Momoshiki raised the Aramitsu-no-Hoko crescent blade and launched a fierce opening strike.
—Amaterasu!
"Crack!"
The moment his blade rose, it shattered under Akira's gaze.
Momoshiki had long known Akira possessed Amaterasu and remained unfazed.
Empty-handed, he advanced as if still gripping a blade. Twisting his waist and stepping forward, a brand-new crescent sword instantly reformed in his grasp, slashing seamlessly!
—Amaterasu!
"Crack!"
A second time.
Momoshiki reforged it at once, adjusted his footing, and attacked again!
—Amaterasu!
"Crack!"
A third time.
Relentless, he wound the blade around his waist and swept horizontally for the fourth strike.
At last, Akira seemed moved by his persistence.
"I can tell you really like playing with blades. I'm not a spoilsport. I'll play with you."
After all… you won't get another chance later.
"Shing!"
Akira's Kusanagi Sword left its sheath, wrapped in violet lightning. With Darkflow Uchiha sword arts, he met Momoshiki's divine Aramitsu technique head-on.
From Boruto's perspective, this was what he saw:
A streak of white and a streak of black, reduced to afterimages.
Crimson light and purple lightning interwove between them.
He couldn't see where swords came from or where blades went.
Only the deafening clash of metal battered his ears and nerves.
Goosebumps rose all over him.
Hugging his trembling shoulders, he stammered,
"A-Amazing… Is this really something a human body can do?"
Atop the Chibaku Tensei, Madara and Obito's Sharingan spun rapidly.
What they saw was entirely different.
Step by step, life-and-death exchanges.
One mistake meant decapitation.
Obito said, "If I still had a living body, I'd probably be sweating. Momoshiki's blade technique is even stronger than last time. It's impressive Akira can keep up."
Madara nodded. "Indeed. Even with Yomotsu Hirasaka as a personal domain, I didn't expect him to duel Momoshiki in pure taijutsu and swordsmanship. It seems Hashirama's power has fully fused with his own physique."
Naruto: "..."
Sasuke: "..."
Locked in stalemate, Akira suddenly attacked Momoshiki's heart with words.
"Swinging so hard… trying to wash away the shame of losing your horn to me?"
Momoshiki laughed furiously. "Ha! That's right! If I don't shave off half your head, I'll take your surname!"
"Boom!"
With divine acceleration, he unleashed a dazzling slash.
Not something to block head-on!
Akira leaned back, pressing Boruto's head down with his free hand.
"Whoosh!"
A slash capable of splitting meteors swept overhead.
In the distance, half of the Hokage Rock was cleanly shaved away.
Boruto was shaken beyond words.
"In a fight where one slip means death… he's still protecting me!? Why!? Isn't he Dad's enemy!?"
"You're open!"
Momoshiki leapt, blade descending from above, about to cleave Akira in two!
"Buzz!"
Akira's right eye trembled.
—Yomotsu Hirasaka!
Momoshiki's mind was still in the air when his body was already back on the ground, posture reset to before the swing.
"What!?"
His rhythm shattered. Akira surged forward, stomped on the rising blade shaft—
"Clang!"
—and slashed cleanly at his throat!
"!"
At the brink of death, Momoshiki twisted aside. His left ear flew into the air.
"Guh!"
He staggered back.
"Shing!"
Akira caught the ear and stored it away. When he raised his eyes again, his sclera had turned gray, and silver markings traced down his face.
—Shikkotsu Forest Sage Mode!
"Bladed combat is over."
His right eye locked on.
—Toyouke-no-Mikoto!
"Boom!"
Susanoo manifested behind him. A skeletal hand seized Momoshiki, while exploding blades burst in from all directions!
"Ha!"
Momoshiki roared, shattering the grip with brute force. His golden Rinnegan flared.
—Shinra Tensei!
The surrounding blades were forced back.
Akira smiled faintly.
Shinra Tensei had cooldowns.
Toyouke-no-Mikoto in Sage Mode did not.
Dark-purple light pulsed in his right eye.
Susanoo swords, fists, Yasaka beads, Six Paths rods—
All the "hard bones" that absorption couldn't swallow rained down like a storm.
Shinra Tensei faltered.
"Boom!"
Momoshiki retreated at sonic speed.
Akira activated long-legged Susanoo, carrying Boruto as he pursued, maintaining twenty meters' distance.
The barrage followed again—this time with lethal prediction.
True prediction.
Not Boruto's shallow guesses.
Real, murderous foresight.
"Damn it!"
Momoshiki swung his blade wildly to block.
"Crack!"
Amaterasu shattered it mid-swing.
"I said—blade combat is over!"
"Bastard!"
Momoshiki raised his left palm.
—High Imperial Birth Deity!
Fire, water, earth, lightning, wind—
A chaotic barrier formed in midair.
In moments, ten stored jutsu were consumed.
"That damn eye… like Isshiki's Daikokuten… Who knows how much he's stockpiled!"
"Defending blindly will drain me dry!"
"I have to counter!"
Scanning with Byakugan, he grinned.
"Got it."
His golden Rinnegan blazed.
—Eternal World Thought-Gold God!
All the scattered Susanoo weapons embedded in the battlefield began to tremble… then shot toward Akira!
"So that's it… He can't seize them mid-flight, but once they stop, he can control them."
From some angles, this was even more troublesome than absorption.
If Akira erased them, he'd have to halt his suppression.
Exactly what Momoshiki wanted.
But the rhythm belonged to Akira.
In an instant, he chose.
He steered Susanoo to dodge—
while increasing firepower on Momoshiki!
Momoshiki trembled.
"Is he insane!? He's really not afraid of dying!?"
"Raaagh!"
He desperately burned through reserves.
Yes, Momoshiki.
I'm draining you dry.
Driving you into despair—
So you'll plant Karma on the boy behind me.
Then I'll kill you.
Revive you through Karma and Yomotsu Hirasaka.
Create another you.
Maximum profit.
…
After the third Sage Mode cycle ended, the barrage ceased.
Akira cut the gravitational causality binding him and Boruto, floating free.
"Hey… Are you okay? You'll die like this, won't you?"
Boruto stared at Akira's body, pierced like a hedgehog.
Akira smiled.
"Do you want me to be hurt?"
"I…"
Boruto fell silent.
"Shing!"
Akira shattered the embedded weapons and reset his body with Yomotsu Hirasaka.
"You…!"
Boruto gaped.
Akira ignored him.
Toyouke-no-Mikoto reignited.
Fourth Sage Mode cycle.
He looked toward the ruins.
"How about it? Still alive, Momoshiki?"
"Hmm… heh… hahahahahahaha!"
Wild laughter echoed.
From the dust, Momoshiki rose—disheveled.
He gazed at Akira solemnly.
"Uchiha Akira. I admit it."
"You are the strongest human I've faced in a thousand years."
"Without exception."
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