stonecrandall Chapter 551 Each Their Own Victory
Chapter 551 Each Their Own Victory
Chapter 551 Each Their Own Victory
Upon arriving in the Land of Water, Uchiha Ryu was greeted by a peculiar sight.
The Hidden Mist ninjas were scattered in twos and threes on the outskirts, in the docks, villages, and moss-covered fields.
A Kirigakure Jonin noticed the Konoha headband on his head and, after confirming Itachi's identity, explained the situation.
Madara Uchiha has been resurrected.
Therefore, Kirigakure has now adopted a hollowing-out tactic, with most of its combat personnel dispersing outwards, leaving only the smallest units to maintain basic order in the Land of Water.
Although core secrets and key personnel remained behind, they were kept extremely well hidden within Kirigakure.
Even if someone suddenly has a whimsical idea to do something out of boredom, Kirigakure will not collapse because of it.
Itachi could guess that this was Shuuji's arrangement.
Such an arrangement could only have been proposed by Shuji.
Only the Sixth Hokage, who was in another village, could make the Mizukage, Mei Terumi, make such a decision under these circumstances without appearing cowardly or being accused of being afraid of battle.
The young patriarch of the Uchiha clan did not inquire about the details further and quickened his pace toward the heart of the battlefield.
The barrier surrounding the entire body of water has dissipated.
The deliberately maintained thick fog has mostly dissipated, leaving only a thin, natural white veil on the lake surface.
His predecessor was leaning against a tree trunk, leisurely closing his eyes as if resting, showing no sign of the tension that had arisen when the strongest enemy he had assumed over the years suddenly appeared.
This scene allowed Ryou to escape from the most dangerous mission situation.
"Senpai," Itachi called softly.
"You're here."
"Yes—should we gather more people?" Itachi asked.
"The more people who can threaten him, the less playful Madara becomes." Shuji then opened his eyes. "The Madara we know now is a demon with grand ambitions."
"Even the most warlike blood can be suppressed under this premise."
"If the goal is to complete this mission, then the two of us are just right. We won't make him feel slighted, but we'll also keep his fighting spirit burning so high that he won't want it to end hastily."
Shuji jumped down from the treetop.
"Alright, let me share some information. The fully resurrected Uchiha Madara possesses abilities such as Wood Release and Sharingan, and also has all the eye techniques of the Rinnegan."
"Unlike Nagato's fundamental skills, Madara, after being resurrected, possesses the ability to release an invisible shadow, which lasts for between thirty-five and fifty seconds."
"The interval will likely increase as the pupil power is consumed. At the beginning, it will be possible to use it again after one minute and ten seconds."
"There may be a 20-second margin of error."
Shuji smiled and said, "After all, he knows I'm testing him, and he can't unleash a sufficiently threatening attack."
"Therefore, there is a high possibility that false information was released to lure people in."
Itachi nodded slightly: "All errors will be reduced once we enter high-intensity combat."
"That's right. Next comes the real battle."
After initially losing his temper a little, Madara maintained a remarkably good temper for the rest of the time.
Even after the barrier dissipated and she saw the commotion outside, she did not make any other moves, nor did she disturb Xiu Si's rest.
He has a great advantage. Before the tailed beasts are resurrected, he doesn't mind giving the younger generation of this era a chance to breathe, so that this journey won't seem so monotonous and boring.
Therefore, he remained on the island in the middle of the great lake, letting Shuji test him back and forth.
Until the color of the lake water began to change.
Initially, the water level receded gradually, and then, the exposed parts of the lakebed began to emit a light white mist.
Then, beneath his feet, the rocks began to tremble, and the lake water, which had receded for half a day, surged back, churning up towering waves with an even more ferocious force than when it had receded.
"Time is up."
Ban's lips twitched slightly.
The islands in the middle of the great lake began to riot upon hearing this declaration, and countless trees seemed to come alive, uprooting themselves and attacking Ban relentlessly.
Moreover, a Flying Thunder God technique flashed on a rotten log that had been kicked into the lake earlier, and a monk appeared deep at the bottom of the lake.
Ban's body floated up out of thin air.
"Think you've succeeded?" Madara's lips curled upwards. "Tobirama has used this technique more than once."
"When the enemy thinks they have succeeded—"
His voice was filled with undisguised joy.
"Launch a real attack."
He opened his arms, and the purple light in his eyes suddenly intensified.
"Shinra, Tensei!"
An incredibly powerful repulsive force, centered on Madara Uchiha's body, transformed into an ever-expanding transparent sphere, sweeping outwards in all directions with overwhelming force.
The repulsive force crashed into the raging forest, into the rocks on the lakebed, into everything that could be hit.
At that moment, the lake water forgot it was water; it was churned up in large swathes from the bottom, carrying with it the silt and sand from the bottom.
The seaweed and broken rocks receded into the distance.
The ground of the island in the middle of the lake peeled away layer by layer under the repulsive force. The tree roots buried deep in the ground, along with the soil they clung to and the trees themselves, were thrown into the air.
The monk in the lake didn't have time to do anything.
The moment Shinra Tensei collided with him, cracks in the wood spread from his chest to his limbs.
The next instant, his entire body turned into countless fragments, mingling with the sand and gravel swept up by the repulsive force.
Driven by repulsive forces, the water level surged outwards, creating a massive, empty void in the center of the lake.
The pristine, dark gray lakebed was completely exposed to the sunlight.
The Three-Tailed Fox is right there.
Before its newly resurrected, enormous body could even utter its first roar, it was pushed off the lakebed by this unreasonable repulsive force.
Then, the repulsive force disappeared.
After the release of Shinra Tensei ended, an extremely strange stillness appeared between heaven and earth.
The hundreds of millions of tons of water that were forcibly diverted are still suspended in mid-air, not yet able to flow back under the influence of gravity.
The flying debris, mud, and churning white foam were briefly suspended in mid-air as their kinetic energy dissipated.
Right now.
A shadow emerged from the flying debris.
A shuji swooped down towards Madara's direction.
Madara's Susanoo lit up.
Blue chakra transformed into massive bones and armor, and the God of War's giant hand grabbed the falling figure.
The sound of wood breaking was dull and crisp; the first wooden clone was crushed into pieces between his fingers.
However, at the very moment it was crushed, another Shuji appeared beside Madara.
The wood clone, which had teleported there using the Flying Thunder God Technique, had already raised its right foot, compressing its chakra to the limit at its heel before it landed on the armor of the Susanoo.
Shuji's feet collided with Susanoo's surface, creating a visible shockwave, but the armor remained completely still.
But the third clone has already arrived.
He used the spell coordinates on the remains of the first clone to teleport to the other side of Madara.
With the same posture and angle, the second leg swept across Ban's head.
Susanoo swung his other hand and grabbed him.
"Another clone."
Ban lowered his head.
Directly below him, on the lakebed leveled by the Shinra Tensei, the fourth monk was looking up.
He slightly bent his knees, leaped up, pulled his fist back, and unleashed a powerful Rising Dragon Fist aimed directly at Madara's jaw, intending to knock him away from the protective center of Susanoo.
Madara wanted to react, but his actions in dealing with the three clones in succession had slowed him down by a moment, and he was about to be knocked away.
An invisible force pierced through from the side and struck the wooden figure that had risen into the air.
Shuji's body was kicked horizontally through the air, spinning several times before shattering into pieces of wood.
Ban withdrew the shadow he had just released.
Susanoo's giant hand suddenly exerted force, crushing the third clone it held into wood chips. This time, it didn't wait for the Flying Thunder God technique to activate.
Then he realized something.
Two more figures appeared next to the clone that had been crushed.
A clerk.
One Uchiha Itachi.
Ban didn't hesitate. He raised his arms, and black rods extended from his palms. Two slender, jet-black rods were swung towards the two targets respectively.
A piece of rotten wood fell from where Xiu Si was.
Then, with a bang, white smoke exploded, and Itachi's figure vanished.
At the same time, the lake water that Shinra Tensei had created finally began to flow back towards the center.
The massive volume of water pushed away by the repulsive force lost its outward squeezing power, and gravity took over everything again.
The water walls, several stories high, cascaded down from all directions, and the waves crashed together without any cushioning above the hollow in the center of the lake, producing a deafening roar.
The white foam and water droplets filled the sky like a torrential rain, completely obscuring the sky.
In a scene resembling the end of the world, Uchiha Madara landed on the churning water.
The water beneath his feet calmed down just before it touched the soles of his shoes.
"I already said that."
His voice cut through the roar of the waves.
"My patience will only last until the Three-Tails is revived. Now, the warm-up is over."
The Rinnegan peered through the murky water, looking down below.
There, the shattered remains of Shuji's wooden clone floated everywhere, carried by the surging water.
At this moment, the three-tailed creature surfaced.
It emerged from the churning lake water, the giant beast opened its mouth, and let out a deep and long roar.
"Quiet, you beast."
Ban only glanced at it.
The Three-Tails stopped moving. Its half-open jaw hung suspended in mid-air, its roar abruptly cut off in its throat.
"I'll take you back to where you belong right away."
Ban bit his thumb, leaving a bloody mark on his palm.
He crouched down and slapped the water with his palm.
"Spiritual communication techniques."
The demonic statue of the heretic had most of its body submerged in the water, standing on the lakebed with half of its body above the surface.
The massive object entering the water once again created towering waves.
It was at this moment.
Two figures landed on the water.
Shuji stood on the edge of the wave crest, his hand seals completed in their final round.
"Sage Art: Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique".
The surging waves responded to the call. All the water that was pushing outwards seemed to be forcibly reversed by an unseen hand, turning back towards the Outer Path Golem and the stigma on its head.
The golem's massive body was jolted backward by the force.
Its giant foot, which was resting on the lakebed, took a step back.
But that's all.
Ban stood atop the violently shaking golem, his body completely still.
He raised his gaze amidst the spraying water, his Rinnegan eyes seeing through the curtain of water to discern what was hidden in this final attack.
Wood chips.
The light of the Flying Thunder God technique was shining on every fragment swept by the waterfall.
More than twenty monks appeared at the same time.
They were so dense that they filled the entirety of the spot's field of vision. Some were throwing punches in front, some were kicking from the side, and some were clasping their hands together like hammers from behind.
The echoes of the waterfall still reverberated in the air as these figures surrounded the golem's head, forming a comprehensive attack net with no blind spots.
"snort."
Ban let out a soft snort from his nose.
The chakra of Susanoo surged around him once more, and the blue war god raised his hands.
Two chakra swords pierced through the clones and headed towards Shuji and Itachi.
This is the moment Itachi has been waiting for.
The kaleidoscope in my left eye spun rapidly, and blood vessels spread from the corner of my eye to my eyelid.
The unstoppable longsword of Susanoo pierced the space in front of him, but it did not penetrate his body.
The blue light weakened the moment it touched an inch around him, and together with the impact force that was enough to split a mountain, it rapidly condensed in some invisible transformation, turning into three tomoe that appeared beside him.
Itachi's left eye felt like it was being cut by a knife. He closed his already overwhelmed left eye and let the blood flow.
The kaleidoscope pattern in his right eye was fixed on Madara Uchiha in the distance, as well as the enormous Susanoo.
The Futsu-no-Mitama silently activates.
The three floating magatama transformed into streams of light, piercing into the offensive woven together by more than twenty monks.
They pierced through the flying wood chips, through the severed limbs, through everything, converging on one point, striking the armor of Madara Susanoo.
That was the power of Madara's own all-out attack.
The armor cracked.
A crack extended outwards from the crevice, spreading like a spider web.
At the same time, all the remaining wooden clones exploded simultaneously, each clone transforming into dozens of sharp branches the instant it disintegrated, each branch piercing towards the only gap in the Susanoo armor.
New shoots take root along the edge of the crack, while older shoots lignify as they tighten. They pile up layer upon layer at the gap, forcefully pushing the crack open.
Itachi's body lit up with half of his Susanoo, and red chakra bones grew layer by layer around him. The armor was not yet fully covered, and the gourd in his right hand had already appeared.
A chakra sword, as fiery as a flame, pierced into Madara's body.
The moment he was pierced by the sword, Madara's proud, dark blue Susanoo vanished rapidly in the wind, like a phantom that had lost its power supply.
Madara looked at the red flame sword piercing his body with some surprise.
"Uchiha Itachi, you found the Totsuka Blade."
"To discover something like this, you too have a dream that you yearn for but cannot attain."
"If this were before my resurrection, it would indeed be a troublesome technique." Madara raised his hand, pressing it against the blade of the Totsuka Blade. "But ultimately, only the confused become obsessed with it. And I—"
"I—Uchiha Madara—have abandoned all confusion and am now able to bear the weight of all the causes and effects and the truth of this world!"
With a low growl, Madara, with his pure flesh and blood body, and with his unparalleled terrifying will and chakra, gripped the sealing blade that was said to cut through everything.
To Itachi's astonishment, he actually managed to slowly push the Totsuka Blade, which was embedded in his body, away inch by inch.
Just as the battle raged on here, the lake below began to stir again.
Four wooden dragons burst from the water, coiling around the giant beast controlled by the Rinnegan from four directions.
However, the chains shot out by the Gedo Mazo were faster than the wooden dragon. The chains wrapped around the Three-Tails' body and pulled the tailed beast toward the Mazo's mouth with astonishing force.
The two were originally only forty or fifty meters apart.
The newly resurrected Three-Tails was dragged to the golem almost the instant the chains wrapped around it, and it was about to turn into chakra and sink into that giant mouth.
The two wooden dragons charging at the front opened their mouths wide at the same time, their sharp wooden teeth biting tightly into the taut purple chain.
The other two wooden dragons twisted their bodies, each biting one of the three tails, and leaned back using their weight and the force of their wrapping to try to counteract the drag of the chains.
Shuji clasped his hands together again.
The wooden figure rose from the ground, and its enormous wooden fist slammed in from the side, striking the demonic statue in the chest.
The muffled thud bounced back and forth between the rock layers of the lakebed, and the golem's upper body was knocked backward, causing the chains to loosen their grip.
The three-tailed creature roared in pain as it was pulled by both the wooden dragon and the chains, but its semi-transparent body began to materialize again.
Just then, Madara's Rinnegan dimmed slightly.
A shadowy figure from the Wheel of Life took his place, and his true form was directly removed from the range of the Totsuka Blade's blade.
"That's quite a good combination, but even with your chakra..."
"Maintaining this level of combat pace, simultaneously using so many wooden clones, unleashing such a wide-ranging sage technique, and controlling both the wooden dragon and the wooden figure—"
Ban's mouth stretched wider and wider.
"Now, what's left should be the true form, right?"
"You brat!"
An invisible shadow rushed straight towards Xiu Si.
The wooden figure raised its arm to protect him, and Shuji's body fell backward at the same time.
The shadow of the Limbo struck the wooden doll's forearm, causing the thick wooden limb to tilt to one side, and the entire wooden doll lost its balance under the force of the blow.
In an instant, the wooden figure was kicked down, revealing the person behind it.
Itachi Uchiha deactivated Susanoo and opened his left eye again, staring intently in Shuuji's direction.
The first attack from Limbo hit its mark.
Itachi could feel as if a red-hot needle had been pierced directly into his left eye.
Blood and tears spilled from the corners of his eyes, streaming down his cheeks. His lips were bitten raw by his teeth, and the metallic taste of blood quickly filled his mouth.
But he did not close his eyes. Several invisible attacks rained down in succession, and his body was once again filled with magatama.
"Futsu-mitama!"
The three magatama transformed into streams of light, shooting straight towards the spotted one.
Shuji used the few seconds Itachi bought him to recover.
The Flying Thunder God Technique was activated again, and his figure appeared beside Itachi, grabbing Itachi's shoulder and pulling him away from his original position.
The two quickly moved more than a hundred meters away.
Madara's Susanoo blocked the three tomoe.
Limbo's attack power is ultimately just physical combat, so it's not impossible to resist.
"Troublesome eye technique."
Madara watched the two figures disappear into the distance and commented.
The shadow of the Wheel of Death went straight toward the four wooden dragons.
The wooden dragon broke one after another under the invisible heavy blow. Before he could deal with the wooden figure, the shadow of the Wheel of Death returned to his body.
Most of the Three-Tails' body had been swallowed into the Gedo Mazo's mouth, with only its two hind limbs and half of its tail still sticking out, and its struggling strength was growing weaker and weaker.
The wooden figure that had been kicked over got up from the lakebed, stretched out its arms to grab the remaining rear half of the three-tailed creature, and pulled it backward with force.
Just as Madara was about to make another move, Shuji's figure reappeared on the lake.
"The same goes for you." Shuuji looked into Madara's eyes with a smile that Madara disliked. "Now, you really can't use that eye technique anymore."
As he spoke, Shuuji's palm was already pressed against the water's surface.
"Spiritual communication techniques."
Before the white smoke had completely dissipated, a chakra that was distinctly different from the Gedo Mazo yet subtly resonated with it emanated from the smoke.
When the roots of the mother plant touched the lake water, the movements of the Outer Path Golem paused subtly.
Madara Uchiha's eyes widened.
"This thing?"
The mother plant gave him no time to observe. It went straight into Xiu Si's body, and the previously tired meridians were immediately replenished with power.
The weariness that had appeared in Shuji's eyes due to overexertion vanished completely within a few breaths.
His breathing became steady and deep again, as if the previous battle had been nothing more than a deep stretching exercise.
The immortal's face mask reappears on the face.
"Celestial Arts"
Ban continued to stare at him, already having a premonition of his next move.
"Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
Beneath the already enormous wooden figure, the lakebed completely collapsed.
A colossal wooden Guanyin statue, towering over a thousand meters tall and so massive that it could not be fully captured by human vision, slowly rose up.
Before it, the once invincible demonic statue appeared as insignificant as a child.
The thousand hands did not unfold; those arms remained bound to the sides of the torso, but the body alone already obscured most of the sky over the entire lake.
The familiar posture, yet with a different kind of ferocity.
Madara Uchiha looked up at the colossal creature that blotted out the sky.
After a brief moment of shock, he burst into laughter: "Hahahaha! Is that so? I see!"
Obito Uchiha reappeared. Madara formed a hand seal, and the Gedo Mazo's stagnant maw suddenly closed, swallowing most of the Three-Tails' chakra.
The remaining portion of chakra transformed into less than a third of its original form within the light.
At this moment, the countless giant arms behind the True Thousand Hands began to open, locking onto the target below.
Just as the massive wooden fist, as large as a mountain, was about to crash down, the Gedo Mazo was desummoned, and Madara Uchiha's figure was quickly swallowed up by the Kamui dimension.
Before the space completely closed, only his joyful and unrestrained laughter remained.
"Hahahaha! Hashirama, this time, it's my victory!"
"As for the remaining defective products—consider them a reward, Shuji!"