As Takuno finished his hand signs, a sudden change occurred on this desolate, boundless battlefield that had been ravaged by countless Ninjutsu.
The ground, which had been repeatedly plowed by all sorts of world-destroying powers, now silently shimmered with countless deep blue incantations.
The lines of these incantations emitted cold and deep energy fluctuations.
What was terrifying was that even after enduring Madara's Sage of Six Paths Art, Takuno's horrific bombardment, and even the devastation of the God: Nativity of a World of Trees...
These incantations remained perfectly intact, as if all the destruction had merely grazed their illusory surface.
This was Takuno's true arrangement—the massive formation known as 'Ninjutsu: Reverse Chimera Technique'!
It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision; rather, it had been quietly inscribed into the ley lines and space of the entire battlefield by the Wood Clone that had seemingly just been a bystander when he first arrived, during the long hours when no one was watching.
Takuno's original body had already completed the hand-off with the Wood Clone at some unknown moment, quietly taking control of this world-shaking chess game that had long been set up.
What he had been waiting for was this exact moment—the 'right timing' when Black Zetsu thought he had succeeded, when Kaguya's resurrection ritual was activated, and when the power and will of the Ancestor of chakra were being pulled back from the separate dimension into the physical world.
"This... what is this?!" Black Zetsu's raspy, distorted voice carried an unmaskable panic for the first time.
It was immersed in the ecstasy of Kaguya's imminent return; Madara's remnant body was floating, greedily absorbing the energy from the chakra cocoons of all living beings wrapped by the God Tree.
However, these suddenly emerging deep blue incantations that covered the entire field of vision instantly enveloped the ongoing resurrection ritual, forcibly intervening in the millennium-old connection between it and Lady Kaguya!
Takuno floated at the center of the formation's eye. He calmly watched the scene of Kaguya's resurrection below, his voice indifferent:
"Your thousand-year scheme, your Ancestor of chakra, and even the fate of all living beings in this Shinobi World—at this moment, all are within the trajectory of the 'Reverse Chimera'."
The light of the incantations suddenly flared!
They were no longer simple symbols, but transformed into countless flowing chains that ignored the distance of space, instantly wrapping around Madara's transforming body.
Or rather, they wrapped around the chakra core belonging to Kaguya that was breaking out of the cocoon within Madara's body!
Kaguya's figure, which was about to take shape, actually showed a strange lag and distortion under the restraint of the deep blue incantations.
Black Zetsu's wild laughter had long since turned into a desperate shriek: "No! Impossible! Collector! What on earth are you trying to do?!"
"Noisy."
Takuno glanced at Black Zetsu, then took a deep breath, a hint of madness appearing in his eyes.
In the next moment, to everyone's stunned expressions.
Takuno's body suddenly disintegrated, turning into a pool of strange liquid shimmering with a deep blue luster.
This liquid was not absorbed by the God Tree; instead, it actively surged toward Kaguya, who was frantically absorbing the world's chakra and was about to complete her resurrection!
The scene was bizarre to the extreme, as if Takuno had voluntarily given up his own form, willing to be devoured and assimilated by Kaguya.
But Black Zetsu, who was controlling the resurrection ritual, didn't have the slightest look of joy.
Alarm bells rang in his heart, and a chill instantly froze the ecstasy that had just risen due to his mother's imminent return.
"Wrong! This is absolutely wrong!" Black Zetsu's consciousness was screaming frantically.
"The Collector! How could he possibly give up? How could he be willing to become Mother's nourishment?!"
From Takuno appearing on the battlefield with absolute power that crushed Madara, to easily breaking Limbo: Border Jail, ignoring the rules of Truth-Seeking Orbs, creating Truth-Seeking Orbs out of thin air, and then accurately predicting and laying down the 'Reverse Chimera Technique' to interfere with the resurrection ritual...
Every step revealed unfathomable planning and control.
How could such an existence, who treated even his thousand-year layout as a chess game, choose self-destruction at the final moment?
"A conspiracy! This must be his conspiracy!" Black Zetsu's mind raced, trying to understand the purpose of Takuno turning into liquid.
Was it some higher-level parasitism? Was he trying to pollute or usurp Mother's core from within?
Or... was he simply utilizing Mother's greedy absorption of chakra during her resurrection to perform some even more terrifying infiltration or ritual?
The deep blue liquid that Takuno had become was already wrapping around Kaguya's rapidly solidifying body, which was composed of pure chakra, like a living thing, and quickly merged into it, disappearing.
There was no violent energy conflict, no obvious sign of resistance; it was like a drop of water merging into the ocean, so calm it was suffocating.
However, it was precisely this calmness that made Black Zetsu feel an unprecedented fear.
He tried to mobilize Kaguya's newly awakened power to sense or repel the merged liquid, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea.
The liquid seemed non-existent, yet seemed to be everywhere, completely merging into the source chakra that constituted Kaguya's existence.
"Mother! Be careful! The Collector, he..." Black Zetsu sent out frantic warnings in his heart, but he sadly discovered that he couldn't accurately convey this sense of crisis.
Kaguya's consciousness was awakening from a thousand-year seal; it was massive and chaotic, reacting sluggishly to Black Zetsu's warnings.
Worse still, Black Zetsu's own power appeared so minuscule before Takuno.
He was now completely dependent on Kaguya and couldn't act independently to stop the 'liquid' that had already merged.
He could only watch helplessly, feeling that deep blue liquid silently permeate every corner of Kaguya's power like the tiniest of viruses.
A will originating from Takuno seemed to be quietly weaving an invisible giant web along with the flow of chakra.
"It's over... everything is out of control..." Black Zetsu's sense of despair was even greater than when he was crushed by Takuno before.
He could only place his hopes on Mother Kaguya's great power as the 'Ancestor of chakra' originating from the God Tree, hoping she could identify and crush Takuno's bizarre intrusion on a level he couldn't understand.
He prayed that Mother's power, which transcended mortal cognition, could overcome this hurdle set by The Collector.
Above the battlefield ruins, only the hum of the God Tree absorbing chakra remained, along with the suffocatingly terrifying pressure emitted as Kaguya's body became increasingly solid.
As for Takuno's existence, it was as if he had never appeared, yet as if he had already become a part of this pressure itself, waiting for the final eruption.
The air solidified, and time seemed to stand still.
It seemed that an ultimate anomaly that would decide the fate of the world, far exceeding any previous battle, was about to play out inside Kaguya's body.
And what no one knew was that at this moment, Takuno had already become a part of Kaguya.
There was, of course, a reason for him doing this; if he wanted to obtain the power of the Chakra Fruit, he inevitably had to take this step.
He had thought about how to obtain the power of the Chakra Fruit before, but without a Chakra Fruit for him to study, Takuno believed that mere speculation wouldn't work.
Ultimately, he turned his gaze toward the Chimera Technique that had changed the fate of his entire life.
But the problem was, the Chimera Technique also didn't seem able to help him complete the deprivation and acquisition of the power belonging to the Chakra Fruit inside Kaguya.
The core reason lay in Kaguya's special nature.
Takuno knew deeply that if he tried to use the conventional 'Chimera Technique' to directly merge and absorb the living, conscious Kaguya as 'material,' her powerful will would inevitably produce violent resistance.
The opponent's power was too great, and it was highly likely to directly cause the fusion process to fail or even backfire on himself.
Although the target material for the Chimera Technique didn't need to be alive or dead, the path of directly killing Kaguya and then using her corpse for fusion also wouldn't work.
Because Kaguya had achieved a deep fusion with the God Tree, her very existence was nearly 'immortal'.
In her state of being combined with the God Tree, trying to completely kill her and obtain her corpse was an impossible task.
Even the measure to end Kaguya in the original story was merely to seal her once again.
So, Takuno's true goal wasn't just Kaguya herself, but the ultimate power within her that originated from the Chakra Fruit.
However, this power had merged with Kaguya's life and the God Tree, and the conventional 'Chimera Technique' simply couldn't safely and effectively strip and absorb it.
To solve these insurmountable obstacles, Takuno spent a long time and energy specifically developing the 'Reverse Chimera Technique':
The core of this Ninjutsu was to turn the tables and change the subject of the fusion.
The core mechanism of this technique was not to use Kaguya as the 'material,' but to transform the caster himself into the 'material' available for fusion.
He decomposed himself into a pure energy body and actively merged into the body of Kaguya, who was resurrecting and absorbing the world's chakra.
As the caster, he naturally wouldn't resist the mechanism of the Reverse Chimera Technique like Kaguya would.
Furthermore, the timing Takuno chose was also crucial.
Kaguya was in the process of resurrection; her consciousness was not yet fully stable or clear, and she was in a state of greedily absorbing external energy based on instinct.
To the Kaguya of this moment, Takuno's massive energy body was no different from an irresistibly super-rich 'nutrient'.
Greed originating from instinct would make her actively accept this fusion, rather than producing rejection as she would when conscious.
Of course, the most critical difference between these two Ninjutsu lay in the setting of dominance after fusion.
After a normal 'Chimera Technique' fusion, the caster's consciousness would hold absolute dominance.
But the 'Reverse Chimera Technique' was different; there was no preset dominant party after the fusion!
The wills of Takuno and Kaguya would engage in a life-or-death battle of pure will within the consciousness space of the new body after fusion.
The winner would completely control the merged power and body, while the loser would be completely devoured or annihilated.
This was an extremely dangerous gamble.
Although Takuno was strong enough to crush Madara, as the Ancestor of chakra, the toughness and ancient nature of Kaguya's will were difficult to estimate.
The outcome was uncertain, and the risk was extremely high.
However, for Takuno, who pursued the peak of power, this was the only feasible and optimal plan.
Conventional methods couldn't obtain the power of the Chakra Fruit, but the 'Reverse Chimera Technique' provided this possibility, even though the price was facing Kaguya's will in a life-or-death duel.
This power represented the key to a higher level, and its allure was enough for Takuno to ignore the massive risks.
Because if he could only stand still afterward, left with nothing but regret, he would rather take a gamble; even if he died, he wouldn't hesitate.
Therefore, Takuno didn't hesitate for a moment.
He planned meticulously, using the opportunity of Black Zetsu resurrecting Kaguya to decisively activate the 'Reverse Chimera Technique'.
He turned himself into energy to merge with Kaguya, betting everything on this battle of will that would determine the final dominance.
He believed that with his own will, he could ultimately defeat Kaguya and become the sole master of the fused entity, thereby obtaining that long-dreamed-of power of the Chakra Fruit.
As for the issue of gender after fusion, it naturally didn't matter.
Even if Kaguya was a lady, Takuno could completely use that extraordinary Yin-Yang Release to utilize the part of the cells from his original body that were merged within Kaguya, transforming her into his original body after completing the fusion of all power.
Yin-Yang Release is quite magical, isn't it?
It is a technique that can create objects from nothingness and even bestow life; creating a body for his own use was truly all too simple.
After entering Kaguya's body using the Reverse Chimera Technique.
Takuno's consciousness greedily absorbed the flood of incoming information.
Kaguya's body, this vessel carrying the power of the Ancestor of chakra, its mysteries were opening up to him.
He sensed that vast and boundless total amount of chakra, as well as the terrifying potential it contained.
Amenominaka, All-Killing Ash Bones, Expansive Truth-Seeking Orb, the source of the Rinne Rebirth technique...
Every single ability was enough to subvert the rules of the Shinobi World.
"Such a massive level of chakra..." Takuno was shocked internally, while a huge question simultaneously arose.
"Possessing such overwhelming power, how exactly did Kaguya lose to those two brats, Six Paths Naruto and Six Paths Sasuke, in the 'original story'?
Even if they inherited the Sage of Six Paths's power, can skill and experience really compensate in the face of such an absolute gap in chakra volume?
Especially after she absorbed the chakra of almost every living being in the entire Shinobi World!"
Just as he was immersed in his wonder and doubt toward this terrifying power, a massive will carrying the accumulation of endless ages suddenly awakened, crashing down into the core of the consciousness space.
"Who?!"
A cold, majestic voice exploded in the depths of Takuno's consciousness.
Kaguya's consciousness had completely discovered this uninvited guest, her shock and anger sweeping in like a tsunami.
"You dare to desecrate my body?! Get out!"
The invisible pressure instantly solidified, crushing down toward Takuno's consciousness.
This pressure, containing the resentment of a thousand years of lonely sealing, was enough to instantly shatter any mortal soul.
However, facing this oppression, Takuno's consciousness not only didn't retreat but instead let out a low and pleasant laugh.
"Heh..."