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Land of Earth.
A stretch of land that had been relatively flat began to tremble violently. Deep rumbling sounds echoed from underground.
At one point, a massive deep-blue arm burst out of the earth, like a giant awakening from its slumber.
Inside the underground cave.
Susanoo merely raised one arm. Its enormous fist slammed into the ceiling of the cavern.
The solid rock layer was torn apart and pulverized as easily as tofu.
Countless boulders came crashing down. The entire underground space groaned under the strain before completely collapsing.
Blinding daylight poured in through the massive hole above. Madara stood proudly within the diamond-shaped crystal of his deep-blue Susanoo, looking down at the smoke-filled ruins below.
"In the face of absolute power, your struggles are meaningless!"
The dust slowly settled, yet Taiichi's figure had not been buried.
In the final moments before the cave fully collapsed, he had already used Flying Thunder God to teleport to a relatively open area on the surface.
Looking up at the towering half-bodied giant, Taiichi couldn't help but admire Madara's ability.
He had seen Yohei's Mangekyō before. Even with a complete pair, Yohei always needed considerable effort to summon Susanoo.
But the man before him now had only three tomoe in his eyes, yet he could instantly summon a third-stage Susanoo. It was terrifying.
However—
"Absolute power?"
A cold smirk curved Taiichi's lips, though his tone still carried a hint of mockery.
"With your current condition, you're still far from that."
The wide-open space outside the cave was the perfect stage for him to go all out.
Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation.
Madara's Susanoo clapped its hands together. Its giant mouth opened, and a sea of flames covering hundreds of meters ahead poured downward. The temperature was so intense that the rocky ground instantly began to melt.
Water Release: Great Exploding Water Shockwave.
Taiichi didn't back down. His hands flew through seals as chakra surged wildly.
Like a river bursting its banks, a massive wave tens of meters high appeared out of nowhere and crashed toward the sea of fire with overwhelming force.
The moment water and fire collided, blinding white light and a deafening explosion shot into the sky. Mist instantly spread across dozens of miles.
Within the dense fog where visibility was zero, Susanoo's hands rapidly gathered chakra. Two enormous chakra blades extended from its left and right sides. The blades danced, slicing through the earth as they struck toward Taiichi.
Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.
Platinum-colored flames spewed from Taiichi's mouth, transforming into a snarling fire dragon that soared through the air.
Facing the incoming light blades, the massive fire dragon rose higher and spiraled upward to meet them.
The extreme heat melted everything it touched. In an instant, it destroyed the chakra structure of the light blades, causing them to dissipate into points of light before they could even land.
Madara's gaze grew colder.
"It seems I'll need to use my real power if I want to crush this annoying insect."
He could feel the threat from Taiichi's endless stream of powerful ninjutsu. More importantly, he could sense that forcibly maintaining his peak condition was rapidly draining what little life force he had left.
He needed to end this quickly.
"Witness true despair! Haaah—!"
Madara let out a thunderous roar. The three tomoe in his eyes spun so violently they nearly connected into a single line. His chakra erupted outward without any restraint.
Hum—!
The deep-blue Susanoo shone with blinding light. Its form changed dramatically once more. Thicker armor covered its entire body. The lower half fully materialized, transforming it into a towering, hundred-meter-tall complete-bodied war god with wings on its back.
Fourth-stage Susanoo.
The destructive energy waves it emitted caused the air within several kilometers to solidify.
The giant raised both hands toward the sky. Even thicker chakra blades instantly formed. Just the act of gathering power made the vibrating chakra emit a teeth-grinding hum.
If that blade fell, it could split mountains and sever peaks.
Facing this world-ending power, Taiichi took a deep breath. His expression turned completely calm.
He brought both hands together in front of his chest. A emerald-green pattern spread from the center of his forehead across his entire body. A vast, majestic energy radiated from within him.
Yin Seal: Release.
Sage Mode: Activate.
Natural energy perfectly fused with his own chakra. Taiichi's pupils turned golden.
His perception exploded geometrically. Strength, speed, and chakra activity instantly rose to another level. A faint glow surrounded his body, as if he had become one with nature itself.
Sage Art: Wind Release – Rasenshuriken.
In each of Taiichi's hands, a Rasengan rapidly formed. As Sage chakra continued pouring in, four wind blades quickly took shape around each Rasengan. Their sharp whistling echoed across the land.
"Slash!"
"Go!"
Both men shouted at the same time.
The deep-blue chakra giant blade tore through the sky with the will to cut through everything and came crashing down.
Two Rasenshuriken streaked through the air like meteors and collided head-on with it.
BOOOOM—!!!!
An indescribable, terrifying explosion bloomed between heaven and earth. Light brighter than the sun by a hundred times instantly swallowed everything.
The shockwave that followed swept outward with the force of a tsunami. The ground was peeled up and pulverized layer by layer like fragile paper. Distant mountain peaks silently collapsed and disintegrated. A massive crater thousands of meters in diameter formed in an instant.
When the light faded, smoke and dust filled the sky.
The deep-blue Susanoo's giant blade had shattered. Cracks covered its massive body. Inside the crystal protection chamber, Madara's face was deathly pale as he gasped violently.
Forcibly activating the fourth stage of Susanoo and then suffering such a violent impact had caused what little life force he had left to drain away like a floodgate had opened. His body felt hollow and wracked with pain.
On the other side, Taiichi's clothes were torn and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He had clearly taken heavy damage as well. However, under Sage Mode's powerful regenerative ability, his aura hadn't diminished much. His golden vertical pupils remained locked onto Madara. He clearly still had strength to spare.
"Uchiha Madara… your era has ended!"
Taiichi's voice carried through the smoke and dust like a victor's declaration.
He began gathering chakra in both hands again, clearly preparing for the next attack.
"Cough— Arrogant brat!"
Madara coughed violently. A flash of unwillingness and fury crossed his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by clear awareness of his own condition.
If he kept fighting, he really might die at the hands of this little ghost.
With that thought, Madara stopped hesitating. He was already a dying man. The life he had left was only meant to ensure his grand plan could be carried out smoothly.
Since he had already stopped Matsushita Taiichi from tracking him, there was no need to stay here and fight to the death.
Chakra blades reformed in Madara's hands. He swung them at Taiichi once more.
A violent explosion rang out. Smoke and dust filled the sky. Using that moment, Madara formed hand seals. A Wood Clone appeared beside him.
The clone took his place while his real body concealed its presence and escaped underground, fleeing the battlefield.
The Wood Clone was one of the highest-level clone techniques. Even under Sage Mode, Taiichi didn't immediately notice Madara's disappearance.
He simply hadn't expected that Madara, who had been fighting him evenly until now, would suddenly decide to run.
After exchanging several more blows, the massive Susanoo finally collapsed under the bombardment of Taiichi's Sage Art: Fire Release – Great Fire Dragon.
The Wood Clone reverted to a piece of wood and was burned to charcoal by the flames. Taiichi stood there in slight daze.
He had actually… escaped.
Taiichi stood at the spot where Susanoo had vanished. His golden pupils scanned the surroundings as he spread his Sage Mode perception to its limit, but he could no longer sense even a trace of his opponent.
He slowly released Sage Mode. His golden pupils returned to normal, and the Yin Seal patterns gathered back on his forehead.
He really ran.
Taiichi looked at the drastically changed landscape. Any experienced ninja who saw this terrain could roughly reconstruct what had happened here.
He didn't want this information leaking out just yet.
Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld.
Chakra surged. Across the entire visible area, the surface terrain turned into a vast mud swamp.
Taiichi didn't need the swamp to be deep. He only needed it wide enough to destroy the traces of the battle.
After finishing, he stomped his foot. A mangled White Zetsu corpse surfaced from the swamp.
This was the same White Zetsu he had beheaded earlier.
"With this, plus information about Uchiha Madara, I should have something to report to the Third Hokage."
He muttered to himself, then turned toward the direction of the Hidden Leaf. His figure flickered and disappeared, leaving behind the gradually hardening earth that had witnessed an earth-shaking battle.
When Taiichi reappeared, he was already inside his own home in the Hidden Leaf.
The chakra fluctuations from the recent battle immediately drew the attention of the three small figures living with him.
Itachi, who had been training, was the first to notice the unusual disturbance. Jiang Tai and Yamei quickly followed.
The three of them exchanged glances, then ran toward the source of the fluctuations on their short legs.
Meanwhile, Taiichi had just arrived and was about to head to the Hokage's office when he suddenly stopped after only a few steps.
He turned his gaze toward the direction the three children were running from. A warm smile appeared on his face.
"Their perception is pretty good. Not just Itachi—Jiang Tai and Yamei both have decent sensory abilities too," Taiichi muttered quietly.
A moment later, the three little ones spotted Taiichi standing in the courtyard.
Although Taiichi hadn't been seriously injured in the previous battle, the high-intensity fighting and ninjutsu exchanges had left him looking somewhat disheveled.
The three children anxiously gathered around him, pulling at his clothes and checking him up and down to see if he was hurt.
Taiichi had stopped because he sensed that the three of them had noticed his return. He didn't want them to worry. Before they could even ask, he spoke first.
"Don't worry. It was just a small mission. I'm not hurt. Focus on your training. I still need to go see the Hokage."
As he spoke, he reached out and ruffled Itachi's soft black hair. The little boy immediately dodged like an angry kitten and began fixing his hair.
Taiichi chuckled, turned around, and waved casually at the three behind him. His figure vanished in an instant—not with Flying Thunder God, but with pure Body Flicker at extreme speed.
In the courtyard, the three children looked at each other. They all felt an indescribable pressure.
Even someone at Taiichi-sensei's level could end up looking this worn out. What right did they have to slack off?
Training. Double the training.
The three of them nodded at each other, instantly understanding. They turned and ran toward the training ground together.
Today, they were going to double all their training. No rest until they were done.
Taiichi had no idea what kind of motivation his disheveled appearance had given the three children. Right now, he was racing toward the Hokage's office at full speed.
---
Hokage's Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and the two advisors had gathered here.
Ever since the attack on Rin's hospital room the day before and Taiichi's pursuit, the three of them had stayed together.
Even the advisors' usual work had been temporarily moved into the Hokage's office.
For this reason, Hiruzen had specifically ordered two desks to be placed inside, serving as temporary workspaces for the two advisors.
It was clear how seriously the three of them were treating the appearance of Wood Release and the Mangekyō.
When Taiichi knocked and entered the office, this was the scene he walked into. Three pairs of slightly tired eyes turned toward him at the same time. The initial surprise in their gazes quickly shifted to extreme seriousness.
"Taiichi, how did it go?"
Hiruzen didn't waste time with pleasantries. He got straight to the point.
Taiichi shook his head heavily. He reached into his ninja tool pouch, took out a sealing scroll, and without any hesitation—right there in the Hokage's office—formed seals and released the contents.
With a poof, a completely pale corpse appeared in the room.
No one needed to examine it closely. Everyone present—whether the Hokage or the two advisors—were former elites. Just from the corpse's appearance and wounds, they could tell this was not the body of a normal human.
Koharu Utatane, who had once been a medical ninja, was the first to crouch down. Green chakra lit up in her hands as she began a preliminary examination of the body.
After only a moment, she stood up in shock, her face filled with disbelief.
"This… it looks so much like a plant!"
"This is the person who came to assassinate Rin," Taiichi said, pointing at the abdomen of the corpse. A small Flying Thunder God seal was clearly visible there.
"However, at the time he was half-black and half-white. When I caught up to him, he had turned completely pale. I suspect this wasn't his real body—probably just a puppet."
Taiichi gave his analysis. Even this much information left the three people in the room deeply shocked.
"So the one who used Wood Release was this person. According to you, he's still alive?"
Homura Mitokado asked anxiously. Wood Release was what concerned him the most. It was a symbol of the Hidden Leaf.
Taiichi nodded. Before anyone could speak again, he dropped another bombshell with a heavy expression.
"I… encountered Uchiha Madara."
The office fell into absolute silence. It wasn't just quiet—it felt as if time itself had frozen. The Hokage and both advisors stood completely still.
Nearly thirty seconds passed before Hiruzen spoke in a hoarse voice, asking the question that mattered most to him.
"You… didn't make a mistake?"
As expected of the Hokage, he didn't question whether such a person could exist. He went straight to the core issue—was it truly Uchiha Madara?
The two advisors also stared at Taiichi intently. They unconsciously swallowed.
Unfortunately, facts were facts.
"The statues of Uchiha Madara stand at the Valley of the End. There's also the fact that he could summon Susanoo directly with only three tomoe in his Sharingan, along with the giant scythe and Gunbai fan that the Uchiha lost."
Taiichi didn't give a direct answer, but it was equivalent to confirming everything.
The three of them understood immediately. This was Uchiha Madara. They didn't know how he had come back from death, but no one else matched all these conditions.
Great. Wood Release and the missing Mangekyō still hadn't been resolved, and now an even more troublesome Uchiha Madara had appeared.
This was a force capable of overturning the current Hidden Leaf. That was the honest thought running through the minds of the Hokage and both advisors.