"Outer Path Maru!"
Yagyu didn't hold back against Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
Facing the roaring Sage Art Fist formed by chakra, he simply raised his hand and unleashed his unique Rinnegan ocular technique.
In an instant, a miniature black hole appeared in the palm of Yagyu's hand.
Compared to the earth-shaking Sage Art Fist, the black hole was like a grain of sand against a mountain, a difference of thousands of times in size.
Yet, despite this staggering size difference, the scene that unfolded was overwhelmingly one-sided.
The Sage Art Fist reached Yagyu in an instant, but the mountain-sized fist, as if unstable from within, suddenly transformed into a wave of chakra, twisting and surging into Yagyu's palm like a tidal current.
This scene resembled the Preta Path absorbing ninjutsu or Kamui absorbing everything.
But Black Zetsu knew it was neither.
He quickly shouted, "Mother, that brat's unique ocular technique can absorb all ninjutsu and even replicate them. Stop him immediately!"
Hearing this, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's expression remained unchanged, but her hands emerged from her wide sleeves, extending two white bones from her palms, similar to the Yin-Yang Release: Black Rods.
Immediately, a black crack appeared in the space before her, rapidly expanding and tearing open a rectangular black hole.
Kaguya's figure flew into the black hole, which then quickly disappeared.
At the same time, a black crack appeared behind Yagyu, rapidly tearing open.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
However, before Kaguya could emerge from the black hole, a series of impact sounds echoed from within, as if a fight was taking place.
And indeed, it was.
In the pitch-black space, four invisible Limbo clones were relentlessly beating Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
Though Kaguya could see the clones before her, her lack of combat experience and tactical intelligence left her unprepared for this sudden assault. She could only frantically defend herself, her body visibly accumulating injuries.
Despite these injuries, they vanished in an instant.
The Ash Killing Bones in her hands didn't even have a chance to be launched.
"Hair Needle Senbon!"
Finally seizing a chance to counterattack, Kaguya unleashed a barrage of needle-like projectiles, but they were all blocked by the four Limbo clones, leaving them unscathed.
Even the Ash Killing Bones she fired seemed to hit an invisible wall, unable to harm the clones.
Frustrated, Kaguya could only close the Yomotsu Hirasaka, preparing to return to her original position.
As the black hole closed, Kaguya noticed the four clones had suddenly disappeared.
Seeing this, Kaguya immediately found a way to deal with these clones.
At that moment, Kaguya's expression changed dramatically.
Outside, Yagyu had already devoured the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack, and his figure twisted as he flew into a black hole different from the Yomotsu Hirasaka.
Then, this black hole suddenly appeared behind Black Zetsu, and Yagyu's figure materialized out of thin air.
Seeing Yagyu about to attack her will and her third son, Kaguya panicked.
Though Black Zetsu possessed an immortal body, Kaguya had a premonition that this brat might actually have a way to kill or seal Black Zetsu.
For this third son, who had endured millennia of hardship for her sake, Kaguya was filled with guilt.
Now, seeing Yagyu about to attack Black Zetsu, how could she not be both shocked and enraged?
Unfortunately, after being sealed for a millennium, not only was her body not her own, but her consciousness and reactions had also dulled.
Before she could emerge from the Yomotsu Hirasaka, Yagyu once again activated his unique ocular technique, sucking Black Zetsu into the black hole.
"No! Mother, save me!!"
In the final moment before being devoured, Black Zetsu let out a terrified scream.
And just like that, the mastermind who had manipulated Uchiha Madara, created the second Rinnegan in the shinobi world, and played a pivotal role in the millennium-long chess game—Black Zetsu, who even Naruto and Sasuke couldn't kill in the original story—was gone.
Though he had said it before, Yagyu couldn't help but marvel once more after devouring Black Zetsu: "Outer Path Maru, you're truly formidable!"
The ability of Outer Path Maru allowed it to devour all energy-based things, assimilating them and branding them as its own.
This energy-based absorption ranged from the lowest-level ninjutsu to the highest-level Truth-Seeking Orbs and even the Kekkei Mōra-level Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack. So far, Yagyu hadn't encountered any limits.
Whether it was someone else's Truth-Seeking Orbs or their chakra, once devoured by Outer Path Maru, they would be instantly digested and become Yagyu's.
Thus, Black Zetsu, though possessing self-awareness, was fundamentally different from Hagoromo and Hamura Ōtsutsuki. He was merely a creation of Kaguya's Yin-Yang Release, a product of her will.
Once sucked into the black hole by Outer Path Maru, Black Zetsu's consciousness was instantly obliterated. His body, created by Yin-Yang Release at a level comparable to or even surpassing the Sword of Nunoboko, was immediately reduced to pure Yin-Yang Release energy, becoming Yagyu's experience in Yin-Yang Release.
In just a short while, Yagyu had gained two powerful abilities.
The first was the earth-shattering Sage Art Fist, capable of obliterating mountains and shattering the Complete Body—Susanoo. When used consecutively, it could unleash eighty strikes in the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack.
This was the first Kekkei Mōra-level ability Yagyu had obtained.
The second ability was a higher-level application of Yin-Yang Release.
Just as the Sword of Nunoboko could materialize willpower, and with sufficient mental strength, it could effortlessly cut through even the Truth-Seeking Orb staff and the unique physique of the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki.
After devouring Black Zetsu, Yagyu could now, like Kaguya, use Yin-Yang Release to create a will avatar absolutely loyal to him.
Additionally, Yagyu could now use techniques like Spirit Fusion and Spirit Possession, which were advanced applications of Yin Release.
These abilities could also be combined with the Yamanaka clan's mind-reading techniques. If Yagyu could also master the Sword of Nunoboko's techniques, it would become even easier for him to read others' memories, with the content and details becoming more vivid and precise.
Without a doubt, this was excellent news.
As long as Yagyu mastered these techniques and waited for his strength to grow and the right moment to arrive, he could extract the methods of planting the God Tree and refining chakra into pills from pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki like Kaguya, Isshiki, or even Momoshiki.
Mastering these methods would elevate Yagyu beyond the Six Paths level.
Now that his physical body could traverse the universe, Yagyu could emulate the Ōtsutsuki clan, searching the cosmos for planets suitable for planting the God Tree, harvesting chakra fruits, and refining them into pills to enhance his strength and lifespan.
In the future, he might even transcend dimensions like Ōtsutsuki Shibai.
At the very least, he could live for tens of thousands of years with Hinata and the others.
Whoosh… Whoosh…
At that moment, Yagyu's expression suddenly changed.
The sound of cold wind whistled in his ears, and the scorching lava space abruptly transformed into a bone-chilling ice world.
This space seemed to possess absolute zero, and even Yagyu's formidable body was instantly frozen into an ice sculpture.
Not only Yagyu, but Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, who had just emerged from the Yomotsu Hirasaka, was also frozen into an ice sculpture.
However, in the next second, Kaguya's body completely transformed into ice, as if merging with the ice world. Countless massive ice spikes shot toward Yagyu from all directions.
These ice spikes were purely physical attacks, and without a new Truth-Seeking Orb, Yagyu's frozen body couldn't dodge or defend.
Though his body was temporarily immobilized, Yagyu's eyes shifted from the purple Rinnegan to the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Boom! Boom!
The ice spikes shattered the ice sculpture, like icy bombs, stirring up a white mist of snow in the blizzard-filled space.
However, when the mist cleared, Yagyu's body emerged unscathed, completely unfazed by the terrifying cold of the ice world. He glared at the ice-embodied Kaguya.
In that instant, space twisted.
A terrifying tearing force instantly shattered Kaguya's ice sculpture.
Yet, countless ice spikes continued to shoot toward Yagyu from all directions.
This indicated that Kaguya was still alive.
However, these ice spikes couldn't harm Yagyu, whose true body was hidden in the Kamui dimension.
For now, Yagyu and Kaguya were at a stalemate.
Yet, Kaguya, using the Kekkei Mōra-level Nature Integration, seemed to have become one with the world's will and the ice space. She didn't switch dimensions but instead hid somewhere, continuing to manipulate the icy terrain, creating massive ice spikes, ice hands, fists, and even icebergs of varying sizes, relentlessly attacking Yagyu.
Without Black Zetsu's guidance, Kaguya, who had mastered higher-level space-time techniques, relied on her pure Byakugan, which could see through others' thoughts, to find a flaw in Kamui.
Her continuous attacks seemed to be testing this theory.
Seeing this, Yagyu frowned slightly.
He had to admit, he had underestimated this naive Kaguya.
To be precise, he had underestimated her Byakugan.
Yagyu had immediately eliminated Black Zetsu because, over the millennia, Black Zetsu had become a cunning manipulator.
He had witnessed the end of the samurai era, the chaos of the Warring States period, and the rise of the ninja villages and the escalation of wars between nations.
From the initial clashes of cold weapons to the battles of ninjutsu and the intelligence wars among ninjas…
Though Black Zetsu lacked overwhelming strength, his strategic thinking far surpassed Kaguya, who had only fought her two sons and been defeated by them.
If Black Zetsu had suggested that Kaguya use the Heavenly Dimensions to trap Yagyu in another dimension and retrieve all chakra, even Yagyu would have struggled to find the coordinates back to the real world.
Of course, this wasn't what Yagyu feared the most.
As a transmigrator, Yagyu's narrative layer was above everyone else.
What he feared was that Black Zetsu might have a sudden insight, prompting Kaguya to use the Yomotsu Hirasaka to locate the Kamui dimension and unleash an Expanding Truth-Seeking Orb to destroy it.
If that happened, Yagyu's Kamui would be rendered useless.
Facing Kaguya, who possessed both the Heavenly Dimensions and Yomotsu Hirasaka, Yagyu, even with Outer Path Maru and Limbo: Border Jail, would be at a significant disadvantage, much like Madara had been against him.
Though the likelihood was low, Yagyu didn't want to gamble or take unnecessary risks.
Thus, after using Outer Path Maru to devour Kaguya's Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack, Yagyu immediately used Limbo: Border Jail to send four clones to distract Kaguya, then seized the opportunity to eliminate Black Zetsu, rather than deliberately exposing a weakness to let Kaguya use the Ash Killing Bones to test whether Outer Path Maru could devour it.
He had thought that after dealing with Black Zetsu, Kaguya would be like a headless fly, easy to defeat.
But he hadn't expected that without Black Zetsu's interference, Kaguya, relying on her Byakugan's ability to see more, would find a flaw in Kamui.
The fact that Kamui's intangibility could only last for five minutes was crucial information.
If Kaguya discovered this, she might have several methods to counter Yagyu.
After all, she possessed numerous Kekkei Mōra.
Among the Heavenly Dimensions' spaces, besides this ice world, there were also the supergravity space and other troublesome dimensions.
Besides the Heavenly Dimensions, Kaguya also had Nature Integration, a Kekkei Mōra that could be used to torment Yagyu.
For example, Yagyu couldn't locate Kaguya's hiding spot now.
But it was certain that Kaguya's Nature Integration wasn't true elementalization but a higher-level invisibility technique.
As long as Yagyu's perception reached the same level, he could break her invisibility.
Thus, Yagyu ignored the icy attacks from all directions and slowly closed his eyes.
But instead of immediately releasing his perception, Yagyu used the higher-level application of Yin-Yang Release to tap into the deeper layers of his spiritual power.
Yes, Yagyu planned to use the Sword of Nunoboko's ability to enhance his perception through Yin-Yang Release.
Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, who had developed Yin-Yang Release to an extremely high level, was nearly omnipotent even without being the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki.
Now, having obtained the Sword of Nunoboko and devoured Black Zetsu, Yagyu felt that his Yin-Yang Release could achieve many things.