A Konoha Shinobi struggled to sit up, pointing at the faint but resilient layer of red chakra cloak covering his body.
"Lord Naruto gave this to us..."
The Nine-Tails chakra Cloak!
This powerful chakra protection, shared by Naruto with the entire Allied Forces and derived from the Nine-Tails, played a decisive role at the critical moment of life and death.
It was not an indestructible absolute defense and could not completely negate that world-shattering impact.
However, at the moment the impact hit their bodies, it greatly weakened the fatal damage.
That layer of red light flickered in the dust and smoke, like countless faint fires of life, burning tenaciously.
"Ha... haha..."
A Kumogakure Shinobi coughed up blood foam, feeling the injuries in his body being slowly repaired by a gentle force despite the severe pain, and let out a laugh of surviving a catastrophe.
"I actually... survived... this 'clothing'... is too incredible!"
Minato stood on high ground, looking at the battlefield below which, although filled with mourning, had miraculously not completely collapsed; his tense nerves relaxed slightly.
His voice through the mental network carried unprecedented solemnity and a hint of excitement.
"Everyone! We survived! Do not give up! Medical Shinobi, do your best to treat the wounded! Those who can still fight, regroup immediately! We haven't lost yet!"
Tsuchikage Onoki hovered in the air, looking at this battlefield and the countless lives pulled back from the brink of destruction.
As well as that red chakra cloak covering everyone, symbolizing hope.
This in itself was a miracle, a spark ignited in the abyss of despair.
The Allied Forces still had a reason and the strength to keep fighting!
At this moment, the Ten-Tails, pressed under the second massive meteorite, let out a roar that shook the heavens and earth, and the violent chakra shockwave tore apart the giant rocks covering it!
Immediately after, a devastating dark red Tailed Beast Ball erupted from its hideous giant mouth, instantly piercing through those two mountain-heavy Meteorites!
The crushed stones turned into a burning meteor shower, scattering violently along with the shockwave.
Madara floated in the air, his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan showing obvious shock for the first time as his pupils suddenly contracted.
The strength and resilience of the power the Ten-Tails erupted with in this instant clearly exceeded his expectations based on his Edo Tensei body and current intelligence.
"Hmph... to think it has power of this level?"
Madara's voice was low, carrying a hint of offended coldness.
In the rain of dust and rubble, the Ten-Tails' suffocatingly massive figure stood once again on the desert battlefield.
The Allied Forces looked on nervously, and then one after another, they were stunned.
The Ten-Tails indeed had injuries, covered in marks from stone impacts and energy burns, but the severity of these wounds actually seemed...
Not much more serious than the wounds caused earlier by the Super Big Ball Tailed Beast Bomb released by Naruto in his Nine-Tails Mode!
"This... how is this possible?" a sensory Shinobi cried out in shock.
How grand was the momentum of the falling meteorites, world-destroying enough to make anyone's heart burst with fear.
However, the facts before them cruelly revealed a heart-pounding truth.
The seemingly world-shattering meteorite attack's substantial damage was actually comparable to the damage caused by a single Tailed Beast Ball from Naruto!
An indescribable shock and realization quickly spread through the minds of the Allied Forces' high-level and elite Shinobi.
"Uchiha Madara's strength... perhaps it isn't as absolutely and insurmountably powerful as we imagined?!"
This thought exploded in many people's minds like a clap of thunder.
The Edo Madara was indeed terrifying, a legendary being equal to the God of Shinobi.
But the upper limit of the destructive power he displayed at this moment did not seem out of reach.
"Naruto... Naruto Namikaze!"
Everyone's gaze instantly focused on the young man wrapped in the golden chakra cloak.
His shining blonde hair and surging Nine-Tails chakra appeared incredibly dazzling at this moment.
"At the very least, having perfectly mastered half of the Nine-Tails' power... the power of that Tailed Beast Ball just now has truly touched the level of Uchiha Madara's strike!"
The conclusion became clear and heartening; although in terms of foundation, experience, and bizarre eye techniques...
The young Naruto might not yet be able to completely defeat an existence of Edo Madara's level.
But at least, on the level of pure energy output and destructive power, they were already standing on the same tier!
It would be no easy task for Madara to easily take down the current Naruto!
This realization was like a prairie fire, instantly igniting the morale of the Allied Forces, which had seemed somewhat subdued under the meteorite impact and the Ten-Tails' terrifying pressure!
"Look! Lord Naruto can contend with that monster!"
"The Nine-Tails' power... no, it's Lord Naruto's own power that has reached legendary heights!"
"We still have hope! Lord Minato! Lord Naruto! The Allied Forces will surely win!"
Earth-shaking cheers and roars erupted from the Allied Forces' ranks like a tsunami, louder and more determined than ever before.
The haze of despair brought by Madara's appearance was fiercely torn apart by this new-born confidence and hope based on real strength.
Minato stood on high ground, watching his son Naruto become the new spiritual pillar and symbol of strength for the Allied Forces, his eyes filled with gratification and resolve.
Edo Madara listened to the clamor below, looking at the chakra perfectly merged with the Nine-Tails on that blonde kid, and an imperceptible trace of complex emotion flashed deep in his Rinnegan.
And on the stone throne in the distance, The Collector Takuno narrowed his eyes slightly, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest.
The Ten-Tails' violent counterattack and Naruto's unexpected elevation by the Allied Forces to an evaluation matching Madara made this play even more interesting.
However, this perception was actually normal; under the premise that Madara had not obtained his original Rinnegan, his strength was indeed not much greater than Naruto's in Kurama Mode.
It was just that Takuno was a bit bored; he had thought Madara would launch an attack on him after appearing.
Unfortunately, he didn't.
This was not surprising, because the gap in tiers was absolute.
Madara might be able to sense a life-threatening danger from him, or perhaps he could not sense any fluctuations from him at all.
And regardless of which feeling it was, the result was the same.
That was, he was far from being someone Madara could contend with right now.
Even Madara, no matter how wild his personality, would not do something completely impossible.
That would no longer be confidence, but arrogance and ignorance!
"However..." Takuno glanced at Madara; he was still quite interested in the subsequent development.
Just how would Madara take back his Rinnegan from Nagato's hands, and how would he use the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique of the Rinnegan to resurrect himself?
Or, would Black Zetsu give up on using Madara's body and switch to using Nagato's body instead?
After all, it was basically certain that Nagato was of the Uzumaki Clan bloodline, also a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths.
Even if this pair of Rinnegan wasn't his, and compared to Madara, he wasn't the most suitable vessel, he could still use them.
But then the question arose again, how would Black Zetsu persuade Nagato to use the Infinite Tsukuyomi to absorb the chakra of all humans in this world?
And it was precisely such uncertainty that made it more interesting, wasn't it?
Takuno let out a light laugh; no matter how things developed, anyway...
The result was already destined.
He... would not fail.
On the other side.
After the Ten-Tails' massive and twisted torso endured the strike of a Tengai Shinsei, although it healed quickly with its amazing recovery power, its form accelerated its completion amidst the drastic change.
Its body, originally as withered as giant tree roots, became muscled and swollen, emitting an even more suffocatingly terrifying pressure; this was precisely the sign of it moving towards a higher-tier form.
However, just as the Allied Forces' hearts were shaken by witnessing this horrifying evolution, and Madara frowned while preparing to face an even greater challenge, a sudden change occurred!
In the center of the mountain-like Ten-Tails' massive body, at the position of its giant mouth.
Without any warning, a pitch-black vortex of inward collapse was generated.
This vortex contained the power to devour everything, and the Ten-Tails' body, which had just become robust...
Was actually like a wax statue thrown into a furnace, or like flowing water swallowed by a giant mouth, irresistibly pulled inward by the vortex it had generated itself!
"This... this is?!" The Third Tsuchikage Onoki hovered in the air, his aged face filled with disbelief.
With all his experience, he had never seen such a bizarre phenomenon.
"It's... eating itself?!" Raikage Ay's roar carried a hint of imperceptible horror.
In the blink of an eye, the Ten-Tails beast that had just been standing tall between heaven and earth had its body completely devoured by that black-hole-like vortex!
In its place, only a giant oval "egg" remained, floating in mid-air with dark red chakra light patterns flowing on its surface, pulsing slightly like a heart.
The battlefield instantly fell into a deathly silence.
Whether it was the Allied Shinobi fighting for their lives, or the consistently calm Madara and the hidden Black Zetsu, all were awestruck by this scene that transcended common sense.
Even the wind and sand seemed to freeze at this moment.
"Crack..."
A faint but crystal-clear sound of shattering broke the dead silence.
On the eggshell, a crack spread out, rapidly expanding like a spider web.
A soft but explosive white light shot out from within.
The eggshell collapsed with a bang, turning into chakra light spots and dissipating.
A figure leisurely emerged from it, slowly descending onto the scorching desert.
He was no longer that emaciated red-haired young man who relied on chakra Black Rods to move.
He was dressed in a flowing white tomoe-patterned robe, his white hair moving without any wind!
His right hand held an ancient-looking black six paths staff flowing with Six Paths Power.
And most heart-palpitatingly, nine pitch-black Truth-Seeking Orbs, containing energy sufficient to destroy a country within them, floated behind him!
Nagato, discarding the shell of the Pain puppets, had successfully absorbed the Ten-Tails with his own will and power.
He had become the new Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, standing above all living beings!
"Na... Nagato?!"
Konan's voice carried immense shock and a hint of indescribable excitement; she recognized the essence of that familiar soul.
But the existence before her was already far beyond her recognition.
Madara's Rinnegan stared fixedly at Nagato, especially at those eyes; shock and irrepressible greed intertwined in the depths of his gaze.
He never expected that Nagato, whom he had summoned to be a pawn to break the situation...
Would actually take the lead and become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, taking the power he dreamed of for himself!
"The power of the Ten-Tails... has actually reached this point?!"
Shock was revealed in Obito's eyes; the core of the Eye of the Moon Plan began to collapse, and Rin's phantom seemed to become blurred under the intense impact.
Minato's pupils contracted sharply; as a master of Space-Time Ninjutsu with keen perception...
He clearly felt that the chakra emitted from Nagato's body had completely undergone a qualitative change, vast and boundless with a divine pressure, far from what the Six Paths of Pain could compare to.
He immediately transmitted the highest-level warning signal to the Allied Forces through the mental network.
"Is... is that... a god?"
In the Allied Forces, countless Shinobi felt a sense of insignificance and trembling originating from the depths of their souls before this existence that transcended understanding.
Nagato, with nine Truth-Seeking Orbs floating behind him, slowly opened his Rinnegan which contained the all things, coldly scanning the battlefield below that had fallen into total silence because of him.
The old god (Pain) had passed, and a new existence that had mastered true "God's Power" had descended.
The fragile balance between the Shinobi Allied Forces and the Akatsuki was completely shattered at this moment, and the direction of the war slid into an even more unknowable abyss.
Six Paths Nagato floated in mid-air, his white hair fluttering.
As the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, he looked down upon the desert battlefield.
In the Allied Forces' camp, Naruto was bathed in the Nine-Tails chakra Cloak, that dazzling golden light making Nagato's pupils narrow slightly.
This boy could actually resonate with the Tailed Beast power of the same origin as his own, but in the end, he was just a small variable.
His gaze then swept toward the Edo Madara; although his immortal body was troublesome, it was nothing more than a fleeting shadow before the power of the Ten-Tails.
Finally, Nagato's gaze fixed on Takuno at the edge of the battlefield.
Takuno still leaned lazily against the stone throne, his expression indiscernible under the Fox Mask, as if the bloody battle in the desert had nothing to do with him.
Nagato's heart was shaken; even though he had become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, that sense of deep-seated danger from the other party still felt like needles on his back.
This feeling was clearer than during the Pain period, yet it was no longer out of reach.
Recalling when the Ten-Tails lost control and attacked Takuno, the other party had heavily injured it with just one Shinra Tensei;
At that time, Nagato, through the Rinnegan, only felt that Takuno was like a high-dimensional existence that could not be measured.
Now, even though he could still sense endless danger from the other party, at least...
Their power at this time was already in the same dimension.
He finally perceived the outline of the other party's power; it belonged to the "God's Domain," yet it was like a dark, deep sea, unfathomable.
Six Paths Nagato also confirmed one thing in this instant, and that was that he still could not take the initiative to make an enemy of The Collector, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.
If the other party no longer looked on coldly and chose to act because of his hostility, Then he absolutely could not withstand the other party's attack, not to mention there were the Allied Forces and Madara, who was very covetous of the Ten-Tails, nearby.
Therefore, if he wanted to make an enemy of Takuno, it would have to be at least after he had resolved the other two threats!
With his white hair scattering, Six Paths Nagato floated in mid-air, his six paths staff flowing with a faint light.
He looked toward Takuno, who was leaning against the stone throne, his voice piercing through the battlefield's clamor:
"That Space-Time Ninjutsu just now... thank you for the help."