After a long while.
Six Paths Madara finally staggered as he climbed out of the deep crater he had been blasted into. His magnificent Sage of Six Paths Robe was tattered and torn, blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and a flickering light of uncertainty shone within those Rinnegan eyes.
The injuries on his body were shocking to behold, stemming from Takuno's world-shaking punch that had shattered the Truth-Seeking Orb barrier.
However, Six Paths Madara was completely indifferent to his injuries at this moment.
His eyes were locked deathly onto Takuno, who stood proudly in mid-air; his shock and disbelief were almost tangible.
Takuno was surrounded by an indescribable pressure. Those heterochromatic pupils gazed back at him calmly, as if shattering the Absolute barrier of Yin-Yang Release just now had been nothing more than brushing away a speck of dust.
"Why?!" Madara's voice carried a trace of imperceptible hoarseness. It was an instinctive reaction after his power had been subverted and his understanding of the world had been shattered.
"The Truth-Seeking Orb... that is the ultimate creation of Yin-Yang Release, the foundation of all things! It is a power that only a god can control!
Mortals are extinguished upon contact, and even an Edo Tensei body cannot be exempt! You... how can you shatter it with your bare hands and even... even remain completely unaffected?!"
Madara's questioning echoed across the deathly silent battlefield.
On the other side, the only two remaining spectators, Hashirama and Tobirama, were equally bewildered by this.
Hashirama was firmly pinned to the ground by several pitch-black rods, unable to move; he could only struggle to turn his head toward the center of the battlefield.
Tobirama knelt beside him. Although his Edo Tensei body was unharmed, his face was filled with unprecedented solemnity.
"Tobirama..." Hashirama's voice was hoarse with disbelief, "That guy... The Collector... he just... shattered a Truth-Seeking Orb with his bare hands?!"
"Yeah." Tobirama's voice was low, his brow furrowed as his gaze remained locked on Takuno's figure, which radiated terrifying power.
"The Truth-Seeking Orb is the ultimate creation of Yin-Yang Release, containing the power of all things. It is the domain of a 'god'.
For a mortal body, or even immortal bodies like our Edo Tensei forms, once touched, their very existence will be decomposed and annihilated. This is a rule!"
His thoughts were instantly pulled back to that thrilling battle not long ago, where Might Guy burned his life to open the Eight Inner Gates Formation: Gate of Death, erupting with power sufficient to shake a Six Paths level opponent.
That crimson 'Evening Elephant' indeed possessed the terrifying power to shatter the Truth-Seeking Orb barrier.
But the key was that every one of Guy's attacks was completed under the near-perfect coordination of Minato and Kakashi!
Tobirama clearly remembered Kakashi using Kamui to warp space, interfering with the trajectory and defensive formation of the Truth-Seeking Orbs;
Minato used the Flying Thunder God: Guided Thunder technique to precisely teleport those lethal Truth-Seeking Orbs, which could have instantly erased Guy, to a safe zone.
It was only by relying on the 'absolute safe passage' created by his comrades' desperate efforts that Guy's beyond-limit Taijutsu could strike Six Paths Obito's main body without hindrance, avoiding direct contact with the Truth-Seeking Orbs.
That was a victory of tactics, a miracle of teamwork against the barrier of rules.
Guy's power was indeed strong enough to shatter a Truth-Seeking Orb, but he himself never actually 'touched' that thing!
At this moment, Takuno's actions completely subverted their understanding.
Without any fancy coordination or using space-time Ninjutsu to evade, it was just a plain yet domineering punch that frontally shattered the absolute barrier composed of the ultimate power of Yin-Yang Release!
The essential rule of the Truth-Seeking Orb, which could annihilate anyone who touched it, seemed to have failed before him.
"This simply doesn't make sense..." Tobirama muttered to himself. As a master of forbidden jutsu, he knew better than anyone what it meant for rules to be broken.
Takuno's existence had already exceeded the scope of 'Ninjutsu' or 'power' as they understood it.
He not only possessed power that could rival or even surpass Six Paths Madara, but he also seemed to... stand above the rules.
Watching Takuno floating calmly in the air while Six Paths Madara climbed wretchedly out of the deep pit, the shock and doubt in Hashirama and Tobirama's hearts reached their peak.
Who exactly was this mysterious 'The Collector'? What, exactly, was the essence of his power?
Takuno could naturally sense everyone's confusion.
He looked down from above at Madara, who had just climbed out of the deep pit, the Rinnegan in the latter's eyes burning with questioning.
"Truth-Seeking Orbs, are you referring to these?"
Takuno's voice was calm and steady, yet it clearly penetrated the frozen air of the battlefield, carrying a trace of imperceptible playfulness.
The corner of his mouth curled into a subtle arc, as if responding to a child's question about a toy.
Immediately afterward, while Madara's pupils suddenly constricted, while Hashirama's gaze lifted, and before Tobirama's expression froze in extreme shock, Takuno casually snapped his fingers.
"Snap."
The crisp sound was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, instantly triggering ripples in space.
Then, under the focused gaze of everyone's absolute disbelief.
Around Takuno's body, space seemed to be kneaded and shaped by an invisible force.
Nine black spheres, radiating an aura intertwined with destruction and creation, emerged out of thin air without any warning!
Like the most loyal satellites, they floated quietly around Takuno, rotating slowly.
That pitch-black luster, that terrifying power of Yin-Yang Release they contained, and that form and pressure which were no different from the objects surrounding Six Paths Madara's back...
They were exactly Truth-Seeking Orbs!
Nine of them! The exact same number Six Paths Madara possessed when he became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki!
This was not a summoning, much less a seizure, but... creation out of thin air!
Takuno floated just like that under the blood moon, against the backdrop of the massive cocoons formed by the Advent of the God Tree, and under the horrified gazes of the two legends of the Shinobi World.
He easily presented the creations of the 'Divine Domain' before the eyes of the world, like a magic trick.
He calmly bathed in the faint light emitted by the nine newly born Truth-Seeking Orbs. That posture made him look more like a true being who stood above the rules than Six Paths Madara, who controlled the power of the Ten-Tails.
The battlefield fell into a silence deeper than the advent of the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Six Paths Madara's Rinnegan eyes were locked deathly onto the nine pitch-black spheres rotating slowly around Takuno.
That familiar aura of destruction and creation, containing the ultimate power of Yin-Yang Release, was undoubtedly the Truth-Seeking Orbs!
An unprecedented sense of absurdity instantly seized Madara.
He had just become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and obtained this power symbolizing the Divine Domain. The nine Truth-Seeking Orbs were naturally generated alongside the Ten-Tails' power; they were the manifestation of his current strength.
Although, with his current level and understanding of Yin-Yang Release, he was confident that he could eventually figure out a way to actively create Truth-Seeking Orbs given enough time.
But that required time and deep assimilation of this brand-new level of power.
This was definitely not something that could be achieved overnight!
For instance, right now, three of his Truth-Seeking Orbs had just been shattered by The Collector, and he had no way to condense them again, leaving him able to use only the remaining six.
However, this Takuno, who called himself 'The Collector' before him... what did he do?
He was neither a Ten-Tails Jinchuriki nor had he undergone any fusion process.
He merely... snapped his fingers?
And then, nine Truth-Seeking Orbs identical to his own appeared out of thin air, surrounding his body!
"Impossible..." Madara's voice was low and hoarse, carrying a trace of wavering that even he hadn't noticed.
The power he was so proud of was now being displayed by the opponent in an even more inconceivable manner.
On what basis could Takuno create these creations representing 'God's' power solely by himself? What exactly was the source of his power?
Madara's mind raced at high speed, yet he could find no logical explanation, only a cold sense of bewilderment.
On the other side of the battlefield, the Senju brothers were similarly plunged into extreme shock.
The light of the blood moon still enveloped the silent battlefield entangled by the God Tree, and countless living beings wrapped in cocoons served as the silent background for this duel.
And at the center of the battlefield, Takuno stood bathed under the moonlight, calmly enduring the gazes of the three legendary figures of the Shinobi World, which were mixed with horror and deep wariness.
"Now, do you understand?" Takuno looked down at Six Paths Madara and said playfully.
Inside, Six Paths Madara felt a strong urge to deny that those were Truth-Seeking Orbs—it was impossible!
However, those Rinnegan eyes, that Ocular Power capable of seeing through the essence of chakra and analyzing all Ninjutsu, transmitted information to him.
Those were indeed Truth-Seeking Orbs!
Whether it was the source power of Yin-Yang Release they contained or their rule-based property of annihilating any matter they touched, they were no different from the Truth-Seeking Orbs he controlled; they even... appeared more profound and pure.
At this moment, a strong sense of absurdity and a massive sense of frustration flooded Madara's proud heart like a cold tide.
Just moments ago, he had been looking down on the world for becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, awakening the Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan, and launching the Infinite Tsukuyomi, viewing all living beings in the Shinobi World as ants and The Collector as an opponent to be taken seriously.
He was still shocked that the opponent could shatter his Truth-Seeking Orb barrier with bare hands.
Now, the answer was laid out before him in the cruelest and most direct way.
The opponent didn't even need to explain low-level questions like 'why can I touch them'.
When the opponent could create nine complete Truth-Seeking Orbs out of thin air as easily as breathing.
Touching them? That was already a matter of course, a triviality not worth mentioning.
All his previous schemes, all his battles, all his pride, and even his recent shock and probing of Takuno's power seemed so laughable at this moment.
He felt like a clown performing diligently on a stage, thinking he controlled everything, unaware that the true audience below had long since seen through it all and even possessed power beyond his imagination.
The Collector's calm downward gaze now seemed full of silent mockery in Madara's eyes.
Everything he had done lost its meaning in the face of the opponent's casual 'creation,' appearing small and futile.
The opponent's existence itself was the ultimate negation of Madara's lifelong pursuit of power.
The corner of Madara's mouth twitched slightly. For the first time, the coldness and pride of a 'God' in his Rinnegan were replaced by a bottomless wavering and... an indescribable humiliation.
He didn't need to ask anymore, nor did he need the opponent to explain.
Six Paths Madara took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock and humiliation brought by Takuno that was enough to overturn his worldview.
In those eyes containing the power of the Rinnegan, uncertainty was replaced by a near-manic resolve.
He no longer asked, nor did he hesitate. Words were pale and powerless at this moment; only power could prove everything, even if the opponent was the unfathomable monster before him!
Now, only by defeating the opponent could he wash away this humiliation and prove that everything he had done was not a mistake!
"Haaah!"
With a low roar, Madara's hands suddenly formed seals, and the Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan on his forehead, symbolizing supreme power, suddenly burst forth with blinding light!
Chibaku Tensei!
Rumble!
The entire battlefield—no, it seemed the entire earth shrouded by the blood moon—shook violently!
The ground cracked like a fragile eggshell, and massive fissures spread frantically.
Countless boulders larger than houses and broken branches of the God Tree were forcibly torn and pulled up under this terrifying gravitational force!
The sky was instantly distorted.
Over a dozen massive, pitch-black gravitational cores radiating destructive suction appeared out of thin air!
They frantically devoured everything below!
Debris, soil, broken wood...
All matter captured by the gravity surged toward those black holes like a reversed waterfall, quickly condensing and compressing to form over a dozen enormous rock spheres that continued to expand as they floated in the sky!
The scale of the scene was like a doomsday divine punishment, intending to completely seal and crush the entire battlefield along with all living beings upon it!
Madara had only one target: The Collector!
The destructive gravitational fields generated by the cores of the dozen or so Chibaku Tensei acted like invisible chains, layering upon each other and locking firmly onto Takuno, attempting to completely imprison and drag him into the heart of that rocky hell!
Facing this great power capable of sealing Tailed Beasts and altering terrain, and the terrifying gravity capable of tearing space, Takuno remained floating in mid-air, his posture unchanged in the slightest.
His heterochromatic eyes calmly reflected the apocalyptic scene in the sky and Madara's slightly distorted face below from the overexertion of power.
The gravitational storm, enough to crush mountains and tear the earth, actually vanished as if hitting an absolutely insurmountable barrier when it touched the invisible force field around Takuno's body!
Takuno didn't even raise a hand to defend.
He just stood there quietly bathed in the faint light, as if the cracking earth beneath his feet and the giant spheres devouring all things above his head were merely the background noise of a stage.
He tilted his head slightly, the corner of his mouth curling into an inscrutable arc, as if he were admiring a grand fireworks display.
It was also like a silent declaration of the despairing gap between the two.
"..." Madara's pupils constricted violently, and his heart felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar.
The ultimate sealing technique he launched with all his power as the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki couldn't even... make the opponent move a single step?!
What Six Paths Madara didn't know was that the terrifying gravity generated by the Chibaku Tensei he used was nothing to Takuno.
The crumbling earth across the sky, the whistling massive boulders, and the dozen or so enormous rock spheres floating in the sky radiating destructive gravity.
Under the gaze of Takuno's blue Tenseigan, they were nothing more than futile clamor.
No matter how strong Six Paths Madara's three Rinnegan were, the gravity manipulation they drove indeed appeared insufficient before the Tenseigan, which specialized in this path.