After bantering with Rasa, Masashi turned his gaze to Ōnoki.
Just one look, and he knew, the old man had no intention of leaving.
In the original timeline, he fought Madara with his life. In this timeline, he planned to do the same with Masashi.
He had been Tsuchikage for decades, a lifetime of battles. Dying in Konoha today would still count as a warrior's death, an honorable curtain call.
"You killed Yagura, didn't you?" Ōnoki asked. "You probably wiped out the Kiri ninjas too, right?"
"Yeah," Masashi nodded. "For him, that's probably the best ending. He rose to power as a war hero and died as Mizukage for his village. That's a good story. Even though we were enemies, we can all understand that much."
"Only you Uchiha would say something like that," Ōnoki laughed. "But killing me won't be so easy. Konoha will have to pay a price."
"You're the Tsuchikage. Even if we have to pay a price, keeping you here is worth it."
"In the end, you couldn't hold back after all. Looks like what Madara couldn't do back then... you're going to finish today." Ōnoki gritted his teeth. "Then let the Uchiha see the resolve of Iwa!"
As he finished speaking, a cube had already formed in his hand. The "core" of Dust Release was extremely stable within its cubic barrier, glowing faintly with energy.
In the next moment, the cube suddenly elongated like a golden staff and slammed down.
In times like these, who's got the luxury for "resolve," Ōnoki?
Masashi raised a hand. A chakra membrane appeared, swallowing part of the Dust Release barrier.
Seeing his technique disrupted, Ōnoki immediately switched the Dust Release core into explosion mode.
To the onlookers, an intense white light erupted where the three of them stood, followed by a massive shockwave.
When the dust settled, Masashi hadn't moved. The shockwave was blocked completely by his tangible chakra membrane.
Different users, different forms of the Six Paths' abilities.
Take the Preta Path: Nagato, who constantly emitted chakra, absorbed his enemies' chakra to restore his own.
Madara, on the other hand, formed a chakra shield in front of him called the Blocking Technique Absorption Seal, which neutralized all ninjutsu while also blocking the secondary effects.
This technique was a countermeasure to the base form of the Preta Path, whose weakness was its inability to nullify natural phenomena caused by jutsu.
Masashi used a similar concept to Madara's.
The membrane wasn't as durable as a full shield, but it enhanced sensory perception, preventing sneak attacks. It was also excellent for absorbing shockwaves and had superior shape-shifting capabilities.
"Ōnoki, you seem quite familiar with the Preta Path's ability," Masashi observed. "Didn't look like you wanted the Kumo ninja to know just now. What do you think, Kazekage-sama?"
"...I'm gonna go... over there."
Rasa didn't want to hang around Masashi. The guy gave off zero sense of safety. Hopping onto a sand platform, he quickly flew off to help his subordinates.
"This kind of provocation is meaningless," Ōnoki replied coldly, ignoring Rasa's departure.
The ground beneath Masashi suddenly rose up.
A square stone pillar launched Masashi into the air, where several Dust Release cubes were already lying in wait, prepped by Ōnoki in secret.
However...
"Times have changed, Ōnoki."
The chakra membrane expanded outward. The Dust Release techniques hovering mid-air were neutralized before they could activate, dissolving like the Kiri ninjas who were caught in the attack earlier.
In the long history of the shinobi world, battles were always complicated. Most jutsu weren't powerful individually; they relied on variety and deception. It was less about raw strength and more about a battle of wits.
The best representatives of this were Hiruzen and his father, Sasuke.
But ever since Hashirama and Madara, that era had ended. Power had overwhelmed technique. Ninja combat had shifted from complex strategies to brute force.
If someone couldn't be killed no matter how hard you tried, healed instantly, and could reshape the battlefield with a flick of the wrist, there was no point in traditional tactics.
When those two powerhouses died, the shinobi world briefly returned to its former "glory," and the tech-heads got a short moment in the sun.
But once Nagato stepped onto the stage, the wheels of the new era couldn't be stopped.
Yagura, in an age without gods, was a top-tier elite. But Masashi had killed him effortlessly.
The moment he whipped his weapon at him, he already knew, even without the Rinnegan, just with the Sharingan alone, Yagura stood no chance.
So Masashi confidently used him to draw out and wipe out the bulk of the invading Kiri forces.
Now, armed with the Rinnegan and able to enter Sage Mode at will, he had become a literal God of War. Unless someone could surpass him in either Yin or Yang Release, they posed no threat to him.
The Dust Release developed by the Second Tsuchikage was undoubtedly a top-tier destructive force in today's shinobi world. But its greatest, perhaps only, natural counter just happened to be the Preta Path of the Rinnegan.
That was, as long as it wasn't the basic version, like what Nagato used without further development.
"Is this the era of the Uchiha?"
As the Moving Earth Core raised both of them to the same height, the two stood eye to eye. Ōnoki could clearly see those eyes.
"So from now on, you plan to act like direct descendants of the Sage of Six Paths? You're even more arrogant than Madara!"
"You're mistaken. Technically, most ninja clans are descendants of the Sage of Six Paths. Otherwise, where do you think all these Yin and Yang Release secret techniques came from? Intermarriage began in the era of Ninshū and by the Warring States period, it was too widespread to count. The Uchiha and Senju clan just happen to be a little closer in bloodline." Masashi's gaze carried a trace of pity. "When I say the times have changed, I mean ninja battles aren't what they used to be. Tactics and strategies? They barely matter anymore. The strong don't need them."
After absorbing the Dust Release, Masashi's chakra membrane continued to expand.
Seeing this, Ōnoki tried to escape. From the very start, he hadn't used a shadow clone, he knew it would be a waste of his already limited chakra.
But like Yagura, he had overestimated himself. He should never have entered Masashi's line of sight, and certainly should have distanced himself earlier.
Masashi was now on a completely different level. To him, Ōnoki and Yagura were basically the same. But to Ōnoki, there was still a clear difference between Masashi and Nagato.
The times had changed. The era of complex ninjutsu was ending, the age of pure chakra clashes had begun.
Ōnoki's movement didn't escape his notice, and Masashi was faster.
Adamantine Sealing Chains burst from his left hand, moving even quicker than Ōnoki's acceleration. They wrapped around him in an instant. In that moment, the chakra membrane enveloped Ōnoki.
Ōnoki's chakra surged wildly, and his Light-Weight Rock Technique was forcibly cancelled as his chakra was siphoned.
But he didn't fall.
Inside the chakra membrane was pure, dense chakra, it held him up, and kept draining his energy. He didn't even need to mold it. The jutsu would forcefully use chakra from his stamina.
Back in the Land of Rain, he had faced something similar when fighting that Pain, but even that version hadn't had this kind of chakra membrane.
"Even at your age, you have this much chakra," Masashi praised. "Which means... I really can't let you leave."
Despite his old age, Ōnoki had more chakra than many of today's elite ninjas.
"Do you intend to wipe us out and dominate the shinobi world?"
Having lost a vast amount of chakra, Ōnoki was weakening rapidly. He had never imagined that someone other than Madara could make him feel like this again.
That hopelessness and helplessness that came from being utterly outmatched.
It had been so many years, he'd nearly forgotten what that felt like.
"Why would I do something so thankless?" Masashi shook his head. "You misunderstood from the start. But that's not your fault. The two villages will sign a new treaty... but for today, for peace, please take your final bow."
He pulled Ōnoki toward him with his left hand.
On his right, the flame sword of Kagutsuchi had already formed.
It pierced Ōnoki's chest. The power of the flame instantly obliterated his heart.
In his eyes, the light of life was fading, but until the end, he never took his gaze off his enemy.
Masashi felt a pang of regret, but there was no helping it.
He wasn't the "hot-blooded protagonist" type. He wasn't like Naruto in the original timeline, or Gaara after discovering the power of love, he couldn't "talk-no-jutsu" this Tsuchikage into submission.
Besides, these people were already relics of a past era. In terms of combat value, they were practically irrelevant in the looming final battle. When the time came, their only real use would be to keep their villages from dragging the alliance down, maybe help fight off the White Zetsu army.
There were only two ways to keep these villages in line: Talk them down... or beat them down.
Crude, but effective.
He never believed in that happy-ending timeline. That was just another cycle.
He didn't plan to go full Madara and hang everyone from the Tree in a "peace through total obliteration" approach. But if limited violence could suppress limitless violence, that was the better path.
---
Beneath the rubble of Konoha's western wall, the ninjas were still locked in fierce combat, but in one particular area, everyone had stopped fighting.
They were all staring at the sky.
Ōnoki was floating in mid-air, his body sustained by the Light-Weight Rock Technique cast by Masashi.
There was no look of regret on the old man's face, instead, it seemed like he had made peace with it.
Masashi hadn't even left a trace of blood on him.
Rasa silently stared at the figure he'd considered his top rival since youth, someone he had chased all his life. Even though he had betrayed Iwa for the sake of maximizing Suna's interests, now that Ōnoki was dead, he didn't feel happy.
Could Suna really protect itself, standing before a Konoha that now wielded such overwhelming power?
"Dad!" Kitsuchi stared in disbelief as Ōnoki was so simply killed with a single sword strike from Masashi.
It was so effortless that it felt unreal.
The Third Tsuchikage, the man who led Iwa for the longest time and brought it to its peak, who had his fair share of flaws, but was undeniably the village's strongest ninja... just died, just like that?
"Oh, it's you." Masashi noticed him. "So you came too. Would've been great if you hadn't."
Kitsuchi didn't respond. He stepped out from the ranks.
From Masashi's arrival to his slaying of Ōnoki, the power he displayed was completely overwhelming, none of the ninjas present could even hope to challenge him.
Ninjutsu was useless against him. Even Dust Release didn't work.
The wide trench he'd casually carved into the earth with a wave of his hand remained, no intact bodies inside.
He descended, bringing Ōnoki's body with him.
He lowered into the area where the Iwa ninjas were gathered, waved his hand, and Ōnoki's body gently floated to the ground, landing before them.
"Tsuchikage-sama…"
"How could this happen?!"
Compared to the Iwa ninjas' shock and horror, Kitsuchi simply knelt by his father's corpse, staring at the familiar face he had seen every day for decades.
Even as an enemy, Masashi preserved Iwa's dignity.
Just like how Ōnoki once returned the body of the Third Raikage to Kumo.
"Somewhere else?" Kitsuchi asked Masashi.
Masashi glanced at the surrounding Iwa ninjas, then at the Konoha ninjas still within visible range behind them, and nodded in agreement.
The Iwa ninjas parted to form a path. Masashi and Kitsuchi walked together in the opposite direction of Konoha's forces.
They entered the vast Konoha forest.
When they stopped, Kitsuchi formed hand seals. The ground beneath them rose, followed by more stone pillars sprouting upward.
Masashi didn't interfere, letting him continue his jutsu.
The duration of the Rinnegan's abilities depended on his chakra and how long he could withstand the chakra of Matatabi. He still had time.
Kitsuchi, though never officially a Kage, was one of the finest ninja of the old era, already operating at a Kage-level standard.
He deserved basic respect.
The stone pillars connected where they stood, gradually forming a large enough platform.
Masashi stomped on it, it was solid.
From up on the platform, they could see the collapsed western wall of Konoha in the distance, and the ninja still fighting around it. From this height, they looked like ants scattered on the ground.
No doubt, many people were watching this place now.
"Let's settle this in a fight to the death," Kitsuchi said calmly.
"Alright." Masashi turned around.
Crackling sounds rang out, stone gravel was gathering around Kitsuchi's right arm.
Kitsuchi was famous in Iwa for his iron-fisted strength and mastery over the earth, everything he learned came from Ōnoki. The difference was, Ōnoki's old body could no longer withstand this kind of combat, which turned him into a floating old man.
But in his youth, he was a fierce brawler who carved paths with massive earth jutsu and pummeled enemies with stone fists.
Kitsuchi was the inheritor of Ōnoki's Earth Release Taijutsu.
Earth Release techniques, which draw upon natural stone and soil, were one of the few jutsu types relatively unaffected by the Preta Path.
Kitsuchi charged.
His burly frame wasn't sluggish at all. His eyes were filled with determination, he no longer cared for his life.
Taijutsu, huh… It's been a while since I fought like this.
Masashi took a stance.
As the stone fist came hurtling toward him and their eyes met, he saw no hatred in Kitsuchi's gaze, contrary to what he'd expected.
Enhanced by Earth Spear, he threw a monstrous punch empowered by Senju-level strength.
He gave Kitsuchi full respect, he didn't use Lightning Release Taijutsu, which would have had a natural advantage.
The two fists collided, no tricks, just brute force.
Stone shattered beneath Masashi's feet, causing him to sink into the ground.
And Kitsuchi, who had forced that "cost" upon him, was sent flying by a single punch. The stone armor on his arm crumbled upon impact, revealing a mangled, bloody hand. He didn't utter a word, he slid backwards across the stone platform, carving two furrows with his feet.
Blood marked the path between them.
"There was no hatred in your punch," Masashi said, withdrawing his fist and stepping out of the crater with a soft push.
"I killed your father, and you don't even hate me?"
Kitsuchi didn't respond. He ignored his nearly useless right arm, looked at Masashi, and asked, "Aren't you most skilled at ninjutsu?"
"Yeah, ninjutsu is what I'm best at," Masashi nodded. "But that came after I mastered taijutsu."
Here's a joke: in his life as Muzo, his biggest output probably came from taijutsu.
The Eight Gates, the pinnacle of taijutsu in this era, weren't the most powerful in the Warring States period.
After all, it was a technique that heavily depends on talent and long-term training, especially the latter.
Duy trained day in and day out for over twenty years through the chaos between the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars. When he opened even just one of the Eight Gates, he nearly wiped out the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
But the Warring States taijutsu users, even those who opened all Eight Gates, might not have been stronger than Guy opening just five.
It was only in this relatively peaceful era of ninja villages, where someone like Guy could use decades of undisturbed training to push the Eight Gates to a level where he could battle Six Paths Madara, that the technique became truly terrifying.
So in the Warring States period, the most famous taijutsu wasn't the Eight Gates.
Back then, everyone was basically a taijutsu user. In that world, a Masashi naturally had his own unique path in taijutsu.
So yes, he truly did master taijutsu before ninjutsu.
He wasn't lying to Kitsuchi. And from Masashi's eyes, Kitsuchi could see sincerity. They were once friends. Masashi wouldn't lie to him about something like this.
"I see." He nodded in understanding.
He had a daughter already in adulthood, and he was a high-ranking leader in Iwa. He clearly understood how far the gap in power had become, he wasn't the kind of person to say, "I don't believe it! You're lying! I won't lose! As long as I try, I can win!"
He was way past that phase of life.
Thinking back over this entire plan, he realized, his stubborn old man probably never intended to make it back alive.
Ōnoki had been Tsuchikage for too long. As long as he lived, Iwa would never accept anyone else as Tsuchikage.
That old man… he would never accept something like a quiet retirement or dying in bed…
"Masashi, the future belongs to your kind now."
"Believe it or not, Kitsuchi, there'll be many more like me in the future."
"That's… not exactly comforting." Kitsuchi half-crouched, his immobile right arm hanging loosely to the ground.
"Surrender. Iwa still needs you," said Masashi.
He didn't want Kitsuchi to die here. The guy was one of the very few Iwa leaders who consistently advocated for friendly relations with Konoha. He didn't have that deep-rooted wariness and distrust of Konoha like Ōnoki did.
"No need. For the village, our deaths might lead to something better." Kitsuchi replied. "By the way, what will you do to Iwa?"
"What's the point of dying here?" Masashi asked. "You know this means you'll lose the war for sure, right?"
"Masashi. Just answer me."
"A treaty. Iwa's enemy isn't Konoha. The real enemy has been watching all of us, every village, for a long time." Masashi replied. "But only after we win the battlefield."
"What kind of enemy? Even someone as strong as you can't deal with them?"
"Would you believe me if I told you that challenging him now would just be suicide?"
Forget about slapping around a Complete Body Susanoo-wielding Rinnegan user, he could barely go even with an Edo Tensei Madara.
"Understood. If such an enemy really shows up, Iwa will stand with you. You can count on that."
"I believe you," Masashi nodded. "But are you really choosing to die here? Don't you want to see what's coming?"
"Do you know why I built this thing?" Kitsuchi placed his left hand on the ground below them. "I won't let someone above me choose to forgive me. If you're so confident, then take this head-on, Masashi."
With a loud boom, the massive stone platform shattered.
They dropped together. Through the narrow slit of light pouring in from the gap above, Masashi saw Kitsuchi form a hand seal.
Suddenly, Masashi's body was coated in a thick layer of sticky earth that instantly became incredibly heavy.
So that's how the Added-Weight Rock Technique works…
Masashi memorized the technique.
Kitsuchi, using just one hand, finished a second jutsu.
The stone walls on both sides began closing in with a loud crushing sound from the outside.
Masashi understood his plan.
Everything had led to this moment, Kitsuchi used the surrounding stone as insulation to unleash a massive Sandwich Technique from the outside.
And this… this was exactly what Masashi had been waiting for.
Kitsuchi had made up his mind. That meant Masashi's task now was to plunge Iwa into complete and undeniable despair.
"Goodbye, Kitsuchi."
The seal markings fully opened. Seemingly infinite chakra, converted through the Preta Path, poured into the jutsu he was about to unleash.
Ultra: Shinra Tensei!