Shinobi World, Pure Land.
[BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!]
One explosion after another erupted across the pitch-black land.
Blinding flashes of fire caused the sky and earth to alternate between light and dark.
Violent shockwaves swept through vast regions, leveling every hill and forest in their path, flinging figures—large and small—high into the air.
These included many who had once hailed from the various shinobi villages… or rogue ninja who had no allegiance at all.
The moment they opened their eyes in death, they were forced—either by will or by circumstance—to take part in this war to defend the Pure Land.
In the face of the invading army led by the King of the Dead...
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo had fully lifted the entry restrictions to the Pure Land. So long as they were ninja—or even samurai with at least genin-level strength—they were allowed to stay and fight.
Even if doing so meant they might never reincarnate, their souls ultimately erased in battle.
At this moment—
Even the core sanctum of the Shinobi Sect had been breached by powerful enemies.
Some were weaker, like Kabane in the form of monstrous 'Nue'.
Others included entities like Kokushibō, Dōma, Akaza, and Gyūtarō.
Their strength had noticeably improved under the command of the King of the Dead.
Now even the jōnin of the shinobi world struggled to fight them one-on-one.
Even elite jōnin-level ninja were having a tough time holding their ground.
And the stronger foes?
They were the powerful spirits from the Starfish World.
Among them were former high-ranking military officers of the World Government and pirates who once roamed the Grand Line.
And their opponents?
The former Kage of every village across the shinobi world.
Additionally—
The past jinchūriki of the Tailed Beasts naturally took part as well.
Though they could no longer fully transform into colossal Tailed Beasts like they once could in life...
They were still able to enter a 'partial Tailed Beast Transformation' state.
However...
No matter how fierce their battles raged, these still counted as mid-to-low-tier skirmishes.
The outcome of this war between the defenders of the Pure Land and its invaders...
Ultimately depended on the upper-echelon fighters—especially Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and the King of the Dead.
At this moment—
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo stood tall in the sky, wielding his Sage's staff as he kept a close eye on the dark void radiating the King of the Dead's aura.
"Hm?"
Suddenly—
He noticed that the four figures floating near the black hole had begun slowly descending toward the four cardinal directions of the Shinobi Sect.
Without a moment's hesitation—
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo transmitted a soul-voice message to key shinobi warriors still engaged in battle across the Pure Land.
"Madara, the one heading east is yours. Be careful—he's the strongest among the four!"
Just as Uchiha Madara was attacking Gyokko, that familiar voice echoed in his mind again.
This made him snap his head up.
A pair of eerie Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan locked directly onto the sky above the Pure Land, still ablaze with flames.
Sure enough, a figure clad in fierce red robes came hurtling down not far away, bared teeth flashing in a wide grin, exuding overwhelming pressure.
"Good timing!"
Rather than fear, Uchiha Madara was thrilled.
He had long since lost any sense of novelty toward the mid- and lower-tier riffraff.
Immediately, Madara dispelled the ghostly blue Susanoo surrounding him.
He grabbed a finely crafted longsword that he had casually seized from the battlefield and once again displayed terrifying close-combat prowess.
Cutting down every grotesque creature in his path with ruthless efficiency, he charged at high speed toward the point where that red figure was about to land.
...
"Mu, Hōzuki Gengetsu—you two handle the one to the south!"
"Uchiha Kagami, Hatake Sakumo—you're in charge of the west!"
"Third Kazekage and Second Raikage—head north!"
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo issued command after command in quick succession.
To be honest, he somewhat regretted sending Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama back to the shinobi world.
The deaths of Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō had also caught him off guard.
Those two combined still got taken out by just one samurai?
At the same time—
Just moments after the four mysterious figures landed at the cardinal points of the Shinobi Sect—
As if by prior agreement, four massive, blinding slashes of sword light burst forth in every direction, each a different color, but equally massive and radiant.
[VROOOOOM——————]
A piercing shriek echoed across the entire realm as space itself was forcibly torn open.
The blinding lights illuminated the dim Underworld like flashes of divine wrath.
To the east—a gigantic crescent-shaped slash, black and red, crackling with lightning.
To the south—a similarly crescent-shaped slash, but in silver-white, also arcing with lightning.
To the west—two crisscrossing crimson-red X-shaped slashes, black lightning spraying wildly from their edges.
And to the north—two massive sword beams as well, sweeping in from left and right, colored bright yellow and lacking any lightning—
Yet the sheer force they radiated still made the shinobi in front recoil in alarm.
These colossal, sky-splitting sword lights—
Forced the Shinobi Sect's defenders to band together, hastily forming hand seals in front of themselves.
One by one, the elite shinobi unleashed blazing firestorms, surging waves, crashing lightning, and roaring winds across the battlefield.
Meanwhile—
The former jinchūriki of the Tailed Beasts had also noticed those dazzling, oversized sword lights.
Without hesitation, they began preparing miniature Tailed Beast Bombs once again. Seconds later, dark purple energy orbs launched with explosive sonic booms!
[BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!]
Though the two sides seemed far apart, their attacks collided in an instant—head-on and without embellishment.
The resulting blast split the world into zones of wildly clashing colors.
Space trembled violently, the Pure Land quaked from its very foundation.
In the deafening roar, an unimaginable power—one that seemed capable of annihilating all—was unleashed with no restraint.
Whether they were part of the invading forces or the defenders of the Pure Land, anyone lacking sufficient strength was utterly obliterated in that apocalyptic explosion.
As time passed and the chaos gradually subsided—
Shinobi from all directions began to see towering figures emerge slowly from the dust ahead.
To the north—
A burly man clad in yellow, with long black hair and round sunglasses, came into view.
Grinning, he held a large axe in each hand and strolled forward as if amused.
To the west—
Stood a figure nearly four meters tall, wielding two long blades—one purple, one white—held firmly in each hand.
The man was a burly giant in an orange kimono that left his thighs exposed, with purple and white shimenawa ropes tied around his shoulders and waist. Whether it was the grin on his face or the aura he gave off, everything about him screamed wild and untamed.
To the south—
Stood a much more composed figure: a dignified man in white robes, wearing glasses and his long golden hair slicked back. With a refined demeanor, he calmly carried an unassuming longsword in one hand as he walked slowly toward the Shinobi Sect and the lines of ninja facing him.
And finally, to the east—
Before the man even appeared, a hearty, unrestrained laugh came rolling in like a wave.
"Hohohoho~ Uwahahahaha~!"
Only after the laughter faded did a figure step out from behind a cloud of dust and craters—a man wearing a crimson coat with a pair of curled mustaches above his lips.
In his right hand, he held a Western-style saber.
"I am the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger! Send out the strongest ninja you've got!" Roger shouted boldly as he came to a stop.
[Whoosh!]
The next second—
A figure clad in crimson landed ahead of all the ninja.
It was Uchiha Madara.
His sudden appearance not only caused a stir among the ninja on the eastern front—it also caught Roger's attention.
Roger sized him up from head to toe. Sensing the powerful aura radiating from Madara, his smile widened with even more excitement.
"Not bad. Not bad at all!"
"Are you the strongest ninja here?"
Madara's expression remained cold. Arms folded across his chest, he stared directly at Roger and replied in a calm, flat voice: "You could say that. And you? Are you the strongest one from your underworld?"
"Uh, not quite. I guess I'm probably second under the King of the Dead…" Roger said awkwardly, scratching his cheek.
"Second?"
Uchiha Madara raised an eyebrow, then snorted coldly.
"Then I'll defeat you first—then lead the shinobi army to strike back against your underworld and meet this so-called strongest warrior for myself."
The reason he mentioned 'counterattack'—
Was because earlier, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo had said that if they could repel the King of the Dead's invasion this time, they could use the souls of these invaders as coordinates to locate the origin of the opposing underworld.
In that sense, the King of the Dead's invasion was actually even riskier than Imu's method of invading via the Dimensional Gate.
After all, if Imu was overwhelmed, she could simply shut the Dimensional Gate at any moment. But the King of the Dead didn't have that luxury.
After all, the River Styx existed in its own dimension, flowing through all the galaxies and the universe, connecting all the underworlds with hell.
From a certain perspective, as long as soul coordinates existed, traveling between underworlds was actually easier than traversing the physical universe.
Because it wasn't bound by the laws of physics—
No light-speed limits, no distance concerns, no vacuum hazards—none of that mattered.
All you had to do was follow the resonance of a soul's coordinate.
But without soul coordinates—
Even if two underworlds belonged to neighboring star systems—or even adjacent worlds within the same star system—
It was nearly impossible to locate each other in the vast, mysterious River Styx.
A truly metaphysical and almost idealistic dimension.
...
"Uwahahahaha~!"
Roger didn't mock Madara for his bold words—in fact, he appreciated that level of confidence and fearlessness.
To him, that was exactly how a true warrior should behave.
"Then come at me!"
In the next instant, the Supreme Grade sword Ace in his hand—
Its gleaming white blade suddenly darkened mid-swing, coated in a pitch-black luster.
And in that moment—
A crescent-shaped slash of black and red lightning burst forth, cutting the air with a deafening roar like a tiger's growl.
"Divine Departure!!"
At that instant—
Roger's overwhelming and tyrannical aura transformed into a formless tidal wave of pure might.
Across from him—
Uchiha Madara immediately sensed the terrifying force of that attack.
In the blink of an eye, a towering blue energy warrior clad in tengu armor manifested around him—
The fourth stage of Susanoo!
But he didn't intend to rely on Susanoo alone to stop Roger's Divine Departure.
"Shinra Tensei!!!"
In sync with Madara's motion, the fourth-stage Susanoo stretched out its enormous arms—
[BOOOOOM!!!]
Roger's Divine Departure collided head-on with Madara's Shinra Tensei.
In that moment—
Within the Pure Land, it was like two massive torrents crashing into one another without mercy.
Roger was laughing wildly; a smirk tugged at the corner of Madara's lips as well.
The next instant—
A brilliant, blinding white light exploded outward, followed by an earth-shaking detonation that swallowed them both whole.
The battle had begun!
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