Watching the meteor shower in the distance, the Third Raikage's eyes flickered non-stop. He thought of Ōnoki again, wondering how that stubborn old man was doing now.
If he died under this terrifying natural disaster, then the responsibility of transmitting the information would fall to him.
However, he wasn't sure if their summoner, the Leader, would allow the Edo Tensei to speak freely about today's events.
Wait a minute—those Iwagakure ninja who escaped earlier also seemed to have seen Uchiha Madara. They knew he was still alive.
In that case, it didn't matter whether that old guy Ōnoki survived or not, though it would certainly be more convenient if he didn't.
The Third Raikage cursed Ōnoki inwardly, wishing him a swift death. But just then, he heard an exclamation from Hei Chu Leiya:
"Look! Uchiha Madara was struck by a meteor!"
The Third Raikage looked up abruptly. Sure enough, a massive meteor—larger than all the others—had smashed into Madara's Susanoo.
That single impact left the giant construct momentarily unable to resist. With the Susanoo's massive size, it was practically a sitting target amidst the meteor shower.
If Madara had no other techniques prepared, the outcome seemed inevitable.
This time, no miracle occurred.
Under the terrifying impact of the meteors, even the colossal wings sprouting from the back of the wooden statue—part of Madara's Wood Release techniques—shattered, leaving it powerless to recover. The Susanoo, battered and broken, fell along with the meteorites toward the earth.
Others might have been unable to see clearly from afar, but Kawaki Aoba, with his Observation Haki, perceived everything vividly.
The current Uchiha Madara had truly chosen to retreat.
He even landed outside of his Susanoo and then sank into the ground.
Of course, he wasn't swallowed by quicksand or crushed by debris. With his mastery of Hashirama's cells and the parasitic influence of Black Zetsu inside his body, Madara could easily perform underground phasing techniques, much like Obito once did.
As for trying to stop Madara during his escape, Kawaki Aoba had hardly considered it.
Who could be sure Madara wasn't hiding some final trump card?
If he tried to block Madara now and Madara retaliated, the one forced to flee might very well be Aoba himself.
Madara had already demonstrated he could awaken the Rinnegan under extreme circumstances—creating another miracle would hardly be difficult for him.
"Leader, did you really finish off that old Uchiha Madara?" asked Suikazan Fuguki.
Glancing at Fuguki's cautious expression, Kawaki Aoba shook his head:
"If Madara could be defeated so easily, he wouldn't be called Uchiha Madara."
Easily?
The four around him looked at the meteor-stricken skies, then at the devastated landscape stretching dozens of miles across the once-verdant Grass Country.
Silence fell.
You call this easy?
Did he even know the meaning of "easy"?
Wait—Grass Country? Wasn't this place supposed to be full of lush forests and flowing rivers?
Where did the desert come from?
The water was gone, too. Even the river that used to run here had completely dried up.
This was too outrageous.
Even the Third Raikage's mouth twitched uncontrollably as he stared at the destruction.
After a while, Kawaki Aoba's voice floated over to them:
"Although this operation wasn't completely successful, we gained plenty. We forced Uchiha Madara, who was plotting from the shadows, into the open.
Now, you all go find a small country to rest for a while.
Also, Susanoo—come with me."
Saying Madara was a schemer… you weren't exactly innocent either, Leader.
The Third Raikage secretly grumbled to himself.
On the other side, Kawaki Aoba took Susanoo—his summoned Susanoo avatar—further away.
The massive chakra expenditure from the battle had nearly depleted Susanoo's reserves.
Calling him over was partly to recharge his chakra... and partly to assess the true harvest from this battle.
Previously, Kawaki Aoba had only a rough sense of his own strength.
But after this confrontation with Uchiha Madara, he had a clear measure:
He was undoubtedly at the Kage Level. Fighting against Kage-level opponents now felt like sparring with juniors.
However, among the Kage-level elite, he wasn't yet at the very top—at least not when excluding his greatest hidden trump card. In terms of straightforward battle power, he was still a bit behind the true monsters.
As for the meteor shower technique, while visually spectacular and incredibly destructive, it couldn't catch Madara if he chose to escape underground.
Madara's phasing and escape abilities, enhanced by Hashirama's cells and Black Zetsu's influence, were far beyond any ordinary Earth Release technique.
Still, Kawaki Aoba mused, it would be wise to prepare large quantities of rock and suspend them in high orbit above the Ninja World.
After all, while Madara might dodge, others would be crushed without any hope of survival.
He also realized something else:
If the three massive meteors Madara summoned during the Fourth Great Ninja War had been dropped from true orbital heights, their destructive power would have been catastrophic.
Even a peak-form Senju Hashirama might not have survived repeated impacts of that magnitude.
All of these insights counted as valuable gains.
But what Kawaki Aoba cared about most... was something else entirely: a certain dark, slippery will.
Surely no one thought Kawaki Aoba had simply been watching from the skies all this time, right?
No—his real target had been Black Zetsu.
The will of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, created through Yin-Yang Release.
The black gooey creature who had manipulated Shinobi history for over a thousand years.
Compared to Madara, who still believed he was in control, Black Zetsu—the true mastermind—was Kawaki Aoba's primary prey.
You thought I came here to test Uchiha Madara?
Wrong.
I came here to test Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu and the Proxy Plan
If Black Zetsu had been truly fragile, Kawaki Aoba wouldn't have hesitated to kill him in advance.
Unfortunately, Black Zetsu never gave Kawaki Aoba the chance, and to this day, he had no idea how the creature managed it.
Every time his chakra — or rather, his spiritual sensing — locked onto him, just as Kawaki Aoba was about to strike, Black Zetsu would slip away without a trace, even more troublesome than Uchiha Madara himself, leaving Kawaki Aoba unable to even test him.
Throughout most of his mission this time, Kawaki Aoba's mind was occupied with battling wits against Black Zetsu underground.
There were even moments when Kawaki Aoba was so furious he almost unleashed Hyakushiki Kannon: Zero Style to blast him apart.
Fortunately, he held himself back, recalling the future timeline where Black Zetsu, through deceit, managed to stab even Uchiha Madara in the back, rendering him helpless at a critical moment.
After replenishing Susanoo's chakra, Kawaki Aoba withdrew. He had already formulated some ideas about how to deal with these four "tools" next.
At the same time, on the other side, Uchiha Madara phased up from underground using Izanagi-based phasing techniques.
"Hahahahaha..." Madara laughed heartily, despite being the one who had retreated in poor condition. Although he had yet to understand why Kawaki Aoba opposed him, the exhilaration of battle was undeniable.
After laughing, Madara threw himself onto the ground without caring for his dignity.
"This feeling... I haven't experienced it in so long. It's a pity my chakra is running low; otherwise, I would have truly enjoyed a proper fight with that guy."
Indeed, the primary reason Madara withdrew from battle was his insufficient chakra. His current body, reconstructed using Hashirama's cells, was powerful, but the chakra he could refine was still limited — especially given the demands of high-level techniques.
While his body — a pseudo-immortal vessel derived from Hashirama's DNA — could handle large chakra loads, even it could not withstand Madara's constant overexertion. He was not Senju Hashirama himself.
Madara touched the new Mangekyō Sharingan he had activated, feeling the ocular powers hidden within.
He sighed lightly. "What a pity."
The Tengai Shinsei he unleashed earlier had indeed been a combination of Susanoo and ocular jutsu, but the true ability of his Mangekyō was something else entirely — something tied deeply to his Rinnegan.
If he used that hidden Mangekyō technique, he could continue fighting — but it risked damaging his Rinnegan's host body.
Yes, Uchiha Madara's current Mangekyō power was intimately connected to his future evolution into the Rinnegan, and carelessness could jeopardize everything.
At that moment, a dark, oily mass seeped from underground, reforming into the humanoid figure of Black Zetsu.
"Madara, is your body alright?"
Madara, seeing the will incarnate he had created — or so he believed — waved dismissively. "Don't worry. I'm fine. My chakra's just a little low."
Then Madara's tone hardened.
"But there's a major flaw in your intelligence network. You have absolutely no information on those two?"
Black Zetsu knew exactly who Madara meant: Bai Yun, whose name was likely false, and Susanoo, the mysterious figure with powerful Sand Release abilities who had fought Madara to a stalemate.
Black Zetsu shook his head. "I could only track traces of their recent movements. As for their true origins... nothing."
Madara's face darkened with dissatisfaction.
Yet Black Zetsu's next words sparked new interest.
"As for finding a suitable proxy... I have scouted three potential candidates."
"Oh? Speak."
Black Zetsu immediately reported:
"The first is Uchiha Shisui. He's highly talented, having awakened his Three-Tomoe Sharingan at just over ten years old. He's famous for his mastery of the Body Flicker Technique, recently earning the title 'Shisui of the Body Flicker' on the Konoha–Kirigakure battlefield."
Black Zetsu added grimly, "However, his grandfather once served under Senju Tobirama. Brainwashed by the Third Hokage's 'Will of Fire,' he is deeply loyal to Konoha. Changing his beliefs would be exceedingly difficult."
Madara instinctively frowned. From the description, Shisui's talent could rival his own in his youth, but loyalty to the Will of Fire was contemptible.
Having been indoctrinated since childhood, even if Shisui awakened the Mangekyō, reforming his ideology would be an uphill battle.
"Go on. The next."
Black Zetsu continued, "The second candidate is Uchiha Fugaku, Captain of the Konoha Military Police Force. He's currently recognized as the strongest within the Uchiha Clan."
"Most importantly, he has already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and is expected to become the next Uchiha clan head."
Madara exhaled deeply and rubbed his temples. Fugaku's family ties — a wife and two sons — made him an emotionally vulnerable candidate.
If he suffered a profound personal loss, the devastating grief could deepen his Yin Release affinity, perfect for further awakening.
However, because Fugaku had awakened the Mangekyō on his own, he would be much harder to manipulate than a naive youth.
Choosing Fugaku was far riskier than even the brainwashed Shisui.
Finally, Black Zetsu hesitated before presenting the third candidate.
"The third is Uchiha Obito. His situation is... special. Even at 16, he hasn't fully awakened his Sharingan."
Madara fell silent for a long moment after hearing Obito's situation.
Ultimately, he said darkly, "Let's prioritize this Obito."
He narrowed his eyes, voice grave, "And find a way to uncover Uchiha Fugaku's Mangekyō abilities. I need full information."
As Madara issued his command, far away at Akatsuki's hideout in the Land of Rain, chaos had erupted.
Their companion, Nagato, had collapsed, clutching his eyes in agony — heralding another step toward destiny.
---
Wake Up. Let's Watch the Meteor Shower Together.
Konoha Year 46.
It had been five years since the conflict with Sunagakure began in the Land of Wind.
This year, Konoha finally celebrated victory.
The villagers cheered Minato Namikaze, hailing him as a hero, and some even petitioned for him to be nominated as the next Hokage.
Another name often spoken was Kawaki Aoba.
His legendary performance on the battlefield had made his title as a "Legendary Ninja" fully deserved. Many believed he could one day surpass even Minato Namikaze.
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