Sasuke Uchiha fell silent for a moment.
"I can't make it out."
He admitted it readily. "They're too fast."
Another violent explosion erupted at the center of the battlefield.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki met Shihōin Naraku's Kurikara head-on with his extended Black Rod. This time, Isshiki held his ground against the impact.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed his strength to its limit, but the next second, the Chakra Rods shattered under the slash of Kurikara's blade.
Countless tiny chakra fragments shot in every direction.
The fragments struck the ground, blasting out fist-sized holes amid a series of dull explosions.
The force drove Naraku half a step backward.
Isshiki seized that half-step opening and closed in.
His attacks no longer seemed like anything an intelligent being could perform.
These combinations of fists, palms, elbows, and knees broke completely beyond the framework of taijutsu.
This fighting style placed a devastating burden on his body.
Blood kept seeping from the corners of Isshiki's mouth and his nostrils, and the patterns of his karma markings grew ever dimmer on his skin, but he remained oblivious.
Naraku's flashing blade was accelerating as well.
His Hokage robes billowed in the fierce wind as he darted and twisted across the shattered ground, every swing of Kurikara precisely cutting off Isshiki's abruptly changing lines of attack.
At the same time, his footwork began to involve increasingly frequent movements.
Sometimes, to respond to Isshiki's repeated changes of direction, he had to change direction and speed three or four times in the blink of an eye.
His breathing remained as steady as ever, but the look in his eyes had become utterly serious.
Isshiki charged again.
A trail of rubble and dust streamed behind him, the rock fragments swept up by his chakra stretching into a long, grayish-yellow dragon at his back.