The civilians in the village had no time to react before they were completely swallowed by the destructive energy carried by the sword slash.
The thatched cottages vaporized in an instant. The farmers in the fields, the children at play, the women weaving cloth—not one of them had the chance to scream before they turned into ash and scattered on the wind.
The village, once filled with curling wisps of cooking smoke, was reduced in the blink of an eye to a charred wasteland. Not a trace of life remained.
This was only the beginning of the disaster.
As the two fighters moved, the area of destruction continued to expand.
From the towns around Konoha to the thriving cities in the heart of the Land of Fire, then onward to its winding mountains and rushing rivers, everything was swept into this terrifying battle.
The storm of energy, woven from black and sky blue, clung like a curse. Wherever it passed, houses crumbled, bridges collapsed, mountains shattered, and rivers ran dry.
In the capital of the Land of Fire, the heavily armed Guardian Ninja were still organizing the evacuation of civilians when a massive shock wave came crashing down.
The city walls crumbled in an instant, as if made of paper. Countless bricks and stones rained down on the crowd. Screams and cries rang out one after another, but were soon drowned out by the roar of the energy storm.
Tens of thousands of civilians were swept into the air, torn apart and vaporized. Blood and severed limbs mingled with dust, forming a crimson haze that shrouded the entire capital.
In the forests, herds of beasts were reduced to pulp by the energy blasts;
In the fields, crops on the verge of ripening were burned to nothing;
In the rivers, fish and shrimp evaporated along with the water, leaving behind cracked riverbeds.
The once-vibrant Land of Fire was turning into a living hell before their very eyes.
"No—!!" Hagoromo Otsutsuki watched the sword slash engulf a distant town in flames, his eyes filled with pain and despair.
He controlled the sky-blue Susanoo Armor, doing everything in his power to keep the battle confined to uninhabited areas. But Genki's attacks were impossible to predict. Every swing of his sword carried a mad urge to destroy everything, only driving the disaster toward more innocent lives.
"Six Paths: Great Ball Rasengan!" Hagoromo pushed his chakra to its limits, forming a Rasengan larger than a mountain and hurling it at Genki with all his might.
The attack held most of his Six Paths Power. Yet when it struck the armor of the Black Susanoo Armor, it only made it pause for an instant before being shattered completely.
"Hehehe... Hahahaha!" Genki's frenzied laughter rang through the energy storm, brimming with the glee of destruction. "The world you want to protect is crumbling before your eyes! Hagoromo Otsutsuki, this is your comeuppance!"
He drove the Black Susanoo Armor forward, smashing a massive fist into the chest of the sky-blue Susanoo and sending it flying once more.
The sky-blue Susanoo slammed into a range of mountains. The entire range shattered instantly, sending countless boulders tumbling toward the village below, burying it completely. Another group of civilians turned to dust in this senseless disaster.
Time raced by amid the destruction. In just a few short hours, the entire Land of Fire had been engulfed by the battle. The once-prosperous country was now nothing but charred ruins and ash drifting through the air.
Millions of lives perished in this battle beyond all comprehension—ninja and civilians, the old and the young. Most never even saw the faces of their enemies before the shock waves obliterated them.
After devouring millions of souls, the Magatsunokami domain surrounding Genki expanded wildly once more. Its edge had already reached the borders of the Land of Fire.
Countless new soul-shades howled and thrashed within the domain, constantly merging into the Black Susanoo Armor and making the monster's power surge again.
Its form, which had originally stood five thousand meters tall, swelled to nearly ten thousand. It blotted out the sky, staining the heavens black.
"Damn it... How could this happen..." Hagoromo's breathing grew ragged. He could feel Genki's power continuing to grow, while his own Six Paths Power steadily dwindled. He was already nearing his limit.
He had stepped in to stop Genki from destroying the world. Yet now, it was his intervention that had allowed the disaster to spread this far. His heart was filled with endless pain and guilt.
In the distant ruins, Black Zetsu and White Zetsu still lay collapsed on the ground, barely clinging to life.
They raised their remaining eyes and stared at the nearly ten-thousand-meter-tall Black Susanoo Armor and the devastated Land of Fire. The despair in their eyes had turned to numbness.
They had spent a thousand years carefully laying their plans to resurrect Kaguya Otsutsuki. But now, they had brought forth a monster capable of destroying the entire Shinobi World. Their plan had become a complete joke.
"Hagoromo Otsutsuki... Why are you still struggling?" Genki's low, hoarse voice rang across the world, dripping with mockery. "Your protection only brings more destruction! Why not... let me put an end to everything?"
As he spoke, he slowly raised the Eight-Handled Sword in the hand of the nearly ten-thousand-meter-tall Black Susanoo Armor.
The energy gathering along the blade was more terrifying than any attack before it. Its dark energy even began to distort the space around it, swallowing the sunlight completely.
He was clearly about to unleash an ultimate attack powerful enough to destroy the Land of Fire—and perhaps even reach the entire Shinobi World!
Hagoromo watched, a look of determination flashing in his eyes.
He knew he could retreat no longer. Even if it cost him his life, he had to stop this attack!
He unleashed every last trace of Six Paths Power within him. Brilliant golden light flared around his body as he prepared to use his final trump card!
Before the destructive energy gathered in the Eight-Handled Sword could fall, the last breath of life had already vanished from the land of the Land of Fire.
Among the charred ruins, even the drifting ash gradually settled. Only silence remained, shrouding the land in every direction.
Millions of lives had perished. This terrifying death toll was no longer just a number added to another. It had become a key that could pry open the laws of the world, finally igniting the power within Uchiha Genki that had been suppressed to its absolute limit.
"Vmmm—!!!"
A hum louder than any roar before it rang across the world. It did not come from a Susanoo attack, but from the fundamental transformation of the black domain surrounding Genki.
The black energy that had once clung to the surface of the Susanoo now churned like boiling ink. The countless swallowed soul-shades were no longer scattered, wailing spirits. An invisible force ground them to dust and fused them into the purest source of energy, which poured ceaselessly into the Black Susanoo Armor.
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