The next second, the flames split apart.
Uchiha Madara, wearing a battle robe, leapt behind Rei under the cover of fire.
The war fan in his hand swung fiercely once again.
But this time, it wasn't flames that emerged—but razor-sharp wind blades.
However, against Rei, who possessed Observation Haki, all of Madara's feints and diversions were useless.
Rei swiftly retreated.
The sickle-shaped wind blades slashed the ground, tearing it into jagged fragments.
Madara's Sharingan reflected Rei's silhouette weaving through the sea of flames, his gaze cold and deadly.
The Uchiha legend was brimming with killing intent toward Rei—the man who had disrupted his plans.
"White Zetsu was right… His perception ability is frighteningly strong."
Hearing Madara's words, Rei smiled calmly and said:
"Should I thank you for the compliment?"
With that, his foot tapped lightly against the scorched ground.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished, leaving only scattered motes of golden light.
To others, Rei's speed was completely undetectable—even Madara's Sharingan struggled to keep up.
His eyes darted, trying to track Rei's movement.
Suddenly, countless golden light particles appeared above Madara.
"Have you ever been kicked by the speed of light?"
Rei's Hokage-style robe billowed as he spun through the air, bringing one leg crashing down like a battle axe!
Faced with this overwhelming attack, Madara didn't dare to be careless. He raised his war fan to block it.
A terrifying force exploded from Rei's foot, but much of its power was absorbed and redirected by the fan.
Cracks spiderwebbed beneath Madara's feet from the sheer impact.
While holding the fan with one hand, Madara quickly formed a hand seal with the other.
He opened his mouth toward Rei.
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Jutsu!"
A surge of roaring flames shot across the fan, taking the form of a massive, ferocious fire dragon. It opened its maw wide and lunged at Rei.
"Impressive. The legendary ninja truly lives up to the stories."
This fire dragon was easily ten times the size of one cast by a typical shinobi.
Facing the blazing beast, Rei calmly extended a hand.
Golden particles materialized in the air and quickly formed a glowing dome around him.
The dragon bit down, slamming into Rei and the mountainside behind him.
BOOM!
The mountain, once solid rock, was reduced to rubble. The flames triggered a violent explosion.
Nearby rocks melted into rivers of magma from the extreme heat.
Madara narrowed his eyes and swept away the thick smoke with the flame-coated war fan passed down through the Uchiha clan.
"Cough, cough, cough…"
Rei's voice echoed out from the smoke.
"Nice fan you've got there, huh?"
His gaze locked onto the off-white fan in Madara's hand.
If he remembered correctly, that fan was made from the husk of the Divine Tree.
It had the ability to control fire and repel physical force.
Combined with the Uchiha clan's secret techniques, even a Tailed Beast Bomb could be deflected.
It was no exaggeration to say that the tailed beasts—feared by ordinary shinobi—were nothing more than overgrown pets in the eyes of true powerhouses.
Rei rubbed his shoulder and slowly brought his hands together, his eyes turning sharp.
"As expected of a legend. I guess I'll need to get serious."
Natural energy surged around him, devoured by his body.
Dark markings appeared near his eyes—two black shadows, signifying Sage Mode.
Madara's brow furrowed.
As Hashirama's former friend, he immediately recognized the transformation.
"This Sage Mode… Is it from the Wet Bone Forest?"
he muttered to himself.
Rei didn't answer.
He slowly opened his hands wide.
The space behind him twisted.
Countless weapons forged from golden light emerged behind him like a divine arsenal.
"Sage Art: Gate of the King's Treasury!"
Against someone like Uchiha Madara, Rei went all out from the start.
Tens of thousands of light-forged weapons surged forth like a raging torrent.
"A spell made of natural energy, chakra… and something else? Fascinating."
Madara's voice brimmed with the confidence of a true villain.
As the golden torrent approached, he infused his fan with chakra, igniting a pale blue flame.
"Uchiha Reflection!"
The sheer density of the incoming weapons was overwhelming.
In an instant, hundreds of weapons clashed against the round fan.
Upon contact with the chakra-laced fan, the weapons shrank—reduced to one-third their original size.
But they didn't vanish entirely.
Seeing this, Rei raised an eyebrow in surprise.
He quickly understood the cause.
The fan could absorb chakra-based ninjutsu and convert the energy into wind-based counterattacks.
But Rei's Sage Art wasn't normal ninjutsu—it fused natural energy, chakra, and Devil Fruit power.
The fan couldn't absorb everything, which is why the weapons were diminished but not nullified.
Madara caught on instantly.
He increased his chakra output and slammed the fan downward.
The absorbed chakra transformed into a raging storm, blasting toward the golden downpour.
Rei responded in kind, increasing his own output.
More golden blades formed behind him.
Under this monstrous barrage, the fan in Madara's hand began to tremble violently, groaning under the strain.
"Tch… Even this fan can't keep up with your strange technique?"
Madara muttered softly—then gave up resisting.
The torrent of golden weapons swallowed him whole, forming a beam of divine light that pierced straight through the mountain behind him.
Minato, Kakashi, and the others had just left the battlefield.
They heard the earth crying out.
The huge mountain was blasted open by Simu's attack, leaving a massive hole.
Countless lightsabers flew out, kicking up clouds of smoke and dust.
The fragile ground quickly shattered under the slash of those lightsabers, turning to dust along with the broken rocks of the mountain.
Watching this scene, Kakashi whispered,
"Is this the true strength of the teacher?"
Although they knew their teacher was one of the strongest in the ninja world,
they had never seen Simu unleash his full power before.
So this sight was still shocking.
Obito was even more dissatisfied.
"I knew Simu was hiding something. There must be many things he never taught us!"
Hearing this, Minato smiled wryly,
but soon his expression turned serious.
Among the swirling smoke and dust, blue Chakra soared into the sky.
"It's really scary, these young people," Uchiha Madara said lightly.
At this moment, he was wrapped in a blue skeleton made of Chakra.
It was called a skeleton, but it was actually just the spine and ribs,
though large enough to completely cover Uchiha Madara's entire body.
This Chakra skeleton blocked countless weapons condensed by Simu.
Simu's figure stepped out of the broken mountain.
"I should be the one saying this kind of admiration. It's unbelievable that an old man like you can still keep such strength."
One hand was in his pocket, a sword in the other.
Even facing a legendary enemy like Uchiha Madara, Simu remained casual.
"And that thing should be called Susanoo."
Simu said, looking at the skeleton enveloping Uchiha Madara.
"I didn't expect you to know so much."
Uchiha Madara said coldly.
Although his Mangekyō Sharingan had evolved into Rinnegan, Susanoo's power still existed.
Suddenly, Uchiha Madara's Sharingan flicked to the left.
Sure enough, the same sleeper figure appeared instantly.
His calf flashed with light as he landed heavily with his foot.
"Boom!"
A ripple spread out from the blue skeleton.
Immediately after, terrible force slammed into Susanoo.
Uchiha Madara was thrown over 20 meters into the air but still landed firmly.
However, cracks appeared on the rib that Simu had kicked earlier.
Uchiha Madara looked at Simu with surprise.
Though this was only the first stage of Susanoo,
being kicked like that was beyond his expectations.
But that was fine.
If Simu didn't have this kind of strength, he wouldn't be worthy as an opponent.
The cracks on the rib quickly healed, repaired by Chakra.
"It's a pity. It seems this level of attack isn't enough to threaten you."
Simu said with some regret.
He shook his hand, and the lightsaber disappeared from his palm in an instant.
"To deal with a rough-skinned and thick-skinned guy like you, you really have to be cunning."
Suddenly, Simu's body swelled.
Turquoise scales covered his seven-meter-tall form like armor.
Two dragon horns crowned his head, majestic and towering over the normal-height Uchiha Madara.
"Have you finally developed this ability?"
Uchiha Madara showed no surprise.
After all, he had been monitoring the world with White Zetsu for more than ten years.
After Simu appeared, Uchiha Madara understood the various abilities he displayed—
though only through White Zetsu's reports.
Seeing it live was a different matter.
Simu smiled at Uchiha Madara, showing fierce sharp teeth.
"Ready?"
Eight fast claws quietly appeared in Simu's hands.
His thick claws clenched the mace like iron tongs.
In the next moment, the same sleeper appeared before Uchiha Madara again.
"Even with such a huge body, is there no loss of speed?"
Uchiha Madara's expression finally shifted.
No matter how he looked at it, this monster was completely different from before.
Lightning coiled around each fang.
"Xianshu · Thunderbolt Eight Trigrams!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to [Jason Zuckor] for joining my Patreon page!🎉Your support means the world to me. 🙏
You can visit my Patreon page:
Patreon.com/PhoeniXcel
There are 20+ advanced chapters available for you to read.
Your support would be greatly appreciated.
Check out my new Marvel fanfic!
[Marvel: Rise of Heroes]