The Ōtsutsuki clan are the undisputed overlords of this world. They roam the cosmos, devouring everything in their path, feeding on entire planets.
And yet, at this very moment, a high-ranking warrior of the Ōtsutsuki was being pinned down and utterly crushed by a mysterious man of unknown origin!
The surging tide of spiritual power shook the heavens themselves. Even the grand, all-encompassing might of the Ōtsutsuki bloodline paled and dimmed beneath its weight.
Indeed.
How could mere Ōtsutsuki ever compare to the Master of Souls?
How could the flicker of a firefly ever hope to rival the brilliance of the full moon?!
The enhanced power Momoshiki had unleashed was swallowed whole by the vast tide of spiritual power. In an instant, the power Momoshiki had absorbed returned to being Yuki Yoru's power.
The entire world fell silent again. Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki, standing to the side, now had his mouth agape, his face filled with disbelief.
This intensity… this power…
"Lord Momoshiki!"
From the clash of spiritual powers, a battered figure tumbled out—clothes in tatters, face smeared with dust and blood.
"It seems the roles of hunter and prey have already been reversed."
From above, Yuki Yoru looked down coldly at the so-called celestial being. In his calm gaze, countless eyes appeared, and his expression remained utterly serene—no trace of tension, as if this wasn't a battle at all, but some trivial affair.
Momoshiki's expression darkened. Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he slowly rose from the ground.
As he stood, waves of terrifying chakra erupted, a storm of killing intent and tangible energy bursting outward like a gravitational shockwave, surging toward Yoru in the sky.
Yet Yoru remained unmoved, unaffected in the slightest.
"You lowly creature… how dare you—how dare you…"
"Lord Momoshiki, the time has come!" Kinshiki suddenly appeared at his side, face solemn as he looked at him. "There's no need to hesitate. I will never—ahhhhh!!"
A crushing suction burst forth from the Rinnegan in Momoshiki's right palm. Kinshiki's agonized scream echoed as his powerful body was dragged in, devoured, and condensed into a massive blood-red core.
"Crack!"
With a single bite, Momoshiki chewed and swallowed the red core. Instantly, his aura skyrocketed to terrifying heights, his very form beginning to visibly transform.
"As expected."
Minazuki Yoru, standing high in the sky, showed no surprise.
The Ōtsutsuki had long since transcended the limits of mortal flesh. They were no longer human—barely even living beings.
Their flesh, their souls, their very lives had been refined into pure chakra source. Each member of the clan was essentially a tightly condensed mass of chakra.
Only this allowed them to exist in so many forms—sometimes as humanoid beings, other times as "wedge" (Karma), parasitically implanted into other lifeforms to usurp their bodies.
Now, Kinshiki had been reduced to his chakra source and consumed by Momoshiki. All his power had become fuel for Momoshiki's strength.
But that didn't mean Kinshiki was truly dead. What he had lost was merely chakra; his fundamental genetic imprint—the "Karma"—remained. As long as that imprint existed, he could still be resurrected.
Immortality, after all, was the most fundamental trait of every Ōtsutsuki.
The same applied to Minazuki Yoru now—but unlike them, Yoru's source wasn't chakra. It was reishi.
As Kinshiki was absorbed, a horrifying surge of chakra erupted from Momoshiki's body.
BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!
The sheer force of it was monstrous—so overwhelming that, among all the foes Yuki Yoru had ever faced, only a handful—such as Gamamaru or the Sage of Six Paths himself—could compare.
A vast of chakra surged around Momoshiki, and his body began to undergo a dramatic transformation.
The two small horns on his forehead lengthened into massive, backward-curving horns. His hair grew longer and wilder, his face, body, and even his horns were etched with pitch-black markings.
But what drew the most attention—was the center of his brow.
A crack split open there, slowly widening, until a dazzling golden Rinnegan revealed itself.
Feeling the flood of power coursing through him, Momoshiki fixed his gaze upon Yuki Yoru. Their eyes locked in the sky, one calm and detached, the other ablaze with fury.
Neither spoke. The next instant, both figures vanished.
BOOM!!
The Black Spiritual Blade and the red chakra spear forged by Takamagahara no Kami clashed violently, creating shockwaves. The two immediately began a high-speed pursuit in midair.
Deafening explosions of power erupted continuously across the nameless planet, tearing vast craters into its barren surface, shaking the world as if it might split apart.
Had any shinobi from the Shinobi World been present, they would have been utterly stunned.
This level of battle had already transcended what could be called "shinobi combat." Even Uchiha Madara or Senju Hashirama could never hope to touch such heights.
This was no longer a shinobi battle.
This was the clash of gods.
Yet, what appeared to be an even match lasted only a few short minutes before the balance broke.
Even after consuming the chakra core formed from Kinshiki, Momoshiki began to falter against Yuki Yoru. With every exchange of blows, he was steadily forced onto the defensive.
Bang!
A brutal whip-kick sent Momoshiki flying, his body crashing through the air.
Yoru raised his hand, space itself quivering at his command—
Hadō #91: Senjū Kōten Taihō!
A barrage of spiritual cannons rained down like meteors, blasting the ground open into a massive crater.
"Damn you!!"
"You lowly insect—I'll kill you!!"
As the dust cleared, Momoshiki roared to the sky, the vast power of his Kekkei Mōra flaring violently. Slamming his palm into the earth, he bellowed:
"Inukai Takerunomikoto!"
The ground split apart as countless serpent-like hounds of stone burst forth, lunging hungrily toward Yoru.
But Yoru did not dodge.
A formless barrier of spiritual power shimmered around him, effortlessly nullifying Momoshiki's assault.
Seeing his attack fail once again, Momoshiki lost all remaining composure. With a maddened roar, he poured his chakra out wildly. The endless stone beasts fused back into him, merging into a single colossal form.
Empowered by that immense chakra, a terrifying monster arose—
Its sheer size and aura far surpassed even the Ten-Tails and Hamura's great statue.
The terrifying monster raised its head and howled skyward, then swung a titanic fist toward Yoru. The force was apocalyptic: air detonated in its wake, and the ground beneath shattered into rubble.
"Meaningless."
Yoru's gaze remained calm.
That seemingly slender body—one hundred-millionth the size of the enormous monster—actually took the initiative at this moment, rushing toward the attacking monster.
The kinetic energy and potential accumulated through extreme speed whipped up storms across the barren planet's mountains. Amid the thunderous sonic booms, the two collided with immense force.
Though the earth-chakra beast towered over him in scale, its strength was far inferior. The instant they clashed, its massive body shattered, crumbling into fragments of stone.
The shattered stone tried to re-form under the pull of chakra, shaping itself into hound-serpents once more—but Yoru's surging spiritual pressure overwhelmed it. Spiritual power condensed around his body, manifesting into the forms of five colossal dragons.
Hovering in midair, Yoru raised his hand.
"Divine Might—Like a Prison!"
Behind Yoru, the five colossal dragons loomed like divine punishment descending from the heavens.
"Hadō #99—"
"Five Dragon Destruction!"
BOOOOM!!!
An indescribable, world-crushing surge of spiritual pressure erupted. Under Momoshiki's stunned gaze, the five spiritual dragons—formed entirely of overwhelming spiritual power—shattered all the stone-hounds to pieces, then slammed into him mercilessly, driving him into the ground with devastating force.
The world itself seemed ravaged—earthquakes splitting the land, the heavens collapsing in ruin. The rampaging dragons unleashed a storm of energy as spiritual power and chakra collided, blotting out all sight.
When the dust finally cleared, a lone figure stood calmly in midair, looking down upon the devastated land below.
There was no doubt—
It was Yuki Yoru.
"Cough… cough…"
The monstrous titan Momoshiki had summoned with the secret technique Inukai Takerunomikoto had completely disintegrated. Only scattered wreckage proved it had ever existed.
Amid the ruins, Momoshiki lay collapsed and powerless, his aura withering.
Though Kekkei Mōra symbolized endless life, suffering such catastrophic damage without sufficient chakra reserves left even Momoshiki on the verge of burning out.
"Now do you understand who the real prey is?"
Yoru descended slowly, his tone cold.
"This… this is impossible. How could a lowly being like you—"
THUD.
Yoru's foot pressed against Momoshiki's chest. With one hand, he reached down and tore the golden Rinnegan from Momoshiki's forehead.
Then, with a single crushing stomp, Momoshiki's body shattered under the impact of spiritual power, ground into cosmic dust.
All that remained was the golden Rinnegan, faintly glowing in Yoru's hand.
...
Meanwhile, in the Shinobi World.
Despite Kirigakure's swift response, the mass deaths of the Quincy had not gone unnoticed.
Figures like Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, who observed the shinobi world from the shadows, or the countless spores Zetsu had already planted across the land… all felt the disturbance.
Even the Six Paths brothers, watching from the Pure Land, were shaken.
"In that single instant, at least hundreds of thousands of Quincy perished. And along with them, all the spiritual power within their bodies vanished completely, without a trace."
Ōtsutsuki Hamura frowned deeply in the Pure Land, his voice grave.
"It seems Yuki Yoru has drawn their power away."
Yoru's plan with the Quincy mirrored Hagoromo's earlier plan with chakra. Since Hagoromo could command chakra, they naturally understood Yoru wielded the same authority over spiritual power.
What they had not expected was that Yoru would so recklessly drain such a vast amount of power in one stroke, regardless of the consequences for the shinobi world. It was far beyond anything they had foreseen.
"There is no sign of Yoru within the shinobi world," said Hagoromo calmly. His gaze shifted to another presence, and he added quietly:
"Since you're already here… why not show yourself?"
The dim Pure Land space rippled, and the aged figure of Gamamaru emerged.
Hagoromo's expression did not change in the slightest, but Hamura's brow furrowed at the sight.
"It's been several thousand years since we last met, hasn't it, Gamamaru?" Hagoromo's voice was calm. "What brings you here today?"
"Don't play dumb. Don't tell me you're unaware of what happened at Mount Myōboku?"
Gamamaru's face hardened, his tone sharp.
To oppose Yoru, he had paid dearly—Mount Myōboku destroyed, countless toads slain, and even the Dream World he had nurtured for millennia annihilated.
Seeing Hagoromo feign ignorance only stoked his anger.
"You'd better make your move quickly. Right now, this phenomenon of mass Quincy deaths and spiritual power transfer—that's his countermeasure against me."
Gamamaru's voice was cold and heavy:
"With spiritual power on such a scale, my Dream World won't be able to hold him much longer. The moment he returns from the vast cosmos to the shinobi world… you'll all be in grave trouble."
Do you really think you won't be in trouble?"
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo's expression didn't shift in the slightest, his tone calm and measured:
"Right now, you and I are grasshoppers tied to the same rope. If you don't ally with me, do you really think you can stop Yuki Yoru on your own?"
Of course not—if I could, why would I be here right now!
Seeing Hagoromo remain so composed and unhurried, refusing to act without leverage, Gamamaru's anger burned hot, but he had nowhere to vent it. After all, he had suffered devastating losses and his power had plummeted. The balance of equal cooperation had now tipped entirely in Hagoromo's favor.
"Hagoromo, you'd better have a plan that can actually deal with Yuki Yoru!" Gamamaru growled through clenched teeth. "Otherwise, once he returns, as the Master of Souls, he won't spare you or Hamura for squatting in the Pure Land."
"Don't worry."
Hagoromo spoke lightly, almost detached:
"Originally, I truly didn't have much confidence. After all, Asura and Indra were devoured by that man, and the shinobi world has already become his private garden."
"But… certain astonishing discoveries have given me a chance."
"Astonishing discoveries?" Gamamaru frowned in puzzlement.
"Yes. A being hidden within the shinobi world… one so well-concealed that neither you nor I had ever noticed them." Hagoromo's voice carried an eerie undertone. The Rinnegan in his eyes seemed to pierce the boundary between life and death, focusing on a certain place within the shinobi world.
"Under the pressure of Yuki Yoru, he too has finally been unable to remain still."