As for other ninjutsu, genjutsu, and sealing techniques, they were of no use in the current situation.
At this moment, it seemed that even Madara Uchiha had no choice but to retreat.
But would Madara Uchiha really choose to run?
Perhaps he would — after all, he had not yet chosen a successor to guide and monitor Nagato, and he was not ready to die.
However, before deciding whether to retreat, he would gamble with the enemy one last time until the very last moment.
Supporting his eye socket with one hand, Madara catalyzed his ocular power to the extreme. The life energy he had previously absorbed from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path surged through him once more.
At the same time, Madara began to refine pure Yin-natured chakra.
Opening his eyes — that's right, Madara was trying to awaken something again.
Within his eyes, the twin Sharingan spun rapidly, almost leaving afterimages. His immense pupil power, the refined Yin chakra, and the life force from the Demonic Statue — three separate energies — collided and entwined violently within his body.
But this was not what Madara sought. Enduring the swelling pain in his eyes, he struggled to control the fusion of these forces, recalling the sensation from decades ago when he first awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
All the while, Madara kept his senses sharp to avoid the attacks raging within the storm.
A single lapse could result in severe injury — or worse.
Creak!
Whether from unbearable pain or memories of a sorrowful past he wished to forget, Madara gritted his teeth. Blood and tears streamed down from his eyes.
Suddenly, Madara squeezed his eyes shut.
High above the clouds, Kawaki Aoba — constantly monitoring Madara's condition with his advanced sensory skills — showed a look of disbelief.
"No way... can he really do such a thing?"
Sensing the surge of pure Yin chakra and the ominous, oppressive aura radiating from Madara, Kawaki Aoba was genuinely shocked.
He could clearly sense Madara's plan, but such a feat seemed utterly insane.
Besides, the Sharingan currently in Madara's eyes… wasn't that pair no longer truly his own?
Was it really possible?
Kawaki Aoba tensed, focusing all his attention on Madara's situation.
In the next instant, Madara's aura changed drastically — becoming even darker and heavier.
Suddenly, Madara's eyes shot open.
The familiar three-tomoe Sharingan had disappeared, replaced by concentric black rings.
Was this the Mangekyō Sharingan?
If not for the color being off and the distinct triple-ring pattern, it could almost be mistaken for the Rinnegan.
Regardless of appearances, what Madara had achieved was a new form of ocular power.
Madara Uchiha had succeeded — he had awakened a second set of Mangekyō Sharingan, and it wasn't from his original eyes.
"Susanoo."
A ghostly blue skeletal figure burst into existence, shielding Madara at its core.
In the next heartbeat, muscles, ligaments, and armor materialized over the frame, forging a complete Susanoo.
This was not a half-formed state — this was the Perfect Susanoo, its armor dense and radiant, maximizing its defense.
Even if it were struck by the Desert Vajra Treasure Blade, it would likely show no cracks.
Inside the crystalline core atop the Susanoo's head, Madara began to laugh — a wild, domineering, almost maddening laughter that echoed across the battlefield.
As expected of the leader of the infamous Uchiha, Madara's laughter far surpassed even Sasuke's future deranged laughs.
After his wild laugh, Madara prepared to counterattack.
> Wake up. Let's watch the meteor shower together.
"Although this isn't my full power... it's more than enough to deal with the likes of you. Open your eyes wide — witness the true might of Madara Uchiha!"
Controlling the Susanoo effortlessly, Madara shattered the Desert Vajra Storm that had endangered him earlier, swinging a colossal blue sword downward.
His opponent, however, remained unshaken.
Susano'o raised his palm to intercept the blow. The Eight Span Mirror — an ancient artifact resembling a mirror on his back — materialized to the front, forming a radiant golden barrier that blocked Madara's attack.
If Madara's slash had been an energy-based attack, Susano'o could have reflected it entirely with the mirror's power.
Unfortunately, Madara's blade was pure physical might, and thus, only the impact was absorbed.
Still, facing the overwhelming size and might of Madara's Susanoo was daunting.
Thinking quickly, Susano'o invoked his powers — an ability from the mythical Sand-Sand Fruit — and drew in all the nearby sand.
Madara's Susanoo was colossal?
Then he would simply build something even larger!
> Sand Giant Soldier!
Mirroring Madara's Susanoo, Susano'o shaped the amassed sand into a gargantuan warrior.
Unlike a mindless puppet, the Sand Giant Soldier was personally controlled by Susano'o, capable of matching Madara's battle prowess.
To truly rival the Perfect Susanoo, Susano'o crafted a mighty weapon for his Sand Giant Soldier.
> Kusanagi Sword!
Condensed through his own chakra, this weapon was exponentially enlarged and handed to the Sand Giant Soldier, who wielded it with ease.
Thus began a titanic clash between two behemoths.
Madara's Susanoo, towering over 100 meters tall, faced the Sand Giant Soldier, even taller still.
The two figures, like warring gods, clashed with enough force to devastate entire landscapes.
Their battles unleashed shockwaves akin to natural disasters — tsunamis of sand, winds howling like sirens, the ground itself splitting open.
Ordinary shinobi would be annihilated instantly by such destruction.
Even the two Kage, who were battling against Madara's wood clones, froze in awe at the battlefield unfolding before their eyes.
For a brief moment, as the Perfect Susanoo and the Sand Giant Soldier collided fiercely, the Kage and Madara's wood clones wordlessly agreed to pause their fight, overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the chaos.
For the wood clone, without Mangekyō Sharingan, they could only rely on Wood Release. With their limited chakra reserves, it would be difficult for them to take down opponents who ranked among the top of the Kage-level powerhouses.
Ōnoki, meanwhile, had no desire to fight seriously. He was forced into this battle. If it weren't for the safety of the shinobi from his village, he would have already attacked Madara's Susanoo instead.
Now, just helping to block three of Madara Uchiha's wood clones was already the limit of what he could do in support of the Susanoo.
Watching the two titanic figures clash like gods of myth, Ōnoki's eyes flickered with unease.
Whether it was Madara Uchiha or that unknown youth, both were simply too strong. Their power was enough to disrupt the fragile balance of the entire shinobi world. Monsters like them shouldn't exist at all.
If possible, Ōnoki's greatest wish would be for the two to destroy each other.
Then, noticing the Third Raikage standing nearby, Ōnoki saw him suddenly burst into hearty laughter:
"Hahahaha! As expected of our organization's vice-leader! With that kind of strength, this old man acknowledges you!"
Ōnoki frowned, immediately sensing something hidden behind Ay's words.
Realizing that the Third Raikage was deliberately conveying information to him, he quickly asked:
"Vice-leader? Ay, are you saying that the one fighting Madara Uchiha over there is just your vice-leader? Then what about your leader?"
Glancing at Ōnoki, the Third Raikage proudly raised his head:
"A mere Madara Uchiha? Our leader wouldn't even need to step in personally. Dealing with him is something we, the resurrected dead, can handle."
Although he understood that the Third Raikage wasn't lying, Ōnoki's heart involuntarily sank.
The one fighting Madara Uchiha... was just a corpse controlled by that white-haired guy, like the Third Raikage himself?
It was terrifying.
What kind of forbidden technique could accomplish something like this?
And how powerful was the white-haired controller himself?
Ōnoki racked his brain, recalling what little he knew:
He could control the dead he revived, could manipulate mountainous terrain to attack, and possessed absurdly high-speed flight abilities.
Yet, despite this, the man rarely engaged in direct combat.
Thus, Ōnoki concluded that the real strength of the white-haired man might not be far beyond that of his vice-leader.
He analyzed the figure known as Kawaki Aoba in his heart — while also factoring in Madara's wood clones.
He remembered that Black Zetsu had once reported the appearance of someone who could control the revived dead, but he hadn't paid much attention back then. He didn't expect that the "minor character" would cause such chaos now.
Not only had this man attacked Ōnoki's stronghold, but he had also forced him into a deadlock.
It seemed more necessary than ever to drag that white-haired man down and interrogate him properly.
Surely, Madara Uchiha was thinking the same.
Indeed, Madara Uchiha had already devised such a plan — and was about to act on it.
After another fierce clash between the two titans, Madara Uchiha laughed loudly from inside his crystalline Susanoo:
"Not bad! You're impressive! To force me, Madara Uchiha, to this extent... I acknowledge you. I, Madara, recognize you as the third after Hashirama and myself."
"But it's truly pitiful... to think someone like you is being controlled by some coward lurking in the shadows. In that case, allow me, Madara Uchiha, to personally liberate you!"
High in the sky, Kawaki Aoba's eyes narrowed sharply.
He could feel Madara's killing intent locking onto him.
For Kawaki Aoba, whose Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) had already reached the pinnacle, that ominous feeling was almost a guaranteed future.
Locking onto Madara and his Susanoo with Kenbunshoku Haki, Kawaki Aoba contemplated whether to strike first.
But when he saw Madara's next move, he stopped.
"Since it's that move, there's no need to panic."
Madara's Susanoo changed — two additional arms sprouted from its back.
A four-armed Susanoo — a precursor to one of Madara's most devastating techniques.
Heavenly Obstacle: Meteorite (Tengai Shinsei).
Above Kawaki Aoba's head, space itself rippled — unnoticed by most, but not escaping his perception.
"It seems it really is that move. But if I remember correctly... wasn't Tengai Shinsei supposed to be a Rinnegan dōjutsu?"
Chuckling softly, Kawaki Aoba prepared to respond.
Unlike normal meteorite attacks, Madara's Heavenly Obstacle technique summoned an actual meteorite from space, teleporting it rather than simply hurling it down.
Although it lacked the usual impact of reentry-speed collisions, the meteorite's sheer size made it catastrophic.
Destroying a place like Konoha or Iwagakure would be trivial for it.
The super-giant meteorite materialized high above and began descending directly toward Kawaki Aoba.
Had he still had normal human eyesight, he would have seen the sky itself black out under its bulk.
Moreover, Kawaki Aoba could sense that Madara's true target wasn't the giant sand clone below — it was him.
"As expected of Madara... realizing that if I fall, all the corpses I control will lose their anchor and return to the Pure Land."
"Still... thinking you can kill me with a mere meteorite... Madara, you underestimate me."
Raising one hand upward, Kawaki Aoba activated his power.
The moment the colossal meteorite touched his palm, its momentum and weight vanished completely.
This was the power of the Float-Float Fruit — the devil fruit once wielded by the legendary pirate Donquixote Doflamingo.
No matter how massive the object, so long as it could be lifted, its weight became meaningless.
Even if the meteorite were ten times bigger, it would still be rendered harmless.
However, the shockwave from the meteorite's initial displacement still persisted.
Clouds were blown apart, revealing Kawaki Aoba's figure high in the sky.
From within his Susanoo, Madara Uchiha's expression darkened.
Unaware of the Float-Float Fruit's existence, he mistook the technique for some derivative of Iwagakure's Super-Lightweight Rock Technique.
"Hmph... I did underestimate you. But a coward hiding behind tricks — how far can you really go?"
"If you can catch one...
Let's see how you handle three."
Madara kept his word.
Space warped again — two more meteorites materialized, even larger than the first.
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