Chapter 104 — The Man from the Light
The first blade of divine water fell.
It split the clouds in half, tearing through the air with the force to erase everything it touched.
Naruto and Sasuke braced themselves — but before they could react, a soft golden glow shone across the battlefield.
From Akira's forehead, strange runes appeared — ancient markings pulsing like a heartbeat. The symbols spread, weaving into the air until they formed a ring of light. Space twisted, and a portal opened — calm and silent amidst chaos.
From that portal, a man stepped out.
He carried no killing intent, no chakra that could be sensed — only a gentle aura, so soothing that even the roaring Dragon Vein stilled for a breath. His presence alone silenced the wind.
The man raised one hand, and the water blade that was about to strike vanished — not shattered, not deflected, simply erased as if it had never existed.
Naruto and Sasuke froze mid-breath. Mitsutsuki Otsutsuki's mocking grin faltered, his divine chakra momentarily disrupted by something he could not comprehend.
The man turned his gaze toward Akira. His eyes were soft — deep, calm, and filled with warmth that felt… familiar.
Akira, still trembling from the aftershock of the attack, felt weightless for a moment — then the man was beside him, lifting him gently into his arms.
He held Akira close, cradling him with care, one hand brushing softly through the boy's dark hair.
Akira blinked up at him — confused, breath caught in his chest.
The man didn't speak. He simply looked up at the Otsutsuki in the sky — that cold, divine being who moments ago treated Naruto and Sasuke like toys — and without a single word, the Otsutsuki vanished.
Gone.
No explosion, no seal — just an empty space where a god once stood.
Naruto and Sasuke stared in disbelief. The air was calm again, unnaturally so.
Akira turned his eyes back to the man who held him, his heartbeat racing.
"...Father?" he whispered, voice barely audible.
The man looked down and smiled — a small, sad, and knowing smile that seemed to hold centuries within it.
He said nothing. Only brushed his thumb across Akira's cheek, the warmth of his hand both real and distant, like a fading dream.
Before anyone could speak — before Naruto could ask who he was, before Sasuke could react — the man's body shimmered with light.
The portal reopened behind him.
And as the glow began to swallow him and Akira both, the man's calm voice, faint as the wind, whispered only one thing:
"Not yet, my son…"
Then the light faded.
The sky was clear again.
No trace of the man remained — except the lingering warmth in Akira's small hands, and the silence that followed him.
The mystery had only deepened.
End of Chapter 104.