Ryusei leapt high, gathering his power in an instant.
His body ignited with overlapping layers of strength.
Six Gates open, Slug Sage Mode active, Creation Rebirth and Yin Seal pulsing together, the boiling essence of Kokuō coursing through his chakra network.
Gravity itself bent as his weight manipulation technique fastened his descent and hardened the impact, building unbearable pressure.
Beneath his feet, a faint quake bubble of vibrational energy formed, ready to detonate.
Then came the Senju Heel Drop.
The impact hit like a divine hammer.
The earth ruptured in a blinding flash, the ground splitting open for kilometers.
The valley collapsed inward as the underground structures shattered like glass.
The noise was deafening, an eruption that could have leveled an entire island.
Even his own allies, Nagato, Kiyomi, Pakura, Kanae, Renjiro, and Ashina stared wide-eyed for a moment.
They had all known Ryusei's power, but seeing it unleashed so suddenly was still something else entirely.
Then the counterforce came.
From the depths of the collapsing valley, a massive surge of chakra erupted upward, pure, dense, and overwhelmingly Yin.
A blinding column of violet energy pierced through the debris as a perfect Susanoo, towering like a mountain, forced its way to the surface.
Its roar shook the air.
The colossal construct's hands clashed against Ryusei's descending form, the shockwave scattering clouds and ripping the terrain apart.
Nagato reacted immediately. His golden Rinnegan flared, manipulating natural energy to levitate everyone around him, pushing them aside before the clash could crush them in the aftermath.
Ryusei landed on a shattered ridge, his cloak torn by the impact.
He stared into the head of the titanic Susanoo as his Byakugan, hidden behind his eyepatch, snapped open.
The chakra inside that construct was unmistakable.
His heart skipped.
The silhouette within had long, spiked black hair and an overwhelming aura.
For a moment, Ryusei's mind went to the obvious conclusion.
"Madara…?" he muttered.
But no, his sensory mode immediately told him the chakra pattern didn't match the man he'd encountered recently.
This presence was different. Darker. Older. It carried the weight of a lineage far more ancient, something that felt closer to the origin of all Uchiha rather than any of their descendants.
His expression tightened, realization flashing through him like lightning.
"Indra," he whispered. "But how…?"
On the other side, deep within the giant mass of powerful chakra, Indra hadn't expected Ryusei Senju to be this strong either.
From the fragments of Black Zetsu's memories he had inherited just earlier, he knew of Ryusei's existence, but it seemed there was a gap, a delay in how fast this man had grown.
His progress was almost unnatural, even by divine standards.
Still, Indra felt no fear. Confidence was carved into his very being.
What did stir him, though, was irritation.
Seeing a descendant of Asura standing at such a height, above every Uchiha in existence besides Madara, gnawed at his pride.
Ryusei wasn't truly related to Ashura by soul like Madara was to him, so perhaps he was just another anomaly born from the world's chaotic balance.
And anomalies were meant to be erased.
There was no need for words.
Behind him, about two dozen surviving Chinoike members and the white-haired hardliner leader began their formation from the inside of the Susanoo.
Their blood-linked jutsu, an evolved version of their cult's "voodoo" curse technique, activated in unison.
They didn't even need physical blood samples anymore, since they were synchronized with his massive amount of chakra; the ritual connected through the chakra aura of their targets.
The longer it lingered, the more it drained, slowly submerging their enemies in a spiritual mire of Yin-Yang energy.
Meanwhile, Indra's Susanoo pulsed with overwhelming force.
Veins of deep violet lightning, the most advanced, perfected form of Lightning Release itself, snaked across its armor, splitting the air with sharp, thunderous cracks.
In its hand, the giant drew a colossal spear forged from condensed stormlight, each pulse of it radiating destructive precision.
The air split open as he hurled it upward toward Ryusei's group, the shockwave alone enough to bend the clouds.
As the battle began, Indra's attention flickered for a moment.
His inherited memories from Zetsu stirred. Nagato… alive?
That was unexpected.
According to what he knew, what Black Zetsu personally witnessed, the boy had perished during Madara's clash with the Tenseigan user.
Or had Ryusei somehow saved him without either of them realizing it, at that time?
And that golden Rinnegan… what was it?
It seemingly radiated natural energy, something that shouldn't exist in that form.
All of it pointed to one conclusion.
Ryusei Senju wasn't just a threat.
He was the single greatest obstacle to Kaguya's return, the one presence most likely to derail everything that had been set in motion for decades already.
Even Madara, whom Indra acknowledged as part of himself as well, had only ever been and would be just a stepping stone, a gatekeeper along the road.
But Ryusei was different.
Indra's face hardened, the air around him cooling with intent. "Then you must be erased first," he said, slow and sure. "Every day you live is another mistake I cannot afford."
On the other side, meanwhile, Ryusei understood well that, one-on-one, he probably couldn't defeat this kind of opponent yet, someone so close to the true essence of the Ōtsutsuki.
Still, he felt confident he could survive. Against beings like this, survival was already victory enough to turn the tables later.
But this time, survival alone wasn't enough.
He needed to win, and do it in a way that let him access the Yin–Yang secrets buried within the Chinoike and this strange ritual.
His original plan during the initial Senju Heel Drop had been simple yet efficient: not only to physically shatter any sealing barriers that might exist, his body was now powerful enough to disrupt fūinjutsu by sheer force, after all; even Might Guy had once bent space with his body alone, but also to use the ensuing chaos to split the enemy's attention. In that window, he intended to send one of his perfect, intangible Slug Sage Mode clones underground to scout and extract anything of value.
But Indra's Susanoo had shattered that plan instantly; its awakening alone had unleashed enough power to erase every clone before they could even act.
But that chance had been obliterated in the initial clash; the terrain was annihilated.
Now, only two sources of knowledge remained.
Indra himself.
Or the Chinoike puppets under his control, who were even now reactivating some kind of Yin–Yang formation in perfect synchronization, their bodies moving like extensions of his will.
Ryusei's gaze sharpened. "Then I'll take it from one of your heads," he muttered.
On the other hand, just standing before that overwhelming surge of energy left Ryusei's allies in silent awe.
The sheer scale of it defied everything they once believed possible for a human to wield.
Kiyomi, especially, felt something stir deep within her blood.
The giant Susanoo's chakra resonated faintly with her own.
Though she too possessed a perfect, fully manifested Susanoo, complete with armor, weaponry, and distinct form, hers was nearly five times smaller.
The difference in presence alone was staggering.
Her crimson eyes narrowed, the Mangekyō spinning slowly. "Who is that?" she muttered under her breath.
She recalled Ryusei once mentioning that Madara Uchiha had already been revived, a fact he'd even shared with Fugaku.
But this aura… For some reason, she felt it was not it.
Then, Ryusei's voice echoed directly into her mind through their telepathic link, calm, steady, and absolute.
"He's your ancestor."