The two locked eyes, both relaxed, neither showing the slightest hint of nervousness equally confident in their own strength.
Uchiha Madara suddenly narrowed his eyes.
"Limbo: Border Jail!"
Six Paths Madara's pupils shrank.
Guts, using his Observation Haki and listening to the sound of all things, sensed a presence he couldn't see rushing straight toward him.
"Tch…"
A faint grin crossed his face as he whipped his leg out in a kick, the sheer force strong enough to split a mountainside.
Boom!
The mountain behind them cracked and split in two, but the invisible figures kept coming, unfazed.
"Terrifying force, no doubt but you can't touch my Limbo: Border Jail." Madara's lips curved into a faint smile.
Guts calmly retracted his leg, stepping lightly to the side to evade the Limbo clone's attack.
"Ohhh? Can't see it, yet you can still sense it?" Madara raised an eyebrow. Normally, his Limbo clones existed on another plane — unseen, untouchable.
Guts didn't bother to answer. He simply vanished, reappearing right in front of Madara whose eyes widened in shock.
He's fast…
Puff!
A punch slammed into Madara's abdomen, forcing a small spurt of blood from his mouth.
Without hesitation, Guts followed with another blow, grinning as he closed in on the airborne Madara.
But this time, Madara's smile matched his own as he caught the punch mid-swing.
"Hahaha…"
Blood still lingered at the corners of his mouth, but now his form had changed beyond Six Paths Obito.
No… this wasn't the same.
He had become something more perfect.
To compare him to Six Paths Obito was wrong because now he was like the Sage of Six Paths himself.
Six Paths Madara!
The staff in his hand swung down toward Guts, who twisted his body just enough to avoid it, red light flashing in his eyes.
Madara's hands formed a seal, his cheeks swelling slightly before he released a beam of purple lightning.
"Sage Art: Storm Release — Light Fang!"
Guts could feel it, this attack wasn't something he could just take head-on. Using advanced Observation Haki, he slipped past it with ease.
The lightning grazed him, slicing a strand of hair before tearing through several distant mountains as if they were paper.
Its sharpness could even pierce the Perfect Susanoo, that alone spoke for itself.
Don't think Six Paths Madara was weaker than Ōtsutsuki Kaguya just because he had less screen time.
While his raw power and chakra reserves might not match hers, his battle experience and tactical mind far surpassed hers.
If that madwoman had the same combat sense, Naruto and Sasuke wouldn't have stood a chance.
"Finally… I can enjoy fighting again."
Six Paths Madara planted his staff into the ground and chuckled.
"You don't have the blood of the Six Paths, yet your body alone has reached this level. In that regard… I'm not as good as you."
"My level? When did I ever show you my full level? You speak as if you've seen me at my best." Guts tilted his head, amusement in his voice.
Madara's eyes narrowed. A bad feeling crept over him.
What does he mean? Could it be… this brat hasn't even gone all out yet?
"Hahaha…"
Guts laughed, exhaling slowly.
The ground beneath him split apart as red energy exploded outward, his cloak snapping violently in the wind.
It surged like a tsunami, lightning tearing through everything in its path, climbing into the sky until the clouds themselves split as if the heavens had been cut in half.
Six Paths Madara could feel it now in this form, Guts's power was not inferior to the Ten Tails… it might even surpass that infinite force.
This guy… how did he get this strong with just Taijutsu?
No… this wasn't just Taijutsu anymore.
Madara's brows furrowed tightly, gone was the calm confidence he'd had as the Ten Tails' Jinchūriki.
Before, he couldn't sense it but now, with the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths, he could clearly feel it. That energy surrounding Guts wasn't chakra.
It was completely different. Something he had never encountered before.
This was a power that could alter the very fabric of reality, a power no human should possess.
He had compared Guts to a second Sage of Six Paths but now, he wasn't so sure. This power clearly didn't belong to this world.
"Sensei!"
Hinata's voice rang out, tense and nervous.
One by one, the Shinobi Alliance arrived at the scene, their expressions frozen in awe at the strange phenomenon before them.
The time limit for the edge of Madara's Limbo: Border Jail had been reached, and he multiplied their number, clones existing in different dimensions.
"Stand back."
Guts turned his back to the two girls, a faint smile curling his lips. "In this state… I can't say what will happen."
In the next instant, he vanished.
The ground where he stood exploded, the sheer force flipping the earth itself. The shockwave hurled dirt and smoke in all directions.
Just a jump and it had that kind of power?
Hinata and Hanabi instinctively retreated the moment he spoke.
Namikaze Minato and Kakashi, who had just arrived, froze at the sight of Obito barely clinging to life.
Feeling the overwhelming force at the battlefield's center, both their faces hardened.
Kakashi lifted Obito onto his back. "Sensei…"
Minato nodded. "Staying here will only get in the way. Leave it to Guts."
At this point, even retreat was difficult... anyone, even a Kage, could be caught in the crossfire at any moment.
Shisui used his Susanoo to shield and carry a group of shinobi away.
From within Susanoo, he glanced back at the battlefield miles away, his thoughts heavy. So this… is Guts Sensei true strength?
"Even Truth-Seeking Balls aren't working… not against him."
Madara, airborne, could barely keep pace with Guts's speed. His orbs were useless offensively,he had no choice but to use them purely for defense.
The fight had barely lasted half a minute, and already the Six Paths robe on his body was torn, dust and blood streaking his face.
"...Tch."
Guts's voice cut through the chaos. He raised a fist wrapped in glowing red energy, the air pressure condensing into a tangible, high-density shockwave.
An attack thrown with bare hands… turned into a ranged weapon.
It was similar in principle to Might Guy's Eight Gates techniques but Guts's move carried no chakra. It was pure physical force, amplified by Haki.
Madara's eyes narrowed as he quickly formed a Truth-Seeking Ball shield.
He'd been right not to waste them earlier without them, there'd be no way to block this.
"The Spear of the Sky!"
His hands shifted, reshaping the orbs into a spiral yin–yang sword before swinging it down hard.
Boom–! Boom–!
The annihilating blade aura erased everything it touched, ripping forward toward Guts.
"Just this much? That won't be enough," Guts muttered.
In the space of a heartbeat, several images flashed in his mind, glimpses of the immediate future through Observation Haki.
Madara would chase with the yin–yang sword, then unleash his round of Limbo: Border Jail clones and trap him with a full-body Susanoo.
And exactly as foreseen... it happened.
Guts sidestepped the sword's swing.
Madara's hands flashed into seals.
"Sage Art: Storm Release — Light Fang!"
Dark purple lightning erupted from his mouth, its shape like a Chidori's piercing thrust.
At the same time, his Limbo clones, existing between reality and illusion, began weaving their own attacks.
Four complete-body Susanoo appeared at once, each swinging down from a different direction toward Guts.
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