Meanwhile, in Kirigakure, Elder Genji, who had been leaning on his cane, barely able to stand, suddenly jumped up at Onoki's words. His face wore an expression of grim resolve, like a general marching toward his death.
"Kirigakure ninja, hear my command!"
The somber atmosphere peaked, infecting the surrounding shinobi, who all braced themselves for a desperate battle.
Then Genji raised both hands high and shouted in a booming voice, "Kirigakure surrenders!"
The entire Allied Shinobi Forces stood frozen in shock.
"Onoki?! Genji! You cowards!" The Kumogakure high-ranking official roared in fury. He was the Commander of the Kumogakure contingent in the alliance.
One of the three great villages surrendered, another defected. Only Kumogakure still fought tooth and nail.
"Kumogakure fights to the death! We will never surrender!"
Even if they chose to resist, they couldn't stop the alliance's collapse.
The front lines crumbled. The rear couldn't escape. One after another, Alliance shinobi scattered and fled in all directions.
A complete rout!
The Allied Shinobi Forces had lost!
At the same time, in the Land of Frost, inside a secret base guarded by countless samurai, where the nobles of the Shinobi World had gathered.
They were holding a victory party.
In their view, no one could stop the march of hundreds of thousands of shinobi. Hadn't even the once-invincible Third Raikage been worn down and killed by ten thousand Iwagakure ninja?
How many years had this Akatsuki even existed?
Never mind a self-proclaimed Incarnation of God, even if the real god showed up, they'd kill him and scatter his ashes.
Starting the celebration early was perfectly reasonable, right?
Did anyone expect these non-shinobi to understand the gap between ninja?
Just think of Gato, the former president of the Shipping Company, a man who could control the lifeline of a small country.
But this base, which they thought was impregnable, had already been breached and silently infiltrated by a group of masked ninja in black.
"The Shinobi World doesn't need privileges."
"The Shinobi World doesn't need nobles."
The leader of these black-clad ninja spoke flatly, surrounded by the bodies of fallen samurai.
Then he raised his right hand and swept it forcefully toward the nobles lost in their revelry.
"Kill!"
In an instant, blades started slashing everywhere.
These nobles, who looked down on commoners and treated lives like trash, were mercilessly slaughtered.
--**--**
Now, in Amegakure.
"Come out. Your chakra is as obvious as a flame in the dark."
Nagato stood with his hands clasped behind his back atop a punk-style landmark building in Amegakure, speaking calmly to the air.
Beside him stood the Six Paths of Pain.
"Nagato!" With a twist of space, three figures appeared before him.
It was Madara, Black Zetsu, and Obito.
"Isn't this Madara?" Nagato glanced indifferently at Obito. "What business do you have?"
Back when Obito first approached Nagato, he had used the identity of Madara Uchiha, so Nagato naturally believed Obito was Madara.
"He only borrowed my name. I am the real Madara Uchiha."
The real Madara Uchiha stepped forward and ripped the human skin mask from his face. He no longer intended to hide his identity, and had restored his red armor attire.
If it weren't for Obito being such a waste, he wouldn't bother with that fake nonsense. What he really wanted was to crush the entire Shinobi World head-on.
"It doesn't matter who Madara is." Nagato showed no sign of surprise, his tone and demeanor utterly calm. "If there's nothing else, please leave. I'm heading over there to finish them off."
The "them" Nagato referred to were naturally the Allied Shinobi Forces.
"Of course there's something." Madara stood with his hands behind his back, meeting Nagato's gaze directly. "You're keeping something of mine over there."
Nagato's attitude remained perfectly calm. "What thing?"
"I'll leave as soon as I take back what doesn't belong to you."
Madara pointed at his own eyes. "Your eyes!"
"My Rinnegan?" At these words, Nagato's expression finally shifted slightly. He turned to look at Madara. "Is your goal my Rinnegan?"
"To be precise, my Rinnegan." Madara also stood with his hands behind his back. Their eyes met in the air, and Madara's aura steadily rose until it was no weaker than Nagato's.
"The Sharingan is a Kekkai Genkai that evolves. It's also a power with infinite potential."
Perhaps acknowledging Nagato's strength, Madara ignored Obito and Black Zetsu's impatience and began explaining the power of the Sharingan to Nagato with evident interest.
"When it evolves from Three-Tomoe to Mangekyo, it undergoes a evolution. It awakens a unique ability. But while the Mangekyo Sharingan's power is great, it can't be used frequently, or it will cause a sharp decline in eyesight."
"So... above the Mangekyo Sharingan, there is a higher-level Sharingan. That is the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."
As he spoke, Madara pointed at the eyes in his sockets. In his Edo Tensei state, the eyes he used were these Eternal Mangekyo.
"This form of the Mangekyo Sharingan allows unrestricted use of Dojutsu and is no longer bound by eyesight. Extremely powerful. Back then, it was with the power of the Eternal Mangekyo that I earned the title Asura of the Shinobi World. I became equal to Hashirama Senju of the Senju Clan."
"I once thought that was the pinnacle of Sharingan evolution... until I discovered the words left by the Sage of Six Paths. In fact, there is an even higher evolution beyond the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."
"But the conditions for that evolution were far too exacting. By the time my Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan evolved that power, I was already in my nineties..."
"That is the Rinnegan."
"Nourishing the Rinnegan requires a massive amount of chakra. In my nineties, I no longer possessed that power. Throughout the Shinobi World, aside from the Senju, the Uzumaki Clan had the most abundant chakra. So at that time, I chose a young Uzumaki boy living in Amegakure."
"I placed my eyes into his. And that boy was you! Nagato!"
"So that's how it is." Nagato remained remarkably calm, as if the matter didn't concern him at all. "I was wondering why I've been feeling something was off with these eyes lately."
"I thought it was my imagination, but it turns out it's true." Nagato slowly closed his eyes.
"Then give my eyes back," Madara demanded. "I might consider sparing your life."
But Nagato just looked at him like he was a fool. "Madara Uchiha. Whether you're the real Madara Uchiha or not, let me call you that for now."
"No matter who these eyes originally belonged to, even if they're in my eye sockets now, they no longer fully belong to me. They carry Yahiko's wish, Grandpa's expectations, and the hope of the entire Shinobi World."
He shook his head as he spoke. "There's no way I'm handing them over to you."
"Then there's nothing to discuss." Madara didn't seem surprised at all. "I was hoping we could settle this peacefully."
Madara paused, then said with unmatched confidence, "Then I'll just dig them out of your eye sockets myself."
As a man who once stood at the very top of the Shinobi World, he certainly had that confidence.
In his era, the only one worth his notice was Hashirama Senju.
The next second, Madara vanished from his spot and reappeared barely a meter from Nagato.
Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, in any one of these three areas, Madara stood at the pinnacle of the Shinobi World.
Even without the Sharingan, he was a top-tier powerhouse.
He raised his leg and launched a flying kick toward Nagato.
Nagato stood there as if he hadn't reacted at all, not even blinking.
Just as the kick was about to connect, a black figure blocked Nagato's path, catching the kick effortlessly.
The Asura Path.
"The power of the Rinnegan?" Madara wasn't surprised that Nagato had caught the kick, he would have been more surprised if Nagato hadn't. He nodded at Nagato. "Looks like you've gotten quite skilled at using it."
"Then try this."
Madara clasped his hands together, took a deep breath, and exhaled sharply: "Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
A sea of flames as vast as ocean waves surged toward Nagato, the heat warping the very air.
This time, a pudgy figure stood in Nagato's way, simply raising one hand against the sea of flames. The fire, hot enough to melt rock, was completely absorbed.
The one who acted this time wasn't the Asura Path, but the Preta Path.
"Not bad." Madara scoffed, about to launch another attack, when the Asura Path that had blocked him earlier and another figure moved simultaneously, lunging at Madara from front and back.
But Madara was no easy target. While engaging the Asura Path in taijutsu, he released a Clone, and that single clone was enough to block the other figure's attack.
To be precise, this wasn't an ordinary Clone, it was a Wood Clone, once exclusive to Hashirama Senju.
A surge of blue chakra rose from the Wood Clone, quickly forming a skeleton that firmly held the other figure at bay.
"Black Zetsu, do you think he needs help?" Obito asked, ready to phase through for an attack at a moment's notice.
Black Zetsu said, "I'd advise against it. Madara hates being disturbed when he's having fun. He especially hates people interrupting his 'fair' fight."
"Then try this one!" Madara laughed heartily, leaping into the air. "If you can block this, I will acknowledge you."
"Fire Release: Majestic Demolisher Flame!" A meteor-like scorching fireball descended from above, plummeting straight toward Nagato.
Although this technique was powerful, it wasn't unbeatable, nor was it Madara's true killing move.
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!"
A massive wood dragon materialized on the battlefield. It circled overhead once before diving straight at Nagato.
Once entangled, chakra would be absorbed, that was the nature of Wood Release.
Nagato remained unfazed. Another figure beside him stepped forward and thrust a hand toward the dragon.
"Almighty Push!"
Deva Path Pain.
An overwhelming repulsive force erupted. The massive wood dragon slammed into an invisible wall, the impact shuddering through the ground.
The Wood Dragon shattered into countless fragments under a single Almighty Push.
Deva Path Pain's power had grown too great.
"It looks like the situation is bad for Madara," Obito said, tension creeping into his voice. "Nagato hasn't even moved his original body, yet just the Six Paths of Pain are blocking Madara's attacks."
Obito stared at Nagato and murmured, "Has Nagato gotten this strong?"
===============
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