Chapter 84 — The Royal Blood of the Ōtsutsuki
The golden desert of the Land of Wind stretched endlessly beneath the blazing sun, the quiet heat broken only by the abrasive wind. At its heart stood the ancient, skeletal ruins of Rōran, silent—until the very ground beneath them began to pulse with an unnatural, rhythmic tremor.
Deep within the ruins, in the cavernous chamber where the Dragon Vein's core glowed with turbulent, raw energy, two figures appeared in a flash of golden and purple chakra. Naruto and Sasuke slammed onto the cold stone floor, instantly alert.
"This is it," Naruto grunted, rising immediately, the golden Sage Mode pigment already beginning to form around his eyes. "That chakra spike came from right here."
But they were not alone.
Standing before the Dragon Vein's central control pillar was a figure robed in flowing white and gold—tall, unnervingly graceful, and terrifyingly calm. His very presence seemed to drain the air of warmth.
His eyes gleamed—a pair of golden Byakugan, unlike any they had ever seen. The pupils spun, not with the focused vision of the Hyūga, but with a chaotic, royal power. Each iris was a miniature storm, shimmering with the absolute authority of the Royal Ōtsutsuki Bloodline.
His name was Mitsutsuki Ōtsutsuki.
The air around him visibly rippled, distorting the light. Even from a distance, Naruto and Sasuke felt an impossible weight descend, their breath tightening painfully. This chakra wasn't just heavy; it was divine and immutable. The mere residual pressure would have crushed most common shinobi instantly, leaving them unconscious or dead.
"Sasuke… this chakra… it's nothing like Kaguya or Momoshiki!" Naruto gasped, the Kyūbi's vibrant power responding defensively within him. "It's too clean."
Sasuke's Rinnegan glowed faintly beneath his bangs, analyzing the spatial and temporal distortion around the figure.
"He's a royal. His power operates on another level entirely—a nexus point of chakra and time itself," Sasuke confirmed, his hand already on the hilt of his sword. "His goal isn't consumption; it's control."
Before they could move, Mitsutsuki raised his hand, his movement economical, his calm voice echoing through the vast chamber as if speaking through a void.
"So… insects of this world still breathe in my presence." He sighed, a sound of supreme boredom. "No matter. The ritual has already begun."
The Dragon Vein roared—the core light spilling out in chaotic waves of pure energy. The ground split as ancient, geometric glyphs activated across the chamber floor, glowing intensely with symbols from a forgotten age that predated even the Sage of Six Paths.
Mitsutsuki extended both hands over the control seal carved into the central pillar, his divine chakra fusing with the Dragon Vein's core. The immense energy of the planet's circulatory system was suddenly being channeled through him.
The entire chamber trembled violently, the stone and sand vibrating into a furious blur.
"Naruto! The energy's going out of control! He's rupturing the Ryūmyaku!" Sasuke shouted, preparing to intercept with his fastest technique.
Naruto rushed forward, cloaked entirely in golden Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
"Then we stop him right now! Rasengan!"
But before they could reach him, the ritual reached its peak. Mitsutsuki's golden eyes flared, reflecting the core's catastrophic release—and a blinding, pure white light exploded from the Dragon Vein's heart.
For a single, agonizing heartbeat, everything went silent.
Then—the world shattered.
The white light swallowed Naruto and Sasuke completely, pulling them into its surging, temporal current like dust caught in a cosmic storm. They lost all sense of direction, of time—of physical existence. Their chakra signatures were twisted, stretched, and violently propelled.
As their consciousness faded into the unbearable chaos of the vortex, they heard Mitsutsuki's calm, crystalline voice echoing through the endless void:
"So, the ants dare to follow the dragon's pulse through time…"
"Let them. Even if they've clung to the storm, they are still only dust before royal blood."
He smiled faintly—cold, divine, and absolutely certain of his dominion.
"The royal Ōtsutsuki has no reason to fear insects. They will simply land where I choose to toss them."
And then, for Naruto and Sasuke, everything went dark, only to instantly reappear, violently ejected into the distant past of Konoha's Third Great Shinobi War.