Chapter 348: Final Form
Outside Konoha Village, an open clearing at the edge of relatively secluded forestland.
Otsutsuki Urashiki sat cross-legged on the ground. He extended his hand into the fish basket behind him, pulling out a chakra energy mass.
He held this chakra mass virtually in his palm. After a moment, that unstable chakra energy surprisingly condensed into a longan-sized blue sphere resembling a solid pill.
Urashiki picked it up, unhesitatingly placing it in his mouth.
"Gulp."
The pill entered his stomach. The fist imprint bruises remaining on his face faded and vanished at shocking speed. Fine wounds exposed through torn clothing also rapidly healed. His aura noticeably stabilized and recovered considerably.
However, he didn't relax vigilance. His blue Rinnegan remained constantly activated.
"Troublesome fellows... finally arrived."
He suddenly muttered quietly, mouth corners hooking into an as-expected smile.
Before words finished, his seated figure shifted several meters leftward without warning!
Just the same instant his body moved away—
BOOM!!!
A humming Rasengan precisely smashed into his original sitting position! The ground exploded into a crater several meters in diameter. Soil and rubble mixed with chakra aftershocks shot in all directions!
Urashiki had already dodged this surprise attack from concealment through Rinnegan ability! Though seemingly healing injuries, he'd actually been maintaining blue Rinnegan state precisely to counter this anticipated ambush.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—!!!
The Rasengan explosion smoke hadn't yet dispersed when intense wind-breaking sounds followed like sudden storms! Countless shuriken and kunai from tricky angles descended from all directions!
However, Urashiki's figure seemed to transform into an insubstantial phantom amid the sky full of cold light. His evasion movements didn't appear extremely swift yet always managed hairsbreadth differences, weaving through the most inconceivable gaps or making minimal, maximally efficient micro-movements, precisely avoiding every attacking ninja tool.
Application of "time rewind" ability. The instant attacks neared, he rewound extremely brief time, selecting and executing "present" optimal evasion routes at "past" nodes.
Clink clank clank... Ninja tools fell empty, nailing into ground or trees.
After the last shuriken futilely embedded in dirt, Urashiki leisurely landed in the clearing's center, surveying the silenced forestland.
"Finished playing? Come out now—don't make me wait too long. My belongings have been in your custody long enough, right? Now, can you return them to me?"
After brief silence—
Two figures emerged one after another from different directions, stopping at positions neither far nor near Urashiki, forming implicit pincer formation.
Precisely Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto.
"Failed, huh." Naruto looked at the uninjured Urashiki without much surprise—instead confirming his inner speculation. "Looks like you deliberately leaked your presence, letting us find this place."
"Regardless," Sasuke stepped forward half a pace, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Naruto. "Time to put an end to things. Can't let you continue running wild in this era."
"Running wild? Heh..." Urashiki seemed to hear some tremendous joke, laughing. His laughter filled with undisguised mockery and condescending contempt.
"You lower life forms—have you been mistaken all along? The Plow was always my Otsutsuki clan's treasure. As for the Nine-Tails... also a 'product' our clan created long ago."
"Occupying others' belongings, taking creations as your own, even reversing accusations calling the owner 'running wild'—aren't you ungrateful, arrogant fellows the ones doing that?!"
"HAH—!"
At this powder-keg conversation's end, Urashiki launched a surprise attack without warning! He violently reached into his fish basket again, pulling out a pre-prepared green-glowing chakra mass.
He forcefully threw the chakra mass toward the ground ahead!
BOOM—!!!
Incomparably violent tornado turbulent winds howled. Sharp wind pressure instantly enveloped Naruto and Sasuke's area, not only greatly interfering with their vision and movement but carrying intense binding and impediment effects, attempting to restrict their first counterattack wave!
Using this gained interval of less than one second, Urashiki's truly prepared killing move now revealed itself.
His other hand now violently extended, fingertips pinching a blood-red pill seemingly containing flowing flames and violent will within!
Nine-Tails chakra pill! Precisely what he'd used—the massive Nine-Tails chakra seized from Kushina, fully compressed and refined during his healing interval into this ultimate "supplement"!
He unhesitatingly stuffed this crimson pill into his mouth, swallowing it!
"URGH—!!!"
Unimaginably majestic scorching chakra instantly filled his body! Urashiki couldn't help releasing an ecstatic roar!
"Oh? Hehehe... HAHAHAHA!!" Urashiki felt the power within, unable to help laughing madly. "This is... the 'fox's' power? Too wonderful! I've been waiting for this moment!"
He locked dead onto Naruto and Sasuke, voice trembling from power filling him.
"You two... couldn't naively think I'd face both of you simultaneously without sufficient confidence?!"
This wasn't finished yet!
Under Naruto and Sasuke's grave gazes, Urashiki performed even more shocking, even insane actions.
The next moment, he actually stuffed his own weapon—that dark red fishing rod plus the fish basket behind him—simultaneously into his mouth!
Not symbolic motions but truly devouring them!
"Though recovering my eyes afterward will be somewhat troublesome... but to be absolutely safe, I absolutely... cannot let either of you leave here alive!"
Finally, the most horrifying scene occurred.
Urashiki raised both hands, fingers unhesitatingly stabbing viciously toward his own eyes!
SQUELCH!
Slight yet spine-chilling sounds.
Two bewitching Rinnegan were forcibly extracted from his eye sockets!
He showed no hesitation, stuffing these two eyes containing terrifying ocular power—supposedly his power's core—together into his mouth, chewing and swallowing them!
"GULP."
Like the final key inserting into a lock, final fuel thrown into a furnace.
"ROAR————!!!"
Indescribable chakra fluctuations erupted with Urashiki as center. Surrounding air violently distorted. The ground trembled slightly. Rubble floated defying gravity.
Abandoning weapons, devouring eyes, recovering all "externalized" power back into himself. Urashiki obviously no longer considered retreat or aftermath—he'd bet all his "chips" on this battle.
Before Urashiki, space opened a light gate. Within flowed incomprehensible light and shadow. Urashiki's floating body was completely enveloped and swallowed by this radiance.
When the light gate's brilliance dispersed and Urashiki's brand-new figure reappeared, the transformation was earth-shaking.
His originally somewhat human-aesthetic-compliant features had thoroughly vanished. His physique became more elongated, inhuman. His skin presented bloodless pallor covered with pitch-black patterns.
The most notable change was his head. The previously broken, comical-looking gray square "horns" had now transformed into bone wings symmetrically extending from both sides of his skull—though previous damage still remained.
His arms extended wing-like organs—both decorative and obviously possessing attack or flight functions.
At this moment, Urashiki floated inches above ground, posture like a humanoid crane, emanating far stronger oppressive presence than before.
"As expected... it's like this again?" Uchiha Sasuke gazed at the transformed Urashiki. "In the end, what you're doing and what we must do still haven't changed at all."
Though Urashiki's current aura was heart-palpitating powerful, Sasuke's eyes showed no wavering or fear. Instead, he slowly drew the Kusanagi sword from his waist.
On the other side, facing Urashiki's post-evolution even more terrifying pressure, Uzumaki Naruto's gaze became incredibly focused.
"Heard this guy's the 'weakest' among those 'Otsutsuki'?" He murmured, yet his mouth corners hooked into a battle-hungry smile. "Looks like I still need to push harder!"
"ROAR—!!!"
Dazzling brilliant golden radiance rose like dawn. Nine-Tails chakra instantly enveloped his entire body.
The final-form-evolved Urashiki slowly lowered his head. "...Alright."
His gaze swept across the battle-ready two, finally falling on Naruto.
"The Tailed Beast's chakra... 'taking' it later won't be too late either. Uzumaki Naruto... originally, I wanted to spare your life... you brought this on yourself!"
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