In her Vollständig state, Uchiha Hikari no longer resembled anything human.
Her jet-black hair surged like ink, flowing wildly like a mass of heavy storm clouds, while boundless spiritual power poured ceaselessly from her body. Beneath the blood-red reishi disk and wings, her form had transformed into nothing less than a gigantic scarlet, single eye!
"What terrifying spiritual power…"
Her appearance was grotesque—strange and even hideous. After all, at this moment Hikari was nothing more than an enormous eye, with not a trace of humanity left.
But no one present paid attention to that. They clearly understood what happened after activating Vollständig.
Vollständig was the strongest form a Quincy could attain after receiving a blessing. Upon activation, besides gaining reishi disks and wings, the user's physical body could undergo drastic changes under this power to maximize the host's strength.
Among the Quincies blessed by Yoru with Schrifts, there were many whose Vollständig forms were uglier and more bizarre. Hikari's single-eye form wasn't even noteworthy.
What truly shocked everyone was the intensity of the spiritual power emanating from Hikari after activating Vollständig—it even surpassed Miroku's!
"Such soul-trembling spiritual power! I thought you were like Kimimaro, chosen because your aptitude was exceptionally suited to the Schrift."
Miroku, still tirelessly converting chakra into spiritual power, looked at Hikari with mixed feelings. She had hardly met Hikari before—today was practically their first encounter—but since they were both members of Yoru's Divine Pardon Guard, she had never doubted her.
Because she had met Kimimaro.
Although young the Schrift he bore—Miracle—was monstrously powerful. Once grown, Kimimaro surpassing her, surpassing all Quincies and even Shinigami, was only a matter of time.
But she had not expected Uchiha Hikari to be even more monstrous!
"Of course. Hikari was personally chosen by Lord Yoru—she's the strongest of the Uchiha clan!" Hiromi said with a trusting smile, gazing at the massive eye. "From here on, I leave it to you, Hikari."
"…Mm."
The giant eye slowly closed. When it opened again, the entire eyeball had taken on the pattern of a Mangekyō Sharingan.
A blood-red seal flashed within the eye socket. In the next moment, the spiritual power generated by the instrument began to rapidly dissipate!
Eight Thousand Spears—had already been activated!
...
The explosion born of the Expansive Truth-Seeking Orb had emptied the entire dream-world, leaving a vast vacuum.
Within that zone, even the very elements of energy had been obliterated.
"So it's over."
Seeing this scene, and feeling the information transmitted from the entire world, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya let out a light hum.
She still didn't understand why Yuki Yoru had smiled just before being obliterated—perhaps he had some hidden trick prepared. But right now, in this world, Yuki Yoru no longer existed.
Perhaps he did have some method of resurrection. But the destruction of a clone of this strength would be a tremendous loss. Restoring it would consume a staggering amount of resources.
And such a cost would severely hinder Yuki Yoru's growth, leaving him unable to keep pace with the ranks of true powerhouses.
Yuki Yoru, the so-called master of souls, no longer had the qualifications to become a player in this great game of chess!
"Now then, it's time to finish digesting you."
"White Snake."
Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's gaze pierced into the ethereal source of the dreamworld. Through endless layers of space and restriction, he saw it—the White Snake, sprawled unconscious, lost in illusion.
A once-close companion… who, starting today, would become nothing more than a stepping stone on his path to supremacy.
If he devoured the White Snake, the millennia of power it had accumulated would all become his. Then he could surpass even Hagoromo, reaching the same realm once tread by the Rabbit Goddess herself—Kekkai Mōra.
What, you said that even if he devoured the White Snake, it would not be enough for Gamamaru to break through to Kekkei Mōra?
It didn't matter. There was another one waiting for him in the shinobi world.
Gamamaru's lips curled into a faint smile. Kaguya's form began to fade, dissolving into pure sage chakra—
—but at that instant, a blinding radiance erupted from a far corner of the dream world. A colossal beam of light tore through the heavens, a pillar that reached beyond the sky.
"What?!"
The dispersing chakra condensed again. Gamamaru's eyes locked on that direction, disbelief flickering across his pale pupils.
He had checked before—he was certain Yuki Yoru's presence had been erased completely from this dream world. Yet now, that surging power, that ever-mounting spiritual pressure, screamed the truth: Yoru was not dead!
He had endured the direct blast of the Expansive Truth-Seeking Orb. Even if this was only a false replica within a dream world, it was still an Expansive Truth-Seeking Orb!
Instinctively, Gamamaru tried to bend the dream world to suppress the space around Yoru's location. But to his shock, that area no longer obeyed him at all. It wasn't slipping free—it was being suppressed. That overwhelming spiritual power had forced the dream world itself into submission.
"This is my domain! You think I'll let you overturn it?!"
His gaze went cold as he summoned the world's power. But before he could muster the full power of the dream world, that surging pillar of spiritual power continued to climb higher, its aura swelling without end—until the entire dream world itself began to tremble.
And then—
Shatter!
A crisp sound echoed throughout the world. The vast pillar of spiritual light forcibly shattered the restrictions of the dream world and plunged into the chaotic spatial turbulence.
The terrifying spiritual pressure brought by this power broke free from the dream world's constraints and spread out completely!
—In Mount Myōboku, the two toads, Shima and Fukasaku, had just assumed the Great Toad Sage had finished off Yoru and were ready to return to their meal. But before the food even touched their lips, that indescribable pressure slammed them flat to the ground.
Bowls and chopsticks splintered. The earth roared. Rivers and seas recoiled in reverse.
Under this pressure, Mount Myōboku crumbled. Mountains collapsed, countless toads were buried under shattered stone. The only mercy was that their souls were crushed instantly by the spiritual power's release—they never felt the agony of their bodies being torn apart.
The entire mountain shook and thundered like the apocalypse itself had arrived.
Inside the toad caves, Shima's face flushed red as she gasped for breath, suffocating under the pressure. She forced her sage chakra into motion, struggling to speak through the weight pressing down on her lungs.
"O-Old man… what is this… why, why is it suddenly…?"
"It's spiritual power… Yuki Yoru's spiritual power!"
Fukasaku's hands clapped together, drawing on every drop of nature energy he could gather. Luckily, Mount Myōboku's natural energy was nearly limitless. Soon, a special sage barrier cocooned the two Sages, shielding them.
Only then did they collapse to the ground, pale and trembling, but alive.
The two toad sages exchanged a glance, then their eyes snapped toward the depths of the toad caver, expressions grim.
If Yuki Yoru—whom they thought the Great Toad Sage had already dealt with—was releasing such a terrifying pressure, didn't that mean the Great Toad Sage…?
"Don't let your imagination run wild, old woman!" Fukasaku said firmly, voice steady despite the crushing pressure. "The Great Toad Sage would never fall. This energy is most likely Yuki Yoru's final death throes, or some hidden trump card. Whatever it is, it's not for us to meddle in. What we must do is protect ourselves and stabilize Mount Myōboku."
"But old man… fine. I understand."
Shima didn't argue further. She knew as well as he did that their power couldn't influence the battle between the Great Toad Sage and Yoru. Right now, Mount Myōboku itself was being ripped apart by Yoru's spiritual power. The ground was splitting, energy was in chaos, and countless tadpoles had already perished.
Just as Fukasaku had said—what mattered now was keeping Mount Myōboku from collapsing completely, not panicking and making things worse.
Yet the storm of spiritual pressure was not confined to Mount Myōboku.
Across the shinobi world, the war was nearing its end. But the White Zetsu army under masked Obito, and the allied forces of Sand and Stone, were still locked in combat. In that instant, both sides froze, every gaze lifting skyward in stunned disbelief.
"What a terrifying spiritual pressure…"
"This kind of spiritual power… is it a Shinigami? Or a Quincy?"
"Even a captain doesn't have this much power."
On the Allied Shinobi Forces' side, most had already begun training in spiritual power, becoming Quincy. To feel such overwhelming pressure now left them utterly shaken.
At the forefront of the alliance, the 13th Division Captain, Orochimaru, narrowed his eyes slightly, sensing the intensity of the spiritual pressure, his mind reeling with shock.
Others might not know the origin of this spiritual pressure, but having worked with Yoru for so long, he couldn't be unfamiliar with it.
"So… he's grown this strong."
"Fourth Mizukage… you're truly terrifying."
Meanwhile, in the Land of Grass, atop the Kannabi Bridge—
The commander of the Allied Forces' Second Division, the 6th Division Captain, and former Second Mizukage of the Mist, Hōzuki Gengetsu, stared up at the sky, his heart thundering.
"Ugh… why am I even here…?"
A dazed voice snapped him from his trance.
Turning, he saw his sparring partner—Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki—still looking somewhat dazed, unleashing Dust Release against his Steam Imp in a dazzling display of explosions overhead. Gengetsu froze for a moment, realization dawning.
"The genjutsu… it's been broken?"
"Genjutsu?" Ōnoki blinked, his clouded gaze slowly clearing. Feeling the turbulence of his chakra, he instinctively looked toward the voice.
"You're… the Second Mizukage, Hōzuki Gengetsu?!"
"So the genjutsu really was broken… and just from the aftershocks of that spiritual pressure?" Hōzuki Gengetsu muttered irritably, glaring toward the source of the aura. "Tch. I can't even see the point of this war dragging on to this extent."
He then turned to the bewildered Ōnoki, a smirk of mockery tugging at his lips.
"How pitiful, Ōnoki. A so-called village Kage, reduced to someone else's puppet. That bandaged fool of a man truly is worthless—raising such a blockheaded disciple like you."
"What in the world…"
Ōnoki didn't bite back at the insult. Instead, his gaze drifted down to the war-torn battlefield below. His mind churned as he pieced through his muddled memories… until they stopped on a pair of blood-red Mangekyō Sharingan. Then he understood.
"An Uchiha's genjutsu… tch, how disgraceful I've become."
The spiritual pressure surged on. If even a Kage's mind was rattled by it, then ordinary shinobi stood no chance. Below, many froze in place, blank-eyed, still dazed long after Ōnoki recovered. The Quincy trembled in awe at the spiritual power, while the shinobi stood stupefied, their thoughts lagging.
In that moment, the whole shinobi world—once aflame with war—felt as if someone had pressed the pause button.
—Konohagakure, Root base.
Jigen crushed the wineglass in his hand. Scarlet liquid dripped over his palm and sleeve, but his eyes were fixed unwaveringly on a distant point in space. He said nothing.
—The Pure Land.
Ōtsutsuki Hamura and Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo exchanged heavy looks.
"The strength of this spiritual power… Brother, he's already stepped into our level."
"I know."
Hagoromo's expression was dark, his Rinnegan burning as he tried to pierce the veil between the Pure Land and the living world, to see through countless layers of space and obstruction toward the source of that pressure.
But all he found was a thick, impenetrable fog.
At once, Hagoromo understood what it meant. His only response was a growl:
"Arrogant toads!"
Beyond venting his anger, he could do nothing.
—On the moon.
In the midst of battle, Uchiha Obito and Ōtsutsuki Toneri both froze, their gazes drawn down to the blue planet below. Even across the gulf between Earth and Moon, that vast spiritual pressure was undeniable.
"This level of power… impossible. No one alive could wield such strength."
Toneri's face was twisted with disbelief. Not even with the full might of the Tenseigan was he this strong. When had the shinobi world birthed such a monster? Impossible!
"Yuki Yoru…"
Obito, by contrast, had already guessed the truth. His grip on the Sword of Nunoboko tightened, his face contorted.
His battle with Shisui had already shattered the illusion of his own invincibility upon stepping into Sage of Six Paths realm. He had seen first-hand the unfathomable depth of Yoru's strength.
But never—not even in nightmares—had he imagined the man could reach this height.
For a moment, alongside the shock, a flicker of relief crept into Obito's heart. Thank goodness he hadn't attacked Yoru head-on… thank goodness he had sought allies instead. Otherwise…
"Hey."
Obito's voice cut through Toneri's silence. The Uchiha stared at him with grim resolve.
"Let's cooperate."
"What?" Toneri blinked.
"I said, let's cooperate." Obito's words were deliberate, heavy. "That man—he's our common target. He's the true culprit behind your father's death.
"You and I fighting each other is meaningless. You've felt it, haven't you? That boundless spiritual power, shaking all three realms. The owner of that power is the enemy we must face."
"So—join forces with me."