*Buzz.*
The air suddenly began to tremble. A wave of powerful vibrations spread outward from where Aizen stood—first through Flame Valley and the Land of Wind, then to every corner of the ninja world.
"What… is this?"
"What's happening?"
All the ninjas stared with wide eyes, completely stunned.
Everyone felt it—that invisible pressure looming over them. Like something beyond words, beyond reason, was about to be born in the ninja world.
Fear.
A deep, creeping fear spread through the hearts of every living being across the land.
In the rear of the Allied Shinobi Forces, Kurenai looked up at Aizen high in the sky and said with a bitter expression, "Sosuke-kun… are you really going to destroy the whole ninja world?"
"Of course not," a voice suddenly came from behind her. "Mr. Aizen would never do something so boring."
Kurenai turned around and saw a young man with a shark-like face. "Kisame-san?"
Of course she knew Kisame.
If he hadn't backed her up before, she would've died who knows how many times. Kurenai had thought he was just a strange-looking ally from Kirigakure. But now, from the way he spoke… it seemed like he actually knew Aizen?
*Zip.*
Hoshigaki Kisame pulled down the zipper of his collar, revealing a white bony mark. On his lower jaw, there was a clear number "2."
"You… you're…"
Kurenai's eyes went wide. After a brief moment of shock, it all seemed to click. Her gaze toward Aizen slowly grew warmer—like a girl who had just remembered her first love.
"So that's how it is… Sosuke-kun, you really are still the same Sosuke-kun I once knew."
"Aizen Sosuke!"
Unlike Kurenai, who had started to calm down, Otsutsuki Hagoromo was burning with anxiety. "What did you do?!"
"Just like I said—I'm going to take the throne of this sky."
Aizen looked down at him from above, his voice calm and firm.
*Crack, crack.*
As his voice fell, the blue light Madara began to gather in the sky. The thick clouds slowly faded away, and a bright golden sun hung slant in the air.
Bathed in sunlight, a massive floating throne gradually began to form. The blue light Madara gathered under the throne, turning into steps that spread all the way to Aizen's feet.
He lifted his foot and stepped onto the first stair. "I have you to thank for this, Rikudou Sennin."
"What?"
Otsutsuki Hagoromo frowned, staring at Aizen in confusion.
"If you hadn't turned so many ninjas into shinigami-like beings, this stairway to godhood would never have formed so perfectly."
"What are you talking about?"
"I did want to reshape the ninja world using spirit particles, and under my control, build a new set of rules. And once those new rules were made, it would naturally lead me to becoming a god. But the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki was never the key to that."
Otsutsuki Hagoromo froze, unable to believe what he was hearing. "The Ten-Tails... isn't the key?"
"Of course not. The Ten-Tails is just the Divine Tree, the source of chakra. Even if it's turned into spirit particles, it will still carry chakra's traits. That can't be erased. So in the end, it's just a transformation—not true creation."
Aizen stepped onto the stairway leading to the sky throne. His voice echoed clearly in everyone's ears.
"True creation starts from nothing. It means turning spirit particles into the foundation of this world. And to do that, we must start from the ground up—starting by putting spirit particles into the bodies of ninjas."
"Then, when those ninjas die, their souls mix with the spirit particles... and the stairway to the throne naturally forms."
"You bastard!"
Otsutsuki Hagoromo finally understood—completely.
No wonder Aizen didn't stop him, even after noticing his secret spying. He even acted out the process of turning people into shinigami right in front of him—it was all on purpose.
His true goal was to make Hagoromo create an army of shinigami-like ninjas to fight against his own Arrancars!
The war's result didn't matter—only the process did.
Because no matter which side died, their souls would become part of the stairway built from spirit particles. From beginning to end, Aizen was the only one who stood to gain from it all.
Everyone was just a pawn—whether it was Otsutsuki Hagoromo, the Allied Ninja Forces, or even the Arrancars. They were all pieces on Aizen's chessboard, all being used exactly as he planned.
He had to be stopped. He must be stopped!
Hagoromo couldn't let Aizen become a god, or this era of ninjas would be finished!
With that thought, he suddenly raised both arms and pressed his hands together.
"Tengai Shinsei!"
Buzzing.
From the sky, giant meteors began to fall, crashing toward Aizen's location in midair.
"Chibaku Tensei!"
A cold female voice rang out. A black sphere of energy suddenly appeared.
The black orb acted like a magnet, pulling in all the falling meteors. In the end, they were compressed into a massive ball of stone, the size of a small planet.
"You... you're—"
Otsutsuki Hagoromo stood frozen, staring at the woman in front of him in shock.
She had long silver hair that flowed down to her heels. Her figure was graceful, and her face breathtakingly beautiful. But what stood out the most was the blood-red Rinne Sharingan with nine tomoe on her forehead.
"Mother?"
Hagoromo's face went stiff. He looked like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"The Otsutsuki Kaguya you once knew is dead."
The woman turned her face away coldly and said, "My name is Yuzuki. I am the Tenth Espada under Lord Aizen."
"Why?"
Hagoromo couldn't understand. Why would his mother—the origin of chakra—side with an outsider like Aizen?
Yuzuki didn't answer. She simply raised her head and quietly looked at Aizen, watching as he sat upon the sky throne.
Warm sunlight poured down, wrapping the handsome young man in a golden glow.
A god of this world had been born.