Chapter 296 : Relying On Lightning Style Alone Against Shinra Tensei

This time, she could finally say that she was Riku’s wife.

And Riku turned to Jiraiya with a smile. "Master Jiraiya, I’m sorry—I will treat Tsunade well."

Jiraiya’s mouth twitched slightly. He didn’t know what to say.

He was genuinely furious now.

Sakura looked deeply disappointed.

Sasuke, however, was more curious than anything. He couldn’t understand how Riku had fallen in love with a woman so much older than their generation.

Even though Tsunade wouldn’t age anymore because of Riku, their mental ages were worlds apart.

Was it because Tsunade was beautiful and had a great figure?

Of course, what Sasuke didn’t realize was that—aside from those things—none of that really mattered.

But just after speaking, Riku turned toward Ōtsutsuki Urashiki and said coldly, "This guy has the Rinnegan. He’s extremely powerful—be careful."

In truth, everyone here was a burden to Riku right now.

Even with Sasuke’s Rinnegan, he still couldn’t match Urashiki in raw power.

Urashiki possessed both the Byakugan and the Rinnegan. That had been true from the start.

Even without the Ten Tails, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had not been this strong when she first arrived on Earth.

When Kaguya first descended, she only had the Byakugan—no Rinnegan.

Her Rinne Sharingan came later, after she devoured the fruit of the God Tree and fused with the Ten Tails.

Yet even after gaining that power, she hadn’t reached the level that Urashiki had now.

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed at Riku’s words. He had already known Urashiki possessed the Rinnegan, but...

Urashiki’s Rinnegan was different from Kaguya’s. He could shift between the Byakugan and Rinnegan, and his eyes even had multiple evolved stages.

In terms of combat ability, Urashiki had far surpassed the level of the Ōtsutsuki clan’s early arrivals to Earth.

The Urashiki who had just been knocked back by Riku’s lightning now stared at him with grave seriousness.

"This guy... he’s really as strong as the rumors say," Urashiki muttered. "But compared to the true strength of the Ōtsutsuki clan, he still falls short."

With that, Urashiki activated his Rinnegan.

A pair of blue Rinnegan eyes emerged, shifting from the Byakugan to full Rinnegan.

Sasuke frowned. His chakra still hadn’t recovered, and in this state, he was in no condition to fight Urashiki.

He glanced at Riku. At this point in time, Riku should already have awakened the Rinnegan as well.

Jiraiya, seeing the transformation in Urashiki’s eyes, was stunned. "Hey—he’s got the Rinnegan too?"

Until now, Jiraiya had thought only Nagato possessed those eyes.

He never expected someone else to have them—let alone wield them with such mastery.

Unlike Nagato, who couldn’t even fully control the power of the Rinnegan, Urashiki was clearly a Grandmaster in its usage.

Tsunade clenched her fists upon seeing the Rinnegan, ready to jump in and support Riku.

But Riku, standing calmly at her side, was unfazed.

Shinrai and Tsukiko, standing nearby, simultaneously activated their Three Tomoe Sharingan.

The power of the Six Paths flickered subtly around them—although faint, it was unmistakably there.

Riku glanced at the two with mild surprise.

Boruto, observing from the side, looked equally stunned. These two—Shinrai and Tsukiko—were legends in his timeline.

Shinrai, in fact, had been raised by his father to be the next Hokage—the Eighth.

He served as Naruto’s assistant, a key figure in the village’s future.

Tsukiko, though without an official title, was already a brilliant mind—she had joined the Archaeological Research Institute at age twelve. Her talent was something ordinary shinobi could never match.

Sasuke turned toward Riku. "You’re up against an Ōtsutsuki now. If you’ve got enough strength to fight back, you’d better use it. You won’t win otherwise."

Riku nodded slightly, then turned to face Urashiki. "That Rinnegan of his... the bloodline is extremely pure. He really is Ōtsutsuki."

Jiraiya was lost. He didn’t know much about the Ōtsutsuki clan—only about the Sage of Six Paths.

Urashiki suddenly swung his fishing rod at Riku.

Just as the hook was about to reach him, a blinding surge of lightning exploded from Riku’s body.

CRACK!

The hook was blasted away before it could touch him.

Urashiki smirked. "So you really do have a terrifying mastery of Lightning Style."

...But of course, Urashiki’s power didn’t stop there. He had the Rinnegan.

He raised his gaze toward Riku and released a wave of pure repulsive force.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Repulsion and gravity—these were the basic abilities granted by the Rinnegan.

And in this battle, only Sasuke and Riku had a chance of countering it.

But Sasuke’s chakra hadn’t recovered yet.

Worse, Urashiki’s Shinra Tensei had no five-second cooldown like Nagato’s—it was faster, stronger, and much more refined.

Riku stepped forward, shielding Tsunade.

"Thunder Net!"

BOOM—!

Countless arcs of lightning exploded around him, forming a massive electric shield that covered everyone nearby.

The sheer force of Shinra Tensei, which had torn up the earth and sent shockwaves for hundreds of meters, crashed into the Thunder Net—

—and was stopped cold.

All around them, the forest shattered. Trees and boulders were hurled away, and a fan-shaped crater over a hundred meters wide was blasted into the landscape.

But in the center of that destruction, a small circle remained untouched—where Riku and the others stood, safe within the Lightning barrier.

Urashiki’s face darkened.

"Damn it... why is this guy so strong? He didn’t even use his Rinnegan—and he still blocked my Shinra Tensei with just Lightning Style? That’s insane."

Even Sasuke could barely believe it.

Riku had used only Lightning Style—and held off a full-force Rinnegan technique.

Shinrai and Tsukiko stared at him in shock.

"So that’s my dad’s Lightning Style?" Shinrai murmured. "Compared to him, ours is still far too weak."

"That was Shinra Tensei," Tsukiko added. "Facing Rinnegan—and he blocked it like it was nothing."

As the dust settled, the damage became clear: a massive crater surrounded them, hundreds of meters wide—except for the spot where they stood, perfectly intact.

Jiraiya’s expression changed as he looked at Riku again.

He had once thought Riku was merely stronger than himself.

Now... he realized the gap between them wasn’t just large—it was immeasurable.

There hadn’t been anyone in the modern shinobi world who could force Riku to reveal such terrifying power.

But now?

He was only just getting started.

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