This impact was more violent than any before. The once gentle, water like ripples on the barrier churned wildly, the waves becoming painfully clear as a strained hum rang out. Kakashi's face changed drastically as he looked up at Da Sheji in alarm.
"Do not look at me," Da Sheji said softly, shaking her head. "I already told you. I am just a research October Fengshen. My power depends on my creations."
"This protective barrier has an estimated stable operation time of five minutes remaining. Please prepare yourselves."
Hearing this, Two-Tails Jinchuriki and Mei Terumi, who had relaxed slightly, immediately tensed again and looked up at the half stone statue venting its Wrath. Naruto Uzumaki drove the broken colossus like a piston, smashing the barrier again and again without fatigue.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The dull impacts rang out like the tolling bell of Ryoma, unceasing and oppressive. The ripples on the barrier grew ever more violent, spreading visibly across its surface.
Boom!
With Naruto Uzumaki's final, all out punch, the barrier caved inward and its light dimmed to the extreme. Then came a soft sound, like a bubble bursting.
The half transparent barrier that had withstood countless heavy blows finally shattered like a soap bubble under Naruto Uzumaki's frenzied assault.
"It worked!"
Near manic excitement burned in Naruto Uzumaki's golden slit pupils. The broken Rock Colossus and its last remaining arm carried all his hatred, killing intent, and twisted pleasure as it smashed down at the unprotected figure below.
Forget Da Sheji. Die. This punch held all his strength, tearing the air with a shrill scream as it fell.
Just as the destructive fist was about to crush Da Sheji and Kakashi together, Two-Tails Jinchuriki and Mei Terumi steeled themselves and stepped forward to block it. At that critical instant, everything changed.
Swish Swish Swish!
The wind roared past like a sudden storm, rippling the air itself. Naruto Uzumaki heard the shriek above grow sharp, and in the next moment, several massive Land of Wind Kaguya Otsutsuki screamed down from the sky, slicing through the dust.
The Land of Wind Kaguya Otsutsuki were a deep dark hue, their edges flashing with icy light. They moved faster than sight and cut cleanly through the body and arm of the Rock Colossus without resistance.
Time seemed to freeze. Then, the colossal arm of the Rock Colossus was severed cleanly and began to slide downward.
Boom!
The severed arm crashed to the ground with tremendous force, shaking the earth and kicking up clouds of dust.
"Ahhh!"
An agonized scream tore from Naruto Uzumaki's throat. The nerves merged with the statue transmitted the pain of the severed arm back to his body with brutal clarity, the agony so deep it nearly knocked him unconscious.
He clenched his teeth and looked up, his bloodshot golden pupils filled with hatred and shock as they locked onto the sky. In the smoke filled, fire lit night, a figure with white wings hovered above.
Pure white feathers beat gently in the wind, scattering soft light that illuminated a calm face and a pair of pure Pure Byakugan. The sight was unmistakable.
"Ryoma!"
Naruto Uzumaki's voice overflowed with pain and hatred as his face twisted grotesquely beneath the stone mask.
Under a night sky lit by smoke and fire, the scene burned with scattered light. Pure Ryoma wings beat softly, shedding faint sparks as they moved.
Ryoma looked down at Naruto Uzumaki below, at a face twisted by hatred into something ugly. He smiled slightly and spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear. "Naruto Uzumaki. It really has been a long time."
"A long time?" From the chest of the Rock Colossus, Naruto Uzumaki answered with a hoarse, venomous voice. "Ryoma! I have wanted to kill you every single moment!"
Ryoma shifted his gaze and swept it toward the distance, where Obito was locked in combat with Ryoma and Kurotsuchi. He looked back at Naruto Uzumaki, regret flickering in his eyes as his voice rose. "You even joined forces with enemies of Konoha to strike at former companions. It seems you have abandoned everything from the past, and what you do now is even more despicable and unforgivable."
At those words, Naruto Uzumaki's face twitched uncontrollably, veins on his forehead bulging and writhing like worms. Despicable? It was this shameless Crimson giant liar who had guided the old man to uncover the human experiments, forcing him to flee in disgrace. And now this same person stood here, acting merciful and calling him unforgivable.
"Ryoma!" Naruto Uzumaki ground his teeth until they creaked, each word forced out through clenched jaws. A stronger aura burst from the chest of the Rock Colossus, and the ground shook violently once more.
The armless colossus, half fused with the earth, suddenly sprayed countless nerve like strands from its severed shoulders. Thick blue filaments writhed like living things, spreading outward and grasping at everything around them. They crawled over scattered Gravel, from the shattered stone arms destroyed by Da Sheji and Ryoma to the broken statues smashed during the fight between Ryoma, Kurotsuchi, and Obito.
kacha! kacha! Under the pulling and binding force of the blue nerves, endless Gravel rushed toward the stumps and locked together. Amid deafening grinding sounds, two thicker and more brutal stone arms rapidly took shape.
With its arms restored, the half body giant slammed its palms into the ground. The earth buckled and split as the giant tore its buried lower body free and rose up in full. When the complete Rock Colossus finally stood, blue nerves flowing through the gaps in its stone body, the pressure it gave off crushed down like a mountain.
Naruto Uzumaki, once exposed in the chest, was now completely hidden within the giant. In the hollow eye sockets of the stone head, two blazing crimson lights ignited. The giant fixed its gaze on Ryoma hovering at eye level and opened its mouth, speaking with a rasping, twisted voice. "I want you dead!"
The giant clenched its jagged stone fist, tiny rocks gathering madly into its palm. Land of Earth Release·Iron Cannon Technique! The fist opened like a barrel, and nail sized stones expanded as they shot out, swelling into millstone sized projectiles under Land of Earth Release Chakra.
The stone shells rained down like falling stars toward Ryoma. Screeching air tore around them, heat rolling in waves from the friction. Facing this overwhelming attack, Ryoma remained calm and gave a light beat of his Ryoma wings.
His figure vanished in an instant. In the crimson stone eyes of Naruto Uzumaki, only a blurred streak of Ryoma light remained. That streak darted through the dense barrage, twisting at impossible angles and slipping past death by the narrowest margins as it closed in.
"Damn it!" Naruto Uzumaki's Wrath surged as he lifted the giant's massive foot and stamped down. Land of Earth Release·Iwagakure Pillar Prison! The ground roared as huge stone pillars burst upward, forming a dense cage that sealed off every path of escape.
Seeing Ryoma's space shrink, the giant raised both arms again. "Land of Earth Release·Iwagakure Theft Staff!" Land of Earth Release Chakra surged over the arms, shaping the stone into several massive rock staves with sharp, gleaming tips. Naruto Uzumaki hurled them forward with a howl.
The enormous staves ripped through the air like siege bolts, slamming toward the center of the prison. Suspended within the narrowing cage, Ryoma narrowed his eyes as a blue glow lit beneath his clothes.