Chapter 269 – Is This What You Call a God?
"Sweet pastry?"
"Kin?"
"Isshiki did that too?!"
For a moment, even the composed Ōtsutsuki Urashiki completely lost it.
What kind of madness was this?
Skipping the divine fruit ritual altogether? Calling one's own kin a "stepping stone to godhood"?
In all his countless millennia of existence, he had never met a lunatic like this one — a man who so brazenly, so cheerfully, declared his intent to devour his own bloodline.
"And Isshiki did the same thing?"
Urashiki's mind spun. Had Isshiki… actually slain Kaguya after devouring the fruit?
And then— hidden himself away?
He couldn't piece it together — but he didn't have time to.
Because right now, Minamoto Gen's blade was already upon him.
"You damned brat! You actually see me as a snack?!"
Urashiki roared and twisted aside, barely dodging the downward slash. His crimson fishing rod snapped out, its filament lashing toward Gen like a lightning whip.
Gen only smiled.
"Compared to Isshiki-senpai, you're still far too lacking."
Whummm—
Golden light flared. In that instant, Gen's sword flashed faster than sight — and Urashiki's left arm spun through the air, severed cleanly at the shoulder.
His balance shattered.
Before he could react, Gen's foot crashed into his abdomen.
Boom—!
The Ōtsutsuki's body rocketed into the ground like a meteor, the impact shattering the landscape. The earth split open into sprawling canyons; mountains that had already been half-demolished now sank entirely into the abyss.
The might of the Ōtsutsuki… truly defied mortal imagination.
"Damn you!"
Yet even after that devastating blow, Urashiki burst back into the sky, his body twisting as his severed arm regenerated in an instant.
He looked battered but unbroken — though his face now burned with pure, murderous rage.
"To strike down your own kin…"
"You've sealed your fate!"
His eyes blazed crimson — Byakugan morphing into twin Six-Tomoe Rinnegan.
"I'll kill you where you stand! You won't even have time to plant a Kāma!"
Whirrr—!
He lunged forward, faster than before — his movements leaving streaks of distorted space behind. The crimson fishing rod lashed through the air, chakra erupting like a storm.
"Tensu Hoshiryū-no-Mikoto!" (Heaven's Celestial Meteor Flow!)
Crimson hooks wove a net of death, shrieking through the sky toward Gen.
Gen only sighed.
"Is that really all?"
He raised his blade.
"Then let's end this."
—Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!—
A titanic surge of chakra howled into being — a golden tempest that roared like the wrath of heaven itself.
Gen swung.
Space warped. Matter shattered. The crimson threads disintegrated, the air itself torn apart — Urashiki's attack erased before it could even exist.
The golden blade flashed again — Gen's form blurred, reappearing right beside Urashiki.
Another swing, this time aimed directly at his head.
Urashiki's Rinnegan pulsed — his body dissolved into a flurry of crimson paper cranes, scattering before reforming several meters away.
"Tch. A space-time technique, huh."
Gen muttered under his breath, unfazed. With a flicker, he was already upon him again.
He knew Urashiki's powers all too well — the triple Rinnegan: red, blue, and gold.
The Red Eyes governed space. They enhanced his "Yomotsu Hirasaka" portals, allowing instantaneous shifts in position — the paper cranes being one manifestation of that.
The Blue Eyes rewound time, letting him revert moments before a fatal strike.
And the Golden Eyes enhanced his physical attributes beyond limit — power, speed, durability, all ascended.
Yet even with such perfect cards… Urashiki was losing.
Because the only thing weaker than his body — was his mind.
Whumm—!
The instant he reappeared, Gen was already there, blade wreathed in Truth-Seeking energy.
"How— how are you this fast?!"
Urashiki's face twisted in disbelief. He just dodged that strike — how is he already here again?!
The next instant, Gen's blade tore across his chest once more.
"Space isn't yours alone to command."
The words came cold and calm as the power of Yin–Yang Release coursed through Urashiki's body, searing from within.
He vanished again, retreating desperately.
"You really are nothing like Isshiki-senpai," Gen said, shaking his head.
"Your strength, your vision, your composure — all inferior. Only I truly understand Isshiki's dream."
He raised his golden sword. Its radiance split the sky, flooding the battlefield in daylight.
"And as for you…"
He swung.
"Your only worth is to help me fulfill that dream!"
Boom—!
Urashiki's scream was half fury, half disbelief.
"You're insane!" he roared. "You understand nothing! Who shares your twisted dream, you delusional maniac?!"
Their battle tore through the heavens, shaking the sea and land below.
Even Obito, watching through his mental link with Isshiki, was left speechless.
Isshiki himself… nearly broke down.
"Who— who said I devoured the fruit and killed Kaguya?!"
"Do I look like someone who's done that?!"
"And Urashiki— that idiot— can't he see Genshiki's completely insane?!"
Isshiki's inner voice was pure fury.
But deep beneath the outrage, a thought began to stir — an uncomfortable, haunting question.
"Wait… could he actually be right?"
The ritual of the Divine Tree required a sacrifice — an Ōtsutsuki to serve as the seed from which the fruit was born.
If that were true…
"Then perhaps even without the tree, consuming another Ōtsutsuki might yield the same power…"
For the first time in eons, Isshiki felt something he hadn't in a very long time —
doubt.
Isshiki stopped thinking.
But the more he tried to dismiss the idea, the more the thought took root.
"Could it really… be another path?"
---
Up above the battlefield, two figures clashed — their movements splitting the sky, their every strike enough to shake the heavens themselves.
"Is that… a battle between two Ōtsutsuki?"
Obito muttered, dazed, as he gazed at the spectacle through Kamui's distorted space. Each swing of their blades rippled with godlike power — enough to annihilate mountains, enough to bend reality itself.
He couldn't understand what they were saying — fruit, evolution, divine will, dreams.
It was all nonsense to his human ears.
But one thing, he did know.
"Those two aren't humans… That's the fight of gods."
And worse —
"That Ōtsutsuki Genshiki… he's trying to kill his own kin?"
Even Obito was stunned — and those outside Kamui's protection fared far worse.
The shockwaves tore through the mist and shattered the earth.
The air itself screamed.
Those caught in the outskirts of the battle felt as if the heavens were collapsing upon them.
---
"Is… is this what gods are?"
Kimimaro staggered, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as Jūgo shielded him. Suigetsu had already liquefied completely, his body splattered across the ground to survive the crushing pressure.
The others fared even worse — coughing blood, their bodies trembling as they struggled just to breathe.
Yet in Kimimaro's eyes… there was awe.
"If I had such power… I could fulfill all of Lord Orochimaru's dreams…"
Even now, even on the brink of death — his faith never wavered.
---
"Hmph… so this is how gods fight?"
Kisame wiped the blood from his ear. His own eardrums had ruptured just from the resonance.
"Heh… looks like even gods are greedier than we thought."
Beside him, Jūzō Biwa and Kurosuki Raiga looked battered but still standing — their Edo Tensei bodies regenerating.
They exchanged grim, sardonic smiles.
"And more ruthless than we imagined," Raiga muttered. "They don't even spare their own blood."
"Heh… figures. Gods or not — monsters are monsters."
Still, they tensed, turning toward the side — the reanimated shinobi could still move, and the chaos was spreading fast.
---
"Is everyone alright?"
Mei Terumi's voice trembled slightly. The Mist shinobi around her were in shambles — the clash above had thrown their entire army into disarray.
Ao and Chōjūrō nodded weakly, their faces pale. Nearby, Utakata — the Six-Tails' jinchūriki — lay unconscious, his breath shallow.
Yet even in his sleep, the chakra of the Six-Tails raged violently, trying to flee the battlefield as if instinctively terrified.
"This… this is what gods are?"
Mei whispered, looking up. Her body ached, her chakra reserves nearly spent — but she couldn't look away.
Each collision between the two Ōtsutsuki carved craters into the earth and split the clouds apart.
The night sky was flashing like day, the sea trembling like a living thing.
"That kind of power… it really is divine…"
Then —
"RAAAAAAHHHH!"
A deafening roar snapped her back to reality.
Her eyes widened.
Charging straight toward them — was the madman.
The deranged "evolutionary" Obito had unleashed. His chakra flared wildly, his sanity long since gone.
His body was unscathed by the divine shockwaves — but his mind had crumbled into pure instinct and fury.
He moved like a beast — fast, rabid, unstoppable.
"Damn it…"
Mei's face paled. She could feel his killing intent even before he reached them. And worse — out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Edo Tensei corpses beginning to move again.
Her gut twisted.
"We're in trouble—!"
BOOM!
The madman's roar echoed again as he charged straight at her. His massive fist cut through the air with enough force to crush stone.
"Watch out!!"
Ao and Chōjūrō shouted in unison — but it was already too late.
That fist was only inches away—
And then—
A flash of golden light.
Someone appeared before Mei in an instant.
BOOM!!!
At the same moment, a deafening impact thundered from the sky — one of the combatants above crashed down like a meteor, slamming into the earth.
The ground quaked violently.
The heavens roared.
And the world… shook beneath the weight of gods.
---