— — — — — —
"Oh?"
Roughly ten minutes later, Uchiha Madara descended onto the battlefield. His eyes swept over the area, noting that most of the Allied Shinobi Forces had already retreated.
Then he spotted Minato and the other Kage waiting calmly for him. He raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.
"Already sensed me coming and pulled the regular troops back in advance? Hmph… Smart move."
"…That chakra."
Ōnoki stared at Madara's face—an ageless visage carved into history—and the overwhelming pressure of his chakra. His expression grew grim, laced with caution.
He had thought that after all these years, he'd grown strong enough to at least close the gap between them. But now that they were face-to-face… it still felt like the Grand Canyon separated them.
"So that's why the Hokage insisted on a full retreat," Mei Terumi muttered with furrowed brows. "This isn't a battlefield that ordinary shinobi can even survive on."
"Seriously. He's like a walking Tailed Beast. And those eyes… aren't those the Rinnegan?" Gaara narrowed his gaze as Madara slowly descended.
If he remembered right, the leader of the Akatsuki had the same eyes too.
Were those things just growing on trees now?
Every villain got one now?
…Or wait—could it be? Were those the same eyes that once belonged to the former Akatsuki leader?
"He's definitely strong, no doubt about that," Raikage muttered. "But I'm not convinced he's on the same level as 'Six Paths' like you said."
"You don't get it," Minato shook his head. "Madara's true strength comes from the Sharingan."
"But that's not a Sharingan anymore—it's the Rinnegan."
Raikage was even more confused now.
Unless…
"The Rinnegan is the final evolution of the Sharingan," Minato explained. "He still has every ability the Sharingan granted—and more. Those eyes were originally Madara's to begin with."
"In fact, he never truly died back then. His influence stretched across both the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars. So many events—so many disasters—were orchestrated behind the scenes by him."
As Minato finished speaking, his chakra surged violently. A wave of oppressive pressure rolled out across the field as his presence intensified.
"Let me go in first. If I can't handle him… then you guys can step in."
With that, Minato vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared right above Madara, slamming a Sage Art: Rasengan straight down toward his head.
"Susanoo!"
BOOM!!!
The impact rang out like a cannon blast. As the dust cleared, the others saw a massive blue chakra avatar surrounding Madara—a Susanoo that had shielded him completely from Minato's sneak attack.
Without missing a beat, one of the giant chakra hands reached toward Minato in retaliation.
SWISH
Minato instantly flickered away again, reappearing several hundred feet back.
By now, Madara's Susanoo was condensing and stabilizing, rapidly approaching its complete form. Both of its massive hands raised diagonally toward the sky—energy gathering in its palms.
BZZZZZZZ!
A sharp sound echoed as two massive Rasenshuriken formed in Minato's hands. The energy swirling in them cut through the air like grinding blades.
"Sage Art!"
"Wind Style: RasenShuriken… GO!!"
With a shout, Minato hurled both Rasenshuriken straight at Madara.
Madara's expression darkened the moment he sensed the immense threat radiating from the spinning chakra blades. Wasting no time, he had his Susanoo draw its massive chakra blade and swung at the incoming projectiles, hoping to intercept them mid-flight.
"Heh."
But then Minato's lips curled into a knowing smirk.
In the blink of an eye, both Rasen Shuriken vanished right off their trajectory.
"Not good!"
Madara's eyes widened. His instincts screamed danger.
He instantly used the Substitution Jutsu and retreated from his position.
BOOM!!!
The next second, both Rasenshuriken reappeared—right at the sides of Susanoo's head—and exploded in a flash of blinding light and slicing wind chakra. The head and nearly half the upper body of the Susanoo were swallowed in the blast.
The forest shook as the massive construct was ripped apart, leaving only fragments of the Susanoo behind. Even those were rapidly fading into nothing.
"… that was powerful."
Hundreds of meters away, Madara said deeply, having narrowly escaped the ambush.
Gone was his arrogant smirk—he now wore a much more serious expression as he stared at Minato.
"I didn't expect this... To think you could take Tobirama's Space-Time Jutsu and push it this far! And creating Rasengan and its advanced forms."
He paused, eyes glinting. "You're impressive, kid. Among all the Hokage—besides Hashirama—I'm willing to call you the strongest. Even Tobirama can't hold a candle to you."
Then his gaze sharpened further.
"And the fact that you've mastered Sage Mode too? That's no small feat…"
He admitted it—he'd underestimated Minato.
But not anymore.
From this point forward, he'd fight seriously.
Oh, and for the record—he wasn't some reanimated corpse anymore. This was his real body, fully resurrected through the Rinne Rebirth technique.
Nagato, the so-called Pain, had been taken away by Black Zetsu a few years back for this exact purpose. The poor guy had fulfilled his role... and died for it.
"Well then, it's an honor to be acknowledged by someone like you."
Minato gave a polite smile.
Getting praise from Uchiha Madara was no small deal—it was proof of his growth. But he wasn't getting cocky.
His goal wasn't to impress Madara—it was to defeat him completely.
He already had detailed intel thanks to Renzo, including the terrifying possibility of Madara fusing with the Ten-Tails and becoming the Sage of Six Paths version of himself.
Minato still had no clue how Renzo knew about things that hadn't even happened yet… but he wasn't the type to ask too many questions.
"Well then—guess I'll get serious too."
Madara let out a laugh as he formed a series of hand signs, then slammed his palms to the ground.
"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!!"
Boom!
In an instant, countless thick tree roots burst out from the ground, racing toward Minato and the others like living serpents. A massive forest sprang up out of nowhere, rapidly expanding to engulf the battlefield.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The other Kage didn't waste a second. Their eyes widened at the incoming threat, and they all launched attacks to smash the roots apart while jumping back to avoid being swallowed up.
Minato, as expected, vanished from the spot in a flash.
.
.
.