Chapter 284: Kinoshita Genichi vs. Ōtsutsuki Isshiki
Arms sprouted from under Kinoshita Genichi's armpits, transforming him into his complete, four-faced, eight-armed form.
This was the true Four-Faced Deity.
The three eyes on his front face were his Mangekyō Mirror Eye and his blue, six-tomoe Rinnegan.
Jigen looked at Genichi's new form, slightly surprised.
"You would make an excellent sacrifice," Jigen remarked.
In his eyes, the man before him, though lacking Ōtsutsuki blood, possessed a power that already surpassed that of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. The other shinobi present were also high-quality "nutrients." This was why he had passed up several opportunities to kill them earlier. It would have been a waste.
Jigen did not believe he could lose to a group of natives, even one that had just demonstrated such astonishing power. All he had to do was eliminate this strongest one, Kinoshita Genichi, and all his problems would be solved.
A black staff reappeared in his hand. With a twirl, Jigen shot toward Genichi at high speed. Before he even arrived, shrunken black rods had already flown ahead, aimed at Genichi.
Genichi didn't move. He simply reached out with one of his new hands, and the four now-enlarged black rods were caught in his grasp. With a casual flick, he threw them back.
"This guy…" Jigen's eyes narrowed. He spun his staff, deflecting the enlarged rods. "He replicated my ability?"
Shocked, Jigen summoned his black cubes, Daikokuten, sending them crashing down on Genichi.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The cubes slammed into the ground, but Genichi flickered and dodged each one. This was classified as a tool, not a dōjutsu, so he couldn't copy it with his Mirror Eye.
His attack having failed, Jigen's speed exploded. In an instant, he was in front of Genichi, his staff sweeping horizontally.
Genichi's eight arms, each holding a black staff of its own, moved to intercept. One staff blocked Jigen's attack, while the other seven, guided by his space-time dōjutsu, Umashi-ashikabi-hikoji, struck at Jigen from seven different directions.
Jigen was stunned. He immediately shrank his body to evade, but the massive staffs still locked onto him and smashed down.
BOOM!
In his first exchange with Genichi, Jigen was immediately put at a disadvantage. He was swatted from the sky, his body slamming into the ground and returning to its normal size, carving out a deep crater.
"Amazing! That's Uncle Genichi for you!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes wide. He hadn't been able to follow Jigen's movements, but he had seen Genichi's clearly.
"This is a completely different level of reaction speed," Kakashi said. The more he watched, the more he understood the gap between them and Jigen... and the even greater gap between them and Genichi. Even in Sage Mode, his reaction speed couldn't compare to Jigen's. And it was obvious that Genichi was handling Jigen with ease. This meant Genichi's reaction speed far surpassed Jigen's.
"Just now," Sakura said, "did Lord Genichi mirror Jigen's ability, too?" The exchange had been too fast for her to see.
"Clearly, Jigen's ability doesn't exceed the limit of Lord Genichi's dōjutsu," Sasuke replied. The Mirror Eye's copying was powerful, far beyond a normal Sharingan, but Sasuke knew it had limits. Genichi could mirror ordinary Kekkei Genkai, but he couldn't just copy a Rinnegan, especially not its unique dōjutsu. Of course, Sasuke had no idea where that limit truly lay. He had yet to see an ability Genichi couldn't mirror.
While Sasuke's group analyzed the details, Itachi and Shisui let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. This battle was no longer dangerous. As expected, Lord Genichi was invincible.
Obito silently watched the battlefield, still ready to launch a sneak attack at any moment.
The dust settled, revealing Jigen, who had taken the heavy blow but was completely unharmed.
"His body is that strong," Obito mused. "It seems only a space-time jutsu can finish him."
Jigen looked up at Genichi. "I've underestimated you."
Genichi looked down at him. "That's because I'm using everything I have, but you're not. You can't win in this state."
As he spoke, Genichi appeared in front of Jigen. His staffs vanished, replaced by eight fists that rained down. Jigen tried to block, but two fists were no match for eight. He was struck three times in rapid succession, his body sent flying horizontally. Jigen could shrink the staffs to reduce their damage, but he couldn't shrink Genichi's fists.
BOOM!
A small mountain collapsed as Jigen crashed through it.
"Cough, cough…"
From within the dust cloud, Jigen floated out, a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth.
"He's finally hurt!" Naruto cheered. Their entire two squads had failed to even scratch him.
"I never thought an 'native' could produce someone like you," Jigen said, wiping the blood away. "In that case…"
His form changed again. The Karma marks vanished. A circle of horns appeared on his head. His left eye was a Byakugan, and his right eye had transformed into a golden, star-patterned dōjutsu.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had arrived.
"This guy… This is his true form?"
Kakashi's eyes widened, then he closed them. "I can't sense his chakra at all. Even my natural energy sensing can't find him."
"He changed again!" Naruto gasped. "He looks even stronger!"
"So this is Ōtsutsuki Isshiki," Sasuke said. "A Byakugan, and… what is that other dōjutsu?"
"Is it not a Rinnegan?" Shisui asked.
"I've never seen a Rinnegan like that," Sasuke replied. "But the shrinking dōjutsu must come from that eye. If Lord Genichi can mirror his dōjutsu, then it's useless against him."
"No," Itachi corrected him. "It's the opposite. If Lord Genichi combines that jutsu with his own, his attacks will be even more devastating."
Namiichi and Obito both nodded.
"And Genichi has our dōjutsu, too," Obito added, his voice laced with jealousy. "Plus his other Rinnegan and Mangekyō… This guy isn't normal!"
Namiichi turned to him. "You're just now figuring that out?"
Obito was speechless.
"Just how many dōjutsu does Lord Genichi have?" Sakura wondered.
Kakashi and the others had no answer. Perhaps he had already mastered every dōjutsu that existed.
As they spoke, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki ascended, rising to meet Genichi at the same altitude.
"You're finally out," Genichi said with a smile. Now, Isshiki's three-day time limit was ticking. He could just wear him down.
But Genichi would rather just kill him outright.
"My intel is completely exposed. Unforgivable!" Isshiki's face was dark. He only had three days in this form. He had to find a new vessel.
"You wanted to see my true form, so I've shown you." With that, Isshiki vanished.
Genichi vanished at the same instant.
To Kakashi and the others, the two in the sky became streaks of light, teleporting and clashing in mid-air. Their speed was so immense that the others couldn't see their movements at all, only the sparks that erupted from their collisions—not from Lightning Release, but from the plasma generated by air friction.
Not Kakashi, not Sakura, not even the Uchiha with their advanced dōjutsu could follow their movements.
"They're too fast…" Kakashi broke out in a cold sweat. If they were facing this version of Isshiki, they would have had no chance to resist.
"This is… this is insane!" Naruto said, dumbfounded.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Mountain peaks exploded as Isshiki was punched clean through them. But he quickly flew out of the rubble, completely unharmed. Such an attack hadn't caused him any real damage.
"His body," Sakura said, shocked, "it's even tougher than my puppet!"
"Sasuke," Naruto said, "this guy… he seems even stronger than Uchiha Madara!"
Sasuke nodded grimly. That's what he was thinking, too. Madara, as the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, had immense chakra and regeneration, but he didn't have this kind of raw durability. Madara would have been torn apart by those blows. Isshiki didn't even have a scratch.
Genichi wasn't surprised. He knew the true strength of an Ōtsutsuki body. It was durable enough to take hits from Naruto's Baryon Mode without injury; only the "life-drain" side effect of that mode could damage him. That mode, the Jūryūshi Mōdo (Heavy Particle Mode), was exactly what Genichi was trying to develop as his "Nuclear Release" (Kakuton), a power akin to solar fusion.
He hadn't mastered it yet, but he knew that before Baryon Mode, both Sasuke and Naruto were completely manhandled by Isshiki. In Baryon Mode, Naruto was able to catch Isshiki's black rods and easily block his taijutsu. Isshiki's greatest strength wasn't his dōjutsu; it was his body and his taijutsu. As Jigen, he had used his dōjutsu frequently. As Isshiki, he only needed taijutsu to dismantle them.
Of course, against Isshiki, most ninjutsu and even Kekkei Mōra were useless. Even Kaguya's All-Killing Ash Bones or an expanding Truth-Seeking Orb could simply be shrunk by Sukunahikona and stored in Daikokuten, his dimension where time was frozen. It was a terrifyingly perfect combination.
The best way to fight Isshiki was with taijutsu, or a space-time dōjutsu like Kamui. That was why Genichi hadn't bothered with Dust Release or Wood Release. But taijutsu... Genichi wanted to see how his own body and skills stacked up against Isshiki's.
BOOM! The air cracked. Genichi vanished, charging Isshiki again.
Isshiki met the charge. As they neared, he again used Sukunahikona to launch shrunken black rods.
But as Genichi closed the distance, he used the Amenotejikara he had copied, swapping his position with the air directly in front of Isshiki. He dodged the rods and appeared instantly in his face.
BAM! BAM!
Isshiki was hit twice before he could react. As he flew back, Genichi's six other arms shot out, grabbing him, while the last two hands clamped down on his head.
BOOOOM!
Isshiki was dragged through the ground, his body carving a massive trench as he was ruthlessly ground against the terrain.
"BASTARD!" Isshiki roared. He unleashed a burst of power, breaking Genichi's grip, and immediately summoned his giant black cubes from the sky.
But as the cubes fell, Genichi used his copied Sukunahikona to shrink them. They clattered to the ground like dice.
Isshiki used the opening to attack, but before he could get close, fists were already upon him, courtesy of Umashi-ashikabi-hikoji. Isshiki's Byakugan saw the fists coming from behind him, but while he could block two, how could he block eight?
BAM! BAM! BAM!
In an instant, Isshiki was struck again and again, juggled in the air like a sandbag.
"DAMN YOU!" The normally composed Isshiki was enraged. With a roar, he suddenly grabbed one of Genichi's wrists and, with a terrifying display of strength, yanked Genichi toward him.
CRACK!
He met Genichi with a headbutt. Both of them were sent flying. But Isshiki took double the damage, thanks to Naruto's Shukumeitsū.
"What an annoying dōjutsu!" Isshiki climbed out of his crater, already regretting not killing Naruto first. A blow that would have been lethal to Naruto was not to him. But he had no dōjutsu to turn back time.
Looking at the still-unharmed Isshiki, Genichi activated his Jiba Tendō (Magnetic Field Rotation). His power began to skyrocket.
Stage One! (One billion volts of power, enough to shatter a Perfect Susanoo. His base strength could already do this, so the boost was minimal.)
Stage Two! (Ten times the power of Stage One. This was the level that allowed him to reconstruct his own cells.)
Stage Three! (Ten times the power of Stage Two!)
Genichi had only achieved Stage Three after mastering the Electromagnet Release Kekkei Mōra. At Stage Two, he could reconstruct cells. At Stage Three, his control over electromagnetism was so advanced it could resonate with gravity and the strong nuclear force, allowing him to restructure the atomic and molecular makeup of any matter. This was the power that, combined with his Sage Body, had allowed him to develop his Four-Faced Deity form, assimilating and reconstructing the Tenseigan, Rinnegan, and Mangekyō Sharingan to become his own. It was also how he had created Cube.
Now, Genichi channeled all of that power into pure, mechanical force. His previous Jiba Tendō: Wakusei-kudaki (Magnetic Field Rotation: Planet Shatterer) that he used on Madara was only a Stage Two technique.
Now, at Stage Three…
His eight arms clenched into fists. Naruto and the others stared, wide-eyed, as they felt space itself begin to warp.
Isshiki's gaze hardened. "This power…" He could feel it. This power was enough to truly injure him.
SWISH!
Genichi vanished. There was no sonic boom. His form simply flickered in and out of existence in the air.
"That's not a normal Body Flicker," Kakashi murmured.
"It must be Sasuke's dōjutsu," Obito said grimly. "Genichi is using it even more fluidly than he does."
In the air, Isshiki readied his staff, his Byakugan scanning every direction. But Genichi had eight arms and a 'now-you-see-me, now-you-don't' space-time dōjutsu.
However, this time, Genichi activated the dōjutsu in his blue, six-tomoe Rinnegan: Mitoshi-no-Mui.
From a distance, Genichi threw a punch.
The first punch shattered Isshiki's staff. Immediately, more fists appeared, crossing space-time, hammering Isshiki. Isshiki sometimes blocked, sometimes shrank his body, but there were too many fists, coming too fast. He was hit several times, and with a sickening CRACK, his left arm and ribs broke.
Then, two fists attacked from the front and back, clapping him.
Isshiki threw his arms out, summoning his black cubes as a shield.
BOOM!
The cubes were smashed together. Isshiki's arms were crushed, but at the last second, he slipped out from between them.
He had no time to recover. A fist descended from above, striking him square in the head.
Blood exploded from his nose. Isshiki spat out a mouthful of blood as his body plummeted from the sky.
CRASH!
The ground collapsed, sending up a massive plume of dust.
Isshiki immediately tried to open a portal. But before it could fully form, a hand suddenly appeared, a giant hand, and grabbed his head. At the same time, another hand, crackling with black lightning, appeared and chopped down, slicing Isshiki's body in half.
Kamui Raikiri!
"How…?" Isshiki's eyes were wide with shock. He hadn't seen Genichi move. He was far enough away, beyond the range of Genichi's space-time punches. He had confirmed that range during the fight. That was why he had tried to open a portal to escape.
But the attack had appeared from nowhere. Where did it come from?
Not only was Isshiki stunned, but Kakashi and the others were completely baffled. Was that not Genichi?
Then, they watched as the hand that had sliced Isshiki in two grabbed his lower half. The next moment, both halves of Isshiki's body vanished.
High in the air, Genichi's two hands reappeared. One held Isshiki's head, the other his lower body.
Naruto rubbed his eyes. "What just happened?"
Sakura was lost. "Was… was his power so strong it warped time and space? I don't think I saw Lord Genichi use that space-time jutsu…"
"And that distance," Sasuke frowned, "it was way too far. Unless… Lord Genichi deliberately tricked us about his jutsu's range." They had seen Genichi's Umashi-ashikabi-hikoji many times; they thought they knew its limits.
"It must be another dōjutsu," Kakashi concluded.
"Was it the Rinnegan on his forehead?" Obito guessed. He knew the Mangekyō was Future Body, and the Mirror Eye had its own jutsu. That only left the blue Rinnegan. "Another space-time jutsu? It didn't look like it."
Itachi was deep in thought, replaying Genichi's movements in his mind, the number of punches he threw. He suddenly grasped a fragment of the truth.
"An attack from the past… taking effect in the future?"