As an era known as the [Whitebeard Era] came to an end, the battle high in the sky remained as fierce as ever.
There was no other way. Even with the power of Karin-Momoshiki at her disposal, trying to participate in the battle between Naruto and Kaguya was still far too difficult.
In this battlefield without even solid ground to stand on, perhaps even the [World's Strongest Creature], Kaido, would be beaten up if he came.
Momoshiki's consciousness was 'bound' within Karin's mind, so control of the body had been returned to Karin.
However, facing these two whose every move could move mountains and fill seas, Karin could only linger at the edges of the battlefield, unable to get closer.
"Is there any way to deal with her?!"
She roared at the Momoshiki in her mind, hoping he could pull out some trump card to deal with Kaguya, whose strength had increased so much now.
But Momoshiki was even more useless than she imagined.
He talked big, but when faced with Kaguya, whose speed and experience had increased countless times, he couldn't even fight back.
When he had charged at her earlier, he couldn't even see what she did.
Therefore, when faced with Karin's question, this Otsutsuki Clan's member, who always liked to talk back, uncharacteristically closed his mouth.
To be honest, he had no way to deal with the current Kaguya either.
She was stronger than he had imagined, even surpassing ordinary members of the Otsutsuki main family.
At the very least, [Harvesters] like him couldn't handle Kaguya.
Seeing no response, Karin prepared to act herself.
To be honest, Karin's current state and strength were also very formidable.
Although she couldn't achieve the near 'immortality' of Naruto or Kaguya, if it were just a 'minor injury' like having a hole punched through her chest, it wouldn't affect her combat ability much.
At the center of the battlefield, the speed of the mutual slashing between Naruto and Kaguya had reached the point where their movements were no longer visible.
Every slash was imbued with Conqueror's Haki… every punch and kick was enough to shatter mountains and split rocks.
Endless sonic booms reverberated across the sky.
"Hmph... I have completely mastered your power, Uzumaki Naruto."
Once again parrying Naruto's attack with her sword, Kaguya's tail from behind shot towards Naruto's forehead like an arrow the next moment.
Boom!
Tail and skull collided violently. The impact between Conqueror's Haki and Conqueror's Haki was enough to destroy everything in the vicinity.
After using a headbutt, Naruto followed up with a knee strike that sent Kaguya flying.
As she shot backwards like an arrow from a bow, he grabbed the bat-like wings that had grown from Kaguya's back and slashed down fiercely with his blade.
Clang!
A violent collision occurred between blade and wing, but just as Kaguya's attacks couldn't do much to Naruto, this slash from Naruto also couldn't cut off her wing.
"I told you, it's useless… Ah!"
The haughty expression on her face couldn't even be maintained for a few more seconds before Kaguya involuntarily cried out in alarm.
She felt an intense pain in her newly grown limb.
Then, a loss of strength followed.
When Kaguya turned her head to look back, she saw a scene that instinctively terrified her.
She saw Naruto simply let the Truth-Seeking Ball-formed blade fly to the side. With both hands, he grabbed Kaguya's wings, then opened his mouth wide and bit down.
Kaguya even hallucinated seeing Naruto look up like a demon, an evil aura emanating from the corners of his mouth, his eyes filled with a crimson light.
Even though Kaguya looked more like a vampire-type creature, it was from Naruto at this moment that she truly felt the aura of a predator.
'No!'
'He wants to eat me!'
Just like back then.
"Ahh!!"
Like frightened prey, Kaguya was scared out of her wits. The fear etched into her bones made her instantly unleash all the techniques she could use.
Although most of them had no effect on Naruto, one or two did succeed.
For example, the same [Yomotsu Hirasaka].
On Naruto's side, his vision blurred for a moment, and the next instant, Kaguya was hundreds of meters away.
To escape Naruto's 'predation', Kaguya even used a method like a lizard shedding its tail, actively abandoning the wing Naruto had grabbed, letting it be severed by the spatial rift of Yomotsu Hirasaka.
Naruto, holding that wing segment, swallowed it without any hindrance. The next moment, the aura around him grew even more imposing.
"Although you are detestable, I must admit, you taste pretty good."
The expression Naruto showed now truly connected him to the title among his many epithets… [Gluttonous Demon].
-Although when he first got that title, he hadn't eaten the Baku Baku no Mi yet.
This was the solution he had thought of to break the stalemate.
Devil Fruit Ability.
Because she was another individual split from within Naruto's body, Kaguya had inherited nearly all of Naruto's abilities.
Including his Haki, Chakra, combat experience, and learned techniques.
It could be said Naruto was now fighting another version of himself.
Reality wasn't like some manga where you could shout and surpass your limits to reach a higher power level.
Especially for someone like Naruto, who had almost touched the 'ceiling' in both worlds, it was even harder to improve his strength.
Sometimes, even after over a decade of hard training, your strength might not see any improvement, let alone from just a single, short battle.
Therefore, to defeat Kaguya, he had to start from the angle of 'I have what you don't'.
First, what did he have that Kaguya didn't?
His peripheral vision swept past Karin to the side, and this thought was quickly discarded.
Karin currently didn't have the qualifications to join the fight. Getting close, even the shockwaves from the battle would be enough to tear her body apart.
So, what else did the current Kaguya not possess?
The answer was Devil Fruit Abilities.
As everyone knew, there were no two identical Devil Fruits in the world. Before the previous ability user died, there wouldn't be another with the same ability.
No matter how powerful the so-called [Lineage Factor] was, it couldn't completely replicate the same fruit ability.
For details, one could refer to Momonosuke's small pink dragon and Kaido's Azure Dragon… one could soar through clouds and mist, while the other could at most crawl on clouds.
Of course, Naruto wasn't aware of this.
So in his view, it was even simpler.
He possessed the power of the Baku Baku no Mi, and this power hadn't appeared on Kaguya after the split.
And that casual act back in the Holy Land of the Celestial Dragons had now become the method to break the deadlock.
After eating part of Kaguya's body, similar wings actually grew on Naruto's back as well.
Don't misunderstand… Naruto didn't need them to fly.
These wings were actually an external manifestation of the increased energy within his body.
At this moment, the ratio of power within Naruto and Kaguya's bodies could be said to have changed from 50:50 to 51:49.
Perhaps the difference wasn't that big in the short term, but as time passed, with this ebb and flow, the scales of victory would eventually tilt towards Naruto's side.
And-
Looking at Kaguya's frightened appearance, Naruto felt that this ability seemed to also have a psychological suppression effect, a 'special attack against Kaguya'.
It directly triggered her PTSD.
'Good, the advantage is mine!'