"!"
Obito froze for a moment, then slapped himself hard on the forehead.
"Oh, right! Come to think of it, that bastard who rode the Yatagarasu and kidnapped Rin never showed up back there!
"I knew something felt missing during that whole raid…
"Yuu, you really are smart! You even noticed a detail like that!"
"Enough flattery. Talk less and do more."
Yuu replied casually without even looking at Obito.
His eyes continuously swept across the surroundings.
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened.
Several hundred meters away from the buried-mountain base, at the foot of another mountain, a blurry human silhouette had appeared.
Then—
"Summoning Technique!"
An enormous Yatagarasu appeared in that area.
The figure used Body Flicker to land on its back, then immediately controlled the gigantic bird to take flight.
It soared into the sky and pursued Yuu's group at full speed, producing a violent howl of displaced air!
"Ah!! It's that bastard!"
Obito was the first to point at the Yatagarasu and shout.
"He really is still alive! And he's chasing us!"
"I can see him…
"Black Wing!"
Yuu patted the giant eagle beneath him.
Black Wing immediately understood.
Its wings beat powerfully—
and its speed suddenly increased, transforming it into an arrow cutting through the sky.
Behind them,
the Yatagarasu began accelerating almost simultaneously.
Both were enormous avian summoned beasts.
But in terms of level, Black Wing was still one rank below the Yatagarasu.
After all, Yatagarasu had its own special racial name, which already sounded far more impressive.
Black Wing, on the other hand, was ultimately just an unusually large ninja eagle.
Even in sheer size, the Yatagarasu was two sizes larger, with a wingspan approaching thirty meters.
Its flight speed was therefore clearly superior as well.
Although Yuu's group had taken off first and gained an initial lead,
the Yatagarasu's speed advantage quickly became apparent once it entered the air.
The distance between the two birds rapidly shrank.
The figure on its back also gradually became clearer.
It was another man in black robes and a mask.
His face remained hidden.
Yet the faint pressure radiating from his body immediately reminded Obito and the others of the humiliation and fear they had experienced against the black-robed man inside the buried-mountain base.
At once,
Obito rushed toward the rear of Black Wing and formed hand seals.
"I won't let you get any closer…
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
Kakashi also pulled kunai and shuriken from his ninja pouch and threw them backward.
They merged with Obito's Phoenix Sage Fire, forming a crude version of Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson.
Unfortunately,
such methods were far too childish.
Madara remained seated where he was.
He couldn't even be bothered to move.
The Yatagarasu beneath him simply beat its wings forcefully.
A violent gale roared outward and directly scattered both the flames and the ninja tools.
Fugaku also moved to the rear of Black Wing.
His fingers rapidly formed seals.
"Great Dragon Fire Technique!!"
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
Madara remained seated and formed only two quick seals before exhaling an enormous torrent of water.
The blazing fire dragon collided with the wave in midair.
Large amounts of steam immediately erupted, temporarily obscuring both sides' vision.
Then—
inside the mist,
the faint outline of something dark blue shifted.
Before Kakashi and the others could clearly see what was happening on the Yatagarasu's back—
a gigantic dark-blue blade wave more than ten meters long suddenly tore through the mist!
It seemed almost as though it had come from another world.
In an instant, it split the surrounding air and raced straight toward Black Wing!
"!?"
Kakashi and Obito stared in shock.
Wait…
Wasn't this cheating?!
Everyone had been properly exchanging ninjutsu—
what the hell was that?!
Wind Release?
What kind of Wind Release could produce a blade wave that enormous?!
Fugaku, being an older and more experienced ninja, reacted faster.
He immediately released another Great Dragon Fire Technique, attempting to cancel out the incoming slash.
Whoosh—!
A huge fire dragon manifested, raised its head, swung its tail, and charged straight toward the azure blade wave.
But the blade wave wasn't ninjutsu.
So it naturally didn't obey the elemental relationship between Fire and Wind Release.
The instant the two collided,
the blade wave cut straight through the Great Dragon Fire like a hot knife through butter.
The fire dragon split into two halves.
The slash continued forward without losing much momentum—
and was about to strike Black Wing and everyone on its back!
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
This time,
Yuu moved.
With a simple hand seal,
a thick curtain of water surged into the sky and blocked the blade wave's path.
Yuu's Water Formation Wall possessed twice the defensive power of an equivalent Water Release technique.
Although it couldn't completely neutralize the slash, it erased most of its force.
By the time the remaining blade wave broke through the water curtain,
Yuu simply swung his sword horizontally—
and shattered it.
Countless fragments of residual blade energy scattered outward like fine needles.
Black Wing's body began swaying under the impact.
At Yuu's order, it immediately lowered its altitude and dove toward the nearby forest.
Madara had obviously started cheating now.
He was even using mist as cover to secretly activate Susanoo and throw out blade waves.
He had probably concluded that since Hizashi's Byakugan had been disabled, no one else could see through what was happening behind the "Hidden Mist."
So he had become much bolder.
That previous slash might not have been comparable to the mountain-cleaving attack Madara used in the original story,
but its power was still astonishing.
If Madara threw out several more,
Yuu couldn't guarantee that he could block them all safely.
Therefore—
they needed to land first.
Find favorable terrain.
Then figure out how to fight back.
…
The wind howled.
Madara sat cross-legged on the Yatagarasu's back.
A half-body Susanoo surrounded him as he stared through the mist toward Black Wing—
or more precisely,
toward Yuu standing on its back.
His gaze deepened.
"Heh…"
Finally exposed yourself, didn't you?
Being able to use Senju Tobirama's simplified hand-seal version of Water Release wasn't particularly strange.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and others could do that too.
But being able to increase the defensive power of Water Formation Wall to this extent?
That was far from normal.
Only a true grandmaster with an extremely profound understanding of Water Release could accomplish something like that.
And you still claim you aren't Senju Tobirama reincarnated?
Perfect.
Madara had wanted to avenge his younger brother Izuna for a very long time anyway.
And now this could be combined with his original objective—
the Eye of the Moon Plan, designed to push Obito into darkness.
Two objectives with one action.
It actually saved him some trouble.
The only problem was that if Madara personally killed Yuu and the truth was exposed later,
Obito might turn against him.
After all, that idiot seemed to care quite a lot about this companion.
But…
it wasn't a major problem.
Obito was an idiot.
His brain was practically nonexistent.
As long as Madara didn't make things too obvious and carefully erased the traces of his involvement afterward,
fooling a brat with an Intelligence stat of two shouldn't be difficult.
And if that still wasn't enough,
he could simply take Shisui's Kotoamatsukami and brainwash Obito.
That would guarantee his absolute loyalty to the Eye of the Moon Plan and make him willingly work himself to death for Madara.
In any case, judging from the current situation, Shisui appeared to possess an actual brain.
He wouldn't be easy to deceive.
Better to kill him together with Yuu.
Within only a few thoughts,
Madara had already decided the life and death of everyone present.
As for Kakashi and Uchiha Fugaku…
irrelevant.
Madara had no particular desire to kill those two "unrelated people."
But he also had no intention of deliberately sparing them.
Whether they lived or died would depend entirely on their own luck.
Soon,
Black Wing reached the forest first.
After flying another kilometer or so at low altitude, it finally folded its wings and landed near a fast-flowing river with Yuu and the others.
Yuu had deliberately chosen this place.
When fighting Uchiha Madara, whose greatest specialty was Fire Release,
a riverside battlefield was ideal.
The abundant moisture in the environment could maximize Yuu's Water Release power—
perhaps even allowing him to rival that legendary Sea Release Grandmaster, Senju Tobirama.
Of course,
there was one disadvantage.
Fugaku and the others' Fire Release would also be weakened.
But their Fire Release couldn't beat Madara's anyway.
Instead of wasting chakra on those techniques, they might as well save it for one good activation of their giant Susanoo mecha.
Whoosh—
With the sound of beating wings,
the Yatagarasu also slowly descended.
Madara, still appearing as the "black-robed man," jumped from its back and looked toward Yuu and the others from a distance.
"Heh…
"Have you finally accepted your inevitable deaths and decided to lay down your weapons?"
Madara sneered.
"Bullshit!"
Obito immediately interrupted him and shouted with his neck stiffened.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!
"You're nothing but a despicable coward who only succeeded because of a sneak attack!
"How dare you talk big in front of us?!
"We already killed the strongest guy inside that base!
"You're next!"
"…"
Madara narrowed his eyes.
The corner of Yuu's mouth twitched too.
Do you even realize this guy is basically your clan's legendary ancestor?
How are you this brave while talking to him?
Still…
in the current situation,
details like that no longer mattered.
There was only one path left—
fight to the bitter end!
"Summoning Technique!"
Yuu summoned the Three Kamaitachi Brothers.
White smoke dispersed.
The moment they saw the situation around them,
the three Kamaitachi instantly lost their composure.
Their fluffy fur stood completely on end.
They hugged one another tightly and began shrieking.
"AHHH!! Little Mikami, what are you doing?!
"Why is it always enemies on this level every time you summon us?!"
"Is it really that exaggerated?"
Yuu glanced sideways at them.
"You seemed pretty happy when we fought the Six-Tails last time."
"How could we possibly have been happy?!
"You forced us into that!!
"And this guy is way scarier than the Six-Tails!
"We've never seen a human this terrifying before!!"
The Kamaitachi continued squealing.
"Well, don't worry.
"You three only need to stay with Black Wing and help me protect the injured.
"I'll handle the fighting.
"It's not like you'd be much help anyway."
Yuu said.
The Three Kamaitachi Brothers looked somewhat offended when they heard that they were "useless."
But after glancing at Madara,
they swallowed whatever complaints they had.
Fine.
Useless was useless.
If someone wanted to fight an opponent like this, they could go right ahead.
The Kamaitachi were only summoned beasts.
There was no reason for them to risk their lives so desperately.
…
Yuu had spoken casually.
But Fugaku and Kakashi exchanged glances after hearing the Kamaitachi.
Scarier than the Six-Tails?
Didn't that mean this man was a monster even stronger than a tailed beast?
In the entire Kirigakure Village,
there was probably only one person who could receive such an evaluation—
the Mizukage himself!
"To think the mighty Third Mizukage would personally enter the battlefield!
"And not only that—you conceal your identity and stoop so low as to kidnap a young girl!
"How disgraceful!"
Fugaku shouted loudly.
"Hmph!
"Today, I, Uchiha Fugaku, will personally experience the strength of Kirigakure!"
Kakashi said nothing.
He merely drew his short blade and silently prepared to use Chidori Current.
Across from them,
Madara froze for the briefest moment.
Apparently, he hadn't expected to be mistaken for the Third Mizukage.
But he had no intention of correcting them.
He only said coldly,
"Hmph. Know your limits.
"You already struggled so badly against one of my subordinates.
"And now, a group of exhausted remnants like you still want to challenge me?"
"Kneel and surrender now.
"Perhaps I'll consider sparing your lives."
"Dream on!"
Before his words had even finished,
Fugaku charged first.
Kakashi and Obito followed close behind.
But just as Madara had said,
almost everyone in Yuu's group had already experienced fierce fighting inside the buried-mountain base.
Kakashi and Obito in particular were among the weaker members of the team.
They had also been beaten around by Madara's Shapeshifting Clone earlier.
Both were already nearing their limits.
Although they had swallowed several military ration pills after escaping,
they had recovered very little chakra in such a short time.
After exchanging only a few moves,
their exhaustion became obvious.
"Heh…
"With strength like this, you still want to dance before me?
"You truly don't know the immensity of heaven and earth!"
Madara sneered.
"It seems Konoha truly declines with every generation!"
He didn't even bother drawing a kunai.
Madara simply strode directly into the middle of Fugaku and the others.
His left hand caught Fugaku's incoming kunai.
He shifted sideways to evade Obito's strike.
Then—
he grabbed Kakashi by the throat with one hand and lifted him into the air.
Even while being strangled,
Kakashi didn't stop moving.
He attempted to slam Chidori Current directly into Madara's body.
But razor-sharp air currents instantly erupted around Madara's arm—
Wind Cutting Technique.
Using Wind Release's natural advantage against Lightning Release, he dispersed the Chidori Current.
The wind then transformed into countless blades that stabbed into Kakashi.
Blood sprayed across Kakashi's entire body.
Madara casually flicked his arm—
and hurled him away!
The earlier Shapeshifting Clone had possessed only ten or twenty percent of Madara's true strength,
yet it had already been able to suppress Kakashi and Obito.
And now…
Uchiha Madara genuinely intended to kill.
In a single exchange,
Kakashi was seized by the throat and thrown away.
Then Obito was kicked flying.
Fugaku managed to endure several more attacks before Madara struck his shoulder with a knife-hand blow.
Fugaku staggered backward dozens of meters.
His hands rapidly formed seals.
"Fire Release…
"Dragon Flame Release Song Technique!"
Puff! Puff! Puff—!
Several dragon-shaped masses of flame erupted from Fugaku's mouth.
Carrying scorching heat, they tore through the air and rushed toward Madara!
Faced with what was practically one of the Uchiha clan's strongest Fire Release techniques—
Madara chose to meet it head-on.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!!"
~~~
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