While Meruem was battling Kaguya and Black Zetsu in an unknown space, the situation at the Allied Shinobi Forces' location where Musashi and the others had been shifted once more.
Two forces now stood opposed. One was Uchiha Musashi, who hadn't had the power to join the fight against Kaguya earlier. The other was a pair no one expected: Sasuke and Naruto.
More precisely, it was Asura and Indra controlling Sasuke and Naruto's bodies.
From the way the two appeared now, it was obvious they weren't their former selves at all. Asura's face was clean-shaven beneath odd white headwraps, while Indra looked like he'd stayed up far too late, with stark dark circles under his eyes and two strange dot-markings at his brows.
Even without Musashi's knowledge of the original story, anyone could tell something was off. Naruto and Sasuke were clearly under control.
As for this business about Indra and Asura's reincarnations—that was only the Sage of Six Paths' claim in the original. Whether it was true remained to be seen. After all, in the source material, when that was said, Asura, Indra, and their next-generation reincarnations—Hashirama, Madara, Sasuke, and Naruto—were all present together.
Do reincarnated souls now conveniently split on their own? In the end it was only the Sage's one-sided account.
"Knew you two would come make trouble. Just as I expected." As the silent pair drew near, Musashi slowly drew the demon blade at his hip.
These two weren't easy marks. He didn't have a sure way to handle either one individually, much less both at once right now. Musashi talked tough, but inside he had no confidence. The true body wasn't here, and there was no telling when the Chimera Ant army would arrive.
Even if Asura and Indra weren't on par with the Sage of Six Paths, they were no pushovers. Before Madara became Six Paths Madara, he might not have been a match for the two of them.
In the original, if Kaguya was sealed by Sasuke and Naruto, Musashi would never believe those two hadn't helped from the shadows.
When they were within a hundred meters of Musashi, they suddenly halted. Indra's eyes began to spin madly, and Asura began forming seals.
"No—this isn't an attack."
As they moved, shinobi of the Allied Forces—who should have been trussed into cocoons by the God Tree and trapped under the moon's projection in Infinite Tsukuyomi—crawled out of their pods one after another.
"Tch. What's the point of dragging out all these useless wastes?"
"Final battle. Save the shinobi world. Eliminate you." For the first time, Asura, who had remained silent, spoke.
"Looks like… this one's going to be rough." Seeing the army's numbers swell, a bead of sweat slipped down Musashi's brow.
No one knew what Asura and Indra had done, but every revived shinobi automatically stood behind the two of them. Even if Musashi wanted to sway the Alliance, he had no way to open his mouth, as if the other side knew everything he'd done.
Many ants can kill an elephant—that was Musashi's reality now.
He wasn't Meruem, with near-endless stamina and what could be called absolute power. His strength was solid—nearly on par with Uchiha Madara—
but facing two top-tier fighters whose power faintly surpassed Madara's, plus a whole host of elite shinobi supporting them, winning cleanly was all but impossible.
The fact he hadn't been taken down yet was already an overperformance.
"Complete Body Susanoo!" Once again unable to withstand the Alliance's assaults, he unfolded the Uchiha clan's absolute defense and barely held. Even so, the armored Susanoo was ragged and torn.
And not just Susanoo—Musashi's body had taken plenty of punishment. Asura and Indra together were simply too strong. Even with his mutated Mangekyō Sharingan, to some extent beyond the Eternal Mangekyō, he was at an absolute disadvantage against them.
Most critically, the two weren't just occupying Sasuke and Naruto's bodies—they could wield Sasuke and Naruto's techniques at will.
Naruto's Nine-Tails power, Sage Mode, and space–time jutsu; Sasuke's exquisite Lightning Release, kenjutsu.
Musashi would wager the original Asura and Indra never knew these moves. Even if Asura could learn Sage Mode and space–time techniques, what was with the Nine-Tails' power? And Indra—ancestor of the Uchiha—fine if his sword work mirrored Sasuke's, but why was the Uchiha progenitor famed for Fire Release throwing around Lightning Release at that level?
Luckily, he'd seen many of those techniques during training and had some idea what the two could do. If he weren't familiar, he might already be dead under such a barrage.
"Damn it! True body, I'm about to fold! How much longer?! Amaterasu!" Half-dazed from the beating, Musashi made the mistake of casting Amaterasu right in front of Indra wielding Sasuke's jutsu.
"Kagutsuchi!" In an instant, the pitch-black flames Musashi had cast were seized by Indra's wide-open Mangekyō—and turned back on Musashi.
"Damn, I forgot! Absorb it! Absorb—now!!!" Musashi's Mangekyō Sharingan flared with a powerful pull and sucked the black flames he'd unleashed back in.
Pure agony. Both jutsu had been his. Indra had merely manipulated the blaze, spending little chakra. Musashi, already near his limit, now had almost nothing left.
Since arriving in this world, it was the first time Musashi had been this bedraggled.
"Destruction Cannon!" Just as Musashi was about to despair, a rough voice cut in. A massive energy blast detonated amid the Allied ranks, sweeping up many ninja who couldn't dodge and reducing them to ash.
"That move! They made it." Seeing the destructive wave and hearing that gruff voice, Musashi finally let out a slow breath.
"Made it at last! Not too late, are we?" A red body with long wings on its back—once human, now changed into a menagerie of magical-beast forms.
Youpi, one of the King's three Royal Guards, arrived with a portion of the Chimera Ant army.
"What is that monster? Wait—that looks like the Mizukage's bodyguard from before!"
"I knew it—no wonder we haven't seen Kirigakure's shinobi anywhere…" With Youpi's arrival, the Allied ranks stirred, but with Indra and Asura directing them, they calmed quickly.
Then flakes of unknown phosphor drifted from the sky, blanketing the entire Allied position in an instant.
"Take your own lives, sinners who dared offend the King." A gentlemanly figure with butterfly wings descended from above—former Royal Guard of the Ant King, and since the Eight-Tails' capture, the vanished Akatsuki member—the fly king, Pouf.
"Ah!" "My body won't listen!" "I don't want to die!" Many in the Alliance—some weak, some even of jōnin rank and above—accidentally inhaled Pouf's phosphor and, under hypnosis, killed themselves before everyone's eyes.
"Scale Powder: Love Spring!" One of Pouf's signature abilities—a phosphor that senses, senses… and manipulates.
"Youpi, I'm not letting you hog all the credit before the King."
"And me—nyah! My King, forgive our late arrival." The last to appear was the cat-woman Pitou. Though her body hadn't fully recovered, her power could not be dismissed. And behind her loomed the endless Chimera Ant legions.
Chimera Ants surged from who knew where—sky, earth, even some seemingly from thin air. In an instant, their massive numbers enclosed the so-called Allied Forces, squeezing them into a tiny space. Most importantly, the Chimera Ant army's numbers were still swelling.
Compared with a Chimera Ant legion of over a million, uninjured and in top mental form, the Allied Forces—who had spent enormous effort on Obito's hundred thousand White Zetsu and suffered more than half casualties in battle after battle—were the weaker side.
"Heh-heh. Asura, Indra—didn't see this coming, did you? The tide has turned. Before my Chimera Ant army, your precious Allied Forces are no longer a concern. Surrender, and I might consider sparing your lives." As Pitou's "Toy Repairer" worked over him, Musashi addressed Asura and Indra.
"Kill you, and the shinobi world knows peace!" Without answering Musashi directly, Indra made their stance clear.
Battle.
"My Chimera Ant subordinates—kill them!" At Musashi's command, Chimera Ants flooded toward the Allied Forces, penned into a tiny patch of ground.
"Your opponent is me!" Youpi barred Asura's way, while Pouf stopped Indra.
Soldier to soldier! General to general!
If those two joined the fray, even if the Chimera Ant army ultimately won, the price would be steep. Their strength exceeded that of a typical shinobi by far. Even the various villages' Kage wouldn't be their match.
There were still plenty of capable shinobi in the Allied ranks besides the two—but none who could change the course of the battle.
Barring some unforeseen twist, the Allied Forces would be annihilated here.
(End of Chapter)
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