Before, I Fought Kaguya. Today, I'll Fight Kaguya Again!

Manji did not look at him. His gaze swept toward Asura and Hagoromo below.

Hagoromo immediately dismissed the Ninja Sect disciples around them.

"All of you, go back!"

Hagoromo spoke calmly.

The Ninja Sect disciples obeyed and hurried away.

This was no longer a fight they could interfere in.

Before long, the vast battlefield was empty, leaving only four figures facing off across the sky and ground.

Manji's white robes snapped in the wind as he hovered in midair, firmly shielding Indra.

Hagoromo stood on the ground, his Rinnegan gleaming with a cold purple light as he guarded Asura behind him.

Father and son faced master and disciple from afar. The air seemed to turn to iron.

Your master and disciple against my master and disciple.

"Hagoromo, Indra is stubborn and arrogant. He tried to conquer everything through force. He was wrong and deserves punishment and defeat, but not death."

Manji stood in the air and spoke slowly.

Hagoromo's face darkened. He bowed. "Master, Indra tried to overthrow the Ninja Sect, seize power, and slaughter his own people. If he lives, he will become a menace to the world!"

"Hagoromo."

Manji's voice remained even.

"Indra is stubborn and arrogant. He tried to conquer everything through force. He was wrong and deserves punishment and defeat, but not death."

"I will take Indra away, train him myself, and temper the violence in his nature."

At those words, Hagoromo's heart sank.

Indra's talent was unmatched in the Ninja Sect's history. Born with the beginnings of a Rinnegan, his Sharingan held unfathomable potential. If he trained under Manji, who had lived nearly a thousand years and wielded extraordinary power, it would not be long before he surpassed Hagoromo himself!

And Hagoromo's time was nearly up. Gentle Asura, who understood only bonds, could never withstand a fully grown Indra.

Indra had to die today! Otherwise, the Ninja Sect would fall, and the world would never know peace!

"Master, forgive my disrespect!"

"Indra must die today! He has already taken the path of my mother, Kaguya. If you do not stop him now and instead help him, he will inevitably become a second Kaguya!"

Hagoromo straightened, and his Rinnegan blazed brighter.

He had invoked Kaguya deliberately. Back then, Kaguya had betrayed Manji and thrown the world into chaos. It was the past Manji least wished to revisit.

Hagoromo gambled that this would change Manji's mind.

But Manji merely shook his head inwardly, his expression unmoved. "You need not worry about that."

He knew better than anyone that, for all Indra's astonishing talent, he had inherited too little of the Otsutsuki's original power. His limits had long been set. He could never become a second Kaguya.

Seeing Manji unmoved, Hagoromo's expression turned grim. His hand quietly clenched until his knuckles went white.

It seemed they would have to fight today.

He closed his eyes...

That night, Hagoromo had spent a long time thinking!

Countless images churned through his mind: the smiles of the Ninja Sect's thousands of disciples, the suffering of ordinary people amid war, Asura's innocent, guileless eyes, and the terror of Kaguya's rampage years ago...

He had spent his life sealing his mother, founding the Ninja Sect, and passing down its ideals. Was he supposed to stand by and watch a second monster arise?

And Manji, who had always stayed above it all and never involved himself in Ninja Sect affairs, had chosen this moment to protect Indra—

Hagoromo's eyes snapped open. Understanding flashed through them!

Manji had never truly been free of desire. He was playing a game that would engulf the world!

And Indra was his pawn!

Once Hagoromo reached that conclusion, he no longer hesitated. What was personal love worth against love for all?

"Master, Indra's crimes are beyond forgiveness. For the Ninja Sect and for all the people in the world, he must die!"

Hagoromo spoke with conviction.

Beside Manji, Indra went rigid. A bone-deep chill flooded his heart.

His own father truly meant to kill him, leaving him not even the slightest chance to live.

Manji frowned slightly, a trace of puzzlement crossing his eyes.

Hagoromo had sealed his own mother, Kaguya, and now intended to kill his own son. For the sake of the so-called Ninja Sect and his so-called love for all, he had become so obsessed that he had lost himself.

Besides, that whole argument about love for all and personal love...

Manji had made it up.

He had only meant to persuade Hagoromo and Hamura to stand against Kaguya.

He did not believe it himself.

"Hagoromo, you have become fixated," Manji said softly.

"Immortal, forgive me!"

Hagoromo suddenly spoke, and Chakra erupted around him!

"For the Ninja Sect, for the world, I will sacrifice personal love for love of all. There is nothing to hesitate over!

Today, I, Hagoromo, will challenge the heavens themselves. Let me see your true strength, Master!"

As his words fell, a long, pitch-black spear wreathed in chaotic Chakra appeared in his hand. It was the Six Paths divine weapon, the Sword of Amenonuhoko!

Asura grabbed Hagoromo's sleeve, his face filled with shock.

Holy shit!

The current head of the Ninja Sect was about to fight the Grandmaster?!

Asura's voice trembled. "Father! That's the Grandmaster!"

He turned and dropped to his knees before Manji in the sky, pleading through tears. "Grandmaster, please take my brother away! My father... he's just lost his head!"

"Asura! Get back!"

Hagoromo barked at his son. His Rinnegan fixed on Indra, his eyes full of resolve.

"Before, I fought Kaguya. Today, I'll fight Kaguya again!"

"This is my final charge as Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo!"

In his eyes, Indra had already become a monster who would plunge the world into chaos, no different from Kaguya years ago.

Indra had taken his mother's path.

If he did not stop him now, when would he?!

Manji said nothing. Endless years seemed to stir in his deep eyes. Pale-gold Senjutsu Chakra rose slowly around him like the dawn, forcing even the Six Paths Chakra to recoil.

Manji spoke quietly:

"Hagoromo, how long have you been dealing with the world? Do you think I cannot tell whether Indra is good or evil, or what lies at the root of his nature?"

"So be it. If you insist on fighting to the death, I'll trade a few moves with you."

Manji had already assessed Hagoromo's condition. With his strength spent and death approaching, he was nowhere near the peak he had reached when he sealed Kaguya. He could barely maintain the full power of the Six Paths Level.

In that case, I might as well take the Rinnegan now!

Hummm—!

A vast surge of Senjutsu Chakra gathered. A black fissure opened in the void, and a dark longsword emerged!

It was the Six Paths Sword!

Manji had tempered the sword and infused it with senjutsu.

Manji held the Six Paths Sword with its blade angled downward. His white robes snapped under the weight of his power. Neither anger nor joy showed in his eyes as he spoke, his voice rolling across the battlefield like thunder:

"Hagoromo, do you want to find out how sharp my Six Paths Sword is?"

"Hagoromo, do you truly want to see the world ravaged by a fight between us?"

The Sword of Amenonuhoko hummed ceaselessly in Hagoromo's hand. The two Six Paths divine weapons resonated, stirring torrents of Chakra across the sky.

Hagoromo gripped the spear tightly. Purple light blazed from his Rinnegan, and immense ravines split the ground around him. His Senjutsu and Yin-Yang Release coiled around the spear, revealing the last vestiges of his power at its peak.

Truth-Seeking Orbs formed one after another!

Facing a master who had lived nearly a thousand years and never shown his full strength, Hagoromo did not retreat an inch. His voice rang like iron, full of resolve!

"Master, my Sword of Amenonuhoko is sharp too!"

As his words fell, two overwhelming auras collided!

An invisible shockwave hurled shattered stone into the sky. The parched earth collapsed layer by layer as the blast swept outward!

Both divine weapons drew their power from the wielder's will.

The stronger that will, the greater their power.

Both men had lived for ages, and their resolve was ironclad!

With weapons like these in their hands, their strength knew no bounds.

Protected by Manji's Immortal Talisman, Indra watched the Six Paths Sword dominate the sky, his eyes full of shock and awe.

Asura's face, meanwhile, twisted with distress. Watching his father and the Grandmaster prepare to clash with divine weapons, he looked terrified and helpless.

Now this was a battle of raw power and deadly abilities!

The world fell silent. Only two figures faced each other from afar.

Their auras... were terrifying beyond belief!

Even the Great Dao seemed to have been ground away...