Taro listened quietly to Jarvis's report, his gaze sweeping the surroundings, searching for the 32-story building that resembled a combat launch center.
Meanwhile, the others were already stunned by Taro's technique of creating Ki clones.
In truth, the Ki clones had no will of their own; they were merely puppets controlled through Taro's mastery of ki manipulation. He only referred to them this way out of habit from his time in the ninja world. As Taro slowly floated up into the air, the white jade statues—his Ki clones—stepping over headless corpses on the ground, began returning to him one by one, colliding into his back and merging with him.
"What the hell was that?!" The Saiyans on the ground gathered together, staring at Taro's rising figure. "What kind of combat technique was that just now? Is he really down to only 100 battle power?"
"What were those white humanoid figures? Were they just illusions?"
"Wasn't Burely missing? Why has he shown up again today?"
"I thought he was dead... but it turns out—"
"Die!!" A Saiyan who seemed to hold a grudge against Burely roared and fired a blast into the sky. In an instant, other Saiyans followed suit, launching a barrage of colorful energy waves toward Taro in midair.
"Search complete! The building in question has a hemispherical dome at its top, which opens when launching spacecraft…"
Jarvis's voice chimed in just in time. The AI, embedded within the Saiyan planetary system thanks to Taro's modifications, had searched the database, translated the relevant information, and relayed it via a signal from Earth. Unfortunately, due to the distance, it couldn't project a 3D image for clarity.
However, Taro's perception was extraordinarily sharp, and the insight granted by his Nine Tomoe Rinnegan was terrifying. With just a single glance, he scanned his surroundings and immediately locked onto a tall building in the southeast. Judging by its height, it was approximately 32 stories, and the top did indeed have a hemispherical structure.
By that time, the storm of energy beams from the rabble below was just about to reach Taro.
"How annoying…"
With a faint frown of impatience, Taro considered that since his Nine Tomoe Rinnegan was already active, and Kakarot was close to "succeeding", there was no need to hold back any longer.
Boom!
A dense white Ki flame suddenly erupted from his body, engulfing him entirely as it surged skyward, as if it intended to scorch the heavens themselves. The intense white flames formed a swirling vortex, swallowing all the incoming energy blasts from below.
The vortex of Ki fire abruptly contracted, like the gaping maw of an abyssal beast, devouring every single energy attack. Thunderous turbulence rumbled within.
More and more Saiyans gathered on the ground—some arriving late, confused about what was happening.
In the wind, in the air—
Taro's Nine Tomoe Rinnegan gleamed, each eye bearing eighteen tomoe, rotating in opposing directions along their orbits. His ocular prowess had reached new heights, further refining his mastery of ki manipulation inherited from the Mangekyō techniques.
A so-called prodigy, a so-called inherent advantage—such was the nature of things.
Saiyans carried the wrathful divinity of their ancient progenitor, embedded within their bloodline. Their genetic inheritance was terrifying from birth, allowing them to reawaken their ancestor's divine nature and ascend to godhood far more easily than other beings.
Taro, too, had found his own divine path—one of mastering ki and natural ki—thanks to his eyes and his divine tree-forged body.
In a flash of inspiration, a thought coursed through Taro's mind…
The Ōtsutsuki bloodline had awakened and triggered the evolution of these two divine paths within him. Could it be… that the origin of the ninja world itself was tied to a so-called True God? Was the world of Naruto actually one of the twelve universes fragmented after the Great Cosmos was shattered?
Roar!
From the swirling white flames enveloping Taro, a massive humanoid figure emerged as if reborn from the inferno. Its towering form was hazy, its limbs flickering in and out of definition, as though still taking shape. When it first flew out of the vortex, it was only the size of an ordinary person, but with a gust of wind, it grew to five times that height. Another flicker, and it surpassed ten times a man's height. By the time it fully materialized, it had become…
---
"Freeza… just what are you planning…"
Within the palace, King Vegeta gazed through the transparent ceiling, his deep eyes seeming to pierce through the atmosphere, reaching the depths of space.
That demonic being… When will the warriors of my Saiyan race finally tear that mocking face of his to shreds?
----
Some time ago, Freeza had suddenly issued an absolute order: all Saiyan warriors stationed off-world were to return to their home planet immediately.
It was not a request, nor an invitation. It was an undeniable command, allowing no room for negotiation.
All of them had to return. Every registered Saiyan.
King Vegeta saw the implications at once.
Never before had such an order been given. The Saiyans had only recently been forcibly conscripted into Freeza's army, after all. Even as their king, he had no clear understanding of what the self-proclaimed invincible Emperor of the Universe intended.
But an ominous feeling stirred within him.
At the same time, he felt an odd sense of relief—at least Vegeta himself likely wouldn't be returning…
"You are not permitted to enter the royal palace uninvited."
A distant commotion reached his ears. Saiyan hearing was sharp, and he could make out bits of the argument outside. It sounded like… that outlier among the lower-class warriors—Bardock?
King Vegeta's face instinctively twisted with displeasure. The mere thought of Bardock irritated him.
A low-class warrior with a battle power that, little by little, was beginning to rival that of the Saiyan King himself—how could he possibly like such a man?
"They should be nearly all back by now…"
He turned away from the noise, deciding to have the guards throw Bardock out. He had no interest in dealing with that man right now. His mind was preoccupied.
As he cast one last glance at the sky through the palace's glass window, he muttered to himself in contemplation.
---
"ROOOOAAARRR!!"
A massive, white-furred Ozaru thumped its chest and howled toward the heavens. From its gaping maw erupted a torrent of terrifying energy mist.
But its colossal body was not composed of flesh and blood—it was formed entirely from the energy that the Saiyan warriors had fired at Taro moments ago.
If human beings were fundamentally a part of nature itself, then the life force within them was simply another manifestation of natural energy. However, due to the distinctiveness of intelligent beings, their life force, once influenced by will and awareness, had long since diverged from the pure, untamed essence of the universe.