Obito staggered backward, his face pale as paper.
"W-What did you do to me?"
"I merely looked through your experiences over the past few years," Kai replied calmly.
"To be honest, it was rather boring."
He turned toward Gaara, who was still trapped within the massive prison of sand.
"Enough chatting."
"Time to handle the real matter."
Kai raised a hand.
The sand binding Gaara immediately began tightening.
"Stop!"
Naruto charged forward.
"Don't hurt Gaara!"
But before he could take more than a few steps, an invisible force froze him in place.
"Quiet."
Kai did not even look back.
"It'll be your turn soon enough."
Suddenly—
A crack opened in the sky.
A weathered voice echoed from within.
"Stop, Uchiha Kai."
Everyone looked up.
An elderly man stepped out of the dimensional fissure.
He carried a strange black staff and radiated an ethereal aura.
"The Sage of Six Paths!"
Kurama shouted in shock inside Naruto's mind.
"Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo."
Kai recognized him immediately.
"I didn't expect you to still be around."
The Sage descended gently onto the battlefield.
His gaze swept across the devastation.
Pain flashed in his eyes.
"This is not what I wished to see."
His voice was solemn.
"The power of chakra was never meant to be used for conquest and destruction."
"Is that so?"
Kai turned toward him.
"Then tell me—how should it be used?"
"To connect hearts."
"To create understanding."
Hagoromo answered without hesitation.
"Understanding?"
Kai laughed.
"A thousand years have passed."
"And you're still just as naïve."
"I am not naïve."
Hagoromo shook his head.
"I simply believe in the goodness within humanity."
"Goodness?"
Kai pointed toward the corpses scattered across the battlefield.
"Is this the goodness you speak of?"
Silence.
Even Hagoromo found no immediate answer.
Everything before them testified to humanity's cruelty and foolishness.
"Your intentions were admirable, Hagoromo."
Kai continued.
"But you overestimated mankind."
"Give them power, and they use it to hurt each other."
"And so your answer is to take away everyone's freedom?"
Hagoromo asked.
"Freedom?"
Kai smiled faintly.
"Under my rule there will be no wars."
"No hatred."
"No suffering."
"Is that not better than your so-called freedom?"
"Without suffering, there is no growth."
Hagoromo replied.
"Without choice, happiness has no meaning."
"Then let us determine whose philosophy is correct."
A terrifying pressure began radiating from Kai.
"I will unify this world."
"I will create true peace."
"And you cannot stop me."
Hagoromo sighed.
Then he raised his staff.
"If you insist on walking this path..."
"Then I must stop you."
"The Sage of Six Paths is going to fight him?"
Sakura asked nervously.
"He should win... right?"
Lee said uncertainly.
"He is the legendary Sage of Six Paths, after all."
Naruto remained silent.
Through Kurama, he could sense Kai's aura.
Its immeasurable depth filled him with unease.
The battle was about to begin.
The Sage's staff emitted a gentle radiance.
The surrounding air itself seemed sacred.
Kai simply stood there.
No chakra fluctuations could be felt from him.
Yet his presence was more oppressive than anyone else's.
"Hagoromo."
Kai spoke one final time.
"Are you certain you wish to oppose me?"
"I must."
The Sage answered firmly.
"It is my responsibility."
"Then show me."
Kai smiled.
"Show me the true power of the Sage of Six Paths."
The instant those words ended—
Both figures vanished.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted across the desert.
The battle had begun.
The desert shook violently.
Shockwaves blasted across the horizon.
Hagoromo wielded his black staff while six Truth-Seeking Balls floated behind him.
Each one possessed enough power to erase entire landscapes.
Kai remained barehanded.
Yet every swing of his arm tore through space itself.
Every step caused the earth to quake.
"Truth-Seeking Orbs!"
The black spheres shot forward.
Anything they touched would be erased.
Even Dust Release could not compare.
Yet Kai casually reached out.
And caught one.
"Interesting."
He examined the orb.
"A product of Yin-Yang Release."
Hagoromo's eyes widened.
No one besides the creator should have been able to touch a Truth-Seeking Ball.
And yet Kai held one in his palm as though it were a toy.
"What exactly are you?"
Hagoromo finally asked.
"I told you already."
Kai crushed the orb.
Black fragments drifted from between his fingers.
"I am a god."
"A god of a higher order than you."
"Impossible!"
Hagoromo roared.
His staff erupted with blinding brilliance.
"Six Paths: Planetary Devastation!"
A colossal gravitational core formed overhead.
Far more powerful than any ordinary Chibaku Tensei.
This was the very technique once used to seal the Ten-Tails.
Space itself began twisting.
The surrounding shinobi felt their bodies being dragged skyward.
"So much gravity!"
Naruto desperately grabbed a boulder.
"Is this the Sage's true power?!"
Yet Kai remained calm.
"A fine sealing technique."
He nodded.
"But useless against me."
He slowly raised his right hand.
A smaller—
Yet infinitely darker sphere appeared in his palm.
"Super Planetary Devastation."
The two gravitational cores collided.
Reality warped.
The desert twisted.
Countless tons of sand and stone were dragged into the sky.
Two enormous celestial bodies began forming.
Then—
Kai's sphere began devouring Hagoromo's.
"What?!"
Hagoromo's expression changed.
His technique was being assimilated.
Less than a minute later—
His Planetary Devastation had been completely consumed.
Kai's sphere continued growing.
"It's over."
Kai spoke casually.
The gigantic celestial mass crashed downward.
Hagoromo immediately attempted to evade.
But its scale was too immense.
There was nowhere to run.
Just before impact—
He vanished.
"Flying Thunder God?"
Kai raised an eyebrow.
Unexpected.
Hagoromo reappeared far away.
His complexion was pale.
The clash had drained an enormous amount of power.
"Your strength..."
He breathed heavily.
"Where does it come from?"
"You wish to know?"
Kai smiled.
"Then I shall tell you."
He spread his arms and gazed toward the heavens.
"I come from a higher dimension."
"I command the fundamental laws of this world."
"To me, your so-called Six Paths power..."
"Is nothing more than a child's toy."
"A higher dimension?"
Hagoromo frowned.
"You mean..."
"Exactly."
Kai nodded.
"To the inhabitants of this world, reality is three-dimensional."
"I exist in the fourth dimension."
"Perhaps even beyond."
The explanation stunned everyone present.
If that were true—
Then resisting him truly seemed meaningless.
"But!"
Naruto suddenly shouted.
"Even if you come from a higher dimension, that doesn't give you the right to trample on other people's lives!"
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