Chapter 411: Extermination Battle · Eight
In the face of the meticulously organized and well trained Han Realm army, the toads from Myoboku Mountain could hardly put up any resistance and were swiftly slaughtered.
Gamamaru wanted to go out and provide support, but he had to confront a harsh reality.
"What a joke the Rinnegan, the ultimate power of the ninjas, is actually sitting in the eye sockets of a mere beast."
A haughty insult was thrown directly at Gamamaru's face without the slightest courtesy.
The speaker was none other than Uchiha Madara.
Although Madara had expended over sixty percent of his energy just now using Almighty Pull, he had long since been reborn into a form of immense power and arrogance, treating the thousand year old toad before him with utter contempt.
"Uchiha Madara," Gamamaru spoke gravely.
"You call me a beast, but aren't you just a dog under the foot of an alien evil god? Don't get too full of yourself, brat!"
"Oh?"
Madara looked at Gamamaru with a hint of surprise, not expecting that this beast would dare mock him despite his power. However, instead of getting angry, Madara laughed.
"Interesting. If you want to shut me up, then show me what you've got!"
With that, Madara leapt forward, charging straight at Gamamaru.
"Shinra Tensei!" Gamamaru seized the opportunity while Madara was midair and unleashed his attack.
In that split second, Madara cast Almighty Pull, yanking himself back down to the ground, while his protective Susano'o wrapped around him in an instant, summoning the Susano'o demon once again.
"Child's play!"
Madara sneered as he condensed a longsword, swinging it at Gamamaru.
A streak of radiant sword energy shot toward Gamamaru like a brilliant aurora.
Gamamaru knew that this was no ordinary chakra based attack, rendering his Rinnegan's chakra absorption powers completely ineffective. He quickly dodged to the side.
"Running away? Come fight me!"
Madara roared, closing in on Gamamaru at a speed nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.
Despite Gamamaru's massive size several hundred times larger than Madara he found himself in an awkward scramble to dodge, inwardly marveling at this strange phenomenon that had arisen from the ninja world.
However, with his fellow clan members already finding it nearly impossible to escape, Gamamaru knew he couldn't allow Madara to strengthen his slaughter any further.
"Sage Art: Toad Oil!"
Gamamaru puffed out his cheeks and sprayed a large cloud of gray brown toad oil directly above Madara.
Gamamaru was aware he was no match for Madara in a head on confrontation, so he could only resort to such underhanded tactics to try and hinder him.
In response, Madara's eyes showed a trace of disappointment and a glimmer of coldness.
The so called brother of the Six Paths Sage? This was all he amounted to? Madara felt a fleeting sense of anticipation wasted.
Madara was already weary of this "game" of battle. His left hand, now free, also materialized a divine longsword unique to him.
"Secret Art: Uchiha Cross Slash!"
Madara unleashed two terrifying waves of sword energy, which then converged into a cross shaped slash, hurtling directly at the toad oil.
Having witnessed Madara's fearsome slashes earlier, Gamamaru hadn't expected them to cool down so quickly; within just a few breaths, Madara was able to unleash them again.
The vast spread of toad oil was immediately sliced open, forcing Gamamaru into a hasty retreat.
"Almighty Pull!"
Gamamaru, mimicking Madara's previous technique, used the nearby immovable mountain to pull himself to safety.
Madara, feeling irritated, hadn't anticipated that this old toad would be so hard to kill.
But it was merely difficult not impossible. "One more strike should end this."
Madara channeled his energy to its peak, crouching slightly, with two longswords crossed beside him.
"Secret Art: Uchiha Blinding Slash!"
In an instant, Madara vanished, leaving behind a trail of cracked earth in his wake.
"So fast!"
Gamamaru was shocked; even with the Rinnegan's dynamic vision, he couldn't track Madara's movements.
This was a deadly mistake in battle. A thick aura of impending death enveloped Gamamaru.
Though he had long ceased to fear death, Gamamaru knew that if he died in this manner, the Rinnegan wielding Madara would undoubtedly uncover his secrets.
"To think it would come to this beyond anything I had expected."
With a single hand sign, Gamamaru summoned an intense burst of white smoke. But Madara's spiritual energy had already locked onto Gamamaru's position, bringing him within optimal attack range.
With crossed arms and grinding blades, Madara's two swords merged into a powerful slash, cutting directly ahead.
"Slash!"
A visible rift appeared in the white smoke, but Madara's expression tightened.
"What is this?"
The expected scene of Gamamaru's death did not occur. A colossal object had blocked Madara's terrifying attack.
As the dust settled, a gigantic toad statue several times larger than Gamamaru appeared before Madara.
But Madara soon realized something unusual.
"A statue? No, it has the aura of a living thing."
To his surprise, the Han Realm possessed something this resilient; Madara thought even the Ten Tails could be sliced in half by him. Now, this battle was becoming interesting.
The blood in Madara's veins, which had cooled in apathy, began to boil once again. However, he soon frowned, noticing that in the brief moment he had been distracted, Gamamaru's presence had vanished. Or rather, it hadn't disappeared it was now coming from the massive toad statue, which seemed almost lifeless.
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble slightly. The toad statue moved.
Its ancient eyes opened, revealing not normal toad eyes, but the circular patterns of the Rinnegan.
"Uchiha Madara, I admit your strength you've forced me to reveal my true form, cultivated over a thousand years with natural energy. But precisely because of this, today you must die here.
"Even if the toads of Myoboku Mountain perish, as long as I survive, Myoboku Mountain endures.
"After I kill you, I shall retreat to the depths of the earth, leaving the conflicts of the ninja world behind forever. Time will prove I was right. I am the true sage, and I shall remain with the ninja world."
"Enough with the nonsense," Madara sneered.
With a sudden surge of energy, his Susano'o expanded, towering as it returned to its full form.
"Have you grown senile from living too long, you relic of a bygone era? Today, let me truly send you to the grave!"
"If you can, just try it, you brat!"
In an instant, the colossal stone toad and Uchiha Madara clashed in battle.
From a distant mountain peak, Uchiha Izuna watched the combat with interest, sifting through the information in his mind.
"So that's the true form of the Han Realm's greatest being, the Rock Dwelling Giant Toad. He hid it well."
(Chapter Ends)
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