"Bee, I… I can't hold on much longer."
The Eight-Tails' voice echoed in Killer Bee's mind.
Killer Bee himself was already covered in wounds, but he grit his teeth and forced himself to stand firm. The situation was bleak, but he still growled, "We keep fighting. Hold out long enough, and something's bound to change!"
The Eight-Tails snarled, swinging its tentacles to block the relentless attacks of the First and Second Raikage. But as it glanced across the battlefield, seeing Namikaze Minato and legends like the Gold and Silver Brothers rampaging through the village, it found that hope hard to believe.
But then…
Just as it was about to reach its limit,
The First Raikage, who had been relentlessly attacking it, suddenly froze in mid-air. His body stiffened, and he forcibly stopped himself mid-strike.
At the same time…
The Second Raikage, the Third Raikage, and others all reacted.
"The binding's gone…"
"Something happened to the caster?"
The First Raikage turned his head toward a distant point, then whirled around and lashed out with a kick, sending the Second Raikage flying just as he was about to strike the Eight-Tails again.
The caster of the Edo Tensei had died.
While that didn't undo the technique, the bindings on the reanimated bodies had greatly weakened. The First Raikage, who had been resisting all along, finally broke free from the control and regained command of his body.
But not everyone could do the same.
The Second and Third Raikage, as well as the Gold and Silver Brothers, continued attacking Kumogakure as if nothing had changed, their bodies still following the original commands of Edo Tensei.
"Lord First!"
Seeing the change, Killer Bee's spirit soared.
"Yo! Put in the grind, now it's our time, YEAH!"
He swung one of his tails, smacking Ginkaku into the distance just as the latter was assaulting a group of Kumo shinobi.
The battered Eight-Tails opened its eyes wide.
"You really called it, Bee!"
With the First Raikage now free and standing with Kumo again, blocking the Second Raikage's attack, and with Bee countering the Gold and Silver Brothers, the tide of battle shifted almost instantly.
While they hadn't quite turned things around completely, the situation had clearly stabilized from what had been the brink of collapse.
"Looks like something happened to the caster," said the First Raikage, glancing toward the Second. "Can you resist Edo Tensei? If not, I'll have to break your body down and seal it myself."
The Second Raikage crashed into a crater, pulling himself up slowly. His movements were stiff and strained.
"No… I'm not strong enough… I can't fully resist… but I think I can sever the bindings…"
Buzz!!
As he spoke, a white light began to glow across his body. The Second Raikage started to crumble, his form breaking into fragments as his soul passed on.
The First Raikage exhaled, then turned toward the rest of the battlefield. Lightning crackled around him as he vanished in a blur, reappearing beside the Fourth Raikage. With one powerful kick, he sent the Third Raikage flying.
"Lord First…" The Fourth Raikage looked at him with wide eyes.
"Fourth, it's time to strike back!" the First Raikage barked.
"Right!"
The Fourth clenched his fists, visibly reinvigorated. For so long, they had been completely on the defensive, powerless as their village crumbled, but now, finally, they had a chance to fight back.
Black lightning erupted around the First Raikage as he pursued the Third Raikage again, singlehandedly suppressing him with raw power.
The Fourth Raikage also charged into the fray from another direction.
In an instant,
The tide in Kumogakure had shifted!
=============
"Something must've happened to the caster…"
Minato had noticed it too. But his soul was not strong enough to fully resist Edo Tensei like the First Raikage had. Still, he could slow his movements, fighting against the control just enough to reduce the damage he caused.
He also began warning the Kumo shinobi around him, helping them avoid his attacks and regroup.
"Good…"
"At this rate…"
A faint light of hope glimmered in Minato's eyes.
If things continued this way, the battle here would soon be under control. And since the Edo Tensei caster had clearly been dealt with, he guessed that another village must have already found and eliminated them.
If that were true, then this crisis threatening the entire ninja world might finally be drawing to a close.
But—
Just as Minato was beginning to relax, preparing to coordinate with the Kumo shinobi to have himself sealed away,
A terrifying chakra presence suddenly burst into the air.
Both Minato and the First Raikage immediately stiffened. Their pupils shrank as they turned toward the same direction, and saw a lone figure standing atop a massive stone spire overlooking the battlefield.
Clad in ancient Warring States-era armor, arms folded, the man looked down with cold indifference. His eyes shimmered with the ripples of the Rinnegan.
Uchiha Madarahad arrived!
Minato's pupils contracted sharply as a thought formed in his mind, though he dared not believe it. The First Raikage's face twisted in shock.
"Uchiha Madara?! You're still alive?!"
At first, he assumed this was another Edo Tensei summon, but then he saw it:
Madara's body was alive. Of flesh and blood.
And what's more, he was in the prime of his youth, the very height of his power!
The First Raikage's cry sent a wave of panic through Kumogakure. The Fourth Raikage, Killer Bee, and countless others turned their wide-eyed gazes toward that lone figure.
Uchiha Madara!
Even today, that name thundered across the ninja world. He was a legend on par with Hashirama Senju, the one who had ended the Warring States Era.
"That chakra… it's completely different from the man who attacked the village before. This… this is the real Uchiha Madara."
Minato's eyes narrowed, his expression grim.
Madara hadn't even made a move, but his very presence seemed to crush the battlefield under a heavy, suffocating pressure.
"Is this Edo Tensei your doing?!" The Fourth Raikage clenched his fists, glaring up at him.
Madara glanced at him casually and said, "No. I didn't control the Edo Tensei. But you could say it was still part of the plan."
"Plan? What plan?!"
The First Raikage's eyes burned with fury.
"Weren't you killed in that final battle against Hashirama?!"
As someone who had fought Madara before, he knew just how terrifying this man's strength truly was.
Madara lowered his hands and looked at the First Raikage with a faint sneer.
"You of all people should know, I'm not someone who dies easily. Not even Hashirama could finish me off so simply."
As he finished speaking,
Madara formed a hand seal and slammed his palm onto the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Boom!!
With a burst of white smoke, the massive Gedo Statue erupted from the earth beneath him, unleashing a vast, oppressive wave of chakra.
Inside the statue were already the complete chakras of the One-Tail, Two-Tails, Four-Tails, Five-Tails, and Six-Tails, along with partial chakras of the Three-Tails and Seven-Tails.
"What… what is that?!"
The First Raikage's pupils shrank in disbelief.
Madara didn't bother answering. His Rinnegan flared, and a wave of ocular power surged outward.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
In an instant, Killer Bee and the Gold and Silver Brothers, still mid-battle, jerked as if struck by invisible forces. Their heads snapped to the side as they were violently blasted away.
Madara made another hand seal.
Clatter!!
The Gedo Statue opened its mouth, and glowing chakra chains shot out. One chain looped tightly around the Eight-Tails' neck.
Two others wrapped around Ginkaku and Kinkaku, ripping the Nine-Tails chakra from their bodies and dragging it all back toward the Gedo Statue's gaping maw.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria