But under his gaze, Urashiki also appeared somewhat stunned, clearly having encountered something unexpected. Just as he noticed Momoshiki's look and was about to open his mouth to explain, Furina spoke up one step ahead of him.
"It's so rare to meet, how can you just leave like that? Or rather, if you really want to leave, that's fine too—just defeat me and you can go."
As she spoke, Furina snapped her fingers. In the next moment, a huge azure barrier appeared all around them with the group at the center, enclosing everyone in a perfect square form.
This was one of the results Furina had achieved during this period. Although the barrier could not completely prevent people inside from using space-time ninjutsu, it could significantly slow down the speed at which it was performed.
Combined with Furina's interference from within, it was fair to say that practically no one could successfully use space-time ninjutsu here.
The way to break this barrier was also very simple: either destroy the barrier itself or counter it with an even stronger space-time ninjutsu. But the former was something Furina would never just stand by and allow, while the latter required someone stronger than Furina.
Although Momoshiki and Urashiki were not weak, claiming they were stronger than Furina would be quite fanciful.
"Help me stall her for a bit. I need some time."
As he spoke, Urashiki's eyes—now transformed into the Rinnegan—suddenly widened. Clearly, this time he was going all out.
His effort was not in vain. Under his urging, the teleportation portal they had both been longing for finally appeared and continued to grow larger.
However, just as a slight smile began to form at the corner of Urashiki's mouth, a figure slammed into him at high speed. The barely formed portal lost its support and began shrinking again.
"What's going on? If you had just stalled her a little longer, I would have finished!"
"Easy for you to say. How about you go stall her and I'll open the portal?"
Momoshiki, who had just stood up from the ground, naturally wasn't going to indulge Urashiki's complaint. Without even thinking, he shot back directly. What right did someone who had been hiding in the back the whole time have to criticize him?
"Had enough chit-chat, you two? I don't know about you, but I've already finished warming up."
"Tch."
"…"
No matter what, you're determined to keep us here. You don't seriously think you can win against us for sure, do you?
Facing Urashiki's nonstop chatter, Furina did not rush to attack. She simply watched him with a smiling yet silent expression. At this point, even Momoshiki—who was standing to the side—could barely stand it anymore.
"You keep talking so much, but what's the point? If you go all out too, the two of us working together might not necessarily lose to her."
"Hmph. Fine."
Hearing the urging, Urashiki finally stopped. He then took the red fish basket at his waist, put it into his mouth, and swallowed it. After swallowing it, apparently feeling it still wasn't enough, he even gouged out his own pair of Rinnegan eyes and swallowed them as well.
After swallowing the Rinnegan, Urashiki's form began to change. His original eyes regrew into golden Byakugan, and a golden Rinnegan opened on his forehead. If one only looked at these features, Urashiki's second state actually looked quite imposing.
Unfortunately, the face he made after transforming—like someone had viciously stomped on it—completely shattered any sense of impressiveness. Even the wings that grew out seemed somewhat ridiculous.
"Pfft. No wonder you didn't want to use it. If I transformed into something this ugly, I wouldn't want to use it easily either."
Hearing Furina's mockery, Urashiki was just about to retort, but the words that reached his lips were involuntarily swallowed back. He turned his head and met Momoshiki's gaze. Both could see the undisguisable shock in each other's eyes.