This blade was not the Divine Artifact he had previously given to Toneri, but it was his sidearm during his middle age, having accompanied him through long, arduous years.
However, as he had essentially ceased fighting by his middle age, this blade truly lacked any combat experience.
Facing Otohime’s words, which carried a tone of temptation and solicitation, Hamura responded with undisguised refusal and a battle-ready stance.
This undoubtedly infuriated this Otsutsuki, who styled herself as a "God" and the "Princess of the Dragon Palace."
"Obstinate fool."
A hint of displeasure crept into Otohime’s tone.
She said no more; a brilliant golden light suddenly erupted from her eyes.
"Susanoo!"
With the appearance of the golden Rinnegan and a clear, majestic command.
Naruto and Hamura only felt the scene before them suddenly blur and twist, as if the entire world had been thrown into a blender.
Their sense of space, direction, and even gravity were thrown into disarray in an instant.
The next second, all discomfort vanished, but the scene before them had completely changed.
They were no longer in that ancient, silent Sealing Space of the moon’s core, covered in Sealing Jutsu.
In its place was a boundless, deep, and azure "ocean."
Beneath their feet was a "ground" made of crystal-clear gems and coral.
All around, magnificent clusters of palaces constructed from pearls, seashells, coral, and crystal rose from the ground; the pillars were carved with exquisite sea beasts and wave patterns, emitting a soft glow.
Colorful schools of fish swam leisurely between the palaces, while glowing seaweed and jellyfish dotted this underwater wonder like neon lights.
In the distance, one could vaguely see giant conch shells, swaying coral forests, and the phantoms of various marine creatures swimming about.
And Otohime herself had now appeared on the seventh-floor balcony of the grandest and most magnificent main palace.
She stood by the railing, her silver hair and ornate dress drifting gently in the current, looking down with condescension at Naruto and Hamura, who seemed to be standing in an "underwater plaza," like a true master of the Dragon Palace scrutinizing Mortals who had stumbled into her Domain.
What was even more shocking was that in the "sky" behind her, a giant phantom of a whale—estimated to be over seventy meters long, with a dreamy, translucent blue body, dotted with star-like points of light, and possessing a graceful yet powerful form—was slowly swimming.
Every time it flicked its tail, it caused the surrounding water to churn, exuding a suffocating sense of pressure.
"Mortals," Otohime’s voice echoed throughout this "Dragon Palace" Domain, "welcome to... My ’Dragon Palace’."
She raised her hand slightly, as if showcasing her kingdom: "This is My ’Divine Realm’—the ’Dragon Palace Phantom Sea’ manifested by’Susanoo’."
"Here, I am the rule."
Her golden Rinnegan swept over the two below, and the corners of her mouth curled into a faint arc, the kind belonging to a predator: "Now, let Me see how long you so-called ’Peak of the Ninja World’ can last within a true ’Divine Domain’."
As her voice fell, the entire "Dragon Palace Phantom Sea" seemed to come alive.
The surrounding seawater began to surge, the palaces hummed, the schools of fish transformed into sharp arrows, and the giant star-filled whale phantom slowly turned, casting its massive eyes, which seemed to contain the stars, toward Naruto and Hamura.
Although the scene before them was magnificent and vast, Naruto and Hamura were men who had seen the world, and they were not frightened by the commotion.
Inside the real Sealing Space at the moon’s core.
Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, who was firmly sealed and sat slumped in the center of the massive Sealing Jutsu, "watched" everything happening outside.
She saw Naruto and Hamura standing in place while Otohime slowly walked toward them, and she hurriedly rushed forward, her hands pounding desperately against the indestructible light barrier of the Seal before her.
"Hamura, wake up!"
Kaguya shouted with all her might, but her voice could not reach into the illusion created by "Susanoo."
The abilities of "Susanoo" were mainly divided into two types:
First, it was to forcibly drag the enemy’s spirit and perception into an illusion called the Dragon Palace.
This illusion was not a purely Spiritual attack; it existed between reality and illusion, capable of simulating the physical laws and sensory feedback of the real world to a great extent, and could even influence the Chakra flow of those trapped, making it extremely difficult to detect and break free from.
Second, it could control the power of the sea and storms to launch substantial attacks.
These attacks could be launched in the real world as well as... in the illusion, and the damage caused within the illusion would be reflected on the victim’s spirit and body.
At this moment, Hamura, trapped in the illusion, had all his focus immersed in this incredibly realistic "Dragon Palace Phantom Sea," treating it as a real battlefield that required his full attention.
Naruto’s situation was equally dire.
He was indeed relatively lacking in experience when it came to dealing with Advanced illusions.
The only major illusion opponent he had encountered seemed to be Uchiha Hikari, and even that time, he had relied on Ocular Power to break the illusion.
Therefore, Naruto did not realize at first that he had actually fallen into an extremely sophisticated illusion.
He was more inclined to believe that Otohime had used some powerful space-time Ninjutsu or Domain ability to forcibly drag them both into an alternate space or barrier similar to Amenominaka.
After all, it was not strange for an Otsutsuki to possess various bizarre space-time abilities.
Just as Naruto was concentrating on analyzing the structure of the "Domain" and searching for a point to break through—
"Naruto."
A low, serious voice rang out directly in the depths of his mind.
It was Kurama.
"This is an illusion."
The Nine-Tailed was concise, its tone heavy.
Naruto was startled, but outwardly he remained calm, immediately asking in his mind, "Are you sure?"
"A very sophisticated and special illusion."
The Nine-Tailed paused, its tone becoming even more serious: "All I can do now is warn you and try my best to help stabilize your spirit."
"However, you have to rely on yourself to break or escape it."
"Good luck, Naruto. This woman named Otohime is more troublesome than any enemy we’ve encountered before."
The Nine-Tailed was also helpless; it had also thought this was reality at first.
After discovering it was an illusion, it couldn’t solve it either; apart from providing Chakra, it could no longer help Naruto.
Naruto’s heart sank. The Nine-Tailed’s warning was definitely not alarmist, because Naruto really hadn’t considered the current situation to be an illusion at first.
If he had known it was an illusion earlier, Naruto would have long since started trying to use Urashiki’s Rinnegan to break free using Ocular Power.
He had to adjust his strategy immediately; he could no longer treat this "Dragon Palace Phantom Sea" as a purely alternate space battlefield.
Naruto took a deep breath, his eyes becoming incomparably sharp.
He looked at Hamura, who was also on high alert, and informed him that they were trapped in an illusion.
Hamura was also startled; he, too, had not dealt with illusions much.
Meanwhile, on the balcony above, a glimmer of amusement flashed in Otohime’s golden Rinnegan.
She raised her hand gently, and the giant whale emitted a long, melodious whale song before charging toward Naruto and Hamura below, carrying a dark undercurrent with it.
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