Chapter 252:
"Sasuke..."
Lying on the ground, Naruto looked over at Sasuke, who was also collapsed on the ground.
"Mhm..."
Sasuke gave Naruto a small nod, then slowly reached out his right hand.
A surge of purple chakra emerged from Sasuke's hand, rising toward the sky and converging into the upraised hands of Future Boruto.
"A jutsu that gathers everyone's chakra..."
Shikamaru muttered, then extended his own hand.
"Boruto..."
Hanabi looked up at the Future Boruto in the sky and raised her hand as well.
Even the undercover agents from S.H.I.E.L.D. stationed in the Hidden Leaf Village—Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, Jiraiya...—extended their hands in unison.
"Mom, what are you doing?"
Little Gray asked in confusion, looking at Red Wolf.
"Little Gray, hurry up and raise your right hand too."
"...Okay."
Although he didn't understand why Red Wolf asked him to do that, since it was her request, Little Gray complied without question.
"Hurry! Imperial Armor! Kill them now!"
Watching the terrifying chakra gathering in Future Boruto's raised hands, Evilmoku urged Imperial Armor impatiently.
"Here it comes!!" Future Boruto looked down at Imperial Armor charging toward him. The light spheres in his hands grew larger as he shouted, "I carry the hope entrusted to me by everyone! I will never fall here!" (cue mental image of a special move)
"Heaven-Earth Radiance!"
Imperial Armor, rushing toward Future Boruto, traced a Taiji symbol in front of his chest with both hands, then compressed the energy and released it in a focused burst at Future Boruto.
"Ninja Art: Chakra Bomb!"
The two strongest attacks collided, unleashing a tremendous shockwave that swept across the entire Hidden Leaf Village. Not only were nearly all of the village's buildings destroyed, even the monument bearing the faces of past Hokage—Hokage Rock—was reduced to rubble.
"This is bad! At this rate, everyone's going to die here!" As Shikamaru's voice rang out, the sealing formation of the Four Red Yang Formation gradually began to fade. "Now's the time—everyone, get away from here!"
"Dad! Are you okay?!"
Modern-day Boruto, having taken care of the Skynet system, rushed over to the fallen Naruto and helped him up.
"I'm... okay..."
Naruto replied, his voice slightly weakened.
"Dad!"
Sarada and Shuyu helped Sasuke to his feet.
"Get out of here…"
Unlike Naruto, Sasuke didn't have regenerative abilities, and he had taken even more severe injuries. He spoke weakly.
"Hey! What about you guys?!"
Obito, holding up a shield to block attacks and using the force of the enemy's strikes to pull away, shouted to Tentō and Shinki.
"You go ahead! With our armor, we should be fine!"
Tentō called back to Obito and Kakashi.
"Kakashi, go now!"
Obito threw his shield at the ancient ability beast Kakashi was fighting, and urged him to retreat.
"Mhm."
Kakashi took the opportunity to pull back, then glanced at Tentō and Shinki.
"Let's go, Kakashi."
With Obito and Kakashi's retreat, a blinding light burst in the middle of the Hidden Leaf Village.
The entire Hidden Leaf Village was flattened. Only a few buildings remained barely standing—among them, Ichiraku Ramen's main shop.
The shockwave was so intense that even Tentō and Shinki, despite being protected by armor, were blasted away. The two collapsed on the ground, forced to disengage their armor.
The four ancient ability beasts also lay sprawled on the ground. However, compared to Tentō and Shinki, the beasts were in much better shape—after twisting in pain for a moment, they slowly stood back up.
"Now's the time—finish off those two armored warriors!"
Evilmoku, half-crouched on the ground, urgently ordered. At this point, there was no one left in the Hidden Leaf Village who could stand in his way.
The blast had stirred up thick clouds of dust, blotting out the sun and plunging the village into darkness. Though it was still daytime, it looked like twilight.
Elsewhere, the massive shockwave had left Future Boruto severely wounded as well. He plummeted from the sky, gasping for air—so intense had the explosion been, it had made him feel like he was suffocating.
"Kurama, how long will it take to completely heal my body...?"
"Lord Boruto, I'm afraid it'll take quite a while."
The Nine-Tails replied with a hint of reverence.
Kawaki, who had made contact with the armor, stood frozen, his body swaying slightly, as if he could fall at any moment.
"Impossible... What have I done...?"
Kawaki muttered, trembling, looking around at the flattened remains of the Hidden Leaf Village, then turned his gaze to the Future Boruto in front of him.
"So... you're no longer under control..."
"...Are you the Hokage's distant relative?"
Kawaki remembered that when Future Boruto first came to Naruto's house, Naruto had introduced him that way.
"Actually, I'm Boruto from the future. Naruto... is my father."
Future Boruto gave a bitter smile as he spoke.
"Boruto..."
Kawaki murmured. The idea of someone returning from the future was still hard for him to wrap his head around.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!"
He formed the iron sand into flying stones and launched them at the four ancient ability beasts advancing toward him and Tentō. Though the attack covered a wide area and had long duration, its power was lacking—it barely scratched the beasts.
Kawaki glanced over at Tentō and Shinki. During his time under the Black Emperor's control, he had learned bits and pieces about the armored warriors.
"Sorry, Boruto, but... now's the time for me to atone..."
Kawaki said to Boruto. Just as he finished speaking, a beam of light broke through the smoke blocking the sun and shone down on him.
Kawaki transformed into Imperial Armor once more.
Shadow Displacement!
Imperial Armor suddenly appeared in front of the fallen Tentō and Shinki, blocking the four approaching ancient ability beasts.
Seeing the Imperial Armor, the beasts instinctively took a step back.
"What are you waiting for?! Even if Imperial Armor has regained consciousness, there's no way he came out of that last fight unscathed! Take him out—take all of them out together!"
Evilmoku shouted from behind.
Taotie let out an incomprehensible roar and thrust his spear at Imperial Armor—but Imperial Armor easily caught it with his left hand.
Taotie struggled to pull it back, but the spear held firmly in Imperial Armor's grip didn't budge.
"Energy Punch!"
Light energy gathered in both of Imperial Armor's hands. With a single punch, he sent Taotie flying. Seeing their comrade get blown away, the other three ancient ability beasts immediately launched their attacks.
Qiongqi and Taowu were also sent flying with the same devastating strike from Imperial Armor.