"I didn't expect him to use my chakra to cast something like that…"
The older Sasuke gave a bitter smile as his Mangekyō spun, pouring more ocular power into Susanoo.
Sasuke didn't respond.
The next instant, Kirin collided head-on with the towering purple Susanoo.
Thunder swallowed the battlefield.
Lightning tore through the sky, crashing again and again against the spectral armor. Sasuke's vision blurred, blood slowly leaking from the corners of his eyes, but he gritted his teeth and held on.
Only after a long, tense moment did the storm finally dissipate.
Sasuke exhaled. "It's fine. At least it wasn't Tōma's chakra. And the weather wasn't right."
Without natural storm clouds, Kirin was "only" an S-rank technique. Its true terror only emerged under heavy thunderclouds, when its power surpassed ordinary limits entirely.
Sasuke couldn't help recalling Fujimoto Tōma's Sage-enhanced Kirin. That technique felt fundamentally different. And deep down, Sasuke suspected it still wasn't Tōma's strongest move.
As Susanoo faded away, the world swam in front of Sasuke's eyes. Darkness crept in before slowly receding.
So this was the price of the Mangekyō…
Losing sight.
"That was incredible…" Naruto muttered, stunned. Both Susanoo and Kirin were on a completely different level.
If Urashiki had opened with Kirin, even Sage Mode might not have saved him.
"What now?" Boruto asked quietly. "He got away."
"He won't," Sasuke replied calmly. "Leave the rest to Fujimoto Tōma."
Boruto blinked, confused. Naruto trusted Tōma. Sasuke trusting him made sense. But even the older Sasuke seemed completely confident.
"He really is that strong," the older Sasuke said with a faint smile.
Boruto swallowed. Somehow, he believed it.
A vast plain.
Space split open with a black rift.
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki staggered out, battered and furious.
He frowned, calculating. Finding other tailed beasts would take time. But there was another option. Reclaim the clan's treasured tool and jump further back in time.
Before he could decide, a voice spoke behind him.
"So this is where you chose to die. Not a bad spot."
Urashiki's pupils shrank.
In the distance stood a calm figure, casually flipping a kunai in his hand.
That kunai.
The one Sasuke had thrown.
"So you marked it," Urashiki clicked his tongue. "How careless of me."
"Do you mind coming down?" Fujimoto Tōma asked evenly. "I don't like talking while looking up."
Urashiki sneered. "You should be honored to gaze upon an Ōtsutsuki."
Tōma vanished.
Urashiki's eyes flashed blue as his Rinnegan activated just in time. If he'd been even a moment slower, he'd already be dead.
He rewound time repeatedly, reading Tōma's movement, then snapped his fishing rod forward.
The strike should have been unavoidable.
Instead, Tōma dissolved into scattered kunai that shot outward, encircling him.
"Space–time ninjutsu…" Urashiki muttered. "How troublesome."
Tōma reappeared where he'd started, eyes bright with curiosity rather than frustration.
So that's it.
Not reaction speed. Time manipulation.
Interesting.
Tōma vanished again.
And again.
And again.
Each appearance was a failed strike. Each time, Urashiki rewound, countered, barely survived.
Tōma's smile widened.
Flyin' Raijin barely cost him anything at this range. Meanwhile, Urashiki was burning through his time rewinds just to stay alive.
Tōma wasn't trying to win anymore.
He was studying him.
Seconds passed in reality. An eternity for Urashiki.
This monster…
Who's supposed to be the Ōtsutsuki here?
Finally, Urashiki gambled. He stopped rewinding.
Tōma's fist connected.
The impact shattered Urashiki's arms instantly.
His scream echoed as his body smashed into the earth, carving a trench dozens of meters long.
Tōma stared down, mildly surprised. "You really tried to tank that?"
In Sage Mode, with lightning-hardened strikes and Tsunade-style monstrous strength layered on top, that punch would've flattened almost anything alive.
Dust settled.
Urashiki lay broken, arms twisted, blood spilling from his mouth.
Tōma descended slowly, kunai floating behind him under magnetic control.
"Looks like it's your turn to look up."
Urashiki forced himself upright, eyes burning with hatred. "Konoha shinobi… I won't forget you."
A black rift opened again.
Tōma threw a kunai.
Urashiki retreated instantly, refusing to let it enter his escape route. The rift closed.
Tōma smiled.
He vanished.
A forest, moments later.
Urashiki reappeared, barely standing.
"Why is this era worse than my own…" he muttered in despair.
Then a voice sounded beside him.
"Thinking too hard."
Urashiki froze.
Tōma stood there, relaxed.
Urashiki panicked, transforming into crimson paper cranes and fleeing. When he reformed at a distance, he screamed, "How are you still following me?! The kunai never came through!"
"I'll tell you," Tōma said thoughtfully. "If you keep using your time rewind. I'd like to feel it more."
Urashiki's face twisted. "You're using me to study time itself?!"
"So? Deal?" Tōma asked casually.
"Impossible!"
Realizing escape was hopeless, Urashiki snapped.
He kicked open his gourd, devouring stolen chakra until his broken arms regenerated.
"Still not enough…"
With a mad grin, he tore out his own eyes and swallowed them.
Tōma's eyes narrowed.
A golden Rinnegan opened on Urashiki's forehead as light engulfed him.
When it faded, a grotesque new form hovered in the air. Horns like broken wings. Black markings. Talons instead of feet.
Tōma tilted his head.
"So… a bird-man now?"
"I'll kill you!" Urashiki roared.
And the air itself trembled.
...
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