Chapter 431: King Star
"He escaped?!"
The patterns in Satsuki's Mangekyo Sharingan had just begun to glow, the ocular power of Tokoyo starting to ripple outward, but her target had already vanished completely into a twisted spatial rift. Her technique had missed entirely.
Naruto stared at the spot where Obito had disappeared. The man had clearly witnessed the entire ocean battle, seen firsthand how Pain's Six Paths had been destroyed.
To abandon stealing the Rinnegan so decisively, to flee so shamelessly without regard for his dignity—it was undoubtedly the wise choice.
Though using the truth as bait had successfully forced that rat out of his hole, the result still meant Naruto would have to personally visit the "rat's nest" to catch him.
"In the end, I'll have to use that after all."
Naruto sighed softly, a trace of reluctance in his voice.
Nagato and Konan exchanged confused glances. "That"? What other trump card did this man possess?
Naruto closed his eyes slightly, his consciousness sinking into the vast, ocean-like energy source within his body.
His path of power—after absorbing and mastering the Stellar Chakra granted by the eight major planets of the solar system along with their corresponding Divine Arts—had turned toward something more distant, more magnificent in the depths of the galaxy.
He had ultimately selected a brilliant star located in the constellation Leo as his new source of resonance and power.
That star's volume exceeded the sun's by more than thirty times, like a massive jewel embedded in black velvet, burning with white-hot and pale blue flames.
The light it radiated was a full 288 times more dazzling than the sun. Even in the vast sea of stars, it was an exceptionally bright and eye-catching existence.
When he'd attempted to channel and absorb the star's essence that diffused into the universe—that incomprehensibly vast torrent of stellar power—the moment it flooded into his body, he'd experienced an illusion. It felt as though he were touching, even usurping, an authority that should belong only to "gods."
That power was too magnificent, too... inhuman.
Though it had merged gently into his system without causing any backlash or side effects, Naruto had always maintained a sense of reverence and caution deep in his heart.
Unless absolutely necessary, he would never use it lightly.
And now, to locate Kamui's dimension, to obtain precise coordinates within that space that could serve as a beacon... he needed to "see," needed to "know."
Azure Stellar Chakra imbued with the breath of the cosmos began surging silently through his meridians, finally converging on and clinging to his special right eye.
Against the pitch-black base, golden mysterious pupil patterns suddenly accelerated their rotation, blazing with brilliant light! Deep within the eye, what reflected was no longer the chamber's scenery, but constantly flowing, stretching star charts and torrents of data.
BOOOOOM!
At the same moment, beyond the ninja world, in the deep, boundless void of space.
Approximately 79 light-years from Earth, in the direction of Leo constellation.
The star Naruto had selected experienced a brief but violent energy pulse strong enough to be observed!
Though separated by nearly 79 light-years, though that energy pulse might be insignificant on a cosmic scale, in this specific instant, under Naruto's conscious guidance and amplification, Regulus's apparent brightness showed a clearly discernible, brief abnormal increase in the night sky of the planet where the ninja world existed!
Throughout the ninja world, in regions currently experiencing night or approaching dusk—
"Look! Up there! That star... it's so bright!"
"Is it a meteor? No... it's not moving."
"What's happening? Two moons?! It's huge!"
In the Land of Fire's Konoha Village, villagers finishing their day's labor happened to glance up and began discussing with surprised uncertainty.
In the Land of Wind's Sunagakure, ninja on duty in the watchtower rubbed their eyes vigorously, wondering if they were experiencing hallucinations.
In the Land of Lightning's Kumogakure, the Raikage's meeting was interrupted by subordinates urgently reporting celestial anomalies. He walked to the window, brow furrowed as he gazed at the night sky.
The Land of Iron, Land of Hot Water, Land of Waves... Countless civilians and ninja, as long as they looked up at this moment, could see it—in the heavens, in the direction of Leo, that star had suddenly become abnormally brilliant, almost outshining the moon itself!
And in the Hidden Rain Village—
Outside the tower chamber, the normally ceaseless downpour and thick leaden clouds covering the sky were forcibly torn open and scattered!
A clear, long-absent night sky was revealed. At the center of that starry expanse, one star's radiance was so dazzling that it quietly cast silvery-white light upon the sea surface—covered with puddles and debris from the recent fierce battle—and through the damaged cracks in the chamber, penetrating into the dim interior.
"What... what is that thing?!"
Konan was startled by the suddenly transformed celestial phenomena outside and that vast, inhuman energy tremor. She couldn't help but step outside to look at the night sky.
Nagato struggled to turn his neck. This... was this also his power? Manipulating celestial phenomena!
"Regulus."
Naruto answered their astonishment.
"Also known as Alpha Leonis, the brightest star in Leo, a quadruple star system. In ancient astrology, it was called the 'Heart of the Lion' and the 'Little King.'"
This star had granted Naruto three Divine Arts.
The first was called—Omniscience.
Within the range of Naruto's star system, he could know anything he wished to know—any "event" or "truth" that had already occurred, was currently occurring, or related to existence itself.
The second: Universal Manifestation.
Its meaning: "To manifest all phenomena without obstruction."
This technique was neither "creation" nor "imitation," but rather an "idealistic law" that directly overlaid the user's "mental landscape" onto reality.
Cognition becomes existence: Whatever the user could clearly conceptualize—including form, nature, rules, and causality—the world would accept as "established fact."
The third: Unreachable Place.
It defined the user as "not existing at the coordinates being attacked." Any attack logically required a process from "Point A to Point B," and Unreachable Place deleted Point B (the target point) from the logical layer. Any attack action, having lost its "destination," automatically dissolved into "never having occurred."
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