"Obito…"
On the chaotic, smoke-filled battlefield, the former teacher and student met once again. Looking at his once most proud student, who had always spoken of becoming Hokage, now reduced to such a state, Minato Namikaze's heart ached unbearably.
knew all too well why it had come to this. All of it was because of that battle on Higashimatsuyama.
He, as the teacher… had personally killed Rin.
That day, Rin was killed by him, and Kakashi was killed by Mizuki Yoru.
And Obito.
Was killed by his own self.
Team Minato ceased to exist from that day on.
"Sorry, Obito… I—"
"Does saying that matter now, Minato Namikaze?"
Obito's cold voice carried no emotion. His blood-red eyes stared at Minato: "Rin—no. This has nothing to do with Rin anymore. I am no longer 'Obito'!"
"If you think I started this war because of Rin, or because you killed her on Higashimatsuyama, you are gravely mistaken!"
"Do you see this, Minato Namikaze? Do you see this battlefield filled with death? It has always been this way—clans fighting clans, shinobi wars—the world is cruel. What I will do is bring about a perfect dream world, and let this cruel reality vanish!"
"You, the shinobi villages, the great nations, Yuki Yoru—none of it will remain!"
The Sword of Nunoboko in Obito's hand began to change. At the tip of the staff, symbols of sun and moon began to form — a sign born of unshakeable conviction. His resolve had never wavered; upon seeing Minato, it only hardened.
"For that goal…"
Under Minato's troubled gaze, Kushina's stunned silence, and Tsunade's shock, Obito gripped the Sword of Nunoboko tightly and vanished in an instant.
"I can overturn everything!"
"Watch out!!"
Clang!
The Zanpakutō wrapped in golden shackles collided with the Sword of Nunoboko. In the stunned silence of the onlookers, Kushina's Bankai—her Golden Howl: Binding Chains Zanpakutō—was actually cut clean through by the Sword of Nunoboko!
"How can this be? A Zanpakutō was actually—"
"This can't be possible!"
"Kushina!"
The Sword of Nunoboko had cut the Zanpakutō. Its remaining power did not decrease and it fell toward Kushina Uzumaki's body. Thankfully, at this critical moment, a yellow flash streaked past and grabbed Kushina, dodging the attack at the last second.
"Kushina, are you okay?" Minato's face was tense as he looked at her.
A Zanpakutō is a manifestation of the soul; its strength rivals legendary blades of the shinobi world. With spiritual power applied, a Zanpakutō's durability is massively enhanced, and it is almost unheard of for one to break. Yet now Kushina's Bankai had been sliced in two by Obito—this shook everyone present.
"I feel…"
Kushina's face went deathly pale; her aura fluctuated wildly.
"Lady Tsunade."
"This is the first time I've seen a Zanpakutō cut like that… I have to stabilize Kushina with spiritual power for now—maybe Hiromi and the others can help." Tsunade hurried to Kushina's side, channeling spiritual power to steady her.
"You're not going anywhere!"
Obito reappeared before the three in an instant, the Sword of Nunoboko striking down. Minato's expression turned severe as he sent out a Rasengan from his palm to block the blow. But the expected explosion and clash never came: the moment Minato's Rasengan touched the Sword of Nunoboko, it was wholly swallowed by an inexplicable suction.
Obito's lips curled slightly, and at some point his Sharingan had already turned into the Rinnegan, glowing faintly with a pale violet light.
"It's over, Minato Namikaze…"
Before Obito could finish, Minato suddenly raised his head, his face sharp and unyielding. A golden radiance instantly burst forth around him, wrapping his entire body.
Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!
No—more precisely, Spiritual Power Simulation: Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!
In that moment, as he entered the mode, Minato's other hand gripped the Zanpakutō at his waist. Spiritual power surged explosively, skyrocketing without end, whipping the fabric of his 3rd Division Captain's haori into the air.
"Forgive me, Obito."
"Bankai!"
With the softest of voices—he unleashed the most terrifying spiritual pressure!
...
The endless glaciers froze Madara's Advent of a World of Flowering Trees. Towering trees, each heavy with flower buds about to bloom, were sealed within the ice, lifelike and motionless. Sunlight reflected off the glacier, its cold gleam deepening Madara's expression.
He wasn't sure if Yagura had done it deliberately or by sheer coincidence, but using Ice Release against the Advent of a World of Flowering Trees was indeed the most effective counter. Otherwise, once the tree pollen had been unleashed, it would have spelled certain death for the mid- and low-level shinobi outside Kirigakure.
Even so, Madara's face betrayed no unease—on the contrary, it brimmed with exhilaration.
"Now this is interesting, Yagura. You should be able to dance, shouldn't you?!"
Madara laughed heartily as his Eternal Mangekyō spun wildly. From it erupted overwhelming ocular power, condensing in an instant into the half-bodied Susanoo clad in the black armor of a great tengu.
But that was only the beginning. From Yagura's presence, Madara had already sensed a strength worthy of the dance. Against the strong, he would answer with his full might!
The tangible form of Yin Release chakra roared like a storm, swelling Susanoo's size ever larger until, in the blink of an eye, it grew into a towering giant nearly a hundred meters tall.
Madara stood high atop Susanoo's brow, inside the crystalline pentagon at its forehead. His Sharingan glowed even more chilling under the deep-blue light of the Perfect Susanoo. Infinite ocular power surged forth like a flood, the violent chakra winds whipping his hair about. Combined with the crimson armor, the warlord who once subdued the chaos of the Warring States era—the Shura of the Shinobi World—had returned once again!
"Perfect Susanoo, is it…"
The sight was awe-inspiring, but Yagura's expression hardly changed.
As one of the earliest to follow Yuki Yoru, he had seen far too many powerful figures—among them not a few wielding the power of the Uchiha. The likes of 2nd Division Captain Uchiha Shisui, or Uchiha Hikari, hailed as the Uchiha's ultimate weapon—their Perfect Susanoo were in no way inferior to the one before him.
"Someone once told me—every Captain of the Soul Soceity wields strength beyond that of a Kage. Which means, the little games of children… are over."
From within the crystalline chamber of the Perfect Susanoo, Madara looked down upon Yagura, who seemed as insignificant as an ant on the ground.
"Now dance for me!"
Buzz…
Yagura said nothing. He simply raised both hands and aimed them at the colossal Susanoo. Rippling currents of energy swirled in his palms, followed by a mist like flowing water, spilling outward to shroud the godlike figure.
"Water mist?"
Madara frowned. "No… that's wrong. The energy signature is far too high…"
BOOM!!!
The mist erupted with a chain of devastating explosions. Under the barrage, even the chakra armor covering the mountainous Perfect Susanoo shattered into fragments, its gigantic form swaying and about to collapse.
"Steam Danger Tyranny?!"
Uchiha Madara inside the Susanoo was somewhat startled, seeming to have a sudden realization. His hands quickly formed seals.
A continuous torrent of ocular power poured out. The Susanoo, being bombarded by successive explosions, was forcibly stabilized under the massive infusion of ocular power. Simultaneously, it instantly drew its sword and slashed down fiercely at Yagura.
A huge sword slash swept across the battlefield, as if intending to cleave the very heavens and earth apart.
But the moment the sword slash landed, a huge tree burst out from Yagura Karatachi's body. In an instant, it turned into a hundred-meter-tall wooden giant.
Barehanded sword catch!
The wooden giant blocked the Susanoo's sword. Madara Uchiha's eyes, which were in the Susanoo's prism, narrowed, and he thought to himself, 'I knew it.'
He had already guessed Yagura Karatachi's Bankai ability!
"This is quite a difficult one..."
A smile appeared on the corner of Madara Uchiha's mouth, but wasn't this what made it interesting?
As the one who had once controlled the Third Mizukage, Madara had long taken note of Yagura, even considering grooming him as the successor to the Mizukage and a pawn for his greater plan.
Thus, he knew exactly what Yagura excelled in—the Water Mirror Technique, the power of replication.
A Shinigami's Zanpakutō is the manifestation of their soul. And its Bankai is the complete release of their greatest strength.
Yagura's previous moves had already given Madara reason to suspect, but this Wood Release left no doubt.
"So then… let's see just how many powers you've copied!"
Madara's excitement flared. Controlling his massive Perfect Susanoo, he launched relentless attacks. With every swing of the blade, shockwaves ripped across the battlefield like raging storms.
Yagura, expressionless, continued to resist.
Tailed Beast Bombs, glaciers, Steam Explosion, Wood Release—
even Susanoo itself!
One after another, techniques unfolded, leaving the distant Shinigami and Quincies dumbfounded at the sheer diversity and might of his abilities.
Yet even more people were left stunned by Madara's overwhelming power.
That Perfect Susanoo was like a god-demon incarnate: with every step, the earth quaked; with every swing, the world itself seemed torn apart.
BOOM!!
The two Susanoo clashed violently. Madara's Perfect Susanoo staggered back only two steps, but Yagura's imitation wavered, nearly collapsing.
Though both were "Perfect," the genuine article's power always eclipsed a mere copy.
Madara swung again. Yagura struggled to block, gripping his blade with both hands to intercept the strike. But Susanoo's other sword slashed upward in a brutal arc, piercing through the chest of Yagura's replicated Susanoo and utterly shattering it.
Yagura tried to continue fighting, but Madara merely snorted coldly, clenching his hand.
"Chibaku Tensei!"
Overwhelming gravity erupted. Countless shattered stones and boulders tore free from the ground, drawn together and dragging Yagura with them. In the blink of an eye, his figure was engulfed and sealed within the massive sphere of rock and dust.
"It's over. Time to put an end to this farce!"
From atop his Perfect Susanoo, Madara turned his gaze toward the gates of Kirigakure, where a strange barrier glowed faintly. Almost at once, a distorted vortex appeared there.
Shhhk!
A glowing purple chain shot out from the vortex, piercing straight through the barrier.
The special vessel inside was shattered to pieces, and in the next instant, a vast, chilling chakra surged into the sky.
In the blink of an eye, it took form—
the thunderous roar of a colossal armored turtle, the Three-Tails!
"Calm down, you beast."
Uchiha Madara spoke indifferently as the chain coiled tighter around the Three-Tails Isobu's neck. The creature's roar of fury quickly turned into a pained howl as it struggled frantically.
But such thrashing was meaningless.
To others, a tailed beast might be a monster, a natural disaster. Yet in the eyes of shinobi on the level of Uchiha Madara or Senju Hashirama, they were nothing more than convenient sources of chakra.
Not to mention the Three-Tails, one of the weaker mid-tier beasts—even the strongest of them, the Nine-Tails, was nothing but an oversized plaything to Madara.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
The Three-Tails' cries echoed as the purple chain from the vortex tightened mercilessly. Its vast chakra, so overwhelming to ordinary shinobi, proved utterly useless against the restraint. Within moments, the enormous beast was dragged fully into the vortex and swallowed whole.
After finishing this task, Madara's gaze turned deeper into Kirigakure. He could sense several other places radiating immense energy.
But before he could seek a new battlefield, the Chibaku Tensei sphere behind him cracked with a resounding shatter.
Crack!
"Oh?"
Madara turned, just in time to see a massive surge of spiritual pressure erupting from within the seal. It ripped apart the gravitational prison, forcing it to collapse.
From above, a small figure descended, carrying Yagura in his grasp. As a torrent of pure spiritual power poured into him, the half-dead Yagura's condition stabilized rapidly, his breath evening out.
"How's the village holding up?" Yagura asked weakly after catching his breath.
"The Mizukage building is gone. The losses are heavy… but still within what we can manage."
Uchiha Hikari's voice was calm as her eyes locked on Madara, who stood inside his towering Perfect Susanoo. "Go support the others. Leave this one to me."
"Mm!"
Yagura didn't hesitate. This was no time for pride. Besides—when it came to fighting an Uchiha, letting another Uchiha handle it was without a doubt the best choice.