Isshiki Descends

Konoha, the hospital ruins.

Sasuke-no, he should have been called Isshiki now-floated in midair, his golden Rinnegan gazing coldly down. A single casual strike from him had razed the entire hospital. Tsunade, Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, and the others had barely escaped, but all of them were injured.

"So this is... the power of the Otsutsuki?" Tsunade coughed up blood. Her Strength of a Hundred Technique was rapidly repairing her injuries, but the healing could not keep pace with the destruction.

"Sasuke..." Naruto stared at that familiar yet alien figure, his Nine-Tails chakra erupting uncontrollably. "Give Sasuke back!"

"Foolish inferior creatures." Isshiki spoke in Sasuke's voice, but his tone was as cold as a machine. "This body is excellent. As Indra's reincarnation, he is ideally suited to be a 'vessel.' To thank you for raising him, I will grant you painless deaths."

He raised a hand, and a black cube appeared in his palm—the Otsutsuki technique Sukunahikona, which could shrink objects. The cube flew toward Naruto. If it struck him, he would be shrunk to a molecular scale and crushed.

"Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan!"

Jiraiya suddenly appeared, driving his senjutsu-enhanced Rasengan toward the cube. But the cube ignored the Rasengan and kept advancing. At the critical moment, Sakura struck the ground with her Monster Strength Fist, creating a shock wave that shifted Naruto out of the way. The cube skimmed past his shoulder and shrank a building behind him to dust.

"Even senjutsu doesn't work?" Jiraiya's expression darkened.

"It's useless. How could the techniques of inferior creatures possibly stand against Otsutsuki ocular jutsu?" Isshiki raised his hand again, conjuring several cubes this time. "The game ends here."

Just as the cubes were about to fall, space warped, and Lin Ye appeared with the unconscious Obito.

"Kamui!"

He transferred every cube into the Kamui Dimension, but the price was complete blindness in his left eye-not temporary, but permanent. Blood streamed from his eye, but he had no time to worry about it.

"Isshiki, your opponent is me."

Isshiki looked at Lin Ye, a trace of interest flashing through his golden Rinnegan. "So you're that 'variable'? You have a strange system inside you that can collect the unfulfilled wishes of the dead. Interesting. Once I kill you, I'll study that system thoroughly."

"You won't get the chance." Lin Ye took the completed Counter-Kāma from inside his clothes. "Because this was prepared specifically for you."

At the sight of the Counter-Kāma, Isshiki's expression shifted slightly. "A countermeasure created by Asura's descendants? Laughable. You think something like that can stand against a complete Kāma?"

"How will we know without trying?" Lin Ye pressed the Counter-Kāma against his chest. Red light erupted, not to attack Isshiki, but to pour into Lin Ye's own body. He was using the Counter-Kāma to forcibly purify the traces of Kāma within him, scant though they were, and use that as a foundation to force his way through the final bottleneck.

"System, exchange all my remaining wish completion progress for Rinnegan Fragments!"

[Current wishes completed: 212/1344]

[Fragments obtainable through full exchange: 2,120 (exceeds limit)]

[Warning: exceeding the exchange limit will permanently shut down the wish system. The host will lose all wish-related abilities.]

[Proceed with exchange?]

"Exchange!"

[Exchange complete]

[Obtained Rinnegan Fragments ×2,120]

[Current fragments: 2,190/1,000 (limit exceeded)]

[Beginning Rinnegan synthesis...]

Lin Ye felt an agonizing pain as though both his eyes were bursting, but this time, something new was being born within that pain. He tore away the black cloth over his eyes. Those eyes were no longer Mangekyo, nor were they a temporary Rinnegan. They were a complete, true Rinnegan.

Purple ripples flowed through his eyes, and Six Paths power surged through his body. He could see the essence of chakra, the threads of space, and the afterimages of time. Moreover, because this Rinnegan had been synthesized after purification with the Counter-Kāma, his eyes naturally countered Kāma.

"So this is... the power of the Rinnegan," Lin Ye murmured.

Isshiki finally grew serious. "Purifying yourself with the Counter-Kāma, then forcibly synthesizing a Rinnegan that counters me? Interesting. But do you think that's enough to defeat me?"

"How will we know without trying?" Lin Ye raised his hand. "Chibaku Tensei!"

But this Chibaku Tensei was on a scale far beyond anything before. Rather than summoning a meteor, it created an enormous attractive force field centered on all of Konoha, seeking to seal Isshiki. Isshiki countered with Sukunahikona, but the Rinnegan's Chibaku Tensei contained Six Paths power. The cubes were crushed by gravity the instant they made contact.

"Not bad." Isshiki pressed his palms together. "Then how about this? Daikokuten!"

Space split open behind him, and countless masses of black substance poured out, forming all kinds of weapons-blades, spears, swords, and halberds, each carrying terrifying destructive power. This was Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's signature ability: storing shrunken objects in another dimension and releasing them when needed.

The black weapons shot toward Lin Ye like a torrential downpour. He neither dodged nor retreated. His Rinnegan turned. "Preta Path: Sealing Technique: Absorption Seal!"

Before any of the weapons could touch him, their chakra was absorbed, and they fell as ordinary iron. But Isshiki had already rushed up to him, driving a fist toward Lin Ye's face. Black Kāma power coated the fist, capable of corroding everything.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Repulsive force erupted, but Isshiki's fist broke through it and kept coming. Lin Ye blocked with Adamantine Sealing Chains. The chains collided with the fist in a deafening clang of metal. Both men recoiled, and the ground cracked.

Close combat puts me at a disadvantage, Lin Ye judged instantly. Isshiki's Kāma had a corrosive power; any contact risked infection. He needed to fight at range, using sealing jutsu.

"Sasuke, wake up!" he suddenly shouted. "I know you're still there! Your body, your will-they haven't completely disappeared! Think of Itachi, think of Naruto, think of Sakura, think of the Uchiha! Are you really willing to let a monster like this control you?!"

Isshiki's movements froze for an instant. It lasted only a tenth of a second, but that was enough. In that instant, Lin Ye saw a faint trace of purple deep within the golden Rinnegan-Sasuke's Mangekyo was still struggling.

"It's working!" Lin Ye kept shouting. "Sasuke, I fulfilled the Uchiha's unfulfilled wishes! I collected the wishes of more than four hundred of your clansmen! They're all watching you! Uncle Fugaku, Aunt Mikoto, Shisui, Elder Kagami... they all wanted you to live, to live freely! You're not anyone's vessel. You are Sasuke Uchiha!"

"Shut up!" Isshiki roared, but his movements grew even more erratic. Sasuke's will was resisting, and though weak, it was interfering with his control.

"Now!" Lin Ye formed hand seals with both hands, pouring the full power of the Counter-Kāma into his Rinnegan. "With the Rinnegan as the conduit, the Counter-Kāma as the blade, and the Uchiha's unfulfilled wishes as witness-Sealing Jutsu: Six Paths: Counter-Kāma Extraction!"

Red light shot from Lin Ye's eyes and enveloped Isshiki. Isshiki tried to counter with Daikokuten, but Sasuke's will inside him obstructed him. The light penetrated his body, heading straight for the Kāma core at his heart.

"No! It took me a thousand years to find the perfect vessel! I cannot lose to inferior creatures!" Isshiki shrieked. His golden Rinnegan unleashed its last reserves of energy for one final struggle.

But Lin Ye was faster. He poured the power of every Rinnegan Fragment, every remnant of the wish system, and every unfulfilled wish of the Uchiha into this single strike.

"Get out of Sasuke's body-now!"

BOOM!!!

The red light exploded. Isshiki's body-Sasuke's body-froze in midair. Then, beginning at his chest, the black Kāma markings receded like an ebbing tide. His golden Rinnegan turned purple, then black, finally returning to Sasuke's original black eyes.

Sasuke fell from the sky, and Naruto caught him.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried through his tears.

Sasuke opened his eyes, weak but lucid. "You loser... what are you crying for...?"

"You're back! You're really back!"

Isshiki had been extracted, but he had not vanished. Black matter gathered in midair, forming a vague human shape-Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's spirit. He had no body, but he remained powerful.

"Damn you... damn you, inferior creatures..." Isshiki snarled. "But don't celebrate yet! Without a vessel, I'll find another way to revive! Black Zetsu!"

Black Zetsu emerged from the shadows, holding a container with the unconscious Karin inside. He had seized her amid the chaos just as she was about to awaken.

"Lord Isshiki, use this Uzumaki clanswoman's body. She may not compare to Indra's reincarnation, but she will suffice."

"No!" Lin Ye tried to save her, but Isshiki had already rushed toward Karin.

Just as Isshiki was about to invade Karin's body, she suddenly opened her eyes. She was not being controlled by him; she had awakened on her own-and her eyes were Rinnegan.

No, they were not Rinnegan. They were similar, but their pattern was the Uzumaki Clan's crest. This was the final contingency Mito's lingering soul had left when she reinforced the seal: an "Uzumaki Rinnegan," forcibly awakened through her soul remnant and Karin's bloodline.

"Isshiki, I've waited a long time for this moment." Karin spoke in Mito's voice. "You caused the deaths of so many people in Uzushio Village back then. Today, it's time to repay that debt."

"Mito?! Wasn't your soul completely scattered?!"

"It was scattered, but not completely. I left a part of myself inside Karin, waiting for this very moment." Karin-Mito-formed hand seals with both hands. "In the name of the Uzumaki, summon Six Paths power. With this bloodline as the conduit, form the final seal-Sealing Jutsu: Six Paths: Reaper Death Seal: Modified!"

The spectral figure of the Reaper appeared, but it reached for Black Zetsu, not Isshiki. Black Zetsu tried to flee, only to be bound by Adamantine Sealing Chains. The Reaper's hand pierced him and pulled a black core from his body-a fragment of Kaguya's will.

"Mother!" Black Zetsu screamed.

"Kaguya's will should rest in peace, too," Mito said. The Reaper swallowed the core, and Black Zetsu dissolved into ash.

Isshiki tried to escape, but Lin Ye was already blocking his path. His Rinnegan turned, working in concert with Mito's seal. Isshiki had nowhere to run.

"It's over, Isshiki," Lin Ye said.

Isshiki looked at Lin Ye, then Mito, then Naruto and Sasuke below, and suddenly laughed. "Yes, it's over. But I'm not the only member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan. Kaguya was sealed, and I was defeated, but other Ōtsutsuki will come to this planet. When that happens, can you still win?"

"However many come, I'll kill them all," Lin Ye said.

"Arrogant. But... perhaps you can do it." Isshiki's soul began to dissipate. "The Uchiha Orphan, the Uzumaki heir, the reincarnations of Indra and Asura... this planet is rather interesting. I'll wait for you on Yomi Road."

Isshiki vanished completely.

The battle was over.