Sage Mode, Activated

A burning sensation suddenly flared in Neji's Byakugan, and the Primordial Bagua Diagram in his mind automatically unfurled. The yin-yang twin fish flowed along his meridians to his palms, transforming into an Illusory-Real Grinding Disc three feet across.

"Sensei!" Neji charged into the oncoming tide of vengeful spirits. "Give me three seconds!"

The Yin-Yang Grinding Disc let out a roar like some primordial beast. The instant it touched the vengeful spirits, it erupted with a suction force capable of swallowing heaven and earth. Those clawing malicious thoughts were ground into silver motes of light. Half merged into the disc's patterns, while the rest surged through Neji's acupoints into his Sea of Consciousness. The phantom Thousand-Armed Statue suddenly solidified, and all nine hundred ninety-nine arms formed Sage Art hand seals at once.

"Sage Chakra... so that's how it is!" Neji felt every cell in his body leap with excitement as immense natural energy poured into him like a celestial river flooding backward.

The savage veins that appeared when his Byakugan activated vanished. A power from his bloodline surged forth from his eyes, forming horn-like chakra crystals on his forehead, while his hair took on an emerald sheen without any wind.

A silver rune silently appeared between Neji's brows, adding another trace of mystery to his handsome face.

The entire cavern began to shake violently. Rocks and gravel poured down, but were blasted away by the immense pressure wave before reaching within thirty feet of the boy.

Tsunade barely managed to open her eyes against the gale, and in her daze, she saw the silhouette of her grandfather emerge behind the boy. The man who had always loved patting her head stood with his back against Neji's, one hand on his hip.

"This is..." She took half a step back, clutching her wildly pounding heart. The markings of the Strength of a Hundred Technique suddenly crawled across her entire body. "My chakra is actually resonating? Could it be... Wood Release..."

Neji was undergoing a wondrous transformation. The Primordial Bagua Diagram had devoured most of the Evil God's energy, but the energy remaining in Neji's Sea of Consciousness still left him feeling stuffed to bursting. The Thousand-Armed Statue formed a seal, and the energy transformed into a translucent silver-blue Sage Art robe draped over its Dharma Form.

At that moment, Neji felt his consciousness expanding without limit. He could hear dew forming over ten miles away and see the paths of moonlight rippling through the air.

A flash of understanding rose within him, and his hands began forming seals instinctively. Rat—Horse—Monkey... The instant Neji pressed his palms together, heaven and earth fell silent.

Moonlight pierced through hundreds of meters of rock, condensing into pillars of light that wove a Sage Art formation beneath his feet. The Thousand-Armed Statue completed its final outline within his Sea of Consciousness. Each palm formed seals in sequence, every one holding a different hand sign.

As the final seal was completed, ripples like water spread through the void. Azure-gold chakra poured from his spine like liquid metal, condensing behind Neji into the phantom Dharma Form of a three-eyed, eighteen-armed figure.

"Sage Art: Glazed Lightfall!"

The next moment, emerald light instantly pierced through the entire cavern ceiling. The Dharma Form radiated boundless brilliance, while natural energy rising from the earth veins formed a glazed waterfall of light that illuminated every ghost and monster.

"Ahh! Damn it, what is this?"

Serpentine malicious thoughts sprang from every dark corner. Scorched by the boundless light, they fled back into the Great Elder's ruined body as cries of agony rang out.

Billowing black mist revealed the Great Elder's twisted, agonized face. He was already at the end of his rope.

"It's time to end this!" The boy reached out and clenched his hand in the air. Natural energy solidified into a giant palm that seized the Evil God's true body.

The Yin-Yang Grinding Disc spun faster, and a crisp sound like shattering glass came from within the black mist. The devoured soul fragments turned into fireflies and drifted skyward, as though they had found release within the glazed vision.

"Impossible! I am a god! Gods do not fail! Explode for me!"

Boom!

Amid a thunderous explosion, black mist burst from the Great Elder's body and twisted together into a vicious ghost wearing a black cloak.

The vicious ghost bared blood-dripping gums in a sinister grin and drew an illusory God of Death Scythe from beneath its cloak.

Neji's gaze sharpened. He sensed boundless danger gathering on the blade. His Byakugan glowed a deep blue, and he could actually see countless souls struggling and howling upon it. Their enormous gaping mouths and claws that sought to tear apart everything sent a chill through his heart.

Whoosh!

The vicious ghost suddenly expanded, extending its scythe and slashing toward Neji's waist at an unimaginable speed.

Bang!

The next second, several smoothly severed arms flew through the air before dissolving into specks of starlight. The Dharma Form had automatically shielded him.

After severing several arms, the God of Death Scythe was firmly blocked by the remaining ones.

Neji could even see the venomous hatred in the souls upon the blade. They clawed and snarled, desperate to drag Neji down to hell with them.

"Neji!"

Tsunade cried out and flashed in front of Neji, about to strike the descending scythe. Yet just as she was about to touch it, the howling souls made her freeze. Her heart, which had only just healed, cracked open once more beneath that utterly pure malice.

Her body went limp, and Tsunade slowly collapsed to the ground.

"Sensei! Damn it, you evil ghost, die!"

Neji's eyes nearly split open in fury. He drew upon the last of his Qi, which surged from his spine. The Dharma Form's arms spread like a peacock displaying its tail, instantly gathering nine hundred ninety-nine arms behind him.

Every palm fired chakra threads wrapped in Sage Art runes, weaving a three-dimensional Eight Trigrams Diagram cage around the Evil God.

As Neji's true body unleashed the Gentle Fist, all the Dharma Form's arms simultaneously struck with the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Their palm winds collided in the void, creating blazing white spheres of light. The rock layers they struck immediately fractured in fractal patterns. The God of Death Scythe was knocked away, and the vicious ghost's body was instantly riddled with holes.

Strike while he was down.

Neji did not pause for even a moment.

"Sage Art: Yin-Yang Deity Sealing!"

As Neji pressed his palms together, nine hundred ninety-nine chakra threads descended from the void, pinning down the hundreds of struggling resentment cores within the black mist.

His palms pushed apart, and the Yin-Yang Grinding Disc doubled in size once more. Amid the teeth-grinding crushing sound of the disc, the vicious ghost screamed as it was ground into the gap and instantly reduced to ashes.

The Great Elder's ruined body suddenly ignited. Flakes of ash peeled away from the cracked remains, carrying the Great Elder's final unwillingness and screams into oblivion.

When the last wisp of black mist dispersed, the cavern ceiling collapsed with a tremendous crash. Moonlight poured down like a waterfall, revealing Neji's complete Sage Mode form—his yin-yang cloak fluttered, its ends burning with black-and-white flames as though hanging into hell; his skin bore scale-like patterns with a metallic gleam; his sky-blue eyes shone like translucent sapphires; and the crystalline horn on his forehead flickered as it breathed in and out natural energy.

Another surge of extreme spiritual energy was retained by the Eight Trigrams Diagram. The Thousand-Armed Statue, which had been on the verge of collapse in his Sea of Consciousness, solidified once again. As illusion and reality shifted, a spiritual exhaustion Neji could no longer suppress surged from the depths of his heart and swept through his entire body.

Neji's Byakugan rolled back, and he fainted. His Sage Mode quietly receded, while Sage Chakra scattered and drifted away, sparkling with faint fluorescence beneath the moonlight.