The sudden ambush caught Yoru somewaht off guard.
In this barren void of the heavens, where even planets were an extreme rarity, such a sneak attack suddenly appearing was beyond anything Yoru had anticipated.
But what truly shocked Yuki Yoru was the attacker's identity.
If their pale skin and the hard horns protruding from their foreheads weren't enough to confirm it, then the overwhelming chakra and those pure-white eyes already made it clear who they were.
Ōtsutsuki.
"Drawn here by the high-density energy released from the Dream World's collapse… Do you see me as prey?"
Understanding dawned on Yoru. With a backward grip of his hand, he gathered power, and a Sacred Destruction Arrows burst forth into existence within the void. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a streaking beam of light, piercing toward the Ōtsutsuki's heart.
The towering Ōtsutsuki erupted with chakra, his hands clapping together in an instant. The chakra surrounding his body condensed into a crimson disk of energy, interposing itself before the arrow.
The Sacred Destruction Arrow and the chakra barrier clashed violently, the force distorting space itself in jagged ripples. Yoru's eyes narrowed slightly.
The chakra shield condensed and released by this Ōtsutsuki was undoubtedly a creation of Yin-Yang Release Though distinct from Truth-Seeking Orbs, its strength was in no way inferior.
The burst of energy shook the very fabric of space. Luckily, this was the emptiness of the universe—otherwise, the aftershocks from that single clash would have destroyed countless things nearby.
The shockwave had barely dispersed when the tall Ōtsutsuki's body turned into a flash of violet lightning, moving with such uncanny speed it was impossible to track, and appeared right before Yuki Yoru.
A crimson radiance gathered in his hand, instantly shaping into a massive red blade. Without hesitation, he swung it down in a brutal arc.
BZZZT!!
The sudden attack was impossible to track, the surging chakra's force was overwhelming!
Yet Yoru seemed to have anticipated it. At the moment the enemy appeared, his palm bloomed with a biting frost, its chill enveloping the Ōtsutsuki entirely.
Crack… crack…
Frost formed layer upon layer, aiming to freeze the giant's form solid.
But as the chill spread, strange spatial ripples surfaced across the Ōtsutsuki's body. The frigid ice passed straight through him, utterly ineffective, as though he were a mere projection that didn't truly exist in this space at all.
This power was identical to Obito's Kamui—and even stronger!
But Yoru's expression did not change. The moment his frost missed, its power multiplied severalfold.
Within a few breaths, the very space the Ōtsutsuki occupied was completely frozen.
Four-World Freeze!—even space itself could not escape the fate of being frozen!
The phantasmal space was frozen over, forcing the Ōtsutsuki's true body to reveal itself—only to be immediately caught within the encroaching frost.
The Ōtsutsuki roared, struggling, but quickly realized that under this biting cold his limbs were stiff, his arms heavy—he could barely move, let alone fight back.
"You attack at me without knowing the depths of my power… Should I praise your courage, or call you arrogant, reckless, and utterly foolish?"
Yuki Yoru's expression remained calm as he looked at the Ōtsutsuki before him gradually being frozen. This was the first time he had ever seen a true, living Ōtsutsuki.
The discarded Ōtsutsuki remnant from before had only been a half-breed. Even Jigen, whom Yoru had briefly encountered, was merely a vessel carrying Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's power—hardly a true Ōtsutsuki at all.
But this one was different.
The sheer intensity was at its peak, not inferior in the slightest to the chakra of the Sage of Six Paths' clones of the past. Even Nagato, with his Six Paths body, could not compare. Everything about this figure's power marked him as standing at the pinnacle of the shinobi world—an Ōtsutsuki.
Without a doubt, if he could capture this one and bring him back to the shinobi world, whether for Yukiko's research into kekkei genkai or Orochimaru's forbidden techniques, both would make milestone breakthroughs!
"ROAR!!"
As the frost tightened, the Ōtsutsuki twisted his neck and let out a low growl of pain.
Veins bulged at his temples, and suddenly a dense surge of crimson chakra erupted from within him. Like a blazing inferno, it burst violently from his body, shattering the ice that had frozen even space itself.
"Bow-Wielding God!"
"Aramusha Fusion: Spiral!"
The next moment, the Ōtsutsuki's hands spread wide, crimson chakra shaping into twin massive axes. His body spun violently in place, turning into a whirling storm that tore toward Yoru with unstoppable force.
"…Interesting."
A flicker of surprise passed through Yoru's eyes, though his expression did not change. He calmly extended his palm forward, and boundless spiritual power surged out, condensing into a raging torrent of gravity that instantly enveloped and bound the spinning Ōtsutsuki.
The torrent of crushing gravity raged over the Six Paths-class Ōtsutsuki's body. Struggling desperately within the Black Coffin, he actually forced countless cracks to spread across its surface.
"BOOM!!"
With an explosion of chakra, the Black Coffin was shattered. Wounds riddled the towering Ōtsutsuki's body, and his pure white eyes gleamed with madness.
The crimson chakra orbiting him twisted and transformed without end—long blades, halberds, giant axes, katanas—countless peerless weapons manifested from the crimson glow, all hurtling toward Yuki Yoru at once.
And with them came the Ōtsutsuki himself.
A body that had long since transcended mere flesh—the Ōtsutsuki's physique itself was his most powerful weapon!
"Heavenly Yata Arrow!"
"Whooom!!"
Yoru said nothing further. Slowly, he raised his hand, black spiritual power forming into a Quincy Crossblade, which he gripped firmly.
Facing the incoming Ōtsutsuki, Yoru simply lifted the crossblade. With its appearance, a terrifying spiritual pressure erupted from within him, shaking the entire cosmos.
Spiritual light flowed along the Quincy Crossblade. The black blade tore through the void—everything in its path reduced to nothingness!
The incoming chakra-forged weapons shattered the instant they touched the blade. In the blink of an eye, the black edge fell upon the Ōtsutsuki's chest. He instinctively tried to escape, but discovered that he couldn't move at all—as if some unknown force had locked him in place.
The strike landed, sending the Ōtsutsuki's massive body hurtling backward like a cannonball, tumbling through the vast void.
But Yoru did not pursue. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the emptiness of space.
"You've been watching all this time… and even when your comrade falls, you remain unmoved?"
"..."
The space under Yoru's gaze rippled like water. From it seeped a suffocating wave of chakra pressure, and slowly, a white figure emerged.
His form looked far less towering than the previous Ōtsutsuki—merely the size of an ordinary human. Draped in flowing white robes like the fading glory of a god, his pure white eyes radiated an endless sense of nobility and arrogance.
"I smell a trace of something familiar on you."
The unknown Ōtsutsuki gazed indifferently at Yuki Yoru and spoke slowly.
"Though faint, and entirely different in origin, this aura… Have you encountered Ōtsutsuki Kaguya?"
"Who the hell is that supposed to be?" Yoru stood opposed, countless eyes flickering within his sockets. "If you're here treating me like prey, and yet still step out to question me for information, don't you think that's incredibly foolish of you?
"Or perhaps… after realizing the roles of hunter and prey have reversed, has something changed inside you?"
"Hunter?"
A mocking smile tugged at Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki's lips. Yet sensing something, he turned his gaze toward the earlier giant.
That massive, muscular body now floated helplessly in the void, limp and drifting, with a deep gash across his abdomen that nearly cleaved his form in two.
"…Hm? Kinshiki's wound hasn't healed?"
Momoshiki's eyes narrowed.
The Ōtsutsuki were a special existence, long since detached from mere mortal flesh, transcending life and death. Though their bodies could suffer damage from external forces, their regenerative ability would restore them swiftly.
This was the power of the "Kekkei Kekkei Mōra"!
And yet, Kinshiki's wound remained unhealed.
In Momoshiki's eyes, a strange pitch-black spiritual power clung to the edges of Kinshiki's abdominal wound, like maggots gnawing on bone, stubbornly suppressing his body's innate regenerative power.
With a wave of his hand, a Rinnegan suddenly manifested in Momoshiki's palm. A powerful suction force erupted from it, pulling Kinshiki's drifting body toward him, while also extracting every trace of the dark spiritual power festering in the wound. The black spiritual power condensed into a streak of light and was absorbed by him.
"Cough!"
Kinshiki spat a mouthful of blood, but with the obstruction gone, the Ōtsutsuki's overwhelming regenerative ability displayed itself. In just a few breaths, that ghastly wound—fatal to any ordinary human—was completely healed.
Even so, Kinshiki did not act recklessly. The strength that the 'prey' had shown was a little beyond his expectations, and Momoshiki by his side had not given the next command.
Meanwhile, Momoshiki's expression shifted after absorbing the pitch-black spiritual power . A faint black light flickered on his palm, as if something was stirring within it, before gradually fading back to normal.
"Interesting… truly interesting!"
"Energy of this magnitude can fully be compared with the source energy of some planets… It seems we've truly stumbled upon a big surprise, Kinshiki!"
Slowly, Momoshiki raised his left hand. In its palm, too, rested a Rinnegan.
As its ocular power surged, a wave of pitch-black spiritual power emanated, shaping itself into a blade of light. Its oppressive aura surpassed even the one Yoru had unleashed earlier!
Faced with this, Yuki Yoru's brows furrowed slightly.
In the original story, Momoshiki's Rinnegan's unique ability was called Takamagahara no Kami. His right-hand Rinnegan could absorb all ninjutsu and chakra, similar to sealing techniques like the Absorption Seal. The techniques and chakra absorbed could restore his own power. His left-hand Rinnegan, however, could amplify those absorbed techniques and unleash them back at his enemies—vastly stronger than before.
Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki could use all the techniques he had stolen, and he possessed every chakra nature. He could even combine them freely in jutsu.
But what Yoru hadn't expected was that he could devour spiritual power as well—and after consuming it, he could even strengthen and reuse it!
"Of course… in the end, spiritual power is just another form of energy."
It was the same principle as his control over chakra, or how the Sage of Six Paths' Rinnegan could absorb techniques with sealing absorption and counter spiritual power. So long as the strength was sufficient, there was no real difference between chakra and spiritual power. The same held true for sage chakra and natural energy.
All laws return to the same source—nothing more than that.
"If I were to consume this one, it would be no different from devouring a perfect planet," Momoshiki muttered as his left hand swung, unleashing a blade of sharp spiritual power that seemed ready to cleave apart the void itself, striking straight toward Yuki Yoru.
Yoru raised his blade to meet it, and the two forces collided in a deafening burst.
But in that instant, Kinshiki's massive form had already appeared behind him, crimson chakra gathering at his fingertips like blazing fire, crashing down toward Yoru's back.
A torrent of spiritual power erupted from within Yoru, forming into a barrier—but Momoshiki's figure flickered like a phantom, appearing before him. The moment he emerged, the Rinnegan in his right palm released a pale purple, ghostly chakra.
The spiritual power Yoru had just released, not yet fully formed into a barrier, was swallowed by Momoshiki's Rinnegan, refined into pure spiritual energy under his control.
"Kashū!" Kinshiki let out a low growl. With the barrier gone, the dense crimson chakra at his fingertip slammed mercilessly into Yoru's back.
Boom!
With a deafening impact, the terrifying power blasted Yoru's body away, hurling him straight into a nearby planet. The barren ground split apart instantly, countless spiderweb cracks spreading for dozens of miles.
Momoshiki's figure appeared above the planet. In his raised left hand, spiritual power condensed into a deep-blue arrow—identical to the Sacred Destruction Arrows Yoru had unleashed earlier!
"What a useful power this is."
The Sacred Destruction Arrow tore through the void, its vast spiritual might dyeing the heavens in deep blue as it shot toward Yoru in a blaze of radiance.
But at the very instant the arrow descended, an even greater surge of spiritual power erupted from below. High-density spiritual particles flared violently at Yoru's command, igniting the barren planet's surface with blue flames of spirit particles.
The flames surged skyward, forming into colossal pillars. The searing heat melted the Sacred Destruction Arrow into nothingness, and within that forest of blazing spiritual particles flames, a figure slowly rose—like a god.