(This chapter's order has been adjusted, so the paragraph comments were cleared. Looking forward to everyone filling them in~)
A mushroom cloud of fire engulfed the spot where Momoshiki and Madara stood, stacking upon itself a thousand times in an instant!
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The endlessly expanding rings of explosive flames even blew the Gates of the Great God suppressing Kinshiki to pieces! (The Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tag could destroy the Gates of the Great God to begin with; there was proof in the image.)
The blue box indicated fragments of the Gates of the Great God.
"Lord Momoshiki!!!"
Kinshiki was hurled away by the explosive shockwave, crying out as though his parents had died!
Suddenly! The ripples of the explosion stopped spreading, and their layers rapidly diminished!
In the span of a few blinks, only a thin layer remained.
That thin layer shrank again in an instant, becoming flowing fiery breath that spiraled into the white vortex before a red eye.
"Crack!" Momoshiki clenched his right hand.
His appearance was indescribably miserable and bedraggled!
The bent tips of his rabbit-ear-like horns had broken off, while his hair and clothing had become tattered... Half his face had been burned away, exposing his teeth and gums!
The other half of his face was etched with shock, fury, and humiliation.
"Oh!" Kinshiki was overjoyed. "Lord Momoshiki took the initial blast with his body, then forcibly absorbed the following explosions with Kōtakamusubi!"
The principle behind Explosive Tags was a casting formula created through Fire Release Chakra, so theoretically, they could be absorbed.
It was merely difficult to absorb them due to the instantaneous nature of explosions.
(Back then, even though Nagato possessed the Preta Path, Hanzo still injured his leg with Fire Release: Explosive Flame Array because he had no time to absorb the damage dealt in the instant of the explosion.)
"Rustle!" Dust gathered once more into Madara's figure.
The blood-red God Robe Hikari had tailored for him had already been reduced to nothing.
His upper body was bare. The crimson lone eye on Hashirama's face upon his chest was open, staring alongside Madara at Momoshiki's current sorry state.
"Look at yourself, Momoshiki. What a pitiful god you are."
"Don't get carried away, inferior life-form!"
Momoshiki opened his right palm. Three red pills swirled within it—the pills he had just created by absorbing Madara's Chakra.
He opened his mouth and swallowed them.
"Hiss!" The burns on his face healed by seventy to eighty percent amid scorching smoke!
"Not enough... I absorbed too little!"
Strictly speaking, Momoshiki had not suffered much of a loss so far.
But his dignity as a god had been gravely provoked.
His gaze swept over the ground before settling on Kinshiki in the distance.
Kinshiki's injuries were even worse than before. The Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tag had not only destroyed the Gates of the Great God, but had also blasted Kinshiki into a bloody mess.
Had the explosive shockwave not sent Kinshiki flying at the first moment, he would likely have been reduced to shattered gold scattered across the ground.
Seeing Momoshiki's gaze, Kinshiki immediately understood. "Lord Momoshiki..."
"Kinshiki, let him witness how our clan inherits power!"
"Whew." Kinshiki took a deep breath and knelt devoutly. "I have long been prepared for this, Lord Momoshiki!"
As his words fell, a space-time vortex emerged from his right eye, bringing him before Momoshiki!
Watching this scene, Madara recalled Naruto and Sasuke facing Momoshiki on the ground of the Different Dimension.
"Absorbing one of his own kind, then triggering a transformed state. In that form, his Chakra, physical strength, and Taijutsu all undergo a qualitative change. As Chen put it, preserving the mechanics while boosting the numbers..."
As Momoshiki's hand covered Kinshiki's head, "Aaaaaaahhh!" Kinshiki screamed as he was transformed into a heart-sized "pill fruit" and drawn into Momoshiki's palm.
The instant Momoshiki swallowed the pill fruit, his injuries completely healed amid scorching smoke.
His horns then extended viciously, and his body became tall and burly. Black patterns emerged beneath his open white haori, running across his horns, forehead, cheeks, and every part of his body.
His Byakugan and the Rinnegan in his palms both turned golden, while a golden Rinnegan opened on his forehead as well!
"Roaaar!" Violent Chakra swept across the land with his roar!
Facing the storm, Madara's expression remained as still as water. "Is that the transformed state which, in the near future, once forced Naruto and Sasuke into a bitter struggle?"
"Momoshiki after devouring Kinshiki shall be called Gold-Devouring Momoshiki."
"If I have to hold back out of concern for the artificial body on the Demonic Statue, then the situation truly is somewhat unfavorable for me!"
Madara flashed before the Demonic Statue. Purple flames ignited around his five fingers as he struck the ground!
Uchiha Flame Formation!
"Whoosh!" Walls burning with crimson lotus-like flames rose on all four sides, joining seamlessly to form a sealed barrier that completely enclosed the Demonic Statue!
"With this, I should be able to loosen up a little."
"Whew!" Gold-Devouring Momoshiki exhaled a scorching breath.
Wave God, the weapon inherited from Kinshiki, had already merged into his body!
With a casual motion, he materialized a Crimson Crescent Blade and charged forward with it in hand!
A glint of crimson arrived first, then the blade followed like the wind!
Madara sensed the aura of Yin-Yang Release from the edge of Momoshiki's great blade!
He immediately withdrew to avoid its sharpness, then sent his Rinbo into alternating ambushes!
Momoshiki's golden Byakugan gleamed as his crescent blade circled around him. With broad, sweeping movements, he remained unruffled beneath the combined assault of four Rinbo shadows.
Madara's thoughts raced. His Otsutsuki Byakugan can see the Rinbo. After transforming, his reborn physical capabilities and tyrannical Taijutsu also allow him to contend with them.
It seemed that in the illusory future Chen had shown him, Momoshiki had only been successfully ambushed by Naruto's son Boruto with that so-called invisible Rasengan because he had already been in an extremely weakened state.
"Techniques such as Chakra bullets can be absorbed by the Rinnegan in his right hand. But Wood Release, which uses vitality as its driving force to directly create living entities, falls outside the range of what that absorption technique can encompass!"
Note: Trees were living beings without souls!
Madara pressed his hands together in the Snake hand seal, activating the descent of the Tree World!
"Boom!" Using sage power, he summoned countless tree roots from deep beneath the earth. They twisted and intertwined in dense masses, like hundreds or thousands of giant pythons tangled together as they strangled their way toward Momoshiki!
"Hah!" Momoshiki shouted as he swept the crescent blade around his waist. The devastating cutting edge severed the approaching trees at their middles!
But behind the severed trees, even more densely packed roots came crushing down!
"My Wild Martial Fusion slash can cut even the Divine Tree and split the earth! No matter how many of these come, I'll take them all!"
The Crimson Crescent Blade surged through Momoshiki's hands, its slashing waves mixed with shockwaves. Not a single tree managed to reach within fifty meters of him intact!
Using the Tree World as cover, Madara had already retreated a hundred meters away from Momoshiki, standing before the Uchiha Flame Formation protecting the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
"So you weren't just bluffing. Then I'll add a little more fuel!"
The azure skeletal Susanoo around Madara transformed into twin-headed deities, forming different hand seals alongside his true body!
Tengai Shinsei!
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