barrage met it head-on.
The air trembled.
Each of Kaguya's strikes carried the weight to shatter mountains, fists upon fists hammering down like an endless tide. The technique was infamous, capable of smashing through Sasuke's full-body Susanoo, capable of crushing the clones of Naruto at his peak. This was the pinnacle of chakra control—an attack honed beyond what the Hyūga clan's gentle fist could ever achieve.
Kaito's eyes sharpened. He hadn't expected her to open with a killing move.
Yet even as the heavens roared, his spirit did not waver.
Kaguya's thoughts were veiled, but instinct told her one truth—this man was her equal. And in some ways, that frightened her more than if he had surpassed her. She was a goddess born of the chakra fruit, her ascension instant. But unlike Kaito, she lacked the endless grind of experience, the instinct sharpened in countless battles. She had power, limitless in scale—but power alone was not always victory.
So she struck without hesitation.
The sea of fists surged forward.
Kaito answered. Lightning erupted, thunder singing as more dragons of storm took shape. Ten gray-black thunder serpents twined together, surging into the fray. They clashed with the tsunami of fists in a cataclysm of sound and fury.
The collision was apocalyptic.
A deafening boom split the world. Lava seas exploded outward, swallowed by the backlash. The molten surface cracked open into a yawning abyss, rivers of fire swept away by the shockwave.
Above, silence reigned—but it was the silence of a storm's eye, not of peace.
Kaito's thunder dragons linked together, merging into a vast stormfront that stretched across the skies. A tapestry of lightning unrolled above, a living painting of destruction. The waves of Kaguya's fists crashed against it, only to be consumed, devoured by the endless storm.
Not a single strike broke through.
The lightning tapestry spread wider, advancing.
It was relentless, unyielding, like mountains carved by time itself. Each spark crackled with fury, each serpent of thunder lashing forward to tear down the goddess before him.
Kaito's storm pressed onward, swallowing everything in its path, until its brilliance loomed directly over Kaguya.