The dimension was a barren expanse of jagged, obsidian-like rock stretching endlessly beneath a starless, pitch-black sky. There was no wind, no moisture, and no natural energy. It was a dead realm, forged entirely by the visual prowess of Itachi Uchiha to serve as a quarantine zone.
Standing atop a high, jagged spire overlooking the desolate terrain, Itachi remained perfectly still. His dark cloak hung motionless in the dead air. His Mangekyo Sharingan tracking the two distinct, massive sources of chakra clashing miles apart within the void.
To the north, a storm of shifting gravitational fields and blinding white light marked the battle between Neji Hyuga and Momoshiki Otsutsuki.
Itachi did not move to assist. He understood the capabilities of the Aegis Division. Nanami Kento had not selected them at random; they were forged to handle exactly this level of threat. Itachi's role was to maintain the dimensional lock and act as the final failsafe. He focused his gaze downward, toward the vast crater directly below his spire.
Here, the conflict was not a matter of complex jutsu or shifting space. It was a contest of pure, unadulterated physical violence.
Kinshiki Otsutsuki pulled himself from the rubble of the crater wall. The giant brushed the dust from his torn white robes. The heavy armor plating on his chest was severely cracked from the initial blow he had taken in the stadium.
He looked across the crater.
Rock Lee stood waiting. He wore his simple green jumpsuit, his posture relaxed but rooted firmly to the stone. The black lines of the Karma seal covered the left side of his face and crawled down his arm.
"You are a mere human," Kinshiki rumbled, his deep voice vibrating through the silent dimension. "A vessel carrying stolen power. You do not comprehend the magnitude of the flesh you have tainted."
Kinshiki raised his massive right hand. The air above his palm warped as bright, volatile red chakra condensed and solidified. In a matter of seconds, he forged a colossal, double-bladed battle-axe of glowing red energy.
"I will sever the stolen power from your corpse," Kinshiki declared.
Lee did not draw a weapon. He raised his fists, settling into the familiar, disciplined stance of his Taijutsu form.
"The power was given to me to protect my home," Lee replied, his voice steady. "I do not rely on it alone. It is merely an addition to the thousands of hours I have spent hardening my own fists. Let me show you the result of that labor."
Kinshiki charged.
Despite his immense size, the Otsutsuki moved with terrifying speed. He crossed the crater in a single leap, bringing the massive red axe down in an overhead cleave designed to split the bedrock and the human in two.
Lee did not retreat. He stepped directly into the descending arc.
As the glowing red blade fell, Lee's Karma seal flared. He did not use his Shinjutsu yet; he relied on the raw, augmented physical strength of his integrated cells. Lee threw a rising uppercut, aiming not for the wielder, but directly at the flat side of the descending axe head.
Fist met chakra.
The impact rang out like a cannon shot. The force of Lee's punch halted the massive axe mid-swing. The red chakra weapon groaned under the stress, spiderwebs of light fracturing along the blade.
Kinshiki's eyes widened in surprise. He used his sheer mass to push down, attempting to overpower the block.
Lee dropped his center of gravity, pivoting his back foot. He slid his left hand along the haft of the glowing weapon, stepping completely inside Kinshiki's guard. With a sharp, explosive twist of his hips, Lee delivered a devastating elbow strike to the giant's armored stomach.
The blow landed with a heavy, sickening thud. Kinshiki was forced to take a step back, the breath driven from his lungs.
"You are fast," Kinshiki grunted, recovering instantly. He dissolved the axe, reforming the red chakra into two massive, curved scimitars in each hand. "But speed is meaningless against an unending storm."
Kinshiki unleashed a relentless, sweeping barrage. He became a whirlwind of red blades, his strikes carving deep, jagged trenches into the obsidian floor. He attacked with broad, sweeping arcs intended to force Lee to jump or block, leaving no room for a counter-offensive.
Lee weaved through the storm of red light. He ducked under a horizontal slash, leaned away from a thrust, and parried a downward chop with the back of his forearm. The black lines of the Karma glowed, reinforcing his bones to withstand the grazing hits of the dense chakra weapons.
His reach is too long, Lee analyzed, maintaining his evasive footwork. If I stay on the defensive, he will eventually clip me. I need to close the distance instantly.
Lee found his opening. As Kinshiki committed to a heavy, two-handed downward strike, Lee stepped forward instead of back.
Lee focused his intent.
Absolute Impact.
He threw a straight, right punch.
He was still ten feet away from Kinshiki's chest. In standard combat, the strike would hit empty air. But Lee's Shinjutsu defied the concept of travel time. The moment he completed the motion of the punch, the physical force manifested instantaneously at its destination.
The space between them did not matter.
Kinshiki was struck squarely in the jaw by an invisible, full-force blow. The giant's head snapped back violently. The momentum of his dual-sword strike failed as he staggered backward, completely disoriented by a punch that had seemingly crossed the gap without moving.
"What is this?" Kinshiki growled, tasting blood. He looked at Lee, who had not moved from his spot ten feet away.
"A technique born of pure focus," Lee answered, settling back into his stance.
Kinshiki narrowed his eyes. He realized the human possessed an ability that bypassed physical distance. If he allowed the human to initiate an attack, he could not dodge it.
"Then I will leave you no space to initiate," Kinshiki decided.
The giant raised his hands to the dark sky. The red chakra radiating from him intensified, expanding outward. High above the battlefield, dozens of glowing red weapons materialized in the empty air—spears, halberds, axes, and swords, all aimed directly at Lee.
Kinshiki threw his arms down.
The arsenal of red weapons rained down like a localized meteor shower.
Lee looked up at the descending storm of lethal chakra. He knew he could not dodge all of them, and using Absolute Impact on individual weapons would leave him open to the rest.
He needed raw speed.
Lee crossed his arms over his chest. He focused his chakra, tapping into the inner pathways he had spent his entire life conditioning.
"Third Gate: Gate of Life. Open."
Lee's skin turned a shade of deep red. The veins in his forehead bulged. His chakra, already dense from the Karma, flared into a visible, roaring green aura.
The first red spear struck the ground where Lee stood.
Lee was already gone.
He became a blur of green and black. He bounced off the jagged rock formations, moving so fast he appeared to be flying. As the red weapons crashed into the earth, sending shards of obsidian flying, Lee intercepted them mid-air.
He didn't just dodge; he dismantled the barrage. He kicked a falling halberd, shattering it into red mist. He caught the haft of a descending axe and threw it into the path of three incoming swords, destroying them all.
Kinshiki watched the human tear through his bombardment. He manifested a massive red hammer in his hands and leaped into the air, aiming to crush Lee against the ground while the boy was distracted by the falling weapons.
Lee saw the shadow looming over him. He did not retreat.
"Fifth Gate: Gate of Limit. Open."
The green aura exploded, tearing up the ground beneath his feet. The physical strain on his muscles was immense, but the Karma seal forcefully held his cellular structure together, preventing his tendons from tearing under the extreme pressure.
Lee launched himself upward, meeting Kinshiki in the air.
Kinshiki swung the massive red hammer down.
Lee did not use his Shinjutsu. He matched the brute force directly. He spun his body, delivering a devastating, rising roundhouse kick directly into the head of the hammer.
The collision shattered the air. The red chakra hammer exploded into fragments. The force of Lee's kick carried through, striking Kinshiki's forearms and driving the giant backward through the sky.
They landed on opposite sides of the ruined crater.
Kinshiki breathed heavily, his massive chest heaving. The red chakra around him was beginning to sputter. The human was not just matching his strength; he was exceeding his speed.
"You push your mortal frame to the breaking point," Kinshiki noted, recognizing the self-destructive nature of the Inner Gates. "You burn your own life to match me. It is a foolish trade."
"It is a necessary effort to protect those I care about," Lee responded. He wiped a streak of sweat from his brow. The pain in his muscles was a roaring fire, but his mind remained sharp.
Kinshiki lowered his hands. He closed his eyes. The red chakra surrounding him condensed, pulling back into his body. The ambient light in the crater dimmed.
When Kinshiki opened his eyes, the red chakra did not form a weapon. It formed a single, massive, glowing ring of light behind his back. He was focusing the entirety of his remaining strength into his own physical form, abandoning ranged attacks for close-quarters devastation.
"I will crush you with my own hands," Kinshiki vowed.
He dashed forward. The ground cracked with every step. He moved with a speed that rivaled Lee's Fifth Gate.
Lee met him in the center.
The exchange of blows was deafening. They did not block; they traded strikes. Kinshiki drove a massive fist into Lee's ribs. Lee absorbed the blow, pivoting his weight to drive an elbow into Kinshiki's sternum.
They fought in a tight circle, moving faster than the eye could process. The obsidian bedrock beneath them was ground into fine dust by their footwork.
Kinshiki grabbed Lee by the collar of his jumpsuit, lifting him off the ground and throwing him violently into a nearby rock spire.
Lee hit the stone, the impact creating a spiderweb of cracks. Before he could fall, Kinshiki was there, driving a knee toward Lee's chest.
Lee used his hands to push off the spire, vaulting over the incoming knee. While inverted in the air, Lee brought his heel down on the back of Kinshiki's neck.
The giant grunted, driven to one knee by the blow.
Lee landed and immediately sprang back, putting ten paces between them. His breathing was ragged. The Fifth Gate was taking its toll. He needed to end the fight before his muscles completely gave out.
He needed a clean strike with Absolute Impact. But Kinshiki was too fast, constantly moving and striking, never giving Lee the fraction of a second needed to initiate the zero-distance blow perfectly.
Kinshiki stood up. He wiped the dust from his face. The red ring behind his back flared brighter.
"You are slowing down," Kinshiki observed. He raised his hands, interlocking his fingers to form a massive, double-fisted hammer. "This ends now."
Kinshiki leaped high into the black sky. He brought his interlocked fists down, intending to crush the entire area where Lee stood.
Lee looked up at the descending giant.
He knew he could dodge, but dodging would only prolong the fight. He needed to meet the strike head-on.
Lee took a deep breath, dropping his stance low. He focused his remaining chakra, pushing past the limits of his pain.
"Sixth Gate: Gate of View. Open."
The green aura shifted, expanding violently. The water in the air, formed by the sweat evaporating from his skin, created a visible, spinning vortex around him.
Lee did not jump to meet Kinshiki. He planted his feet firmly into the obsidian.
He pulled his right fist back to his hip. He focused his intent entirely on the center of Kinshiki's descending chest, ignoring the massive, double-fisted strike coming toward his own head.
I will not miss, Lee thought.
As Kinshiki descended, he saw Lee pull his fist back. He remembered the invisible strike. He knew the human was attempting to use the technique again.
Kinshiki altered his trajectory mid-air. He twisted his torso, turning his shoulder to absorb the blow, sacrificing his arm to ensure his own strike landed on the human's skull.
Lee saw the shift. He knew Kinshiki was guarding against the Absolute Impact.
But Lee did not throw the punch.
Instead, Lee uncurled his fist, opening his hand into a flat palm.
He did not use Absolute Impact to strike the enemy.
He used it on the ground beneath his own feet.
Lee drove his open palm downward. He completed the motion, and the physical force manifested instantaneously deep within the bedrock directly under his boots.
The ground did not just crack; it violently exploded upward. A massive pillar of shattered obsidian and compressed air shot into the sky like a geyser.
Kinshiki, descending with his full weight, crashed directly into the rising pillar of stone and wind. The sheer, unexpected upward force completely shattered his momentum, throwing him off balance in mid-air. His double-fisted strike missed entirely, striking the rising debris instead of Lee.
With Kinshiki disoriented and suspended in the air, his guard completely broken, Lee moved.
He leaped from the exploding debris, appearing directly in front of the giant.
Lee pulled his fist back one final time. The black lines of the Karma seal pulsed with a dark, heavy light, synchronizing perfectly with the roaring green aura of the Sixth Gate.
He focused his absolute intent on the center of Kinshiki's cracked chest plate.
Absolute Impact.
Lee threw the punch.
There was no travel time. The fist completed its motion, and the force was delivered instantly.
The impact struck Kinshiki dead center.
It was a blow forged from the raw physical power of the Sixth Gate, multiplied by the alien density of the Karma seal, and delivered with zero loss of kinetic energy.
The sound was a dull, echoing boom.
Kinshiki's chest plate shattered completely. The red ring of light behind his back blinked out. The giant's eyes rolled back into his head as the concussive force transferred directly through his body, crushing his ribs and stopping his heart.
The massive Otsutsuki was launched backward. He tore through the air, skipping across the barren dimension like a skipped stone, before crashing violently into a jagged spire miles away.
The spire crumbled, burying the giant beneath tons of black rock.
He did not move again.
Rock Lee landed heavily on the shattered ground. The green aura of the Sixth Gate flickered and died. The red flush left his skin, replaced by a pale exhaustion. He dropped to one knee, panting harshly, sweat pouring from his face.
He looked at his right hand. The knuckles were bruised and bleeding, but they were unbroken.
"The hard work... pays off," Lee whispered, offering a small, tired smile to the empty crater.
High above, standing on his jagged peak, Itachi Uchiha lowered his gaze.
He had watched the entire exchange. He had noted Lee's tactical use of the Shinjutsu to disrupt the enemy's footing rather than just striking blindly. It was a flawless application of martial logic.
The threat to the south was eliminated.
Itachi turned his head, his Mangekyo Sharingan locking onto the northern sector of the dimension. The storm of gravitational shifts and white light was still raging.
"One finished," Itachi murmured quietly to himself.
He stepped off the spire, his dark cloak billowing as he dropped toward the remaining battlefield, moving to ensure the final threat was permanently extinguished.