The situation in the air had changed again.
Almost the moment Menma opened his Mangekyo Sharingan, Urashiki and Jigen moved.
They had clearly also sensed the change in Menma's aura. That newly added Ocular Power made them instinctively wary.
They couldn't give him any more time to gather momentum!
Urashiki let out a sharp shriek, his figure again transforming into a red light, tracing a twisted and strange arc in the air, making his trajectory difficult to predict. The red fishing rod in his hand thrust again, this time aiming straight for Menma's throat!
Jigen reacted almost simultaneously with Urashiki's movement.
He didn't pincer with Urashiki, but instead, with all his strength, hurled the condensed Chakra black rod in his hand towards Menma!
The moment the Chakra black rod left his hand, it abruptly disappeared in the air. The next instant, it directly appeared less than a foot from Menma's left temple!
This was an insidious move combining 'Sukunahikona'… shrinking an object to penetrate space, then instantly restoring its size to strike!
A pincer attack, one obvious, one hidden, one fast, one strange, their coordination exquisite, revealing their combat proficiency as Otsutsuki warriors.
Facing Urashiki's ingenious red light thrusting at his throat, Menma chose not to clash head-on. He leaned his upper body backward, letting the tip of the fishing rod graze past his cheek.
At the same time, he raised his right hand, fingers together to form a palm, obliquely striking the side of the fishing rod.
This palm looked light, without force, but the moment it touched the fishing rod, the dark red Chakra in his palm suddenly erupted, forming a strong rotational tearing force.
Thud!
With a dull sound, the red fishing rod was deflected by this palm, and even Urashiki's forward momentum was skewed.
The moment Urashiki's body lost balance and a flicker of blue light appeared in his eyes as he prepared to activate 'time rewinding' to adjust, Menma's left eye, the vortex-like Mangekyo pattern, suddenly accelerated its rotation!
Dojutsu: Ame-no-Minakanushi!
Urashiki only felt a palpitation in his heart.
His attempt to rewind time, the connection between him and his Rinnegan, even the flow of Chakra within his body… all became blurred and sluggish in that instant!
This sudden interference and blockage was undoubtedly a fatal flaw!
That blockage of less than 0.1 seconds!
Menma's right palm, which had deflected the fishing rod, had not yet exhausted its momentum. Using the rotational force, he flipped his wrist, turning the palm into a fist, the knuckle of his middle finger slightly protruding, wrapped in a layer of highly condensed dark red Chakra, with lightning speed, viciously stamped onto the center of Urashiki's completely exposed chest!
Crack—!
The teeth-grating sound of bone cracking and the dull sound of impact sounded simultaneously.
Urashiki's red Rinnegan was filled with shock, pain, and disbelief.
He could clearly feel that at least three ribs in his chest had broken and caved in under this punch. A furious, hot, yet strangely corrosive Chakra surged into his body along the fist, madly destroying his internal organs and Chakra Pathway!
He didn't even have time to cry out in pain before his body, as if hit head-on by a speeding train, was sent flying backward at a speed even faster than when he came!
"Cough ah—!" A large mouthful of blood sprayed violently from Urashiki's mouth, tracing a piteous blood line in the air.
And facing the suddenly appearing Chakra black rod on his left, Menma didn't even turn his head.
The six Chakra Tails that had been on guard against Jigen were already fully prepared.
Three of those tails, like spiritual serpents emerging from a cave, precisely entangled the shaft of the black Chakra black rod. The dark red Tailed Beast's Chakra and the Yin-Yang Release power on the black rod clashed fiercely, emitting a 'zzzz' corroding sound, firmly locking down the Chakra black rod.
The other three tails, like giant whips, carrying terrifying wind-breaking sounds, from three different angles, viciously lashed towards Jigen, who was trying to take advantage of the situation to approach!
Jigen's expression changed. He hadn't expected Urashiki to be defeated so quickly, nor had he expected Menma's tails to react so swiftly.
He was forced to abandon his plan to continue attacking. Two shorter Chakra black rods appeared in his hands, whirling like wheels, blocking two of the tails' strikes, while his body rapidly shrank, trying to squeeze through the gap in the third tail's attack.
Bang bang bang!
The Chakra black rods and the tails collided, erupting into dull, loud sounds.
Although Jigen blocked the attacks, he was also shocked until his arms were numb by the immense force, forced to retreat again, reopening the distance with Menma.
And Urashiki, who had been punched flying by Menma, like a meteor, crashed through the roof of a still-intact spectator stand, then, his momentum undiminished, viciously smashed into the already cracked ground in the center of the arena.
Boom—!!
Centered on Urashiki's crash point, the ground within dozens of meters radius, as if hit by a cannonball, instantly collapsed into a giant crater over twenty meters in diameter!
Crack lines like a spider web spread wildly outward at a terrifying speed. Wherever they passed, the spectator stand bases shattered, bricks turned to dust, and smoke and dust shot into the sky.
"Damn it... damn it!!!"
Urashiki's hysterical roar came from the bottom of the crater. The voice no longer carried its previous frivolity, leaving only pure rage and a madness like that of a wounded beast.
At the center of the deep crater, Urashiki slowly floated up from the smoke.
His appearance at this moment was pitiful beyond words. A clear fist mark was dented in his chest, the surrounding skin covered with cracked lines. His mouth and chest were covered in blood.
"How dare you... how dare you injure the noble... Otsutsuki Urashiki!!!" Urashiki's face was twisted with extreme anger. He suddenly reached out with both hands, grabbing the red fish basket at his waist.
"I didn't want to use this move... you forced me to!!" He roared, actually opening his mouth and stuffing the red fish basket, along with the collected Chakra from Adult Sasuke and others inside it, into his mouth, swallowing it whole!
Then, under everyone's horrified gaze, Urashiki did something even more scalp-tingling.
He extended the index and middle fingers of both hands and, without hesitation, viciously plunged into his own blue Rinnegan!
Pfft!
With a soft sound, the two faintly glowing blue eyeballs were forcibly gouged out!
Blood flowed down his fingers and cheeks, but he seemed to feel no pain. Instead, a grin mixed with pain, madness, and extreme excitement appeared on his face.
He took those two eyeballs, still warm and stained with blood, and also stuffed them into his mouth, chewed them a couple of times, and swallowed them!
"He's... eating his own eyes?!" Boruto watched, his scalp tingling, his stomach churning.
"Devouring Chakra... devouring one's own organs to gain more power..." Adult Sasuke recalled the battle with Momoshiki and Kinshiki, where Momoshiki had refined Kinshiki into a Chakra Fruit and eaten it.
And Urashiki seemed not to have as much Chakra, nor any subordinates, and could only eat his own eyes.
Jigen, watching Urashiki's actions from afar, didn't show much surprise. He just snorted coldly, a flicker of disdain in his eyes: "Finally come to this step, huh... To discard even part of your dignity as an Otsutsuki warrior for power, Urashiki, this is all you amount to."
As Urashiki swallowed the fish basket and his eyes, his Chakra suddenly contracted inward, then violently erupted!
Dazzling golden light completely enveloped him.
From inside the cocoon of light came a hair-raising roar.
"Hah... aaaaaah—!!!"
At this moment, Urashiki was like a second sun, the golden Chakra he erupted sweeping in all directions like a tsunami!
"Not good!" Jiraiya's expression drastically changed. His hands instantly formed hand seals.
"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!" His white hair suddenly surged and hardened, enveloping himself and Boruto and Adult Sasuke beside him, forming a giant white ball.
Adult Sasuke also acted simultaneously. A purple light flashed in his Rinnegan.
"Amenotejikara!"
Instantly swapping the positions of himself, Boruto, and Jiraiya with a piece of stand debris in the distance.
The moment they disappeared from their original spot, the terrifying Chakra Shockwave swept across, easily leveling the roof they had been standing on and the large area of buildings below, like a sandcastle!
The shockwave continued to spread, viciously slamming against the Adamantine Sealing barrier enveloping the competitor rest area!
Hum—!!!
The five golden chains trembled violently, emitting an unbearable groan. Intense ripples spread across the barrier's walls.
Inside the barrier, whether Kirigakure, Kumogakure, Konoha's Ninja, or the Land of Stars' Gaara and his group, were all staggering, their faces pale, under this Chakra impact like a natural disaster.
The weaker ones, like Ino and Choji, were directly pressed to the ground, unable to move.
"Wh-What kind of Chakra is this?!" Ao knelt on one knee, veins bulging around his Byakugan, trying to see clearly through the smoke and dust, but all he saw was a boiling, chaotic, malice-filled ocean of Chakra, shaking his spirit.
"More... more terrifying than when B-sensei gets angry..." Omoi of Kumogakure's lollipop had long since fallen somewhere, his voice trembling.
Sasuke barely steadied himself by stabbing his Ninja Sword into the ground, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan fixedly staring at the apocalyptic scene outside the barrier, his teeth clenched.
Shikamaru, protecting the trembling Ino before him, cold sweat seeping from his temples, had only one thought in his mind: 'A monster-level battle like this... was Konoha going to be destroyed?'
"Hey! Naruto!" Big Sis Hinata also put aside her hostility towards Karin, nervously looking in Naruto's direction.
At this moment, Naruto was still bound by the Adamantine Sealing Chains, but due to the violent impact from outside, the Nine-Tails' Chakra within him was even more restless, the tails of the red Chakra Cloak on his body flickering.
Karin's face was also somewhat pale, her glasses nearly falling off. She said in a low voice to Gaara beside her, who also looked grave: "Hey, Gaara, this Chakra is wrong!"
Gaara didn't answer, just controlling more sand to encircle everyone, forming a second buffer. His green eyes were fixedly staring at the direction of the deep crater, and the Shukaku within him also let out an uneasy growl.
The golden light enveloping Urashiki grew stronger and stronger, finally exploding with a 'Boom'!
Appearing in its place was a monster over three meters tall, with a posture as strange as a crane!
Urashiki's eyes had turned golden, and multiple black horizontal stripes appeared on his face, extending to his neck and collarbone, looking strange and ferocious.
At his original forehead position, the skin split open, and a golden Rinnegan with complex concentric circle patterns slowly opened, looking down upon the world coldly and emotionlessly.
On his head, the original pair of horns had become a pair of giant curved horns extending backward like bird's wings, with exaggerated curvature.
Urashiki's hands had become withered and slender, his nails sharp as hooks.
Most striking were his feet, which had completely departed from human form, becoming giant sharp claws covered in pitch-black scales, resembling those of a bird of prey.
Otsutsuki Urashiki!
Crane Form!
Urashiki slowly floated above the deep crater.
That golden Rinnegan on his forehead firmly locked onto Menma, still calmly floating in the air.
There was no more mockery or greed in his eyes, only a pure appetite as if looking at food, and a violence and arrogance to destroy all obstacles.
"Hah... hah..." Urashiki opened his mouth, letting out an inhuman gasp, his tongue licking his teeth.
"Your Chakra... is very special... very vast... As long as I eat you, devour your power... the losses just now... will all be worth it!!"
The air of the entire arena became stagnant, heavy, filled with a suffocating sense of despair.
Menma quietly watched Urashiki, who had completed his transformation. The corner of his mouth slightly curved into a subtle smile.
"Heh, Crane Form, huh... finally looking like something."
The vortex-like Mangekyo in his left eye slowly turned, locking onto the golden Rinnegan on Urashiki's forehead.
Greed appeared in Menma's eyes!