Kaguya's body fell from the sky.
She didn't die, at the Six Paths level, a body wouldn't perish so easily. But the Sage of Six Paths hadn't just injured her; he had also stolen a portion of the highest chakra authority she had retained.
Aoba appeared beneath Kaguya and caught her falling body.
Then, a mass of black sludge appeared in Aoba's hand, burrowed into Kaguya's wound, and within moments, her body was completely healed.
"Black Zetsu... what's going on?"
Black Zetsu actually had no idea either. It had been imprisoned by Aoba for a long time and didn't know the final battle had already begun. The first thing it saw after being brought out was its mother getting her heart ripped out.
Without hesitation, it used its own body to help repair Kaguya's injuries.
"This isn't the time for catching up. I need to know, right now, what's the current comparison between your and his control over chakra?"
"... Eight to one."
"Eight to one?" Aoba repeated in confusion, then glanced at the Black Zetsu attached to Kaguya.
"So that's it... it's because of Black Zetsu."
"Correct. I left a portion of my authority inside Black Zetsu. Hamura was always too arrogant. He was like that back then, and he's still the same now. He always thought he could control everything but kept overlooking what was right in front of him."
Currently, Kaguya and the Sage of Six Paths together controlled about 90% of chakra's authority.The remaining 10% was held by the four pairs of Rinnegan and one Tenseigan wielded by Konoha.
When ocular powers reached their peak, they naturally granted partial authority over chakra.
At that moment, the Sage of Six Paths was undergoing a dramatic transformation in the sky.His body turned pale, horns sprouted from his head, his eyes activated the Rinnegan, and a third Rinnegan with nine tomoe opened on his forehead. His entire form was taking on the full-fledged Ōtsutsuki physical body.
But that wasn't the most astonishing part. The true terror was the chakra pouring into him.
Aoba could feel it... Endless, boundless chakra was rushing into the Sage's body. At this point, the Sage of Six Paths was like a black hole for chakra, absorbing endlessly without any apparent limit.
His body even began to swell, becoming a small giant about four meters tall.
Yet despite the increase in size, his frame didn't look bloated at all. It maintained a sharp, powerful physique. Every movement was still fluid and even more agile than before.
At that moment, Kakashi, Madara, Sasuke, Itachi, and Toneri all flew toward the battlefield.
Including Aoba, Kaguya, and Black Zetsu, the situation became eight versus one.
But the Sage of Six Paths didn't panic at all.
He had absorbed a staggering amount of chakra without restraint. Even though he hadn't obtained all the authority, the shinobi world's ninja were powerless to resist, most had already been drained of their chakra.
At this point, the chakra within the Sage of Six Paths had reached an indescribable magnitude. To put it simply, a single casual attack from him now could match the destructive power of a Tailed Beast Bomb.
"Aoba Kamikawa, you've already lost. Even if I don't possess all the authority, I can use the entire world's chakra without limitation. Can you afford to recklessly use natural energy?"
The Sage actually had a point.
Because Aoba was now the Shinobi World's god, a fusion of its natural deities. And most of the native deities were spirits born from nature itself, tied to the world's ecosystems.
Theoretically, if Aoba overused natural energy, it would destabilize the world's balance, weakening his divine authority. This was why the Sage dared to provoke him so recklessly.
Their ranks were equal, but Aoba couldn't fight without restraint like him, therefore, he shouldn't be a real threat. As for Kaguya, now stripped of much of her authority, and the other "bugs" around her, they could be swept aside with a wave of his hand.
But in the next second, the Sage's expression changed drastically.
Because Aoba, like the Sage himself, suddenly unleashed a storm of natural energy around him.
Instantly, all vegetation within a thousand kilometers withered and died, the ecosystem collapsed due to Aoba's extreme absorption of natural energy.
However, strangely, Aoba's divine rank didn't fall. His authority seemed completely unaffected.
"Do you know something?" Aoba said casually."The God of Death had every reason to be afraid. It hid because it feared I would betray it after absorbing all the divine authorities, that I would refuse to return their freedom."
"In a way, it guessed right. I did betray them... but not to keep the authority for myself. Instead, I killed them all."
It was only then that the Sage realized something truly bizarre. One by one, the divine authorities' auras around Aoba had vanished. Meaning, Aoba should have lost all of the divine powers he had gained.
Yet his power hadn't fallen in the slightest.
"What... did you do?" the Sage asked hoarsely.
"It's simple. I killed them, all of them, every god."
"As a result, I naturally lost all their authorities. Elemental control, life, death, every direct authority, I've given it all up."
"Without their authorities, there are no longer any restrictions on me. And in return, I gained the most fundamental, foundational authority... Control over natural energy itself."
"Right now, I have only one ability left, to manipulate natural energy. I'm no longer a god... I'm a sage."
"So... what now?" Aoba smiled faintly."Still planning to unleash some 'super-ninjutsu' on me?"
The Sage of Six Paths' face darkened completely.
At last, he realized he had made a grave mistake.
At their level, all those flashy divine authorities and so-called techniques were utterly meaningless.