A pitiful native. A descendant of that despicable traitor Kaguya, some lineage unknown. An ant, separated from her by a gulf of generations. This thought filled Ōtsutsuki Isshiki with universal shame—as if he, a deity, had been crushed by the descendant of dust he would never have spared a glance.
Alas, if humiliation could alter reality, was it worth the effort?
And reality was cruel: he had no chance of killing Uchiha Yue. There was no way to seal him. This man was an immortal monster, a demon incarnate, an unimaginable creature with no place in the mortal world.
If not for his all-too-recognizable Mangekyō Sharingan and his human form, Isshiki would have seriously suspected that this Yue was the offspring of some Outer God from the dark depths of space, unknown even to the Ōtsutsuki clan.
So what now?
Isshiki looked up to the heavens. Killing was impossible, escape impossible. He realized he was trapped on this damned planet, and a wave of despair washed over him. The current situation was incomparably worse than the last.
Back then, Kaguya had only beaten him half to death, but he had managed to survive. Moreover, it was a silver lining: he had discovered natural energy—a power capable of accelerating the maturation of Karma. Ultimately, he hadn't been the loser.
But now everything was different. All bad, no good. His situation resembled a nightmare: he was a cripple, trapped in a burning house. The exit was visible, but inaccessible. The arms and legs that would have allowed him to escape lay nearby, but he was paralyzed and could only watch as the flames drew ever closer.
If only he could regain his body, he would be saved. Just a little more, and he would have found the perfect vessel, been reborn, and left this rotting world behind. But now…
— Ah…
Isshiki let out a remorseful sigh. He, who was destined to be the death of countless worlds, now had to defeat Uchiha Yue just to survive.
How ironic. He, a natural disaster, was supposed to wipe this world off the face of the earth, and instead he was forced to fight for it, to save himself. After all, it was Uchiha Yue who was supposed to be the Divine Tree's sacrifice, to be consumed by it.
Executioner and victim, savior and destroyer—all mingled in an absurd dance.
"Oh, cruel savior!" he chuckled bitterly to himself. "To fulfill my plan and destroy this world, I, the Lord of Doom, must first defeat you—the one who is destroying it right now!"
For Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, this was a cruel twist of fate.
And yet, he had to think about how to kill Uchiha Yue.
"No," he snapped. "Such a monster cannot be killed. Better to think about how to escape this planet."
Isshiki shook his head, casting aside his pipe dreams. Finding a suitable vessel, reviving, and getting away—that plan seemed far more realistic.
The thirst for life proved stronger than pride. The shinobi world was vast—the perfect vessel for it would surely be found.
With this thought, Isshiki took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his soul, and vanished into space.
"What?! Someone dared challenge Uchiha Yue?"
Black Zetsu stared at White Zetsu with undisguised amazement, as if he'd just told her something unimaginable.
"Exactly." Not long before, a mushroom-shaped column of smoke had risen above the dead zone where Yue resided. And the zone itself began to tremble and shift, as if Yue were tumbling there. If this wasn't a battle, then what was? Was he... relieving himself in a big way?
"Although... maybe that's true. Yue is always floating in the sky." Suddenly, he wondered what it would be like to cause a meteor shower of... well, you get the idea! "White Zetsu nodded, continuing his favorite theme.
Black Zetsu and Uchiha Obito, of course, ignored this nonsense.
They exchanged glances.
"Impossible. The Dead Zone is monstrously vast. What kind of creature could cross it without losing all its power and engage it in combat?" Obito looked at White Zetsu incredulously. "Are you sure you haven't mixed anything up?"
"I haven't mixed anything up! The zone was shaking, and there was a mushroom cloud of smoke! If you don't believe me, look into my memory for yourself!" White Zetsu rattled on, spinning around.
But his confidence only increased Obito and Black Zetsu's confusion.
"Is there really a fighter of such caliber hiding in the shinobi world? Who is capable of resisting the all-consuming power of the Dead Zone and reaching Yue?" Obito muttered, thinking hard.
Black Zetsu was silent, but his mind was racing. "Impossible, simply impossible... Where in this world could a being with such colossal chakra come from? I would have detected it long ago, given thousands of years. Strange, very strange..."
Uchiha Yue... absorption... Wait. This ability of his... it's so similar to the power of the Divine Tree, the knowledge Mother implanted in me when I was created.
Wait a minute. Yue is of the Uchiha clan, right? A descendant of that degenerate, Hagoromo. He has the blood of the Ōtsutsuki, the blood of the Divine Tree. Could it be that Yue has awakened the power inherent in the Tree itself?
Exactly. It all fits together. The Divine Tree originally carried within itself the power to destroy the world. Isn't that the same thing Yue is doing now?
Could it be... Hagoromo?
He considered Yue's power too ominous, a threat to all life, and so he intervened?
But... he's been dead for a long time.
No... That can't be. I... I personally confirmed his death! I saw that old bastard breathe his last.