"Nine-Tails! I didn't expect someone like you to exist in this world."
"Ho ho ho, your chakra is truly powerful!"
"There is no other Shinobi as strong as you in this world."
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki narrowed his eyes slightly, a look of enjoyment on his face. As Raiden's chakra surged and the Thunder Armor activated, the chakra permeating the air vanished without a trace.
The Ōtsutsuki in front of him was capable of absorbing others' chakra and converting it for his own use.
"You can absorb my chakra as your own power!"
"This guy is different from an ordinary Ōtsutsuki; he doesn't have the Byakugan, but the Rinnegan!"
Uzumaki Raiden, clad in Lightning Armor, realized that his opponent seemed capable of absorbing his chakra. He took out a scroll from his robes and unfurled it before him. With a burst of white mist, a figure disappeared from the scroll. At the same time, Raiden's aura shifted dramatically.
Even though he stood directly before Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, within Urashiki's perception range, Uzumaki Raiden's presence had vanished completely. The only way to track him was through direct sight.
"His presence… disappeared?!" Ōtsutsuki Urashiki raised an eyebrow but quickly concealed his surprise. The crimson fishing rod in his hand was flung toward Raiden, and a blood-red hook, trailing a long chakra fishing line, shot toward him.
"So fast!"
Clang!
Raiden's pupils shrank as he raised his blade to block, striking the flying hook and knocking it away. Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's attack was incredibly swift, but Raiden, empowered by both Lightning Armor and Sage Mode, could easily evade such strikes.
"He blocked it so effortlessly?" Ōtsutsuki Urashiki looked genuinely surprised. He was well aware of the strength behind his attacks. Since arriving on this planet, no one had been able to withstand them—yet Raiden not only blocked it, but did so casually.
"Orochimaru's experiment has made no progress for so long…"
"If I can deliver this guy to him, it should advance the research significantly."
Raiden murmured to himself. He raised his long sword and disappeared from sight, vanishing from Urashiki's field of vision.
"He vanished?!" Just as Urashiki lost sight of Raiden, a sharp arc of light slashed toward him from the side.
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki spun quickly, swinging his fishing rod in defense. His chakra clashed with Raiden's, triggering a violent explosion at their point of impact. A terrifying shockwave rippled outward.
Meanwhile, at the gate of the Uzumaki residence, Kisame Hoshigaki, who had sensed the battle, stood guard. Noticing the approaching shockwave, he swiftly formed a seal and raised a Water Barrier to shield the residence. Then, he positioned himself at the outer wall, carefully watching the fight but refraining from intervening.
In the clearing nearby, Raiden was locked in intense combat with Ōtsutsuki Urashiki. Sakegari no Tachi flashed as countless slashes rained down upon Urashiki, who could barely keep up. In terms of raw combat ability, he was no match for Raiden.
Urashiki was relying solely on the terrifying insight of his Rinnegan to barely fend off Raiden's relentless attacks.
"This guy… is actually this strong?"
"Can people in this world truly grow to such a level?"
As the battle continued, Urashiki grew increasingly alarmed. Raiden's speed and strength were beyond anything he had anticipated. Every strike carried immense force—each one, even if blocked, sent shockwaves through his body.
If not for the unmatched resilience and regenerative capabilities of the Ōtsutsuki clan, he would have been defeated already. At the same time, Raiden was shocked by his opponent's endurance. In Sage Mode, his strikes infused natural energy into his targets, bypassing normal defenses. Even when his attacks appeared to be deflected or dodged, they still landed in an imperceptible way.
Yet, for some reason, Urashiki remained completely unharmed.
"Raiden, something's wrong with this guy!" In the depths of Raiden's consciousness, the Nine-Tails shifted from its relaxed posture, standing upright with a grave expression.
"Yeah, I've noticed."
"Almost all of my attacks are landing, yet he doesn't seem hurt at all."
"It's strange."
Raiden frowned. During a brief clash, he delivered a heavy kick to Urashiki's abdomen and immediately retreated to create distance.
"Hey, Nine-Tails, why are you stopping?"
"Keep going!"
Urashiki stretched his legs and smiled, tauntingly. Despite having barely been able to keep up with Raiden's assault, his grin was bright.
"What's going on here?"
Raiden narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. His Kagura Mind's Eye had already locked onto Urashiki, yet his enemy hadn't activated any visible jutsu. Other than a gradual depletion of chakra, there was no other anomaly.
Raiden's gaze fell to the spot where he had kicked Urashiki earlier. There wasn't even a bruise.
"Are all Ōtsutsuki this terrifying?"
"Without the power of the Sage of Six Paths, is it impossible to harm them?"
This realization weighed heavily on Raiden's mind. He knew that the world of shinobi had an insurmountable gap between the strongest individuals. Even someone as powerful as Might Guy, after opening the Eighth Gate of the Eight Gates Technique, had only been able to temporarily inconvenience Six Paths Madara. Some people in his previous life liked to say that Guy nearly ended the war with a single kick.
But from Raiden's perspective, the difference in power was far greater than that. Guy's attacks, though formidable, were not irreparable—Madara recovered in minutes. They weren't even on the same level.
And the Ōtsutsuki were a race of beings beyond even Madara, who had become the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki. They had traveled through the stars for millennia, growing even stronger than Kaguya herself. Even Black Zetsu, Kaguya's mere creation, had managed to betray and kill Madara. Compared to that, the true Ōtsutsuki clan was even more fearsome.
"Hey, Raiden, are you hesitating? That's not like you!"
Inside Raiden's mind, the Nine-Tails saw through his thoughts and spoke in a deep voice.
"Huh?" Raiden snapped out of his thoughts. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. I know exactly what you're thinking."
"You and I are in complete sync."
"Your power has already surpassed Konoha's past generations. Stop underestimating yourself."
"If you can't hurt him, it must be due to some obscure secret technique."
"Don't hold back—go all out!"
The Nine-Tails roared, and as its voice echoed, its massive red tails swayed in the consciousness space. A surge of terrifying chakra flowed into Raiden's body.
With this chakra infusion, Raiden absorbed a vast amount of natural energy, balancing the ratio between them and maintaining Sage Mode. The Nine-Tails' chakra was immense, and when combined with Raiden's own, the difference in nature energy widened significantly.
With Raiden at the center, natural energy from hundreds of kilometers around was drawn into him, fueling a surge of unprecedented chakra.
"This is too close to Konoha. If I fight at full power, the village will be flattened."
"I'll take him somewhere else."
Golden chakra overflowed from Raiden, forming a massive, solid Nine-Tailed Fox around him.
"Raiden, don't waste time with unnecessary moves."
"Minato must have sensed the disturbance. Let him guard Konoha."
"Since you've gone all out, finish your opponent here first—don't let him escape!"
The Nine-Tails reminded Uzumaki Raiden. Using the Flying Thunder God to take the opponent away would be less effective than using it to catch him off guard. The responsibility of guarding Konoha should be left to the current Hokage.
"Understood."
Raiden nodded, and chakra chains surged from his body, tightly wrapping the ethereal form of the Nine-Tailed Fox like armor, giving it a heroic and imposing presence.
Having fully prepared himself, Raiden no longer held back. The colossal fox body vanished in an instant, reappearing right in front of Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, delivering a powerful swipe with its massive paw.
"Dammit!"
Boom!
Urashiki raised his blood-red fishing rod to defend himself, but the overwhelming force struck him head-on. His entire body twisted from the impact, embedding him deep into the ground, like a fly swatted against a table. The earth cracked under the immense pressure, sending shockwaves rippling outward.
Crack!
The enormous fox claw reached into the crater, pulling out the battered and bloodied Ōtsutsuki. The devastating attack had clearly inflicted significant damage.
"It worked!"
"So he isn't immune to my attacks… was I just not hitting hard enough before?"
Raiden grabbed Urashiki's limp body and pulled him closer, scrutinizing him carefully.
"Hey, Fox!"
"Is this really all you've got?"
"It's not just that." Urashiki struggled to lift his head, smirking despite his injuries. His body had been pummeled by Raiden's relentless attacks, but his defiant tone remained unchanged.
"All my power? Not quite!"
Raiden chuckled and slowly raised his other fox paw, extending his razor-sharp claws toward Urashiki's heart. Just as he was about to strike, a crack appeared at the center of Urashiki's forehead.
A bloody, nine-tomoe Rinnegan emerged, and in the next instant, a spatial rift materialized beside him, swallowing him whole.
Raiden's claw met empty air—Urashiki had vanished.
"Fox, don't worry… I'll be back for you soon."
Urashiki's voice lingered in the air as his presence completely disappeared.
"He got away?"
The golden-armored fox lifted its gaze toward the sky, its aura quickly receding. The massive fox form began to dissipate, the golden chains retreating back into Raiden's body. He silently sheathed Sakegari no Tachi, staring into the distance, deep in thought.
"Master Raiden, are you alright?"
Kisame Hoshigaki, who had been guarding the residence, rushed over to assess the battlefield. Upon seeing Raiden standing firm, he couldn't hide his relief and asked with concern.
"I'm fine." Raiden shook his head slightly.
"Did the enemy escape?" Kisame had heard Urashiki's words before his departure but wanted confirmation.
"Yeah." Raiden nodded before turning and heading toward the courtyard, lost in thought about his opponent's abilities.
"That power… I don't understand it."
"Killing him won't be easy."
"In terms of combat intelligence, this Ōtsutsuki is far beyond Kaguya."
"But in raw ability, Kaguya, who could instantly traverse dimensions, was much stronger than him."
"To fight an Ōtsutsuki, space-time ninjutsu, sealing techniques, Sage techniques, and taijutsu are all indispensable."
Raiden pondered silently as he entered his house, ignoring everyone else. A vague sense of unease lingered—he felt like he had forgotten something important, but he couldn't recall what it was.
Meanwhile, in Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Boruto, who had traveled through time, had finally shaken off their pursuers. As they wandered the village, a crushing wave of pressure suddenly enveloped all of Konoha.
The sensation was suffocating.
Then, just as suddenly as it came, the oppressive chakra vanished.
Sasuke's expression remained serious—he had recognized that presence.
"Master… what was that just now?" Boruto's legs were still trembling from the overwhelming chakra. He turned to Sasuke with a fearful expression.
"That was Sage power—an incredibly powerful one at that."
Sasuke glanced in the direction the energy had come from.
"Let's go, Boruto."
"If we want to track down Urashiki and find a way back, we'll need to interact with this world's shinobi."
"And from the looks of it, you already know who we need to meet."
(End of Chapter)