"Even the air itself is being compressed like this?"
Madara felt a strange emotion stir within him as he noticed that Gai's air cannons were beginning to strip away the outer armor of his Susano'o.
However, before Madara could lock onto Gai's position with his Rinnegan, the red figure had already shifted to another direction.
"Second Step!"
"Third Step!"
"Fourth Step!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three consecutive air cannons erupted from different directions in an instant.
The four massive, cylindrical, pale-red air pillars locked the head of Madara's Susano'o firmly in place, rendering it immobile.
"What?!"
"I can't control Susano'o anymore?!"
A glimmer of shock appeared in Madara's eyes as he realized that, under the relentless "washing" of the four air cannons, his Susano'o had been reduced to nothing but a faint blue skeletal frame.
"When did he...?!"
Just as Madara's Rinnegan finally caught sight of Gai's figure, he realized that Gai had already moved behind him.
Bang!!!
A powerful punch from Gai struck Madara's back with a thunderous impact. The thin blue skeletal armor shattered instantly, and Gai's fist landed directly on Madara's body.
"Argh!"
The immense force contained within Gai's punch caused Madara to cough up a mouthful of blood. The massive Susano'o, now devoid of Madara's control, dispersed into countless blue flames, scattering and vanishing into the air.
Madara's body, meanwhile, shot through the air like a diagonal line, crashing into the ground and skidding backward, leaving a trail of flying dust and debris in his wake.
Moments later, as the dust cloud began to settle—
"Huff! Huff! Huff..."
Gai, whose eyebrows and hair had turned completely blood-red, stood panting heavily, his eyes filled with only the whites.
Clearly, the strain of using the Evening Elephant had taken a severe toll on him.
But in the next moment, Gai's expression froze.
"Hahahaha!"
"Not since Hashirama have I felt such excitement!"
"Do you have more moves? Can you still dance?"
"Keep trying to entertain me!"
Madara casually wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his right hand, showing no concern for his injuries. Instead, he continued to taunt Gai with an arrogant and wild grin.
"Is that...?"
"The face of the First Hokage?!"
"And those markings... Sage Mode!!"
Standing beside Gai, Minato Namikaze stared in shock at Madara's chest.
The red armor covering Madara's torso had been shattered by Gai's punch, and his inner shirt had been ground to shreds from the intense friction with the ground.
As a result, Madara's upper body was now almost completely exposed, with only a few tattered scraps of cloth hanging loosely.
It was now glaringly obvious that a face resembling Hashirama's was protruding from Madara's chest. Moreover, the face bore Sage Mode markings on its forehead and cheeks—markings Minato recognized all too well.
The face twitched and quivered along with Madara's maniacal laughter.
At the edge of the battlefield, Itachi Uchiha had decided to place Sasuke in a remote area to ensure his safety before returning to confront the enemy.
However, just as Itachi was about to say something to the stubborn Sasuke, his pupils suddenly widened in shock, and he instinctively leaned backward.
Out of nowhere, a pair of pale, slender hands appeared in front of Itachi. Moving with lightning speed, they reached toward Itachi's eyes.
A crisp sound echoed, like crystals sliding out of their sockets.
With two spurts of blood, Itachi's eyes were forcibly gouged out in an instant!
"Quite sensitive, aren't you?"
A young man dressed in gray-black robes stood before Itachi and Sasuke. In his right hand, he casually twirled the two scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan he had just taken.
"Brother!"
Sasuke's face first froze in disbelief, then twisted into a heart-wrenching scream.
However, with a single glare from the man's terrifying, spiraling eye, Sasuke found himself completely immobilized. He couldn't move a muscle, nor could he utter a sound.
"That eye..."
"Why does he...?"
As fear began to consume Sasuke's heart, the black-haired man performed an action that left him utterly baffled.
The man retrieved another pair of Three Tomoe Sharingan from a sealing scroll and, with surprising care, implanted them into Itachi's empty eye sockets.
Why wasn't Itachi moving?
Was it because of the purple Cursed Seal patterns covering his body?
How was this man so skilled in medical ninjutsu?
The emerald-gold glow emanating from his hands carried such potent life force that it seemed capable of reviving the dead...
Before long, Itachi, who had been bound in place, opened his eyes once more. Aside from the bloodstains on his cheeks, it was as if nothing had happened.
When Itachi's eyes finally focused, he got his first clear look at the black-haired man.
The man's hair was slightly tousled, soft and flowing. His face was sharp and handsome, his features finely chiseled. A faint, polite smile played at the corners of his lips, giving him the air of a stranger politely visiting for the first time.
"How are the new eyes? Getting used to them?"
The black-haired man asked with a cheerful smile.
Itachi had tried to activate Susano'o the moment he sensed the enemy. However, the man's strength was beyond comprehension. With a mere touch of his palm, he had completely suppressed all of Itachi's resistance.
As Itachi opened his mouth to speak, his newly implanted Sharingan suddenly bulged grotesquely, as if they might pop out of their sockets. Blood vessels rapidly spread across the sclera, filling every corner with crimson threads.
"Sasuke!!!!"
Splurt!!!
A headless body sprayed a fountain of blood from its neck, the crimson liquid shooting skyward like a geyser before raining down in a torrential bloodstorm.
However, the gruesome display was short-lived. Even in a heightened state, the human body does not contain enough blood to sustain such a dramatic spectacle for long.
"What is this?"
"Why does my brother look so sad...?"
"No... don't cry, brother..."
"Believe in me. I will become strong, strong enough to protect the village..."
"Why does it feel like I'm floating all of a sudden?"
"Huh? Is that man holding my head?"
"Then where is my body..."
The final scene Sasuke witnessed in his life was the black-haired man staring at him with a curious expression amidst the desolate ruins of yellow sand.
Meanwhile, his brother's body was covered in purple vein-like patterns, which bound him tightly.
But seeing the look of utter despair etched across his brother's face, Sasuke mustered the last of his strength to force a faint smile, hoping to comfort the sibling who had been his closest companion for so many years.
"It's here..."
Sōmi murmured softly. With the combined power of Sage Mode and his Rinnegan, he could clearly sense another soul residing within Sasuke's severed head.
Sōmi quickly formed a series of hand seals and gripped Sasuke's head tightly. Soon, strands of deep purple sealing script began to "merge" into the lifeless head.
"Hmm?!"
"Such resilience?!"
A flicker of amazement danced in Sōmi's eyes.
Even without a physical body, this soul still possessed an extraordinary strength. Moreover, Sōmi could sense a peculiar force from another dimension beginning to intervene in the real world.
"Is this the Six Paths?"
"Hmph!"
"You want your son's soul back?!"
Sōmi's gaze turned icy. He swiftly retrieved a peculiar mask from the sealing scroll in his pocket.
The mask's visage was both divine and demonic, crowned with two sharp horns. Its grotesque yet sacred design exuded an eerie aura.
It was none other than the Reaper Death Seal Mask, brought from the Land of Whirlpools years ago!
Ever since obtaining the mask, Sōmi had been studying its purpose.
Recently, he had devised an intriguing idea.
As soon as he donned the mask, Sōmi's hands moved at lightning speed, forming an intricate sequence of hand seals. His movements were so rapid that they seemed to create layers of afterimages. Within the blink of an eye, the technique was complete.
"Sage Art: Soul Absorption!"
Buzz... Buzz...
A faint vibration rippled through the air. However, anyone adept in space-time ninjutsu would recognize that this was not merely an air disturbance—it was a tremor in space itself!
In an instant, as if two dimensions were colliding and merging, the subtle vibrations carried an overwhelming, heart-stopping power.
Buzz!
As Sōmi intensified his output of Senjutsu Chakra, a blurry blue figure finally emerged from Sasuke's head.
The figure, with its closed eyes and brown hair, bore a striking resemblance to someone from the Ōtsutsuki clan.
"Indra..."
Without hesitation, Sōmi formed another seal and directed the blue soul toward the Reaper Death Seal Mask.
The moment the soul touched the mask, something extraordinary occurred.
Whoosh!
A chilling wind swept through the area, carrying an eerie coldness. The demonic mask seemed to come alive, emitting faint cackles and ghostly wails.
Suddenly—
The mask's mouth opened wide, or perhaps the soul shrank. In the blink of an eye, the blue soul was completely "absorbed" into the mask.
Then, all the strange phenomena ceased.
However, the spatial tremors intensified dramatically.
It seemed that Sōmi's actions had enraged some entity from another dimension, which was now urgently trying to cross over to exact its vengeance.
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