This was an indisputable fact.

  But to Bck Zetsu, all it heard was humiliation!

  And the worst part...

  When ōtsutsuki Kaguya's body was pierced by the Truth-Seeking Ball bck bde, the chakra within her was forcibly sealed. For the first time, fear crept into her heart.

  This predicament…

  Was even more desperate than anything she had faced during the ancient era.

  Back then, she had enough chakra to suppress both of her sons. Now, she was being crushed—both in strength and technique—by overwhelming superiority.

  "Shift the dimension…"

  Bck Zetsu resumed its role as Kaguya's battle advisor, offering sound strategy:

  "Use the Rinne Sharingan to transfer to the Ice Dimension immediately! Use the natural terrain to recover!"

  Next moment—

  Kaguya's body vanished without a trace, along with the bck bde embedded in her body.

  In the Ice Dimension.

  The Rabbit Goddess winced in pain as she wrenched the sword from her chest. She had never endured serious injury, nor experienced the agony that came with it.

  In truth…

  She cked true combat experience.

  The only real battle in her life had been against her sons—who ultimately sealed her. Everything else… didn't even qualify as a battle. She'd simply used Infinite Tsukuyomi to bring the world to heel.

  "Hide here…"

  "Become one with the ice…"

  Bck Zetsu whispered its strategy again:

  "If we can trap Shigen here even briefly, we can absorb Naruto and Sasuke's chakra first. Remember—Mother's Ten Tails is incomplete, missing half of Kurama's chakra…"

  "A god shouldn't run from battle."

  Shigen's voice echoed through a newly opened portal.

  "You—!"

  Bck Zetsu snapped furiously—

  But Kaguya raised her hand to silence it.

  She was already fusing silently into the frozen terrain…

  By tapping into nature, she could wield the terrain's elemental power without burning through her chakra, controlling giant ice nces to strike Shigen with lethal force.

  This power…

  Was a manifestation of Kekkei Mōra.

  Giant ice spears surged upward, piercing toward Shigen like a punishment of divine judgment. This time, there were no gaps—no escape.

  Moreover…

  This wasn't a chakra-based Ice Release.

  This was solid, physical matter—meaning Shigen's Kamui Mirror couldn't reflect it.

  Within this natural stronghold, Kaguya finally began to rex. She focused completely, trying to impale Shigen with countless icy stakes—at the very least, to prevent him from escaping unscathed.

  Boom!

  A burst of fme ignited in Shigen's palm!

  Wind chakra surged around it, and with a flick of his hand, he released the bze into the frigid dimension. His voice reverberated through the ice cavern:

  "I'm not some chakra-starved weakling…" 1

  "I'm not some chakra-starved weakling…"

  "I have enough chakra to turn this entire dimension into a sea of fmes!"

  BOOM—

  The fmes spread explosively!

  Wind-fed fire raged across the ice!

  The gcial terrain, accumuted over millennia, began to melt rapidly. Streams and torrents poured across the ndscape—soon repced by rising steam, transforming the battlefield into a boiling, hellish fog.

  Kaguya's attacks melted before her eyes. Even she was forced to re-emerge from the ice, shaken by how swiftly Shigen reversed the situation.

  Once again…

  The battle slipped from her control.

  Time and again, Kaguya tried to fight Shigen as she had fought lesser beings—

  But neither she nor Bck Zetsu had truly faced someone like him.

  Just as Kaguya reappeared, Yomotsu Hirasaka opened before her—

  And from the darkness stepped the reaper-like figure of Shigen.

  "Mother!"

  Bck Zetsu tried to warn her.

  "!!!"

  But Kaguya saw Shigen's attack even faster—her Byakugan caught it—but her body couldn't keep up.

  Shigen's hand shot forward, aiming to crush her throat. Though he was far smaller, his speed and strength made resistance impossible.

  Bck Zetsu gasped.

  It saw the veins bulging on Shigen's hand, squeezing with enough force to snap Kaguya's neck. He wasn't holding back at all.

  If this world had tiers—Naruto, Sasuke, even Ten-Tails Jinchūriki Madara were below them. Though Kaguya's chakra was slightly inferior to Shigen's, they stood on the same level.

  Kaguya's hair shed forward like bdes—

  A counterattack meant to force Shigen to release her.

  She couldn't afford to keep wasting chakra—

  She needed to economize… even as a god.

  Absurd as it was…

  She had to learn to be frugal.

  Fortunately, her gambit worked.

  Shigen halted his crushing grip as thousands of needle-like hairs swarmed him. In response, gales of cutting wind erupted from his palm, shredding the hair and sshing her body bloody.

  Kaguya, now stained and tattered, survived—barely.

  But the danger wasn't over.

  "Byakugan!"

  Veins bulged on her temple as her all-seeing eye tracked Shigen's every move. She shed out with palm strikes and counter-blows—but Shigen's taijutsu was simply better.

  With one whipping leg, he shattered her guard and struck her arm. The crack of bone echoed. Her breath hitched in pain.

  Pain…

  Disrupted her rhythm.

  Shigen seized the opportunity.

  He spun mid-air and brought down a leg like an axe on her shoulder.

  Kaguya's body plummeted like a meteor.

  "Run!"

  Bck Zetsu could only scream one word.

  As Kaguya fell, Shigen's Kamui portal had already opened beneath her.

  He was faster than her descent!

  "This is draining too much chakra…"

  Kaguya clenched her teeth.

  "I weakened him earlier burning the Ice Dimension, but still…"

  "But!"

  Bck Zetsu cut her off.

  It had seen Shigen's full fury before.

  "Once he gains momentum, it's impossible to escape!"

  "At that point—chakra doesn't matter anymore!"

  "Fine…"

  Kaguya accepted the truth.

  She activated her space-shifting once again—

  But Shigen's eyes instantly transformed into his Eternal Mangekyō.

  With the power of Six Paths, he unleashed Kamui and Yomotsu Hirasaka together—

  RIP!

  Space tore open—

  Kaguya felt her body being sliced as she teleported.

  Only half of her escaped.

  A true injury.

  Even for a being of her caliber, regenerating such a wound required massive chakra.

  Worse—

  She failed to teleport.

  Wrapped in white muscle-flesh, her body pulsed with pain. She quickly forced her regeneration, gasping for air.

  "Hah… hah…"

  The Rabbit Goddess—panting like a mortal—watched Shigen's position anxiously.

  But…

  Where was he?

  He was gone.

  Even her Byakugan couldn't spot him—

  Until…

  She saw him.

  Behind her.

  Too te.

  Kaguya couldn't teleport again.

  From her Byakugan's vision, she saw Shigen's hand crackling with lightning pierce through her chest.

  Bck fluid engulfed her body—siphoning her chakra.

  It was a death sentence.

  Her body warped grotesquely.

  White flesh pulsed. Her once-elegant features twisted into a monstrous grimace.

  "Roar!!"

  Bck Zetsu saw it—

  She was about to fully transform into the Ten-Tails Beast State.

  A towering rabbit-like humanoid roared into existence, with a grotesque flesh pod on its back, molded with sculptures of the nine tailed beasts.

  Only in this form could she stop her chakra from being devoured—and possibly steal his in return.

  Shigen wasn't done.

  He'd also learned.

  He entered his own Beast State—

  A towering white tiger nearly a thousand meters tall emerged!

  Blue chakra surged across its body—

  Armor formed around it like pted scales.

  Its head was crowned by a demonic blue helmet, revealing only two massive white fangs.

  Bck Zetsu, clinging to Kaguya's monstrous back, could only whisper in shock:

  "That's…

  'Susanoo Armored Ten Tails', isn't it?"