The arrival of the three Ōtsutsuki quickly attracted the attention of the strongest ninjas across the world.
They could sense the terrifying power descending upon the ninja world.
Unfortunately, sensing that power brought no relief.
Instead, it filled them with an instinctive sense of dread.
Friend or foe?
That was the question occupying the minds of every powerful shinobi who had detected the newcomers.
Among them, only Hiruzen Sarutobi of Konoha had experienced a similar presence before, although what he had encountered during the attack on Konoha and the Uchiha residence had been nowhere near this powerful.
This time, however, there was little reason to believe the newcomers had arrived as friends.
Hiruzen slowly closed his eyes.
He silently prayed.
But he wasn't praying because he was helpless.
He simply had complete faith in Chinatsu.
If even Chinatsu couldn't handle these newcomers, then the strongest ninjas in the world rushing forward would accomplish nothing. They would merely be throwing their lives away.
Unfortunately, Chinatsu was currently in no condition to answer Hiruzen's silent prayer.
Her situation was becoming increasingly strange.
If someone had to describe her current existence, it would be somewhere between the third and fourth dimensions.
Nature itself was a law.
And Chinatsu's consciousness was gradually being drawn into that vast and incomprehensible law.
This was precisely the worst-case scenario she had anticipated.
Chinatsu knew that she absolutely could not allow herself to be completely assimilated by the consciousness of nature.
But maintaining her own identity while resisting that overwhelming consciousness was incredibly difficult.
There were two different forms of assimilation.
If Chinatsu's consciousness were swallowed and transformed into the collective consciousness of nature, that would be assimilation.
If the collective consciousness of nature were instead absorbed into Chinatsu's consciousness and transformed into something she could control, that was also a form of assimilation.
But there was one crucial difference.
Chinatsu's goal had always been the latter.
She didn't want to become nature.
She wanted nature to become a part of her.
And now...
After countless failed attempts and endless struggles, Chinatsu finally realized that the opportunity she had been waiting for had arrived.
***
Outside Ryūchi Cave.
Naruto and Sasuke walked forward with determined expressions.
Under the natural law that caused Ōtsutsuki to attract one another, the two sides quickly came face-to-face.
Three Ōtsutsuki hovered in the sky, looking down at Naruto and Sasuke.
The female Ōtsutsuki suddenly covered her stomach and burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha! What is this? You actually used Karma for possession?"
She laughed so hard that she even flipped backward in mid-air.
"You actually possessed yourselves into the bodies of two little brats! What a disgrace to the Ōtsutsuki clan!"
For the proud Ōtsutsuki, using Karma was already humiliating enough.
To them, Karma represented a last resort—a means of preserving their lives when they were on the verge of death.
Seeing Naruto and Sasuke in their current state, the three Ōtsutsuki naturally assumed they were in the same condition Isshiki and Momoshiki had once been in.
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a glance.
They didn't need words.
They understood each other perfectly.
Sasuke raised his head and deliberately adopted the cold, arrogant demeanor of Isshiki.
"It was simply a matter of circumstance."
His voice was calm and dismissive.
"What are you doing here?"
He waved his hand.
"This has nothing to do with you. Leave."
The three Ōtsutsuki were momentarily stunned.
The female Ōtsutsuki raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"Weren't you beaten so badly that you had no choice but to rely on Karma to survive?"
Sasuke's expression instantly darkened.
"Being forced to use Karma to survive is humiliating enough."
His eyes narrowed.
"But how could the person who forced me into that situation still be alive?"
His tone became colder.
"Are you trying to insult me?"
The Ōtsutsuki who had asked the question clicked his tongue.
He wasn't particularly pleased by Sasuke's response.
But there was some truth to it.
If Isshiki and Momoshiki had been forced to use Karma to survive, then whoever had pushed them to that point should have been capable of killing them.
Yet they were still alive.
That meant there was another possibility.
Perhaps someone else had intervened.
Perhaps that person had killed Isshiki and Momoshiki after they used Karma.
Three Ōtsutsuki stood in the sky.
One female.
Two males.
The female was Ōtsutsuki Maishiki.
The two males were Ōtsutsuki Reishi and Ōtsutsuki Shiki.
All three were top-tier members of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
If not for the large number of Ōtsutsuki who had mysteriously disappeared after visiting the ninja world, they would never have been dispatched here.
Reishi, the leader of the group, finally lost interest.
"Enough."
He waved his hand.
"What a wasted journey. Let's go."
The three prepared to leave.
Naruto and Sasuke secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
However, neither of them actually relaxed.
They simply turned around, pretending to leave as well.
Reishi's eyes narrowed.
His Byakugan gave him an unobstructed view of his surroundings.
More importantly, it allowed him to notice the smallest changes in expression.
As Reishi turned his back, Naruto and Sasuke's expressions changed for only a fraction of a second.
It was barely noticeable.
But Reishi noticed.
"As expected..."
He suddenly turned around.
His hand lifted.
A compressed chakra projectile instantly formed before him.
Whoosh!
The chakra bullet shot toward Naruto and Sasuke.
The two reacted instantly.
Naruto jumped to the left.
Sasuke moved to the right.
BOOM!
The chakra projectile struck the ground.
A tremendous explosion erupted.
Rock fragments flew in every direction as a massive crater was blasted into the earth.
They had been discovered.
Naruto and Sasuke immediately stopped pretending.
The two stepped forward simultaneously and rushed toward the three Ōtsutsuki.
At that moment, Maishiki raised one arm.
Her eyes narrowed.
Then she casually swung her hand downward.
Naruto and Sasuke suddenly froze.
Their bodies stopped in mid-motion.
"What?!"
Sasuke's expression changed.
"This isn't space..."
Naruto gritted his teeth.
"Gravity!"
Maishiki's voice was indifferent.
"Fifty times."
BOOM!
The moment those words fell, the bodies of Naruto and Sasuke slammed downward.
The ground beneath their feet cracked.
Then it began sinking.
Their muscles tightened as they struggled against the overwhelming force.
"This gravity..."
Naruto's expression became serious.
"Something's wrong with it!"
Both Naruto and Sasuke had experienced the terrifying gravity of the Gravity World within Chinatsu's Heavenly Defense.
Compared with that place, they had originally believed ordinary gravitational techniques would be much weaker.
But this gravity was different.
It was far more deadly.
Chakra could strengthen the body.
It could reinforce muscles, bones, and even create protective armor.
But the gravity released by Maishiki seemed to ignore chakra enhancement entirely.
Only raw physical strength could resist it.
For an ordinary human, even a few times normal gravity would be dangerous if sustained.
A highly trained body could endure more, but fifty times normal gravity was still an absurd burden.
And Naruto and Sasuke were only able to remain conscious because their bodies had been transformed through the Ōtsutsuki Karma.
Even so, their bones were beginning to creak under the pressure.
Reishi watched them silently.
Then his expression changed slightly.
"It seems..."
"Isshiki and Momoshiki's consciousness wasn't inherited through the Karma."
His Byakugan examined Naruto and Sasuke carefully.
"Someone erased the consciousness that should have been inherited through the Karma while leaving the reincarnation aspect intact."
A trace of interest appeared in his eyes.
"That's not something ordinary people can accomplish."
The Ōtsutsuki Karma was the ultimate reincarnation technique of their clan.
Interfering with it without destroying the Karma itself was extremely difficult.
Whoever had accomplished such a feat...
Was undoubtedly powerful.
"Looks like there really is a powerful expert hiding in this world."
Reishi looked around calmly.
Then his gaze returned to Naruto and Sasuke.
His voice carried an unquestionable arrogance.
"Tell me who modified your Karma."
He paused.
"And tell me where that person is."
The pressure in the air intensified.
Reishi raised one hand.
"Choose."
"Life..."
"Or death."
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