As the technique activated, wisps of white smoke curled off Madara's body. The cracks of Edo Tensei faded away, replaced with living flesh and flowing blood. He clenched his fists, feeling the rush of life surge through his veins.
A grin spread across his face.
"Hahaha! This is it! I, Uchiha Madara, have returned!"
Nagato lay collapsed, his body drained from the Rinne Rebirth. Yet as a member of the Uzumaki clan with White Zetsu cells sustaining him, his life refused to extinguish completely.
Madara's laughter echoed only briefly before his own eyes shattered. His Rinnegan crumbled, leaving empty sockets. He showed no panic, only calm anticipation.
"Black Zetsu."
Zetsu instantly obeyed, plunging a hand into Nagato's eye sockets. Nagato's scream rang out before unconsciousness claimed him. Black Zetsu then held up the stolen Rinnegan like a sacred offering.
Madara took them without hesitation, pressing them directly into his own sockets. The orbs fused as if they had always belonged there.
Watching, Chiga tilted his head slightly, his voice laced with dry humor.
"That's some rough surgery. No cleansing, no adjustment… just straight plug-and-play?"
Even if those eyes had originally been Madara's, the casualness of the act was staggering.
Nearby, Kabuto froze, speechless. In only moments, the balance of the battlefield had been utterly overturned.
Madara, however, ignored Kabuto completely. His focus rested only on Chiga. His lips curved.
"Apologies for keeping you waiting. Let's resume our battle."
Chiga spread his hands in mock invitation, his tone light.
"I'm ready when you are."
"Hahaha! Good! I like you more and more!"
Chiga's reply was calm, sharp.
"No need for that."
Madara paused, then tore away his upper robes, revealing Hashirama's face grafted into his chest.
Gasps rippled through the Allied Shinobi Forces. Tsunade's eyes widened in horror.
"That's… grandfather's face!"
Madara's gaze flicked to her.
"Oh? Hashirama's granddaughter? Hmph. The Senju clan has fallen far indeed. No matter. Allow me to show you the true depth of Hashirama's power!"
His voice dropped to a roar.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
The battlefield cracked and heaved. From the ruptured earth, titanic trees surged upward, a flood of living wood crashing toward the army. The oncoming tide of roots and trunks was less an attack than a natural disaster.
Shinobi froze in terror, helpless before the overwhelming wall of wood. Even Tsunade, Minato, and the other top combatants could not guarantee they would stop it.
Chiga simply drew in a breath. His Rinnegan gleamed as he spoke.
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
A torrent of fire surged from his mouth, expanding into a blazing inferno that collided with Madara's forest. The clash filled the battlefield with smoke and heat. Tree after tree ignited, crumbling into ash under the flames.
Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Brother… is he using our clan's Fire Style?"
Beside him, Itachi's voice was steady, though his heart pounded.
"That's the Majestic Destroyer Flame. In our clan's records it's B-rank. Yet in his hands…"
The fire Chiga unleashed dwarfed anything the Uchiha had ever produced. Even veteran fire-users in the Alliance felt shame as they watched.
Madara's gaze sharpened, a rare note of admiration in his tone.
"Not bad. This is the power worthy of the Uchiha name!"
Chiga's eyes narrowed. With a pulse of repulsive force, he swept away the choking smoke, clearing the battlefield. His lips curved faintly.
"Your Wood Release is impressive. As it happens, I've just mastered a new technique. Why don't you help me test it?"
He clasped his hands together. Chakra exploded outward, shaking the air.
Madara's face finally shifted, surprise flickering in his eyes.
"This is…!"
"Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
The ground split wide, and from the depths rose a colossal wooden statue. A Thousand-Armed Kannon, vast and divine, carried Chiga high into the sky.
The statue's shadow engulfed the battlefield. Its sheer scale silenced thousands of shinobi at once. In its presence, Madara seemed no more than an insect.
He stared upward, his voice low, almost reverent.
"So that's it. No wonder you could awaken the Rinnegan. You also possess Hashirama's power. Is this fate, or coincidence?"
To awaken the Rinnegan required more than grafted cells. One had to drive the Mangekyo Sharingan to its limits, fuse it with Senju vitality, and endure the trial. Even for Madara, it had taken decades of obsession, the secrets of the Uchiha stone tablet, and Hashirama's cells to succeed.
Yet before him stood Uchiha Chiga, far younger, already wielding both Rinnegan and Hashirama's might.
It was maddening.
Unaware of Madara's turmoil, Chiga stood atop the Kannon's head, calm and unshaken.
"Summit's Transformation."
The Thousand-Armed Kannon moved. Dozens of titanic hands descended at once, crashing toward Madara. The ground split and buckled under the strikes, shockwaves tearing the landscape apart.
Dust and smoke blanketed the battlefield. When it cleared, the once-level plain had been gouged into a massive basin.
Chiga landed lightly beside the colossal statue, his gaze settling on the center of the devastation. There, Madara knelt, his breath ragged.
The attack had been unstoppable. As a Sage Art, even the Preta Path of the Rinnegan could not absorb it. Only Madara's own Rinnegan and Hashirama's cells had allowed him to endure.
Slowly, he raised his head, blood trickling from his mouth, eyes blazing.
"I never imagined you could wield Wood Release to this extent. Even Hashirama himself… would be no more than this."
Rising to his full height, his Rinnegan pulsed with violet light.
"Show me, Uchiha Chiga. How far can your Rinnegan truly go?"
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