Chapter 271 – "This Glory, I Will Not Keep for Myself"
Tobirama Senju was trembling with excitement.
He was certain—absolutely certain—that he had uncovered the truth of the Sage of Six Paths.
If his earlier conclusions had only been speculation, now, as he gazed up at the sky and felt the divine chakra radiating from the two clashing figures above…
he no longer had a single doubt left.
"As I thought… the Sage of Six Paths truly was omniscient and omnipotent,"
Tobirama whispered, his eyes shining with realization.
He leaned toward his dazed brother.
"He must have foreseen a time in the future when these so-called gods—the Ōtsutsuki—would descend upon our world."
"So that's why he pushed the shinobi world into such cruel, endless conflict?"
Hashirama's voice was distant, heavy with disbelief.
"Even knowing countless lives would be lost—even sacrificing his own sons—he still went through with it?"
"Exactly," Tobirama replied, his tone grim yet fervent.
"Because he faced the Ōtsutsuki himself. He knew how powerful they were."
Hashirama fell silent.
"A thousand years of sacrifice… a mountain of corpses… all so that we could one day be strong enough to face them. That's what he believed."
"…"
"And now—look around you, Brother! Two Ōtsutsuki have already descended. What if, in the future, there are more?"
Hashirama turned toward Tobirama, speechless.
He wanted to argue—but couldn't.
Tobirama's reasoning was sound. Ruthless, but logical.
And in this moment, even Hashirama found himself half-believing it.
Still, one question lingered in his heart.
"Then why are these two fighting each other? What's happening up there?"
"No idea," Tobirama muttered. "But whatever it is—it's anything but simple."
He scanned the battlefield below.
"We'll ask when it's over. But if one Ōtsutsuki can dominate another so easily…"
"That means the enemy we face is even more terrifying than we imagined."
Hashirama nodded grimly.
Two Ōtsutsuki—one being utterly crushed by the other.
And the victor was Ōtsutsuki Genshiki (Gen Kitagawa).
That fact alone chilled him to the bone.
"Enough talk," Tobirama said suddenly, eyes narrowing toward a distant figure.
Hashirama followed his gaze—
and saw Uchiha Obito creeping toward the unconscious Utakata, the Six-Tails' jinchūriki.
"Looks like we've got our own problem to handle," Hashirama muttered.
---
Meanwhile, in the sky above, Gen was barely listening to the world below.
His wooden clone—the God Tree manifestation—was battling Isshiki's unstable "White Kāma,"
and after only a few exchanges, Gen realized how strange this one truly was.
"Its consciousness is gone… just hatred, violence, and instinct driving what's left."
The creature roared and vanished into a black lattice beneath its feet, reappearing behind Gen in an instant.
"Watch out!" Mei shouted from a safe distance—Gen had teleported her away moments earlier.
But Gen didn't even turn.
A slight tilt of his head—
and the monster's fist sliced through empty air, shattering the earth beneath them instead.
Gen's black staff darted forward, piercing through the creature's leg and pinning it to the ground.
"Aaaah!"
The "White Kāma" howled in pain, its eyes flickering with primal fear—
but that fear quickly turned to rage.
It lunged again. Gen's second black rod flashed, impaling the other leg and anchoring it completely.
"Be still," Gen said quietly.
"You'll suffer less this way."
His eyes briefly flicked toward the sky, where his true self continued to pummel Urashiki relentlessly.
---
Up above, the battle was sheer chaos.
Gen was growing faster, sharper—every strike more deliberate, more merciless.
Urashiki, on the other hand, could barely think.
Every blow rattled his mind until a single thought consumed him:
"If this keeps up… I'll die."
Death.
A concept utterly alien to an Ōtsutsuki.
But now, facing this mad kin of his, whose strikes carried the crushing weight of Yin–Yang chakra itself—
for the first time, Urashiki felt death closing in.
"He's not even giving me a chance to transform…!"
He still had a trump card—
a desperate technique: to consume his own sacred tool and Rinnegan, unlocking the third eye on his forehead and transforming into his "Celestial Crane" form.
But Gen was too fast. Too relentless.
He couldn't find even a heartbeat's opening to attempt it.
"Why struggle, 'senpai'?"
Gen's voice whispered behind him.
Pain exploded across Urashiki's body—
blood spattered through the air as his arm, the one clutching his fishing rod, was severed clean off.
Even when he tried to reverse time, it was too late—
the strike had landed before he could act.
"How… how can he be this strong?"
Urashiki gasped, stumbling backward—
but Gen was already there, his golden blade raised once more.
"Isn't it pathetic?" Gen's voice was calm, almost pitying.
"A life force so vast, but a will so fragile. You call yourself divine?"
Urashiki could only dodge, silent, trembling.
"You're pitiful," Gen continued, pressing his assault.
"Why keep running? Why not simply accept it?"
He thrust again, eyes gleaming with manic conviction.
"Fulfill the dream I share with Isshiki—
become one with our 'Path to Godhood'.
When I stand upon the heavens…"
His golden blade shimmered like a sunburst.
"This glory—I will not keep it to myself!"
Urashiki's thoughts froze.
You won't keep it to yourself?
I'll be dead, you lunatic!
He wanted nothing more than to escape this nightmare.
His time-eye could rewind moments, but not distance him. He needed to run.
A violet glow ignited in his palm—
"Tensuha Ryūseimyō: Spirit Devourer!"
The purple beam shot forth—
yet before it could hit, Gen calmly raised his hand.
The entire blast folded into his palm and vanished like mist.
"What—?"
A hum.
Golden energy surged in Gen's hand, swelling into a sphere of radiant destruction.
Urashiki's eyes widened.
He recognized it instantly—
the same power his kin, Momoshiki, once wielded.
"That's… my chakra…?"
"No," Gen whispered, his voice like the calm before creation.
"It's mine now."
And he hurled it down like the wrath of a god.
The azure light of Urashiki's Rinnegan flared once more, his form blurring as the world itself seemed to warp around him.
He narrowly—barely—dodged the incoming strike.
Buzz—
But before he could even steady himself, his pupils shrank in disbelief.
Ōtsutsuki Genshiki was already upon him.
The golden sword in Gen's hand hummed with divine fury, a radiance so intense it threatened to tear the heavens apart.
"Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion."
The moment the blade swung, the very sky dimmed to pale grey.
A silent, invisible pressure rolled outward—so immense that Urashiki's instincts screamed death.
In panic, he poured every ounce of chakra into his time-reversal eyes.
The power of time surged through him; he reversed the flow of moments, pulling himself out of the instant before annihilation.
He felt space twist—his body flickered backward through the past—
and suddenly, the fatal blow that no one had ever escaped before… missed.
"Huh?"
For a fleeting moment, Urashiki couldn't comprehend it.
The attack that had always found him no matter how he moved—
this time, it simply… passed him by.
"A mistake?"
There was no time to question it.
This was his only chance.
Whoosh—
His figure vanished, retreating thousands of meters in an instant.
His eyes turned blood-red once more, the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan spinning violently in his sockets.
Behind him, the shimmering portal of the Yomotsu Hirasaka opened wide.
"Ōtsutsuki Genshiki… I'll remember this."
His voice trembled with fury and humiliation as he glared at the man who had beaten him so utterly.
"The shame you've given me today—I'll return it a hundredfold.
What you and Isshiki have done will be reported.
Both of you… will die for this!"
---
"..."
(Somewhere inside Obito's mind, Isshiki twitched.)
"Wait—why am I suddenly being blamed again?"
---
Gen tilted his head slightly, unfazed.
Amusement glimmered in his pale eyes.
"You've been fighting all this time," he said softly, "and you still haven't learned the simplest truth."
Urashiki froze, half of his body already stepping through the dark rift.
"Don't speak so loudly of vengeance," Gen continued, raising a single finger toward him.
"The louder you shout… the more it exposes your weakness."
"You dare mock me when death's already at your back?!" Urashiki snarled, rage twisting his features.
But Gen only smiled.
"Escape is only meaningful when both sides are equals."
"Between you and me…"
His finger gleamed with golden light.
"Running is pointless. Watch—if I move just like this…"
Gen's tone was calm, almost playful. He lifted one finger, aiming lazily toward Urashiki's chest.
"I can pierce your body—right now."
Urashiki's face contorted.
"Madman…"
He spat the word under his breath, deciding to cut his losses.
He'd made his threat, bought time—now all that was left was to escape and report back.
He turned, stepping deeper into the Yomotsu Hirasaka—
—and froze.
A pulse of unimaginable power—quiet, absolute—descended upon him like a whisper from creation itself.
Splurt—
A wet sound.
He looked down in disbelief.
Half of his body—
everything from the waist down—
was gone.
No warning. No sensation. No time.
Just a single golden flash.
And silence.
---
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's scream was swallowed by the void.
Half of him fell into the otherworldly portal—
the other half crumpled onto the shattered earth.
High above, Gen lowered his glowing hand, expression serene.
"I told you," he murmured.
"Words are meaningless to the weak."
The sky thundered in acknowledgment, clouds swirling around him like a crown.