Reborn in Konoha; I Think I’m Cultivating Immortality

"You seem quite confident. Is it this form of you that has given you the cofidence?" Hui asked calmly, his tone devoid of any tension, "It does look like it's quite strong."

On the contrary, Uchiha Madara felt a deep sense of foreboding. He had assumed that Isshiki's previous state was already his strongest form, yet now, Isshiki had become even stronger.

Could it be…?

Was the earlier battle just "child's play" to him?

This thought filled Madara with dread, and his fists clenched tightly.

For someone as proud as Madara, this reality was a heavy blow.

Moreover, he could feel the terrifying strength emanating from Isshiki, it was as boundless and unfathomable as an abyssal sea.

Madara couldn't help but worry. He feared that Hui's recklessness might lead them both to their deaths.

In that moment, Madara made up his mind.

Even if it cost him his life, he would create an opportunity for Hui to escape.

"You still don't understand the true terror of the Ōtsutsuki Clan. I will make sure to engarave it in you what it means to be an Ōtsutsuki!"

Isshiki's voice was cold and emotionless, his gaze icy but calm as he stared at Hui, as though a god were looking down upon a mere mortal.

He was supremely confident. Now that he had entered his strongest form, he considered himself invincible, unmatched on this planet.

However, this body of his was rapidly deteriorating again.

It seemed he would need to find a new vessel with all haste.

Isshiki's thoughts were interrupted as Hui smiled.

"Since you're taking this seriously, it would be disrespectful of me not to do the same. After all, you are the strongest opponent I've encountered in this world so far. To show my respect, I will also fight with my full power," Hui said.

His words made both Isshiki and Madara freeze, their breathing momentarily halting.

What... did he mean by that?

He hadn't been fighting seriously yet?

Celestial Eye—Unseal!

Hui finally released the suppression on his eyes.

At that moment, his eyes changed.

Mysterious patterns appeared within them, radiant light surged, and an ethereal heavenly charm seemed to emanate from them.

In an instant, his once-ordinary eyes transformed into the most beautiful yet enigmatic "works of art" in existence, so mesmerizing that a single glance could leave one spellbound for eternity.

"Hiss—!"

Isshiki could no longer maintain his composure and involuntarily took a sharp breath.

From those eyes, he felt a terrifying sense of oppression.

The deathly pressure that had vanished earlier now returned with even greater intensity, suffocating him to the point where he found it difficult to breathe.

With the suppression lifted, Hui's vision of the world changed completely.

He could now see far more than any ordinary person.

He could perceive the flows of natural energy in the world, as well as special dimensional nodes scattered throughout reality.

If an ordinary person's perception of the world was akin to a black-and-white photograph, Hui's current view was a vibrant and colorful masterpiece.

The difference between the two was as vast as heaven and earth. It was impossible to compare both.

"Since I said I'd get serious, let's take it a step further. You've entered a special mode with your body, so I'll enter a mode of my own."

With those words, silver-white lightning suddenly surged around Hui's body.

The lightning converged, forming a cloak, a silver-white long coat adorned with patterns of silver dragons that shimmered and danced across its surface.

Draped in this coat of lightning, Hui seemed as though he were cloaked in the wrath of the heavens themselves.

Anyone who saw him in this form would be overwhelmed by the sense that they were witnessing a god descending to the mortal realm.

This wasn't an ordinary Lightning Chakra Mode, it was Hui's newly developed Silver Lightning Natural Energy Mode.

It could also be referred to as Silver Lightning Mode II: Natural Energy Cloak.

For simplicity, it will be called Silver Lightning II.

Upon entering Silver Lightning II, Hui's physical attributes were enhanced even further.

His body had already been incredibly powerful, so much so that further improvement had been exceedingly difficult.

Any technique capable of further enhancing his physique could only be described as divine.

The Silver Lightning II form only served to optimize Hui's body rather than massively boost it. The enhancement it provided wasn't as drastic as the Lightning Chakra Mode for ordinary ninjas. In fact, it wasn't even as significant as the boost Hui had received from Silver Lightning I in his previous state.

However, given Hui's already monstrous physical foundation, even a slight enhancement amounted to an astronomical increase in power.

The moment Hui entered Silver Lightning II, cold sweat broke out on Isshiki's forehead. Without hesitation, he activated his spatial abilities in an attempt to flee to another dimension.

Only a fool would try to fight this man head-on!

No, it wouldn't even be a fight. It would be a simple death sentence!

If he wanted to fight this man to the death, Isshiki believed it would only be possible if he were completely uninjured and at the absolute peak of his power.

But now...

Heh!

"I've taken you seriously, yet you're trying to run away? Isn't that a bit rude?" Hui's voice rang out, calm yet laced with a tinge of mockery.

Hui, possessing spatial affinity, could sense the subtle fluctuations in space.

The moment Isshiki activated his ability to escape into a separate dimension, Hui immediately noticed it.

Before Hui's words had even fully left his mouth, his figure had vanished, moving at a speed that even Madara's Rinnegan couldn't begin to track.

Hui intended to stop Isshiki before the spatial portal could fully open.

Seeing Hui rushing toward him, Isshiki's face was filled with terror.

Even with his enhanced vision, he could barely make out Hui's afterimage.

This speed... far surpassed his own by too great a margin.

Isshiki's resolve to escape only strengthened, and he pushed even harder to open the dimensional rift.

If not now, then when?

Staying behind would only mean certain death!

Finally, just as Isshiki's heart felt as though it might leap out of his chest, he successfully opened the portal and began to step inside.

At that exact moment, Hui arrived and extended his hand, grabbing hold of Isshiki's arm.

In this situation, Isshiki had only two choices:

Abandon the escape and stay in the real world.

Sever his arm and let it remain in the real world.

It wasn't a difficult decision at all.

Which was more important—an arm or a life?

Hui watched silently as Isshiki's arm was twisted and severed by the closing spatial rift.

"Dimensional travel... what an inconvenient ability," Hui sighed.

Even though Hui had spatial abilities and spatial affinity, he hadn't fully assimilated space with his Qi yet, making it impossible for him to enter Isshiki's separate dimension.

"What a pity. Truly a pity."

Hui sighed again. A top-tier experimental resource had escaped, it was painful to think about.

But there was nothing he could do.

This situation was different from the events of the original timeline.

In the original, Isshiki's body had been on the verge of collapse, forcing him to seek out Kawaki's body for reincarnation, leaving him with no choice but to stay fight.

The current Isshiki, however, had no such reason to stay.

Moreover, the opponent standing before him was Hui, someone capable of killing him. Why would he willingly stay behind?

On the side, Uchiha Madara stood utterly dumbfounded, his mind blank as he stared at everything that had just transpired.

He had always known that Hui was stronger than him, but he never could have imagined the sheer extent of their disparity.

It felt as though they weren't even in the same dimension of power anymore!

Isshiki had been so overwhelmingly powerful. Capable of toying with Madara and crushing him at any moment.

And yet, this same Isshiki had been completely overpowered by Hui, unable to fight back at all, ultimately losing an arm and fleeing in disgrace.

Madara finally understood. Hui possessed the ability to annihilate him in an instant!

Moreover, as Madara gazed upon Hui, clad in his silver lightning cloak and bearing his Celestial eyes, an indescribable feeling welled up within him.

He truly felt as though he were standing before a god.

This wasn't the "God of Shinobi"—this was the God of the Ninja World, a true deity in every sense!