528. Crisis of the Shinobi World

Minato steps inside the massive space rift created by Izuna.

As soon as he steps inside, an unpleasant feeling of weightlessness and dizziness overwhelms him. Minato glances at the pitch-black surrounding and closes his eyes in nausea.

The feeling lasts for a few seconds until Minato's feet touch the firm ground.

Ugh…

Minato slowly opens his eyes and wobbles. It takes him a few more seconds to adjust his body.

ROOARR…

Suddenly, a deafening roar assaults his senses. Minato finally adjusts himself to the change in his surroundings.

"Ugh… this feeling… it's similar to the first time I used the 'Flying Thunder God Jutsu' for teleportation."

Minato raises his head and glances at his surroundings. The unknown planet which he is currently standing on has russet-colored terrain.  The planet's air is breathable and there appear to have no native life forms on this planet since Minato's sensory skills warn him of the absence of any large life forms. Though he notices the remnants of dead forests in the distance that dot the otherwise barren landscape. Thick red clouds surround the planet.

The sky of the planet is bathed in the synchrotron radiation of a dying red sun, which produces its brilliant auroras. The size of the red sun is almost the same as the Moon in the Shinobi World.

Minato's eyes narrow as he notices a gigantic tree stump inside a supermassive crater in the distance.

"What kind of place is this?" Minato wonders in surprise.

BOOM…

Suddenly, a deafening loud explosion echoes in the distance. Minato turns his attention towards the explosion and notices a cyan figure pummel a pitch-black figure.

Shoom…

Izuna's body releases a cyan trail as his movements are barely visible to Minato's eyes.

If Minato has to take a guess, then Izuna's current speed is several hundred times faster than the speed of sound since his every movement produces a ripple in space.

Izuna raises his right hand. A reddish-black aura engulfs Izuna's fist.

Izuna clenches his fist and punches the pitch-black figure.

Bang…

The pitch-black figure streaks across the sky and slams into a huge mountain of several tens of kilometers height in distance.

BOOM…

The pitch-black figure crashes into the vast mountain and a massive mushroom cloud of several hundred kilometres radius rises towards the sky. The powerful explosion blows away the entire mountain to smithereens.

"No wonder Izuna-kun chose this place for their battle. If a battle of such scale occurs in the shinobi world, then the entire shinobi world will become history within a matter of few minutes." Minato shakes his head in amazement.

"This world is so huge. It seems to be almost thrice if not at least five times as large as the shinobi world."

Minato notices the traces of civilization in the distance. He walks through the heart of a ruined metropolis and notices the dried, withered corpses of several humanoid creatures. The passage of time has eroded their body beyond recognition. However, the powerful vitality of these creatures still preserved their body even after centuries of decay, a testament to their power.

After witnessing the ruins of this foreign race, if Minato has to take a guess, then he will rate this civilization at least a few times more advanced than the current shinobi world. However, from its current look, this highly advanced civilization has turned into a worthless heap in a matter of few years.

"Is this the reason Izuna-kun brought me to this place?" Minato wonders.

Minato understands that he stands no chance against that overpowered pitch-black figure unless he bombards him with a barrage of Ame-no-Hoko replicates. However, creating those things is time and resource-consuming.

Sigh…

Minato sighs and worries about the bleak future of Shinobi World.

"Is this the fight, Izuna-kun is fighting all by himself?"

Another enormous mushroom cloud and a deafening explosion ring in the distance.

Rumble… Rumble…

The ground trembles from the powerful shockwaves. Minato crosses his arms and creates a barrier to protect himself from the surrounding falling objects.

Whoosh…

The next second, Izuna teleports beside Minato.

"Minato-san, so now do you understand the severity of the situation?" He asks.

Mm…

Minato nods in understanding. Still, he opens his mouth nonetheless.

"This place… no, this world… could it be the handiwork of those alien creatures you are fighting against?"

"It is!" Izuna's confirmation shook Minato's heart to the core.

"This place was once home to a flourishing civilization that was several times more advanced than our shinobi world. If I were to make a comparison, then the current shinobi world is like a child in infancy. And this world was a full-grown adult in terms of strength."

"I see!" Minato gasps in shock.

"It was a beautiful world with a population of several billion living creatures until those Otsutsukis reduced it to this state within the span of a week. The natives of this world fought hard to preserve their world; however, they were no match for the God-like powers of those Otsutsukis. Not even a soul survived after the Otsutsuki warrior made their moves." Izuna sighs and shakes his head.

"The Guy we fought previously is just a piece of useless trash from a branch family. Compared to the real Otsutsuki warriors, he is similar to a little kid with a wooden sword."

ROOOARR…

The pitch-black figure in the distance releases another terrifying roar, and a dark abyssal aura oozes out from it. The aura morphs into a gigantic black dragon.

Minato recognizes the giant dragon as the opponent Izuna fought against in the HOLE. Worry appears on Minato's face as he recalls the lengths Izuna went to fight against this very same opponent.

However, Izuna ignores the transforming black dragon and teleports Minato to the stratosphere of the giant planet.

AH!

Minato gasps in shock as notices the state of the surface of the planet. The entire planet is split into two different heavenly bodies, right from the center. It's like someone sliced an orange in half with a single stroke of a knife.

Also, Minato's previous estimation of the size of the planet was proven wrong after witnessing the true size of this broken planet. This planet isn't thrice or five times the size of the shinobi world. It's at least ten times the size of the shinobi world and such a planet was sliced in half with just a single attack.

Terror encroaches Minato's heart as he yet again underestimated the severity of the situation.

"I-Izuna kun, j-just how should we face something like this? In the eyes of someone like them, our lives are as worthless as ants." Minato stammers in true horror.

Izuna also understands Minato's sentiment and sighs in the heart.

"Minato-san, things aren't as bad as you assume." Izuna pauses.

"At least for now…" He adds after an uncertain pause.

"That's why we have to prepare ourselves."

"But… but… what could we even do against something like this?" Minato wants to scream the above words but reins them into his heart.

"Minato-san, the shinobi world is like a wasteland in their eyes. The level of our world is so low that even their dumpster is more high-profile than our world," Izuna chuckles as he jokes slightly to relieve Minato of his worries.

"But no matter how trash our world is, it's still hiding a few secrets of its own. And I am afraid, one day, those powerful figures might appear to dig out those secrets. And when that day comes, the peace of our world will disappear together with the world. Hehe…"

Minato sighs after listening to Izuna's world.

"Well, at least that's how they think it will end up. But even bites back when an elephant steps on them. And we are shinobis, the humans who persevere. So, how can we just give up like this?"

Rumble… Rumble…

Izuna Black completes its transformation and reverts into a massive black Abyssal flood dragon.

It opens its mouth and charges up a huge beam of energy.

Shoom…

After charging up, the black dragon fires a massive purple beam toward the duo.

Shoom…

Izuna waves his hand and creates a massive shield with hexagonal energy blocks.

"Minato-san, we still have a few years to prepare for their arrival. That's plenty of time to prepare ourselves. Also, the main forces of those enemies are tangled up with a similarly powerful opponent. The most they will send here is a small platoon. Even then, that's enough to raze our world to dust. So we have to move over our paltry disputes and unite against a strong opponent."

Fwoosh…

Izuna waves his hand and disperses the powerful beam attack of the dragon.

Whoosh…

He flickers in front of the giant dragon and punches its face.

Bang…

The punch sends the massive dragon flying across the surface of the planet.

"I have to give it to that bastard Kabuto! The tenacity of this thing is something else after perfectly fusing with my cells and the cells of that Abyssal Centurion, paired with the strange rejuvenation energy of the HOLE. Its vitality and regeneration are much stronger than even that of Abyssal Centurion, but its strength is still weak. Now, I wonder how that Kabuto sealed and controlled such a monster."

Izuna's blow destroys the entire upper body of the black Dragon. However, it swiftly regenerates its entire body within a matter of seconds.

"Haha… I like a punching bag like this. Now I am having a second thought after killing it."