"What an… obvious change."
From among the eighteen coffins, an aged man in a pale gray robe stepped out. His chin lifted slightly, cold eyes settling on the lone figure charging toward tens of thousands of shinobi. This withered, elderly man was none other than the reanimated Madara Uchiha.
"But…"
Madara extended his hand and looked down at it, muttering coldly: "This is the Impure World Reincarnation, isn't it?"
From the instant his consciousness revived, he had felt that his body was still the decrepit shell he had loathed.
His gaze shifted from the palm, lined with cracks, like dead bark, back to the figure he could barely make out.
"Was the plan changed, or did you act on your own? To dare 'revive' me with this jutsu…" Madara's aged voice was as calm as still water, betraying no emotion.
At the moment of his return to the world, his blood should have boiled, his body brimming with boundless strength, his chakra overflowing with vitality. Instead, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself trapped in a decrepit body.
What should have been his, wasn't. He should have been furious. But he wasn't.
His lifeless eyes fixed coldly on Ye Zi's back. Then, with a single set of hand seals, he dispelled the Edo Tensei and freed himself from Orochimaru's control.
He had died of old age long ago. Only by clinging to the Ten Tails' husk, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, had he survived a little longer. And now, reanimated, he was restored at the very brink of death.
This decrepit form was useless in battle. But Edo Tensei erased many concerns: he could fight without fear of death, and his chakra was infinite.
Yet what he hated most was this powerless, aged body.
Breaking free of Orochimaru's control before the man could react, Madara sat cross-legged on the ground, coldly watching ahead.
Ye Zi owed him an explanation, but White Zetsu would have to provide it.
Folding his arms, he said faintly, "Explain to me in detail why this has happened. Don't hurry, I have all the time in the world."
The ground beside him swelled and rose, forming into a White Zetsu clone. Madara's words were clearly meant for him.
"This is just a clone. My true body is with Ye Zi. The Edo Tensei is being controlled by Orochimaru, one of Ye Zi's partners. Now isn't the right time to explain," the clone said.
Madara glanced sideways at the coffins still standing. From the moment his consciousness revived, he had sensed the presence of Hashirama's cells in the summoner. That alone had let him break free immediately. Without that loophole, at his current strength, he might not have been able to resist Orochimaru's control.
Even so, though the plan had gone awry, things were… becoming interesting.
Fixing his gaze on one coffin in particular, Madara's withered face cracked into a terrifying grin. Someone else's consciousness had awakened, and he felt it.
"Then I'll wait for your true body to come explain. For now… I won't let an old friend see me like this."
His eyes sharpened like blades. He pressed his palm to the Zetsu clone.
"Your true body only left a tenth of your chakra here? Hmph. Barely useful."
His dull eyes suddenly flared, turning into the Rinnegan.
"But still not enough."
At once, the Zetsu clone's form liquefied and was drawn into Madara's hand. As he absorbed its chakra, his decrepit body transformed, becoming young again.
After draining most of White Zetsu's chakra, Madara clenched and opened his fist several times before stopping.
"The drained chakra changes nothing, it's only superficial. So this is the limit of Edo Tensei…" Madara thought silently. The result wasn't ideal, but he wasn't in a rush.
Now free from Edo Tensei's control, he had time. First, he would grasp the situation. Then, he would decide what to do. Until then…
Cross-legged, with one elbow on his knee and his cheek resting against his palm, Madara tilted his head slightly, watching coldly as more Edo Tensei emerged from the coffins.
This time, he paid no attention to Ye Zi, his eyes were on one of the other reanimated shinobi.
Far from the battlefield, inside a cavern, Orochimaru sat controlling the Edo Tensei.
Above, a crack in the ceiling let in sunlight, the cave's only source of light.
When Madara broke Edo Tensei, Orochimaru's face darkened. It had caught him completely off guard.
He had taken precautions against Tobirama, its inventor, but not against Uchiha Madara. He had never imagined Madara would know how to break the jutsu.
"I was careless."
Orochimaru frowned deeply. He didn't know what impact this would have on Ye Zi's plan. All he could do was watch for now. Once Ye Zi summoned more Edo Tensei, he would have to pass on this information.
The battlefield shifted with every heartbeat.
Kimimaro clashed with Guy. Sakumo Hatake stopped Kakashi.
And Ye Zi, closing the distance in just a few breaths, knew nothing of what had happened behind him without Sage Mode active. Alone, he plunged into the ranks of ten thousand enemies.
"He dares charge us alone?"
"Stop him!"
Shaken as they were by the reanimated shinobi, the Allied troops had no time to think. Seeing Ye Zi rush in, they attacked at once, forgetting even Guy and Kakashi.
But Ye Zi had no intention of throwing himself recklessly into danger.
Boom, boom, boom!
Pale figures burst from the ground beneath the Alliance's feet, bypassing the Sensor Division, and launched sudden attacks.
The clones weren't strong, but ambushes were their specialty. They couldn't bypass barriers, but they could evade sensors.
Nearly ten thousand clones erupted at once, throwing the Allied ranks into chaos. Still, many shinobi pressed their attacks on Ye Zi.
The first division specialized in close combat. Their methods of attack were naturally taijutsu and kenjutsu!
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Currently on Chapter 620 - Archenemies