The atmosphere under the rain was eerie.
Jigen's accusation, filled with hatred, sparked a sense of confusion within the Akatsuki's members.
"Kaguya?"
Deva Path's Rinnegan swept coldly over the battlefield, trying to analyze useful information from the brief statement.
"Kaguya..." He repeated the name in a low voice, quickly filtering through known powerful individuals from the Five Great Nations, hidden organizations, and even legendary figures in his mind, but found nothing.
His gaze subconsciously turned to the half-black, half-white Zetsu beside him, carrying a hint of inquiry: "Do we have any intel on this Ninja?"
Zetsu was responsible for intelligence gathering in Akatsuki, with White Zetsu's clones placed in various villages.
The White Zetsu half immediately waved its hands exaggeratedly and shook its head: "No idea! Never heard that name before! Sounds like a woman's name!"
However, the Black Zetsu half's inner world was in turmoil!
'Kaguya!'
'The Kaguya they mentioned, could it be... Mother, Otsutsuki Kaguya?!'
'These two mysterious individuals not only possessed power beyond common sense, used Chakra Rods similar to those created by the Rinnegan, but even mentioned Mother's name!'
'Could they... also be ancient monsters who had survived from that era a thousand years ago until now?!'
'I had lurked for a thousand years, cautious and deliberate, step by step, finally guiding the reincarnations of Indra and Asura's Chakra, ultimately seeing the dawn of Mother's revival in Uchiha Madara...'
'But now, why were so many variables appearing one after another?'
'First, that Shura with unfathomable strength, suspected of possessing Rinnegan-like power, and now these two mysterious individuals who knew Mother's name and possessed equally terrifying power!'
The steadiness born from a millennium of planning and endurance nearly crumbled at this moment. A massive panic over things slipping completely out of control seized Black Zetsu, but he forcibly suppressed it, not daring to show a trace on his face.
On the ground, Jiraiya, with the cover of the two Toad Sages, had already dragged his injured body with difficulty behind a relatively hidden broken wall.
Leaning against the cold, damp wall, he breathed heavily, his mind rapidly recalling all known powerful individuals and secret intelligence from the Five Great Nations and smaller villages, but he was equally clueless about the name 'Kaguya'.
Fukasaku and Shima on his shoulders also looked at each other. They had lived for hundreds of years and had broad knowledge, but they had never heard of this person either.
"What do you think, Hubby?" Shima asked in a low voice, her purple lips pressed tightly together.
"Not sure... but these two are definitely related to the legend of the Sage of Six Paths." Fukasaku's eyes under his white long eyebrows were extremely sharp. "The level of power they are using has surpassed that of ordinary Ninja."
On the battlefield, facing Jigen's angry accusation, a corner of Menma's eye inadvertently swept over Zetsu among the Akatsuki's members, pausing for a moment on the black half.
The corner of his mouth lifted almost imperceptibly, forming an arc carrying a hint of mockery and deep meaning.
The Chakra Rod in his hand spun nimbly, as if playing with a toy. Menma's tone carried a deliberately created ambiguity as he said to Jigen:
"Heh... If you want to think that, it's not wrong."
He paused, his voice suddenly rising, clearly spreading across the battlefield: "I've been looking for you for a thousand years! Today, I've finally caught you!"
These words struck Black Zetsu's heart like a second thunderbolt!
'A thousand years?!'
'He...'
'He really lived for a thousand years?!'
'Could he really be from Mother's era?!'
'Does he know of my existence?'
'Does he know my plan?!'
Countless questions and fear of the unknown almost swallowed Black Zetsu whole.
And before Menma's words faded, his figure once again turned into a dark red streak of light, charging out fiercely!
The black Chakra Rod in his hand shot out like a venomous snake's tongue, carrying an unstoppable momentum, straight towards Jigen floating in the air!
"Arrogant!" Jigen snorted coldly. After entering [Kama - Stage Two], his speed, strength, and reactions had received a terrifying boost.
He also condensed a black rod in his hand, precisely blocking Menma's thrust!
Clang!!!
This time, the impact sounded much duller and more shocking than before!
A terrifying shockwave erupted with the two as the center, instantly pushing away the surrounding rainwater, forming a brief vacuum zone!
The two engaged once more!
Jigen, having activated Stage Two, completely suppressed Menma from before in both power and speed.
His attacks were like a storm. The black rods wielded carried the force to tear space, forcing Menma to constantly retreat and block, seeming somewhat overwhelmed.
After one fierce rod collision, Menma's movements showed a barely perceptible hesitation.
Jigen seized this fleeting opportunity. A powerful side kick, swift as lightning, landed squarely on Menma's chest!
Bang!!!
Menma was sent flying as if hit by a high-speed train. A mouthful of blood sprayed out, his body flying out uncontrollably like a cannonball, smashing hard into the middle of a still-intact tower behind him!
The hard wall was smashed into a huge hole. Bricks and stones mixed with rainwater fell rustling. The rising dust spread through the rain.
Simple, unadorned Taijutsu most directly displayed the gap between the two.
"It's over." Deva Path commented coldly. Although the other party was also an enemy, the overwhelming power Jigen displayed made him even more wary.
Konan and Obito looked grim. They could clearly feel the suffocating pressure of power from Jigen.
Jiraiya, hiding in the shadows, felt his heart in his throat. He couldn't imagine what power, besides the Rinnegan, could reach this level.
Instead, it was Orochimaru, hiding in the distance, whose golden snake-like pupils flashed with excitement and inquiry.
He stared intently at the black patterns on Jigen's face and body that seemed alive, muttering to himself: "This form... this way of power surge... somewhat resembles the Sage Transformation Cursed Seal I'm researching, but the level is much higher! It's like forcibly integrating Natural Energy into the body in a more domineering way... And that kid..."
His gaze turned to the dust-filled hole, smiling as he said: "He's definitely not using his full strength... Back in the Star City, the feeling he gave me was far more dangerous than now... The good show is just beginning."
As Menma's collaborator, Orochimaru had stayed in the Star City for a long time and had naturally seen Menma's youthful form.
Jigen's figure had already teleported to the tower opposite the one Menma crashed into, floating in mid-air, looking down at the dark hole from his superior position.
The Chakra Rod in his hand pointed straight at the hole, his voice carrying the coldness and arrogance of a deity's judgment:
"Now, you should clearly recognize the insurmountable gap between an insect and a god."
However, the response was not silence or groans.
Boom-!!!
A dark red Chakra, far more savage and deep than before, filled with an aura of destruction and nothingness, erupted violently from the hole like a volcano!
The powerful energy impact even further shattered and peeled the wall around the hole!
Under everyone's shocked gazes, a figure slowly floated out from the spreading dust and dark red energy flames.
Menma's appearance had now drastically changed!
His entire body was tightly wrapped in condensed, substantial dark red Chakra. This Chakra even coalesced behind him into a dark red Chakra Cloak that seemed to burn fiercely, fluttering without wind!
Behind the cloak, nine huge tails, completely condensed from dark red Chakra, danced and leaped like flames, freely stretching and stirring the surrounding air and rainwater.
The black hair on his head was also covered by this layer of dark red energy, and the energy gathered upward, forming two sharp, horn-like protrusions on top of his head.
The most eye-catching was his right eye. The pure white Byakugan was now emitting a faint, yet extremely pure, green light, as if containing the power of stellar creation and destruction!
This was Menma utilizing his trump card from the Limited Tsukuyomi World… the Black Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!
And he had connected to the Giant Tenseigan inside the moon, obtaining a continuous supply of Ocular Power!
Jigen looked at the drastically transformed Menma, sensing that Chakra aura completely different from the Nine Tailed Beasts and the Ten-Tails, filled with nothingness and savagery.
For the first time, his face, which had always maintained haughty indifference, showed obvious astonishment.
Then it transformed into uncontrollable greed!
"This Chakra..." Jigen's voice carried a barely perceptible tremor. Having traveled the universe for ten thousand years, devouring the energy of countless planets, he had never felt such a peculiar and powerful Chakra Attribute.
"It's truly... whetting my appetite!"
On the other side, the Akatsuki's members and Jiraiya and Orochimaru hiding in the shadows were completely shocked by this sudden, massive and heart-palpitating Tailed Beast's Chakra!
"This... this is?!" Konan exclaimed in surprise, the paper around her body trembling slightly from the energy impact.
"Tailed Beast's Chakra... and so vast..." Deva Path's Rinnegan stared fixedly at the nine tails behind Menma, his tone unprecedentedly grave.
He looked at Obito: "Any intelligence about a Jinchuriki losing control or escaping from any great Ninja Village recently?"
Obito's brow beneath the mask was tightly furrowed. He shook his head, his voice low: "Zetsu's surveillance hasn't found any abnormalities. And... nine tails... this is clearly the Chakra Quantity of the Nine-Tails! But it feels... completely different!"
"One, two, three... nine?" Shima on Jiraiya's shoulder even counted the dancing tails in amazement, looking at Jiraiya in disbelief: "Jiraiya-chan! This is... the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki?! Isn't the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki in Konoha?!"
Fukasaku also looked gravely at Jiraiya: "I may be old, but my sensing isn't wrong. This is indeed Tailed Beast-level Chakra, and it's a full Nine-Tails level! The Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki in Konoha, that kid Naruto, absolutely cannot possess this kind of power!"
Jiraiya's mind was already in chaos.
'Half of the Nine-Tails was taken by the Shinigami along with Minato, and the other half was sealed inside Naruto. This was an indisputable fact!'
'So why could Shura use the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode?'
'Even the Gold Silver Brothers from back then, who swallowed the Nine-Tails' flesh, were far from achieving this near-perfect Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!'
Suddenly, he remembered something, his pupils constricting sharply!
'Kumogakure's accusation!'
They had insisted that Shura was the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki! Making a big fuss and blaming Konoha!
When he received Hiruzen's secret letter back then, he thought it was Kumogakure slandering and shifting blame after being humiliated by Shura, and dismissed it with a laugh.
But now... looking at that black-haired youth wrapped in dark red Chakra, emitting a terrifying aura like a real Tailed Beast, a terrible thought uncontrollably surged into his mind, 'Could Kumogakure have been... telling the truth?!'
'This mysterious youth Shura really possessed another... previously unknown 'Nine-Tails'?!'
Orochimaru, hidden in the shadows, licked his lips with his long tongue, his eyes filled with fanaticism and inquiry.
"Interesting... So interesting! Where did this 'Nine-Tails' come from? The one sealed by Minato? The timing doesn't match..."
"Then... is it a 'Nine-Tails' from the future?"
Orochimaru still firmly believed Shura was from the future.