The black Truth-Seeking Orbs twisted and spun—
They transformed into a spear-like staff—the Gudō Yari—falling into Uchiha Obito's hand.
Obito didn't want to believe it.
He'd betrayed Madara, borne everything alone, climbed all the way to the summit of power as the Ten Tails' jinchūriki to claim control over the Moon's Eye Plan...
Only to find himself retreating from another man—
A blind man, no less!
Obito shot forward, hurling his spear at Shigen's body with a hoarse, heavy voice:
"Now!"
"Now I'm the strongest in the world!"
"You've never been the strongest—never!"
Shigen calmly raised his hand.
A black Truth-Seeking Orb twisted into a long sword, colliding with Obito's spear. The impact instantly blasted them both backward.
Obito raised his arm to shield himself from the blast—but Shigen was already cutting through the smoke, sword in hand.
"Nor am I,"
Shigen's voice remained tranquil.
Another Truth-Seeking Orb formed in his palm—
His blade flashed—
Obito's arm was sliced clean off.
"!!!"
Obito staggered back.
Their speed was so fast it dazzled the eye.
Even Flying Thunder God users like Tobirama and Minato couldn't keep up. They could only watch, stunned.
This was raw speed.
The kind granted by Six Paths power.
No space-time jutsu required. No damage to the body.
"So fast..."
Madara's Rinnegan narrowed.
Even he, empowered as he was, couldn't wade into this level of combat.
The Six Paths...
They stood above all shinobi.
This was the apex.
But even among gods—
Shigen's blade moved faster.
Obito's severed arm regenerated quickly.
As the Ten Tails' host, his healing was absurd—heart wounds and limb loss were minor annoyances.
But his regeneration...
Seemed to only delay the inevitable.
Another Truth-Seeking Orb formed into a shield—
His last line of defense.
And then—
He miscalculated again.
"Sage Art: Lightning Style."
A silver bolt crackled through Shigen's palm.
It cut diagonally across Obito's shield—
Splitting it clean in half.
"Impossible!"
Obito's eyes widened in disbelief as Shigen burst through the gap, his sword slicing deep into Obito's chest.
"How—?!"
Even Black Zetsu was shaken.
Truth-Seeking Orbs were supposed to nullify all ninjutsu—
Not get split by it!
"There's a kind of power..."
"Natural energy,"
Hashirama explained with grave clarity.
"It enhances chakra into something else... Sage chakra."
"More accurately,"
Shigen spoke calmly, flicking blood from his sword,
"I've mastered Six Paths Sage Art—
a power beyond ordinary Sage chakra."
"I understand the essence of Truth-Seeking Orbs far better than you."
"And I understand how to fight at the Six Paths level far better."
"...!"
Obito's body split in two—
but instantly reformed upon hitting the ground.
Still...
He now understood a terrifying truth.
He couldn't defeat Shigen.
Even as the Ten Tails' jinchūriki, with power that eclipsed even Hashirama and Madara—
He still couldn't surpass him.
Maybe... through cunning or battle experience...
But even that was wishful thinking.
Shigen had fought during the Sage of Six Paths' era.
His understanding of this power was leagues beyond Obito's.
His last hope—
Kamui.
But just as he thought of it—
He realized, horrified:
He couldn't use it.
Not now.
Not while his body was too powerful.
Too dense to phase through dimensions.
Without Kamui, he was even weaker than before.
"This was never power meant for you..."
Shigen's hand reached for Obito's chest.
"But I'm the one who'll wield it in the end!"
Obito growled.
His body flared with red flames, Truth-Seeking Rods in hand—
He slammed them into the ground—
And summoned a six-sided crimson barrier.
The Six Crimson Ray Formation.
Stronger than Konoha's Four Crimson Ray Formation—
but even so...
Obito didn't believe it would stop Shigen.
He only needed time.
His remaining Truth-Seeking Orbs took form as various ninja tools—
One last stand.
But to everyone watching...
It looked like nothing more than desperate flailing.
A child, gripping the sharpest sword in the world—
charging recklessly at a grown man.
And the grown man?
Calm, patient—
letting the child wear himself out.
"Obito's become the Ten Tails' jinchūriki,"
Sai calmly reported to Allied HQ.
"Shigen has engaged him. Obito's already losing."
"Wait..."
"Already?"
Nara Shikaku sounded stunned.
"Even as the Ten Tails' host... he's still not Shigen's equal?"
"Not even close."
"There's not a glimmer of hope."
"Shigen said they were peers, once..."
Sai paused thoughtfully.
"But this looks more like Tsunade-sama fighting... Haruno Sakura."
"...Huh?"
Shikaku blinked at the odd comparison.
But as he considered it...
The gap made sense.
"To clarify,"
Kankuro added, studying the battlefield,
"Twelve-year-old Sakura."
"And I'm not joking."
"Understood."
Shikaku sighed grimly—
and glanced at the latest sensor data.
"We're detecting four new chakra signatures—
each one strong enough to destroy a village.
Were those Shigen's attacks?"
"No."
Sai shook his head.
He stared at the battlefield—
at the God Tree blooming behind Obito.
At the four crimson Ten Tails bombs gathering in the sky.
"That's Obito's counterattack..."
"But..."
He looked back at the figure within the Six Crimson Ray Formation—
and said simply:
"Even if twelve-year-old Sakura tried everything..."
"She could never beat Tsunade-sama."
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Powerstones?
For 20 advance Chapters: /michaeltranslates