Chapter 319: Six Paths Sakura
By the time the storm cleared, everyone could finally make out the shape of the figure hanging in the sky.
Pink hair, long enough to brush her waist, spilled loose and drifted though no wind stirred it. Her once-delicate, faintly cool features no longer bore any trace of the Yin Seal or the Sage markings that had marked her for so long. Her jade-green eyes now looked like polished glass — and behind that glass burned a hidden gold flame that made it hard for anyone to meet her gaze straight on. She wore a robe of red and white woven together, rippling like living fire.
The Fifth Hokage simply stood there in midair. Every eye in the battlefield was on her. And yet no one's senses could register her presence at all — if not for the divine, crushing weight of her chakra blanketing heaven and earth, most of them would have sworn their own eyes were lying to them, that she was nothing more than an afterimage.
"So the child has already reached this level..."
Hashirama Senju stared up at the figure looming over the sky, feeling the sheer oceanic vastness of her chakra pressing down on him, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably.
Was this fear?
No — this was the will to resist, unbroken even staring down an impossible fight.
"Sage Technique — Bright God Gate!"
While everyone else was still bearing witness with their own eyes to the second being in a thousand years to rival the Sage of the Six Paths, Hashirama was the first to snap back to himself. He clasped his hands together and roared.
Facing an opponent like this, Hashirama held nothing back.
But—
He hadn't been a match for the Fifth even before this. What hope did he have of beating her now?
Dozens of crimson torii gates rained down from the heavens, plunging toward the unfathomable presence hanging above.
But the figure in the sky simply turned those eyes toward Hashirama.
Formless pressure erupted without warning.
In almost the same instant, Hashirama nearly buckled to one knee atop the head of his own True Thousand Hands. He clenched his teeth against the crushing weight bearing down on him from the Fifth Hokage and, through sheer stubbornness, forced himself back upright — which drew the faintest sidelong glance from the figure above.
Even in his Edo Tensei body, cold sweat beaded at his temples. And still, he shouted back, defiant:
"Sage Technique — Divine Manifestation!"
The colossal figure of True Thousand Hands — its body towering over a thousand meters — surged into motion once more. Countless hands along its back balled into fists, and every one of them slammed toward the presence in the sky.
"Wood Release, is it?" the figure murmured.
Then, before Hashirama's disbelieving eyes, she spoke, calm as still water:
"Sage Technique — Wood Release — Wrathful Vidyaraja, Hundred-Forged Armor."
The moment the words left her, the ocean itself let out a keening wail, and a towering, brawn-bound colossus tore free of the sea, nearly three thousand meters tall.
Its face was carved in the snarl of a hell-guardian demon-king; its body was clad in ancient, weathered armor; in its grip was a massive glaive nearly four thousand meters long.
A being like that looked every bit a god sent to subdue the demons of hell.
Beside it, the so-called True Thousand Hands looked like a child's toy.
The Vidyaraja moved. Facing down the charging True Thousand Hands head-on, it planted one foot and kicked up an endless tsunami, then swung its glaive without a moment's hesitation — a blade so massive it looked like a mountain in motion, terrifying even before it moved, let alone once it did.
A Vidyaraja's heart holds mercy even as it subdues ten thousand demons of hell.
The tip of the blade touched the sea's surface, and the strike came sweeping up from below.
An endless arc of blade-light shattered True Thousand Hands in an instant.
One stroke, and True Thousand Hands was cleaved clean in two. The unmatched edge of light skimmed the ocean's surface and shot on into the sky — and in that same instant the dark, clouded heavens themselves were cleaved apart just as True Thousand Hands had been, the storm clouds torn asunder, and a "canyon" stretching for thousands of meters carved itself across the sky.
Brilliant, dazzling sunlight poured down through that canyon, falling across the Fifth Hokage, falling across the entire battlefield.
What was most staggering of all was that a blow of such earth-shaking scale hadn't disturbed the ocean below by so much as an inch — proof of just how monstrous the control behind it had to be.
Had that strike come down carelessly, without restraint, it might well have cleaved the ocean itself in two and struck straight through to the Land of Water on the far shore.
"Wood Release..."
The strike had deliberately swerved around Hashirama himself. He stared down at his own True Thousand Hands, slowly sinking beneath the waves, mouth working soundlessly, not quite sure what there was left to say.
"Wood Release?"
"Wood Release!"
"So that's it!"
Off in the distance, Tobirama Senju watched the whole scene, his confusion melting away into understanding.
Sakura had always possessed four chakra natures — Yin, Water, Earth — no, wait, four including her innate Yang. Combined with her already monstrous vitality, back when she'd first begun cultivating Yang Release, Tobirama had once suggested she take up Wood Release as well. She'd turned him down.
Now that she'd stepped into the realm of the Six Paths, Wood Release — a nature that had always suited her uncannily well — came to her as easily as breathing.
Tobirama's guess was right. And also wrong.
It wasn't just Wood Release. If Sakura wanted, she could just as easily call on Lava, Corrosion, Ice, Storm, Boil, Scorch, Swift, Steel, Magnetism — even Dust Release, if she felt like it.
The five basic natures — Wind, Lightning, Water, Fire, Earth — weren't something a person could only be born with. They could be cultivated, trained into one's own chakra from nothing.
And right now, Sakura's mastery of Yin Release stood unrivaled across the entire shinobi world — a match for the Sage of the Six Paths himself, if not better.
A Yin Release of that magnitude meant spiritual energy of an equally monstrous scale. And monstrous spiritual energy meant monstrous thought. And monstrous thought meant a perfect, absolute understanding of technique itself.
The nature transformations and shape transformations of all five basic chakra natures, and even the kekkei genkai formed by fusing two or three of them — for Sakura now, mastering any of it took nothing more than a passing thought.
If she wanted, she could even manifest a Truth-Seeking Ball, forged from Wind, Lightning, Water, Fire, Earth, Yin, and Yang combined.
The instant she'd stepped into the Six Paths, the very mysteries of chakra had become, to her, meaningless.
"W-who... who is that?"
Rin Nohara, still standing at Tobirama's side, stared up at the presence hovering in the sky, utterly dumbfounded.
Nothing in her understanding of the world could account for a being on that level.
"That's the Hokage. Our Fifth Hokage," Tobirama said, smiling faintly as he looked up at the figure above.
"The... Hokage?"
Rin froze all over again. She couldn't wrap her head around how someone who looked barely two or three years older than herself could possibly be this powerful.
Above, the Vidyaraja stood with one foot planted on the sea, still as a mountain range. One pale, jade-white foot rested lightly atop its head — Sakura's. She raised a hand, fingers curling loosely, and pink chakra gathered in her palm, taking the shape of a longbow.
She drew the string back against the sky. A flaming pink arrow materialized out of nothing.
She loosed it. The pink shaft shot straight up into the heavens, and the instant it touched the edge of the sky, it split into twelve streaks of pink light that scattered outward across the entire battlefield.
"Twelve Yang Array."
This was a barrier built on the foundation of the Four Crimson Yang Array — a formation that normally required four Kage-tier shinobi working in concert — expanded here into twelve anchor points.
A barrier that not even the Ten-Tails itself could break.
And now, Sakura had built it single-handed.
Twelve crimson barriers rose up and enveloped the entire battlefield, sealing off that whole stretch of sky and sea.
No one would be entering. No one would be leaving.
That done, Sakura ignored Hashirama's stricken expression entirely and turned toward Madara Uchiha.
Sweat was already beading on Madara's forehead.
Almost. Almost there. Just a little more, and he'd become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, able to stand toe-to-toe with this Hokage as an equal.
But the Ten-Tails had only just been revived — it hadn't fully awakened yet. Becoming its jinchūriki meant waiting for that awakening first.
Sakura watched all of this unfold, and spoke, perfectly calm:
"Need a hand?"
...What?
"What's that supposed to mean?" Madara said warily, watching the Hokage stride toward him across empty air.
He didn't buy for a second that she meant it kindly.
But Sakura had no ulterior motive at all. She meant it exactly as kindly as it sounded.
She needed someone to test her current strength against. And a Six Paths–level Madara was as good a sparring partner as she was going to find.
Which was, in fact, the entire reason she'd raised the barrier in the first place.
"Tobirama. Minato. Get everyone out of here."
Sakura spoke, then flicked her finger lightly. A small pink orb of light bloomed from her fingertip and flew toward Minato Namikaze — it struck the black Yin-Yang rods lodged in his body and pulled them free — then flew on toward Hiruzen Sarutobi and Itachi Uchiha, doing the same for them.
Tobirama didn't waste words. He and the now-freed Minato immediately began using the Flying Thunder God Technique to evacuate everyone from the battlefield.
Tobirama understood Sakura better than almost anyone.
She'd just stepped into a new realm of power. She needed someone to spar against, to get a feel for her new strength.
Or, put more simply — her hands were itching for a fight.
"Brother."
Tobirama came to stand in front of Hashirama.
"Tobirama..."
Hashirama looked at his younger brother and let out a quiet sigh.
"Let's go."
The two brothers exchanged one look. Everything that needed saying passed between them without a word.
Once everyone had cleared out, the Ten-Tails still hadn't fully recovered. Madara eyed the pink-haired figure before him with open suspicion.
He couldn't bring himself to believe that even a Six Paths–level version of this pink-haired brat would be this considerate.
But by now, Sakura had already lost patience with how slowly the Ten-Tails was coming around.
The pink-haired woman raised one bare hand and brought it down.
A savage gale erupted out of nowhere, and the crisp, thunderous crack of a slap rang out across heaven and earth.
The Ten-Tails' entire colossal body was sent flying, slamming full-force into the Twelve Yang Array's barrier, instantly seared raw where it hit.
"AAAAUGH!!!"
The Ten-Tails let out an agonized howl. A bright red handprint bloomed across its enormous face and swelled visibly larger by the second, right before everyone's eyes.
A little excessive, maybe. But undeniably effective — one slap, and the Ten-Tails was about as awake as it was ever going to get.
Hiruzen and Tobirama, watching from behind the barrier, found themselves at a loss for words.
Clearly — even having ascended to an entirely new plane of existence — Pinky was still, at heart, exactly the same Pinky as ever.
Wasn't the proper etiquette for a showdown between two beings on this level supposed to be: Sakura waits politely for Madara to finish ascending to the same tier, and then the two of them settle things in a duel to determine who's stronger — winner takes all, life or death on the line?
And in the middle of a solemn occasion like that, Pinky just up and slaps the Ten-Tails across the face like it owed her money?
Watching this unfold, the corner of Madara's mouth twitched involuntarily.
"There. He's up. Don't I get a thank-you?"
Pinky pointed at the freshly slap-woken Ten-Tails and looked expectantly at Madara.
"Hmph."
Madara shot her a cold look and flew off toward the Ten-Tails without another word.
He had no intention of trading barbs with this girl right now.
A woman and a petty man — truly the hardest things in this world to manage.
"How rude. Not even a thank-you."
Pinky watched him go, visibly put out.
"ROOOAAR!!!"
The Ten-Tails was fully awake now, and it unleashed hell — thunderclouds gathering, lightning splitting the sky, gale-force winds tearing across the battlefield.
But all of it was locked tight inside the Twelve Yang Array. Inside the barrier, the sky churned black as pitch; outside, the sea lay calm and still.
Like two entirely separate worlds.
"The Ten-Tails..."
Madara landed atop the Ten-Tails' head and swiftly stabilized it using the Rinnegan.
Then, without ceremony, he tore off the crimson armor covering his upper body, baring a lean, powerful frame beneath.
The Ten-Tails' massive form began surging toward Madara, converging on him as its center.
In an instant, Madara's body began to change, startlingly fast — his black hair bleached white in a heartbeat, chakra coalescing into a white robe around him, black Truth-Seeking Balls blooming into existence at his back one by one.
Madara had become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki. He had officially crossed the threshold into Six Paths–level power.
Compared to Sakura's own ascension, Madara's was almost effortless by comparison — thanks partly to his Ōtsutsuki bloodline, and partly to his connection to both the Rinnegan and the Ten-Tails, both of which were, in some fundamental sense, Ōtsutsuki possessions to begin with.
"Now, then. Round two."
"Let's begin..."
One of the black Truth-Seeking Balls at his back transformed into a staff, materializing in front of him. Madara snatched it without hesitation, leveling his Yin-Yang staff toward Sakura in the distance.
Pinky let out a light laugh at the sight and went on the offensive without a second's pause.
She'd spent enough time so far winning arguments with reasoned words. Now she wanted to try something a little more... comprehensive.
She raised her hand and snapped her fingers in front of Madara. Fire, stone, lightning, water, and swirling wind gathered around her in a ring.
She swept her bare hand outward. Fire rose skyward, blossoming into a colossal fireball large enough to blanket the entire Twelve Yang Array. At the same instant, the surrounding stones shot into the flames at blistering speed, fusing into a mountain-sized meteor.
"Fire-Earth Meteor."
Pinky smiled, eyes crinkling, and let one finger slide downward. The burning meteor plunged toward Madara with crushing weight.
"Heh. Interesting."
Madara, brimming with confidence at the overwhelming chakra now coursing through his body, immediately read her intent behind that strike.
Trying to warm up on me, are you?
Heh. If you're using me to get your reps in, don't think for a second I'm not doing the same to you.
Without a moment's hesitation, Madara raised one hand toward the meteor bearing down from the sky.
"Yin Release — Branching Lightning!"
Countless bolts of violet lightning, forking outward like the branches of a tree, burst from his palm and surged up toward the falling meteor.
A single clash, and the meteor — for all its earth-shaking momentum — shattered instantly into a rain of fire, scattering harmlessly across the sky.
Meanwhile, Sakura's finger kept sliding downward.
"Water's Concealment."
The orb of water at her side plunged down into the ocean below. In the space of a single breath, the water level inside the Twelve Yang Array surged upward, rising all the way to Madara's waist.
Before Madara could break free, it froze solid around him in an instant, sealing him inside a pillar of ice.
And it wasn't just Madara — every drop of water inside the entire Twelve Yang Array froze at once, into one colossal block of ice.
"Thunder's Reckoning."
Her fingers danced like she was playing piano keys, and another Lightning Release technique fired off.
The sky, already darkened by the Ten-Tails' earlier upheaval, now rumbled with rolling thunder. Bolt after bolt of gold-red lightning crashed down from above, striking Madara without pause.
The thunder rolled on and on, and the ice encasing him — solid enough to freeze the ocean itself — shattered to pieces under the barrage.
When the thunder finally stopped and the smoke cleared, all that remained where Madara had stood was a single black orb, sitting quietly in place. The thunderstorm that had just torn through the sky hadn't left so much as a scratch on it.
"Tch."
Pinky eyed the sphere — a Truth-Seeking Ball, clearly — with some irritation.
She let the Wind Release building at her fingertips dissipate.
Playing it this way wasn't any fun.
It wasn't that she couldn't break through the Truth-Seeking Ball. She just wanted to actually test her current strength — and shattering it with one punch wouldn't tell her anything worth knowing.
"Heh. My turn, then."
Madara stepped free from inside the sphere.
He tilted his head up toward the pink figure hovering in the sky, clapped his hands together, and pressed his palms tight.
"Chibaku Tensei!"
Endless chakra gathered in his hands, and the instant he spread his arms wide, nine black orbs shot skyward.
The nine spheres arranged themselves in a line across the heavens, uncannily like nine stars strung together in a row — and then a colossal gravitational pull erupted outward from their center.
Earth and ocean alike were dragged upward, hurtling toward the orbs in the sky.
Madara watched with grim satisfaction, laughing softly.
"We just had thunder. Seems only fitting it rains next."
"Though I'll admit, as far as raindrops go, these are a bit on the large side."
Pinky glanced skyward, entirely unaffected by the gravitational pull, and didn't so much as shift her stance.
"This trick again..."
"Is that really all the Rinnegan's good for?"
Perhaps Pinky simply found the technique too boring to bother with properly — she raised one open palm...
Then—
Pressed down.
In that instant—
A single hand, glowing with a faint golden shimmer, tore through the thick, cloud-choked sky and became visible to everyone watching.
The hand alone was large enough to swallow the entire Twelve Yang Array whole.
Madara's pupils shrank the moment he saw it.
The colossal hand plunged down out of the sky and seized all nine of the Chibaku Tensei orbs at once.
Then—
It crushed them flat.
"Sorry about that. I don't much care for rain. This one's not happening."
"Got anything else worth showing me?"
From high above, Sakura looked down at Madara, calm as ever.
"Because if not..."
"...then you've about used up whatever value you had to me."
Still hovering far above him, the pink-haired figure regarded Madara with the same unbothered calm.
As she spoke, she opened her palm, and a white glow bloomed within it.
A fist-sized, translucent white cube slowly began to rotate in her hand.
Sage Technique — Dust Release — Primal Erasure.
Madara's expression twisted, ugly, at the sight of it.
Even after reaching the Six Paths, I still can't beat this pink-haired brat. Before I ascended, I couldn't touch her — and now, after? Nothing's changed. What was even the point of any of this?!
The thought alone was enough. Madara slammed his hands together in a sudden, violent seal.
A colossal presence surged out from within him.
Was that the Ten-Tails?
No...
It both was and wasn't the Ten-Tails.
Madara meant to plant the Divine Tree — and unleash the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Watching this unfold, Sakura's brow furrowed slightly.
The Infinite Tsukuyomi — can he actually pull that off with only one Rinnegan eye?
The thought had barely crossed her mind when, with a soft pop and a puff of white smoke, a tiny slug appeared on her shoulder.
"Sa—"
The Slug Sage greeted Sakura on pure reflex, cutting herself off mid-word.
"Sakura!"
Only then did the Slug Sage take a proper look and realize just how far her contractor had come.
"Lady Katsuyu — is the Rinnegan I left in your keeping still safe?"
A single-Rinnegan Six Paths Madara wasn't quite worth Sakura's full effort. She was thinking of tossing him the second eye — and, while she was at it, letting Ōtsutsuki Kaguya out to play too.
As far as Sakura was concerned, neither a one-eyed Madara nor a two-eyed one stood a real chance against her.
So far, in every exchange with Madara Uchiha, Sakura hadn't gone even remotely serious.
She was curious, though — whether the so-called Rabbit Goddess herself might finally be the one to make her try.
(End of Chapter)
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