Chapter 276: Dark Nine-tails Chakra Mode
In the curtain of rain, the atmosphere was eerie.
Jigen’s accusation filled with hatred left a trace of bewilderment in the hearts of everyone in the Akatsuki organization.
“Kaguya?”
The Deva Path’s pair of Rinnegan eyes coldly swept over the battlefield, trying to analyze useful intelligence from these brief words.
“Kaguya…” He repeated the name in a low voice again, his mind quickly filtering through known ninja villages, secret organizations, and even legendary figures, but finding nothing.
His gaze subconsciously turned to the half-black, half-white Zetsu beside him, with a hint of inquiry: “Do you have intelligence on this ninja?”
Zetsu was responsible for intelligence gathering in the Akatsuki organization, with White Zetsu placed for surveillance in each ninja village.
White Zetsu’s half immediately waved its hands exaggeratedly and shook its head: “I don’t know! Never heard of this name! It sounds like a woman’s name!”
However, Black Zetsu’s half was already surging with massive waves in its heart!
Kaguya!
The Kaguya they were talking about, could it be… its own mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki?!
These two mysterious people not only possessed power beyond common sense, using Chakra Black Rods that could only be created with something like the Rinnegan, but even mentioned its mother’s name!
Could they… also be old monsters who had survived from that era a thousand years ago until now?!
It had lurked for a millennium, proceeding cautiously and step by step, finally guiding the chakra of Indra and Asura through constant reincarnation, and seeing the dawn of resurrecting its mother on Uchiha Madara…
But now, why were so many variables appearing one after another?
First there was that unfathomable strength “Shura” suspected of possessing Rinnegan power, and now these two mysterious people who knew its mother’s name and had equally terrifying strength!
The “stability” brought by a thousand years of planning and endurance nearly collapsed at this moment; a massive panic of things completely slipping out of control gripped it, but it forcibly suppressed it, not daring to show the slightest on its face.
On the ground, Jiraiya, under the cover of the two toad immortals, had already arduously dragged his injuries to behind a relatively concealed broken wall.
He leaned against the cold, damp wall, breathing heavily, his mind rapidly recalling all known strong practitioners and secret intelligence from the Five Great Nations and various small ninja villages, yet similarly clueless about the name “Kaguya.”
Sage Fukasaku and Sage Shima on his shoulders also exchanged glances; they had lived for several hundred years with vast knowledge, yet had never heard of this figure.
“Kid’s dad, what do you think?” Sage Shima asked in a low voice, her purple lips pursed tightly.
“Unclear… but these two people are absolutely tied to the legends of the Sage of Six Paths.” Sage Fukasaku’s eyes under his white long eyebrows were extremely sharp: “The level of power they use has already exceeded the scope of ordinary ninjas.”
On the battlefield, facing Jigen’s angry accusation, Menma’s peripheral vision inadvertently swept over Zetsu among the Akatsuki crowd, particularly lingering slightly on the black half.
The corner of his mouth imperceptibly curved upward, outlining an arc with a hint of playfulness and profundity.
The Chakra Black Rod in his hand flexibly spun once, as if playing with a toy. Menma’s tone carried a deliberately vague ambiguity as he said to Jigen:
“Heh… if you think so, that’s not wrong.”
He paused, then his voice suddenly rose, clearly transmitting across the battlefield: “I’ve been looking for you for a thousand years! Today, I finally caught you!”
This sentence was like a second thunderbolt, striking Black Zetsu’s heart once more!
A thousand years?!
He…
He really lived for a thousand years?!
Could he really be from the same era as his mother?!
Does he know of my existence?
Does he know of my plan?!
Countless questions and fear of the unknown nearly swallowed Black Zetsu whole.
And before Menma’s words even finished, his figure had already turned into a streak of dark red streamlight, charging out fiercely!
The pitch-black Chakra Black Rod in his hand struck like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, with an unstoppable momentum, thrusting straight toward the airborne Jigen!
“Arrogance!” Jigen coldly snorted. After entering “Karma · State Two,” his speed, power, and reactions had all received terrifying enhancements.
He also condensed a black rod in his hand, precisely blocking Menma’s thrust!
Clang!!!
This clash produced a sound far more muffled and shocking than before!
A terrifying shockwave erupted centered on the two, instantly clearing the surrounding rainwater and forming a brief vacuum zone!
The two clashed together once more!
With State Two activated, Jigen completely overwhelmed the previous Menma in both power and speed.
His attacks
After an intense clash of Black Rods, Menma’s movements showed a faint, imperceptible hesitation.
Jigen seized this fleeting opportunity, delivering a powerful side kick that struck Menma’s chest like lightning!
Bang!!!
Menma’s entire body was like being hit by a high-speed train, spurting out a mouthful of blood, his body uncontrollably flying backward, smashing fiercely into the middle of a still intact tall tower behind like a cannonball!
The hard wall was smashed by him into a huge hole, bricks and stones mixed with rainwater rustling down, the raised dust diffusing in the rain curtain.
Plain and unadorned taijutsu most directly demonstrates the gap between the two sides.
“It’s over.” Deva Path coldly remarked, although the opponent was also an enemy, the overwhelming power displayed by Jigen made him feel even more dread.
Konan and Obito’s faces were grave; they could clearly feel the suffocating power oppression emanating from Jigen’s body.
Jiraiya, hiding in the shadows, also felt his heart rise to his throat. He couldn’t imagine what power other than the Rinnegan could reach this level.
On the contrary, it was Orochimaru, who was hiding his figure in the distance, with excitement and curiosity flashing in his golden snake pupils.
He stared intently at the black patterns on Jigen’s face and body that writhed like living creatures, muttering to himself: “This form… this way the power surges… it’s somewhat like the Sage Transformation Curse Mark that I’ve been researching, but on a much higher level! It’s practically forcibly integrating nature energy into the body in a more hegemonic way… and that kid…”
His gaze turned to that dusty cave entrance, and he smiled, saying: “He definitely didn’t go all out… Back in the Star Capital, the feeling he gave me was far more dangerous than now… The real show is just beginning.”
As Menma’s collaborator, Orochimaru stayed in the Star Capital for a long time and naturally had also seen Menma’s boy form.
Jigen’s figure had already instantly teleported to the opposite side of the tall tower that Menma had crashed into, hovering in mid-air, looking down condescendingly at that pitch-black hole.
The Chakra Black Rod in his hand pointed straight at the cave entrance, his voice carrying the coldness and arrogance of a deity’s judgment:
“Now, you should clearly recognize the insurmountable gap between an insect and a deity, right?”
However, what answered him was neither silence nor a groan.
Boom——!!!
A surge of dark red Chakra, far more violent and profound than before, filled with an aura of Destruction and Void, erupted fiercely from that cavity like a volcanic eruption!
The powerful energy impact even further shattered and peeled away the walls around the cave entrance!
Amid the shocked gazes of everyone, a figure slowly floated out from the pervasive smoke and dark red energy flames.
At this moment, Menma’s appearance had already greatly changed!
His entire body was tightly wrapped in dark red Chakra condensed to a substantial form, and this Chakra even coalesced behind him into a dark red Chakra cape that seemed to be blazing fiercely, fluttering and rustling without wind!
Behind the cape, nine huge tails completely condensed from dark red Chakra, jumping and dancing like flames, stretched out freely, stirring the surrounding air and rainwater.
The black hair on his head was also covered by this layer of dark red energy, and the energy gathered upward, forming two sharp protrusions on top of his head like demonic horns.
The most striking was his right eye, that pure white Byakugan now emitting a faint yet incomparably pure green glow, as if containing the power of stars being born and destroyed!
This was exactly Menma using his trump card from the Limited Tsukuyomi World—Dark Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!
and linked to the Giant Tenseigan inside the Moon, obtaining a continuous supply of eye power!
Jigen looked at Menma, whose form had greatly changed, sensing that unique chakra aura completely different from the Nine-Tails, the other Tailed Beasts, and the Ten-Tails, filled with void and brutality. For the first time, obvious astonishment appeared on his face, which had always maintained arrogance and coldness.
Then it turned into unstoppable greed!
“This chakra…” Jigen’s voice carried a faint, barely perceptible tremble. He had traveled the universe for ten thousand years, devouring the energy of countless planets, yet he had never felt such a strange and powerful chakra attribute.
“This is really… quite appetizing!”
Meanwhile, the Akatsuki members, along with Jiraiya and Orochimaru hiding in the shadows, were completely shocked by this sudden, massive Tailed Beast Chakra that was so overwhelming it sent chills to their hearts!
“This……this is?!” Konan cried out in shock, the paper around her body trembling slightly from the energy’s impact.
“Tailed Beast Chakra… and so vast…” The Deva Path’s Rinnegan stared fixedly at the nine tails behind Menma, his tone unprecedentedly grave.
He looked at Obito: “Any intelligence on jinchūriki losing control or escaping from the major ninja villages recently?”
Obito’s brows furrowed tightly under his mask. He shook his head, his voice low: “Black Zetsu’s surveillance didn’t detect any anomalies. Moreover… nine tails… this is clearly the Nine-Tails’ chakra amount! But the feeling… is completely different!”
“One, two, three… nine?” Sage Shima on Jiraiya’s shoulder counted the dancing tails in even greater surprise, looking at Jiraiya in disbelief: “Little Jiraiya! This is… Nine-Tails Jinchūriki?! Isn’t the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki in Konoha?!”
Sage Fukasaku also looked gravely at Jiraiya: “Although I’m old, my sensing won’t be wrong. This is indeed Tailed Beast level Chakra, and it’s complete Nine-Tails level! Konoha’s Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, that child named Naruto, absolutely cannot possess this kind of power!”
Jiraiya’s heart was already in chaos.
Half of the Nine-Tails was taken away along with Minato by the Shinigami, and the other half was sealed inside Naruto’s body. This is an indisputable fact!
But why is Shura using Nine-Tails Chakra Mode?
You must know that even Gold Brother and Silver Brother, who devoured Nine-Tails flesh back then, were far from reaching this near-perfect Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!
Suddenly, he suddenly remembered something, and his pupils contracted sharply!
Cloud Village’s accusation!
They initially insisted that “Shura” was the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki! They made a big fuss and demanded accountability from Konoha!
At that time, when he received the secret letter from Teacher Sarutobi, he thought it was slander and blame-shifting from Cloud Village after being humiliated by Shura, and laughed it off.
But now… looking at that black-haired boy wrapped in dark red Chakra, emanating a terrifying aura like a true Tailed Beast, a dreadful thought uncontrollably surged in his heart—could what the Cloud Village said… be true?!
Does this mysterious boy “Shura” really possess another… one that they have never known, the “Nine-Tails”?!
Orochimaru hid in the shadows, his long tongue licking over his lips, his eyes filled with madness and curiosity.
“Interesting… Too interesting! This ‘Nine-Tails’… where did it come from? The one Minato sealed? The timeline doesn’t match…”
“That is……the ‘Nine-Tails’ from the future?”
Orochimaru still firmly believes that Shura comes from the future.
On the battlefield, Menma felt the surging Dark Nine-Tails Chakra rampaging through his body along with the vast eye power provided by the Giant Tenseigan, an unprecedented sense of power filling his entire body.
After coming out of the Limited Tsukuyomi World, it was still the first time he was forced to use this mode.
However, the “Wedging · State Two” used to deal with Jigen should be sufficient.
As for stronger ones, they require combining Sage Jutsu with the ‘Sage Fox Mode’, which he has not yet trained in; while the Heavy Particle Mode with its enormous cost, he has not yet fully researched.
What he preferred more was the future Sage of Six Paths Mode, but before that, he had to first obtain the second Ten-Tails that Isshiki had hidden away.
“The warm-up is over.” Menma’s low voice transmitted through the chakra outerwear, carrying an oppressive feeling like a surging tide.
The next moment, he moved!
Menma in Dark Nine-Tails Mode, his speed had increased by more than several times!
Everyone only felt a blur before their eyes, and that dark red figure had already appeared in front of Jigen as if teleporting!
The right foot covered in condensed Chakra, carrying a screech that tore the eardrums, fiercely kicked Jigen’s abdomen!
“What?! Such fast speed!” Jigen only had time to let out a cry of alarm before his entire body was struck again like by a high-speed train, shooting backward even faster than Menma had flown out earlier!
However, this is merely the beginning!
Menma’s figure blurred once again, using the extreme speed brought by Dark Nine-Tails Chakra and the coordinates of the Flying Thunder God Kunai, he appeared like a ghost on the path of Jigen’s inverted flight, his fist covered in dark red Chakra falling like raindrops!
Each punch contained the power to split mountains and crack stones, smashing fiercely onto Jigen’s arms and torso that he hastily blocked with!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The dull thudding sounds continued endlessly, and even Jigen in his second state under the wedge was completely forced into a passive position of taking hits!
He tried to counterattack, trying to use “Sukuna Hikona” to shrink and dodge, but in the face of Menma’s absolute speed and power suppression, as well as those Byakugan eyes linked to the Giant Tenseigan that could see through all his actions, all struggles were in vain!
After a few rounds, Jigen was already spewing blood wildly, his gorgeous cape becoming even more tattered, and even the curved horn on his forehead showing fine cracks!
He was beaten with no power to fight back, like a sandbag being battered back and forth in the air above the battlefield by Menma!
This scene completely stunned everyone!
Akatsuki members, Jiraiya, and even Orochimaru were all left dumbfounded!
They could hardly catch Menma’s movements, only seeing a dark red stream of light constantly flickering, while that mysterious person who had been arrogant before, proclaiming himself a deity, was sent flying in all directions in a pathetic state under the successive impacts of the stream of light!
Only Deva Path with the Rinnegan and Obito who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan could barely keep up with that super high-speed battle rhythm, but the clearer they could see, the greater the shock in their hearts!
This kind of power… has completely surpassed their cognition of “ninja”!
“Damn it!!!” The humiliation of being completely suppressed and the sharp pain in his body drove Jigen into a frenzy of rage!
He steeled his resolve, no longer minding the consumption, and fiercely activated the trump cards he had previously set up in various places on the battlefield!
Buzz——!!!
In an instant, countless Chakra Black Rods that he had quietly scattered before and were in a microscopic state, with the area where Jigen and Menma were fighting as the center, were instantly enlarged!
Thousands upon thousands of pitch-black Black Rods emanating an ominous aura, like a death forest that suddenly sprouted, densely covered the entire sky and ground, indiscriminately shooting toward the central area!
“Be careful!” Konan exclaimed, her paper wings vibrating as she rapidly flew back.
Obito and Zetsu immediately used their respective means to evade, Obito phased, and Zetsu went into stealth underground.
The Deva Path then raised the repulsion field of “Almighty Push”, deflecting the black rods shot toward him, while flying up high.
However, in the midst of this death storm of countless Black Rods, Menma, at the center of the storm, merely indifferently raised one hand and gently pushed toward the void ahead.
“Almighty Push.”
A massive, unimaginably terrifying Repulsion erupted centered on him!
Unlike the Deva Path’s repulsion that requires cooldown and has limited range, the “Almighty Push” unleashed by Menma seemed effortless, with a broader range and greater power!
Rumble——!!!
All the Chakra Black Rods shot towards him, in the face of this irresistible Repulsion, were like crashing into an invisible, indestructible wall, and they all shot back at even faster speeds, even colliding with each other and breaking in mid-air!
In an instant, the sky was filled with shattered fragments of black rods!
“What?!?!” The Deva Path’s Rinnegan suddenly widened, filled with disbelief and shock!
“This move…! Could it be that he… he is… Shura?!” He would never forget that battle in the Land of Stars, where Shura used only one Chakra remote transmission method, utilizing Shisui Uchiha’s body to unleash that ability on him!
Obito’s complexion under the mask also changed dramatically. First the Chakra Black Rod, then the Almighty Push. This guy!
Seeing even this final trump card being easily broken by the opponent, a trace of ruthlessness and resolve finally flashed in Jigen’s eyes.
He clapped his hands together fiercely, activating even stronger power!
“Amenominaka!”
In the sky, space distorted violently!
Dozens of enormous black cubes with red outlines flashing on their edges appeared out of thin air!
These cubes emitted an aura of chaos and heaviness, not only capable of interfering with perception, but also containing terrifying destructive power within themselves!
They descended like meteorites, carrying the might to destroy everything, smashing fiercely toward the area where Menma was!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Huge black cubes successively smashed onto the ground and the remaining buildings, emitting deafening roars!
The entire battlefield seemed to usher in doomsday, the earth cracked open, smoke and dust soared into the sky, swallowing everything!
However, in the chaotic smoke and dust created by this destructive attack, no one noticed a dark red portal silently opening beside Menma.
A powerful suction force came, and Menma’s figure was instantly sucked into it, disappearing without a trace.
Immediately after, the Uzumaki rapidly closed.
The smoke and dust slowly dissipated, leaving only devastation everywhere on the battlefield and Jigen suspended in the air, gasping for breath.
The Akatsuki organization members vigilantly observed, only to discover that the aura of that black-haired boy had completely vanished.
……
A desolate and deathly silent world.
The sky was an eerie dark purple, without sun, moon, or stars, only eternal unchanging dim light.
The ground was cracked, covered with huge craters like those from meteorite impacts, with no signs of life, not even the wind seemed to move.
Menma’s figure emerged from the dark red portal, appearing at the bottom of a huge meteorite crater. He looked around, sensing the unique laws of this space and the natural energy so thin it was almost negligible.
“This should be the other dimension where Isshiki fought a great battle with Naruto and Sasuke.” Menma muttered to himself, confirming his surroundings.
At that moment, in the dark purple sky above him, a familiar black-red Uzumaki portal slowly opened.
Jigen’s figure gracefully stepped out from it, hovering in mid-air, looking down condescendingly at Menma at the bottom of the pit.
His face had regained that arrogant expression of controlling everything.
“Even if your abilities are strong, in this other dimension completely under my control, you are just a turtle in a jar, a bird in a cage.” Jigen’s voice carried a cold echo, exceptionally clear in this deathly silent space.
“There is no food, no water source, no chakra replenishment here… even the flow of time is different from the outside world. I want to see how long you, this slightly stronger bug, can struggle to survive here?”
He planned to use the characteristics of this other dimension, with endless time and endless solitude, to wear down and torment Menma, ultimately forcing him to submit or die of exhaustion.
However, facing Jigen’s death sentence, Menma suddenly smiled.
That smile carried a sense of relief, and also a hint of… the playfulness of a hunter finally waiting for the prey to fall into the trap.
“Jigen,” Menma raised his head, sharp light flickering in those heterochromatic eyes: “I have to thank you.”
“Thank me?” Jigen’s brows furrowed slightly.
“Yeah,” Menma moved his neck, emitting a slight clicking sound: “Outside, some trump cards and movements really aren’t convenient to use. After all, it wouldn’t be good to scare the flowers and grass.”
“Come out and say hello, little nine!” Before Menma finished speaking, a dark red chakra far more terrifying and massive than before in the Rain Village, as if about to burst this other dimension, erupted from under Menma’s feet like an ancient ferocious beast awakening from slumber!
Boom!!!
The dark red chakra beam shot into the sky!
Within this beam of light, the shadow of a colossal beast large enough to rival mountains rapidly solidified!
It was entirely an ominous dark red, with a fox-like outline, but those eyes burned with void flames. Nine tails completely composed of dark red energy danced behind it like pillars supporting the heavens, emanating a tyrannical and destructive aura that made the entire other dimension tremble!
Roar!
The Dark Nine-Tails let out a roar!
Menma’s figure stood steadily on the head of the Dark Nine-Tails, that dark red chakra cape fluttering loudly in the surging massive energy, his horns and the white light in his right eye shining together, like a demon god descending upon this deathly silent world!
Jigen hovered in mid-air, looking up at this colossal beast with chakra completely different from all the Tails he knew, emanating an aura that made even his soul palpitate.
The arrogance and composure on his face completely vanished, replaced by extreme shock, anger, and a trace of incredulous astonishment!
He sensed on this Dark Nine-Tails a chakra aura completely different from the Ten-Tails and the nine great Tails, but he was absolutely certain… absolutely not any Tails he knew!
One after another things beyond his cognition plunged Jigen into deep confusion, an unknown fear enveloped him—this was an unknown creature he had never encountered in his millions of years wandering the universe since his birth!
Jigen’s cheek twitched, almost gritting his teeth as he squeezed the question from deep in his throat:
“You this guy… what exactly are you?!”
