Uproar

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

Clang! Clang! Clang! The force field became an invisible wall, knocking away every fishhook.

"Heh." White Shadow in the sky curled his lips into a frivolous smile. Rather than pressing the attack, he cast out his fishing line, bound Momoshiki, and pulled him into the air.

Chen looked up at the man with a high ponytail and two circular marks on his forehead in place of eyebrows.

You came at just the right time.

Otherwise, letting Momoshiki go like this would make him think I had some ulterior motive. Though I really do have one.

"That guy is..." From atop the Demonic Statue, Obito drew himself into Kamui, while Madara leaped down from the statue.

The two arrived at Chen's side and looked together at the third party that had entered the battlefield.

"Otsutsuki Urashiki."

Holding Momoshiki in one hand, Urashiki put away his smile. His gaze swept over Madara and Obito in turn before finally settling on Chen's face.

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

"Still, I have a pair of the same eyes."

Buzz! As his words fell, Urashiki's Byakugan shifted into a pair of pale-red Six Tomoe Rinnegan!

"Farewell..."

Carrying Momoshiki with him, he vanished into the black rift blooming in the space above.

Obito narrowed his eyes. "That method of opening space can't be mistaken. It's the [Yomotsu Hirasaka] Kaguya Otsutsuki used back then!"

He turned his gaze to Chen. "Should we pursue them?"

Chen said, "No, there's no need."

Madara said, "The three of us working together may not be unable to keep those two here forever."

"Perhaps." Chen gently shook his head. "But Urashiki possesses a 'treasured tool' capable of manipulating time."

"Ah." After thinking for a moment, Obito said, "You mean that turtle called [Kame] from the genjutsu, the one capable of time travel? That shouldn't be very useful in an actual battle, should it?"

"No, I'm not talking about Kame. It's another one. I don't know its name either, but it takes the form of a Black Box. When thrown at an opponent, it can [Time Freeze] an entire area, then exile the frozen target to a place called [Ryugu Palace]."

"That was what the future I saw showed. To save time, I didn't show it to either of you earlier."

In the original timeline, Urashiki had descended upon the moon under orders from the higher-ranking Otsutsuki and used the treasured tool Chen mentioned on Toneri. (Image attached below)

Urashiki froze Toneri.

In the current timeline, time had not yet advanced to that point, so... that Black Box treasured tool should still be in Urashiki's possession and could still pose a threat to the three of them.

To avoid a fight to the death, it was unwise to fall out with Urashiki now.

If they intended to let Momoshiki go in order to maximize their future gains, there was even less reason to fall out with Urashiki here.

Urashiki watched the three of them warily as his entire body slowly retreated into Yomotsu Hirasaka.

That Uchiha Chen's Rinnegan can use Lord Urashiki's Omodaru.

In theory, he can use Time Reversal to capture me again.

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

Little Momo, I'm taking the risk of using this precious one-use treasured tool just to save you!

You owe me a huge favor. I'll make sure you repay it properly!

Whoosh! Yomotsu Hirasaka closed completely.

Momoshiki and Urashiki were nowhere to be seen in the Outer World.

No... there was still something.

Chen turned his gaze toward the ruins left behind by the disintegrated Planetary Devastation, raised his hand... and used gravity to draw Momoshiki's broken horn, which he had severed with the Kusanagi Sword, into his palm.

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

As expected, Uncle Madara saw through it. I only used Omodaru with Annihilation of the First Principle added to it once on Kinshiki, yet he already saw the trick behind it.

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

"Oh? How so?"

"The prerequisite for turning one into two is for them to exist in the world in different forms. Take Kinshiki, for example. After Momoshiki ate him, Kinshiki existed as Chakra inside Momoshiki's body. Only then could I make Kinshiki reappear as a living person."

"If Kinshiki were still alive, I wouldn't be able to create another living him."

"Oh, the same cause cannot produce two different effects. Is that what you mean?"

"As expected, Chen... the Rinnegan Dojutsu you awakened is a causal Dojutsu."

Chen looked at Madara in surprise. "As expected... could it be that you already knew?"

"Yes." Madara crossed his arms over his chest. "Chen, I don't know if you noticed, but your eyes had long since been touched by 'causality.' The power of causality was contained within the power of 'Time Freeze' that you unlocked through Mizuha."

"You froze the time of the White Zetsu before the Infinite Tsukuyomi was lifted back then, then released their seals one after another later. But that operation should have been meaningless, because the causal ties still remained. Once the White Zetsu were unfrozen, they should have died all the same! The reason they didn't die was that layer of causality had already ceased to exist."

Chen was astonished. "You actually noticed that..."

Chen himself had noticed it too, but he had not thought it through as thoroughly as Madara. He had only assumed that the White Zetsu landing safely was some effect inherent to Omodaru.

"The abilities contained within one's eyes sometimes reveal signs in advance. It wasn't just you, Chen. Something similar happened to Obito back then."

Madara shifted his gaze to Obito.

"Before he awakened his Kamui Mangekyō Sharingan, he had already experienced 'phasing.' After he was buried under the rocks at Kannabi Bridge, his body had miraculously passed through the obstruction of the earth and fallen into my base. That was the sign of his later Kamui ability."

"Obito had shown signs of the Mangekyo while he only had a two-Magatama Sharingan."

"And you had already shown signs of the Rinnegan while you still had the Mangekyo."

"So that was it. I had shown signs of Annihilation of the First Principle from a very early time."

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

"Yes. Severing the causality of this world is the Dojutsu Power of Annihilation of the First Principle!"

"Good. Very good."

Madara and Obito exchanged looks, both seeing the surging emotions in each other's eyes.

Who would have thought that the long-cherished wish we pursued for so many years had become a single technique in Chen's eyes?

Perhaps our meeting in this era and our efforts toward the same goal were also an inevitable result born from countless prior causes.

Chen, let me see how far you can climb in this world entangled by causality.

Chen stored Momoshiki's horn in a scroll, intending to turn it into a specimen after returning.

Madara asked, "What next? Return home?"

"No." Chen looked up at the celestial body blocking their view overhead.

"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 has been exposed..." (Image attached below)

Kaguya's true Utsu body connected to the Demonic Statue.

Madara asked, "Then what do you think we should do?"

Chen first checked the time.

It was 8:22 a.m. To be precise, it was 8:22 a.m. on July 4th, Konoha Year 80.

Six Paths: Planetary Devastation... seemed impossible to solve.

Chen's Otsutsuki Time Zone had no room capable of holding such an enormous object, and freezing time was equally unrealistic.

So there was only one solution?

"Smash it to pieces..."