Chapter 133: One Move Short
There was very little natural energy left in Shiromo's body.
The two new abilities brought by Urashiki and Momoshiki had almost completely drained the natural energy he had stored.
That was also because Shiromo had deliberately allowed those two abilities to absorb his natural energy, so they could awaken to as high a level as possible.
There was no need to worry about dealing with Momoshiki, Shiromo still had another trump card.
The one he had mentioned before: his true "Sage Mode."
"You don't understand at all what true power is!"
Perhaps because a mere mortal like Shiromo, relying on altering the past, had pushed him to the brink of disappearing, forcing him to lower himself and negotiate with Boruto, his own vessel, Momoshiki was seething with rage.
After absorbing Urashiki's power, he finally began venting it.
Amenosubaruboshinomikoto: Ryūgū
The phantom of an oarfish surged toward Shiromo, an energy sphere clenched in its mouth, determined to grind Shiromo into nothing.
"Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan!"
On Jiraiya's side, his senjutsu was fully charged. Shima and Fukasaku, the two toad sages, stood on his shoulders as he directly countered the energy sphere of Amenosubaruboshinomikoto: Ryūgū.
Seeing this, Momoshiki raised his hand, intending to absorb the Rasengan, but the moment he sensed the natural energy within it and realized it was senjutsu, he lowered his hand instead and increased the power of Amenosubaruboshinomikoto: Ryūgū.
This technique was a completely different beast in Urashiki's hands versus Momoshiki's.
The Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan only held out for a few seconds before being crushed.
"Die!"
Momoshiki revealed a radiant smile.
After being stifled for so long, he could finally enjoy himself.
Whoosh!
"Hm?"
Momoshiki's smile froze. Amenosubaruboshinomikoto: Ryūgū did not continue to press downward. Something unknown had blocked it.
Looking more closely, it was actually a cyclone.
"How is that possible?"
Momoshiki raised his hand, about to absorb it, only to find that this, too, was something he couldn't absorb.
"I just don't rely excessively on power. My power is all around you."
Under Momoshiki's stunned gaze, Shiromo lifted his head.
At this moment, Shiromo's eyes were completely flooded with golden light, his pupils no longer visible.
This wasn't because Shiromo had activated some kind of dōjutsu, it was simply the manifestation of a certain energy overflowing from within his body.
With a casual wave of his hand, the originally gentle breeze transformed into a sky-piercing tornado, carrying the energy sphere of Amenosubaruboshinomikoto: Ryūgū straight into the sky until it vanished without a trace.
Only now did everyone look up and realize that the surrounding environment had been dim all along, and was continuing to darken.
They had thought it was because of the storm clouds required for Sasuke's Kirin, as well as the massive purple oarfish phantom of Momoshiki's technique blocking out the sunlight.
Now it was clear that wasn't the case.
On closer inspection, one could see countless thin rays of light, like birds paying homage to a phoenix, converging toward Shiromo.
It wasn't that the sky had grown darker, it was that Shiromo had absorbed all the surrounding light into his body, and he was doing so at an astonishing speed.
No one knew what the speed of light was in the ninja world, or how many minutes sunlight took to travel from the sun to the earth.
But as long as the absorption was fast enough, even turning day into night was possible.
And right now, it has only dimmed the sky somewhat.
"This just goes to show that the one who brings darkness to the world isn't necessarily some evil demon king. It might just be someone who absorbed all the light, with a heart full of sunshine."
True to his novelist nature, Jiraiya couldn't help blurting out a strange line from an even stranger angle.
"No. His situation is very dangerous."
Sasuke stepped forward and helped Jiraiya up, who had been knocked flying earlier and was still lying on the ground. The two supported each other, much like the reanimated Itachi and Nagato.
"Dangerous?"
"Yes. That power is far too great. His body can't possibly withstand it."
Sasuke's eyes were locked tightly on the scene before them.
At the Final Valley battle, he had used Susanoo to contain the chakra of the nine tailed beasts. That power had directly caused Susanoo's armor to shatter and chakra to overflow.
As for Naruto, he had let Kurama enter Sage Mode to absorb natural energy and then transfer that immense natural energy to his own body.
Even Kurama couldn't maintain his original form, transforming into a three-headed, six-armed shape.
As for those who became Ten-Tails jinchūriki, their bodies underwent earth-shaking transformations, otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to withstand the Ten-Tails at all.
Not to mention that even ordinary tailed-beast chakra required sealing techniques by the major villages.
You never heard of any village just stuffing a tailed beast directly into a human body. No one could endure that.
In short, Sasuke was very clear that Shiromo's current condition was far from optimistic.
In terms of sheer natural energy alone, Shiromo had already surpassed Naruto during their final clash at the Valley of the End, and it was still increasing.
The problem was that whether it was Sasuke or Naruto, they relied on Kurama's chakra or Susanoo to bear such enormous power. Shiromo, on the other hand, was relying purely on his body.
Sasuke wasn't wrong. Shiromo's body truly couldn't bear such vast stellar energy and was steadily collapsing.
But Shiromo's Crazy Diamond could repair his own body.
And Crazy Diamond had another characteristic, one that, in the past, could be considered a weakness or flaw.
That was the fact that Crazy Diamond could only repair damage; it could not restore expended energy.
Like a motorcycle that has run out of fuel, Crazy Diamond can't turn the fuel back.
Likewise, when it came to chakra, mental strength, or natural energy, once they were consumed, Crazy Diamond couldn't restore them.
There was no way to "step on your own foot to rise upward," endlessly recovering through Crazy Diamond.
In most situations, this was a drawback. But right now, it was an advantage.
Energy consumption couldn't be repaired, at its core, that meant energy wasn't affected by Crazy Diamond.
Which also meant that increases weren't affected either.
So Shiromo could continuously repair his body while simultaneously absorbing stellar natural energy far more violent and intense than the natural energy of the earth.
"What?!"
Feeling the drastic change occurring below, Momoshiki's face was filled with disbelief.
Even after seeing tailed beasts, Sasuke's Rinnegan, and the various ninjutsu of the ninja world, he had never been this shocked.
Those things were all derivatives of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
But Shiromo… this was something else entirely.
Boom!
While Momoshiki was momentarily distracted, Shiromo brought his hands together. Two pillars of rock surged up from the ground, clamping Momoshiki between them and continuously compressing inward.
This looked like Earth Release, but in truth, it was the entire land being controlled by Shiromo, seizing Momoshiki itself.
Momoshiki couldn't absorb it, and he couldn't break free.
With his lower body trapped by the rock walls and his upper body exposed, Momoshiki noticed lightning beginning to flash across the sky.
"You harmed this land, and it will answer in kind."
Shiromo raised his hand and pointed above Momoshiki's head.
The next moment, a lightning storm descended, subjecting Momoshiki to continuous "electrotherapy."
Each instant of attack was equivalent to the explosive force of the earlier Kirin.
Momoshiki was shocked and furious.
"The ones who damaged the land were Isshiki and Kaguya! What does that have to do with me?!"
"Oh, sorry. This move was originally reserved for Isshiki. I'm just testing it out on you first, and I accidentally said the wrong line."
"..."
Bathed in the relentless wrath of nature, Momoshiki could feel that even with part of the Kāma unsealed, Boruto's body was close to its limit.
"Wait for death, lower lifeform."
Momoshiki was now completely enraged, yet chillingly calm.
At this moment, he was prepared to pay any price to eliminate Shiromo.
After a brief mental discussion with Boruto, Momoshiki activated Time Stop and severed Boruto's body at the waist.
This allowed Momoshiki's upper body to break free.
But even with part of the Kāma unsealed, Boruto would still be inevitably dead after suffering an Asuma-style injury like that.
Thus, Momoshiki directly abandoned the chance to resurrect by occupying Boruto's body, instead using the power of the Kāma to restore Boruto's body.
Boruto didn't regain control because of this, continuing to leave his body under Momoshiki's command.
With their wills in complete sync, it had truly become a "Boroshiki mode."
When Momoshiki's Time Stop ended, he had already appeared in another direction in the sky.
He was waiting for the right moment. The next time he stopped time, he would ignore everything else and directly kill Shiromo.
Hm?
Where was Shiromo?
Momoshiki's heart jolted.
Then he heard a voice sound from behind him.
"You're one move short, Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki."
Thunk!
Just as Momoshiki tried to move, his body suddenly stiffened, and he lost all control.
Above Boruto's head, a disc was slowly pulled out.
On it was the image of Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki's face.
(End of this chapter)