Mu! The one who decides who wields this world's powers!

The power released after the fifth chain broke was surging within her body, and the black mist was several times thicker than before, almost condensing into a liquid.

But her left arm was still hanging down, bone fragments were still embedded in her flesh at the shoulder blade, and the penetrating wound in her chest had not fully healed.

She didn't have time to heal the wounds. She simply covered them up with black mist.

She raised her head, her crimson-orange eyes fixed on Natsu and Ban.

"You can't kill Mu."

Her voice echoed in the void, carrying an almost manic certainty.

"Mu is the one who chooses the Scepter in this world. No one can kill Mu!!"

Natsu looked at her but did not reply.

His Mangekyō Sharingan slowly rotated in his eye sockets, the patterns of Ōkuninushi and Takamagahara intertwining deep within his pupils.

He's watching.

He was assessing Imu's current condition.

Ban stood beside him; the dark gold patterns on the scepter were a bit darker than before, but the black sphere at the top of the scepter was still spinning.

"The Decision Maker." Natsu repeated these three words, her tone devoid of emotion. "You say you are the Decision Maker of Scepter. Then I ask you—before you were chosen by these Scepter, what were you?"

Imu's expression froze for a moment.

Natsu raised his hand, and crimson-orange Chakra once again condensed in his palm.

"I could guess even if you didn't say it." His voice was calm. "You're the first. You're also the first traitor. Those Scepter didn't belong to you; you stole them from others."

Imu's pupils contracted sharply.

Imu looked at Uchiha Natsu with a grim expression.

"The past is meaningless now. Now, I am the ruler of the world! You can't stop me!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the twisted figures in the black mist suddenly began to struggle.

Those half-human, half-beast silhouettes linked by chains, with dislocated limbs, which had been hanging listlessly in the mist, now roared and howled simultaneously.

The next second, they moved.

The twisted figures rushed toward the Six Paths chain, densely packed like a swarm of bees whose nest had been disturbed.

Natsu frowned.

His current situation is the exact opposite of Ban's.

He possesses a terrifying amount of Chakra, including Senjutsu Chakra, but he lacks Six Paths Level power like the Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan with Six Tomoe to help him condense his Senjutsu Chakra and Chakra into Six Paths Chakra.

He can currently maintain Six Paths Level output by relying on his massive Chakra reserves combined with Sage Mode and Kunwu's help to forcefully sustain it.

Truth-Seeking Orb?

He still can't seem to grasp it.

If there's anything he's better at than Madara, it's probably having more methods and the survivability granted by the Ōkuninushi —he's certain that Imu can't kill him. But being able to kill someone and being able to defeat them are two different things.

The only thing that could allow him to take another step forward was his left eye.

Takamagahara.

The birthplace of the gods.

Once that power is fully released, he might be able to condense the Truth-Seeking Orb, or perhaps truly step into the Six Paths Level.

But he knew better than anyone the price of Takamagahara.

The highest level also means being free from desires and wants.

The more he uses it, the less human he becomes and the more divine he becomes.

He will become a statue sitting on a cloud, devoid of joy or sorrow, seeing everything as "equal".

What to do about the spring?

What should Sasuke do?

What will happen to the clansmen?

What about those clansmen he risked his life to bring from the Ninja World, those who call him "Lord Natsu Yin"?

Natsu's gaze shifted slightly to her left eye.

A very brief moment.

When he raised his hand to Hand Seals, his fingers paused on the last seal for a moment, then he forcibly looked away.

"Senior Madara," his voice was steady, "You need to block it even without that."

Madara didn't ask what "that" was.

He simply held the scepter horizontally in front of him, his crimson Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan spinning once. "Nonsense."

Natsu a deep breath and pressed all the Senjutsu Chakra she could muster into her palms.

"Sage Art: Turbid World Annihilation." Crimson-orange light exploded from his palm, sweeping towards the twisted figure charging at the forefront.

Those figures roared and disintegrated in the light, turning into black mist and dissipating.

But there were too many figures behind them, surging up in dense crowds. The Turbid World Annihilation was swept away, and new ones immediately filled the void.

Ban's scepter followed closely behind, the black sphere at the top of the scepter exploding into a dark golden shockwave amidst the group of figures, smashing the twisted figure on the other side.

The two men, one on the left and one on the right, barely managed to keep those figures outside the Six Paths chain.

But Natsu see it very clearly.

His Senjutsu Chakra was being rapidly depleted, yet the number of those twisted figures showed no sign of decreasing.

Imu only needs to hold them off until the Six Paths chain is broken, then she can absorb the power of another batch of Devil Fruit User and start another round.

The drain on his and Madara's chakra was real. Madara's Six Paths Sage Mode also had a time limit; the longer it dragged on, the more severely Madara's Chakra was depleted.

A twisted figure crashed into him from the side. Ban's scepter was entangled by three figures in front of him, leaving him no time to defend himself.

Natsu took the blow head-on with her body.

The half-human, half-bull silhouette slammed into his left shoulder, its sharp horns tearing through his robe and slicing a deep, bone-revealing gash in his shoulder.

He glanced down at his wound, remained silent, and with a flick of his wrist, unleashed a Senjutsu that blasted the half-human, half-bull figure into black mist.

"You're injured," Madara's voice came from the other side.

"It's just a minor injury," Natsu said, a slight smile even playing on his lips. "Is Senior Ban showing concern for me?"

Ban ignored him.

The two withstood another round of attacks.

Those distorted figures were finally cleared out and temporarily retreated into the depths of the black mist.

Natsu was panting heavily, blood was flowing from the wound on her left shoulder, and her Senjutsu Chakra reserves had been reduced by a significant amount.

The dark gold patterns on Ban's scepter were a shade darker than before, and his long white hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat.

Then they saw it at the same time.

A small crack appeared on the Six Paths chain.

The crack was in the middle of the chain; it was thin and shallow, but it was there and slowly widening.

Imu hovered in the distance, his crimson-orange eyes fixed on the crack, a smirk playing on his lips.

Natsu stared at the crack, and the smile on her face vanished.

"Senior Madara." His voice was very low.

"I saw it," said Ban.

Natsu remained silent for a moment, then turned her gaze away from the crack and looked at the palm of her left hand.

He clenched his fist, then relaxed it.

"The next wave," he said, "If it's still this volume..."

He didn't finish speaking. Ban didn't respond either.

Natsu took a deep breath.

The forces of nature behind him are still gathering.

Within a range of hundreds of thousands of meters, the air trembled, the clouds churned, and even the seawater beneath our feet seemed to boil slightly.

The Natural Energy surged in from all directions, like invisible rivers, flowing into his body.