The sun lazily descended over the plain, casting a golden shadow over a black stone temple. Inside, Jigen—the imperfect vessel of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki—floated in a lotus position.
His eyes remained closed, but his consciousness extended for miles. He didn't need to look to know someone was approaching.
Then, the great door slammed open, and a solitary figure crossed the threshold with firm steps.
Isshiki opened his eyes.
"Well... this is interesting," he said in a deep voice.
The stranger raised a hand.
Without warning, a barrage of bone projectiles tore through the air, gleaming with white sharpness and channeled chakra. Isshiki raised an eyebrow and conjured a golden energy barrier. The bones crashed into it with a metallic screech before shattering to dust on the floor.
"You knew I'd be here," said the stranger in a calm voice.
"I don't usually get visitors of this level," replied Isshiki as he slowly rose. "Let alone uninvited ones."
"I've never liked closed doors," Noah replied with a sideways smile.
And then, they lunged at each other.
The ground exploded beneath Noah's feet as he launched forward. The air cracked as his fist collided with Isshiki's in the temple's center. The shockwave obliterated the steps and columns, making the stone walls tremble.
Taijutsu. Blow after blow, kick after dodge, block after counter. Both moved at speeds that would erase an average shinobi in the blink of an eye. Isshiki tested his strength calmly, like a cat toying with prey. Noah, on the other hand, seemed to know every one of Isshiki's moves before they happened.
"You're strong," said Isshiki as he spun and launched a roundhouse kick that Noah deflected with his forearm. "But that's not enough."
In a step, he vanished.
He reappeared behind Noah in a fraction of a second. His leg rose with brutal force, launching him into the temple wall.
"Too slow," Isshiki added coldly.
But from the smoke emerged Noah, brushing off stone dust from his shoulder with a smile. He didn't seem hurt in the slightest, and the thrill of battle gleamed in his eyes.
"I suppose it's time I show my real taijutsu skills," he said, slowly rolling up his sleeves. "Though with these weights on, it's pointless to keep pretending."
Calmly, he removed a set of black wristbands glowing with a purple hue. He did the same with his ankles. The pieces hit the floor with a heavy thud... and the ground caved in beneath them, as if they weighed tons.
In the next second, Noah's figure vanished.
Isshiki barely had time to cross his arms before a kick slammed into his face. He was flung straight into a column, which exploded into fragments.
The Ōtsutsuki stood back up fluidly. He wasn't injured. But for the first time... he looked curious.
"You're fast. Too fast," he said as his Karma partially activated, spreading like a dark tattoo down his arm. "You're no ordinary opponent. Who are you?"
"Someone who knows exactly who you are, Isshiki Ōtsutsuki."
The name echoed through the temple.
Isshiki paused. For an instant, his expression turned serious.
"How do you know that name?"
"I know many things. About you. About your mission. About the Jūbi, Kaguya, the God Tree, your future death, your will to survive. I even know you're looking for a new vessel."
Isshiki stared at him in silence... then smiled.
"Interesting."
The Karma spread across his body. His right eye glowed with the power of the Kōkugan, his special dōjutsu.
The air exploded once more as they clashed.
This time, the battle was on a different level.
Isshiki shrank kunai, debris, even full techniques. Black rods materialized from space, falling like meteors. Noah countered with reinforced shadow clones, wooden shields, and water and fire whips twisting like living serpents. He channeled Mokuton, Shikotsumyaku, and natural energy into Sage Mode, while his body adapted to the Ōtsutsuki's speed.
The earth trembled with each clash, until both fighters leapt back and, in unison, formed the same hand sign.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."
Hundreds of clones appeared around them. Isshiki's were flawless, Karma marks glowing, cold eyes unwavering. Noah's showed a wide array of techniques: some wielded water, others fire, others wood.
The battle became a battlefield.
Isshiki's clones conjured an ocean of flames. In response, Noah's summoned a dark, dense tide of water roaring like a tsunami.
When fire and water collided, the impact was cataclysmic.
A sonic explosion ravaged the temple ruins and everything nearby, creating a smoking crater several kilometers wide. Nearby trees were uprooted, the atmosphere trembled, and the clouds were torn apart as if the sky itself had been ripped.
At the center of the devastated field, Isshiki floated unmoved. In front of him, Noah stood tall among the smoldering debris, eyes narrowed and breathing calm.
A faint vibration rippled through the air.
Then he vanished.
Noah's body disintegrated, breaking down into cells glowing with cyan light. The particles vanished from their place and reassembled to Isshiki's left—materializing into four fists striking vital points, sending him flying.
This was a technique Noah developed to maximize his blink ability.
His Elder Blood allowed him to blink almost instantly, and the disintegration let him send only parts of his body, making the process faster and more maneuverable.
Using his cellular control, he turned his legs into arms, attacking Isshiki with four limbs simultaneously.
Such precise control would've been impossible without his innate spatial talent and his extensive research on spatial jutsus and spells.
The air around the four floating arms distorted, and Noah reappeared—this time fully formed—behind Isshiki, a bone spear spinning in his hand.
Isshiki barely managed to shrink it before it pierced his heart.
He tried to retaliate with a black rod—
—but missed.
Noah had vanished again.
Thus began a blink sequence that defied logic:
He reappeared in front of Isshiki, unleashing a barrage of fire seals.
Disappeared, emerged from the ground, summoning sharp roots.
Blinked into the sky, combining Mokuton and Senjutsu to rain down living thorns.
Isshiki shrank the attacks with his Kōkugan but couldn't predict Noah's next position. The pattern was chaotic, unreadable.
He spun with superhuman reflexes, only to be struck on the cheek from an impossible angle. His head twisted, blood flying.
Before hitting the ground, Noah vanished again.
Another hit to his side. Then a direct kick to the back.
Isshiki used Sukunahikona, shrinking briefly to dodge the next strike. But even at that scale, Noah appeared before him, as if size and perspective meant nothing to his power.
"Enough!" growled Isshiki, his Kōkugan flaring.
The air grew heavier.
In an instant, a dozen floating obsidian guillotine-like structures appeared and began spinning around him.
Noah reappeared at a distance and didn't rely on close combat anymore.
"Let's end this once and for all. I just hope you don't get reduced to nothing."
He smiled and produced a small red stone in his hand.
His Truth-Seeking Eye opened, linking to the Philosopher's Stone, absorbing immense energy which condensed into a miniature sun floating over his palm.
"Try my new technique." Noah smiled, and his chakra poured into the sun, which began spinning rapidly in all directions.
He looked at this fusion of the Rasengan and the miniature sun he'd created, and the next second, he proclaimed its name:
"Supernova Explosion!"
Isshiki reacted instantly. He tried opening a portal to his dimension to escape, but space was chaotic—twisted by the Supernova's gravitational force.
No time for a second option. The sun expanded rapidly, reaching a hundred meters in diameter. Once stabilized, Noah pushed it toward Isshiki with a flick of his hand.
Isshiki barely moved before the Supernova consumed him. His body was destroyed almost instantly by the solar energy. The only thing left was his scorched head, spared from disintegration by Noah's deliberate control.
Noah approached,
grabbed the head by the remains of what was once Ishiki's face,
and began tracing seals directly onto the charred surface.
The markings connected to one another,
eventually closing into a containment pattern.
Ishiki's soul was completely sealed
and placed into a slumbering state,
preventing it from dissipating and returning to the Pure Land.
Playing with the head in his hands,
Noah left the place.