Moryo was completely stunned.
Originally, under the great sun of the Desolate Land, the sky was already dazzling enough.
But now that Hikari's Susanoo had absorbed the Solar Beam and transformed into its Luminous Form (Ultra Necrozma), the light it emitted was blindingly absolute.
Just a second ago, it was a black, evil giant that seemed to absorb all light.
The next second, it was like someone tossed a god-tier flashbang right into Moryo's face.
Although Moryo was a conglomeration of negative energy, it didn't have a vampire's weakness to sunlight.
But it was still trembling with raw, primal fear.
The blinding light before it wasn't just sunlight—it was the physical embodiment of violent, overwhelming power!
As a demon, Moryo's size was enormous.
It dominated the underground magma chamber. But facing the Complete Body Susanoo—especially in its golden, glowing form—it completely lost any thought of resistance.
"Wait! Don't! Don't kill me!"
Moryo's pleading voice shrieked from below. "The Priestess and I are one! If you kill me, she'll die too!"
As Makoto had noted earlier, Moryo's "Demon Lord" prestige was ass.
First, because it spoke like a normal human, and second, because it begged like a total coward.
However, Moryo's pathetic plea actually made Hikari pause.
'Wait a minute,' Hikari suddenly remembered.
'I'm not here to be a Justice Warrior saving the world. I'm here to mug this thing for its chakra!'
Now that Moryo's soul and body had merged into one, its chakra capacity was maxed out.
It was the perfect time for a heist.
BOOM!
A massive beam of golden light erupted from the Susanoo's chest, missing Moryo entirely and cutting across the sky, essentially giving the Earth's atmosphere a middle part.
She had successfully achieved the Luminous Form, but she couldn't completely control the overflow of energy yet, so she needed to vent it quickly.
If the Susanoo was completely overcharged with Solar Energy, it would become extremely difficult for her to use Eight Thousand Spears to absorb Moryo's chakra.
Never mind whether Moryo would die from the attack—even if it survived half-dead, energy entities usually tied their health bars directly to their mana bars.
Blasting it would just waste good chakra.
To be fair, Moryo's desperate shout was indeed quite effective at stalling.
Makoto, who was piloting Kurotsuchi's body, also stopped his power-up.
He had originally planned to give Moryo a taste of Precipice Blades right out of the gate, but he reconsidered.
Better not skewer it to death before the robbery is complete.
Instead, Makoto used an Earth-Style: Rising Bed technique to lift the demon up first.
In Desolate Land mode, using these Ground-type Earth Release techniques was incredibly easy.
Easier than taking a shit!
RUMBLE.
A massive stone platform rose from the underground magma, lifting the pitiful tentacled monster like a slab of meat on a cutting board, bringing it right up to the golden Susanoo's face.
Hikari controlled the Susanoo's massive finger to gently "boop" Moryo, instantly stamping it with an Eight Thousand Spears mark, before withdrawing her hand.
The next second, the terrifying tentacle monster began convulsing wildly on the rock platform like a slug completely covered in salt.
Its massive size rapidly deflated as its energy was violently vacuumed out.
Hikari didn't even bother storing Moryo's filthy chakra in her own reserves.
She directly transmitted it into the Gedo Statue.
The Gedo Statue was basically a portable toilet—you could dump whatever garbage chakra you wanted in there without any digestive issues... well except Boruto.
Having completed the extraction, Makoto finally controlled Kurotsuchi to unleash the previously withheld finishing move.
"Precipice Blades."
CRASH!
A gigantic, jagged stone blade coated in superheated magma instantly erupted from deep underground, shattering the rock platform and impaling the shriveled, chakra-drained Moryo right through its core.
Upon being pierced by the condensed earth energy, Moryo immediately exploded into fireworks.
Precipice Blades wasn't merely an Earth Release shape transformation—it contained the raw, tectonic power of the planet itself.
That final explosion was the earth's power detonating inside Moryo's hollowed-out body.
'Art is an explosion!'
After delivering the final blow, Makoto removed his hand from Kurotsuchi's shoulder.
The moment Kurotsuchi regained control of her body, her first action was to frantically twist her neck and stretch her limbs, terrified she might have developed sudden osteoporosis and arthritis like her grandfather Onoki from channeling that much power.
After stretching her shoulders, Kurotsuchi took advantage of the lingering buff to recall the sensation.
She slammed her fist into the ground.
Bang!
The ground erupted with a few large, jagged stone blades.
Just like when Mei Terumi first tried to mimic Origin Pulse on the lake, this was just an ordinary attack without any underlying natural laws attached to it.
Only the physical shape remained.
After testing the technique, Kurotsuchi stood up, looking deeply depressed.
"What's wrong? Why the long face?" Tsunade found Kurotsuchi's gloomy expression strange.
"Is it the withdrawal from the Natural Energy disappearing?"
"No... That move just now... it counts as Earth Release, right? Earth Release creating massive, fiery explosions... I have a really bad feeling about this," Kurotsuchi muttered darkly.
"What bad feeling?" Tsunade still didn't understand.
"Oh, you mean Deidara? Are you afraid he'll challenge you to an explosive art showdown?" Makoto chimed in.
He understood who Kurotsuchi was referring to, though without reading her mind, he didn't know the specific cursed depths of her thoughts.
"NOOO!" Kurotsuchi gripped her hair in panic.
She began pacing. "I was thinking... if Deidara-nii sees you giving me such powerful, explosive forms and techniques, wouldn't he get insanely jealous? He'll realize I only got this buff because of... Gender Advantage."
"..."
Kurotsuchi really spoke bluntly, leaving Makoto momentarily speechless.
If they were being technical... she did get priority access due to being a girl.
Currently, the only male who had experienced Makoto's version of Sage Mode was Gaara.
As for the Natural Energy Stones, the only guy who got one was Nagato (and that was to make sure the rinnegan didnt drain him dry again).
The gender ratio was heavily skewed!
But it made sense!
Who would want prolonged close physical contact with sweaty dudes when they could hold hands with cute girls?
Makoto isn't Hashirama or Naruto, he isn't bound by the "Gay Ninja Bromance" curse.
Before Makoto could defend himself, Kurotsuchi continued her spiraling logic.
"I'm afraid if Deidara-nii figures out that you only buff girls.. he might get so desperate for explosive art that he'll go track down that guard's Shadow Mirror Body Transfer Technique and literally turn himself into a fucking girl! As for his voice, he could just use vocal disguise!"
"?"
Makoto slowly typed a massive question mark in his brain.
Without missing a beat, he reached into his ninja pouch, pulled out a small audio recording device, and skillfully pressed the red Record button.
"Kurotsuchi. Say that again one more time?"
"I said, I'm afraid if Deidara-nii learns about this, he'll deliberately use cross-dressing jutsu to turn himself into a chick just to get your buffs!"
Click.
Recording complete.
Makoto casually put the device away.
Never mind whether Deidara would have originally sought out Kurotsuchi for a fight—he definitely would now once Makoto leaked this tape.
'Good grief, turning into a girl?'
'Into who?'
'Based on his blonde hair and blue eyes... he'd probably just look exactly like Ino Yamanaka.'
Truly a wicked ninja technique!
"Don't worry about that," Makoto smiled, patting Kurotsuchi's shoulder reassuringly. "Deidara is an Artist. He wouldn't casually let others' aesthetics infiltrate his art, nor would he compromise his gender identity for an increase in power. So he won't envy you."
Tsunade, who had witnessed Makoto secretly recording the entire unhinged rant to use as blackmail later, just twitched at the corner of her mouth.
'This guy is a menace.'