Seeing that the two had already decided to fight, Otsutsuki Hamura's soul body quickly retreated.
In his current state, there was no way he could participate in a battle between these two.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Once his younger brother had moved away, Otsutsuki Hagoromo attacked instantly.
His Rinnegan trembled slightly, and an invisible yet terrifying repulsive force erupted from it, surging toward Aoba.
Its power was several levels greater than the Shinra Tensei once unleashed by Nagato or Uchiha Madara.
Even the ground between them shook violently beneath the overwhelming force, letting out deep buzzing tremors.
Yet Aoba stood calmly in place without moving in the slightest. An equally terrifying repulsive force burst forth from his own body and slammed directly into Hagoromo's attack.
Boom!
The two waves of repulsive force collided in midair.
A terrifying explosion erupted instantly.
The ground, which had only been trembling moments ago, was now torn apart continuously by the clashing forces.
"How is this possible?"
Otsutsuki Hagoromo's pupils quivered slightly as the recoil forced his body backward several meters before he finally managed to steady himself.
Meanwhile, Aoba still stood where he was, only the corners of his clothes fluttering wildly in the gale created by the repulsive force.
After a simple exchange, the difference between them was immediately obvious.
Even Otsutsuki Hagoromo hadn't expected to fall into a disadvantage in the very first clash.
'His pupil power is actually above my own?'
'No wonder he dared say those things earlier.'
'He truly does have some ability.'
"Sage of Six Paths, looks like your Rinnegan isn't fast enough… or ruthless enough."
Faced with his clear advantage, Aoba remained perfectly calm and merely tossed out a casual jab.
"..."
Otsutsuki Hagoromo couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.
It really had been a very long time since he'd experienced the feeling of being mocked.
He also understood now that ordinary attacks would be completely ineffective against the other party.
Immediately, he clapped his hands together and revealed one of his trump cards. Distinctive markings appeared around his eyes.
This was Sage Mode, which he had once learned under Gamamaru's guidance.
Even when facing his mother back then, it had played a crucial role.
"Sage Art: Lightning Release!"
Still attacking without the slightest delay, bolts of lightning carrying the cries of a thousand birds erupted from his palms like massive thunder serpents.
Accompanied by roaring thunder, they charged toward Aoba with overwhelming force.
Judging by the sheer momentum, it was even more terrifying than the earlier Shinra Tensei.
Naturally, Aoba had already expected this.
Faint markings also appeared around his eyes as he likewise entered Sage Mode.
Since he had long anticipated fighting Otsutsuki Hagoromo, he had naturally spent this time patching up this weakness of his as well.
Aoba could clearly feel his strength increase dramatically.
It was an all-around enhancement to taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu alike.
It was hard to imagine that even at his current level, Sage Mode could still provide such a massive boost.
"Sage Art: Storm Release!"
White light wrapped with thunder serpents appeared in Aoba's hand as well.
Several flowing streaks of lightning instantly shattered Hagoromo's Lightning Release before shooting toward him.
Although he rarely used these kekkei genkai, under the amplification of Sage Mode, their power had clearly reached an extremely terrifying level.
Otsutsuki Hagoromo retreated once again, dodging the attack while feeling somewhat surprised by the Sage Mode Aoba was using.
'Gamamaru never mentioned this.'
'And what kind of Sage Mode is this?'
'It isn't taught by Mount Myoboku, doesn't resemble Shikkotsu Forest's, and definitely isn't Ryuchi Cave's either…'
'Hm? What's going on?'
While retreating and evading attacks at the same time, Otsutsuki Hagoromo suddenly felt as though his thoughts had stalled.
Not only that, even the surrounding world seemed to freeze. The originally smooth and flowing scenery paused for a brief instant.
Then, when everything started moving again, Aoba was already standing right in front of him.
Naturally, Aoba had no intention of only defending the whole time. Seizing the opportunity, he drove a massive fist wrapped in senjutsu chakra straight toward Hagoromo's face.
'What?'
Otsutsuki Hagoromo still hadn't fully recovered from that bizarre sensation just now. Caught off guard, he didn't even have time to defend himself before taking the punch head-on.
His entire body instantly flew backward like a cannonball.
"Brother?"
Watching from the side, Otsutsuki Hamura immediately panicked.
Although he had considered that his brother might not be Aoba's opponent, he never expected him to start getting beaten up this quickly.
And just now, it had looked almost like an illusion, Aoba had simply appeared in front of Otsutsuki Hagoromo out of nowhere.
With Sage Mode active, Hagoromo could still vaguely sense that disgusting feeling of space and time being frozen.
But Hamura, whose strength had long since dwindled, couldn't perceive anything at all.
What Aoba had just used was none other than his Absolute Sealing under the amplification of Sage Mode.
Honestly speaking, he rarely used this ability in serious combat.
After all, it was one of those abilities that was too weak for high-level battles but overkill for low-level ones.
Mediocre in combat, but a god-tier skill for time management.
But now, under the enhancement of Sage Mode, it had become far more useful in battle than he'd imagined.
It was almost like he had truly become some kind of Stand capable of stopping time, even Otsutsuki Hagoromo could be frozen by it.
Meanwhile, the still-flying Otsutsuki Hagoromo quickly regained his balance.
The swelling on his face from Aoba's punch rapidly healed under the effects of senjutsu chakra, but his expression darkened.
After all, he had just been confidently declaring victory in front of his younger brother, only to get punched in the face the moment the fight started.
"Could this be the unique dojutsu ability of your eyes? Some kind of spacetime technique?", Otsutsuki Hagoromo quickly identified the problem.
The period of time between Aoba standing where he was and appearing in front of him, along with the entire process, had seemingly been erased.
"Something like that. Sage of Six Paths, you'd better be careful from here on…"
Aoba neither confirmed nor denied it. This time, however, both of his fists became wrapped in senjutsu chakra.
"Hm?"
The Sage of Six Paths suddenly felt like his face was starting to hurt again.
"Za~ Warudo!"
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