"What do you mean?"
Seeing Izayoi's smile, Uchiha Madara suddenly had a bad feeling.
Izayoi raised his hands. Although he stood at a normal angle to Uchiha Madara, his posture was condescending as he said arrogantly, "As a descendant of a half-blooded Otsutsuki, you have no idea how powerful the talent of the pure-blooded Otsutsuki truly is!"
Uchiha Madara's expression changed slightly. He immediately controlled a Seeking Truth Jade to fly at Izayoi, trying to interrupt his seal.
Even though he didn't know what Izayoi intended, based on what he'd observed from Otsutsuki Kaguya, Otsutsuki Isshiki, and the Six Paths brothers, he knew that those born with horns were inherently superior to the hornless ones.
The clearest example: himself and Otsutsuki Toneri.
The Rinnegan he awakened only came after he died of old age—and it was mostly luck.
In the Ninja World, Toneri Otsutsuki is an outdated relic, but he's already mastered the Ultimate Eye Technique and can use Seeking Truth Jade freely, which normally requires inheriting the Six Paths power and absorbing miko energy.
For a chosen one nearing the end of his life, who knows what other cards they might still hide?
And the illusions Izayoi showed him were only the scenes he wanted him to see.
Who knows how much Izayoi still hadn't shown him?
Interrupting whatever he was about to do was clearly the best choice.
The Seeking Truth Jade flying toward Izayoi started flashing a blinding white light, packed with devastating annihilation power ready to erupt.
Madara manipulated another Truth-Seeking Jade, liquefying it into a black orb. Before his body was wrapped in it, he used Limbo: Border Jail to summon four shadows. If Izayoi chose to defend with a Truth-Seeking Jade, the Limbo shadows would use Six Paths Sage power to strike.
Izayoi sneered—and vanished without a trace.
BOOM!
A dazzling pure white light exploded in the void of space, engulfing an enormous area.
Meteorites caught within the light didn't disintegrate in the normal sense—they were instantly erased by the power of rules, turned into nothingness.
Inside the Seeking Truth Jade, Uchiha Madara's expression changed drastically.
Outside the white light's range, Izayoi reappeared on another meteorite.
It turned out that in the battle over the past two days and nights, Izayoi had placed Flying Thunder God markers throughout space.
Thanks to the chakra beads, he didn't need to touch surfaces to plant the technique.
He could convert the beads into glowing green orbs and fire them—these light orbs could explode, damage enemies, and the creative power they carried would turn anything touched into a Flying Thunder God marker.
Ever since unlocking the "Sky (Red)" entry, Izayoi still couldn't create portals or space-time tunnels like Yomotsu Hirasaka, but with full Yin-Yang Release and the chakra beads, he could play all kinds of tricks using Heaven's Sentence and Flying Thunder God—enough to build a teleportation array like Otsutsuki Hamura.
He formed a seal, and the bracelet of chakra beads on his wrist released seven glowing green orbs, embedding into the meteorite beneath him.
A seven-layer magic circle emerged from the air.
As it shone, a wood clone appeared—disguised as Toneri Otsutsuki via Wood Release and even absorbing his chakra.
Yet the chakra in this wood clone was more than a hundred times that of Izayoi's own body.
That's why Uchiha Madara's expression changed so drastically.
As Madara flew back toward Earth from the Seeking Truth Jade, Izayoi calmly placed a hand on the clone's shoulder, absorbing the Yin Nine-Tails Chakra.
He smiled playfully: "The cat-and-mouse game has officially begun!"
After draining the clone's chakra, he erased it with a Seeking Truth Jade before it could disperse on its own. Green flames engulfed Izayoi's body—he had activated the Rinnegan Chakra Mode.
But he didn't pursue Madara right away.
First, he restored his chakra bead count, crafted one into a metal object engraved with the Flying Thunder God formula, and used Heaven's Sentence to airdrop it over Madara.
The next second, Izayoi teleported above Madara's head.
Madara had already anticipated it. The moment Izayoi appeared, Madara raised his head and fired a purple laser capable of cutting through Seeking Truth Jades, trying to catch him off guard.
Unfortunately for him, Izayoi had unlocked the "Flight (Red)" skill and had no stiffness post-teleportation.
In fact, he'd already grabbed a Seeking Truth Jade and coated it in the chakra beads' black substance before warping.
Upon arrival, Izayoi transformed the jade into a golden orb and launched a huge golden beam.
The golden beam collided with the purple laser—and instantly obliterated it.
In their entire two-day battle, Madara had never used Storm Release: Light Fang or faced Izayoi's golden light attacks—he didn't expect such power.
The golden beam, faster than a flash, flooded Madara's vision.
Had it hit his body directly, even he wouldn't survive intact.
The beam had the annihilation power of the Truth-Seeking Jade, capable of erasing not just flesh—but the soul.
Even Yin-Yang Release can't easily repair damage to the soul.
Just before it hit, the golden beam stopped five centimeters from Madara—as if blocked by an invisible wall.
Then that wall—and Madara himself—was blasted backward.
In the next instant, the wall shattered.
Madara's Limbo shadow was completely destroyed, unable to reform.
Seizing this moment, Madara swung his Six Paths Tin Staff to counter the golden beam.
With the boost from Yang Release, the staff clashed evenly with the golden beam.
Just as he was about to repeat the trick—summon three more shadows—Izayoi smiled faintly.
The remaining six Seeking Truth Jades flew to him.
The chakra beads on his wrists glowed, merging with the jades.
One by one, the jades lit up in different colors and merged into the beam.
The golden beam ballooned in size and turned into a brilliant rainbow beam.
"Ahhh—!"
Madara roared under the strain. Even the Tin Staff began to bend.
The three Limbo shadows joined the fray, unleashing their strongest techniques to help him hold back the rainbow beam.
But in less than two seconds, Madara's body was blasted away.
In the dark void, the rainbow beam streaked across space like a magic pen painting a colorful line across the starry black canvas.
It erased stars in its path, replacing them with rainbow light.
And around that line, pure white light bloomed, erasing even more stars like a celestial eraser.
Madara, unwilling to be knocked from the moon again, detonated all his Seeking Truth Jades—hoping their self-destruction would counter the rainbow beam.
The outcome was mixed.
The self-detonations did erase part of the rainbow beam.
But just as it seemed erased, the light returned—even brighter.
With enough chakra, Izayoi could regenerate the rainbow beam indefinitely, thanks to the fusion of Truth-Seeking Jades and Chakra Beads.
The white and rainbow lights wrestled for dominance, but the pure white light quickly faded.
Madara couldn't escape during the brief weakening.
When the white light vanished, the rainbow beam's power returned—stronger than ever.
Madara was forced to liquefy his Tin Staff into a hemispherical shield, pouring in his remaining chakra to hold it against the beam.
With help from the Limbo shadows, he succeeded.
But compared to the golden beam, this rainbow beam was several times faster and more destructive.
Before Limbo's cooldown activated, Madara had already been pushed an unfathomable distance into space.
A glowing rainbow line now stretched for unknown kilometers—stunning, but unseen by any living being.
Eventually, the line struck a massive glowing orb—far larger than the meteorites.
The beam sank into it and dispersed. After covering a small area, it stopped.
It was like a magic pen running out of ink.
In truth, Madara had been blasted into a planet—like last time.
But unlike the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, which left only a moderate crater, this time, the rainbow beam hit like a meteor.
The resulting explosion left a supermassive basin.
Madara, lying at the center, looked like an ant on a human palm.
This time, he wasn't intact.
His red armor and robes had been vaporized. Parts of his body turned to ash. Burned flesh revealed exposed bones and regenerating veins.
His long black hair was gone—his head bald and sunken. His eyes were unfocused. He was barely conscious.
And yet, he wasn't erased.
He had barely survived the rainbow light.
Madara could no longer feel his body.
Only the hand bearing the sun symbol still flickered with life.
By sheer luck, Madara could still see Earth.
"So... we flew this far, huh?"
Seeing the familiar blue planet after two days and nights, Madara smiled bitterly.
"I didn't think... even death would elude me on my birthplace."
"What a pity... I couldn't kill the Otsutsuki... couldn't end the ninja world's future threat."
As he prepared to look at Earth one final time, his palm grew warm.
A strange yet familiar life force made his consciousness sharpen.
Still in Six Paths Sage Mode, Madara instinctively tried to sense Izayoi's chakra—but couldn't find it.
He lifted his bloody hand and formed a one-handed seal.
"Summoning Technique!"
Bang!
White mist burst forth, and the Outer Path Gedo Statue appeared in the basin.
Even that enormous creature looked tiny here.
Madara grinned with effort. "I... I haven't completely... lost yet!"
A white tube extended from the statue.
Just like before, Madara's body connected to it.
Though his life flickered like a dying candle, his life force slowly stabilized.
With another bang, he and the statue vanished in a puff of mist.
Izayoi hadn't seen this—too far for his Rinnegan.
And even if he did, he wouldn't have cared.
Right now, he sat on a throne forged of chakra beads, staring at his personal panel with a conflicted look.
When Madara lost control of his body and accepted death, three lights had flown out of him—a rainbow, a red, and a purple.
They pierced Izayoi's body faster than the rainbow beam.
"Ding! You have obtained the talent entry [Bloodline Genkai·Rinnegan (Color)]. Merge or decompose?"
"Ding! You have obtained the talent entry [Sage Body (Red)]. Merge or decompose?"
"Ding! You have obtained the talent entry [Spiritual Master (Purple)]. Merge or decompose?"
Izayoi decomposed the red and purple entries.
His point balance broke 700,000.
But he still had a long way to go before reaching 990,000.
Now he hesitated—should he decompose the colored Rinnegan?
Decomposing a red entry yielded six-digit points.
He hadn't broken down a colored entry before—but it might give a seven-digit score.
Even the worst outcome should give over a million—enough to upgrade one red entry to color.
If he was lucky, it might be 9.99 million—an astronomical windfall.
That would allow him to upgrade ten red entries—or test whether there was a level beyond Otsutsuki Bloodline (Color).
Izayoi's heart beat faster.
But if he was very unlucky, he'd only get the minimum reward.
And who knew when he'd get another colored Rinnegan?
He hesitated.
"The brave die of overeating, the timid starve... I already have Rinnegan and Six Paths Sage Mode... I'll take the gamble!"
After just a few minutes of deliberation, Izayoi made his choice.
"Decompose!"