Deep within the rift

His indifferent words fell through the sky. White robes billowing, Lin Chen strode through the air and entered the pitch-black rift spanning a thousand feet without the slightest hesitation.

The lingering windblown sand, stagnant chakra, and remaining black mist of cursed energy outside fell completely still the moment he entered the rift. The vast desert lay deathly silent. Every Sunagakure ninja and Jonin stationed there stood frozen on the dunes, staring fixedly at the ink-black dimensional gateway, the shock in their hearts refusing to subside.

They had watched the boy annihilate countless enemies with a flick of his fingers and crush an advancing torrent powerful enough to overturn the Shinobi World. Now, he had ventured alone into the abyss of another plane. A forbidden land of world-ending destruction that everyone else scrambled to avoid was, to him, a hunting ground he entered willingly.

Atop the highest dune, Fourth Kazekage Rasa stood surrounded by floating golden sand, his normally composed eyes filled with profound emotion. He considered himself a Kage Level fighter who commanded Sand Release Secret Techniques, but that battle had made him fully recognize the gulf between them. Had he faced those three torrents from beyond their world, he could only have fought to the death for his village. Overwhelming them would have been utterly impossible.

"Beyond the Shinobi World, beyond its rules... this boy has long since become an existence we cannot measure," Rasa murmured, his voice filled with helplessness and awe.

In the shadows nearby, a slender figure concealed himself amid the blowing sand. Orochimaru's green, serpentine eyes remained fixed on the enormous rift, the fervor in them threatening to spill out.

"Willingly entering a Level Three Rift... what a bold and captivating choice."

"The spatial pressure within the rift, the plane's rejection, and its masses of powerful enemies would be enough to wear an ordinary peak Kage Level fighter to death... let's see whether your rule plundering can withstand the backlash from another plane's source."

He quietly raised a hand. Countless fine strands of Cursed Energy insect silk drifted on the wind and attached themselves to the rift's spatial barrier, attempting to record the fluctuations of the battles within and the changes in its source, and replicate Lin Chen's heaven-defying ability.

Meanwhile, at a secret base in Amegakure.

Pain sat on a raised platform, his Rinnegan piercing the vast distance to lock precisely onto the Level Three Rift at Sunagakure's border. His cold voice echoed through the hall. "Venturing deep into the rift of his own accord, unafraid of the plane's rejection or masses of powerful enemies... Lin Chen's confidence far exceeds our estimates."

Konan stood beside him and said softly, "Leader, if he clears out every lord-class fighter inside the rift, the Shinobi World will no longer face a threat from beyond our world. Our plans will be significantly delayed."

"There is no need for concern." Pain shook his head slightly, a faint light shifting in his Rinnegan. "Myriad Worlds Fusion is irreversible. Level Three Rifts are only the beginning. Level Four calamities, true gods of other planes, and armies of otherworldly races will descend in turn. The more forcefully he harvests today, the more fiercely the heavenly order will target him in the future. We need only watch."

The various factions watched coldly as the undercurrents of their contest surged, while within the rift lay an entirely new battlefield on another plane.

The instant Lin Chen entered the rift, endless darkness enveloped him, and violent energy utterly unlike that of the Shinobi World washed over him in a frenzy.

There was no day or night here, no sun or moon, no windblown sand or vegetation. Black cursed energy and dense seastone mist filled the entire space. Layers of spatial barriers pressed inward, carrying a terrifying force of planar rejection. An ordinary Kage Level fighter who entered would have their body continuously torn apart and their chakra rapidly sealed, their combat strength plummeting with every passing moment.

Yet Lin Chen stood within this violent foreign plane utterly at ease, without the slightest discomfort.

His permanently established absolute immunity to seastone, perfected Cursed Energy resistance, and supreme body reshaped by the Sea Kings bloodline exempted him entirely from every suppressive effect of the foreign plane. The forbidden rift everyone outside feared was merely a hunting ground with denser energy to him.

Hum-

The Omnidirectional Devouring Domain spread out once more. Compared with outside, its reach was now wider, its suppression deeper, and its plundering more violent. All the restless energy within the foreign plane was instantly locked in place, unable to run rampant any longer.

Rumble!

Dull tremors came from deep within the darkness. The ground shook, and black mist churned. Four enormous battle silhouettes, far larger than their counterparts outside, slowly emerged from the gloom, each surrounded by terrifying pressure sufficient to overwhelm a peak Kage Level fighter.

At their head was a lord-class Sea King Beast nearly five hundred feet long, its body comparable to a small mountain. Dark-gold scales of supreme-grade seastone covered its entire body, every scale flowing with dense planar source power. A twisted, blood-red horn grew from its head, entwined with permanently condensed special-grade cursed energy. Even the air it exhaled could corrode space and tear through barriers. It was the ultimate overlord commanding the entire beast tide of this Level Three Rift.

Behind it, two advanced Calamity Sea King Beasts stood to either side. Their auras far exceeded those of the fully developed exotic beasts outside. Their physical strength, Cursed Energy corrosion, and seastone suppression had all doubled. Each possessed the terrifying combat strength to overwhelm an ordinary Kage Level fighter alone.

Above them, a mass of pitch-black mist condensed into a humanoid form floated slowly. It was the rift's ultimate reserve—the Special Grade Cursed Spirit leader, Grudge Aggregation.

It had gathered every negative emotion and all the source cursed energy accumulated throughout the Level Three Rift over countless centuries. Its form was as solid as flesh, no longer a frail spirit body. Black blades of cursed energy formed in its hands, and endless storms of resentment circled it. It could control spatial curse corrosion, detonate resentment, and imprison souls. Its bizarre, unanswerable techniques made it the nightmare of countless Kage Level fighters.

In the deepest darkness behind them, three figures clad in heavy black armor gilded with gold stood silently, their auras fierce and domineering.

These were three vice-admiral-class One Piece pirates from the East Blue, high-ranking fighters who stood above every Commodore. All three had mastered supreme Armament Haki, permanently hardening their armor, weapons, and bodies with it. Their bodies were tough enough to withstand spatial explosions, and their swordsmanship was brutally lethal. Combined with their experience fighting on battlefields, each could overwhelm three quasi-Kage Level fighters alone. Together, they could kill a peak Kage Level fighter.

A beast lord, a cursed spirit leader, and elite humans!

Every trump card of the Level Three Rift had appeared!

The seven high-ranking overlords locked onto Lin Chen together, their towering killing intent condensing into substance. An aura of destruction completely enveloped the dark space.

The lord-class Sea King Beast attacked first. Its heavy, mountainlike body charged forward, shattering the ground layer by layer. Supreme cursed energy and seastone source power gathered in its blood-red horn, forming a black beam that pierced heaven and earth and shot straight at Lin Chen's heart, bearing the destructive power to pierce, seal, and corrode everything.

The two Calamity Sea King Beasts followed close behind. Their enormous, bone-spiked claws tore through the void, closing in from both sides and blocking every route of escape. The shock of their brute strength caused space to collapse.

Above, the Special Grade Cursed Spirit leader formed hand seals. Endless storms of resentment gathered into an enormous black cage, instantly locking down the entire battlefield. Within the cage, souls trembled, chakra ran wild, and flesh corroded. Layers of debuffs stacked together in an inescapable imprisonment.

The three vice-admiral-class One Piece pirates drew their swords simultaneously. Three black slashes of Haki crisscrossed through the darkness, carrying enough force to sever steel and split mountains. They attacked from above, the middle, and below in a lethal encirclement, offense and defense united without a single opening.

This was a true death trap, a torrent of elite combat strength sufficient to annihilate the allied forces of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Any peak Kage Level fighter from the Shinobi World who entered would have been severely injured, overwhelmed, and erased in an instant, with no chance of turning the tables.

Yet Lin Chen stood at the center of the lethal assault, his expression as indifferent as ever. Not a ripple stirred in his eyes, only the apathy of one looking down upon ants.

"So you've shown every trump card. Good."

"Harvesting everything at once will save a great deal of trouble."

As his words fell, Lin Chen gently curled his fingers.

In an instant, the Devouring Domain erupted at full power, its force of rules crushing the entire foreign plane!

The first thing to fail was the Special Grade Cursed Spirit leader's cage of resentment.

The black cage, powerful enough to imprison a Kage Level soul, touched the domain's boundary and rapidly melted, disintegrated, and collapsed like ice and snow meeting boiling water. All its resentment, cursed energy, and negative emotions were devoured and converted by the domain into pure source power.

The previously inescapable cursed imprisonment was rendered useless in an instant.

Before the Cursed Spirit leader could react, the black Cursed Energy blades filling the sky shattered inch by inch. The spiritual source it had condensed over a thousand years was forcibly stripped away. Its body twisted violently and collapsed, and a shrill, despairing scream rang through the void.

The bizarre curses, soul erosion, and eruptions of resentment with which it had dominated the rift were meaningless before absolute source plundering.

In just two breaths, this Special Grade Cursed Spirit leader, against which the Shinobi World would have been helpless, vanished completely. Its thousand years of accumulated power all became nourishment for Lin Chen.

Next, the three Haki slashes spanning the space abruptly froze.

The three vice-admiral-class One Piece pirates' pupils contracted, horror filling their faces. Their supreme Armament Haki sword power and domineering physical strength were draining at a speed visible to the naked eye. The thick, gilded coating of Haki on their bodies rapidly dimmed, cracked, and shattered.

"Impossible! This is supreme Armament Haki! How can it be stripped away out of nowhere?!" the leading vice admiral roared involuntarily, his face filled with disbelief.

They had fought across the seas, slain Sea Kings, withstood cannon fire, and roamed the four seas, yet they had never seen such a bizarre ability. Without attacking or defending, a single domain could plunder the source of every power.

The three desperately unleashed all their Haki, trying to break free of the restraint. But the harder they struggled, the faster their source drained away. The foundations built through decades of bitter training were uprooted, and their powerful bodies rapidly withered and stiffened.

Within three breaths, all strength had drained from the three vice admirals. Their armor shattered, their long swords fell, and their bodies dropped heavily to their knees in the void. They had been reduced to cripples, without a shred of combat strength remaining.

Last came the three supreme Sea King Beasts.

The lord-class Sea King Beast's black beam froze in midair, its destructive power instantly devoured and dissolved by the domain. Invisible rules held its enormous, mountainlike body fast. No matter how frantically it rammed, roared, or unleashed its power, it could not move an inch.

Its dark-gold scales of supreme-grade seastone peeled away and softened layer by layer. Its incomparably precious lord-class bloodline was forcibly extracted, and the permanently condensed special-grade cursed energy within it was completely emptied.

The two Calamity Sea King Beasts struggled even more violently, but their fate was the same. Their brute strength ran dry, their cursed energy dissipated, and their bodies collapsed.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three earthshaking crashes rang out in succession as the enormous bodies of the three overlord-class exotic beasts slammed into the ground of the foreign plane, leaving gigantic craters. Dust filled the air. Every trace of life vanished, leaving three piles of shriveled, lifeless remains.

In barely a dozen breaths.

Every lord, leader, and elite fighter in the Level Three Rift had been annihilated!

The entire dark foreign plane instantly fell utterly silent.

The violent energy filling the sky, the rampaging black mist, and the seastone aura suppressing the world were all absorbed, purified, and converted by the Devouring Domain. The once incredibly dangerous abyss of the foreign plane became pure and peaceful in an instant. Only exceptionally dense, pure source power remained drifting through the void.

Vast quantities of high-grade source power, multiplied tenfold by critical bonuses, surged into Lin Chen's body. His four systems of power soared, fused, and transformed together.

Hum-!

An immense aura far surpassing anything before erupted!

The barrier of the initial Kage Level stage instantly shattered, its shackles broken completely.

[Ding! Full tenfold critical harvest complete!]

[Devoured lord-class Sea King bloodline, supreme Armament Haki source, and special-grade resentment cursed energy!]

[Combat strength breakthrough! Firmly entered the Kage Level intermediate stage!]

[Body, cursed energy, Haki, and chakra elevated in every dimension! Localized cursed-energy armament and embryonic Conqueror's Haki pressure unlocked!]

The instant the system notifications ended, Lin Chen's aura transformed completely.

Three energies—dense black Advanced Armament Haki, dark and keen special-grade Cursed Energy, and pure, immense Kage Level chakra—flowed at his will, intertwining in perfect harmony. A shimmering barrier of interwoven black and white instantly formed over his body. With his breakthrough, a strand of invisible imperial pressure originating from the highest reaches of the myriad worlds erupted outward. It was his newly unlocked embryonic Conqueror's Haki pressure! Without any deliberate release, the space for dozens of feet around him froze completely. The foreign plane's remaining chaotic energy and floating scraps of black mist all stopped dead in the void, like subjects bowing and kneeling. Even the restless spatial currents dared not flow freely.

Lin Chen curled his fingers slightly. A fine, solid layer of localized Cursed Energy armament instantly covered his arm. Lustrous black Cursed Energy patterns traveled across his skin, gleaming coldly with a hard texture. Combining the corrosive properties of Cursed Energy with Haki's hardened defense, it united offense and defense and far surpassed every Secret Technique armor in the Shinobi World.

This embryonic Conqueror's Haki pressure differed from the ordinary pressure of an imposing presence in the Shinobi World. It was not chakra-based intimidation, but absolute supremacy in the hierarchy of life and the dimension of rules. The faint remnants of exotic beast souls and scattered traces of resentment within the rift silently shattered and vanished the instant the pressure spread, unqualified to retain even a trace of existence.

At this moment, Lin Chen's body, energy, rules, and spirit had transformed and risen in every respect. He had completely broken free of the combat framework of the Shinobi World's ninja and truly entered the ranks of the myriad worlds' lower-tier overlords.

The Kage Level intermediate stage!

A level of combat strength that truly stood at the summit of the Shinobi World!

Even if the five peak Kage Level fighters joined forces, they would be as insignificant as ants before him now.

Lin Chen raised his hand and waved lightly. The Devouring Domain spread at full power, harvesting every remaining source fragment, Devil Fruit scrap, and trace of spatial energy within the rift, leaving nothing behind.

Once everything was done, he looked up toward the spatial core that had yet to collapse in the deepest part of the rift, a faint light shifting in his eyes.

Hidden there was the Level Three Rift's ultimate source core, along with faint traces of a passage to a higher plane.

But he did not venture deeper.

The time had not yet come.

The game of this chaotic era had only just begun. The Chunin Ninja Exams, Konoha's collapse, the contest among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and the Akatsuki's secret arrangements-many storylines had yet to conclude. Touching a higher plane too early would only bring the heavenly order's fiercest backlash and the attention of true gods from beyond their world ahead of time.

"That is enough for today."

Lin Chen murmured softly, turned, and stepped away. His figure became a streak of pure white light, instantly piercing layer after layer of spatial barriers and flying back out of the pitch-black Level Three Rift into the skies above Sunagakure's desert.

The moment his figure appeared, the entire world suddenly fell still.

Deprived of all energy sustaining it, the enormous rift spanning a thousand feet began rapidly shrinking, dimming, and collapsing.

The black tear in space swiftly healed. The black mist and seastone haze filling the sky dissipated completely, and the imprisoned spiritual energy and chakra of the world all revived. Peace returned to the vast desert.

A Level Three planar catastrophe capable of destroying the Shinobi World had been ended completely by one person.

On the dunes, every Sunagakure ninja trembled. Together, they bowed, offering the highest salute of reverence.

Rasa stood in the wind, speechless for a long time. The last thought in his heart of keeping Lin Chen in check vanished completely.

This boy cannot be opposed.

In the shadows, Orochimaru stood frozen, his serpentine pupils contracting violently. Unbelievable fervor and shock filled his face.

"A dozen breaths... he wiped out every lord-class fighter and broke straight through to the Kage Level intermediate stage..."

"He isn't a living creature at all. He is the rules themselves, standing above the myriad worlds!"

"The Konoha Crush plan... it seems I'll have to rearrange everything."

In Amegakure's hall far away, Pain narrowed his Rinnegan slightly, his voice cold and grave. "The Kage Level intermediate stage. Twelve years old."

"The Shinobi World's old order is utterly obsolete."

Hidden currents surged among the factions, and the balance of the world was reshaped.

High in the sky, Lin Chen stood quietly in white robes, gazing down at the boundless desert, his eyes calm and untroubled.

The Level Three Rift had been pacified, and his Kage Level intermediate stage was secure.

Next came the gathering storms within the Shinobi World itself.