The Dust Rises

Fishhook Rain Overhead. Chen smiled faintly and raised his palm.

"Clang, clang, clang!" The force field formed an invisible wall, knocking all the fishhooks to the ground.

"Heh." The White Shadow in the sky curled his lips into a frivolous arc. He didn't follow up with an attack but instead cast his fishing line, binding Momoshiki and pulling him into the sky.

Chen looked up at the man with the high ponytail and two dots on his forehead replacing his eyebrows.

You're here. Just what I wanted.

Otherwise, letting Momoshiki go like this would make him think I had ulterior motives. Though I do have ulterior motives.

"That guy is..." Atop the Demonic Statue, Obito used Kamui to phase into himself, while Madama leaped down from the statue.

Both arrived at Chen's side, gazing together at the third party that had suddenly entered the battlefield!

"Otsutsuki Urashiki, huh."

Urashiki held Momoshiki with one hand, his smile fading as his gaze swept over Madara and Obito in turn, finally settling on Chen's face.

He said, "On Kaguya's land, another Rinnegan has appeared."

"But the same eyes—I have a pair myself."

"Zzt!" As the words fell, Urashiki's Byakugan shifted into a pair of light red Six Tomoe Rinnegan!

"Until we meet again..."

He carried Momoshiki and vanished into the pitch-black rift blooming in the space above his head.

Obito stared intently: "That method of opening space—no mistake, it's the same as Kaguya Otsutsuki's back then—[Yomotsu Hirasaka]!"

He turned his gaze to Chen: "Should we chase?"

Chen said, "No. There's no need for that."

Madara said, "If the three of us join forces, we might be able to keep those two here permanently."

"Perhaps," Chen said with a slight shake of his head. "But Urashiki holds a 'treasure' capable of manipulating time."

"Ah." Obito recalled briefly, "You mean that turtle called [Kame] from the illusion, the one that can travel through time? That shouldn't be of much use in a live battle!"

"No, I'm not talking about Kame. It's another one—I don't know its name either, but its shape is a black box. When thrown at an opponent, it can [freeze time] within a certain area, then banish the frozen target to a place called [Ryugu Palace]."

"In the future I once saw, that's how it was shown. I just didn't show you two before to save time."

In the original timeline, Urashiki descended to the moon under orders from a higher-ranked Otsutsuki and used the treasure Chen described on 'Toneri'. (Image attached below)

Urashiki freezes Toneri

In the current timeline, time hasn't advanced to that point yet, so... that black box treasure should still be in Urashiki's hands, capable of threatening the three of them.

To avoid a mutual destruction scenario, it's not wise to openly clash with Urashiki here.

If the goal is to let Momoshiki go in order to maximize benefits soon after, there's even less reason to pick a fight with Urashiki here.

Urashiki kept his gaze wary on the three, his body slowly sinking into Yomotsu Hirasaka.

His thoughts churned: That Uchiha Chen—his Rinnegan can use Lord Urashiki's Omodaru.

In theory, he could reverse time and drag me back.

If he actually does that, I'll use the treasure [Time Box] that Lord Urashiki created by combining [Omodaru] and [Heavenly Craftsmanship] to seal him away!

Little Momo, to save you, I'm risking using this precious treasure that can only be used once!

You owe me a big favor—you'll have to repay me well!

"Whoosh!" Yomotsu Hirasaka closed completely.

In the Outer World, there was no longer any trace of Momoshiki or Urashiki.

No... there still was.

Chen turned his gaze to the nearby ruins left by Chibaku Tensei's collapse, raised his palm... and gravitational force pulled the broken horn of Momoshiki—severed by his Kusanagi Sword—into his hand.

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Madara said meaningfully, "Planning to turn Momoshiki into two?"

Sure enough, Uncle Madara sees through it all. I only used Omodaru with Annihilation of the First Principle on Kinshiki once, and he already figured out the trick.

Chen said, "I can't turn him into two right now. If I reverse time at this moment, I'll only bring Momoshiki back exactly as he was."

"Oh? How so?"

"The prerequisite for turning into two is existing in the world in different forms. Take Kinshiki for example—after Momoshiki ate him, Kinshiki existed inside Momoshiki's body in the form of chakra. That's how I could make Kinshiki reappear as a living person."

"If Kinshiki were still alive, I couldn't create a living person out of him."

"Oh, the same cause can't bear two different fruits—is that what you mean?"

"Indeed, Chen... your Rinnegan has awakened a causality dojutsu."

Chen looked at Madara in surprise: "Indeed... could it be you already knew?"

"Ah." Madara crossed his arms over his chest. "Chen, I don't know if you've noticed, but your eyes have long been tainted with 'causality.' The power of causality lies hidden in the 'time freeze' ability you unlocked through Mizuha."

"You froze the time of the White Zetsu before the Infinite Tsukuyomi was lifted back then, and later gradually unsealed them. But this operation was actually meaningless, because the entanglement of cause and effect still remained. Once the White Zetsu were thawed, they would still die! The reason the White Zetsu didn't die was that layer of cause and effect was already gone."

Chen sighed in admiration, "You were actually able to notice this..."

In truth, Chen himself had noticed it too, but he hadn't thought it through as thoroughly as Madara. He had simply assumed that the White Zetsu's safe landing was some inherent effect of Omodaru.

"The power contained within the eyes sometimes gives 'omens' in advance. It's not just you, Chen. A similar thing happened to Obito back then."

Madara's gaze shifted to Obito.

"Before he had awakened the Kamui Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, he had already experienced 'phasing.' At Kannabi Bridge, after he was buried by rocks, his body miraculously passed through the obstruction of the earth and fell into my base. That was the 'omen' of the later Kamui ability."

"Obito, when he had a two-Magatama Sharingan, already showed the omen of the Mangekyo."

"And you, when you had the Mangekyo, already showed the omen of the Rinnegan."

"I see, so I had already shown the omen of 'Annihilation of the First Principle' from a very early time."

Madara looked at Chen's veiled right eye. "Annihilation of the First Principle—is that the name of your Rinnegan's Dojutsu?"

"Mm. Severing the cause and effect of this world—that is the Dojutsu power of Annihilation of the First Principle!"

"Good. Very good."

Madara and Obito exchanged a glance, both able to see the surging emotions in each other's eyes.

Who would have thought that the long-cherished wish of our past years had become a mere technique in Chen's eyes.

Perhaps, our meeting in this era and striving toward a common goal is also an inevitable result forged by many prior causes.

Chen, let me see just how far you can climb in this world entangled with cause and effect.

Chen stored Momoshiki's horn into a scroll, planning to make it into a commemorative specimen after returning.

Madara asked, "Next, do we head back to the village?"

"No." Chen lifted his gaze to the star that obscured the sky above.

"Although the Demonic Statue has already been summoned, Kaguya's true body, Utsu, is still at the core of the sealing stone. Letting Urashiki and Momoshiki go also means this place is exposed..." (Image attached below)

The true body of Utsu, connected to Kaguya and the Demonic Statue

Madara asked, "Then, what do you think should be done?"

Chen first confirmed the current time.

8:22 AM. To be precise, 8:22 AM on July 4th, Konoha Year 80.

The Six Paths Tensei... seems to be unsolvable.

Chen's Otsutsuki Time Zone also had no room capable of accommodating such a colossal object, and freezing time was unrealistic.

So, was there only one way left?

"Smash it to pieces..."