Not until Neji's Kaiten (Heavenly Spin) came to a stop did Madara launch another attack.
He stared at Neji, and despite himself, sank into thought.
He had praised Neji earlier—but in truth, Madara had always been fiercely proud of his own talent. Yet Neji's aptitude was genuinely beyond imagination. To be outshone by a junior like this left a bitter taste in his mouth.
So he raised his free hand. All nine Gudōdama (Truth-Seeking Orbs) gathered into his palm and compressed, finally into a massive black sword. Then he swung it down with brutal force.
Neji narrowed his eyes, sensing the power packed into that black greatsword.
If that blade came down, it would slice open the land of the Land of Lightning itself—damage on a planetary scale, with the potential to trigger catastrophic natural disasters.
So it needed to be stopped.
Neji immediately unleashed Rikūdō Kaiten (Six Paths Heavenly Spin) again, and a huge spherical barrier formed around him once more.
The next second, the black greatsword crashed down and locked against the barrier. The clash produced an earthshaking impact—and it even stirred up a violent thunderstorm, forcing Natsuki and the others to retreat under the pressure.
The two forces remained deadlocked, neither side giving an inch.
But anyone with eyes could tell: Madara looked relatively relaxed, while Neji was the one burning stamina. Once Neji's spinning force ran dry, he'd be split in two. Even if he could dodge at the last moment, there was no way he'd escape unhurt.
Natsuki knew they couldn't keep watching.
He flashed Kakashi a look again—and charged forward himself.
Kakashi understood instantly. He activated dual Kamui, condensing several Kamui shuriken into his palm and whipping them out toward the black greatsword.
"Hmph. You're not even at the Six Paths level, and you dare interfere? That's just asking to die…"
Madara sneered.
Below Six Paths, all were ants. He was wary of Kamui's potential, and he was wary of Natsuki's suicidal Eighth Gate—but Kakashi's mere shuriken attack wasn't something he considered worth his attention.
Then the Kamui shuriken struck.
Space twisted violently.
The black greatsword was forcibly warped and deformed—an entire section of it sheared away as if reality itself had taken a bite.
Neji was freed from beneath the blade and immediately stopped spinning, exhaling hard in relief.
Natsuki kept sprinting forward. The instant he opened the Seventh Gate, his speed skyrocketed—he was in Madara's face in the blink of an eye.
Madara snapped out four Gudōdama (Truth-Seeking Orbs), trying to erase Natsuki in one sweep.
But a formula kunai flew into Natsuki's path—
—and Minato flashed into existence in front of it, taking the four Gudōdama (Truth-Seeking Orbs) with his own body, then instantly using Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) to teleport away.
The result jolted Madara. He hurriedly formed the remaining Gudōdama (Truth-Seeking Orbs) into a curved shield.
But Neji's Gudōdama (Truth-Seeking Orbs) arrived at the same time—shaping into two giant hands that seized the curved shield and ripped it open, fully exposing Madara.
"Shine! Madara!" Natsuki roared.
He drove a kick into Madara's body.
A thunderous boom exploded outward. The force tore at space and earth alike—half of Madara's body detonated on the spot, and he was hurled backward, slamming into the ground hard enough to punch out ten deep craters in succession.
Natsuki didn't fool himself for a second. Madara wasn't dead.
Taijutsu alone could damage a Six Paths body, sure—but it couldn't kill it. Madara would regenerate almost immediately.
So Natsuki flung a whole handful of formula kunai after him, trying to chain Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) for speed—
—but Madara saw the plan and immediately blasted everything away with repulsive force.
Natsuki had no choice but to charge in on foot.
Neji, Kakashi, and the three Hokage moved with him—pressing the advantage, intent on crushing the ultimate demon enemy once and for all.
Madara opened his mouth and fired off a Sage Art technique—an outright laser sweep that forced Natsuki and the others to halt for a split second.
At the same time, Madara's body regenerated rapidly. Then he abruptly expelled the Ten-Tails from within himself, and even spat out a huge jar—
No, not a jar.
It was the Kohaku no Jōhei (Amber Purifying Pot).
Only after doing all that did he finally seem to relax, chuckling lightly. "No wonder my body felt heavy. Turns out I was carrying too much inside. Heh. Six Paths tools—what boring junk. And you, Ten-Tails. Your mission isn't finished. Grow up already."
He punted the Kohaku no Jōhei (Amber Purifying Pot) far away, even tossing out a casual joke as he did it.
The Ten-Tails immediately rooted itself into the earth, transforming into a towering colossus of a tree—its final form.
The Chakra Divine Tree.
At the top of the tree was a flower bud, and inside the bud sat a Rinne Sharingan—reaching out for the moon's power, preparing to cast Mugen Tsukuyomi (Infinite Tsukuyomi)!
"So this is the Divine Tree?" Hashirama frowned. "I've got a bad feeling about it. Is that baka really going to activate Mugen Tsukuyomi (Infinite Tsukuyomi)? It feels like he's unleashing some kind of monster."
He didn't know the truth—but his instincts weren't wrong.
If he could see the Black Zetsu hidden underground, he'd notice that Black Zetsu's face was twisted with exhilaration and fanatic joy.
Black Zetsu had waited for this day for so, so long—so long it felt like a thousand years. Today, he could finally free Mother.
But before Black Zetsu and Madara could celebrate, the sky suddenly darkened.
Heavy clouds swallowed the moonlight, and thunder and lightning rolled across the heavens.
The two of them froze in disbelief.
"Wait—where the hell did a thunderstorm come from?"
Earlier, when the Ten-Tails had stirred heaven and earth, it had blown all the clouds away in this area. The sky had been crystal clear—tonight should have been a blanket of stars with the moon hanging bright overhead. How could it suddenly change like this?
In reality, it was the allied forces—those who had already pulled back.
After Tenten and Shino retreated, they felt deeply unwilling to accept it.
They'd worked so hard to become stronger—so they could fight alongside Natsuki. But the battle's "dimension" was too high. Their strength didn't even qualify them to step into it.
The frustration stung.
They still wanted to do something.
And then Tenten remembered something her husband had once said half as a joke: if it was rainy and the moon couldn't be seen, then maybe Mugen Tsukuyomi (Infinite Tsukuyomi) couldn't be cast.
So she immediately went to everyone and laid out her idea.
"If we can't do anything else, then let's all work together and make a storm. Cover that damn moon. I want to see how Madara launches Mugen Tsukuyomi (Infinite Tsukuyomi) when he can't even see it!"
"Hahaha! Great idea!"
The Five Kage were familiar with it.
Back when Natsuki joked about it, most of them had been present. They hadn't taken it seriously then—but now, it might actually be worth trying.
After all, none of them could join a battle at that level. The unwillingness in their hearts was intense. They hated their own weakness, and they all wanted to contribute somehow.
Now that there was a method—even a crude one—their enthusiasm surged.
They knew Madara could likely disperse the clouds with ease. But if they could create even a little trouble, it was still something.
Maybe they could buy Natsuki's side an opening—create a moment where Madara had to focus on clearing the sky, and in that moment, land a decisive strike.
(End of Chapter)
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