Flames engulfed the entire refuge.
Temperatures exceeding a thousand degrees transformed this place into a massive furnace. It was hard to imagine anyone surviving under such deadly waves of fire.
Hiss, hiss, hiss.
From within Madara's body, repulsive chakra surged outward, creating a vacuum zone around him that kept all flames at bay.
"They won't die that easily, right?"
Madara glanced toward the depths of the inferno, speaking softly to himself. If Fugaku and the others could only manage this much, it would be deeply disappointing—he hadn't even started enjoying himself yet.
The flames dissipated.
Madara's gaze sharpened.
He saw a massive wooden shield shaped like a fanged demon mask, exuding a solemn and majestic aura. As the shield split apart from the center and opened sideways, Tsunade and the other two emerged unscathed.
[Wood Release: Hand Tool Manipulation]
"Truly nostalgic... Hashirama once used this same technique to fight me."
At this moment, Madara's expression carried reminiscence. When he noticed Sage facial markings on Tsunade's face, surprise flickered across his features. He couldn't help but praise her:
"Tsk, tsk. Looks like you really did follow my advice—to experience pain and despair, and through intense hatred awaken your potential for tremendous growth. Now you should understand how fortunate Nawaki's death was."
"Shut up!"
Tsunade interrupted Madara with an angry shout. Without hesitation, she resumed forming hand seals. Instantly, countless trees erupted from deep beneath the earth, rushing toward Madara.
"Let's move elsewhere; this place is too cramped."
Madara calmly dodged Tsunade's attacks, leaping effortlessly until he reached outside the refuge.
Whoosh!
Without hesitation, Tsunade chased after him immediately, and soon they engaged in battle beyond its borders.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The two warriors clashed fiercely in a fierce Taijutsu battle, each strike sending shockwaves rippling through the air.
Hatred burned furiously inside Tsunade's heart—not just vengeance for Nawaki, but also retribution for Heiyan. Under her relentless offensive assault, even Madara struggled to keep up, forced backward step by step.
"Tsunade-sama, we've got your back!"
Hiashi and Fugaku joined the fray as well.
Whoosh!
Hiashi drew his bow full-circle again, releasing a sharp arrow. At the same time, Fugaku's Mangekyou Sharingan bled tears, coating the tip of the arrow in Amaterasu black flames.
"Go!"
With a loud cry, Hiashi further activated Byakugan ocular power, infusing the arrow with telekinesis to greatly enhance its speed and impact force.
This "Amaterasu Arrow" was one of their most powerful ultimate joint attacks—capable of killing even a Transcendent Kage.
Hmm?
A fleeting glance caught the flying arrow at the corner of Madara's vision, causing his eyebrows to twitch. Immediately, he disengaged from combat with Tsunade, preparing to evade the hidden attack.
But this arrow, guided by Hiashi's psychic control, wasn't something one could escape. Like it had its own will, no matter how Madara twisted or turned, the arrow stayed hot on his trail.
"Hiashi, drive him outside the village!" Tsunade commanded sternly.
From the start of this fight, none of them had gone all-out against Madara yet.
Because they knew that unleashing large-scale ninjutsu within the village would affect countless civilians and buildings, causing irreversible devastation.
"Understood!"
Hiashi barked in response, his eyes blazing with determination as he continued to control the Amaterasu Arrow with telekinesis, driving Madara toward the city walls.
Before long,
Madara was forced to the base of the walls under their flawless teamwork. It seemed all possible escape routes had been cut off—he was cornered.
Yet unknown to them, this was exactly what Madara wanted.
His goal in coming here was to publicly massacre Konoha's genius ninja in front of the entire world, plunging the village into the deepest despair and completely destroying its future.
The purpose? To prevent another Uzumaki Heiyan from ever rising again.
And Konoha's frontal wall was the perfect stage. The villagers inside and outside the gates, along with the Land of Fire's army, would be the audience watching from below.
Now, both the actors and the spectators were ready. The grand performance was about to begin.
Realizing this, Madara suddenly stopped, then turned around slowly with a cold smirk.
Whoosh!
He suddenly reached out and grabbed the incoming Amaterasu Arrow barehanded. Worse yet, before the black flames could spread up his arm, his palm emitted a powerful suction force, absorbing every last trace of the Amaterasu flames and Hiashi's telekinetic chakra.
Blocking Technique Absorption Seal.
"What?!"
Hiashi and Fugaku gasped simultaneously, their expressions turning grim.
"Heiyan once told us that was one of the Rinnegan's abilities—it can absorb all kinds of jutsu."
Tsunade remained calm, quickly instructing the two,
"The most effective way to fight Madara Uchiha is through taijutsu. Unleash your full strength. We strike together—aim for an ultimate, decisive blow. Don't give him any chance to resist!"
Even before her words finished echoing, Tsunade erupted with a surge of power, pushing her Sage Transformation body to its peak, preparing her strongest attack.
Fugaku and Hiashi exchanged sharp glances and nodded firmly.
Hiss…hiss…hiss…
Fugaku tapped into his Two-Tails' chakra, entering a semi-tailed beast transformation state, his hands growing beastly claws over a meter long; Hiashi activated his Eight Gates Limit Release up to the Sixth Gate, green steam now visibly erupting from every part of his body.
"Let's go!"
At Tsunade's sharp command, the three charged at Madara Uchiha from different directions beneath the city wall.
[Sage Art: Monster Strength!]
[Two-Tails·Claw Slash!]
[Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Continuous Empty Palm!]
Even Madara couldn't help but narrow his pupils as the crushing pressure from the trio closed in.
As the three closed in rapidly, he silently spread his arms wide like a superior god statue, then coldly uttered four words:
[Shinra Tensei!]
The next second—
Boom!
With a deafening explosion, a massive gap appeared in Konoha's city walls. Tsunade and the other two flew backward through the breach, crashing onto the ground far beyond the outer wall.
Earlier, the Land of Fire's army had been attacking the city walls. This sudden turn of events caused both the attackers and defenders to freeze instinctively, turning their gazes toward the newly formed opening.
As the dust settled at the breach, Madara Uchiha strode forward coldly from the wreckage.
"That person... could it be the Land of Fire's Guardian Deity?!"
A soldier in the crowd recognized Madara's face and shouted excitedly. The news spread rapidly, reaching the ears of hundreds of thousands.
The daimyo watching on the screen was elated when Madara appeared.
He had long eagerly sought out Madara, hoping to personally invite him to the daimyo's mansion as his vassal. Never did he expect Madara to appear on the battlefield voluntarily—and it seemed he had already dealt a heavy blow to Konoha's elite forces.
Truly a godsend!
Thinking this, the daimyo grew extremely excited. He immediately activated the public address system and issued orders to the entire Land of Fire army:
"The Guardian Deity represents the will of the daimyo's mansion—represents my own will! I hereby appoint the Guardian Deity as battlefield marshal starting now. Every soldier of the Land of Fire must obey his commands and join together to breach Konoha's defenses!"
The moment those words were spoken,
The morale of the Land of Fire's army surged instantly. Hundreds of thousands roared in unison, their voices so thunderous they seemed to tear the very clouds apart.
On the defending side, however, expressions turned fearful and morale plummeted. Especially Hiruzen Sarutobi—he felt his heart sink the moment he saw Madara Uchiha, his face darkening into grave concern.
Just as he prepared to rush forward and stall Madara, supporting Tsunade and the others, another earth-shaking cry erupted below the city walls as hordes of soldiers and ninja surged upward.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and the defenders atop the wall quickly found themselves overwhelmed, struggling just to defend themselves.
At this moment, Madara acted again.
However, he did not follow the daimyo's command to lead the army against the walls—in truth, Madara hadn't even acknowledged the daimyo at all. That appointment of him as the Land of Fire's Guardian Deity, and even naming him marshal—was nothing more than wishful thinking, a pipe dream.
Whoosh—
Madara leapt high into the sky, forming hand seals midair before exhaling toward where Tsunade and the others had landed, releasing a giant fireball shaped like a meteorite.
Boom!
Upon impact, the fireball rapidly expanded into an ocean of flames. In both intensity and scale, its power exceeded even the Great Fireball Technique by a level.
[Fire Release: Great Flame Annihilation]
This technique was among the most powerful Fire Release techniques, capable of igniting a forest in an instant. Right now, its target wasn't only Tsunade and her two companions—it also engulfed numerous Land of Fire soldiers around them.
It was a ruthless attack, indiscriminate and merciless.
"Quickly, come to me!"
Facing the incoming inferno, Fugaku shouted fiercely, expelling solidified blue chakra from his body. His Susanoo materialized, enveloping him along with Tsunade and Hiashi inside its protective frame.
"Aaaaahhh!"
Over a thousand soldiers who couldn't escape in time were swallowed whole by the blazing wave, screaming continuously as they burned alive.
The Great Flame Annihilation's reach extended beyond just people—reaching the massive screen outside the city walls as well. The daimyo displayed on the screen watched helplessly as the raging flames surged toward him, burning away along with the screen until turning entirely to ash.
"What's going on? Why would the Guardian Deity kill the Land of Fire's own soldiers?"
Shouldn't he be protecting us?
Many soldiers looked on in terror at Madara's actions.
"It was collateral damage! Everyone, scatter quickly and don't obstruct Lord General Madara's techniques!" someone shouted.
Hearing that, the surrounding soldiers immediately retreated, clearing a large area.
At this moment—
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!
Within the sea of flames, a massive blade aura split the firestorm apart, carving an opening straight through the center. Then, a blue half-body armor Susanoo wielding a greatsword forty meters long charged straight out, attacking Uchiha Madara.
Inside the semi-transparent Susanoo body, Fugaku Uchiha's eyes burned with killing intent as he swore vengeance for Heiyan.
Hmph, how pathetic.
Madara sneered contemptuously and formed the Tiger seal himself, summoning his own Susanoo.
His Susanoo had two faces—one left, one right—with four arms holding serpentine chakra blades.
The two half-body armor Susanoos engaged in fierce battle outside the city walls. Their fight raged from flat ground into the forests, leaving a trail of destruction across the surface with horizontal and vertical blade auras.
The outcome began to take shape.
Although Madara's Susanoo wasn't yet complete, with the Rinnegan's ocular power enhancing it, defeating Fugaku Uchiha was more than enough.
CRASH!
During the intense exchange, Madara seized an opening in Fugaku's defense, maneuvering his Susanoo to slam into him fiercely, sending him flying backward into the Land of Fire army encampment far away.
Damn it!
Filled with unwillingness, Fugaku Uchiha prepared to counterattack but saw several enormous tomoe flying toward him, dealing deadly blows to his Susanoo.
[Yasaka Magatama]
This was the Yasaka Magatama ninjutsu technique—only usable while in Susanoo form, it launched multiple giant tomoe resembling Sharingan patterns like thrown shuriken at distant targets, with astonishing destructive power.
KAKA KACHA!
Fugaku Uchiha's Susanoo suffered repeated strikes, cracks forming all over its surface before finally shattering explosively, vanishing into nothingness.
However, these tomoe didn't all hit the Susanoo—many instead crashed into the surrounding encampment, once again killing large numbers of soldiers.
Witnessing this scene, the Land of Fire soldiers were left bewildered. He had struck them again unintentionally—it seemed he clearly didn't care about their lives at all.
Was he truly the Guardian Deity spoken of by the Daimyo—the one who had protected the Land of Fire across generations?
Even worse came next—an even greater nightmare awaited the Land of Fire troops.
"Die."
Madara's expression turned cold beyond measure. Himself and his dual-faced Susanoo simultaneously formed three hand seals. Using the power of the Rinnegan, he summoned from the sky an enormous meteorite over two hundred meters in diameter.
[Heavenly Obstacle Quaking Star]
This technique was specifically designed for battlefield cleaning. In the original timeline, Madara used this very jutsu to reduce thousands of meters of battlefield below into ruins, nearly annihilating the entire Fourth Division of the Allied Ninja Forces.
Deliberately employing the most visually shocking technique available, Madara intended to kill Uchiha Fugaku.
"This thing…"
Fugaku Uchiha sat helplessly on the ground, his face pale as he looked up toward the massive meteor blotting out sun and sky. A deep sense of powerlessness and despair filled his heart.
"Fugaku!"
A sharp cry rang out—it was Hiashi charging in from afar. With the [Six Gates] activated, he flew rapidly using telekinesis, pushing his speed to the absolute limit.
Whoosh!
Hiashi snatched up Fugaku and shattered the sound barrier. Within just a few seconds, they had fled several kilometers away, barely escaping the devastating range of the Heavenly Obstacle Quaking Star and avoiding being crushed into meat pulp.
However, the Land of Fire's soldiers weren't so fortunate.
Boom!
Looking down from the sky, the massive meteorite crashed onto the surface, instantly crushing thousands of soldiers beneath it. Then, the shockwave and earthquake caused by its impact radiated outward for several kilometers, killing hundreds of thousands more.
The battlefield turned into pure hell on earth.
At that moment, the battle along the city walls came to a halt. Witnessing their comrades dying horrifically behind the lines, the ninjas and soldiers of the Land of Fire dropped their weapons one after another, losing all will to fight.
They were utterly broken.
The supreme commander handpicked by the Daimyo was no Protective God of the Land of Fire—he was a bloodthirsty executioner, a devil straight from hell.
In this instant, the soldiers' faith in the Daimyo utterly collapsed.
"Run! Get out of this hell!"
"The Daimyo never intended for us to return alive! He sent this demon here just to pit us soldiers against the Konoha ninja until we all wiped each other out!"
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