The fateful battle erupted just outside Konoha's perimeter.
After the first heaven-shaking surge of power, when every top-tier monster on the field released its strength at once, the battlefield split into countless smaller clashes.
But at the very center of it all stood the true storm.
Ryusei.
Facing the real Ashura Otsutsuki.
It was clear who their true target was.
Because even Minato had right away taken to the air beside Ashura, blinking around Ryusei with dynamic Flying Raijin anchors, searching for the slightest opening.
Ashura struck again.
Minato struck a heartbeat later.
Both hits landed.
Neither mattered, fortunately.
Ryusei's Sage Slime Armor swallowed Ashura's force, dispersing it through his semi-liquid tissues before returning the pressure in a sharp pulse.
Minato's Rasengan carved through Ryusei's torso, but the body there turned fluid, intangible, reforming instantly behind him.
Minato's eyes widened as he used Wind Release on time to barely move back again.
"So he… shifts between states?"
Ashura corrected him.
"He prevents damage from ever forming."
Ryusei drifted between them, weight fluctuating, density changing, every movement leaving faint ripples in the air.
"Good," he said quietly. "You're both taking me seriously."
Ashura didn't respond and just raised his hand slightly, and a pale golden radiance began to leak from his skin.
It was not a chakra in the normal sense, but something deeper. Every cell in his body ignited at once.
"Shining Life Ignition!"
His muscles tightened with unnatural strength, and his speed spiked instantly.
Raw life force got sacrificed and flooded through him, pushing his physique beyond anything a shinobi could reach.
But Ryusei noticed the cost immediately.
That golden radiance burned too brightly.
It was not sustainable.
Still, for the moment, his power climbed sharply.
Yet with that God Tree physique and all the other Otsutsuki traits stacked on him, who knew how long he could maintain it?
After all, he wouldn't have bothered making a technique like that, or used it this soon, if he couldn't afford to.
Inwardly, Ryusei was a bit surprised himself at all of this.
Not because one of them, in front of him, was really the legendary Ashura himself.
He had, coincidentally, already faced his brother not too long ago, after all.
But because Ashura was even stronger than Indra at that time by a slight, definitive notch.
And Ryusei understood why immediately.
For example, that familiar Seventh Gate's blue and steaming aura, of sheer perspiration, undoubtedly coiled around Ashura's body, the same one Ryusei himself currently carried.
And the earth-release weight manipulation technique Ashura presently used for speed and flight was identical to Ryusei's own standard old method.
"So Hagoromo really did scrape the entire Pure Land clean and pour every insight he could find into him before…" Ryusei realized it in an instant.
Ashura, even without all of that, had always been a straight upgrade over Hashirama.
Where Hashirama was an inferior derivative, Ashura was the original template.
The Sage's son.
Half Otsutsuki by blood.
The most perfect Sage Body.
The true master of Six Paths Sage Mode.
And the first, strongest natural atavism of the God Tree itself, his physique exaggerated to absurdity, his regeneration borderline indestructible, his Wood Release overwhelming even Hashirama's by orders of magnitude.
This version of Ashura was not much weaker than Ryusei himself.
Ryusei noted it clearly as their fists collided again in midair at near-light speed, shockwaves tearing through the sky and splitting clouds far beyond Konoha in blinding flashes.
Neither gaining ground.
Neither backing down.
They were evenly matched.
Ryusei might have held a slight edge in raw speed, strength, and durability, but Ashura made up for all of it with near-instant level superior, nearly impossible regeneration, along with Minato's continuous backup.
In fact, it was Ryusei who was gradually getting the worse of their clashes.
"Sage Art: Symbiotic Reclamation."
Soon, the ground and air became extensions of him as he had to absorb natural energy, healing, and restoring his strength even as he moved.
Ryusei also noticed something else at this time.
Ashura's Sage Mode had none of the traits of the three holy lands.
No toad, no snake, no slug.
Yet it didn't lack in potency and enhancing abilities; it was the opposite.
It could contend even in the highest end of the sensory department.
It was neutral. Pure. Overwhelming.
"So this is probably the innate 'Sage Mode' the Otsutsuki possess naturally without even thinking about it or naming it at all… and what a lucky partial-Otsutsuki descendant can awaken as a standalone ability as well, Hagoromo's biggest 'gift' to Naruto at that time..." Ryusei thought.
However, Ryusei had another problem.
Minato.
He flickered in and out of existence around them, using Ashura's perfect flying wood style shinju-like clones as improvised Flying Raijin aerial anchors of sorts.
A single well-timed sneak strike from Minato, Rasengan, its variations, or not, could be pretty fatal.
And judging by his aura, he had already achieved and activated a perfect Toad Sage Mode as well.
That natural energy sharpened every reflex and physical parameter he had, putting his raw speed and timing on a level where even Ryusei had to respect a senjutsu hit a bit.
One clean strike in the wrong moment, before his slug physically acted on time, and things could spiral fast.
And it was difficult for Ryusei to overwhelm him instantly before he could teleport.
Minato's reflexes had always been abnormal, but now, after sage boosts, his reaction speed was outright monstrous.
"They turned him into a Low Six Paths too…" Ryusei noted coldly.
And below, Ryusei's allies were gradually being suppressed.
Even with their power-ups, they were losing ground.
Worse, Ryusei did not even have all his chakra.
He had given a massive portion of it to the division clone searching for the Hyuga's Earth Tenseigan, now that Hiashi was activating its signature.
If that monster returned again, Ryusei wanted to intercept him, steal the Tenseigan, and flip the board entirely in Konoha by extension as well.
All of that required chakra.
A lot of it.
Which meant Ryusei stood here facing Ashura and Minato with far less than his full reserves.
Even so, the truth was obvious. This was the hardest challenge of his life so far.