The rain of hooks descended, Akira smiled faintly and raised his hand.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
An invisible force field formed like a wall, knocking every hook aside.
"Heh."
The white-clad figure in the sky curled his lips into a frivolous smile. He didn't press the attack. Instead, he flicked his fishing line, wrapped it around Momoshiki, and dragged him up into the air.
Akira looked up at the man with a high ponytail, two round markings on his forehead where eyebrows should have been.
So, you've come.
Perfect timing.
Otherwise, letting Momoshiki go like that would've made him think I had ulterior motives.
…Though I actually do.
"That guy is…" On top of the Demonic Statue, Obito withdrew from Kamui, while Madara leapt down.
The two landed beside Akira, staring at the third party who had entered the battlefield.
"Ōtsutsuki… Urashiki, huh."
Urashiki held Momoshiki in one hand, his playful smile fading. His gaze swept over Madara and Obito before settling on Akira.
"So, another Rinnegan has appeared on Kaguya's land."
"But then again, I happen to have a pair myself."
Buzz!
As he spoke, his Byakugan transformed into a pair of pale-red six-tomoe Rinnegan.
"Farewell…"
Gripping Momoshiki, he vanished into a black spatial裂缝 that opened overhead.
Obito narrowed his eyes.
"That way of opening space… No doubt about it. It's Kaguya's—!"
He turned to Akira.
"Should we chase them?"
"No," Akira replied. "There's no need."
Madara said calmly, "With the three of us working together, we could probably keep them here forever."
"Maybe," Akira shook his head lightly. "But Urashiki possesses a 'treasure' that can manipulate time."
"Oh." Obito thought for a moment. "You mean that turtle from the illusion? The one that allows time travel? That thing shouldn't be very useful in real combat, right?"
"No. Not Karasuki."
"I mean another one. I don't know its name, but it looks like a black box. When it's thrown, it freezes everything in an area and banishes the frozen targets to a certain place."
"I've seen it in the future. I just didn't show you earlier to save time."
In the original timeline, Urashiki, acting under higher Ōtsutsuki orders, descended to the moon and used that treasure on Toneri.
At present, time hadn't reached that point yet.
Which meant the black-box artifact was still in Urashiki's hands—and still posed a threat.
To avoid mutual destruction, it wasn't wise to fall out with him now.
Especially since letting Momoshiki go was part of Akira's plan to maximize future gains.
Urashiki remained alert as he slowly retreated into Yomotsu Hirasaka.
His thoughts churned.
That Uchiha Akira… his Rinnegan can reverse time.
In theory, he could rewind time and catch me again.
If he really does that, I'll have no choice but to use that precious artifact Lord Shibai gave me.
Little Momo, I'm risking my only trump card to save you.
You owe me big time. You'd better repay me properly.
Whoosh!
Yomotsu Hirasaka closed completely.
Momoshiki and Urashiki were gone.
Gone… but not entirely.
Akira turned his gaze toward the ruins left by the collapsing Chibaku Tensei and raised his hand.
Gravity pulled the severed horn he had cut off Momoshiki with the Kusanagi Sword into his palm.
Madara said meaningfully, "Planning to turn Momoshiki into two as well?"
As expected, Uncle Madara sees right through it.
I only used the enhanced Annihilating Śraddhā on Kinshiki once, and he already grasped the essence.
"Not right now," Akira replied. "If I rewind time now, Momoshiki would just come back exactly as he was."
"Oh? How so?"
"The prerequisite for splitting someone into two is that they exist in different forms."
"Take Kinshiki. After being devoured, he existed as chakra inside Momoshiki. That's why I could restore him as a living person."
"If Kinshiki were still alive, I couldn't create another living Kinshiki."
"I see. One cause can't bear two different fruits."
"Exactly." Madara nodded. "Akira… your Rinnegan awakened a causality-based dōjutsu."
Akira looked at him in surprise.
"You knew?"
"Yes." Madara folded his arms. "Akira, haven't you noticed? Your eyes have long been tainted by causality."
"The power of cause and effect was already hidden in the 'Time Freeze' you unlocked through Midohano."
"You froze the White Zetsu before Infinite Tsukuyomi was lifted, then later unfroze them."
"But logically, that should've been meaningless. The causal link remained. Once unfrozen, they should've died anyway."
"The reason they survived was because that causality had already been severed."
Akira was astonished.
"You noticed even that…"
He had sensed something himself, but never analyzed it that deeply. He'd just assumed it was a side effect of Yumodora Flow.
"Abilities often show signs in advance," Madara continued. "Not just you. It happened to Obito too."
He turned his gaze to Obito.
"Before Obito awakened Kamui, he had already experienced 'phasing.'"
"After being crushed at Kannabi Bridge, his body somehow passed through the rubble and appeared in my base."
"That was Kamui's omen."
"He had signs of Mangekyō even at the two-tomoe stage."
"And you had signs of the Rinnegan while still at Mangekyō."
"So that means… I had signs of Annihilating Śraddhā long ago."
Madara looked at Akira's partially covered right eye.
"Annihilating Śraddhā… that's the name of your Rinnegan ability?"
"Yes."
"To sever the causality of this world—that is its power."
"Good. Very good."
Madara and Obito exchanged a glance, both seeing turbulent emotions in each other's eyes.
To think… our lifelong obsession has become nothing more than a technique in Akira's eyes.
Perhaps our meeting in this era, working toward the same goal, was itself the result of countless prior causes.
Akira…
Let me see how far you can climb in this web of causality.
Akira sealed Momoshiki's horn into a scroll, planning to make it into a specimen later.
Madara asked, "What's next? Head back?"
"No."
Akira looked up at the massive celestial body overhead.
"The Demonic Statue has been summoned, but Kaguya's main body—the Rabbit Form—is still sealed in the core."
"Letting Urashiki and Momoshiki escape means this place is exposed."
Madara asked, "Then what do you propose?"
Akira checked the time.
8:22 a.m.
To be precise, July 4th, Konoha Year 80, 8:22 a.m.
Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei…
It was practically unsolvable.
His Yumodora Time Zone had no room large enough to contain something like this.
Freezing it was unrealistic too.
So… only one option left?
"Smash it," Akira said quietly.
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