Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its character belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I make.
Chapter 205: Madara VS Raiken Part 2
News of the fight between Madara and Raiken stopped the village economy for a day; people, whether shinobi or civilians, flocked to the VR Stadium.
The observation room in the Sealing VRMMO stadium had never been so crowded. Shinobi from all the clans, civilians who had never witnessed real combat up close, and children lifted onto people's shoulders to see the huge projection screen hanging above the sealed platform filled the room. Sakumo sat in the front row with Hikaku and Shikajin; none of them spoke, and they watched as the screen flickered to life, showing the interior of the simulated world.
The image became a broad expanse of stone surrounded by mountains in the distance, a landscape deliberately constructed to endure whatever was about to occur.
Madara opened his eyes in the simulation. He stood on firm earth under a grey sky with no sun, only diffused light from an unseen source. He slowly turned his head, taking in the surroundings: the mountain ranges in the distance and the total lack of any living creature beyond the two of them.
Raiken stood about forty meters away, hands loose at his sides, waiting for Madara.
Madara activated his Rinegan; his perception grew, and the power that came to his eyes filled him. He could see Raiken's chakra and could even sense it, but this time Raiken wasn't holding back.
Previously, Raiken had continuously spread his chakra, magic and haki, but now he released it. Madara didn't know what magic or haki was, but standing in front of him made him feel small.
"Interesting," said Madara. "No wonder you don't care that I am entering the village."
You've already noticed it,` said Raiken. "Good eyes you have, old man."
"This world is real enough to hurt," Madara said, flexing his hand and sensing the air's weight and the ground's pull under his feet. "I can feel my own heartbeat."
"Yes, I have told you this is what we have been using to train because it 100% stimulates the pain and power," said Raiken. "You will feel each and every blow, every burn and every Jutsu that launches at you. Even your chakra reserve are the same because it used your real chakra. Nothing will pass outside this seal when we have finished, but within it, it is real. The match will end when one of us can no longer go on, or when a final blow has been confirmed."
Madara twisted his shoulders once to check the body, which, for most of the last century, had been nothing but a memory and had since, during the days when he was getting back to his absolute peak power, been a dream for this fight.
"Let us not waste it," Madara said. He moved first.
Madara covered the space in one sudden dash, delivering a low and fast straight punch at Raiken's ribs. Before the punch made contact, Raiken shifted his weight by half a second, and the punch missed; in reply, he brought down an elbow, which Madara caught on the back of his arm, the impact sending a shockwave of pressure through both of them.
They parted, circled, then closed in again.
Madara feinted upward, then delivered a wide, low kick. Raiken stepped over this, positioned himself, and drove a knee upwards, which Madara just twisted aside at the last moment, the action causing him to lose his balance for a brief second and giving Raiken the opportunity to use a short teleport, reappearing directly behind him and then landing a palm strike on his spine.
Madara sensed it coming beforehand, thanks to old instinct built up over decades of fighting, and turned slightly so the blow hit his shoulder rather than his spine.
The effect sent him sprawling ten feet to the side.
He went through the fall and at once began reading Raiken; his Rinegan watched the muscles in his shoulders and hips for the sign that would indicate the next move.
Raiken was already out of sight and reappeared to Madara's left, who this time was ready and caught the fist coming toward him with both hands, then used the force to swing Raiken into the ground.
Raiken struck the earth with such force that it cracked outward in a spiderweb pattern, and Madara took advantage by kicking toward his chest.
Raiken grasped the heel with one hand; the impact sent a clear ripple through the ground beneath them, and he used it to throw Madara off balance long enough to roll free and get back on his feet.
They faced each other again, both breathing a bit more heavily than before.
"Your body responds more quickly than your mind ought to let it," Madara said, his Rinegan glowing as he studied him. "You are not just strong; you have been trained against people who think as I do."
"You scared?" said Raiken.
Madara gave a smirk and advanced once more, moving faster this time and landing a sequence of blows that forced Raiken into pure defense, blocking, redirecting, and moving through gaps that closed almost as soon as they opened. Finally, a clear opportunity arose, and Madara seized it without hesitation, delivering a palm strike charged with a burst of fire chakra that hit Raiken right in the chest.
The intense heat and pressure made Raiken skid backward over the stone, his shirt torn by a scorch mark and revealing bare skin, but his body was too strong, surpassing the 3rd Raikage's chakra armor, so this attack did nothing to him.
Madara watched, expecting him to stagger, but frowned when he saw the skin.
Raiken straightened his back, turned his neck and smiled at Madara
"Your lung should have been knocked out," Madara said, genuine surprise appearing on his composed face.
"Owh that attack did nothing," Raiken said. "But that was a good hit."
Madara adjusted his approach. If beating the enemy at close range wasn't sufficient, he would take control of the terrain.
He made the appropriate hand signs and struck his palm into the ground. Stone wood shot out in all directions, thick roots and branches rushing toward Raiken from several angles at once, forcing him to move instead of staying put. When Raiken teleported away from the advancing wood, Madara was already carrying out a second series of seals, a wall of fire rolling over the ground Raiken had just left.
Raiken reappeared at the edge of the flame wall, and suddenly gravity shifted, an undetectable pull dragging him down into the scorched earth as Madara activated the Almighty Push at the exact moment.
Raiken landed hard on the ground, the pressure bearing down on him with so much force as to crack the stone under his body, and at that moment three shadow clones dropped from above, having been placed there by Madara during the initial exchange, each of them having already activated a Fireball Jutsu and aiming it directly at the compressed target.
The explosion turned the sky orange. Once the smoke had cleared, Raiken was no longer there.
Madara spun around abruptly, using his Rinegan to scan the surroundings, and saw the other man standing almost thirty meters to the side, one hand pressed against a shimmering circular pattern floating in the air in front of him, its edges faintly glowing gold.
"A barrier," said Madara.
"Cast before the fireballs hit," said Raiken. "You pushed me down; I anticipated the next move."
Although his body was stronger and can withstand the attack, that was his trump card; he didn't want Madara to know it yet, so Raiken evaded it.
After studying the pattern for a moment longer, Madara dismissed it and changed his strategy once more. As he had observed in several previous exchanges, Raiken tended to choose certain reappearance points relative to the incoming attacks, giving him both distance and a clear line of sight back toward Madara's position.
He began placing traps along those angles. Madara used Wood Release that he have half-buried in the ground, which were seeded in the areas Wood Release had anticipated Raiken would prefer. Clones were placed at a distance, their chakra suppressed to avoid easy detection. The plan was being carried out slowly, one exchange at a time.
Three exchanges later, Raiken realized the pattern, a teleport that should have deposited him safely instead left him next to a dormant wooden construct that came to life as soon as he arrived, its wooden spikes aimed at his exposed side.
At the very last moment, he twisted, so that instead of being impaled he only received a shallow cut along his ribs, and then changed the pattern of his movements by on purpose misjudging the timing of his next few teleports, making false openings which turned out to be useless and causing Madara's predictions to fail one after the other.
Though, to be honest, even with the Wood Style spear, his body wouldn't have been cut at all, but for the sake of entertainment, he evaded it.
"You pick things up fast," Madara said. Real respect now showed in his voice.
"So do you," said Raiken. "That's what makes this enjoyable."