Seiryū had no reason to hide his intentions anymore.
He headed straight for Madara's base.
Kirigakure.
Come to think of it, this was Seiryū's first time visiting the Hidden Mist Village.
The humidity was oppressive, though the environment itself was not particularly bad.
Still, it could not compare to Konoha.
With this much moisture in the air, the village had one major problem: everything constantly felt damp.
As someone who had lived in a humid southern region in his previous life, Seiryū knew exactly how miserable that kind of weather could be.
Even experiencing it a few times a year was annoying enough.
Yet Kirigakure seemed to live like this for nearly half the year.
The people here really had it rough.
"Did they set up a barrier? I can't sense any Chakra fluctuations at all."
Standing on high ground, Seiryū spread his perception across the village.
He could not detect Madara's Chakra anywhere.
There was most likely a sealing barrier concealing it.
"Forget it. I came here to cause trouble anyway, so there's no reason to be subtle."
Seiryū lightly kicked off the ground and shot into the sky.
He hovered high above Kirigakure, looking down over the entire village.
Because Quincy Vollständig allowed him to forcibly absorb natural energy and convert it into Senjutsu Chakra, Seiryū could use that Chakra much like Reishi.
He condensed footholds beneath his feet and stood freely in midair.
"Let's start with a greeting."
Seiryū raised one hand.
"Hadō #99: Goryūtenmetsu!"
Even while airborne, Seiryū continued absorbing natural energy and converting it into Senjutsu Chakra.
He then used that Senjutsu Chakra to unleash the highest-level Hadō he currently possessed.
Senjutsu Chakra could amplify Ninjutsu.
And in this world, Hadō manifested through the principles of Ninjutsu.
Naturally, Senjutsu Chakra enhanced Hadō as well.
It was not quite as absurd as breaking past the technique's normal limits with a full incantation, but the Chakra fluctuations radiating from Seiryū were already enough to make ordinary shinobi tremble.
"Boom!"
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Violent Chakra surged outward in every direction.
The surrounding air seemed to grow heavy and stagnant.
The pressure alone produced a deafening roar.
Then, behind Seiryū, enormous dragons began to form.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
All five rapidly expanded until they towered over the village.
Each dragon possessed a different color, representing a different Chakra nature.
Fire.
Water.
Wind.
Earth.
Lightning.
A five-nature Ninjutsu!
In Bleach, Hadō #99: Goryūtenmetsu created colossal dragons of Reiatsu capable of annihilating everything across a vast area.
Here, the technique had taken on a different form.
Five-Style: Five Dragon Bullet Jutsu?
Something along those lines.
Except incomparably more powerful.
Seiryū had already tested the technique before.
Its destructive power was certainly no weaker than Cero Oscuras.
They were techniques of roughly the same class.
It was Hadō #99, after all.
It deserved that level of power.
Meanwhile, the moment Seiryū unleashed the technique, everyone in Kirigakure felt an overwhelming pressure descend upon them.
Ordinary civilians were forced to the ground.
Genin and Chunin found their bodies stiffening, unable to move properly.
Only Jonin-level shinobi could still act.
And even they could do little more than stare upward at the five enormous dragons filling the sky.
Shock.
Fear.
Disbelief.
"What... what is that?"
"Is that really Ninjutsu?"
"No way. How can a Ninjutsu be that enormous? Those dragons must be over a thousand meters long!"
An elderly shinobi muttered in disbelief.
"It resembles the scale of Hashirama Senju's techniques from the past, but... why would a shinobi of that level come here?"
"Is he planning to destroy the entire village?"
Panic spread through Kirigakure.
Faced with a technique many times larger than a Tailed Beast, the people below could feel nothing but despair.
At the same time, deep beneath Kirigakure.
This was where Madara had been staying.
His appearance had changed.
His once-black hair had turned white and flowed loosely down his back.
He wore a white robe decorated with black magatama.
Nine black spheres floated behind him.
A black staff rested in his hand.
The Ten-Tails Jinchūriki.
Six Paths level.
Six Paths Madara.
"This Chakra."
Madara, who had been sitting with his eyes closed while familiarizing himself with his new power, suddenly opened them.
The Rinnegan in his eye sockets gleamed ominously.
"Seiryū!"
Whoosh!
Madara vanished.
When he reappeared, he was already floating above Kirigakure.
He looked up at the five enormous dragons of different colors filling the sky.
For the first time, even his Rinnegan showed clear surprise and caution.
This Ninjutsu was even more terrifying than Hashirama's Sage Art: Wood Style: True Several Thousand Hands.
And it used all five basic Chakra natures at once?
"Looks like I came to the right place."
The moment Madara appeared, Seiryū noticed him.
He grinned.
"Since you're here, take this head-on."
"Let me see how strong you've become as the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki!"
"Boom!"
At Seiryū's command, all five dragons roared downward toward Madara.
Their combined pressure made it seem as though the sky itself were collapsing.
If that attack reached the ground, Kirigakure would be erased in an instant.
It was a technique powerful enough to destroy one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
"I hadn't even gone looking for you yet."
Madara watched the five dragons descend.
"I didn't expect you to be more impatient than I was."
His expression was serious, but he remained calm.
If this had been the Madara of the past, he might have needed to draw upon additional Tailed Beast Chakra to survive such an attack.
But now?
He was the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki.
He had crossed into the realm of a Sage.
This attack was dangerous.
But it was not enough to frighten him.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Madara raised one hand.
An enormous invisible repulsive force erupted from his Rinnegan and surged upward toward Hadō #99: Goryūtenmetsu.
Driven by Six Paths Power, the Rinnegan's Dōjutsu had reached an entirely different level.
"BOOM!"
The two attacks collided.
A world-shaking explosion tore across the sky.
For an instant, it looked as though a second sun had appeared above Kirigakure.
Blinding light illuminated the entire region.
Then came the shockwave.
A terrifying pressure wave erupted outward from the collision point.
Buildings were torn apart.
Roofs vanished.
Walls collapsed.
Countless people were sent flying with screams.
The aftershock of a single exchange left large portions of Kirigakure looking as though a natural disaster had struck.
Hiss.
The two techniques gradually canceled one another out.
Elemental Chakra filled the sky, obscuring vision.
Then something black tore through the chaotic energy.
Sharp spears.
They flew toward Seiryū at terrifying speed, aiming to pierce straight through him.
Truth-Seeking Balls had been reshaped into weapons.
Substances capable of erasing nearly any ordinary Ninjutsu they touched.
"Boom!"
Seiryū casually punched forward.
The air itself compressed under the force of his fist and exploded outward as an air cannon.
The Truth-Seeking spears were blasted away before they could come any closer.
"How is it?"
Madara swept aside the fragmented Chakra around him and rose until he was level with Seiryū.
"My current power."
"I have become a Sage."
"I wield Six Paths Power."
"I have crossed the boundary between man and god."
"There are very few people in this world who can fight me now."
Madara looked directly at Seiryū.
"And you are one of them."
As he spoke, the Truth-Seeking spears that Seiryū had knocked away flew back toward Madara.
They reformed into nine black spheres and began floating behind him again.
"You revived the Ten-Tails without the complete Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails."
Seiryū looked Madara over and smiled.
"That had something to do with Edo Tensei, didn't it?"
"Ordinary Edo Tensei can't reproduce someone's full living strength."
"You shouldn't have been able to improve the technique that much in such a short time."
"So there's only one likely explanation."
"You cooperated with Orochimaru."
Seiryū had also learned Edo Tensei by now.
The technique itself was not especially difficult to perform.
Its underlying principles, however, were extremely complicated.
Improving it was another matter entirely.
Even with Seiryū's talent, finding the correct direction would take time.
It was not that he could not do it.
It simply could not be done instantly.
Madara clearly understood Edo Tensei himself.
Otherwise, he would not have been able to release the technique from within in the original story.
But reproducing the level of refinement Orochimaru had achieved was another matter.
Which meant Madara had most likely worked with him.
"That is correct."
Madara did not bother hiding it.
"Although I could improve Edo Tensei myself, reaching this level would take considerable time."
"If a superior method already exists, I have no reason to waste time recreating it."
Madara's eyes narrowed.
"Especially when giving you more time would only make things worse for me."
The reason Madara had been able to recreate the Ten-Tails without possessing the complete Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails was indeed because of Orochimaru.
More accurately, Orochimaru had approached Madara first and proposed cooperation.
As for Orochimaru's true objective?
Madara did not care.
As long as he possessed overwhelming strength, conspiracies meant nothing.
That was his confidence.
Seiryū clicked his tongue.
"Orochimaru's ambitions aren't small."
"Be careful you don't get bitten by the snake you invited into your home."
"He may not be overwhelmingly strong, but he has far too many tricks."
Orochimaru was not among the absolute strongest shinobi in the world.
But his methods were countless.
Underestimating him was dangerous.
Madara answered arrogantly.
"In front of absolute power, schemes are meaningless."
"I have become a Sage."
"No one in this world can stop me now."
"I will create a new era."
"You've reached the Six Paths level."
Seiryū glanced at the vertical eye on Madara's forehead.
"But you haven't completely stabilized it yet."
"Otherwise, that eye should already be fully open."
Madara nodded slightly.
"Six Paths level."
"Power comparable to the Sage of Six Paths."
"That is an interesting way to describe it."
He touched the center of his forehead.
"It is only a matter of time."
"Just as I had to familiarize myself with these Rinnegan before awakening their deeper abilities, I must adapt to this power as well."
"When I do, this eye will open."
Madara's voice remained calm.
"And when that happens, I will cast Infinite Tsukuyomi and bring true peace to this world."
The Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails had not been completely absorbed.
The Ten-Tails was therefore incomplete.
But who said an incomplete Ten-Tails could not be used to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi?
Power was power.
A technique was a technique.
If Madara mastered it properly, he could still bring out the effect he needed.
That was precisely why he had not moved immediately after becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki.
He first needed to adapt to the Ten-Tails' power.
"Time?"
Seiryū smiled.
"Sorry."
"You probably don't have that anymore."
His aura suddenly changed.
Dragon-Human Hollowification and the Eight Inner Gates Formation activated at the same time.
Explosive Chakra erupted from Seiryū and swept across the sky.
Although this power had been forcibly elevated through transformations, its output had still reached the Six Paths level.
Only Seiryū's fundamental life state had not yet completed the same qualitative evolution.
"In this battle."
Seiryū grinned.
"You die."
His figure vanished.
Boom!
The sound barrier shattered behind him.
In the blink of an eye, Seiryū appeared directly in front of Madara.
His right fist clenched.
Then it smashed toward Madara's forehead.
"BOOM!"
Black matter instantly expanded into a shield.
A Truth-Seeking Ball blocked Seiryū's punch.
The instant fist met shield, a thunderous explosion ripped through the air.
Wind pressure blasted outward in every direction.
"Pretty tough."
Seiryū grinned.
"Then how about this?"
A glowing Rasengan suddenly formed in his hand.
"Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan!"
The sphere expanded instantly until it was dozens of meters across.
Then Seiryū slammed it directly into the Truth-Seeking shield.
"BOOM!"
Truth-Seeking Balls could nullify most ordinary Ninjutsu.
But Senjutsu was different.
Under the impact of the Sage Art Rasengan, cracks spread across the black shield.
Then it shattered.
"Hmm?"
Madara frowned.
So this substance, capable of nullifying nearly all ordinary Ninjutsu, was vulnerable to Senjutsu?
"Take another punch!"
The Rasengan dispersed.
Seiryū clenched his right fist again.
He struck forward.
Bang!
The air itself exploded under the force.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Madara reacted instantly.
An enormous repulsive force surged forward.
"BOOM!"
Fist pressure and Shinra Tensei collided at point-blank range.
The resulting blast detonated like a bomb.
Both combatants were among the strongest beings currently standing in the shinobi world.
Even an ordinary exchange between them carried catastrophic power.
The shockwave transformed into raging wind that swept over everything below.
After the collision, both were pushed backward.
Seiryū twisted his neck and stared directly at Madara.
"You might actually be stronger than that Ōtsutsuki I fought before."
"You can keep up with me in this state."
Madara steadied himself in midair.
"This time, I will not retreat."
"And I have nowhere left to retreat to."
"If I have reached the level of a Sage and still cannot defeat you, then I will accept that defeat."
"Of course you can't defeat me."
Seiryū smiled.
"I'm terrifyingly strong right now."
Madara's eyes narrowed.
"I possess nearly inexhaustible Chakra as the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki."
"You, however, rely on the Eight Inner Gates Formation for explosive power."
"How long can you maintain it?"
Seiryū grinned.
"To borrow Captain America's words."
"I can do this all day."
Madara's lips curled upward.
"Heh."
"Then show me what gives you that confidence."
"Come!"
"BOOM!"
Both moved at the same instant.
Their fists collided head-on.
One was the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki who had entered the Six Paths level.
The other was a monster stacking Dragon-Human Hollowification with the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
Even their Taijutsu alone produced destructive power that would terrify an ordinary Kage.
They had already entered a completely different class of battle.
In a sense, this was no longer a fight between shinobi.
It was a battle between Sages.
And one thing had already become obvious.
Madara's command over his power was far superior to that disgrace of a Kekkei Mōra, Urashiki.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)