He proceeded to grab his scabbard and launch it at Madara's head with surprising force. The alert Madara tilted his head slightly allowing the scabbard to sail past him and firmly into the wall just behind. It was surprising the impact it had, even when imbued with the speed from his Wind chakra mode alongside his physical force. A normal scabbard would have long shattered, but the God's Cage was made up of excess metal used to make the Heaven's Breaker. Using all of it for just one sword would have been impossible for it to fit under the one handed model Katsuro wanted.
The scabbard was unusual in the sense that it was unlike any other scabbard in existence. Firstly, it was far stronger and tougher than any other scabbard, clearly from the fact that it hadn't shattered after Katsuro threw it causing it to land on the wall. But also, instead of simply holding its blade, the scabbard itself could be used as a weapon, something that was unheard of. God's Cage was also mostly made from the remaining metal from the Kiba twin swords that hadn't been used to make Heaven Breaker. This meant, God's Cage could conduct as a lightning rod, conducting electricity between itself and Heaven Breaker, or to simply become another weapon in Katsuro's other hand.
"Rather clumsy of you, God of Shinobi," Madara sneered, dark blood still stained around the corner of his lips and his eyes.
"Hm?" Katsuro raised his blade, and instantaneously, a chain of electricity was created between Heaven Breaker and God's Cage. "Lightning Style: Lightning Chain." Katsuro passed Lightning through his blade as it reached out and spewed erratically at insane speeds. Its speed was insane, and its power nothing to scoff at easily being at the A rank level. But in exchange, for it being so fast and so powerful that even Sharingan struggled to track, control had to be given up. Normally this would mean the Jutsu would uncontrollably spread, effecting even allies or the caster himself, but Katsuro had mitigated against this by using the Lightning conducting properties of his sword to create a link between them. It meant that the lightning would race towards the scabbard in a chain of lightning at impossibly fast speed.
This meant that Madara who was between the 2 points became the victim of the Lightning's path, and without his Susanoo he was struck squarely in his upper chest and neck.
Katsuro saw he was visibly pierced through, and with those injuries even with Hashirama cells there would be no coming back from it. Thinking the battle was over, Katsuro relaxed, breathing a sigh of exertion and allowed his mind to wonder now that he had thought he had killed that cloaked figure behind the scenes. He knew that those white puppets were still alive and around him, but their strength was nothing he couldn't handle. He lamented the fact he was unable to ascertain Madara's true goals or even what those White, green haired things were, but he chalked it up to him wanting the Leaf to suffer.
But as he pondered, he absentmindedly walked towards where his scabbard was keeping his senses on several Zetsu he noticed
But suddenly within a mere moment, a very familiar large glowing blue sword was moving straight for him. With his guard down and in sheer shock, Katsuro failed to react as quickly as he might've, but what he saw explained it. Katsuro saw in front of him a dead man. Madara stood before him, with his Susanoo activated again like nothing had happened, unharmed at all by the Lightning Chain that had clearly pierced his upper body.
Still, Katsuro reacted, teleporting to the seal on his scabbard behind Madara, but not before the sword pierced through his defences and tore a huge hole in his upper right chest.
Despite his severe bleeding and injuries, Katsuro let his disbelief take over.
"HOW?!" He demanded. No one could have survived a direct hit like that. Even with regenerative abilities, it couldn't be healed. Furthermore, an older shinobi like Madara would instantly have been killed by it. So how? How was he standing there? Katsuro's mind raced.
What was that just then?! A forbidden jutsu? But one that revives him? And not only that, he just appeared in a different place and his body disappeared. It was like… a Genjutsu being written on reality itself.
His mind and heart raced, and fear began to creep in. Katsuro had no idea this ability existed, and knew nothing of its power and limitations. If Madara was able to avoid lethal attacks and overcome death, then the battle would become a lot more dangerous.
Madara stayed silent, smiling ominously but unwilling to divulge his limitations freely. The Izanagi did have limitations, and it would be best for him if Katsuro was unaware of them. His mindset had changed somewhat. Before he took this with his warrior spirit, but now he had transitioned to the Madara at present, the one who schemed in the shadows for so long. He realised that the Zetsu had not overestimated Katsuro's abilities, and his own evaluation told him that this man would be a significant threat to his plans if he was left alive. Not only was his current power a problem, it would more than likely grow significantly. Both Nagato and Obito would stand no chance no matter how powerful they got. It meant his Eye of the Moon plan would fail miserably, with Katsuro there to at least protect the 9 tails, it would be impossible. Thus he had decided, this obstacle would need to be removed at all costs. Therefore, even if it would expose a secret technique and create its own set of problems, he had to use the Izanagi.
But Katsuro calmed down, he realised that such an overpowered technique couldn't exist. If it did Madara wouldn't need to hide or scheme like he had been with those White soldiers. On top of that, if he could use it so freely, he wouldn't have fought the way he did, he wouldn't have cared for injuries at all and would have fought without any sense of self preservation and tried to cause as much damage as possible.
These rational thoughts grounded Katsuro and allowed him to dissect what had happened. It was undeniable Madara had overcome death somehow, but it certainly couldn't have been easy. With his newfound calmness, Katsuro observed the changes. Madara had returned to his previous state, but strangely the eye that had been hidden by his hair was now blocked by his eyelids that remained closed. On top of this, his upper left chest was showing strangle movements. It seemed to be moving, and bulging slightly as if it were alive. Katsuro used these observations and tried to put his mind to work.
Katsuro scanned his memory and realised just before the sword pierced him he saw Madara, but both eyes were open. Even the one now closed, and he realised that instead of the 3 tomoe Sharingan that should've been there, instead it was white and looked… blurry, as if it were a blind man's eye. On top of this, Katsuro cross referenced what he knew about the experiments Danzo had conducted as he remembered reading about the mutations and duplications of Hashirama cells that were extremely difficult to control. It was this that ended up taking the lives of test subjects as the uncontrolled growth in the cells spread all over the body using up much more energy than the body could handle and killing them by causing organs to shut down.
The movement he had just seen with a keen eye in Madara's upper right chest reminded him of those reports. Holding onto that though, he came up with a theory that combined everything he had seen. Somehow the Jutsu that saved his life resulted in his Sharingan going blind. Sharingan were the epitome of Yin, and once one of them had been removed, the Yang heavy Hashirama cells that Madara had admitted to transplanting would not have been suppressed as before, which explain their movement now. His theory checked all the boxes, but he couldn't be sure it was the right one, only that it made sense with the information he had.
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