556-560

Chapter 556: Heavenly Summoning!  

Inside the Uchiha Clan's medical laboratory, 

A chaotic yet orderly network of pipes and cables stretched across every corner of the lab, resembling the structure of a heart. They contracted and expanded in rhythm with the breathing of the figure lying on the central bed.  

A torrent of violent, surging dark chakra was being transported from countless sub-laboratories through machines resembling industrial blenders. This chakra flowed through specialized chakra-conducting metal pipes and into the body of the figure at the center!  

Boom! Boom! 

The heartbeat thundered like roaring thunder, while the blood surged like a raging tsunami!  

Shinnō stared in shock at Shinji, who lay in the containment bed. He immediately turned his head and shouted urgently behind him:  

"Faster, hurry up!"  

"I don’t know why this brat's body suddenly requires such an enormous amount of chakra, but this might be the only way to save him!"  

"Director Shinnō, we've already emptied the Nara Clan’s entire medicinal garden. The coordinated supplies will take at least half a day to arrive. Right now… right now, we have nothing left to convert!"  

"Then go find something!"  

"And you’re asking me what to do?!" Shinnō glared at the maxed-out indicator on the instrument panel, his face filled with frustration.  

It wasn’t that the lower limit had been exceeded—the upper limit had. The chakra required to revive Shinji far surpassed the laboratory's maximum capacity, which had been modified from the Sky Ninja Fortress— 

A capacity equivalent to the combined chakra of five Tailed Beasts.  

Even the most advanced instruments in the ninja world could no longer measure the gradually reviving body's energy levels.  

It was unimaginable just how terrifying the upper limit of Shinji's chakra capacity truly was! 

And if he managed to gather and harness such an amount of chakra, just how powerful would he become?  

Shinnō couldn’t even fathom it, but the trembling of his hands betrayed his inner turmoil. He felt as if he were witnessing history in the making— 

The birth of the strongest ninja to ever exist!  

However—  

Click!  

The lights suddenly went out, plunging the laboratory into complete darkness.  

"Director, we lost power!"  

"What the hell?! The lab was modified from the Sky Ninja Fortress—it runs on dark chakra, not electricity!"  

Shinnō cursed angrily.  

But before he could fumble in the darkness to find the source of the problem, the entire lab abruptly shook!  

"Wait... Director, I think the control room is malfunctioning. We... we seem to be… ascending?"  

"Bullshit! We're in the control room! If something were wrong, I would know!"  

"Then what the hell is—"  

Shinnō’s face darkened, and his body suddenly swelled. His pectoral muscles flexed and instantly shredded his lab coat—  

Eight Gates Release: Full Physical Metamorphosis!  

He stomped the ground, using his memory to propel himself toward the other side of the room. Grabbing the lever that controlled the Sky Ninja Fortress’s flight,  

The moment his hand touched it, he immediately realized something was wrong.  

"Damn it! Who did this?!"  

Someone had tampered with the lever and the propulsion mechanism beneath it! 

Shinnō immediately snapped the lever off and smashed the metal console with his bare hand, trying to grab the internal wiring and manually halt the fortress.  

However—  

Just as he was about to issue the stop command,  

His heart suddenly skipped a beat.  

In the darkness, he saw a pair of eyes opening.  

A pair of eyes that seemed to be reflected from the inverse side of the world— 

Within their purple concentric circles lay an overwhelming majesty and divinity, an untouchable force of life and death.  

Shinnō froze.  

In the next second—  

His soul was torn from his body, drifting like a lifeless specter, falling into another world connected to the ninja realm.  

The Pure Land.  

Shinnō, dead.  

At the Uchiha Clan’s Naka Shrine, inside the hastily assembled clan council,  

Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Hokagu, and Uchiha Setsuna were overseeing operations. 

They were coordinating with the Uchiha clansmen to transport the supplies requested by Shinnō to the designated location—  

That was the newly built hospital on the southern side of the Uchiha district, 

The place where Shinji's body was stored.  

To construct this hospital, Clan Leader Uchiha Fugaku personally visited the ruins of the Sky Ninja Village three times. He leveraged an unimaginable amount of wealth, finally persuading Shinnō—a master of medical ninjutsu second only to Tsunade—to take charge as its director.  

Additionally, he purchased the Sky Ninja Fortress!  

Following the advice of both Shinnō and Tsunade, the entire fortress was remodeled into the new hospital and laboratory.  

Because in the entire ninja world, only this fortress had a large-scale chakra conversion system capable of sustaining Shinji’s body's vitality.  

And as an added benefit, if the Uchiha Clan ever faced an existential threat, 

Shinnō could pilot the fortress—evacuating the critically injured along with Shinji’s body.  

But now—  

RUMBLE!!!  

A thunderous roar erupted.  

The newly built hospital suddenly tore free from the ground, its foundation ripping apart as it ascended into the sky!  

Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Hokagu exchanged bewildered glances.  

"What is Shinnō doing?!"  

"This isn’t right…" Hokagu’s face darkened. 

"Shinnō isn’t the type to act without a plan—especially not when it concerns Shinji revival. Where’s Hachidaime? He was in charge of communicating with Shinnō—find him and ask!"  

But at that moment—  

A panicked young Uchiha rushed into the shrine.  

Uchiha Fugaku immediately recognized him—Uchiha Inoha, a highly talented member of the younger generation.  

"Clan Leader!"  

"They're dead!"  

"They’re all dead!"  

"Hachidaime… and… and Director Shinnō!"  

"What did you say?!" Uchiha Fugaku shot to his feet, his face paling in shock. 

He pointed at the fortress rising into the sky.  

"Then who the hell is controlling that thing?!"  

"I don’t know!"  

Uchiha Fugaku clenched his fists.  

"You don’t know?! That massive fortress—is it piloting itself?!"  

Uchiha Inoha’s face twitched in terror, but he forced himself to calmly relay what he had witnessed.  

"I was part of the latest supply transport squad. While passing by the central lab, I caught a glimpse of something…"  

"Shinnō and Hachidaime—they collapsed out of nowhere. No warning. No struggle. They just… stopped breathing."  

"It was like… some invisible force, some unseen enemy, just killed them on the spot."  

"I didn’t dare stay, didn’t dare check. I pretended I hadn’t seen anything and immediately left. I jumped off the rising hospital’s platform and came here to report."  

"W-What… how is that possible?!"  

Uchiha Fugaku’s face twisted in horror. His mind raced in chaos as he instinctively turned toward the elder seated deeper inside the shrine—as if seeking guidance.  

But—  

"It has finally arrived."  

The elder, Uchiha Setsuna, who had remained silent all this time— 

Who had shown no interest in Shinji revival, and had only attended due to his position as Great Elder—  

Suddenly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  

The next moment—  

He turned.  

His lifeless, pale eyes snapped open!  

With a voice devoid of emotion, he raised his withered hand and pointed at the sky.  

He issued a chilling command to Uchiha Fugaku:  

"Uchiha Fugaku. Take Shisui with you."  

"Use your lives—"  

"To stop this ‘Heavenly Summoning!’"  

Chapter 557: The Celestial Abyss · Summoning of the Pure Land!  

Uchiha Seichiro stood frozen, staring in shock at the hospital rising into the sky. No—at this moment, revealing its true form, it should be called the Sky Ninja Fortress.  

The earth beneath him cracked, spreading countless web-like fissures.  

Amid the deafening rumble, the inverted triangular base of the fortress had already soared past the heads of those below, who stood in stunned silence, looking up.  

Hundreds of Uchiha and Konoha shinobi, still stranded in the hospital, now found themselves staring down from dozens of meters above.  

Then, in quick succession—like dumplings being dropped into boiling water—figures began falling from the edges of the floating fortress.  

Some were injured patients who had been receiving treatment, others were Konoha shinobi clutching their tiny children as they leapt with eyes shut, and many more were Uchiha genin who had just completed their missions but found themselves unable to descend, their faces frozen in panic.  

The cheers from moments ago vanished in an instant.  

Instead, cries of despair, frantic shouts, whispers, screams, and furious roars filled the air.  

Seichiro had no idea what was happening.  

He couldn't even comprehend why he was standing here.  

All he could do was look up at the sky, gradually being swallowed by the looming fortress.  

Look up—  

At the heavens above—where, suddenly, from within the clouds, a swirling black void emerged, crackling with thunder and lightning.  

However—  

Just then—  

Boom! 

Boom! 

Boom!  

A sudden chorus of heavy footsteps erupted from his side!  

In an instant, a colossal Susanoo, its form rippling with red and violet hues, surged upward beside Seichiro.  

Its towering figure expanded rapidly, catching the wind!  

"Boom!!!"  

Two enormous hands slammed into the fortress’s walls, gripping tightly, refusing to let go.  

The mighty Susanoo anchored itself to the ground, serving as an unyielding chain, forcefully binding the airborne Sky Ninja Fortress to the earth below.  

A piercing, grating screech tore through the air!  

And then—  

From within the red Susanoo, a thunderous roar exploded:  

"SEICHIRO——!!!"  

Seichiro's head snapped up.  

He saw him.  

The man restraining the fortress with every ounce of his strength, his teeth clenched, his body trembling with effort—  

Uchiha Fugaku, the current clan head of the Uchiha.  

At this moment, he turned his head sharply, eyes locked onto Seichiro with an intense gaze.  

"Take your team and board the fortress—retrieve Shinji!"  

"Just like you've always done!"  

Seichiro turned again.  

Behind him—  

Over a hundred elite members of the Uchiha Police Force stood in formation, ready to charge into battle at his command.  

They did not hesitate.  

They did not fear death.  

A single order from him, and they would charge into the heavens!  

For reasons unknown, tears suddenly streamed down Seichiro’s face.  

His entire body trembled uncontrollably.  

He wanted to say something—but his throat was so choked up that he couldn’t form a single coherent sentence!  

However—  

However—  

He looked at the man he once dismissed as a coward.  

The man who now wielded Susanoo, holding back the fortress with nothing but sheer determination—  

Like a lone rope puller desperately holding back a massive warship, blood-tears spilling from his eyes.  

Seichiro suddenly laughed.  

With tears streaking his face, he drew his blade from his waist, raised it high, and roared:  

"KILL!!!"  

He didn’t know who they were fighting.  

He didn’t know what dangers lay ahead.  

But Seichiro bared his teeth, planted his foot firmly, and leapt—  

Soaring onto the inverted fortress’s base, stepping on the shoulder of Fugaku’s towering Susanoo!  

Hundreds of Uchiha elites followed in his wake, forming a red-and-white tide!  

Their hair whipped upward, blades clenched in their teeth—using chakra to grip the steep, ‘V’-shaped cliff face as they ran up at full speed!  

Boom! 

They reached the floating island!  

Crash! 

The hospital doors shattered beneath their force!  

Thud! 

They stormed into the core control laboratory!  

Thump! 

A body fell.  

Seichiro's expression darkened as he stared at a fellow Uchiha who had suddenly collapsed beside him—dead.  

His hands trembled.  

He gritted his teeth, raised his blade once more, and pointed it toward the laboratory’s center, issuing another furious command:  

"Don’t look! Don’t think! If you’re still breathing—follow me!"  

"Retrieve Shinji!"  

The moment his words fell, Seichiro charged ahead—  

Racing toward the familiar figure lying motionless on the examination table at the room’s core!  

However—  

The very next second—  

Seichiro's expression froze.  

It was as if he had stepped into a mirrored shadow of the world.  

Darkness engulfed him—  

And then—  

He saw them.  

A pair of eyes—  

Eyes filled with cold, seething rage!  

Before he could react, his body was seized by an invisible force.  

His legs buckled.  

He collapsed onto his back.  

His eyes dulled—void of life.  

Thud!  

At that moment—  

Uchiha Seichiro—  

Was dead.  

Soon—  

Hundreds of Uchiha fell along the final stretch of their charge.  

Dead.  

Only one remained.  

The youngest among them—Uchiha Shisui.  

The boy reached Shinji’s side.  

But just as his fingers were about to touch the body on the examination table—  

He saw them too.  

The same pair of eerie, looming eyes.  

However—  

In that instant of eye contact—  

Tears of blood streaked down the twelve-year-old’s face.  

And then—  

His eyes transformed.  

Beyond anyone’s expectations, even those of the hidden mastermind—  

He awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.  

And without hesitation—  

He activated his ultimate genjutsu—Kotoamatsukami!  

As the four-bladed pinwheel spun—  

Even gods would be mesmerized by the beauty of those eyes.  

And in the next instant—  

"BOOM!!!"  

A towering emerald Susanoo erupted forth—  

Grabbing Shinji’s body and tearing it from the ground!  

Its head smashed through the laboratory ceiling, emerging from the collapsing ruins of the hospital!  

And the moment it made contact with Shinji body—  

The ominous, otherworldly gaze vanished.  

As if even it couldn’t steal Shinji’s soul by mere eye contact alone.  

Shisui had no idea what had just happened.  

He could only gasp for breath.  

His chakra and ocular power were drained dry.  

But with the last of his strength, he hoisted Shinji onto his back.  

Standing at the edge of the floating fortress—  

He jumped.  

A hundred meters straight down—  

Without chakra, the fall meant certain death.  

But—  

He chose to believe.  

Below—  

Uchiha Fugaku’s expression hardened.  

Pushing against the fortress, he lunged—  

Using the windmill shuriken thrown by his clansmen as stepping stones—  

He soared into the sky, reaching out toward the plummeting Shisui and Shinji!  

All of this—  

Happened in mere seconds.  

But—  

Their defiance seemed to enrage the god lurking behind the veil of the world.  

The one who had hoped to eliminate Shinji with minimal disruption—  

No longer held back.  

"—HUMMMMM!!!"  

A deafening roar erupted from the sky.  

The swirling void above the Uchiha compound expanded—  

From five hundred meters—  

To over ten kilometers—  

Swallowing everything.  

And that was only the beginning.  

As Fugaku caught Shisui—before they even hit the ground—  

The void expanded further—  

Thousands of kilometers wide—  

Encompassing all of Konoha.  

And within that abyss—  

A figure levitated—legs crossed—eyes suddenly snapping open.  

At that moment—  

The Bloodline Limit: Celestial Abyss · Summoning of the Pure Land—  

Activated.  

Everyone in Konoha who looked up—  

Saw it.  

A second, inverted Konoha, floating within the abyss.  

A silent city—  

Where the streets and houses were packed with countless pale, lifeless souls.  

And then—  

The inescapable pull began.  

Lightning.  

Thunder.  

The ground splitting apart.  

"——RUMBLE!!!"  

Before their horrified eyes—  

All of Konoha began to rise into the sky.  

Chapter 558: Zero-Tails! 

Divine Art: Celestial Summoning of the Pure Land 

This technique is based on the Bloodline Encompassment ability, Heaven’s Middle, and is one of the divine arts developed by the Sage of Six Paths. 

As part of the Bloodline Encompassment, one of the abilities of the Rinne Sharingan, Heaven’s Middle possesses the power to "freely weave space, akin to the primordial force of creation." In other words, someone with this ability can create worlds at will. 

However, there is a prerequisite: Heaven’s Middle is complemented by two other Bloodline Encompassment abilities—Natural Unification and Yomi Hirasaka. By transferring themselves and their opponents into a world of their own creation and using the world's "rules" and terrain to their advantage, the wielder can utterly crush their enemies. This is why Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, after creating the Genesis Sphere, subsequently formed five distinct worlds—Lava, Ice and Snow, Supergravity, Sand, and the Acidic Sea. 

In short, when used offensively, Heaven’s Middle serves the tactical purpose of creating a "world where only I remain unharmed." 

However— 

Although the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, was Kaguya's descendant and inherited the Bloodline Encompassment, he clearly did not acquire its full power. Among the three interdependent abilities, he only had Heaven’s Middle, without the complementary Natural Unification or Yomi Hirasaka. 

Yet, as the progenitor of Ninshū, having witnessed firsthand the millennia-long growth of the ninja world—born from Ninshū itself—Hagoromo transformed this knowledge into nourishment. Through his mastery of jutsu, he refined this ability, and using Bloodline Encompassment as a foundation, he created— 

Divine Art! 

The Divine Art: Celestial Summoning of the Pure Land is a technique that centers on the Pure Land, a world connected to the Shinobi Realm where the souls of the deceased reside. By combining a massive summoning ritual, the Rinnegan’s Universal Pull, and the Spirit Transformation Technique, Hagoromo forged this divine art. 

Once fully deployed, it can instantly consume the souls and bodies of all living beings within a 10,000,000-square-meter radius, completely erasing that portion of the world from both physical and spiritual existence! 

BOOOOM!! 

A massive disk in the sky slowly rotated. The once-gloomy heavens became as clear as a water mirror, reflecting everything from another world. 

It was Konohagakure—the Konohagakure of the Pure Land.  

Under the power of the divine force, the two Konohagakures began to ascend simultaneously, destined to collide in less than a minute. The countless souls of the dead, crammed within the Pure Land, would seize the living in that moment and drag them into the Pure Land. 

Under the influence of this divine technique, the boundary between life and death would become utterly meaningless. Every living person within Konohagakure— 

would die.  

Only a barren, lifeless wasteland would remain after the two Konohas clashed. 

At that moment—  

Amid the upheaval of the earth, countless villagers of Konohagakure looked up in terror at the sky.  

Yet, the instant their gazes met the celestial disk, they suddenly lost focus. In the next moment, their mouths involuntarily opened, and from them escaped faint, purple-tinted souls. 

Their physical forms and spirits separated.  

Then—  

As the sky-bound disk rotated, an overwhelming gravitational force erupted.  

Buildings collapsed and shattered.  

Stones, sand, trees, structures—even people’s bodies and their souls—were all ripped from the ground and sucked into the sky!  

Countless souls ascended like shooting stars, creating a magnificent yet eerie meteor shower. 

"W-What the hell is this!?"  

Uchiha Fugaku, his face twisted in shock and rage, carried Shinji’s lifeless body on his back. Inside the Susanoo, he clung desperately to a water tower, watching in horror as waves upon waves of his clansmen fell like harvested wheat.  

Without the slightest resistance, they collapsed, their souls forcibly expelled from their bodies. Their lifeless forms were then drawn upward, colliding with the debris of crumbling buildings and enormous boulders, while their spirits passed through the rubble, shooting straight into the sky!  

"How... How is this happening?!"  

Uchiha Shisui, exhausted and barely able to process the scene before him, gasped for breath. He felt his control over his own body slipping— 

weaker and weaker.  

His head involuntarily tilted back. His eyes, dull and unfocused, gazed at the celestial disk above.  

"Shisui, don't look!"  

Fugaku reacted instantly, reaching out to cover Shisui’s unfocused eyes.  

Observing the horror around him, he quickly realized: looking up at the sky might directly trigger a powerful genjutsu, leading to soul extraction and complete loss of resistance.  

"Damn it, what the hell is happening?!" he growled through gritted teeth, his expression twisted in anguish as waves of helplessness washed over him. His mind was a chaotic mess. 

"Fugaku-senpai... I... I'm so tired."  

Shisui, his expression vacant, ceased struggling. As if experiencing a moment of clarity before death, he fought against his failing body to report his final intel:  

"I didn’t look, but... but I think I still got caught in a genjutsu. I... I can’t control my body anymore."  

The moment his words fell—  

His mouth opened against his will.  

In Fugaku’s horrified gaze, a purple-hued soul, faintly bearing Shisui’s likeness, drifted out from within.  

Whoosh!  

In an instant, he became one of the tens of thousands of meteors soaring into the sky.  

Losing his soul, his grip on the steel beams of the water tower weakened, and his body was immediately flung into the air by the overwhelming gravitational force.  

At that moment—  

Uchiha Shisui died.  

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"  

Fugaku pounded his fists against the water tower’s tank in fury.  

Countless droplets of water splattered outward, yet instead of falling, they floated weightlessly—suspended in the air, defying gravity—before being drawn upward toward the heavens.  

And then—  

"Uchiha Fugaku!!!"  

A powerful, aged voice roared from above!  

Fugaku snapped his head up—  

High above the rising Konohagakure, atop a fortress ascending toward the Pure Land even faster than the village itself, a withered yet resolute figure leaped down, carrying an incubation chamber larger than his own body!  

Even in midair, he was being pulled skyward. But in that instant, he launched dozens of shuriken, embedding them into floating debris. Using the wires attached to them, he maneuvered deftly between the shattered buildings and colossal stones.  

His deathly pale eyes burned with determination.  

As his final shuriken was spent, he hurled the massive incubation chamber from his back!  

BOOM!  

The gigantic chamber crashed onto the water tower in front of Fugaku!  

The moment the chamber cracked open, a sinister, ominous chakra erupted!  

"Catch it!"  

Fugaku instinctively commanded Susanoo to free a hand and grasp the broken incubation chamber.  

Inside—  

At its very core—  

Something was there.  

Something small, its eyes closed, sleeping soundly— 

A lump of flesh, pitch black with streaks of eerie purple, grotesque yet oddly distinct.  

"Isn’t this—"  

"Shinji’s Zero-Tails!"  

In that instant—  

As if it had heard its name—  

As if the words had awakened it—  

For the first time in three years,  

It suddenly opened its eyes!  

Like a small serpent, it scratched its head in confusion, then swiftly slithered out of the incubation chamber. Scanning the unfamiliar surroundings, it instinctively darted toward the only place that felt familiar—  

Shinji’s abdomen.  

And at that moment—  

Like the final piece of a puzzle falling into place—  

The overwhelming terror that had blanketed the city erupted in full force!  

Chapter 559: Draw the Sword!  

Zero-Tails.  

A tailless beast born from human negative emotions, capable of generating violent dark chakra by devouring negativity.  

At this moment—  

After three years apart, the Zero-Tails had returned to Shinji’s body once again.  

And Shinji had once again become the Jinchūriki of the Zero-Tails!  

At the same time—  

With the range of his Kagura Mind’s Eye extending hundreds of thousands of kilometers, Zero-Tails’ ability to devour and transform negative emotions had been elevated to its peak!  

A massive, invisible force of emotions coalesced into a gigantic, almost inconceivable vortex, spiraling wildly into Shinji’s body. The Zero-Tails frantically consumed and expelled an overwhelming amount of dark chakra!  

The dark chakra coursed through every inch of Shinji’s body, 

revitalizing the countless dormant techniques within him, finally providing them with a surge of powerful energy.  

And then—  

It ignited the blazing heart within his chest!  

Beside him, Uchiha Fugaku’s eyes widened in shock as he witnessed—  

Shinji’s corpse-like body suddenly straighten up from his side!  

Then, his eyes snapped open!  

"Whoo—!"  

"Shinji..."  

"I understand everything now!"  

Shinji nodded. The clarity in his newly opened eyes was nothing like that of someone who had been dead for three years.  

He lowered his head, scanning the condition of his own body, then quickly surveyed his surroundings.  

Immediately—  

His gaze turned ice-cold. His head lifted slightly, and in an instant, his sharp eyes locked onto the figure sitting cross-legged in the sky!  

No unnecessary words. No hesitation.  

Shinji leaped out from Uchiha Fugaku’s Susanoo, his body rising with the surrounding gravitational pull. But almost instantly, he counteracted the ascent by activating the Super-Weighted Boulder Technique, increasing his mass and suspending himself in mid-air.  

The Sage of Six Paths thought cutting off his life support would prevent his resurrection, but at best, it only delayed him for a moment.  

Now, with the Zero-Tails' power reinforcing him, it was as if a surge of adrenaline had been injected into his revival process—pushing it past the final threshold in an instant!  

And this extra chakra—  

Shinji raised his hand slightly.  

Within a hundred-thousand-kilometer radius, natural energy surged like a tidal wave!  

A massive influx of nature energy roared into his body, converting into an overwhelming chakra force surging through his veins!  

One by one, multi-colored tomoe floated up from his palm!  

Earthy brown sand, deep blue flames, vibrant green water, crimson lava, pure white steam, eerie green acid, pale yellow scale mist, pitch-black ink, and a bright golden glow flickering like flames!  

Nine different colors of Tailed Beast Chakra orbs swirled in Shinji’s hand!  

And at that moment—  

The long-silent "Steel of Heart" within him finally erupted with a deafening chime!  

[CLANG!]  

[You have defeated Uchiha Madara (Incomplete Ten-Tails Jinchūriki). Your opponent was unable to resist and died on the spot. You have obtained a random ability from him: Ten-Tails Chakra (S).]  

[The counterattack was significant—your reward has landed a critical hit!]  

[You have successfully completed the talent: Ten-Tails Body.]  

[Now, you ARE the Ten-Tails!]  

[You have gained the Talent Affix: Jinchūriki—As long as you possess an immense amount of chakra, you can generate and merge the nine Tailed Beast chakras into the Ten-Tails Body, achieving a perfect balance. You may then temporarily enter Ten-Tails Chakra Mode, attaining power on par with a full-fledged Ten-Tails Jinchūriki!]  

[Note: When your chakra reaches the level of the Primordial Divine Tree, Overlimit Mode will become a permanent skill.]  

[Your "Steel of Heart" layers have increased.]  

The sheer, bizarre volume of natural energy instantly caught the attention of the Sage of Six Paths, who sat in the sky with his legs crossed.  

His brow twitched slightly, and he immediately looked down toward the source of the chakra disturbance.  

Then—  

He saw it.  

A young man—just like himself in the past—holding nine floating tomoe in his palm, slowly raising his head and opening his eyes!  

Those eyes—cold and indifferent.  

A deep crimson glow, the signature of the Uchiha Clan, burning with hatred accumulated over a thousand years!  

"That brat who broke into the Rashōmon... Wait—those are Tailed Beasts?! But weren’t they all gathered in the Land of Iron by now?"  

The Sage of Six Paths felt an unsettling sense of unease—a feeling he had not experienced in centuries. His brow twitched violently.  

However, he had no time to react—  

Below,  

Shinji clenched his fist, crushing the nine tomoe in his palm!  

"Ten-Tails Chakra Mode—ACTIVATE!"  

His calm yet commanding voice reverberated across the sky and earth, completely drowning out the sounds of Konoha’s destruction!  

And in the next instant—  

"WHOOSH!"  

An explosion of blinding light erupted from Shinji’s body, enveloping everything in its brilliance!  

A dazzling pillar of light shot upward from the earth, piercing through the clouds and reaching outer space!  

The Sage of Six Paths’ forehead twitched.  

But quickly, his expression hardened, turning cold.  

"Three months... how much stronger could you have possibly gotten?"  

"Very well—if that’s the case, I will take you down first, and then force Indra to appear!"  

He raised his hand.  

The eight Truth-Seeking Orbs floating beneath him stirred—three of them detached and reformed into a Sage Staff in his grip.  

He struck the staff against the air—  

Without even standing up—  

Yet a heavy, eerie "Tock!" echoed through the sky!  

In the next moment—  

The space between the Sage of Six Paths and Shinji collapsed!  

Like folding a sheet of paper, the space between them folded in on itself, instantly bringing them to the same location despite the distance!  

Then—  

The Sage of Six Paths swung his staff!  

One of the Truth-Seeking Orbs beneath him shot forward, transforming into a chain—  

In an instant, it launched directly at the point where the space had folded!  

This technique shattered the normal 70-meter range limitation of the Truth-Seeking Orbs—allowing it to strike Shinji across kilometers as if teleporting!  

At the same time—  

Shinji’s instincts flared as he saw—  

The chain-like Truth-Seeking Orb piercing straight into his Ten-Tails Chakra Mode’s light pillar!  

The chain rapidly extended—  

Encircling the entire pillar of light itself—  

And then—  

TIGHTENED!  

In the next instant—  

The towering light pillar, reminiscent of a Bankai transformation, was suddenly compressed into an hourglass shape!  

The final chakra transformation within Shinji’s body halted!  

This level of spatial manipulation—based on the Heaven’s Concealed technique—was beyond comprehension!  

For a moment, Shinji was stunned.  

Then, rage erupted within him.  

What the hell?!  

I thought transformations couldn't be interrupted?!  

Is this even remotely fair?!  

Yet before he could enter his "Nuclear Sage Mode + Susanoo War God" state to break free—  

A cold, aged voice reverberated across the battlefield from thousands of meters away—  

"Summoning Jutsu: Twelvefold Rashōmon!"  

Shinji looked up.  

Above—  

Twelve massive Rashōmon gates descended—those same gates that once imprisoned Indra in the dream rift!  

Even without sensing them, he knew—if these twelve gates slammed down, his transformation was as good as over.  

In that instant, Shinji’s face darkened. He exhaled sharply.  

Then—  

His expression twisted into a savage grin.  

His right hand reached out—  

Fingers clenched into a tight fist!  

And with a resounding voice, he roared—  

"SWORD, COME—!"  

Chapter 560: Understanding!  

The endless dark clouds formed a towering spiral gate in the sky, while violent winds twisted into tornados, pulling the earth and everything on it upwards like a dragon drawing water.  

Countless objects floated, ascended, tore apart, and crumbled!  

The world as far as the eye could see seemed to be shrouded in darkness—an ominous shadow that had lurked behind the scenes of the Ninja World for millennia. Today, at last, it had surfaced!  

Amidst this despairing darkness, in a shattered corner of the collapsing Uchiha Clan grounds, a light suddenly flickered to life!  

A sword stood embedded in the ruins!  

Responding to Shinji’s sudden roar in midair, the legendary Kusanagi Sword—belonging to Orochimaru and hailed as the "Blade of the Sky"—began to tremble violently!  

Buzz! Buzz!  

It had remained silent for so long that even it had forgotten its true name.  

But in this moment—  

"Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi!"  

A cold, resolute voice tore through the endless years of dust covering its legacy!  

Whoosh!  

From the sword’s buried tip, a pure white glow surged upward, spreading from point to edge, edge to spine, spine to surface, surface to blade, blade to hilt, hilt to guard, guard to pommel, pommel to wrapping, and finally to the tassel!  

—Clang!  

A resounding sword cry echoed through the heavens!  

The radiant white sword burst forth from the ruins, shooting toward the young man who was about to be crushed beneath twelve descending Rashomon gates!  

Shinji seized the brilliant blade in his grip!  

Then, raising his left hand, he formed the "未" (Mi) seal,  

"Sage Art: Vibration Release – Atomic Resonance Wave!"  

At the same time, his right eye snapped open, and the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan within it began to spin rapidly!  

"Mythical Projection: Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi!"  

Transcending millennia, merging vibration, razor-sharp force, and the shapeshifting nature of the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi itself—this legendary divine weapon had reemerged!  

This was the God-Slaying Blade, capable of cutting even Truth-Seeking Orbs—the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi!  

Holding this seemingly ordinary, yet unparalleled sword, Shinji exhaled softly.  

Then, with a focused gaze, he took a firm step forward and swung the blade toward the sky.  

—Hummm!  

A silent sword cry accompanied a blade that extended more than 6,000 meters in an instant, sweeping across the battlefield!  

In the next moment—  

The twelve massive Rashomon gates descending from the heavens were cleaved in half! 

The Sage Art chains binding Shinji were sliced apart! 

Where the long and slender sword passed, everything was cut down to the atomic level. The microscopic particles vibrated violently, disturbing all matter—air, dust, and sand—within the sword’s path.  

Light and particles could not immediately pass through the severed "blade wall," resulting in—  

A 6,000-meter-long jet-black sword scar, dragged by the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, suddenly blazed into existence, slicing downward from the sky—straight toward the Six Paths Sage sitting in midair!  

However—  

Faced with such an overwhelming attack, the Sage of Six Paths merely furrowed his brows slightly.  

"This... is that weapon from Indra’s era?"  

Then, raising his Six Paths staff, he pointed forward. The air before him distorted strangely, and a circular, pitch-black technique unfurled in midair.  

"Amenominaka: World Genesis!"  

In the next instant—  

The dark sword scar struck!  

Watching the battle unfold, Uchiha Fugaku's face twisted in shock as he stared up at the sky.  

"What... it disappeared!?"  

The pitch-black sword scar, seemingly capable of slicing through anything, had vanished just before it could strike the floating figure!  

A heavy weight sank into Uchiha Fugaku’s heart.  

This attack—unleashed by Shinji—was the most powerful technique he had ever witnessed.  

Yet, even such a formidable technique failed to harm the mastermind behind this chaos—the godlike figure above them!  

The thought sent a wave of despair washing over him.  

However—  

While this scene was incomprehensible to most, Shinji immediately grasped the principles behind the Six Paths Sage’s defense!  

In reality, the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi’s attack had not vanished.  

Instead, it had been redirected—transferred into a narrow world woven into the crevices of reality by the Six Paths Sage’s Amenominaka technique. This artificial space was less than 10 millimeters wide, yet it stretched infinitely.  

The technique, "Amenominaka: World Genesis," was not true "godly" power.  

It functioned similarly to the Flying Thunder God Barrier used by Minato Namikaze, or Shinji’s own Heavenly Transmission Line Technique, which he had used in battle against Madara.  

All of these were just space-time ninjutsu that transferred attacks as a defensive measure.  

The Six Paths Sage, lacking mastery over Amenotejikara (Heavenly Hand Power), the Flying Thunder God Technique, or even the superior Yellow Springs Hirasaka, had resorted to an inferior substitute to maximize Amenominaka’s potential and compensate for his lack of Kekkei Mōra.  

It was like grafting a beautiful flower onto a pile of manure.  

Shinji let out a derisive laugh.  

In that instant, the divine aura he had once associated with the Six Paths Sage shattered entirely.  

"So this is all you are?"  

The closer he came to this so-called "godhood," the more disappointed he became.  

In barely a minute of battle, the Six Paths Sage had revealed every trick up his sleeve—  

The spatial distortions of Amenominaka, 

The divine summoning technique of the Pure Land, 

And now, Amenominaka: World Genesis.  

These so-called "godly powers"—  

In Shinji’s eyes, they were all just "jutsu."  

And not even particularly profound ones!  

The spectacle was grand, the might seemed overwhelming—  

Yet, the Six Paths Sage was starting to look like nothing more than a child wielding power he didn't know how to use.  

Indra had already spent countless years proving that jutsu and shinobi were the future of this world.  

Yet, despite living for millennia, the Six Paths Sage was still fumbling, using such crude, elementary techniques to wield the power he had inherited from his bloodline.  

Even after acknowledging his own failures, he remained hesitant—paralyzed by fear, unable to move forward!  

And this fool had controlled the world for thousands of years, keeping it stagnant for thousands of years!  

At that moment—  

A blaze of anger erupted in Shinji’s heart!  

The fury spread through his entire being, igniting the dark red chakra born from his fusion with the Nine-Tailed Beast Magatama!  

Then—  

The world fell silent.  

The black sword scar vanished! 

The pillar of light piercing the clouds dissipated!  

Standing amidst the crumbling city, surrounded by endless wails, the young man raised both hands and formed the "未" (Mi) seal!  

Shinji’s frigid, wrathful voice resounded across all of Konohagakure:  

"Six Paths: Ten-Tails Coffin Seal!"  

(End of Chapter.)