The Power of the Kaguya Clan

Kaguya's figure vanished the very next second.

It was not the Body Flicker Technique, nor was it the Flying Thunder God—it was Yomotsu Hirasaka. The space before her tore open like a sheet of paper ripped down the middle, splitting into a black gash. Her body slipped into it, and even her presence vanished without a trace.

Naruto's pupils contracted sharply. He pushed his Six Paths Mode sensory ability to its limit, yet he could sense nothing—not because Kaguya had concealed her presence, but because she was no longer in this space at all.

"Behind you!"

The Sage of Six Paths' voice came from the side. Naruto did not turn around; his body reacted before his mind did—he threw himself forward, bracing one hand against the ground and springing away like a coiled spring. A white blur swept through the spot where he had been standing, moving so fast it sliced through the air with a piercing shriek.

Kaguya's hand reached out from another black rift, her five fingers like blades as they grazed across Naruto's back. Her nails left five shallow marks on Naruto's Six Paths cloak. They did not cut through it, but the five white streaks stood out glaringly against the pale golden cloak.

Sasuke reacted even faster than Naruto. The instant Kaguya's hand appeared, his Rinnegan locked onto those spatial coordinates. Black Chidori wrapped around the Kusanagi Sword as he thrust it toward the rift. The moment the sword tip entered, he felt resistance—not because he had stabbed anything, but because the sword had been "swallowed." The rift closed at the same instant the sword pierced it, as though it had bitten down on his blade.

Sasuke yanked his sword back. A trace of white substance clung to the blade—not blood, but a thicker liquid, like