Meanwhile-
At the center of the battlefield, the torrent of puppets rapidly disintegrated under the thunderous counterattacks of the allies, melting away like snow thrown into boiling water!
Shattered limbs and broken parts littered the ground.
The exquisite maid porcelain dolls and the black-robed butlers had all turned into wreckage, mixed amidst the dust of the ordinary puppets.
Only the half-body stone statue, which had been slammed out by the Susano'o and destroyed a large number of buildings, remained, struggling to free itself from the restrain of the rubble.
Standing at the edge of the shattered stone pillar formation, Menma's eyes behind his mask locked onto the visibly distorted expression of Shuto through the gradually dispersing energy dust.
"It's time to end this farce." Menma's cold voice sounded like a death sentence.
He slightly spread open his right hand, a sphere of darkness so profound it was rapidly condensed and rotated in his palm!
In an instant, it expanded to over a meter in diameter, like a miniature, collapsing black star!
The bathtub-sized black sphere's surface wasn't static, a silver-white ring composed of highly compressed Wind Attribute Chakra rotated around it at high speed, emitting a sharp, piercing screech that sliced through the surrounding space, creating fine spatial cracks!
Spiralling Ring!
The black star of destruction was thrown by Menma the moment it formed!
It shot towards the roaring half-body Hamura's stone statue that had just pushed itself up!
Shuto's face changed drastically, his hands frantically forming hand seals, attempting to activate the statue's defense!
However, the speed of the black energy sphere was faster than lightning!
There was no sound of impact.
The black sphere, like a phantom without substance, easily passed through the statue's thick, rock-armored arms that tried to block it, silently sinking into the massive Hamura's statue!
A brief stillness, as if time itself had frozen.
The next moment… there was a loud explosion!!!
Dark black light erupted like a volcano dormant for millennia, bursting forth from the statue's forehead towards its entire head and even its massive chest and abdomen insect body!
Countless pitch-black energy cracks instantly covered the statue's entire body!
The seemingly indestructible carapace rock, thick arms, and face symbolizing the sacred Hamura rapidly expanded, twisted, and then-
Shattered!
Like billions of pieces of dark glass exploding at the same time!
The statue's enormous head was the first to be affected, decomposed into the most primitive particles within the Chakra Storm capable of tearing everything apart!
The massive carapace body that followed fell like a domino, from the point of impact, being devoured, torn, and disintegrated inch by inch by the black light!
Finally, it collapsed with a roar, turning into a torrent of constantly collapsing rubble completely decomposed by the dark energy!
Dust spread like fog!
After dealing with this giant, Menma charged straight towards Shuto, who was reeling from the shock of witnessing his divine statue's destruction!
The Flying Thunder God's mark instantly delivered him above Shuto's head!
"Perish together with me!!"
The final card was played!
Driven by immense fear and madness, Shuto let out a hysterical roar!
He desperately connected with the core of the Giant Tenseigan deep within the moon!
The Hamura Shrine not far from the castle began to shake violently. A point of destructive energy, sufficient to blast the entire moon into cosmic dust, was rapidly gathering!
He intended to bury everyone with him!
Just like how their branch family's ancestors slaughtered the main family all those years ago!
He had gone completely mad!
Squelch!
The muffled sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh, sinew, and bone was chillingly clear.
All frantic roars ceased abruptly.
The dust was dragged into a blank trail by the high-speed moving figure.
Eight glowing golden chakra chains, covered with ancient Uzumaki Clan's sealing formulas, pierced through Shuto's shoulders, arms, legs, waist, and lower abdomen from eight tricky angles with the precision of living serpents the instant he tried to erupt!
The source of each chain was connected to Menma's outstretched fingers!
The golden sealing formulas flickered amidst the dust!
[Adamantine Sealing Chains!]
"…" Shuto's body stiffened abruptly. The violent energy brewing for self-destruction, like a spring whose source had been cut off, instantly solidified and dissipated!
His face was filled with extreme shock and bewilderment.
But an even more fatal restraint followed immediately!
Menma's left hand moved like a phantom, his fingers spread open as he made a grasping motion towards the now defenseless Shuto!
Hum-!
A slender black rod, pitch black as if carved from a strand of the deepest night sky, extended and grew directly from Menma's palm without any warning!
The tip was sharp, and its entire length was covered in fine, vein-like dark patterns.
Yin-Yang Release: Black Rod!
The black rod precisely pierced through Shuto's right shoulder, which was already pinned by the Adamantine Sealing Chains!
The moment the black rod entered his body, the Chakra Points around the point of insertion went into wild disarray, like water into which a stone had been thrown!
Shuto only felt a cold force, carrying intense interference and obstruction, instantly invade his body, forcibly severing the flow of his Chakra in almost all his Chakra Pathways!
The last remnants of light within him, like a snuffed-out candle, rapidly dimmed.
The vast amount of Chakra gathered through the connection to the Giant Tenseigan instantly went out of control and scattered!
"You-" Shuto slumped to the ground, tightly bound by eight golden chains to a remaining half-section of the castle wall, like a sacrificial offering. His mind's eye stared in disbelief at the mysterious powerhouse before him, at that white three-eyed fox mask, leaving nothing in his heart but endless fear and despair.
Almost at the same moment Shuto was defeated and bound, at the other end of the shattered plaza.
Kimimaro's figure moved like lightning!
He instantly closed in on Toneri, who was stunned by the terrifying scene before him!
The bone spear in his hand had long since dissipated, his claws turning into fingers. His Chakra-gathering fingertips struck Toneri's body with lightning speed!
The technique for sealing acupoints and severing pathways was robust, fierce, and precise!
The young Toneri grunted… his entire body's Chakra was forcibly sealed, and he went limp.
Two maid puppets nearby moved to protect him, but several golden chakra chains had already descended like a net of light!
"Quiet!" Kanon shouted lightly. The chains wrapped around, instantly binding the two maids and the immobilized Toneri tightly together!
The overall situation was settled!
The dust had not yet fully settled, the golden chains and the black rod restraining Shuto were clearly visible.
Shisui, who had just steadied himself from the shock of the statue's destruction, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan fixed intently on Menma, watched his palm controlling the golden chains. His eyes were filled with extreme shock: 'Adamantine Sealing Chains?! Isn't that the Uzumaki Clan's-'
Beside him, Hizashi trembled violently. His Byakugan, capable of magnifying details dozens of times, clearly captured the precise, millimeter-level control at the other end of those eight chains, and that ominous black long rod inserted into Shuto's shoulder!
"The Uzumaki Clan? But he doesn't have red hair..." Cold sweat instantly soaked through Hizashi's back!
He couldn't understand it, no matter how hard he thought.
In the Byakugan's field of view, the immense, immeasurably vast Chakra within Menma's body was like a sea of stars, yet he controlled two completely different powers with exquisite precision.
Menma in his black robe stood alone at the center of the battlefield, indifferent to his companions' astonished gazes.
He coldly scanned the distant Hamura Shrine atop the castle, which still emitted a faint glow.
The Giant Tenseigan!
The Hamura Shrine floated in the void, constructed entirely of cold, gray-white massive stones. Its huge arched gate was like an entrance to another world.
The interior of the shrine was not the religious hall one might imagine, but rather more like the core of a giant, precision machine in operation.
Within the vast space, countless dark golden metal tracks of varying thickness extended and intersected along specific trajectories, like the vascular network of a giant beast.
Substantial streams of pale golden energy flowed along the tracks, emitting a low, continuous hum, illuminating the entire space in a glorious light.
And at the core intersection of all these metal tracks floated an unimaginably massive construct.
A pale yellow sphere of light over a hundred meters in diameter!
It was like a miniature sun imprisoned here, emitting a soft yet powerful energy fluctuations that was suffocating.
The surface of the sphere was not smooth but seemed pieced together from countless tiny diamond-shaped spots of light, pulsing slowly. Each pulse caused the energy flow in the surrounding space to swell and ebb accordingly.
Deep within the core of the sphere, one could faintly see a six-petaled flower-shaped symbol made of pure, rotating light, emitting an even more ancient and primal aura. This was the true core of the Giant Tenseigan!
The eight Adamantine Sealing Chains, like a golden spiderweb, tightly bound Shuto, pinning him to a cold, giant metal pillar at the shrine's entrance.
The end of each chain was deeply embedded into the pillar. Golden sealing formulas flickered uncertainly on the surface of the chains, continuously suppressing the residual chakra within him.
That black Yin-Yang Release Rod stabbed into his right shoulder was like a bone-deep maggot, precisely disrupting the flow of Chakra within his body, preventing him from mobilizing even a shred of extra strength.
Kanon's Adamantine Sealing Chains also bound the young Toneri, with Kimimaro standing guard nearby.
Toneri's small body trembled slightly. Although he couldn't see, the sense of oppression from the huge energy source, like a star, perceived by his Mind's Eye, made his face pale.
"You... who are you people?" Shuto's voice was hoarse and dry, carrying unconcealed weakness and bewilderment.
His [Mind's Eye] perception frantically scanned this space he knew so well, but could only 'see' a blanket of fog.
The opponent's target was so clear, aimed directly at the shrine's core!
They even seemed intimately familiar with the environment here!
"You came... for this eye?" His voice suddenly rose, carrying a note of incomprehensible anger.
"Hyuga! Are they reinforcements found by your Hyuga Clan?! Hahahaha! Ridiculous! Truly ridiculous! The main family's secret guarded for millennia is ultimately destroyed by you impure branch!" His empty eye sockets 'looked' in the direction of Hizashi, his words filled with contempt.
Hizashi stood further away, his lips pressed tightly together, his face unusually grim under the flowing golden light of the shrine.
Shuto's words stabbed into his heart like thorns, but at this moment, he was more concerned about what Shura would do next.
In his Byakugan's field of view, that giant Tenseigan core was like a violent energy vortex, and merely looking at it made his eyes ache.
Menma remained indifferent to Shuto's questioning, not even granting him a glance.
He walked straight towards the center of the shrine, stopping about ten meters away from the Giant Tenseigan core.
His black robe stirred in the breeze stirred up by the energy flow. Beneath the white three-eyed fox mask, those heterochromatic eyes calmly gazed at the ancient construct before him, radiating terrifying pressure.
The Giant Tenseigan seemed to sense the approach of an unfamiliar presence. The light flowing on its surface suddenly intensified, its pulsating frequency quickened, and it emitted a louder hum.
The invisible pressure in the air suddenly increased, like ten thousand tons of seawater crushing down!
"Cough-" Shuto, restrained by the chains, suddenly let out a suppressed cough, followed by a sigh full of dejection and unwillingness, as if he had completely resigned himself: "Enough... enough-"
"Since you want it, then take it… This eye... after all, does not belong to us failures anymore-" He lowered his head, his voice filled with the desolate and surrender of a 'failure'.
Menma finally turned his head slightly. His cold gaze, penetrating through the mask, seemed able to see through Shuto's facade.
His voice was calm and even, but it struck Shuto's heart like a heavy hammer: "Without the guidance of one with Hamura's bloodline, touching it rashly would instantly drain one's Chakra, turning them into a dried-up skeleton. You should put away your clumsy tricks."
'What?!' Shuto's head snapped up, the bandage-covered area where his eyes should be seeming to strain as if about to split open!
'How could the other party know even this deepest secret?!'
The shock in his heart instantly overwhelmed his pretense. His body struggled violently within the chains, his voice sharp and distorted by extreme astonishment and fear: "You… how could you possibly know?! Who exactly are you?!"
Menma paid him no further heed. His gaze returned to the pale yellow sphere of light radiating immense suction force.
"However…" He slowly raised his right hand, his voice carrying a trace of indifferent that challenged the unknown, "I do want to test just how much this so-called 'Eye of God' can absorb."
The moment his words fell-
Boom!!!
An indescribable dark, violent and terrifying Chakra suddenly erupted from Menma's body without any warning!
Dark red Chakra, like boiling magma, instantly enveloped his entire body!
Viscous, intense, it radiated an aura that made one's soul tremble!
This Chakra surged and took shape wildly across his surface, instantly forming a Chakra Cloak that covered his whole body, flowing with a dark red light!
But this was only the beginning!
Roar! ! !
A roar filled with endless rage and a desire for destruction resonated from within Menma!
Following this roar, from the back of the dark red Chakra Cloak, nine massive tails composed of pure energy, thick and dark red, burst forth into the sky as if breaking free from a cocoon!
The nine gigantic tails danced and lashed wildly in the air!
Each swing brought with it the sharp screech of tearing air and tangible energy storms!
The entire space within the Hamura Shrine trembled violently under the pressure of this extremely tyrannical Chakra!
Those metal tracks flowing with pale golden energy groaned under the strain, their lights flickering madly!
[Tailed Beast Mode: Nine-Tails!]
"This… this is impossible!!!" In Shuto's [Mind's Eye] perception, the dark-red Chakra that had suddenly erupted, like an abyssal tsunami, was fundamentally different from any Chakra he knew!
It was violent, chaotic, filled with a primitive, bestial desire to destroy everything!
That was definitely not the aura a descendant of Hamura should possess!
"You… what kind of monster are you?!" Shuto could no longer muster the strength to scream.
Hikari stood not far behind Menma, her Mangekyo Sharingan fixed intently on the nine wildly dancing giant tails.
Her body was slightly tense, Chakra held within, ready to be released. Like the most loyal guard, she was prepared to intervene at any moment.
She felt the terror contained within that Chakra, but also keenly sensed Menma's absolute control over this power.
Kanon's expression was grave. The symbols on her Adamantine Sealing Chains glowed brightly, instinctively strengthening the binding force.
"Nine… nine tails-" Kimimaro's pupils contracted violently. He subconsciously took half a step back. His combat instincts, rooted deep in his bloodline, screamed warnings frantically under this pressure!
The Byakugan he had transplanted from a Hyuga Clan's elder clearly saw the turbulent, inhuman magnitude of chakra erupting like a volcano within Shura's body beneath that dark red Chakra Cloak!
Shisui and Hizashi, however, were as if struck by an invisible thunderbolt, instantly frozen in place!
Shisui's Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun wildly, trying to analyze the scene before him that defied all understanding!
Those nine dancing, massive tails made of pure, tyrannical Chakra.
That dark red figure burning like hellfire...
Shisui felt all the hair on his body stand on end in that instant. A chill shot up his spine to the top of his head!
His breath seemed caught by an invisible hand!
'This is... a Tailed Beast Cloak?!'
'And it's... the Nine-Tails?!'
In Hizashi's Byakugan vision, it was even more filled with unspeakable, overwhelming shockwaves!
That dark red chakra was like a viscous sea of blood. The power contained at its core was immense, its nature tyrannical, so similar to the demon fox from the Nine-Tails Attack!
The dance of those nine tails stirred up destructive chakra turbulence with every movement!
The veins bulging at Hizashi's temples throbbed madly from extreme shock and strain, his eyeballs aching with stabbing pain!
'The Nine-Tails... that Nine-Tails demon fox which took the lives of the Fourth Hokage and his wife?!'
'But didn't Fourth Hokage-sama seal the Nine-Tails inside... why?'
'Shura actually… actually controls the Nine-Tails?!'
'What is his relationship with Fourth Hokage-sama?!'
'And with Kushina?!'
An even more terrifying thought struck Hizashi's mind like lightning!
That figure, full of optimism and cheerfulness, like a little sun, began to overlap in Hizashi's violently shock consciousness!
'No! Impossible! Fourth Hokage-'
Beneath the mask, Menma's eyes held not the slightest fluctuation.
He ignored all the shocked gazes behind him, ignored Shuto's hysterical roars, ignored the intensified energy tides and terrifying suction erupting from the Giant Tenseigan as it sensed a threat!
Menma's raised right hand, which is wrapped in dense, dark red Tailed Beast Chakra, stretched out steadily, slowly, yet resolutely and decisively, towards the pale golden glowing core of the Giant Tenseigan!
The dark red Tailed Beast Chakra and the pale golden Tenseigan energy, mere inches from the point of contact, had already begun colliding fiercely and annihilating each other!
'So, are you going to come out and stop me?'