I Am Uzumaki Menma

Chapter 374 - 374 Today, You Might Really Die Here

Jigen's main body, under the effect of Sukunahikona, had shrunk to a level nearly that of dust, hiding within the gaps between air and the rain curtain.

He had thought this would be enough to temporarily shake off the other's pursuit, buying some time to observe or launch a surprise attack.

However, Menma's gaze penetrated the layers of obstruction from the rain curtain, firmly fixed on the spot where Jigen was hiding.

Feeling that shadow-like, inescapable stare, the last shred of wishful thinking in Jigen's heart completely vanished.

He released the shrunken state, his figure restoring to its original size in the air, elegantly hovering in mid-air, facing Menma from a distance.

His face carried an extremely puzzled and grave expression. Slowly, as if pacing on a stage, he took a few steps towards Menma's direction. His voice still attempted to maintain that elegance belonging to Otsutsuki Isshiki:

"It seems the secrets hidden on you are far more than I imagined." His gaze swept over Menma like a scanner: "Byakugan... Sharingan... and now this Nine-Tails' Chakra of unknown origin. I am very curious, where exactly did this 'Nine-Tails' of yours come from? According to common sense, the Nine-Tails should still be sealed within the Jinchuriki of Konoha."

Menma keenly noticed that Jigen's words were more numerous than before.

This usually meant the other party was preparing to use their trump card.

This was precisely the result he wanted.

'Kyu-chan, get ready. The feast might be served soon.' Menma sent a message to Kokyu through their mental link.

At this moment, deep within Menma's mental world, unlike Naruto's dark sewer, it was a vast, boundless, vibrant grassland.

The sky was a clear azure, underfoot was soft green grass.

In the center of this grassland, a Dark Nine-Tails, her body size far larger than Kurama, surrounded by dark red Chakra, with a full ten tails ostentatiously dancing behind it, was lazily lying down.

Hearing Menma's call, Kokyu's ruby-like beast pupils snapped open, flickering with excitement and greedy light.

Her massive body stood up on her hind legs, her ten tails excitedly dancing in the air like mad snakes, emitting a deafening cheer: "Yay! Menma is the best!"

In the real world, facing Jigen's inquiry, Menma remained silent, only the dark red Nine-Tails' Chakra around him surged even more violently like burning flames, his posture of being fully prepared speaking for itself.

Seeing this, Jigen knew that trying to extract information from the other's mouth was futile.

He no longer hesitated, a trace of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.

'For my grand plan, this guy absolutely could not be left alive!'

The next moment, the space behind Jigen rippled.

A circular vortex, its center deep and dark, its periphery emitting a dark red glow, appeared out of thin air.

A powerful suction force came from within, instantly swallowing Jigen's figure. Then, the Space-Time Vortex rapidly contracted and disappeared, as if it had never appeared.

On the battlefield, with the loss of the booms and Chakra collisions from the two powerful Ninjas clashing, it instantly fell into an eerie, unsettling silence.

Only the sound of rain washing over the ruins, and the faintly audible cries and calls for help in the distance, proved that time was still passing.

On the ground, Yahiko, leading the Akatsuki's members, Kanon, and some Amegakure's Ninjas who had rushed over, were racing against time rescuing the injured.

Kanon controlled two dazzling golden Chakra Chains, carefully lifting and moving those heavy collapsed building components.

Yahiko, Konan, Nagato, and the others immediately rushed forward, desperately rescuing the survivors trapped underneath, performing emergency treatment and evacuation.

After confirming Jigen had indeed disappeared, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato glanced at each other, forcibly suppressing the grief in their hearts, and immediately came to Hanzo's corpse.

Hanzo's corpse was still supported by those cold black Chakra Rods, hanging in mid-air, maintaining the tragic posture from when he died in battle.

Yahiko and Konan cautiously began trying to remove these black rods, preparing to properly bury this former hero of Amegakure.

But they discovered to their surprise that these mysterious black rods actually had the effect of interfering with their Chakra, making Yahiko and Konan both withdraw their hands as if stung.

"Nagato, careful!" Yahiko saw Nagato attempting to touch these strange black rods and immediately spoke to stop him.

But when Nagato's hand gently touched one of the black Chakra Rods piercing Hanzo's chest, nothing happened.

"This is..." Konan murmured, looking up at Nagato in astonishment.

In Nagato's Rinnegan, hidden beneath his bangs, the purple ripples seemed to be striving to sense and analyze the Yin-Yang Release power contained within this black rod.

A nameless insight, like a seed, quietly buried itself in his heart, plunging him into deep contemplation.

Yahiko raised his head, looking towards Menma who was still hovering in the air, seemingly with his eyes closed sensing something. His voice carried a trace of uncertainty and hope as he loudly asked: "Menma! That enemy... has he escaped?"

Menma slowly opened his eyes, slightly shaking his head, his voice coming down from above: "No, he just left temporarily to retrieve some power."

His tone was calm. He then reminded Yahiko and the others: "You better hurry a bit more. The next battle... the scope of impact might be larger."

"Larger?!" Upon hearing this, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato all involuntarily shuddered!

Yahiko looked around. As far as the eye could see were crumbling walls and ruins, scorched earth and bloodstains. The once prosperous northern district of Amegakure had almost been wiped from the map.

'The battle that caused such horror wasn't even fought with full power?'

An indescribable chill rose from his spine.

Yahiko couldn't help but look up again at Menma in the air, asking the question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time: "Menma! Who exactly is the other party? Between you... why exactly are you engaging in such a cruel battle? If possible, isn't there..."

Before he could finish, Menma interrupted him.

"Yahiko, you are too naive. He is not what you perceive as 'human'." Menma's gaze swept over the busy rescue figures below, his tone carrying a trace of rare solemnity.

"Do you think a goshawk soaring in the sky cares about the grievances and affections among the ants in an anthill beneath its feet, or tries to understand their thoughts?"

This analogy made Yahiko freeze momentarily, a sense of brutal reality smashing into him.

Menma pondered briefly, feeling it necessary to give these young people, who harbored ideals but were completely unaware of the world's truths, some mental preparation for the cruelty of the future.

He continued: "For the Otsutsuki Clan, this planet is merely a resource point they encounter by chance on their long journey, a roadside anthill."

He paused, emphasizing his tone: "And this is also one of the deep-seated reasons for the thousand years of endless war in the Ninja World that I mentioned to you before. They are the invaders of all living beings on the entire planet."

Menma's gaze fell on Yahiko again, with a near-cruel foresight: "You want to protect more people, want to achieve your so-called peace. Then, you must be mentally prepared. In the future, what you will face will be more, and even stronger, 'Otsutsuki' invaders."

"More... invaders like him?!" Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato murmured Menma's words, the hairs all over their bodies standing on end!

Just one person had almost destroyed half of Amegakure, and even Hanzo, hailed as the Demigod of the Ninja World, was instantly killed without any ability to resist.

Such an enemy, there was more than one, and even more would appear in the future?!

Just then, Menma's eyes suddenly focused.

"Found him."

He whispered to himself, then his entire person instantly vanished from the spot, leaving no trace.

And in the shadow of a collapsed house below, a White Zetsu that almost blended with the surrounding environment slowly protruded half its head from a crack in the wall.

It transmitted the shocking information it had just heard about 'Otsutsuki', 'planet invaders', etc., through roots connected to a special underground plant network, in the form of Chakra Fluctuations, rapidly transmitting it out.

After doing this, it silently retracted back into the shadow, as if it had never existed.

Simultaneously, in an alternate dimension completely different from the ninja world.

Here, there was no distinction between sky and earth… the surroundings were a void-like darkness. Only a huge altar in the center emitted a faint glow.

Below the altar, a colossal beast was imprisoned.

It had a single eye with Seven-Tomoe Rinnegan, ten tails firmly nailed down by massive black Chakra Rods and chains, and a huge mouth full of sharp teeth, currently emitting howls filled with pain and savagery.

This was the second Ten-Tails under Jigen's control!

Jigen's figure stepped out from the dark red space-time vortex, floating in the center of the altar.

He greedily breathed in the dense Ten-Tails' Chakra in this space.

The Ten-Tails seemed to sense his arrival, struggling even more violently. Its single huge mouth roared towards Jigen's direction.

Jigen raised his right hand, covered with black wedge-shaped patterns, towards the Ten-Tails imprisoned below, his tone flat, carrying a master-like indifference: "My apologies. I originally wanted to save your Chakra for the critical moment to deal with that woman... However, a troublesome enemy has appeared outside now. I urgently need your power."

As soon as the words fell, the Kama on his right hand emitted an immense suction force, starting to madly extract the Ten-Tails' Chakra!

"Roar—!!!"

The Ten-Tails let out an even more piercing, even more painful shriek. Its massive body violently convulsed and struggled, but those black Chakra Rods and chains piercing its body firmly restrained it, preventing it from resisting this plunder.

A vast amount of dark red violent Chakra, like a torrent, surged violently into Jigen's body!

The black wedge-shaped patterns on his body rapidly expanded and spread at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming more complex.

The injury on his abdomen left by Menma earlier rapidly healed under the nourishment of the surging Chakra.

A more noticeable change appeared on his forehead. A white bony structure, shaped like a curved horn, slowly grew and protruded!

His appearance also, in this process, gradually shed the biological features of Jigen, regaining some of the majesty and coldness belonging to Otsutsuki Isshiki's true form.

He closed his eyes, feeling the fullness and pleasure of the chakra, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but curving into a predator's smile.

However, at this very moment, while he was immersed in the wonderful feeling of rising power, his mind was most relaxed—

Swoosh—!

A sharp whistling sound rang out behind him without any warning!

Jigen's smile instantly froze, his pupils abruptly contracted!

He didn't even have time to turn around, only managing to instinctively gather the Chakra he had just absorbed to form a crude defense on his back.

Boom—!!!

A whirlwind kick with great force and momentum solidly smashed into his center of his back!

Menma's figure had appeared behind Jigen without any warning!

This strike was fast! Fierce! Accurate!

The timing was exquisite to the extreme!

It precisely seized the moment when Jigen was absorbing the Ten-Tails' Chakra, when his mind was most relaxed!

"Ugh!" Jigen let out a pained grunt. That immense force sent his entire person flying forward uncontrollably like an artillery shell fired from its barrel. With a loud 'bang', he crashed hard into the wall beside the altar engraved with various peculiar symbols!

He crashed heavily into the wall opposite the altar, engraved with the symbols of various Otsutsuki Clan's members!

On the wall, the symbols representing different Otsutsuki Clan's members flickered with faint light.

Isshiki's symbol was located above, and below him was precisely the symbol of that Otsutsuki Kaguya whom he hated to the bone!

The violent impact caused fine cracks to appear on the wall. Jigen slid down to the ground in a sorry state. He abruptly raised his head, looking towards the uninvited guest who had somehow managed to track his absolutely secret alternate dimension. His face was filled with shock, anger, and disbelief, letting out a distorted roar:

"You bastard... how is it possible you're here?!!"

After landing a successful blow, Menma did not rush to pursue.

His gaze first swept towards the Ten-Tails imprisoned below the altar by countless black Chakra Rods and chains.

The most eye-catching feature of this colossal beast was the huge single eye right in the center of its head, taking on the form of a Rinnegan, but within its pupil, seven tomoes slowly rotated!

As if sensing Menma's unconcealed greedy gaze, the Ten-Tails let out an even more savage and threatening roar. Its massive body struggled madly, causing the chains binding it to emit groaning, overburdened metallic scraping sounds.

Menma's gaze briefly intersected with that Seven-Tomoe Rinnegan, and a flash of understanding passed through his eyes.

Simultaneously, his right hand inconspicuously gently pressed on the cold stone wall edge of the altar. An extremely tiny Flying Thunder God Technique's imprint was quietly imprinted upon it.

Just as Menma was observing the Ten-Tails, Jigen, who had been kicked flying and crashed into the wall in a sorry state, was already furious!

Forcibly enduring the intense pain from his spine, killing intent boiling in his eyes, he without hesitation forcefully injected the chakra he had just absorbed into the wall behind him engraved with the Otsutsuki Clan's symbols!

Hum—!

On the wall, those ancient and mysterious symbols seemed to be infused with life, suddenly glowing with dazzling light!

Especially the symbol of Kaguya below Isshiki's, and several other symbols representing clan members like Momoshiki and Urashiki, shone most brilliantly!

The next moment, several figures composed of pure Chakra, slightly illusory, suddenly appeared on the altar!

Kaguya's phantom had snow-white hair, an icy face, and two horns on her forehead, Momoshiki's phantom had an arrogant posture, the Rinnegan in his palm emitting greedy light, Urashiki's phantom has an eerie smile, holding a red Chakra Fishing Rod...

These activated symbol phantoms, as soon as they appeared, locked onto the only outsider on the altar like programmed guards.

They simultaneously raised their hands, either releasing Killing Ash Bones, condensing black Chakra Spheres that devoured everything, or swinging out bizarre fishhooks, attacking Menma from all directions!

The attacks were fierce, though not as powerful as the main bodies, were still very dangerous!

Facing the encirclement and attack of several Otsutsuki's powerful phantoms, Menma's eyes narrowed. He did not choose to confront them head-on.

Chakra erupted under his feet. His figure rapidly retreated backwards, his movements smooth and swift, easily avoiding all the phantoms' attack range, landing steadily outside the altar area.

The moment his feet stepped beyond the altar boundary, those phantoms activated by the symbols seemed to lose their energy support, instantly becoming blurry, transparent, finally dissipating into the air like shattered soap bubbles. The altar returned to silence, only the symbols on the wall still retaining a faint glow.

Menma stood outside the safe distance, patting non-existent dust off his clothes. He raised his eyes to look at Jigen, who had just stood up from beside the wall, his face gloomy to a frightening degree, his tone carrying a trace of faint mockery:

"It seems, this is your final reliance? Your 'treasure'?"

He shook his head, his eyes gradually narrowing slightly: "However, if this is merely to this extent... today, you might really die here."