Katsuro would have been surprised to learn just how right he was, but it was a clear display of his intellect. But once he had come up with his conclusion, it felt natural to speak them out loud to try to discern how true it was by looking for Madara's reactions.
"Those Shodaime cells you used. They were suppressed by the Yin chakra from your Uchiha heritage and Sharingan. But now that you've lost one of your Sharingan, that balance between the overwhelming Yang chakra from Lord First's cells and the Yin from your Uchiha bloodline and Sharingan has tipped. The cells are no longer being suppressed, and that is causing issues in your body. Isn't that right?"
Madara clenched his jaw. His mind is sharp. Far more than Hashirama was, and much more like Tobriama. It's like fighting both those brothers combined into one with his own unique achievements as well. And despite that injury and me using Izanagi, he contemplates and talks calmly like nothing's even happened. That level of calmness… it's deadly.
"I see you have caught on. Impressive… But so what? That will not stop me from killing you."
Katsuro pushed on despite his pain and injury, realising that his assumption was correct. He took Madara's answer with a grain of salt just in case he was being misled. "Now answer my question from before, what was that Jutsu?!"
Madara thought to himself, before answering vaguely. From what Katsuro had asked, it was clear he already had ideas about what had happened, and with the respect he had for this opponent Madara divulged an explanation, but took care to try to hide the exact powers and limitations of the Izanagi. He hoped that the uncertainty and confusion could work in his favour, likely by forcing Katsuro to act much more cautiously.
"Ah, that was the Uchiha's Kinjutsu (Forbidden Technique), a truly powerful technique that allows the user to rewrite reality itself," he mused. "It is called the Izanagi, the technique that alters destiny."
Impossible…it can rewrite reality?! Katsuro was speechless, but he didn't think Madara was lying, considering what he had seen before. If that's true, there's no way it can be without cost right? So was his eye the cost? Katsuro began to think to himself, trying to grasp the Kinjutsus ability. If that's the case, that means he's going to be seriously at a disadvantage if his own body is fighting against him. Is he accepting that he's going to die soon? It's pretty safe to assume that he can use it once more with his second eye if that is how it works. And if he does, it will be over for him. But I can't rely on this fully, I'll need to be more passive to figure things out.
Madara gritted his teeth, noticing Katsuro's movements. He must have realised there's limitations. And likely with his reasoning probably attributed it to my eye losing its light. I need to try to get him off the trail and keep guessing.
"It seems like you are trying to assess the powers of the Izanagi, Senju Katsuro," Madara called out. He shut his now blind right eye, and unveiled the left one from behind the tuft of white hair covering it before.
"But let us fight like warriors," he continued, and allowing no time for a response, Madara charged towards Katsuro, smiling, he had the safety net of his Izanagi, but would try his best not to use it. A second use would really make things difficult for him with no Sharingan to suppress the Hashirama cells. But nonetheless, he had to take the fight to Katsuro. It was a fight against time now, the longer he waited, the more his old and weary body struggled against the cells. He needed to fight aggressively and remove the threat to his plans before he got to the point where he simply couldn't. If that meant being risky, then so be it.
Katsuro, somewhat frustrated with the lack of knowledge, could only grip his sword tightly after switching it to his left hand and prepare himself to end the fight, once and for all. I'll finish what Lord First started.
His large wound was healing, but it still meant that he wouldn't be able to wield his sword anywhere near his normal proficiency.
That healing rate with such a large wound, is it common for the users of wood style? But it seems to be slower than Hashirama's even if absurdly fast. It forced him to switch sword hands as well, this is the most opportune moment to kill him. He's at the weakest he's been and I'm at my strongest state right now. If the Zetsu can handle the escape, I can force him into a direct fight against an even stronger Susanoo.
Madara dashed towards Katsuro, with the large blue figure once again reforming, hoping to use Katsuro's current position of being backed against the wall to as much advantage as he could. But compared to how it was before, this time the blue figure grew what seemed to be plates of armour to encompass the warrior. But as a result, there were 2 heavy streams of blood flowing from Madara's eye, a key sign of the stress that was taking place.
A/N: Shisui could use the armoured Susanoo with just one normal Mangekyou. With Madara's visual prowess from having the Eternal Mangekyou to then evolving it to the Rinnegan, I believe this should be possible if he really pushed himself despite his old age. At this point he has little care for his health after the fight.
As the Susanoo moved with Madara, Katsuro reached for his special Kunai and scattered them around, committing to his more passive approach while being wary of the obviously upgraded capabilities of the Susanoo. But right as his Kunai landed, the Zetsu who had been hidden and waiting made their move.
But instead of attacking Katsuro which would have been futile, the many White humanoids emerged and destroyed the Kunai or the seals on them, trying to ensure Katsuro couldn't teleport.
Clearly, this was a strategy they thought of to stop his Flying Raijin built on the knowledge they gathered and Madara's direct experience with it through Tobirama. Destroying the markers or Kunai meant that Katsuro would not be able to teleport to them and effectively removed the factor that made him unkillable. Their plan was to kill him, and clearly they had planned well.
The move was clever, and as Katsuro saw it, he extended his sense to his markers further out. He realised any markers he placed nearby earlier on his way were similarly destroyed. It meant that he couldn't use the Flying Raijin to escape this attack, and it forced him into facing the huge barreling blue samurai heading toward him.
The Samurai unclasped its hands as it 'unsheathed' its sword once more, raising it overhead as it moved. With little options left Katsuro reactivated his Susanoo no Mikoto combination Jutsu in order to face the technique that had the name first.
AN: Hi everyone, it's 50 POWERSTONES for the next BONUS chapter. As always, if you would like to view up to 20 more bonus chapters on all my fics so far including this one, and would also like to support me, please visit my P@TR30N, at pa tr eon.com / GhidorahWriter (remove the spaces). Enjoy the chapter!