Chapter 118: I am Ōtsutsuki Toneri, from the Moon...

"So he's finally shown up?"

On a mountain top overlooking Amegakure's battlefield—merged with earth and vegetation via Mayfly Technique, revealing only its upper half—Black Zetsu watched the fight. White Zetsu quietly noted,

"From the look of that chakra, it seems this time it's the real body."

"White hair, plus that level of chakra. Indeed, it's someone from that bloodline," Black Zetsu said gravely. "Record his chakra signature. After the battle ends, we'll set up a massive net to track him. Even if we can't find him directly, we must locate the portal he uses to return to the Moon."

"Got it," White Zetsu acknowledged, releasing its sensory powers to record the chakra signature of the figure in the sky.

Meanwhile, Obito, who had just been toying with the Kumo shinobi—letting their attacks pass right through his intangible body—stopped fooling around. He looked skyward at Izayoi's figure, eyes full of wariness.

Without fighting, Obito already sensed from Izayoi an overwhelming pressure. He'd only felt a comparable sense of dread from three others (disregarding Madara himself): Tendo Pain, Itachi (as he was now), and the late Minato. Now, Izayoi was the fourth who gave him that feeling.

"He never showed his face before... Why appear so suddenly now?" Obito wondered to himself. "Could it be this entire scheme was orchestrated to wipe out the Akatsuki in one fell swoop?"

"Such massive chakra, you sensed it too, Samehada?" Kisame patted the restless, thrashing sword in his grip, which trembled as if it wanted to escape. He grinned toothily.

Itachi said nothing, only lifted his gaze toward the sky, uncertain what thoughts stirred in his mind.

"Sasori-bro, look—it's that kid from last year!"

On the "Art Duo" side, Deidara exclaimed excitedly. Sasori's expression also lightened with a faint smile.

"So it truly was him controlling that army of human puppets..."

"Ten billion ryō in the flesh…" Kakuzu muttered as he looked up at Izayoi, a tinge of hunger creeping into his voice.

By contrast, the Kumo forces glared at Izayoi with hatred, their gazes full of killing intent. The remote fighters among them even looked ready to fire off jutsu at him right then.

—For them, this was the fiend who destroyed their village, slaughtered their comrades, snatched up their dead for puppet-making, and now reappeared as an enemy.

At that moment, from the distance, a figure rose into the sky to stand at the same height as Izayoi. Gazing at the masked form—no eyeholes at all—Pain's Tendo Path asked the question on everyone's mind:

"Who are you?"

Below, the allied yet still-hostile forces of Akatsuki and Kumo, busily demolishing the puppet troops, all pricked up their ears.

Those top-tier individuals with spare stamina to observe the "king vs. king" confrontation in the sky turned their gaze upward.

"Who am I?"

A voice with an echo effect resounded from behind the pure-white mask.

He gave a mocking laugh, like a classic film villain:

"Weren't you all looking for me all this time? Yet so long has passed, and you've gathered no intel? That's surprising."

Pain didn't respond, merely intoned coldly,

"Remove your mask. Someone destined to be my adversary—claimed by others to possess a second pair of the 'Sage Eyes'—should not be skulking in shadows like a cowardly rat."

"Second pair of Sages' Eyes? Ah, so that's the intel you've gathered?" The masked man gave a theatrical pause, then let out a playful sneer.

Pain's eyebrows twitched.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Heh… for monkeys such as you, even knowing about the Sage's Eyes is already quite impressive." The masked figure began in a tone that seemed almost praise, but it turned faintly cold:

"But my eyes aren't that of the Six Paths Sage, that failure."

Those words, not loud but like a breeze, ruffled across everyone's ears—and gave many present goosebumps.

At that moment, be they knowledgeable or ignorant, all froze in disbelief, staring wide-eyed at the masked man in the sky.

"H-he called the Sage of Six Paths a failure…?"

"So the Sage is actually real? Then ninshū was also real, meaning he truly created the Moon? That's impossible…!"

"Could this be the ninja world's deepest secret?"

Many, less mentally robust, lost their composure. More than a few Kumo-nin were thus distracted, and some were promptly felled by the puppet troops.

"Stop kidding me…"

Even the S-rank members of Akatsuki—some of them who usually dreaded nothing—looked stunned. The oldest among them, Kakuzu, grew uncertain about everything:

"You're telling me there was an even older era before the Warring States Period? Then why is there no historical documentation left behind at all?"

"'A failure's eyes…'" Itachi and Obito, plus a few others, felt their pupils contract.

They sensed the masked man's utter contempt.

He didn't revere or fear the Six Paths Sage's Rinnegan. Could there exist a dojutsu equal or even superior to Rinnegan…?

"Hey, eight-o," Bee said, back on the battlefield after regrouping. He used his usual rap style, flailing about excitedly:

"The Sage's Eye vs. an unknown eye—

Ancient secrets 'bout to blow us sky-high—

This is sick, yo, it's insane—"

"Sure is real, Bee," the Eight-Tails responded. "We Tailed Beasts were originally created by the Sage of Six Paths."

"Huh…?"

The moment Bee heard that, he was struck dumb, so flabbergasted that he forgot to rap. This alone shook him to his core.

While the commotion flared below, the masked man in midair reached a hand up to that featureless mask, laughing:

"Rejoice. Perhaps you'll become the first monkeys ever to witness these eyes."

So saying, he removed the mask in full view of all present.

A face—pale complexion, youthful handsomeness, even its eyebrows as white as the hair—came into everyone's view: it was identical to the adult image of Ōtsutsuki Toneri.

But no one was focusing on his face. Their attention was entirely on his eyes.

Those eyes… what were they?

From a distance, they appeared a pale-blue-white color, with faint white radiance around the pupils, forming a dynamic coronallike pattern. Closer in, it wasn't exactly a floral pattern but a ring of subtle white light that circled the black pupil like a solar corona, emanating terrifying ocular power.

Though the name of that dojutsu was unknown, a single glance left even Nagato's physical instincts—and the Rinnegan's reaction—warning him: these eyes were truly on par with his own.

Hence, Tendo Pain once more asked:

"Who are you? What do you call those eyes?"

Tossing aside the shattered remains of his pure-white mask with a wave of invisible repulsive force, the white-haired man no longer sounded casual or playful. His tone was as coldly dignified as Pain's—the haughty condescension of a higher lifeform toward lesser creatures. He answered with a formal self-introduction:

"I am Ōtsutsuki Toneri, from the Moon. I possess these Tenseigan eyes. My mission on Earth: reclaiming the Gedo Statue."

A pin-drop hush spread over the battlefield.

"The Gedo Statue…?"

Pain fixated on that phrase. Did that mean the Outer Path statue he'd summoned in the past had originally been on the Moon?

Though perplexed, he didn't dwell on it; instead, he asked:

"Is the Tenseigan also a 'Sage's Eye?'"

"Monkeys like you have no business knowing such things."

Ōtsutsuki—Izayoi—released a wave of gravitational energy, crushing the leftover mask fragments to powder. Then he raised his left hand to brush through his snow-white hair.

Without further nonsense, he pointed his hand at Tendo Pain, unleashing an invisible pulling force akin to Banshō Ten'in.

"So these eyes also have Universal Pull."

Yet Tendo Pain remained unshaken. He lifted his palm:

"Shinra Tensei!"

"Your repulsion is far too weak," Izayoi sneered. Then his own pulling force flipped to repulsion.

No great "explosion" was heard, but everyone seemed to see the sky flash green for the briefest instant.

Sensory shinobi felt the intangible wave as if an ocean surge soared overhead. Tendo Pain, with no time to resist, was engulfed like a helpless child, hurled away from the battlefield's airspace.

Before the watchers could even blink, Izayoi's figure vanished from midair. When the sensor-nin frantically tried to re-locate him, a thunderous sound drew their eyes:

Boom!

It turned out Izayoi had appeared right before Preta Path, who'd just rejoined the fray after being repaired. Preta Path failed to react, and with a single blow, the man smashed Preta's face, severing Nagato's link to it.

Observing all that in real-time, Nagato cut off his control. With that single strike, Preta Path was lost again.

Naraka Path tried to dash over for repairs, but had no time. Izayoi flashed over to Naraka Path, grabbed his face, and slammed it to the ground. An invisible repulsive wave erupted:

Whoosh!

The ground caved in wide, sending dust swirling out in a perfect ring that blew away the rest of the Paths—and allies or foes in range.

By the time dust cleared, the spot had become a giant "basin." At its center lay Naraka Path's broken corpse, black rods snapped loose, link severed from Nagato's control.

In but an instant, Izayoi had eliminated the second and third-most dangerous Paths—Preta and Naraka—leaving only Tendo and Asura Path.

Just as Nagato prepared to refocus on the battlefield, space rippled near him, warping into a small swirling hole. Out of that distortion came a figure:

"Tobi"—Obito—stepping away from the chaos.

Seeing him, Nagato's expression sharpened:

"Madara… what are you doing here?"

~~~

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