BOOM—!!
A terrifying gravitational pull surged endlessly from Chibaku Tensei.
In mere moments, a colossal sphere—formed from stone, rubble, and torn earth—swelled into existence high above the village, radiating an even more oppressive force of attraction.
So this is the power of the Six Paths…?
Ren felt the pull pressing down on him and examined it for a beat—then shook his head with faint disappointment.
Chibaku Tensei did carry a trace of Six Paths power…
…but it was far too little.
Against him, it was no more than a nuisance—like a lazy scratch that couldn't even break the skin.
In other words: Nagato simply wasn't strong enough. Even if he forced Chibaku Tensei into existence, there was no way it could seal Ren.
"Impossible…!"
Nagato stared, eyes wide, at the figure floating perfectly still—unmoved in the slightest, as if the technique didn't exist.
This was Chibaku Tensei!
How could it have no effect at all?
…No. The truth was simple.
Nagato was still too weak.
Obito, Black Zetsu, and White Zetsu watched in silence, their expressions stiff.
What else was there to say?
The Fifth Hokage—Uchiha Ren—was monstrously strong. Even Chibaku Tensei couldn't do a thing to him.
Since that was the case—
Ren looked up at the massive sphere hanging overhead, drew a slow breath, and moved without urgency.
With a single thought, Armament Haki, tremor power, and the chakra of his Sage Body wrapped around his fist.
Calmly—almost casually—he threw one punch.
And in the next instant, before countless stunned eyes…
That "ordinary" fist erupted with a blinding shockwave of pale-white energy—like a starburst colliding with the world—slamming into the colossal mass above.
RUMBLE—!!
A deafening roar shook the sky.
Cracks spread across Chibaku Tensei like lightning veins—faster, wider, deeper—
and then the entire sphere shattered, breaking into countless fragments that rained down in a storm of debris.
Shock.
Absolute, mind-numbing shock.
Watching Ren casually blow apart Chibaku Tensei with a single strike, Nagato, Obito, Black Zetsu, and White Zetsu all felt their scalps go numb.
Their scalps tingled.
Nagato's face twisted.
"Why…?!"
The moment he truly understood what had happened—what it meant—his body buckled.
He spat blood, then more blood, coughing violently as if his life was draining out of him by the second.
"We have to leave. Now."
Obito's eyes had already filled with fear and deep wariness. Facing Ren—someone so overwhelmingly unstoppable—he didn't even have the nerve to try anymore.
Worse…
After being crushed again and again, a shadow had taken root in his mind.
In silence, he swore to himself:
Until I gain absolute power… I won't provoke him again.
But Black Zetsu's gaze turned colder.
No… relying on these two pieces isn't enough.
Now that Obito and Nagato being Madara's pawns had been exposed—now that the Eye of the Moon Plan had been dragged into the light—
there was only one path left.
He would be forced to resurrect Madara Uchiha.
Yes—
bring the legend back.
Because for Black Zetsu, if Madara returned, the plan could still be pushed forward… maybe.
As for whether Ren would expose his true identity?
Black Zetsu couldn't afford to care anymore.
If he wanted to revive his "mother," Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, then he had no choice but to stumble forward—one step at a time.
And the more he thought about it, the more suffocating it became.
He had once believed everything in the shinobi world was under his control. He had even enjoyed the thrill of pulling strings in the shadows.
Then Ren appeared—
and everything was overturned.
"…Is this what a true god looks like?"
On the tower's platform, Konan stood frozen, face drained of color, staring at Ren's near-invincible power as if her mind could no longer process it.
Ren, meanwhile, glanced at the shattered debris still falling from the sky, then at the despair radiating from Nagato, Obito, Black Zetsu, White Zetsu, and Konan.
He nodded, satisfied.
This was exactly the effect he wanted.
But the truth was—
that "casual" punch wasn't casual at all.
He had used everything.
"Move!"
Obito gritted his teeth and flashed to Nagato's side.
Before Nagato could even react, Obito dragged him with him—
and warped them into Kamui.
WHIRR—!!
A spiral of space twisted open.
Obito and Nagato vanished.
Black Zetsu and White Zetsu didn't hesitate either—both sank into the earth and disappeared without a trace.
Ren watched them go, then lowered his eyes, expression flat.
"…Why go that far?"
All around him—
paper bombs.
An absurd sea of them.
He had been ready to strike the moment they tried to flee…
but Konan's Paper Person of God Technique had already sealed him in a ring of explosive tags.
He didn't know the exact number—
but even if it wasn't the ridiculous "six hundred billion" from the original legends…
it was still beyond insane.
Hundreds of billions. At least.
And because of that, Ren could only watch as Nagato and Obito escaped into Kamui.
Konan's lips trembled. Her face was bloodless.
"This… is probably the last thing I can do."
She swallowed hard, voice brittle with pain.
"Akatsuki is finished. Amegakure is finished too…"
She raised her eyes to him, exhausted and hollow.
"Kill me."
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