Chapter 213 – Planetary Energy! Super Shinra Tensei
Kitagawa Gen had always known—Nagato's potential was terrifyingly high.
Not just him. Black Zetsu, and even Uchiha Madara, surely understood this as well.
"To force Nagato into using White Zetsu cells just to strengthen himself… seems I really have hit them harder than I thought."
Gen was self-aware. Being battered again and again, unable to gain the upper hand—anyone's mentality would crack under that.
And yet…
"With White Zetsu cells, Nagato truly has grown much stronger."
Even as he traded blows with Nagato, Gen couldn't help but evaluate his opponent.
—Strong. Unquestionably strong.
A man with the blood of Asura, capable of bearing the power of the Rinnegan. Even without his jutsu, his physical vessel alone had surpassed imagination.
Before, when Nagato used large-scale techniques like Shinra Tensei or Chibaku Tensei, he paid for them with his very life force.
But now? Gen estimated that such techniques would cost him only strain—not his life.
Still…
"Difficult for others perhaps. But for Ōtsutsuki Genshiki… this is merely troublesome."
He shook his head. Whether it was his true self or this manifestation, the foundations of an Ōtsutsuki were far too deep. Nagato was dangerous—but not invincible.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!
Deafening shockwaves rolled out as the two clashed. Even their basic taijutsu exchanges shook mountains.
From Takigakure's center to its outskirts, their path was destruction itself. Towers crumbled. Mountains cracked. Forests shattered. Every structure touched by their blows was reduced to ruin.
"Are… are they even human?"
Takigakure's elders and jonin leaders could only stare in disbelief. They had evacuated the moment battle erupted, but even from afar, the destruction left them pale.
The earth trembled with every strike. Their movements were blurs, invisible to the naked eye. It was no fight—it was annihilation.
And worst of all, Takigakure's people were still fighting their own battles within.
The tailed beast… their greatest shield, their deterrent through countless wars.
Now it had become a curse, a death warrant drawing predators to their door.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The fight showed no signs of slowing. If anything, both combatants grew fiercer.
"You can't deal with me like before, Kitagawa Gen!"
Nagato's voice burned with rage—fueled by the sting of Gen's earlier words.
"Is that so?"
Gen tilted his head. In an instant, he leapt, landing atop a massive boulder Nagato had hurled, balancing lightly before speaking again.
"Haven't you noticed? I haven't even used a single jutsu yet."
Nagato's expression hardened.
"Because you're trying to spare Takigakure? Don't pretend you care. It's nothing but image. The pain you've caused can't be described in words!"
Gen's lips curved.
"If you're so concerned with pain… why haven't you revived Yahiko?"
The words pierced Nagato like a blade, his fury igniting.
"Die!"
He roared, surging forward. But in that instant—Gen vanished.
From afar, power surged.
"You call me pretentious? Yet you refuse to answer. Isn't the truth that you're too afraid to face Yahiko? The real pretender here… is you, Nagato."
Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!
A blinding white column of light formed in Gen's palm.
"Shut up!"
Nagato bellowed, raising his hands.
"That trick won't work on me—Shinra Tensei!"
The light and the Rinnegan's repulsion collided—
And the world split apart.
Explosions rolled outward in waves. Fire pillars clawed skyward, black smoke churning like a hellscape.
Nagato's gaze flickered. He knew Gen too well—this man missed no chance. Any lapse could mean eternal ruin.
"Is he coming?"
The ground quaked violently. Nagato's eyes widened as realization struck.
BOOM!
The earth beneath him rose. Entire swathes of terrain ripped upward, as though heaving mountains from the soil itself. From the cracks, endless vines surged forth, writhing toward him.
"Tch… I knew it."
Nagato scoffed, leaping back, the Rinnegan flaring once more.
"Summoning Technique!"
With a roar, he conjured forth beasts—massive, nightmarish entities.
But the vines wrapped them instantly, constricting, draining. The beasts howled as their chakra was siphoned away, vanishing like rivers into the growing forest.
And that forest… towered, swelling skyward.
ROAR!
From the canopy, a colossal wooden dragon surged forth. Upon its head stood Kitagawa Gen, charging straight at Nagato.
"Wood Release…!"
Nagato's heart clenched. He finally understood why the world revered Hashirama Senju so highly.
The sheer pressure of that dragon—combined with the relentless forest below—was enough to topple nations.
Still, Nagato's jaw set.
"Don't underestimate me!"
He inhaled sharply, Rinnegan glowing as he weaved through the sky, his power building again.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!
The clash was only beginning.
The wooden dragon and countless vines crashed against the earth, raising smoke and dust into the skies. The deafening roar was relentless.
Nagato, however, had already gathered the chakra he needed. He suddenly raised his head, eyes cold and merciless, and thrust out his hand.
"Then let me show you—just how much power I wield now!"
From his palm erupted an invisible yet overwhelming repulsive force, vast enough to shake heaven and earth.
"Super Shinra Tensei!"
This was the very same technique that had once obliterated the Hidden Leaf in an instant. But this time, Nagato wasn't casting it through the Deva Path—he was unleashing it himself.
No black rods, no borrowed vessel. The Rinnegan's power flowed directly from its true wielder. There would be no energy loss, no restraints of an unworthy body. Yahiko's frame could never have contained such force, not even after Nagato's modifications. Bloodline set the ceiling—one could not transcend it.
Now, with Nagato himself wielding the Rinnegan's full might, the Super Shinra Tensei was even more terrifying than before.
A hum filled the air.
In an instant, a titanic wave of repulsion swept outward, blotting out the sky.
"Oh? So you're going that far?"
Standing atop his wooden dragon, Kitagawa Gen tilted his head, feeling the crushing pressure that rolled toward him like a tidal wave.
If he had been Ōtsutsuki Genshiki in truth, he would have countered with his own Shinra Tensei and hurled the force right back. But he wasn't. Not yet.
Still…
"These years, I haven't relied only on the Ōtsutsuki's power. I've learned to wield the planet's power itself."
He lifted his hand slightly. Instantly, chakra surged madly within him. The wooden dragon beneath his feet linked with the countless vines below, channeling an immense flow of energy into him.
So immense, in fact, that the dragon and vines trembled under the strain, their forms on the verge of collapse.
But once the power gathered into Gen's palm, everything calmed.
In moments, a swirling sphere of energy took form.
A Rasengan. Yet not an ordinary one.
The air itself seemed to warp around it, space rippling faintly as though reality resisted its existence.
"A Rasengan? No… something else."
Nagato's breath grew heavier. He couldn't grasp what Gen was creating, but instinct screamed of its danger.
"You've changed a lot in three years… but—"
Gen smiled faintly, watching the invisible wall of repulsion surge closer, shimmering with a faint halo.
"—I've grown as well. Even with your Rinnegan…"
"…my style has always been a step above yours."
"…What?"
Nagato's eyes narrowed in confusion. But the next moment, Gen thrust his hand forward, slamming his warped Rasengan against the oncoming tide of destruction.
A hum.
The two forces collided—and the world itself seemed to shatter.
Repulsion clashed against the spiraling energy, and space visibly distorted around them.
The ground quaked violently, rivers split apart, cliffs sheared in half, and the very earth cracked open beneath their feet.
Then—
BOOM!
A colossal detonation tore the land asunder. The ground caved in with a thunderous roar as dust and shattered stone erupted skyward, only to be pulverized into ash by the force.
Beneath their feet stretched a vast, jagged canyon, carved in an instant.
Above, a massive mushroom cloud rose silently, threatening to devour the heavens themselves.