Sasuke's cheek was pressed tightly against the scorching sand.
He could smell the metallic scent of his own blood.
Since the night of the Uchiha massacre, he had never felt this powerless.
Never this helpless.
Never this completely at someone else's mercy.
He had pursued power at any cost precisely so he would never experience this feeling again.
Yet in the end, the higher he climbed, the harder he fell.
Before absolute divine power, his so-called Kage-level strength and the Rinnegan he was so proud of had become nothing more than a joke.
His fingers dug deeply into the sand.
His fingernails cracked from the force.
No...
I can't...
Let it end like this...
If even the will to resist disappeared, then what difference was there between him and a dog that could be crushed beneath someone's foot?
At that moment, a hoarse voice sounded beside him.
It was faint.
Almost as if it were crawling across the ground itself.
"...Use your left eye..."
"...Trade it... for a momentary opening..."
Obito.
Lying nearby in the sand, his body suppressed by Kai's power.
Yet his Sharingan was still spinning.
Sasuke instantly understood.
Use Amenotejikara.
Exchange positions at the crucial moment.
Not necessarily Kai himself—
Just enough to create even a tenth of a second of vulnerability.
It was a mad gamble.
Against someone like Kai, there was a ninety-nine percent chance such a trick would be seen through instantly.
And if it failed—
He would only provoke Kai further.
Death would be inevitable.
But...
It was their only chance.
Sasuke hesitated for less than a heartbeat.
His left eye—
The Rinnegan imbued with Six Paths power—
Erupted with tremendous ocular force.
At nearly the same moment, Kai seemed to decide that the lesson had gone on long enough.
He raised a hand.
A black sphere of energy condensed within his palm.
It pointed directly at the Sasuke pinned beneath him.
"As punishment for your insolence..."
"I'll be taking that eye."
The instant the sphere was about to touch Sasuke—
"Amenotejikara!"
Sasuke activated his ability.
But his target was not Kai.
It was the sphere in Kai's hand—
The compressed energy core created from Shukaku.
Sasuke exchanged the sphere with Kankurō, who lay unconscious in the distance.
Everything happened in less than a blink.
Kai's hand remained extended downward.
But the sphere had vanished.
His palm grasped nothing but air.
Meanwhile, more than ten meters away, the violet sphere suddenly appeared where Kankurō had been lying.
"Oh?"
Kai's movement paused.
For half a second.
Just half a second.
"Kamui!"
Obito unleashed the last of his strength.
His Mangekyō Sharingan spun wildly.
His target was not Kai.
It was the newly relocated Shukaku sphere.
A spatial vortex appeared instantly.
The violet sphere was swallowed whole.
Using Kamui, Obito temporarily transferred Shukaku's essence into his dimension.
"Beautiful!"
Killer B reacted immediately.
Instead of attacking Kai, he spun around and grabbed his brother.
"Naruto! Take Gaara and run, yo!"
"Earth Release: Ultra-Lightweight Rock Technique!"
Ōnoki somehow found enough remaining strength to weave hand seals.
Golden light enveloped Killer B and A, dramatically reducing their weight.
"Go!"
The Sage of Six Paths appeared beside Naruto.
A gentle force broke the invisible restraints binding him.
At the same time, unconscious Gaara was pushed toward him.
From Sasuke's Amenotejikara—
To Obito's Kamui—
To Killer B's rescue—
The entire sequence flowed with flawless precision.
As if they had practiced it a thousand times.
Every rebel on the battlefield had acted through pure instinct and desperate understanding.
A perfect combination attack born from absolute despair.
Naruto did not hesitate.
He immediately created two Shadow Clones.
One lifted Gaara onto its back.
The other supported the exhausted Sasuke.
"You think you can leave?"
A cold voice sounded behind them.
Everyone froze.
Kai slowly turned around.
There was no anger on his face.
Instead—
He was smiling.
The smile of someone who had discovered a particularly interesting toy.
"Excellent teamwork."
He even applauded softly.
"A traitor."
"Enemies."
"An ancient relic."
"To think all of you reached a consensus in an instant."
"That truly surprised me."
His gaze settled upon Sasuke.
"Especially you."
"You could have exchanged my position and created a path to save yourself."
"Instead, you chose to save that tanuki."
"Are you trying to prove that your ridiculous 'bonds' are more important than your own life?"
Sasuke did not answer.
He simply breathed heavily and stared back through his Rinnegan.
"Very well."
Kai nodded.
"I understand now."
"It seems simple education is ineffective."
"You are like a virus."
"And viruses require a more thorough form of extermination."
He spread his arms wide.
As though embracing the entire world.
"My original plan was to collect the Tailed Beasts one at a time."
"To preserve their integrity as much as possible."
"But now..."
"I have changed my mind."
"Since all of you treasure your bonds so dearly..."
"Then let me show you what happens when every bond is forcibly kneaded together into one."
His voice became vast and ethereal.
It echoed across heaven and earth.
"Scattered chakra of the Tailed Beasts..."
"Return to me."
"In my name."
The moment those words fell—
The world trembled.
Inside Killer B, Gyūki released a scream of agony.
Massive streams of chakra erupted uncontrollably from his body and flew skyward toward Kai.
The same thing happened inside Naruto.
Kurama's Yang chakra surged outward as if some invisible drain had been opened.
"DAMN IT!"
Kurama roared within Naruto's mind.
"What is this bastard doing?!"
"He's extracting all of our chakra directly!"
And it wasn't only them.
Far away within the Divine Court's headquarters—
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path suddenly opened all nine eyes.
The chakra of the Two-Tails through Seven-Tails, sealed within it, transformed into six colossal torrents.
They pierced the heavens.
Crossed unimaginable distances.
And converged toward the desert.
Even the Shukaku sphere hidden inside Kamui's dimension shattered through spatial boundaries and reappeared above the battlefield.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
The chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts gathered above Kai's head in its purest state.
No longer separate entities.
No longer independent beings.
A greater power seized them.
Forced them together.
Compressed them.
Reconstructed them.
The sky darkened.
Not because clouds covered the sun—
But because light itself was being twisted and consumed by the overwhelming energy.
A black sphere beyond description slowly formed overhead.
It possessed no life.
No will.
Only absolute power.
Pure destruction.
It was not the Ten-Tails.
The Ten-Tails was the vessel of the Divine Tree.
The origin of chakra.
Still part of the world's natural cycle.
But this thing—
This was different.
A true embodiment of Nothingness.
Nine forms of chakra forcibly unified.
Every unique property erased.
Every distinction destroyed.
A beast born from pure Void.
Kai gazed upward at his creation.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
"A name."
"Every newborn creation deserves a name."
He spread his arms.
And declared:
"From this day forward..."
"You shall be known as—"
"Zero."
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