The dark-red, third-stage Susanoo towered beneath the sea amid surging undercurrents. No longer a simple skeletal frame, it was covered in chakra pathways and flesh, like a red god of war clad in armor.
It gripped the enormous divine artifact, the Shindo Sword, its blade wreathed in ever-burning black flames and radiating an edge that seemed capable of cleaving through anything.
Uchiha Hikari stood beneath Susanoo, her Mangekyō Sharingan fixed on Otohime atop the magnificent Dragon Palace, whose golden Rinnegan shone brilliantly.
With a thought from her, Susanoo raised the Shindo Sword in both hands and brought it crashing down on Otohime and the Dragon Palace with terrifying force that could split mountains and seas.
"Insolent!"
Otohime snorted coldly. Rather than meet the earth-shattering strike head-on, she elegantly raised her right hand.
Her golden Rinnegan suddenly blazed with even more dazzling light.
"Susanoo!"
At her cold cry, the boundless blue seawater below suddenly boiled.
Countless creatures emerged! There were savage giant sharks, deep-sea octopuses waving their tentacles, sea dragons clad in scales...
They roared soundlessly, converging into a blue torrent that charged fearlessly toward the descending Shindo Sword.
Boom-!!!
The Shindo Sword collided head-on with the tide of sea beasts. Its black-flamed sword light sliced through the leading giant sharks and octopuses like a hot knife through butter, easily cutting them in half as their chakra forms dissolved into countless motes of light.
Yet the sea beasts seemed endless. Wave after wave surged forward, battering and biting at Susanoo's blade and arms in a frenzy, trying to stop that world-destroying strike.
But the third-stage Susanoo's strength far surpassed its earlier form.
The Shindo Sword forcibly cleaved through the layers of sea beasts. Wherever its edge passed, seawater evaporated and beastly forms shattered!
At last, the sword light slammed into the