"The Sage of Six Paths… our enemy?"
Naruto murmured the name from legend, and in that moment, both he and Kurama turned their gaze—unspoken, yet in perfect sync—toward the last strand of chakra Kazuki had left behind in their mental space.
It was the one Kazuki had promised would accompany them in facing their final enemy.
"What a razor-sharp presence…"
Kurama stared at the chakra. At a glance, it seemed unremarkable, easy to overlook.
But when he focused his senses, the energy radiating from it was like a blade sharp enough to cleave the heavens and the earth—a power vast beyond comprehension.
"So what if it's the Sage of Six Paths?"
"Kurama, we've still got Kazuki-nii's trump card! All that's left for us is to give it our all!"
"Kazuki-nii said it—if we go all out, we can do this!"
Naruto stared at the chakra. Now that Kazuki had left them a safety net, it felt like his blood was on fire.
"Are you with me, Kurama?"
"Of course, brat…"
"The first strand of chakra Kazuki-sama left us masked our current weakness by pretending to be Senju Tobirama."
"The second one became training resources, meant to help us grow stronger as quickly as possible."
Kurama's eyes burned with renewed determination, sweeping away every trace of sorrow.
"And now, for the final battle—Kazuki-nii thought it all through, for both you and me."
"So what right do we have to hesitate or doubt?"
"That's the spirit, Kurama!"
Naruto grinned and held out his fist.
"Let's go all in—so we can see Kazuki-nii again!"
Kurama smiled back. A large and a small fist—one human, one fox—met in a solid, resounding bump.
'Old man… thank you for creating me,' Kurama murmured silently, 'But I can't keep living as just a beast. There's someone I want to see again—and a wider world I want to explore.'
'I hope you won't try to stop me or Naruto. If what I choose doesn't match the image you had for me…'
'Then I can only say—I'm sorry.'
"Kurama! Still spacing out?"
Naruto had already walked over to the scroll-filled bookshelf, pulling one open with an eager grin.
"Don't fall too far behind!"
"You cocky little brat—don't get ahead of yourself!"
Kurama snapped back to focus, grabbing a scroll of his own.
"Idiot kid! Don't you dare become a burden to me!"
...
The Shinobi World.
High atop a desolate, uninhabited snow-covered mountain—
Kazuki stood with the Ōtsutsuki artifact Karasuki in hand, turning to ask the peculiar little turtle beside him: "How much time has passed in the Shinobi World while I was away in the other dimension?"
Through the technique of space-time traversal, Kazuki had returned to his native timeline.
"Roughly less than a week, I think? Based on your instructions, Kazuki-sama, the timeline you visited flows about a hundred times faster than this one…"
The small turtle replied earnestly, a flicker of worry flashing in its eyes.
"Kazuki-sama, are you planning to continue your space-time journey? My energy reserves are nearly depleted…"
"Don't worry. I know you've done your best—you did great, Karasuki."
Kazuki gently patted the turtle's shell and spoke softly.
Whether the time ratio was truly one hundredfold, Kazuki wasn't entirely sure…
But as he activated his sensory abilities and clearly picked up the chakra signatures of Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Madara, and the others—it was enough.
As long as he made it back before the reinforcements summoned by Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki and Urashiki arrived, everything would still be within his plan.
This world—the Shinobi World—was the nursery he had prepared for himself.
He couldn't allow anyone else to wreck it first.
Karasuki looked at Kazuki in surprise, moved by something.
Unlike every Ōtsutsuki before him… Kazuki's demeanor—toward it, toward Kurama, toward all beings considered beasts or tools—was one of genuine respect and warmth.
Kazuki quickly reviewed the state of the Shinobi World at the time of his departure, and the corner of his lips curled into a slight smile.
"Oh? Looks like my dear 'little brother'… couldn't wait anymore?"
The shadow clone he had left behind had already reported back:
Black Zetsu was using the power of Kamui to frantically search for Kazuki across the Shinobi World.
What was he planning?
Trying to save Uchiha Obito?
...
Before Kazuki journeyed to the other dimension—
He had used the Shadow Clone Technique to place surveillance points throughout the Shinobi World. There weren't many, but given Kazuki's sensory abilities, they were more than enough to cover the vast majority of regions…
It was basically a manual version of the White Zetsu Network.
And unlike White Zetsu, Kazuki could sense higher-tier fluctuations—like dōjutsu energy and spatial disturbances—that those low-intelligence creations of the God Tree couldn't detect.
As a result, nearly everything that happened in the Shinobi World, big or small, was under Kazuki's control.
"Asura and Indra have been resurrected… The Sage of Six Paths is teaching Senjutsu to everyone across the three Great Sage Regions? I suppose that counts as a good thing. Grow stronger, all of you…"
Kazuki nodded slightly, expressing his approval of the Sage's current efforts.
That old man—under Kazuki's pressure—had finally stopped clinging to his laughable dreams of peace through mutual understanding, and was now actually distributing power to the people…
Seeing the Sage of Six Paths improve everyone's strength made Kazuki feel pleased.
After all, the harder they worked, the sooner Kazuki could cast off the power of being someone within the Ōtsutsuki Clan...
Kazuki focused once again, carefully scanning the Shinobi World and beyond, confirming there were no unusual chakra signatures present. Then, with a single thought, he connected with the chakra embedded within the symbiotic body of Isshiki and Obito.
"Confirmed. The Ōtsutsuki reinforcements haven't arrived yet. The signal's still in the process of being received…" Kazuki felt a slight sense of relief as he shifted his attention to the chakra inside Momoshiki and Urashiki, eavesdropping on their thoughts.
Although he had forcefully injected his chakra into the bodies of those three Ōtsutsuki during battle—
They were still Ōtsutsuki, after all. Even with his chakra inside them, it wasn't enough to control them like puppets. All he could do was lay dormant within their bodies and siphon off their real-time thoughts.
Because, in terms of lifeform hierarchy, while Kazuki stood above these main-branch Ōtsutsuki, the gap still wasn't wide enough to dominate them outright…
Otherwise, he would've tried controlling Isshiki directly—slowing his efforts to summon reinforcements and buying himself more time to prepare.
Given the current situation, although Kazuki had chosen not to eliminate Isshiki, Urashiki, and Momoshiki—solely to gather early intel on the incoming Ōtsutsuki—there didn't seem to be any major issues in the short term.
"So that's how it is… Makes sense. The Ōtsutsuki Clan… they measure time in millennia when planting God Trees, and they travel across the universe…"
"Even in an emergency, transmitting intel, receiving it, processing it, and selecting candidates to dispatch to the Shinobi World—all of that would still require a base amount of time."
A faint smirk tugged at the corner of Kazuki's lips.
"According to Isshiki's estimate, even on an urgent report like this—saying Shibai's remains may have ended up in the Shinobi World—it'll still take at least three years, by Shinobi World reckoning."
Three years might feel like a long time.
But for the Ōtsutsuki, getting reinforcements to arrive within that timeframe was already pushing the limits of efficiency.
And for Kazuki… three years was more than enough.
There wasn't much left in this Shinobi World that held any value for him.
The Sage of Six Paths' Pure Land, the final bond involving Kaguya and the rest of the Shinobi World, the nine Tailed Beasts, the Chosen of Gaia's consciousness—which would be a bit more troublesome to deal with—and the Ōtsutsuki Shibai's discarded body left behind in this world…
Once all of that was resolved, then the Shinobi World, inside and out, would have been squeezed dry by Kazuki—nothing left to bleed.
"The easiest thing to handle right now… is Kaguya's final bond. After all, with Black Zetsu around, breaking through her psychological defenses won't take long…"
Kazuki silently and secretly turned his attention inward—toward the Kaguya residing within him.
It had been a long time since Kazuki had paid her any mind.
Ever since she'd tried to claim that the human heart could indeed possess loyalty—and attempted to use Black Zetsu as her proof—Kazuki had departed for another dimension, using his Rinnegan's ocular techniques to draw strength from that alternate world…
And under that silent, cold treatment, Kaguya—who had grown accustomed to talking with Kazuki—was once again thrown into the same endless, sunless solitude of her old days inside Chibaku Tensei.
If she had remained sealed all along, it wouldn't have been so bad…
But now that she had tasted the light, it was unbearable to return to that darkness. Worse still, her heart now had to endure the torment of guilt.
And she had no one to blame but herself—for lying to and betraying Kazuki.
With his silence stretching on, even Kaguya herself had begun to feel that this was how Kazuki should treat her…
After all, Kazuki had been sincere from the beginning. It was Kaguya who had laced their bond with lies from the very start, planting a ticking time bomb beneath the very foundation of their relationship.
Tormented by anxiety, guilt, fear, and regret—yet still clinging to the desperate hope that Black Zetsu might somehow prove that genuine feelings existed—Kaguya's state of mind began to unravel. Like a drowning soul grasping at straws, her last shred of hope only made her more fragile.
And so, within her soul, the imprint of Kazuki grew deeper and deeper…
"Greedy Serpent Soul": When you actively possess another being, or when a soul, spirit, or chakra-based entity resides within your own body, you will slowly siphon their power. Depending on the length of possession and the target's mental state, there is a chance to imprint a Soul Mark.
A Soul Mark was fundamentally different from the chakra Kazuki had embedded into Urashiki, Momoshiki, and Isshiki.
Chakra, even when injected by someone of Kazuki's caliber, could only be used to eavesdrop when dealing with Ōtsutsuki…
But a Soul Mark was something else entirely. Once it reached full maturity, not even Kaguya—the very progenitor of chakra—would be able to resist. She would become nothing more than a puppet.
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