"Lord Madara..."
"These are the two who killed Obito and stopped the Eye of the Moon Plan..."
Black Zetsu slid down from Nagato's ashen, withered corpse like a puddle of black oil, pooling on the ground before stretching into a humanoid form.
"Is that so?"
Uchiha Madara's Rinnegan flared with a brilliant purple light. With a sharp flick of his right hand, he discarded Nagato's body like a piece of trash.
"Tailed Beasts should obediently remain locked in their cages!"
"Let's start with you, One-Tail!"
Madara clasped his hands together, his deep voice resonating as he chanted, "Summoning Jutsu: Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!"
Boom!
A massive cloud of white smoke erupted.
The towering humanoid figure of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, resembling a desiccated tree, materialized out of thin air. Under Madara's control, its mouth opened wide, unleashing nine silver chains that shot toward Sōmi.
Clatter...
The chains, tipped with dragon-shaped heads, bore down directly on Sōmi, who carried the seals for both the One-Tail and the Seven-Tails within him.
However, thanks to Sōmi's self-developed special sealing technique, Madara's single Rinnegan failed to detect the Seven-Tails, which was sealed in a deeper layer.
As for the enhanced One-Tail, its Chakra reserves were insignificant in Madara's eyes, accustomed as he was to the might of the Nine-Tails.
"Kamui!"
Standing to the side, Sasori locked his gaze on Madara, intending to use Kamui to crush the man's head.
A transparent spatial vortex began spinning around Madara's head.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, Madara's figure vanished from where he stood.
"What?!"
Sasori froze, shock flashing across his face.
What just happened?!
Where did this guy go?!
The moment Sōmi saw Madara, he had Shukaku channel all of its refined Senjutsu Chakra into him.
Moving with lightning speed, Sōmi stored the blood-stained Rinnegan into a sealing scroll and yanked Konan, who had been reaching for Nagato's corpse, behind him.
Though Konan had been an adversary earlier, this alluring woman and Nagato had just done him an enormous favor.
It was likely that, during the brief moment when Black Zetsu controlled Nagato's body, Nagato had instructed Konan to quickly extract one of his Rinnegan.
Luckily, it was Konan—resilient and decisive. If it had been someone like Sakura or Obito, who might have hesitated endlessly while trying to extract an eye...
Sōmi doubted any "Child of the Prophecy" would come to save him.
"You stay put for now!"
Though Sōmi's arm encircled Konan's slender, smooth waist to pull her close, his mind was entirely focused on the battle.
Madara, who had just used Limbo: Border Jail to switch places, was already leaping toward Sōmi from the side, coordinating his attack with the silver chains to form a pincer strike.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Sōmi's jade-gold hair stood on end, and the Senjutsu Chakra swirling around him surged wildly, like a gushing spring. Energy serpents, coiling and devouring each other, transformed into a massive jade-green python that hovered above his head.
The green hue of the sharp horn on his forehead began to spread downward, growing larger and more pronounced.
This was Sōmi's first time unleashing his full power in his strongest state!
"Sage Art: Myriad Winds Binding!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A tempest of overwhelming force erupted!
Roar!
The winds howled like enraged lions, roaring and rampaging!
The gales converged, twisting into jade-gold ropes of solid wind. Strange purple patterns, like blooming flowers, appeared faintly on their surfaces.
The wind ropes intertwined, coiling and merging into massive jade-gold pythons that slithered through the air.
Clatter!
The nine dragon-headed silver chains were instantly ensnared by the pythons, their movements completely restrained.
Though the silver chains naturally suppressed Tailed Beast Chakra, the infusion of vast amounts of Senjutsu Chakra rendered them temporarily immobile.
Like venomous snakes pinned to the ground, the chains writhed and twisted violently, searching for gaps to exploit and strike Sōmi with a fatal blow.
Meanwhile, Madara, who had leapt into the air from another direction, was also ensnared by the pythons.
Yet his expression remained disdainful. With a sudden burst of energy, he shattered the incoming pythons.
However, something unexpected happened.
From the shattered remains of the pythons, countless smaller wind ropes emerged, swarming toward Madara to bind him once more.
Simultaneously, more jade-gold pythons howled out of the void, completely enveloping Madara's figure.
The surface of these pythons shimmered with a faint purple light, as if inscribing dense sealing runes with their movements.
In an instant, a massive Qian trigram image, glowing with radiant purple light, appeared in midair.
At the center of it all, Madara remained unfazed, even intrigued, as he observed the Sage Art.
"Hmm..."
"This guy can integrate sealing techniques with Senjutsu to this extent?"
"Interesting..."
"Are you the Kazekage of Sunagakure? To think you could make my blood flow faster..."
"Hahaha!"
"A shinobi world teeming with such strong individuals will never bore me!"
"Come on, little one! Dance to your heart's content!"
Despite being buried under a sea of wind ropes, Madara's voice rang out, arrogant and unrestrained.
Sōmi had long memorized the mannerisms of the "Four Uchiha Maniacal Laughers." He could vividly imagine Madara's current demeanor.
But only by standing face-to-face with Madara could one truly grasp the oppressive weight of his presence.
"Sōmi, once you've got him bound and sealed, I'll use Kamui again and twist his head off!"
Sasori, clearly unsatisfied with his earlier failure, was eager to prove himself.
Sōmi slapped Sasori on the shoulder and urgently said, "Twist his head off? Are you kidding me?!"
"Sasori, send a Shadow Clone down to see if you can retrieve Nagato's body."
"Then we're getting out of here! Until you fully master that pair of Sharingan, don't even think about fighting this guy!"
The Chakra surrounding Sōmi had dimmed, thinning to the point of resembling wisps of smoke.
Sōmi channeled all the Chakra Shukaku had just transferred into the golden cloud beneath his feet. Grabbing Konan tightly—purely to prevent her from falling during their high-speed escape—he prepared to flee.
As for Sasori, well-versed in such situations, he released a Shadow Clone and quickly positioned himself behind Sōmi.
Whoosh!
The golden cloud carried the three of them, leaving a radiant golden trail across the sky as they sped away.
During their escape, Sōmi skillfully maneuvered the cloud to evade piercing attacks from the ground. A quick glance revealed hundreds of White Zetsu emerging from the earth.
Some of the White Zetsu fused together, forming a massive creature that launched wooden spikes at the fleeing trio.
But clearly, such attacks were futile against Sōmi.
Not long after they departed, an overwhelming and boundless aura, vast as the ocean, suddenly erupted and spread across the land.
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