Five Minutes Earlier, Uchiha Ancestral Grounds
The balance of the battle between the five Susanoo was finally tipping.
Shisui and Fugaku had pushed their Mangekyō Sharingan far beyond safe limits. Unable to sustain even the second stage anymore, their towering Susanoo degraded into thin, skeletal frames, little more than hollow armor barely holding together.
After watching for a long time, Akio's shadow clone finally made his move.
With a single flicker, he appeared beside Kagami, using repulsive force to block Madara's attack. He grinned as he spoke:
"Well, I'll be damned, what kind soul decided to drop Madara Uchiha right in front of me today?"
Madara's Perfect Susanoo paused for a heartbeat.
With a casual backhand slash, he sent Obito flying when the boy tried to circle behind him. Madara then planted himself firmly, gazing down at the shadow clone in silence.
The air turned heavy.
"Elder Akio!" Kagami exhaled in relief, dispelling his Susanoo. Fugaku and Shisui flashed over to stand behind the clone as well.
The shadow clone turned slightly and waved them off.
"Fall back and catch your breath. I'm here now, you're safe."
"Old man," Madara finally spoke, his voice cold and crushing,
"you're saying they're safe?"
A terrifying pressure radiated from him. His tengu-shaped Perfect Susanoo visibly grew even larger.
"You mean to tell me he still wasn't serious?" Fugaku and Shisui stared in shock. Kagami, meanwhile, wore a look that said I expected this.
The shadow clone chuckled.
"You're all strong, no question. But compared to Madara, you're still a long way off. He was just playing with you."
He tilted his head back and shouted upward.
"What's wrong, Madara? Don't like hearing that they're safe? Guess you need a refresher on what it feels like to be ruled by my fists the size of sandbags!"
"Just a shadow clone…" Madara growled.
"Get out of my sight!"
His sentence cut off as he casually blasted Obito away again.
The shadow clone smiled helplessly. That kid really doesn't know when to stop.
"I've got this," he said calmly.
"You four regroup with Obito and pull him back. Tell him to stop hacking at Madara's back like that, it 's not helping."
"Elder Akio… this is really just a shadow clone?" Kagami asked, uneasy.
The clone laughed.
"Relax. Even if I can't beat him, I can stall him just fine. Besides, my real body will be here soon."
With that, he stomped the ground and shot skyward, rising until he was eye-level with Madara.
"Come on, Madara, take one of my sandbag punches!"
"Eighty Gods!"
Bang.
The shadow clone dispersed.
Madara froze.
Then he laughed, furious.
"Old man! You're pulling this trick again?! Back at the Valley of the End, you did the same thing, one clone vanished in front of me while the other hid and tried to Dust Release me from the shadows!"
He scanned the battlefield.
"Enough games. Come out!"
Silence.
Madara turned sharply.
"Come out!"
Growing irritated, he slammed his Susanoo's sword into the ground. The earth cracked open in layers, shaking violently.
"I said, COME OUT!"
Nearby, Kagami and the others exchanged uneasy looks.
"You think there really was a second clone?" Shisui asked hesitantly.
"Well… if Lord Madara says so…" Obito scratched his head.
Kagami sighed. The situation still didn't feel stable.
Then
A far stronger shockwave rippled through the ground.
The four barely managed to anchor themselves with chakra as the earth lurched.
"What was that?!"
Kagami reactivated his Susanoo and stared toward the northwest.
"That explosion… Is Elder Akio fighting someone else?"
Madara saw it too. His expression darkened.
"That kind of force… the old man's going all out. So he really had to drop the shadow clone."
"That bastard had a card like that hidden away the whole time… Figures he was always guarding against me."
But as quickly as the blast came, it vanished.
Madara waited.
No second clash followed.
"…He finished it in one move?" Madara muttered.
"The Rinnegan's probably in his hands now. Annoying."
He exhaled.
"I'll have to rework my resurrection plan… but acting on my own is better than relying on someone I can't trust."
With no interest left in "teaching" the younger generation, Madara dismissed his Susanoo and vanished.
"…It's really over," Kagami said quietly as the tension drained from his body.
Vast Open Sea
The ocean had completely lost its calm.
Towering waves hundreds of meters tall rose and crashed, while massive whirlpools a kilometer wide devoured everything nearby.
"Sensei! Stop me, Third Strike!"
High in the air, Akio spread his hands wide. A transparent repulsion barrier surrounded him.
Veins bulged across his face as he poured everything he had into maintaining it, barely holding off three incoming white, rectangular air cannons.
"I'm… trying… to stop… you!" Akio growled.
"Fourth Strike!"
"Ha!" Akio roared, forcing the barrier to hold.
"Damn it, one more!"
"Fifth Strike!"
"Shinra Tensei!!!"
Crack… crack…
Akio shouted again but the barrier shattered.
The consecutive Evening Elephant attacks warped the space around him, making teleportation impossible. He could only grit his teeth and layer defensive seals over his body.
Four weaker blasts and one overwhelming strike hit him head-on.
The seals lasted a heartbeat before collapsing.
Blood burst from Akio's mouth as he was driven straight down into the deep sea.
"Sensei! Are you okay?!" Jitou faltered, then surged forward again.
The Intermediary's body had long since been modified. Jitou couldn't control it by will alone.
Akio lay flat on the ocean floor, releasing a couple of bubbles as he watched Jitou part the sea with chakra and charge toward him.
He sighed.
"You really are trying to beat your teacher to death, you ungrateful brat… Still, that one's on me. I forgot how busted this terrain is."
He raised both hands.
"Let's call this one… Ice Age."
From his fingertips, the seawater froze instantly, spreading outward and upward, sealing Jitou in solid ice.
Akio coughed, blood staining the corner of his mouth.
"When the student hits this hard, the teacher's pride takes a real beating."
Crack… crack…
Cracks spread across the ice.
Akio sighed and glanced at his status panel.
"Three hundred sixty-five Witness Points left… Jitou, don't blame me for cheating."
"Hm… let's put a hundred into Yang Release."
The counter dropped to 265. His Sage body strengthened further.
Boom!
The ice shattered.
Akio straightened, grinning despite the blood.
"Come on, my dear disciple
your teacher's fully healed, fully charged, and ready for round two."
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