Chapter 8 – Two Gods vs. The Progenitor
The battlefield lay in silence.
The blinding radiance of Naruto and Sasuke's rebirth still shimmered in the shattered air, golden particles and black sparks raining down through a sky cracked open by the force of their return.
Across the ruined dimension, Shukuyomi stood still, his tall frame outlined by the glowing rifts in reality.
His voice was deep, almost calm, but each word dripped with something ancient.
"...So. This is the chakra I have felt in the void. The same accursed energy… from the beginning of all things."
Naruto's golden Byakugan burned, the irises alive with the heat of a sun. Beside him, Sasuke's twin Rinnegan turned like storming galaxies, every tomoe spinning faster than the eye could track. Neither spoke — their resolve was already written in the air between them.
Shukuyomi raised his hand, and the dimension tilted. Gravity itself bent to his will as black-silver spears rained from the sky like divine judgment.
Naruto's voice was steady.
"I'll take the high."
Sasuke smirked. "I'll cut the path."
In a blur, Naruto shot upward, golden truth-seeking orbs orbiting his body, smashing through spears with explosive Rasengan bursts. Sasuke's blade flashed as he warped through space, severing projectiles before they touched the ground. In the same breath, they were in front of Shukuyomi, fists and blade colliding with the god's guard.
The shockwave cracked the dimension apart. Floating landmasses drifted away like shards of glass in an endless ocean of stars.
Shukuyomi caught Naruto's punch — and his calm expression shifted for the first time. A faint sizzle came from his palm where their skin met.
"...Impossible," he muttered. "My body resists all things. Yet… you burn me."
Sasuke's blade was suddenly at his neck. "Guess we're not from this world anymore."
Shukuyomi twisted away, but a shallow cut bloomed on his cheek. Blood — golden and black — drifted into the void. The instant it touched the air, Naruto and Sasuke's vision blurred.
For a heartbeat, they weren't here.
They stood in an endless white field, ash falling like snow. Two younger figures — themselves, but not from this lifetime — faced Shukuyomi in some forgotten era.
The younger Naruto grinned with the same reckless fire.
"Next time… we finish it."
The younger Sasuke didn't even look at him. "Don't fall behind."
The vision shattered. They were back in the fight, and they understood: this wasn't their first battle with Shukuyomi. This was the last.
The god's calm dissolved. His ceremonial robes fell away, revealing a body marked with living constellations. The stars on his skin shifted as he moved — and when he struck, his speed multiplied.
Sasuke barely raised his guard before the blow sent him crashing through three floating isles. Naruto caught the follow-up strike, his golden Byakugan flaring before shifting into a radiant Gold Tenseigan. The sudden brilliance forced Shukuyomi to recoil, covering his face with a hiss.
The ground vanished beneath them. Shukuyomi spread his arms wide, and the entire battlefield began collapsing inward. Darkness swallowed everything, a void so complete it devoured light, sound, even breath.
Sasuke's voice cut through the nothingness. "...He's erasing reality."
"Not if we break it first," Naruto replied.
Sasuke's Rinnegan pulsed — space warped at the core of the void. Naruto's Tenseigan unleashed a beam of pure light through the fracture, and the prison exploded outward in a wave of color.
They didn't pause. Six golden truth-seeking orbs spiraled into Rasenshuriken around Naruto's hands. Sasuke touched each one, lacing them with dimensional cuts. The storm of chakra slammed into Shukuyomi's defenses, tearing straight through.
His left arm hit the void floor.
The wound bled golden-black, and his scream echoed through collapsing skies.
Horns elongated from his head, a third eye of burning black light opening in his forehead. The void trembled as golden-black chakra surged outward.
"You think death will save you?" Shukuyomi roared. "You will all be undone."
Far away — in the place beyond life — Boruto, Sarada, Kawaki, and the countless dead stood watching. The afterlife shimmered like water, its surface rippling with every clash.
Boruto clenched his fists. "Dad… Uncle Sasuke… finish it."
Chakra began flowing from them — not enough to fight, but enough to give. Streams of light poured into the battlefield, merging with Naruto and Sasuke's bodies. They felt it immediately — the will of the dead, surging into their veins like fire.
They glanced at each other. No words. No hesitation.
"Ready?" Naruto asked.
"Always," Sasuke replied.
They began to channel the Samsara of Life. Their bodies were already breaking under the strain — this would not only kill them, it would bring everyone else back.
The sky tore apart as they charged together, Shukuyomi's roar shaking every remaining fragment of the dimension. Light and darkness collided, reality itself holding its breath.
To be continued…
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