Chapter 300: Is the Gap Really This Big?
Sensing the situation turning against them, Uchiha Madara and Ōtsutsuki Isshiki actually chose to retreat together.
But of course, Uchiha Dali wasn't about to let them slip away so easily. Seeing the spatial passage created by the Yomotsu Hirasaka about to close, he flickered forward and darted in as well.
Passing through the tunnel, he emerged again above a vast stretch of mountains cloaked in greenery.
Uchiha Madara and Ōtsutsuki Isshiki were fleeing at incredible speed, like a raging storm. In just moments, they had already reached the horizon.
"Do you think you can escape?"
Uchiha Dali snorted coldly and gave chase.
His advanced Flying Thunder God technique allowed him to ignore spatial distance, requiring no special markers to activate.
In just the blink of an eye, he had already cut ahead, appearing before Uchiha Madara and Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
Realizing they couldn't shake him off, the two were forced to stop.
"This guy is getting harder and harder to deal with…" Ōtsutsuki Isshiki muttered to himself.
"Why insist on standing against us? What good does it do you?" Uchiha Madara asked, frowning at Uchiha Dali.
"Because I feel like it."
That was Uchiha Dali's answer.
Clearly, not what they wanted to hear.
At that moment, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki tried to tempt him instead. "Why not join us? With you on our side, the three of us could sweep across the entire universe, seizing every chakra fruit for ourselves.
Then together, we could evolve into the ultimate gods."
He spread his arms wide, painting a vision of the future.
Uchiha Madara stayed silent, carefully watching for Uchiha Dali's reaction.
But it was obvious that they had failed to sway him.
Uchiha Dali didn't even bother acknowledging Isshiki's words. He simply turned his gaze to Madara. "The Ten Tails doesn't belong to you. Hand it over."
As he spoke, he reached his hand out toward Madara.
Then he shifted his eyes toward Ōtsutsuki Isshiki. "As for you… we'll settle our score slowly."
Madara's reply was immediate.
"The Ten Tails was left behind by the Sage of Six Paths. Its true origin lies with Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, our Uchiha ancestor. By rights, the Ten Tails belongs to the Uchiha clan."
"Well said. The Ten Tails should be the shared property of the entire Uchiha clan, not yours alone. In fact, by your own reasoning, parts of it should belong to the Hyūga and every family that descends from the Sage of Six Paths."
"So—hand it over."
Uchiha Dali once again extended his palm.
"In your dreams."
Madara paused only a second before answering firmly.
Uchiha Dali wasted no words. With a gesture, thirty-five clones appeared around him.
In another instant, they flickered into position, surrounding both Madara and Isshiki in an unbreakable ring.
"If you won't give it up, I'll take it myself."
"Attack!"
At his command, thirty-five clones struck at once, launching a storm of attacks against Isshiki and Madara.
But at that very moment, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki activated Sukunahikona, vanishing on the spot.
Madara immediately unleashed his Perfect Susanoo, while the Truth-Seeking Orbs around him shifted into a nearly flawless defensive shield.
But his imagination had been too limited—he had underestimated the combined might of thirty-five Uchiha Dali clones striking simultaneously.
Their collective assault smashed through the Truth-Seeking Orbs' defenses in an instant.
Madara's body shattered under the impact, torn apart in a violent explosion of force.
It was fortunate he was only in Edo Tensei form—if it had been his real body, he would already be dead beyond saving.
The clones did not let up. While Madara's body was still regenerating, one of them rushed forward, pinned him down, and without hesitation drew the Ten Tails out from inside him.
"Ugh…"
Madara grimaced in agony.
Inside, he was shaken to the core. He had never imagined he would be defeated so quickly, so utterly.
"Is the gap between us… really this wide?"
Madara whispered in unwilling disbelief.
What he didn't know was that during the time Isshiki had sealed Uchiha Dali in another dimension, Dali had already used his heaven-defying comprehension to push his strength higher again and again.
Now, he was no longer the man he once had been.
When a tailed beast is extracted from its jinchūriki, the host inevitably dies.
That was an unbreakable law.
Even someone as powerful as Uchiha Madara could not escape it.
Now, having lost the Ten Tails, Madara's body began to turn to stone. Even in Edo Tensei form, he could not avoid this fate.
Soon, his stone-like body began to crumble apart piece by piece.
Moments later, his soul surged upward, returning to the world of the dead.
"The other one got away."
One of the clones turned toward Uchiha Dali.
"Hmph… let him go."
Dali cast a dismissive glance at the Ten Tails that had been drawn out.
As long as he remained in the ninja world, Isshiki would never succeed.
The idea of plundering this planet's chakra was nothing more than a fool's dream.
"What should we do with this big guy?" another clone asked.
Without a word, Uchiha Dali flew forward, pressed a hand onto the Ten Tails' body, and in an instant absorbed it entirely into himself.
Immediately, his body began to undergo a transformation.
Within moments, he had taken on a form resembling both Isshiki and Madara.
"So now you've become the Ten Tails' jinchūriki too."
One of the clones chuckled.
"Keeping the Ten Tails this way is the safest method."
Uchiha Dali felt the flood of surging chakra swelling inside him, his Observation Haki spreading outward instinctively.
His intent had been to scan for Isshiki's location.
But though Isshiki was nowhere to be found, he instead sensed something strange.
"What is that?"
He murmured in puzzlement.
"What's wrong?"
The clones gathered around him, thinking he had found the enemy.
Just now, when they had attacked, they had taken down Uchiha Madara in a single move. It hadn't even felt like a battle—there was no challenge, no thrill.
So now, every one of them was itching to fight again, eager for another worthy opponent.
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