"Damn it…"
The First Raikage's expression shifted as he watched Madara's actions.
He didn't know exactly what Uchiha Madara was trying to do, but he was certain of one thing, it couldn't be anything good. Whatever it was, it had to be stopped!
But,
Before he could act, the Fourth Raikage had already surged forward.
"Bastard!!"
"I don't care if you're Uchiha Madara or anyone else, lay a hand on my brother, and you're dead!"
Bathed in crackling lightning, the Fourth Raikage closed the distance in a flash. His fist smashed down toward Madara with explosive force.
Madara looked at him with disinterest. He didn't even raise a hand to defend.
Bang!!
But the Fourth Raikage's punch didn't land.
Just two feet from Madara, his arm abruptly froze midair, as if caught by something invisible. His eyes widened in disbelief, he could feel his fist being forcibly held in place. He struggled, but it wouldn't budge.
"Aaargh!!"
He roared and raised his leg, aiming to kick Madara instead.
But before it could come down, his leg too was stopped, held fast in midair. Lightning crackled across his body, but no matter how hard he pushed, he couldn't move an inch.
Before the eyes of all watching,
Madara calmly stepped forward, raised a hand, and grasped the Fourth Raikage by the throat, lifting him into the air. His gaze was icy cold.
"You think someone like you is worthy to dance before me?"
Whoosh!!
A flash of black lightning streaked across the battlefield. The First Raikage charged in with a punch of his own.
Madara casually tossed the Fourth Raikage aside, straight into the First, knocking both out of the sky and sending them crashing to the ground together.
"Stop him!!" the First Raikage bellowed as he caught the Fourth and fell toward the ground.
The stunned Kumo shinobi finally snapped out of it, shouting as they unleashed a barrage of shuriken, kunai, and Lightning Release jutsu at Madara.
=============
Madara stood unmoving.
He didn't even glance at the attacks. His Rinnegan pulsed faintly, and every jutsu, every blade, every explosive tag abruptly stopped three feet from him, as if slamming into an invisible wall. One by one, they shattered or were deflected.
Clatter!!
The chains yanked the Eight-Tails' massive body back and drew its chakra into the Geto Statue. Moments later, the Nine-Tails chakra fragments from Ginkaku and Kinkaku followed, pulled in as well.
Seeing this, the First Raikage, the Fourth, and even Minato all felt a chill run down their spines.
This is bad.
They didn't know exactly what was about to happen, but their instincts told them the outcome would be catastrophic.
And then,
As the Demonic Statue absorbed the final fragments of chakra, gathering the essence of all Nine Tailed Beasts, the countless eyes on its head snapped open. It let out an earth-shaking roar.
RUMBLE!!
The statue's howl came with a surge of terrifying chakra. The stone beneath it cracked apart as the massive body collapsed downward, shaking the entire battlefield.
With the full power of all Nine Tailed Beasts, the revival process accelerated dramatically. In mere moments, the once-rigid statue stirred to life.
Its stiff, wooden-like body began to pulse and move.
"At last…"
Madara's eyes gleamed faintly. Without waiting any longer, he leapt down into the ruined remains of Kumogakure, landing in an open space.
His Rinnegan lit up once more, and he formed a seal with both hands.
Boom!!
The rapidly awakening Demonic Statue surged with even greater chakra. Its head began to stretch unnaturally as the entirety of the Ten Tails' chakra formed a river of energy that poured into Madara's back.
That massive, monstrous body, the fully revived Ten Tails, flowed into Madara's own form and vanished.
And then,
Madara stepped forward.
Silent. Steady.
His long black hair began to bleach from the roots, turning snow-white as it fluttered in the wind. His Warring States armor cracked and fell away. A glowing, white Six Paths robe of chakra enveloped him.
Black magatama patterns appeared on the robe's chest and hem.
Zzz! Zzz!!
Behind him, pitch-black orbs began to appear, one after another, until nine Truth-Seeking Orbs floated at his back. Then Madara stretched out his right hand.
One orb twisted and elongated, morphing into a black staff with a ringed head, the Staff of the Sage of Six Paths.
Ding. Ding-dong…
The delicate rings atop the staff chimed softly in the wind, echoing through the stunned silence of the battlefield.
Madara stopped walking. He planted the staff beside him in the ground.
Silence.
The First and Fourth Raikage both broke into a cold sweat. Just watching Madara's transformation filled them with primal dread.
Minato's gaze had also become razor-sharp. He could tell: the black staff in Madara's hand was formed by at least four different nature transformations.
But that wasn't the worst part.
No, the real issue was…
That statue,
If his guess was correct, it had just absorbed the full chakra of all the Tailed Beasts.
Combined with the Eight-Tails' chakra, and the Nine-Tails remnants from Ginkaku and Kinkaku…
All nine beasts' power now resided within Madara.
"This is bad…"
Minato's heart sank.
He didn't know exactly what Madara had become, but he could feel it, something overwhelming. Something that far surpassed any ordinary shinobi.
"Damn it!!"
The Fourth Raikage froze only briefly before roaring in fury, his body exploding with lightning as he launched himself toward Madara.
He pushed his speed to the limit, appearing directly above Madara and bringing down a thunderous kick, aiming to shatter the man's skull.
But,
Madara didn't even look up.
One of the black Truth-Seeking Orbs silently floated upward, forming a black, domed shield just above his head.
The Raikage's kick slammed into it,
Zzzzz…
There was no thunderous crash, only a quiet sizzling sound. And then,
His leg, from the point of contact downward, began to dissolve into nothing. The disintegration spread up toward his thigh.
The Fourth Raikage's eyes went wide with horror. He blasted lightning from his body, just barely managing to twist away before his entire leg vanished.
Boom!!
He crashed into the ground near Madara, shattering the terrain around him.
Madara didn't even glance at him. Nor did he press the attack. Instead, he simply raised one hand into the air and gently closed his fingers.
"It's done."
"So this… is the power of the Sage of Six Paths?"
For the first time, a ripple of emotion flickered through his calm, ancient eyes.
He could feel it clearly now, an abyss of chakra within his body, vast and endless.
This was the power of the Sage.
Power beyond this world.
All his planning since awakening the Rinnegan had led to this moment. Now, nothing could stop him.
The end had come.
And all things would be united within him.
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria