In the dead other dimension, the Dark Nine-Tails' massive body stood like a mountain, emanating an aura completely alien to all known Tailed Beasts. (T/N: Changing Black Nine-Tails to Dark Nine-Tails since its Dark Chakra.)
Jigen floated in mid-air, his usually confident and steady expression several shades darker.
He was one hundred percent certain that this so-called 'Nine-Tails' before him had no connection whatsoever to the two Ten-Tails he had brought from the Otsutsuki's main family for planting the God Trees!
It was even completely different from the Nine Tailed Beasts on this planet, which were formed from split Ten-Tails' Chakra.
The opponent's Chakra carried an indescribable sense of 'nothingness', as if it wasn't born in this world, but came from some unknown world with different rules.
Coupled with the earlier strange Ninjutsu that couldn't be absorbed by Kama, an extremely uneasy feeling quietly spread through Jigen's self-proclaimed divine heart.
Menma stood on the Dark Nine-Tails' head, which seemed to flicker like flame, his dark red chakra cloak flapping loudly behind him.
"I told you," He looked at Jigen, whose face was shifting uncertainly, his tone still carrying that elusive calmness, "I'm just a passing Ninja."
He paused slightly, his gaze seeming to pierce through this other dimension, landing on some distant place, his voice carrying a faint, profound meaning. "If I must give a reason... perhaps it's to protect this planet beneath my feet, which is why I came here."
"Protect this planet?" Jigen sounded as if he had heard the most absurd joke in the world, a mocking and contemptuous sneer curling his lips.
"Utterly foolish! Planets are merely nurseries for nourishing the God Trees, beds for nurturing Chakra Fruits! We of the Otsutsuki Clan traverse the stars, harvesting life and energy, turning it to our own use. That is the truth of the universe! Protection? It's nothing but the pathetic self-consolation of lower life forms!"
His gaze locked onto Menma's strange eyes.
The crimson Mangekyo Sharingan, and that Byakugan emitting a faint green light, seemingly connected to an unknown power.
The Mangekyo Sharingan's next step was the Rinnegan, something not even every Otsutsuki could awaken.
And the Ocular Power contained in that Byakugan made him feel vaguely uneasy.
So far, aside from astonishing insight, these two eyes hadn't shown any other special abilities, which made Isshiki even more wary.
The unknown often represented the greatest danger.
"I really want to see how good it feels to stomp a self-proclaimed god like you into the ground." A smile played on Menma's lips. He couldn't be bothered to waste more words on this Otsutsuki who saw all things as mere tools.
"Let's go, Kyu-chan!" He then gently tapped the Dark Nine-Tails' head with his foot, calling out to his partner in a relaxed tone.
"Roar-!!!"
The Dark Nine-Tails let out a roar that shook the entire other dimension, its voice filled with a desire for destruction and excitement for battle!
Its massive body moved suddenly. Seemingly clumsy, its speed was astonishingly fast!
Nine tails, completely condensed from dark red Chakra, like giant tentacles, shot towards the floating Jigen from different angles with a shriek that seemed to tear space!
Jigen's pupils contracted. After entering Kama - Stage Two, his speed was already extremely high. He pulled afterimages in the air, attempting to evade.
However, the Dark Nine-Tails' attack range was too large, and its speed far exceeded his estimation!
'This wasn't an ordinary Tailed Beast!'
In his urgency, he had no choice but to use his trump card again!
[Sukunahikona!]
His body instantly shrank to a microscopic level, narrowly slipping through the gaps between several tails!
Simultaneously, he waved his hands, scattering countless chakra rods shrunk to an extreme, like invisible dust, silently scattering across various corners of the battlefield, laying down a death trap.
Standing on the Dark Nine-Tails' head, Menma's right eye flashed faintly with white light. The vast ocular power from the connection to the moon's Giant Tenseigan allowed him to clearly 'see' that rapidly moving 'point' in the microscopic world.
He snorted coldly, several specially made kunai instantly appearing in his hand. His arm swung out fiercely!
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The kunai shot like meteors towards the predicted path of Jigen's movement. A few of the kunai had handles tied with sizzling explosive tags!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosive tags detonated violently at the predetermined locations. They didn't cause direct damage to Jigen in his microscopic state, but the shockwaves and chaotic energy flows generated by the explosions effectively interfered with and delayed his movement!
"Now! Kyu-chan, thirty degrees to the upper left!" Menma urgently called through their mental link.
The Dark Nine-Tails' giant head jerked upwards, its maw gaping open!
A highly compressed, dark red Tailed Beast Bomb, containing destructive energy, instantly took shape in its mouth!
Without the slightest hesitation, the Dark Nine-Tails aimed at the direction Menma indicated and fired the Tailed Beast Bomb!
The Tailed Beast Bomb, carrying an aura that annihilated everything, shot through the dark purple sky, straight towards that direction!
Jigen, in his microscopic state, felt a deadly threat!
He first tried to absorb it using his Kama, but that familiar, incompatible sensation of alien energy came again.
Absorption failed!
'Damn it!' He cursed inwardly. A black-red vortex portal instantly opened behind him, and his figure quickly disappeared into it.
Boom!!!
The Tailed Beast Bomb exploded violently where Jigen had vanished!
A dark red energy storm swept out, turning everything in that area into nothingness. Even space itself seemed to wail and tremble!
The shockwave from the explosion even caused the massive body of the Dark Nine-Tails in the distance to sway slightly.
The next moment, Jigen's figure stumbled out of another portal. His face was paler, his aura somewhat more disordered.
He condensed a Chakra Rod in his hand, pointing it at Menma, his voice filled with suppressed anger: "This Tailed Beast of yours is indeed troublesome... But soon, it and your strange Chakra will become nourishment for my ascent to a higher level!"
"Roar!" The Dark Nine-Tails seemed enraged, roaring as it charged at Jigen again, its giant claws swiping down with the force of ten thousand thunderbolts!
Jigen's eyes turned sharp.
[Daikokuten!]
Right on the Dark Nine-Tails' charge path, several of the previously scattered, now suddenly enlarged Chakra Rods shot out from the dry, cracked earth like subterranean spikes!
These rods precisely pierced the ends of the Dark Nine-Tails' nine wildly waving tails, nailing them firmly to the ground like stakes!
The Dark Nine-Tails' forward momentum jerked to a sudden halt. Its massive body tilted forward due to inertia, letting out an angry roar.
'Now!'
A cold light exploded in Jigen's eyes. He quickly advanced, circling around the Dark Nine-Tails' swiping claws, his target directly aimed at Menma on its head!
His body spun rapidly in the air. A flying kick containing his full power savagely kicked towards Menma's chest!
'Got him!' Jigen had just thought this when he saw Menma not dodging or avoiding, merely sinking his center of gravity slightly. His chest, covered in dark red Chakra, took the kick head-on!
Bang!
A dull sound rang out. Menma's body swayed slightly, his feet planted firmly as if rooted!
Instead, Jigen felt as if he had kicked an ancient, immovable mountain. The recoil made his ankle go numb!
"What?!" Jigen was shocked.
And Menma's right hand shot out like lightning, gripping Jigen's not yet retracted ankle like an iron vise!
"Caught you." Menma's cold voice sounded. On his left hand, a heart-palpitating Mini Spiralling Ring had already instantly formed, quickly pressing towards the nearby Jigen!
Boom!!!
At such close range, Jigen had no time to open a portal, let alone dodge!
The Mini Spiralling Ring struck him solidly. The dark red destructive energy instantly engulfed him!
The violent explosion sent him flying like a ragdoll, spraying a large amount of blood in the air. The black patterns on his body dimmed considerably. The robe he had just repaired became tattered again.
"Cough... Pfft!" Jigen barely stabilized himself in the air, coughing up another mouthful of blood. He felt as if his internal organs had been displaced.
However, before he could catch his breath, an even more terrifying oppressive feeling came from ahead!
He looked up in horror to see that the Dark Nine-Tails, which should have been pinned by the rods, had somehow broken free.
Its massive body, with a speed completely unmatching its size, charged towards him as if teleporting!
Two dark red claws, large as small hills, carrying a wind that seemed to tear everything, came swiping towards him from left and right, like swatting a pesky fly!
'Impossible! How did it break free?!' Jigen was horrified. 'Those rods were clearly still nailed there!'
In his haste, he could only forcibly activate a portal again, teleporting himself away just before the claws snapped shut.
Stumbling out from another portal, Jigen panted heavily, looking with shock and doubt towards the spot where the Dark Nine-Tails had been pinned.
Those nine Chakra Rods were still firmly nailed in place, but the Dark Nine-Tails' tails were completely intact, as if being pierced and pinned earlier was just an illusion.
His gaze swept over the seemingly randomly scattered kunai Menma had thrown on the battlefield. A thought flashed through his mind like lightning!
"So that's it..." Jigen stared fixedly at Menma on the Dark Nine-Tails' head, his voice carrying a hint of realization and gravity. "Your Mangekyo Sharingan... its ability is space-related! Is it a replacement ability? No... more like a higher-level spatial coordinate substitution!"
He himself was the master of the spatial ability, [Daikokuten] and knew well how tricky and bizarre spatial abilities could be.
"Whether outside in Amegakure or here, you've scattered a large number of kunai... It seems your spatial movement requires these kunai as coordinate markers." Jigen's brain rapidly analyzed. "Since that's the case..."
A trace of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes. He absolutely could not give the opponent the chance to use spatial abilities freely!
[Daikouten!]
Jigen suddenly raised his hands towards the sky!
In an instant, the entire dark purple sky seemed to warp!
Dozens of enormous black cubes, with edges flashing with ominous red light, appeared densely packed in the sky as if summoned from another dimension by invisible hands!
Each of these cubes was larger than the Dark Nine-Tails, emitting a chaotic aura that interfered with spatial fluctuations and a heavy pressure enough to crush mountains.
They fell like a doomsday meteor shower, indiscriminately and savagely smashing down towards Menma and the Dark Nine-Tails below!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Daikouten continuously smashed down. The entire other-dimensional ground violently shook, groaning under the strain!
The Dark Nine-Tails roared in anger, its massive body struggling to dodge and maneuver amidst the meteor shower-like attacks. But more cubes smashed around it, erupting with deafening roars, dust spreading.
However, amidst this destructive bombardment, the Dark Nine-Tails' gaping maw opened once more!
A dark red Tailed Beast Bomb began to rapidly condense, and swell madly at a visible rate!
In the blink of an eye, its volume surpassed the Dark Nine-Tails' own body, emitting a destructive energy that made the entire other dimension begin to unsteadily shake!
Super Large Tailed Beast Bomb!
Looking at that dark red energy ball, so massive it was despair-inducing, seemingly capable of devouring everything, Jigen's face finally changed completely.
He couldn't absorb it. If he tried to withstand it, even his Stage Two body would definitely be severely wounded in this enclosed other dimension!
And the opponent had spatial abilities, so they could completely avoid the explosion's center.
This other dimension, which he originally used to trap and kill the opponent, had now instead become a cage restricting himself!
'The opponent's Chakra Reserves were monstrously vast, coupled with that elusive spatial ability...'
In a split second, Jigen made a decision!
Just as the Dark Nine-Tails fired that world-destroying Super Large Tailed Beast Bomb, its trajectory aimed at annihilating everything, hurtling towards him, Jigen without the slightest hesitation sliced open a black-red portal again. His figure instantly disappeared into it.
Boom!!!
The Super Large Tailed Beast Bomb, having lost its target, smashed hard into the distant ground!
A world-destroying, terrifying explosion occurred!
A dark red energy storm swept across the entire other dimension like a tsunami!
The earth was lifted layer by layer and annihilated. The dark purple sky seemed to be torn, revealing the chaotic nothingness behind it!
The intense light from the explosion even briefly illuminated this eternally dim world!
Menma had already used the Flying Thunder God Technique to transfer himself and the Dark Nine-Tails beneath him to the edge of the explosion. The residual blast waves were completely blocked by the Dark Nine-Tails.
His Byakugan slowly scanned this space, now even more devastated and hellish due to the explosion. He could no longer detect any trace of Jigen.
But Menma wasn't worried.
He slowly closed his eyes, sensing the Flying Thunder God's mark he had left on Jigen earlier.
Sure enough, the mark pointed towards a distant spatial coordinate.
The other dimension at that coordinate emitted a vast, savage, life-plundering Chakra Fluctuation. Its magnitude was even comparable to the Dark Nine-Tails beneath his feet!
The corner of Menma's mouth slowly curled into a confident smile.
"Found you... Ten-Tails!"
The next moment, he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique!
His figure, along with the Dark Nine-Tails beneath his feet, instantly vanished from this ravaged other dimension.