[Boruto Uzumaki: "Uh… Sasuke-sensei, didn't you once stab Susanoo with your Kusanagi sword?"]
The moment Boruto spoke, Sasuke's eye twitched.
Memories of that particular low point hit like a kunai to the chest.
Back then, desperate and cornered, he'd had no choice but to jab Itachi's Yata Mirror with the Kusanagi.
[Danzō Shimura: "Only idiots try to stab Susanoo with melee weapons."]
[Sasuke Uchiha: "…"]
[Minato Namikaze: "Ahahaha… I'm sure Sasuke had his reasons."]
[Itachi Uchiha: "Ahem. Let's keep watching, shall we?"]
Madara's Susanoo was a whirlwind of motion, blades cleaving through the battlefield.
Gaara's sands surged from the ground, trying to bind its joints—
but Madara simply snorted and snapped the restraints apart with brute strength.
Raising all four arms, he slammed the colossal blades down.
Four arcs of blue energy tore open the earth,
launching waves of pure destruction that sent hundreds flying like rag dolls.
Gaara gritted his teeth. His control wasn't enough.
"Sorry to keep you waiting…"
Naruto's eyes turned gold—Sage Mode.
He raised a massive Rasenshuriken overhead.
Jiraiya's mouth fell open.
His student had mastered Sage Mode without the toads' aid?
Incredible.
[Minato Namikaze: "That's my boy!"]
[Kushina Uzumaki: "Told you he'd surpass us!"]
[Jiraiya: "Heh… the kid's better at Sage Mode than his master, huh?"]
[Hashirama Senju: "Wait, you have to learn Sage Mode?"]
Hashirama looked genuinely puzzled.
He'd thought everyone just… did it.
[Tobirama Senju: "Big brother, can you not flex for once?"]
The battle surged on.
Ōnoki's hand landed on Gaara's shoulder, lightening his sand.
Instantly, the gourd sands swirled faster, heavier, unstoppable.
Gaara's dunes rose like tidal waves.
"Now, Naruto!"
"Got it!"
Naruto hurled the Rasenshuriken, its shriek tearing the air apart.
Madara, high within Susanoo's chest, glanced down with icy contempt.
Gaara's sand snaked under Susanoo's feet—
and suddenly, the impossible happened.
The sand dragged Madara out of his own Susanoo.
"What—?!"
Even Madara blinked in surprise.
"Now, Naruto!!" Gaara shouted.
Naruto hurled the Rasenshuriken with everything he had.
It cut through the air, a storm in a sphere—
but when it hit, the sand exploded outward, and the world filled with smoke.
When the dust cleared, Madara stood unscathed.
He waved his hand dismissively.
"Too much noise," he murmured.
The Rasenshuriken's chakra… was gone.
"W–what?! He absorbed it?" Temari gasped.
Naruto stared wide-eyed.
His eyes—Madara's eyes—had changed.
Rinnegan.
The Susanoo's armor peeled away, its glow fading.
Madara landed atop a dune, looking down like a god among insects.
"Just as I thought… the ultimate evolution of the Sharingan… is the Rinnegan," Kabuto mused.
Madara's glare turned cold.
"I awakened them before death. Tell me, Kabuto—what did you do to my body?"
"You heard me earlier," Kabuto said with a smug grin.
"I made you stronger than in your prime."
Madara's expression darkened.
"You dare meddle with my power? A rat who can't even read the Uchiha Stone Tablet…"
Kabuto's glasses glinted.
"I merely confirmed a hypothesis—based on years of research with Lord Orochimaru."
Gasps rippled through the audience watching.
[Tobirama Senju: "That Kabuto… he's brilliant, but wasted his mind on the wrong path."]
[Hashirama Senju: "Still… those eyes are beautiful, Madara! Let me borrow them for a few days?"]
[Madara Uchiha: "Don't even think about it."]
[Kakashi Hatake: "Wait… what's he doing now?"]
At Kakashi's words, everyone looked up.
Madara's hands pressed together in a seal.
The ground shuddered.
A massive Susanoo skeleton rose again—
but this time, it split into two faces, each with its own joined hands.
And then… the sky changed.
Dark clouds swallowed the sun in a single breath.
The battlefield dimmed.
A sword clattered from a trembling hand.
Someone laughed—
not from joy, but from the madness of terror.
"W–we can't beat that," whispered an Iwa-nin,
a grin twisted by despair.
"This… this isn't human power…"
All across the lines, soldiers froze,
eyes wide, hearts sinking like stones.
[Sarada Uchiha: "Why did the sky just turn black?"]
[Boruto Uzumaki: "Yeah, why's everyone suddenly losing it?"]
[Mitsuki: "Did Madara… do something?"]
[Shinki: "Father, what is that look on your face?"]
[Adult Gaara: "At that moment, I stared into the sky—and I knew despair."]
[Iwabe: "If even the Kazekage was shaken… then what did they see up there?"]
Naruto could barely breathe.
Temari trembled. "That's… not ninjutsu anymore…"
Gaara's eyes were hollow. "Divine power…"
Ōnoki said nothing—just stared upward, defeated.
The camera panned slowly,
upward, ever upward—
until it caught the vast shadow blotting out the heavens.
And for the first time, the world realized—
the sky itself was falling.
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