Night fell, and the battle between the Five Kage and Edo Tensei Madara was truly miserable. Except for Tsunade, everyone was carrying wounds, some light, some heavy.
"Damn it, Hokage, where is the reinforcements you promised? Why haven't they arrived yet?"
After narrowly dodging the Susanoo slash, even the reckless Raikage knew that if the fight continued like this, they would likely be wiped out by Edo Tensei Madara.
"Hold on a little longer, reinforcements are coming soon."
It was almost eight o'clock. Based on Minato and the others crossing the border, they still needed about half an hour to hold out.
"I'm not trying to crush my own spirit or boost others' morale. I just want to know if these reinforcements can really beat Madara."
Wiping blood from her mouth, Mei Terumi didn't have much hope for the reinforcements.
Even if more ninjas like Minato or Jiraiya showed up, what would it matter?
In front of such overwhelming power, numbers mean nothing.
It wasn't surprising Mei felt this way.
During these hours of delaying, the Five Kage had already given their all.
But even so, Edo Tensei Madara remained unharmed; not even his Edo Tensei body was scratched.
Instead, Madara kept using different tricks—Wood Style, Susanoo, Wood Style clones combined with Susanoo.
The fact they were still holding out was entirely thanks to Tsunade healing them with all her strength.
"We are the Five Kage. For the peace of the ninja world, even if the chances of winning this battle are slim, we must fight with everything we have."
"The Hokage is right. For the peace of the ninja world, and for the dignity of being the kage, even if it means death, we must stop Uchiha Madara."
With the cheers and support from Tsunade and Raikage A, Onoki, Mei Terumi, and Gaara recovered back to how they were before the battle started.
"We must stop Uchiha Madara!"
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique."
As Onoki used Dust Release, a new round of battle officially began.
But at this moment, Edo Madara didn't want to play anymore.
After dodging the Dust Release, Madara controlled his Perfect Susanoo and planned to give the Five Kage a big attack.
Right then, Edo Madara felt something wrong with his Edo body.
"Is it the user who has a problem?"
The Susanoo faded away, and Uchiha Madara knew that the problem should be with Kabuto, the one who performed the Edo Tensei technique.
In this situation, four of the Five Kage relaxed immediately.
Only Tsunade knew that canceling Edo Tensei wouldn't solve the problem with Uchiha Madara.
Who would have thought, Madara could free himself from Edo Tensei's control?
"It's not time to relax yet. Madara can remove Edo Tensei's control by himself."
Tsunade's loud warning shocked the other four Kage.
Before they could reply, Madara smiled and said, "Among you Five Kage, you, the Hokage, have the most insight. No wonder you are Hashirama's granddaughter.
By the way, if you survive, remember to tell the caster that forbidden techniques should not be used recklessly."
After saying this, Uchiha Madara formed the reverse seal for Edo Tensei.
"Edo Tensei Release."
The Five Kage failed.
After releasing Edo Tensei's control, Madara gave them no chance and immediately used Naraka Path to take away their fighting ability.
He didn't even check if the Five Kage were dead. He headed straight to another battlefield.
There, the Eight-Tails was not yet absorbed and the tool Obito was still waiting.
"Summoning Technique"
After Madara left, Tsunade, badly injured and lying on the ground, summoned a slug to go treat the other Four Kage.
"Tsunade-sama, what about you?"
"I'm okay. Go help them first."
"Yes."
Compared to the original story where she was cut off early, Tsunade was definitely in better shape now.
Because she stayed in the back during the fight supporting others, her chakra wasn't drained as much as in the original.
When Uchiha Madara made his final strike, she used the Strength of a Hundred Seal Technique to defend with all her might, only breaking a few ribs and both legs.
This level of injury wasn't fatal.
With the Strength of a Hundred Seal active, her cells could recover on their own, so she didn't need much help from the slugs.
But the other Four Kage were not so lucky; one by one, they were lying on the ground, barely alive.
If they didn't get treated quickly, most of them would probably die.
"I wonder if Second Grandpa can make it in time?"
She sighed.
For this battle, Tsunade felt that the Five Kage had already done their best.
If she wasn't worried that things wouldn't play out like in the video replay, she would have just given up.
Originally, she wanted to buy time until Tobirama Senju arrived with reinforcements to kill Edo Madara early, so Kaguya Ōtsutsuki wouldn't have to appear.
But things didn't go as planned, and she didn't manage to hold out until the reinforcements came.
After this, whether it was the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki Madara or Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, neither was an easy opponent.
A slow step means falling behind at every step.
One moment, they were still fighting the normal Edo Madara.
The next moment, they might have to face the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki Madara.
Though both were the same person, their power levels were worlds apart.
"I hope Second Grandpa doesn't come here now, or else he'll just get beaten by the enemy."
When Edo Tensei Madara arrived at another battlefield, Obito had already become an incomplete Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.
Edo Tensei Madara didn't really care about that.
He slightly sensed the chakra on the battlefield and realized Senju Hashirama had also appeared here.
So, instead of going after Six Path Obito, he came to Edo Tensei Hashirama, who was stuck in the ground with several black rods.
"Hashirama, you really look pitiful."
"Hahaha, sorry you have to see me in such a mess now."
Edo Tensei Hashirama didn't blame Madara, he just gave a wry smile.
"You're still the same as always, never understanding what's really important."
Madara sneered.
Facing this kind of Hashirama, he had no intention to fight.
"Hey Madara, can you stop him?"
"Stop Obito?"
"Yes."
"Sorry Hashirama, he's my most important piece."
After refusing Edo Tensei Hashirama, Madara just sat beside him, watching Six Paths Obito fight the Allied Shinobi Forces.
He saw with his own eyes Obito showing great power.
He also witnessed Obito falling from his throne because of the united effort of the Allied Shinobi.
"As expected, even becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, Obito is still such a failure."
At this moment, Black Zetsu came over to Madara's side and immediately started roasting Obito.
"If he wasn't useless, how could I look so brilliant and mighty?"
Maybe because he was in a good mood, Madara, who rarely joked, started joking too.
"Haha~ Next up should be me."
Leaving the Edo Hashirama behind, Madara quickly approached Obito.
Taking advantage of Obito being out of the Jinchuriki state, his body extremely weak.
He gave Black Zetsu a knowing look.
Black Zetsu instantly understood and directly possessed Obito's body, then controlled him, using the Rinnegan's exclusive dojutsu.
"Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life"
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