With the surrounding space thrown into complete disorder, Hikaru watched carefully to see how Jigen would choose to fight.
He possessed very little reliable information about the man before him.
Hikaru could pretend to be Ōtsutsuki Kaguya and use that misunderstanding to draw out a few clues, but he was not actually Kaguya. Now that spatial techniques were temporarily unusable, he would have to uncover the rest of Jigen's abilities step by step.
Still, Hikaru was prepared.
Jōgan chakra had already begun circulating through his body. The instant the situation became dangerous, he could enter Jōgan Chakra Mode.
He was not like Danzō, who had hoarded chakra until the moment of his death because he feared another enemy might appear. Even so, Hikaru would not reveal his trump cards without good reason.
Especially when killing Jigen would immediately cause an even more dangerous opponent to emerge.
Until the surrounding space regained its stability, Hikaru had no intention of making matters harder for himself.
He studied Jigen, who stood with a black rod in hand, then extended his own arm.
Yin–Yang Release and senjutsu chakra rapidly gathered in his palm. Within moments, they formed a pitch-black ninja blade.
Hikaru had learned to shape weapons from Yin–Yang Release long ago. He simply had little reason to use the technique before now.
Truth-Seeking Orbs were far superior as weapons, so creating a separate blade had usually been unnecessary.
This time, however, he had no intention of displaying the full extent of his power so early. A weapon formed from Yin–Yang Release would serve well enough as camouflage.
Jigen had finished gathering his chakra.
The wounds covering his body had already vanished under the restorative power of that immense energy. His presence climbed to an unprecedented peak.
His gaze swept over Hikaru.
Then he vanished.
"Boom!"
A deafening impact shook the earth.
Invisible force crushed the surrounding ground downward, forming an enormous circular crater.
Even Hikaru, who reacted in time and raised his blade to block, felt his expression change.
Jigen's physical strength, amplified by his chakra, was simply monstrous.
That single strike was far more powerful than anything Ōtsutsuki Urashiki had displayed five years ago.
"This man is unquestionably stronger than Urashiki," Hikaru thought. "And he hasn't even fully resurrected."
The pressure was troublesome beyond words.
Cracks spread across the blade in Hikaru's hand.
It was a weapon formed from Yin–Yang Release. Its upper limit could not compare to a Truth-Seeking Orb, but Jigen was wielding a similar black weapon himself.
"His first choice was close combat.
"Does that mean ninjutsu is less effective for him than taijutsu? Or is he simply poor at controlling conventional techniques?"
Hikaru had confidence in his own taijutsu.
But against a monster like this, he had to consider every advantage and weakness carefully.
A shinobi survived by forcing the battle onto favorable ground.
Hikaru immediately counterattacked. He needed more information.
Yin–Yang Release repaired the cracks in his blade. Blue chakra then spread across its edge.
With a subtle twist of his wrist, Hikaru redirected the force behind Jigen's black rod. His blade immediately accelerated and slashed toward Jigen's neck.
Jigen reacted with astonishing speed.
A slight movement of his hand reversed the black rod at an unnatural angle, intercepting Hikaru's blade before it could reach him.
Their first exchange ended evenly.
It also made both of them realize that the intensity of the battle had to rise.
Vast chakra erupted into the sky.
Both fighters had surpassed the conventional limits of the shinobi world.
A battle at this level was almost impossible to witness.
Ordinary people could scarcely imagine what a fight between jōnin looked like. In the same way, even those standing at the peak of the current shinobi world would struggle to comprehend the battle unfolding before them.
One white and one blue stream of chakra raced through the region of shattered space.
Each collision produced a roar that shook the heavens.
To the eye, the two seemed to be fighting in one place.
In reality, traces of their clash appeared everywhere.
Every exchange unleashed terrifying bursts of chakra.
Each collision shattered the earth for miles around. Mountains collapsed, and surging rivers were forcibly severed.
Rampaging chakra transformed the entire region.
Only a few breaths had passed, yet the surrounding land already resembled hell.
The Land of Rivers had once possessed abundant natural resources.
Perhaps because it bordered the Land of Fire, much of its scenery had been beautiful and inviting.
Its border with the Land of Wind gave the opposite side of the country an entirely different landscape. Forests, mountains, rivers, basins, and barren plains could all be found within its territory.
Now all of it was being erased.
Their strange battle seemed both fixed in one place and present everywhere at once. Wherever their figures appeared, the land suffered devastating destruction.
Violent earthquakes and pillars of flame were the least of it.
Their chakra disturbed the veins of the earth itself, forcing terrifying surges of energy to erupt from below.
The Land of Rivers had never possessed a volcano.
Yet scenes resembling volcanic eruptions now unfolded across the country.
The only fortunate detail was that the battle was not spreading toward the Land of Fire.
Instead, it was steadily drifting toward the Land of Wind.
That meant Hikaru did not need to worry about harming his own people.
Because of Hikaru's overwhelming position, many nations had begun building friendlier relations with Konoha. Some had even voluntarily withdrawn from disputed regions shared with the village.
The Land of Wind had refused to do the same, despite repeatedly expressing goodwill toward Konoha.
It was not because Sunagakure lacked the desire to withdraw.
They simply could not afford the consequences.
The Land of Wind was desperately short on resources. Its influence within the Land of Rivers provided desperately needed income, even if it controlled only part of the country.
Under those circumstances, Sunagakure could not retreat.
They feared Hikaru, but the survival of their village left them no room to compromise.
Hikaru had never publicly condemned them for it.
He had simply stopped treating the Land of Wind with any particular courtesy.
Naturally, he felt no concern over whether his battle caused them trouble.
The clash between Hikaru and Jigen continued.
Its intensity had reached an unimaginable level.
Even the legendary battles between Hashirama and Madara—or Naruto and Sasuke—might not have reached this scale.
The shock waves generated impossible winds.
Smoke, shattered stone, and dust filled the sky until daylight itself disappeared.
As the battle intensified, Hikaru began incorporating ninjutsu into his attacks.
Jigen's taijutsu was simply too dangerous. Hikaru needed a broader range of tactics to counter him, and ninjutsu was one of his greatest strengths.
Once senjutsu and Yin–Yang Release were woven into ordinary techniques, the damage from their battle was no longer limited to the terrain.
The climate itself began to change.
It was as though the gods were playing with the seasons.
Winter and summer alternated within the same region in moments.
One instant, snow fell from the sky and the earth froze beneath a layer of ice.
The next, oppressive heat swept across the land.
Mountain ranges abruptly rose and shifted.
An enormous crack spread outward from the center of the battlefield, threatening to split the region apart.
Before it could fully open, another overwhelming force seized the land and held it together.
Their battle grew fiercer.
The shattered space around them produced constant rushing noises as it shifted and contracted.
Jigen had already destroyed the surrounding spatial structure with his black rod.
Both combatants possessed powers connected to space, and each had to resist the pull of the chaotic dimensions around them.
That was why their battle appeared to remain in one location while their figures continuously flashed across distant regions, destroying everything they touched.
Amid this strange and violent clash, Hikaru steadily uncovered more information about his opponent.
Jigen was truly terrifying.
Unlike Urashiki, he did not possess a personality so arrogant that it crippled his judgment.
He believed Hikaru to be his mortal enemy and fought accordingly.
Even in an incomplete state, his seriousness allowed him to display astonishing combat power.
The scale of destruction had already surpassed Hikaru's battle with Urashiki five years earlier.
Jigen was particularly skilled in taijutsu.
His speed, reactions, and physical strength were monstrous.
Hikaru suspected he could shatter Susanoo's defenses with little effort.
Hikaru had never personally tested the full defensive power of a complete Susanoo, but according to Hashirama, it was no weaker than the Wood Human Technique.
Hikaru knew exactly how durable his Wood Human was.
He had summoned one earlier in the battle.
Jigen had not destroyed it with a single strike, but his attack had left enormous cracks across its body.
The damage had weakened the construct so severely that Hikaru had abandoned it rather than continue using it against Jigen.
Jigen's ability to shrink objects was equally troublesome.
The Yin–Yang Release-infused black spikes that suddenly shot toward Hikaru repeatedly forced him into awkward evasive movements.
Fortunately, Hikaru was an exceptional shinobi.
After being caught off guard several times, he gradually adapted to the technique.
He could even see where Jigen went after shrinking himself.
Jigen could reduce not only the size of his black spikes but also his own body.
He used the ability to evade fatal attacks and launch surprise assaults.
It was an unusual and effective fighting style.
When Jigen became that small, striking him became exceedingly difficult—especially in close combat.
Large-scale ninjutsu could cover the surrounding area indiscriminately, but Jigen's ability to evade attacks was just as extraordinary.
Hikaru possessed techniques capable of seriously injuring or even killing him.
But only if they landed.
There was another detail Hikaru had noticed.
Throughout the entire battle, Jigen had not used conventional ninjutsu even once.
In a battle between experts, the smallest detail could decide victory or defeat.
Hikaru did not yet know whether Jigen was unable to use ninjutsu or simply unwilling to do so.
The distinction mattered greatly.
If Jigen lacked familiarity with ninjutsu, that was good news.
Hikaru would not have to endure a dense bombardment of techniques empowered by Yin–Yang Release.
Hikaru's own techniques could kill Jigen—or even a true Ōtsutsuki.
The same principle applied in reverse.
He had no desire to face that kind of danger.
However, if Jigen was choosing not to use ninjutsu because he did not dare to, Hikaru needed to be even more cautious.
That would suggest conventional techniques consumed far more power than taijutsu.
In Jigen's current condition, using powerful ninjutsu might push his vessel beyond its limits.
The body could die immediately.
And then Ōtsutsuki Isshiki would resurrect.
Hikaru was not unwilling to fight Isshiki directly.
He had still held back throughout the battle and had yet to activate Jōgan Chakra Mode.
The problem was that the surrounding space remained unstable.
He could not manipulate it properly and could only resist being dragged into the dimensional turbulence.
"The space is almost repaired.
"Continuing to compete with him through taijutsu won't benefit me.
"These Ōtsutsuki are absurd. Even when they're half-dead, they leave me fighting with one hand tied."
Jigen had placed Hikaru under immense pressure.
The fact that he could push Hikaru this far through taijutsu alone demonstrated just how dangerous he was.
Still, Hikaru had begun forming a plan.
Perhaps he could completely cripple Jigen without killing him.
If he succeeded, Hikaru could obtain far more of the information and material he wanted.
The thought appeared, and Hikaru immediately acted.
Chakra stirred within his body.
Unexpected complications could still arise, but attempting something and doing nothing were two entirely different choices.
A suffocating wave of chakra erupted across the Land of Rivers.
It felt as though the end of the world had arrived.
"Lord Kazekage, the situation is extremely serious.
"According to the Sensor Division, the disturbance in the Land of Rivers is being caused by two combatants.
"And one of them is very likely the Fifth Hokage."
A Sensor Division shinobi knelt before Rasa.
His face was pale, as though he had witnessed something terrifying.
In truth, that was exactly what had happened.
When an immense surge of chakra rose into the sky and began moving toward the Land of Wind, Sunagakure's sensors immediately investigated.
What they found was something resembling the end of the world.
The savage chakra was suffocating.
Waves of destructive pressure rolled toward them from beyond the border, leaving almost every sensor in Sunagakure overwhelmed by despair.
None of them had ever encountered chakra so terrifying.
They had never imagined such power could exist.
Yet it was steadily approaching the borders of the Land of Wind.
They could not imagine what would happen if that destructive force entered their country.
More frightening still was the realization that two people were responsible.
The two chakra signatures were clearly different, yet both carried similarly devastating qualities.
This was no natural disaster.
It was a battle.
Through certain sensing techniques, they had even observed one figure wrapped in brilliant blue chakra.
That person was very likely Konoha's Fifth Hokage.
Senju Hikaru was the man Sunagakure feared above all others.
A review of his history revealed little affection for either the Land of Wind or Sunagakure.
Even when he had still been an ANBU operative, he had already clashed violently with their village.
Back then, before reaching his current level of strength, he had still inflicted a devastating defeat upon Sunagakure.
He had destroyed the entire Barrier Team and eliminated most of their ANBU.
The achievement alone was horrifying.
Worse, Hikaru had only been thirteen or fourteen years old at the time.
His existence had frightened Sunagakure ever since.
That fear reached its peak after he annihilated Kumogakure's army by himself.
Yet fear alone did not always eliminate the will to resist.
If pushed into an extreme situation, Sunagakure might still have attempted to fight back.
What turned fear into despair—and erased even the desire to resist—was the battle five years earlier.
Sunagakure had not directly witnessed that clash.
But after its support teams reached Konoha, the reports they returned with described destruction beyond imagination.
The land itself had become hell.
Whether one saw it personally or heard the descriptions from survivors, the result was the same: a feeling of absolute helplessness.
For Sunagakure, that despair was even heavier because of its history with Hikaru.
Now they were directly sensing the eruption of his power.
How could anyone remain calm?
"Are you certain it is Senju Hikaru?"
Rasa appeared dazed.
Simply hearing the name sent a chill through him.
Its weight was too great.
Had he been given a choice, he would never have wanted to hear it again.
He understood all too well how many grudges Sunagakure had accumulated with the current Hokage during his own time as Kazekage.
It had begun when Hikaru was still only an ANBU operative.
Rasa had never imagined that the troublesome child from those years would grow into someone the entire shinobi world could only look up to.
He released a long sigh and shook his head helplessly.
There was nothing he could do.
He did not know why Hikaru was fighting, who his opponent was, or what the Fifth Hokage intended.
He only knew that Sunagakure could not afford to provoke either combatant.
All he could do was react.
"Order every unit stationed near the border to withdraw immediately.
"Tell the village residents to prepare for evacuation."
Rasa's face burned as humiliation filled his chest.
Yet he could not allow pride to interfere with his judgment.
Some orders were difficult to speak aloud, but as Kazekage, he still had to give them.
"The Sensor Division will continue monitoring the battlefield.
"If the situation worsens, the entire village will evacuate toward the ruins of Rōran."
Hikaru had no idea that his battle with Jigen had placed Sunagakure on such high alert.
It was not only Sunagakure.
Konoha had also noticed the unprecedented clash unfolding beyond the Land of Fire.
Hikaru had no attention to spare for either village.
As long as Konoha remained safe, nothing else mattered.
Vast chakra gathered around him.
Even Jigen's eyes twitched at the sheer intensity of it.
An invisible force seemed to lock onto him.
Under its pressure, escape felt impossible.
Hikaru raised the ninja blade in his right hand high above his head.
A phantom of a silver-haired woman appeared amid the apocalyptic landscape.
At that moment, Jigen felt the crushing presence of death wrap around him.
Every instinct told him that he would die.
Hikaru stood coldly with his blade raised.
Jōgan chakra, Yin–Yang Release, senjutsu, and the power of the tailed beasts converged upon its edge.
Then his terrifying kekkei tōta joined them.
Death itself seemed to become the central law of the battlefield.
"Yin–Yang Release: Konohanasakuya-hime!"
Hikaru gently lowered his blade.
In that instant, an immaculate white radiance swallowed the sky.
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