AN: Hello everyone, from this point the schedule for Naruto will be a chapter every 2 days. HP, however will remain daily. This is to help with consistency and to make more time to get the MCU finally out. But, if you guys really want more to read, when we hit - 50 POWERSTONES- I will release a bonus chapter!
Katsuro changed his grip slightly to the reverse, and stabbed his Heaven Breaker slightly into the water as he created a Chidori in his hand and channelled it through. The Sword enhanced the lightning chakra and conducted it to the water as it spread across its surface like a snake of pure lightning.
Madara looked at the scene, his expression turning to one of annoyance and respect with Katsuro's ability to manipulate Lightning Style so well and in the heat of battle combining it with Water Style. The water style he had seen before with Tobriama, but the Lightning style was something he hadn't witnessed in his lifetime, with even the various Raikage falling behind. He couldn't help but smile at the competition, after all, it had been far too long since he had faced any opponent, much less someone like Katsuro who was able to push him as far as Hashirama had before, reminding him of his youth. While he was aged now, his spirit as a warrior had remained as strong as ever.
As he stood on the water watching the Lightning move erratically and rapidly towards him with his Sharingan, he realised that though his Susanoo was blocking the Lightning itself, the lightning still travelled through the water he stood on and threatened to shock him. So naturally he jumped up above the high water levels, before manipulating thick stumps of wood to create a platform under him as he landed once more. His Susanoo formed around him, naturally moved with him, and protected him against some Wind Jutsu Katsuro pre-emitively fired in the air.
The large glowing Sword the Susanoo had been holding was finally being put to use as Katsuro dashed in, bounding between the varying roots, branches and trunks that remained after the Jutsu. Any gaps were supplemented by brief periods of flight that Katsuro had gotten surprisingly proficient at. The large sword was swung at him, attempting to completely wipe him out, but ended up merely causing gashes in the cave walls, ceiling or just cutting through the trees. Even with his Sharingan helping him predict Katsuro's move, the man was far too experienced and was able to cover them up with feints that caused confusion. But even without them, he was simply far too quick for such attacks to hit him, a key reason Madara had decided to conserve his energy and not use any more Jutsu for now.
As the distance was closed in rapid succession Katsuro launched several attacks over the Susanoo with numerous slashes to test for weaknesses, before finding out that it had none. The slashes left not a single mark on the skin of the Susanoo even with his enhancements. In this time, Madara was continuing to use his sword to attack whenever he could, making sure Katsuro didn't get comfortable.
Seeing that the blue giant's defences had improved, Katsuro instead decided to concentrate his slashes in one location. He moved like a green and blue blur of shadow, dodging and jumping between obstacles to deliver blows. It may have worked, repeated attacks even if they were basic from someone of his level would have likely caused damage to show, but Madara was no slouch. With the Susanoo at the stage at it was he knew it wasn't invincible, and while he couldn't hit Katsuro for now, once he figured out he was constantly targeting a spot he could narrow down the options for attack to increase his success. On top of this, he could easily move the Susanoo with him, ensuring he protected the rib Katsuro seemed to be targeting. The changes Madara made in turn made things much harder, and forced Katsuro to dodge attacks in ways he couldn't attack rapidly again which gave the Susanoo time to recover from any damage with Madara's chakra. Of course, under the exertion Madara's eyes continued to bleed showing it came at a cost, but even then he ignored it showing no sign that it affected him.
Consequently, it forced Katsuro to once again change tactics. He jumped in the air seeming to hover for a moment as he raised his sword with two hands above his head. His Wind Chakra mode accelerated the process, funneling through it into and above his sword, seeming to condense an even bigger sword that reached similar sizes to Madara's own with the Susanoo. After a few moments of it growing and condensing to a thicker and thicker shape, Katsuro finally brought it down in a downward swing that scraped the top of the ceiling.
Prompt, Madara's own sword raised in an attempt to block it, with an overhead block causing a big impact from the clash between the white and glowing blue swords. But with the sheer weight and power behind it and the weaker block, the sword of Wind pushed past Madara's sword, landing straight on the Oni's head.
Of course Madara reacted even when surprised by the power behind the strange Jutsu. He leaned back and jumped away onto the ground and into a puddle of water. During their clash, the water had mostly drained away especially with the large destruction they caused creating cracks and splinters in the ground which accelerated the process. Madara watched ahead as the now unimpeded massive sword of wind cut downwards straight through the wooden platform and into the ground kicking up a large amount of dust from the destruction.
As it settled, Katsuro too landed on the ground allowing his Jutsu sword to disappear. It left behind not only the trunk split down the middle, but a large scar in the ground that any excess water near it poured into.
Madara once again opened his mouth to speak taking the moment as another pause in their fight, but that very second where he relaxed slightly, Katsuro's clone that had managed to hide in the ground for a while by pushing its chakra to the bring exploded out of the ground from under him creating more dust and debris to be kicked up.
Madara's eyes flashed in surprise as he attempted to jump away from the clone that had appeared from nowhere and its outstretched hand that had a glowing blue ball. But in his surprise and complacency from knowing Katsuro's position he had not expected a Shadow clone to be utilised like this. During the peak of his times Tobirama had not used the Jutsu he had created later on very much and nowhere near as creatively. It meant that he had subconsciously not even considered the probability and thus showed the gap between generations. Even when he looked down upon the subsequent generations who paled in comparison to him and Hashirama, the developments they had made over time were showing themselves now.
It was coming to bite him now, with his late dodge allowing the Rasengan to be pushed into his chest wreaking havoc on his body as it sent him flying away and into a cave wall as the back of his Susanoo left its imprint on it.
The shadow clone proceeded to promptly be dismissed in a puff of smoke as it had only been given as much chakra as it was needed to avoid detection.
The old man fell to his knees coughing up blood as he realised his body was nowhere near the same as it was. Involuntarily, his Susanoo was automatically dismissed briefly, but he remained alert looking at his opponent through his hair.
Katsuro on the other hand remained wary. A normal old man would have been long dead, but Madara remained alive. Katsuro attributed that to the Hashirama cells that had immense vitality. Madara was clearly showing fight in his eyes, and despite the damage he had a small smile plastered on his lips even if stained with his own blood.
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