Uchiha Genmei wasn't a pushover, either.
His body shuddered,
and a vast amount of Senjutsu Chakra surged through him.
He let out a cold laugh.
"You called me a half-baked amateur?"
"Then let me show you just how dangerous a half-baked amateur can be!"
Unlike the Otsutsuki's especially convenient divine techniques,
the gods of this land,
no matter how powerful, had never reached that level.
Divine techniques required Cursed Speech—or, rather, the aid of Word Spirit—to activate.
He shifted his footing, bent low, and lightly turned the flaming blade.
An immense surge of ocular power bolstered it...
Senjutsu Chakra flowed in...
The young man began chanting:
"I hereby declare: the sun born from the Fusang God Tree shall once again illuminate the world!"
The strange vitality stirred up by Word Spirit fused perfectly with his ocular power, joined by Senjutsu Chakra!
"Eye Technique... no, Divine Technique: Amaterasu, Maximum Output!"
Six-thousand-degree flames surged along the Divine Sword.
The Sun Fire turned the Tsumugari Great Blade into a Sword of Blazing Fire!
The roaring flames rang out,
as—
The surging heat along the blade turned the All Creations across an area of unknown size...
into steam—and lava!
The lofty Word Spirit continued:
"Steel of Thousand Blade Breaker, borrow the sun's fire from the goddess and seize her land!"
Their eyes met.
Vast killing intent flowed between them.
Clang! Clang—
The two divine swords clashed.
The convergence of divine wind and divine fire made the world ring with the sound of destruction.
At that moment—
Heaven and earth lost their color!
Inside a space where nothing existed but white,
Ame no Oshiho-mimi looked at
Okuninushi's mocking expression.
His face twitched.
He sighed helplessly.
"You actually waited here for me. Do you intend to mock me before stepping into Yomi?"
Okuninushi, with black hair, black clothes, and black eyes,
let out a scornful laugh.
"That's right. I waited here to see what kind of failure would await you after you took everything from me again."
Ame no Oshiho-mimi smiled bitterly.
"Who would have thought that boy would actually complete a divine technique?"
"Against those flames, I had no chance of surviving."
"Is that a compliment?" a cool voice asked.
Both gods turned to look.
It was Uchiha Genmei.
"How did you get in here? This is the Other Shore, where the living world and Yomi meet."
"Only the dead, or those caught between life and death, can come here."
Faced with the two gods' astonishment,
the young man shrugged
and answered casually,
"I got in pretty easily."
That was a lie.
He had followed the stirring of his ocular power and projected his consciousness here.
He looked around, finding it all fascinating.
Was this the place...
where Kakashi and Obito had met their fathers and Rin while hovering between life and death in the original story?
It really was just as the two gods had said: the place where the living world and Yomi met.
The two gods weren't interested in how the young man had entered, either.
Seeing that he wasn't telling the truth, they didn't press him.
Okuninushi didn't even want to speak to the boy who had defeated him. He simply sat down and closed his eyes to rest.
Ame no Oshiho-mimi said calmly,
"Young man... come to think of it, I still don't know your name."
"Uchiha Genmei." He replied to the god, then prepared to leave the space.
"Wait. I want to make a deal with you."
Hearing this, he abandoned the thought of leaving.
He asked softly,
"What do you want to trade?"
Ame no Oshiho-mimi smiled faintly.
"Destroy the Pure Land, which obstructs the cycle of life and death in Yomi."
"If you agree, I'll give you a great reward."
The young man raised an eyebrow. Destroy the Pure Land?
That was where the Sage of Six Paths lived. Did the god think he didn't know that?
He spread his hands. "First tell me what's in the Pure Land."
Seeing how cautious the young man was,
Ame no Oshiho-mimi sighed
and explained the details about the Pure Land.
"That's the situation. If you agree, I'll give you my last bit of divinity."
Uchiha Genmei heard this
and frowned.
"We'll have to consider the Pure Land matter carefully. The Sage of Six Paths is unfathomable."
"For now, I can only promise that once I have the power to resolve everything, I'll do it—as long as it doesn't harm my own interests."
After all...
He planned to take control of the Shinobi World by force one day, and the old-fashioned Sage of Six Paths already hated that kind of thing.
He would definitely come out against him. And if they clashed...
Destroying the Pure Land would be a simple matter then.
Hearing this,
Ame no Oshiho-mimi didn't press the issue. A golden talisman flew out from his brow.
"This is the last of my divinity. Don't resist it."
He didn't resist the talisman, letting it merge with his body.
The Blade of Wisdom had his back, so he wasn't worried.
Uchiha Genmei waved in farewell.
"Then I'll be off."
"Young man... no, Genmei-kun, remember to return to the living world and look for the Yata Mirror."
"Got it," the young man replied with a smile, then departed for good.
Back in the real world,
Ame no Oshiho-mimi's body lay in the enormous lava crater.
Amid the crackling sounds of burning, it slowly faded into the afterglow of fire.
The young man stood atop the golden-red, scorching lava
and sighed softly.
"You were a formidable opponent. I'll remember you, Ame no Oshiho-mimi."
He turned and left the fiery crater.
When he reached its edge,
he looked at the three people before him in surprise.
"You actually made it here? Weren't you badly injured?"
They were Tsunade and the others.
Tsunade looked at the lava crater, which stretched who knew how many meters,
and covered her mouth,
unable to believe it. "You really did this?"
Even Orochimaru completely lost his composure.
Cold sweat running down his face, he stared at the terrifying young man before him.
His hoarse voice rang out.
"You've truly opened my eyes, Genmei-kun. Have you already reached the level of the God of Shinobi?"
Hearing his companion's words,
Jiraiya exclaimed,
"The God of Shinobi? Power like Lord First's? How could he possibly—"
Before he could finish, Tsunade said gravely,
"There's no doubt about it. This guy's power is already equal to Grandpa's."
The young man was about to reply when he noticed the two toads on Jiraiya's shoulders staring intently at him.
He frowned, formed Hand Seals, and created a Shadow Clone.
"Genmei-kun, what are you—?"
"I sent my clone to find the Shrine Maiden on the other side," he said with a smile, answering Orochimaru's question.
But he felt something was off. He sent a clone to hide Matatabi.
After all, those two toads had been chatterboxes in the original story.
Why were they staring at him with such strange expressions... without saying a word?
Meanwhile,
inside a temple near the border of the Land of Demons,
a strange monk,
despite inhabiting a body with abysmal natural talent, still had the eyesight to see across countless mountains and ridges.
He watched the battle come to an end.
He let out a cold, mocking laugh.
"The descendants of that bitch and that band of remnants?"
"Looks like I'll have to change my strategy."
Before you continue