Within the space of Amenominaka, Naruto and the Fourth Hokage were pulled by Kaguya back into the lava space.
Having lost Sakura's influence, the space was reheated, returning to its previous scorching state of churning magma.
The scorching hot wind, mixed with a pungent smell, surged in the sky, rolling with thick smoke, spreading in all directions. The originally deathly still space became active again.
Kaguya floated in the air, looking down at the father and son below. A cluster of gray, bony spikes extended from her palm, and she raised her hand toward the two.
—Kekkei Mora: All-Killing Ash Bones!
The gray bone, formed from the fusion of seven types of Chakra Natures, shot from Kaguya's hand, stabbing at Naruto and the supporting Minato.
"Dodge that thing! It's very dangerous!" Naruto floated in the void, using one hand to manipulate a Truth-Seeking Ball to form a platform to support Minato.
Observation Haki screamed a frantic warning in his heart, the feeling pricking his nerves like needles, urging him to stay away from the two incoming bones.
"Let me try first!" Minato raised a finger and created a shadow clone.
The shadow clone pulled a Flying Thunder God kunai from the ninja tool pouch at his waist and threw it at the incoming All-Killing Ash Bones. The next moment, the sound of space-time transmission rang out. The shadow clone appeared before the kunai, holding it in its mouth.
At the same time, the two gray bone spikes also pierced the shadow clone's body, causing it to deviate from its originally intended trajectory.
In the brief moment of contact with Sakura, Minato had already grasped the essence of Sakura's Flow Substitution Technique and adapted it.
Since a technique like shadow clones didn't require independent research and development to follow some knockoff path, he could just add a little something to an existing product and make a micro-innovation!
Fast and convenient.
Crack!
The shadow clone in the sky, pierced by the All-Killing Ash Bones, now showed the same black ash as when an Edo Tensei puppet shattered, gradually crumbling and disappearing.
With a pop, white smoke burst. Kaguya again dove down, holding two sections of gray bone in her hand.
"Here it comes again!" Minato frowned.
The brief time he had bought allowed Naruto to mount a certain counterattack. Golden Chakra burning on Naruto's body extended several arms. Rasengan, fusing the Chakra of several Tailed Beasts, spun in his hands.
—Sage Art: Super Tailed Beast Rasenshuriken!
Nine different elemental Rasenshuriken were simultaneously thrown at the charging Kaguya. The Tailed Beasts' Chakra contained within them resonated with the Tailed Beasts within Kaguya's body, causing these massive Tailed Beast Rasengan to adhere to Kaguya as if guided.
"This feeling, is it the Senjutsu of those hateful toads!"
Veins bulged on Kaguya's eyes. Her progenitor-level, pure Byakugan saw through the Chakra composition of the Rasenshuriken.
Discovering the Senjutsu contained within, the new hatred and old grudges of having her sons lured away by Gamamaru in the past simultaneously surged to the tip of her heart, gradually overflowing with vast killing intent.
The surrounding lava space also boiled due to its owner's anger, forming sky-high waves crashing down on Naruto and Minato, who were flying in mid-air.
"That's enough! I no longer intend to recover your Chakra!" Hatred overcame her desire for Chakra. Kaguya put away the bones and fiercely swung her fist at the nine Rasenshuriken.
—Kekkei Mora: Eighty Gods Vacuum Strike!
Light like a waterfall. Fist shadows pierced the darkness and surged wildly, openly and brazenly exploding several Tailed Beast Bombs, evaporating countless Chakra.
Kaguya's figure also charged out from the explosion's smoke screen, reaching Naruto and Minato in an instant.
"Damn it!" Cold sweat trickled down Naruto's forehead.
With Kaguya ahead and lava behind, this dilemma was like being the one sleeping in the middle, having to choose whether to turn your butt toward your beloved or toward the friend who secretly loves you.
"I'll handle Kaguya. You deal with the lava!" At the critical moment, it was Minato who saved Naruto from his predicament.
Of course, this was also related to the fact that Minato's own techniques were better suited for cutting people, not for large-scale handling of environmental mutations.
After all, he was a top fighter who had carved his way through the Third Great Ninja War, deeply understanding the principle that dealing with Ninjas is much more convenient than dealing with Ninjutsu.
He reached into his ninja tool pouch, grabbed some tools, casually flung out three or four Flying Thunder God kunai, and then his body was wrapped in the illusory light of space-time. "Spiral Flash Super Ring Dance Howl Three Style!!!"
"Huh?"
Naruto, who had been behind him, using the Chakra of the Three-Tails to spray large amounts of fresh water to solidify the lava, was moved by his father's superb technique, turning his head back in a daze.
Hearing Minato's confident, super long technique name, Kaguya warily opened her Byakugan to its maximum, staring at the man before her.
"Heh!" Minato smiled, the corners of his mouth upturned. His ultra-high-speed space-time transmission brought something dangerous to the enemy's side.
The object transmitted by Minato using the Flying Thunder God Technique revealed its form in mid-air. It was… a blinding flashbang!
The moment its pull ring was opened and the magnesium powder inside ignited, six million candela of intense light and two hundred decibels of noise pierced Kaguya and Naruto's senses.
Especially Kaguya, who had her Byakugan open. Her entire gray-white field of vision was ignited. She clutched her eyes and fell toward the lava below.
"Aaaaah, my eyes!"
Naruto's scream rose with hers. The golden-haired boy rolled in the air, clutching his eyes.
Minato, who had been immersed in his own world with a triumphant expression, was stunned. "What? Why were you looking at my technique?"
"Can you blame me? You could have at least warned me!"
Using Yang Release Chakra to treat his eyes, Naruto gradually recovered, taking his hands from his eye sockets.
"You... deserve to die!"
Her hand covering her eye sockets, her beautiful cheeks stained with tears shed due to the extreme stimulation, Kaguya, her entire body enveloped in blazing Chakra, flew up from the lava.
No longer holding back, Kaguya spread her hands, absorbing the Chakra of the Ninjas captured by the God Tree, transforming it into a giant chaotic mass that devoured all natures, both the five elements and Yin and Yang, returning the world to nothingness!
—Kekkei Mora: Expansive Truth-Seeking Ball!!!
Stopping his play with Naruto, Minato showed a serious expression.
His already excellent spatial perception ability allowed him to sense that the continuously expanding black sphere before him was capable of annihilating all natures, returning the world to nothingness.
"Naruto, space is being distorted by that thing. I probably won't be able to use the Flying Thunder God Technique much longer!" Minato raised a finger, injecting the last of his Natural Energy into Naruto's body.
Through the Chakra Connection, Naruto learned what this father, who had dedicated his entire life to giving, intended to do in this situation.
"Dad!"
"You have your own mission. But as your father..." Minato turned his head and smiled at him, raising his thumb to point at his own chest. "I still want to show off a bit in front of my son!"
With that, he stomped hard on the platform Naruto had created, using the Body Flicker Technique to charge toward the continuously expanding Expansive Truth-Seeking Ball.
Although he didn't have the power of the Six Paths, and his most skilled Space-Time Ninjutsu was also sealed, as the son-in-law of an orphan of the Uzumaki Clan, Minato had another technique he was skilled in, and that was sealing!
"Please protect our child, Kushina!"
Minato formed hand seals, then spread his five fingers, stabbing them into his own abdomen and giving a hard twist.
The reversed Four Symbols formed an inverted vortex. Black, Chakra-like water indiscriminately devoured everything around it, violently colliding with the Expansive Truth-Seeking Ball.
—Sealing Technique: Reverse Four Symbols Sealing!!!