Thoom
Thoom
Thoom
One after another, meteorites streaking across the sky plunged into the ground, triggering one massive shockwave after another, leveling all buildings and vegetation around the impact points!
The flickering sky, the earth-shaking ground, and the wildfires seen everywhere made the shinobi world look as if it were destined to head toward destruction.
...
Core Node.
Bang!
In a burst of roar, two figures each backed away.
These two figures backing away were precisely Shinji and Otsutsuki Shibai in their fierce struggle. The reckless battle between the two had long since turned the area of the Core Node dark and chaotic; if not for the God Tree towering into the clouds acting as a reference, it would be impossible even to distinguish up from down or left from right.
Looking up at the meteorites trailing long tails of fire in the air, Otsutsuki Shibai immediately laughed wantonly: "Uchiha Shinji, do you see? The moon is finished, everything is over!"
Shinji's gaze was deep and focused.
Otsutsuki Shibai asked provocatively: "Without the Infinite Tsukuyomi, how do you think the living beings who broke free from the genjutsu will react when facing such a reality?"
Shinji said calmly: "As long as the nine nodes are still there and the defensive barrier is still there, the Hegemon of Terror cannot get in!"
Otsutsuki Shibai became even more proud and arrogant upon hearing this: "Are you lying to yourself? Without the Infinite Tsukuyomi, the living beings of the shinobi world not only cannot help you, but will instead continuously provide power for it because they fall into endless fear! As one wanes and the other waxes, you simply have no chance!"
Shinji's face turned cold: "Is all you can do talk nonsense?"
Otsutsuki Shibai was furious: "Damnable brat, do you think you can win against me?"
Shinji said: "Is that not the case?"
Otsutsuki Shibai said: "Just now you were only able to barely contend with me by borrowing the chakra collected by the Infinite Tsukuyomi; now that the Infinite Tsukuyomi has failed, your chakra will no longer increase!"
The failure of the Infinite Tsukuyomi would not affect the living beings of the shinobi world already captured by the branches of the God Tree; it was just that the expansion of the God Tree's branches had stopped, and it could not capture more living beings. In this way, the Infinite Tsukuyomi lost its incremental growth and only had its existing reserves left.
Shinji raised his right hand, and nine Truth-Seeker Orbs spun and landed in the palm of his right hand, gathering into a dazzling golden sword!
"Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion?"
Otsutsuki Shibai's expression instantly turned solemn.
Toneri Otsutsuki's Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion indeed could not cut him, but Shinji's Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion was different.
Shinji pointed his sword at Otsutsuki Shibai: "I am not sure what the future of the shinobi world will be, but you will not survive today!"
Otsutsuki Shibai laughed out of extreme anger: "You couldn't possibly think you can really kill me, how utterly ridiculous! Since you are so arrogant and ignorant, I won't waste time with you; now I will let you know what Shinjutsu is!"
Swish
Before his voice had even fallen, Shinji slashed out with his sword.
Otsutsuki Shibai was startled and had no choice but to raise his arm to block. However, under the dazzling golden sword, his arm could not serve as a block at all; one of his arms was instantly severed by the golden sword in Shinji's hand!
"Damn it!"
While flying back, Otsutsuki Shibai glanced at the wound on his severed right arm.
The Shinjutsu Transformation was already being operated by him to the limit, but the chakra of Shinji's Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion still remained at the wound of the right arm, so Transformation could not restore the injury for a time.
Knowing that Shinji was not someone Toneri Otsutsuki could compare to, Otsutsuki Shibai still felt lingering fear after actually having an arm severed by a single sword strike.
Consequently, he immediately activated the dark purple mist on his body, using the power of the Hegemon of Terror to clear away the chakra Shinji left at his severed arm, and then activated Transformation again to restore his right arm!
Seeing this, Shinji did not waste words and slashed forward with his sword once more.
Soon, the two sides engaged in a tangled fight.
Shinji did not use flashy ninjutsu or genjutsu but instead fully exerted the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, using the sharp edge of the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion to suppress Otsutsuki Shibai from the front.
...
But Otsutsuki Shibai was not without the ability to fight back. His Shinjutsu Transformation allowed him to possess an almost immortal body, his Shinjutsu Great Strength made his offensive sharp and fierce, and coupled with the Shinjutsu Premonition, it was easy for Shinji to suppress him, but would be very difficult to completely defeat him.
The battle situation inevitably fell into a stalemate.
Shinji's chakra consumption was rapid, and with the Infinite Tsukuyomi interrupted, the chakra he could mobilize was no longer as abundant as before.
Although Otsutsuki Shibai's power was also being rapidly consumed, because the power level of the Hegemon of Terror was too high, he had a great advantage in a war of attrition.
...
Research Institute, underground shelter.
As the Infinite Tsukuyomi failed, the Communication Unit in the shelter instantly became busy, and countless pieces of information from all over the shinobi world flooded in all at once.
"Report, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire is seeking asylum..."
"Report, the Hidden Leaf Village shelter has sent a message asking if rescue operations can be launched now..."
"Report, the Land of Lightning has encountered a meteorite rain attack; the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning's whereabouts are unknown..."
"Report, the Samurai of the Land of Iron have sent a message asking if support is needed..."
Communication Unit shinobi hurried in and out of the command center, conveying messages to the high-level officials.
Listening to the complex and numerous messages, Tsunade lamented: "Amado, you predicted correctly; the opponent indeed destroyed the Infinite Tsukuyomi!"
Amado said: "This was inevitable!"
Tsunade asked: "What do we do now? Do we need to launch rescues?"
Although they were inside the shelter, they were still clear about the situation outside; the current shinobi world was suffering from various disasters. Let alone ordinary people, even shinobi might die from various accidents if their luck was bad.
Sasori said coldly: "How do we rescue? Whom do we rescue?"
Tsunade was speechless.
The disaster covered the entire shinobi world. Setting aside whether the Research Institute had the capacity to provide disaster relief now, even if relief were launched, the Research Institute did not have enough safe areas to settle the rescued personnel.
Amado said: "The top priority now is to ensure the safety of the nine key nodes. Other matters... let them go for now!"
Shizune hurried into the command center at this time.
Seeing Shizune's anxious face, Tsunade frowned: "What has happened now?"
Shizune said: "The Communication Unit of the Core Node's underground base has sent a message; it seems things have fallen into a bitter struggle over there!"
"What!?"
Tsunade and Sasori both exclaimed in surprise.
Amado also furrowed his brows.
Their last reliance now was Shinji. If even Shinji ran into problems, then in this battle, the shinobi world would have no further possibility of turning the tables.