"What's going on?"
The elite shinobi from the Five Great Villages were stunned—
the Ten-Tails had suddenly vanished.
Just as relief began to wash over them, confusion quickly followed.
How could the Ten-Tails simply disappear?
"Summoning—someone used a summoning technique on the Ten-Tails!"
Jiraiya deduced sharply.
Back when he had raided the White Zetsu base,
he had seen the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path get summoned away in a similar manner.
"There! The Ten-Tails is over there!"
A Hidden Mist ninja pointed in the direction they had come from.
Everyone turned—and saw it.
The Ten-Tails that had disappeared from their sight
had reappeared at the spot where the Akatsuki had once shown themselves.
"It's Uchiha Madara! He's summoned the Ten-Tails to his side—
he intends to join forces with it to strike down the Hokage!"
The Third Tsuchikage shouted from above after taking in the scene.
"Madara wants to fight alongside the Ten-Tails?
Don't tell me even the Hokage isn't his match?"
The Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, exclaimed in disbelief—
and the others were equally shaken.
Uchiha Madara—
a legend who once dominated an entire era,
the only man who could stand against the "God of Shinobi," Hashirama Senju.
A man worthy of being called a god himself.
Even after all these years,
stories of Uchiha Madara still circulated among the Five Great Nations.
And now, this man—this so-called god—
was apparently not the Hokage's equal.
"Ugh—!"
As Uchiha Fugaku's bone spike pierced through his heart,
Madara suddenly groaned and clutched his chest.
Blood gushed from the wound in his left side like a burst pipe.
As a seasoned shinobi, he instantly recognized the severity—
his heart had been pierced clean through.
Were he not at the Six Paths level, he would've died instantly.
Even so, he could feel his life rapidly slipping away.
"Summoning!"
He quickly performed a hand seal,
calling forth the towering, two-hundred-meter-tall Ten-Tails once more.
"Six Paths: Ten-Tails Coffin Seal!"
Immediately, he began the ritual to become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki.
The massive beast howled,
then rapidly compressed and merged into Madara's body,
disappearing without a trace.
His heart destroyed, his life fading—
becoming the Ten-Tails' host was his only means of survival.
Originally, he had planned to wait until the Ten-Tails fully evolved
before using its power to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi.
But now, there was no time to wait.
Flash—
As soon as he absorbed the Ten-Tails,
an overwhelming transformation swept through him.
His long black hair turned stark white.
A white cloak adorned with black tomoe formed around his body.
Nine black Truth-Seeking Orbs appeared behind him, hovering in a perfect circle.
The wound in his heart healed in an instant,
and the curse link between him and Fugaku—
was severed.
"The curse connection… cut off?"
Inside the spherical barrier formed by his own Truth-Seeking Orbs,
Fugaku, who was about to continue the death curse, froze.
The black-and-white energy around him dissipated,
and he could no longer sense any link between himself and Madara.
Looking beyond the orb's veil,
he immediately saw Madara's drastically transformed appearance.
"The Ten-Tails' jinchūriki…"
Fugaku dismissed the barrier, letting the nine orbs reform behind him.
From appearance alone, it was obvious—Madara had fused with the Ten-Tails.
With that fusion, he had healed his mortal wounds
and escaped the curse that bound him.
That alone would have been bad enough—
but now his power had skyrocketed beyond measure.
The only silver lining was that Madara had sealed an incomplete Ten-Tails,
meaning its evolution—and his full power—would be limited.
"Descendant of the Uchiha…
to have pushed me this far, you should be proud."
Madara's cold eyes glowed as he hovered in midair.
"Is that so? I'll take that as a compliment."
Fugaku replied lightly, though his gaze was grave.
"Hmph."
With a flick of thought, Madara launched his attack.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Nine black lights—the Truth-Seeking Orbs—
shot toward Fugaku at supersonic speed.
Simultaneously, four shadow clones rushed in from different angles.
Originally, their duration should have expired long ago—
but as the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, Madara's control and stamina
had greatly increased.
"Shield—!"
Under Fugaku's command,
his nine orbs merged into a massive, green-glowing shield,
blocking the incoming barrage.
But before he could breathe,
the four shadows closed in from all directions.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Fugaku unleashed waves of repulsive force,
creating barrier after barrier to hold them back.
Before Madara became the jinchūriki,
those repulsion fields might have lasted long enough—
but now, the shadows' power shattered them in seconds.
Flash—
Fugaku used the Body Flicker Technique to its utmost,
breaking through the encirclement just in time.
He thrust out a hand toward Madara.
"Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
A silver ring of light erupted,
birthing a massive tornado that howled toward Madara.
Slash!
Madara raised a hand.
His nine orbs joined into a colossal black sword,
which he swung downward.
The raging tornado split cleanly in two and dissipated.
Then, with the same blade in hand,
Madara surged forward and brought the sword down on Fugaku.
Clang!
Fugaku reacted instantly—
his own orbs linked together into a huge emerald-green sword,
meeting Madara's strike head-on.
The two blades collided with a deafening crash,
shockwaves radiating outward and turning the surrounding forest
to dust in an instant.
Flash—
While they were locked in a power struggle,
Madara's four shadows darted in from behind.
Thanks to his 360-degree vision,
Fugaku sensed their approach—
but locked in a deadlock, he had no room to react.
He was in danger.
"Time Domain—!"
His blue eyes flared brilliantly,
activating the unique ability granted by his evolved Rinnegan.
In an instant, within a radius of several hundred meters—
time stopped.
The four shadows froze mid-charge,
Madara himself became a lifeless statue.
No breathing, no blinking—
even thought itself halted.
Flash—
Fugaku pulled back his green sword,
circled behind Madara,
and slashed downward at his back.
Crack—
Just before the blade struck,
the Time Domain shattered.
Barely half a second had passed—
far shorter than when he'd last tested it in the forest.
But then, this time he had frozen
a Six Paths-level being and four powerful clones.
"Not good!"
Time resumed. Madara's awareness snapped back instantly.
Though he lacked Fugaku's 360-degree vision,
his instincts screamed danger from behind.
Too late to dodge or block—
he had only one option left.
"Substitution!"
Using Limbo: Border Jail,
Madara swapped positions with one of his unseen shadow selves.
Slash!
The green sword came down on where he had been—
cleaving the substitute clone,
whose body was tougher than Madara's own,
cleanly in half before it dispersed into nothing.
"Space transfer…? No—
it's not that simple."
Though he'd avoided death,
Madara felt cold sweat bead on his brow.
From his perspective,
Fugaku had vanished from in front of him
and instantly appeared behind him.
If that were all, he could've assumed it was a teleportation jutsu.
But Fugaku had no known space-time ability—
and Madara felt no sign of illusion.
What unsettled him most was this—
by the time he sensed Fugaku vanish,
the man's sword was already mid-swing.
He hadn't even registered the motion before the attack was upon him.
"This… it's as if time itself was stolen.
A temporal dojutsu…"
Madara's expression darkened.
This was no mere space manipulation—
it was a technique that controlled time.
"Less than half a second…
so even with a Six Paths-level target,
the duration is pitifully short."
Fugaku sighed inwardly.
Had it lasted a moment longer,
Madara would never have escaped.
"Still, the chakra and ocular power it consumes is immense.
Good thing my reserves are massive now."
His evolved blue Rinnegan had doubled his ocular power beyond the Tenseigan,
and his chakra reserves—now nearing those of a full Nine-Tails—
were enough to sustain even this devastating ability.
Even so, it was clear:
facing a god required nothing less than mastery over time itself.
PS: Read Advance Chapters at patreon.com/c/Xentronix