Chapter 339: Six Paths?
Nine-Tails' earth-shaking roar formed a substantial sound wave, violently blowing Urashiki away. Sasuke took advantage to release his restraint on Urashiki, single arm supporting the ground to stabilize himself, looking up in disbelief at that mountain-like colossal golden Nine-Tails.
"Sasuke-san!"
Boruto hastily stepped forward supporting Sasuke, voice carrying uncontrollable excitement. Watching that imposing golden giant beast, he couldn't help exclaiming: "Amazing! So Dad was already this strong at this age?"
At this moment, Sasuke's heart was in tremendous turmoil. Was Naruto truly this strong during this period? The answer was naturally negative.
In his memory, this period's Naruto's strength indeed slightly surpassed his same-period self, but absolutely couldn't reach such shocking extent.
If Naruto then truly possessed such power, probably the moment he defected from Konoha, Naruto would have broken all four limbs and forcibly dragged him back. More terrifyingly, Sasuke analyzed his extremely proud personality back then—facing such disparate strength difference, the jealousy in his heart would probably make his personality become even more twisted.
"This... this is impossible!"
Urashiki stabilized himself midair, face full of logic-collapsing confusion. He'd always been extremely confident in his abilities. Though due to these two uninvited guests' interference, he hadn't reached the anticipated period when Naruto was still in childhood but instead arrived at the time point when Naruto became a genin.
But! Was this truly the strength a genin from this planet should possess? If this guy already possessed such terrifying power at this time, his progress speed over these years was far too slow!
When Urashiki realized the "soft persimmon" he'd carefully selected was actually an indestructible iron plate, he finally lost control, shrieking:
"What kind of joke... Don't think you can fool me again! Lower creatures!"
After adjusting his posture midair, Urashiki violently swung the red fishing rod in his hand, forcefully casting toward the golden Nine-Tails before him! His mouth twisted into a crazed smile.
That's right! This arrogant guy actually dared display such massive form—didn't he know the larger the body, the harder to dodge attacks? As long as he could hook his chakra, he'd still have a chance to turn defeat into victory! Urashiki convinced himself thus.
Swoosh!
The next moment, a terrifying thing happened—the massive golden Nine-Tails before Urashiki vanished into thin air! Leaving no movement traces, as though never existing.
Before Urashiki could recover from this sudden change, his Byakugan capable of 360-degree observation without blind spots had already captured the enemy's position!
"Not good!"
Urashiki frantically wanted to activate another ability. However, before his Byakugan could switch to blue Rinnegan, his back suffered devastating impact!
Turned out Nine-Tails had appeared directly behind Urashiki in that instant through Flying Thunder God. After consuming tremendous chakra, Naruto successfully achieved the feat of spatially transferring the entire complete Tailed Beast transformation form. This strike was precise and ruthless, completely beyond Urashiki's expectations.
The golden giant claw viciously slapped Urashiki, sending his entire person flying like a kite with cut string, rapidly plummeting toward outside Konoha Village!
Though not yet fully understanding the situation, Naruto had already realized this Otsutsuki seemed not as invincible as imagined. He decisively decided on quick victory!
"Tailed Beast Bomb!"
The golden Nine-Tails opened its massive mouth. A black-purple energy sphere condensed instantly! The orb containing destructive energy tore through the sky, directly pursuing the swatted Urashiki!
"Damn it... merely creatures not even comparable to monkeys... actually dare fantasize about eliminating me!"
Urashiki roared furiously midair! At this critical moment, his blue Rinnegan ability finally successfully activated.
"BOOM!!!"
The Tailed Beast Bomb exploded in the forest outside Konoha, forming a massive mushroom cloud. Scorching heat waves swept like a tsunami across half of Konoha. Distant trees were uprooted. The explosion center's earth transformed into scorched wasteland.
"Did we win..."
Standing atop Nine-Tails' head, Naruto murmured, gaze urgently searching for Urashiki's figure.
However, Otsutsuki ultimately weren't so easily eliminated. In the explosion's smoke, Urashiki's figure re-emerged—at the last moment, he successfully rewound time several seconds, avoiding the Tailed Beast Bomb's direct hit.
He glared viciously at the distant golden Nine-Tails, killing intent in his eyes nearly solidifying. When the blue Rinnegan turned vivid red, a pitch-black portal opened beside him from thin air.
Yomotsu Hirasaka—this was Kekkei Mora-level space-time ability. Urashiki deeply looked at Naruto once, then floated into the black portal, figure completely vanishing, leaving only devastation everywhere and undispersed gunsmoke.
Naruto regrettably thought—during the just-now battle, he hadn't found opportunity to leave a Flying Thunder God mark on Urashiki. But even if he'd left a mark, the situation probably wouldn't be optimistic. He remembered Kaguya Otsutsuki similarly possessed such space-time ability, freely traversing various alternate dimensions—realms Flying Thunder God couldn't reach.
Honestly, this battle was much easier than Naruto anticipated. Even Nine-Tails within him felt incredulous, carefully observing external circumstances through Naruto's vision.
Nine-Tails could sense Urashiki indeed emanated power aura sharing the same source as the Sage of Six Paths. Those special eyes further confirmed its judgment.
However, Nine-Tails was also very clear this enemy fell far short of the Sage of Six Paths' power—though sharing the same source, obvious disparity existed in aura intensity.
Nine-Tails had originally deduced this enemy should at least possess Madara Uchiha-level strength... But the actual situation before its eyes... wasn't it a bit too... easy to handle?
Since the enemy had temporarily retreated, Naruto also released Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. The golden giant beast slowly dissipated in the air. Naruto lightly landed back on the ground, recovering his usual state.
He looked toward the still dumbstruck Sasuke and amazed-faced Boruto not far away, lightly sighing as he walked toward them.
"...So you've already reached this extent?" Sasuke spoke first, voice carrying hard-to-conceal shock.
"Yes, unexpected?" Naruto slightly shrugged. "Sorry I didn't explain clearly. But compared to my matters, I'm more concerned about your situation."
Sasuke fell into silence. He'd originally come to protect others yet instead became the protected party—this role reversal made him feel quite embarrassed.
"Your Mangekyo Sharingan has already evolved into Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, right? Plus your Rinnegan," Naruto puzzledly pursued. "Where did your power go?"
"...I was careless."
Sasuke's voice was somewhat low. "In previous battle, Urashiki seized large amounts of my chakra. Now with the chakra quantity stored in my body, I still can't utilize that power."
Naruto held his forehead with a headache. The reason was this simple? Just due to insufficient chakra? He'd originally wanted to say "why didn't you tell me earlier"—if lacking chakra, he could have completely sought his help.
But thinking again, hadn't he also not told Sasuke about Nine-Tails? So he swallowed the complaint at his lips, changing to gentler tone.
"Fine, I guess I understand what people mean by 'Naruto and Sasuke nerfing'..."
"What?" Sasuke asked confusedly.
"Nothing," Naruto shook his head. "Now, let me restore your chakra. This is also my fault—earlier I just wanted to encourage you, only transferring small amounts of chakra."
Sasuke's expression also became somewhat strange. His reason for not seeking Naruto's help was indeed not expecting this period's Naruto actually possessed chakra quantity not inferior to future Naruto's.
Though he'd always known his chakra quantity couldn't match Naruto's, being unable to compare even to this youth-period Naruto made this recognition especially embarrassing for Sasuke.