Chapter 187: Yachihoko no Kami, and the Death of Madara Uchiha
"Lord Madara is in a bit of a predicament, isn't he!" Aloe White Zetsu laughed, showing not the slightest concern for his master, as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"He is old, after all," Uchiha Tekka remarked, then leaped forward, rapidly approaching the battlefield.
Just as Kinoshita Genichi crushed Madara once again, one of the eyes on his arm finally turned pure white, losing its light. Tekka neared the battlefield, and the three tomoe in his eyes, hidden beneath his mask, spun and transformed into a Mangekyō, locking onto the giant Ice Golem.
The next moment, black flames suddenly appeared on the Ice Golem's head.
"Hmm? Amaterasu?" Genichi's form appeared inside the giant, looking at the black flames burning outside with a slightly curious expression.
In the next instant, the outermost layer of ice on the golem's head cracked and began to fall off in chunks, dropping through the air along with the burning black flames.
The observing Fugaku Uchiha and the others were stunned. The inextinguishable black flames. Was this the legendary Mangekyō dōjutsu, Amaterasu? How was it dispelled so easily? Was this Madara's dōjutsu? No…
Fugaku was the first to react. His gaze swept the area, and he quickly spotted the figure to the south.
"That's…" Fugaku's gaze hardened. "Uchiha… Tekka?"
His figure moved, and he quickly flew toward the battlefield. The other three hurriedly followed.
At this moment, Tekka himself was stunned. It was the first time he had used his left eye's dōjutsu against an enemy, and he hadn't expected it to be neutralized so easily. Since that was the case…
The next moment, he activated his right eye's dōjutsu.
"Genichi, watch out for the enemy to the south!" Fugaku roared.
Genichi turned and saw the black-robed, tiger-striped-mask-wearing man. At the same time, he sensed it. Looking up, he saw the sky suddenly fill with a dense barrage of dark-red... spears... falling like meteors. The attack came suddenly, and at extreme speed.
The Ice Golem only had time to raise its giant ice swords horizontally above its head. The next moment, with a deafening roar, the spears, which seemed to be burning with dark-red flames, struck.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!~
The spears rained down in a dense barrage. The giant ice swords cracked, shattered, and then disintegrated. The blue-eyed ice dragons coiled up to block but were also subsequently blasted to pieces by the spears, followed by the Ice Golem's head and shoulders.
Fugaku and the others stopped in their tracks, watching in shock as the hundreds or even thousands of dark-red spears continued their relentless bombardment, rapidly blasting the Ice Golem that had just been beating Madara's Susanoo into layers of rubble.
"Gulp. So… so strong!"
"This… is this also a Mangekyō dōjutsu?" Yashiro and Inabi swallowed hard.
Fugaku's face was grim as he stared at the pile of shattered ice on the ground. Is he dead? The situation had turned too quickly, catching everyone off guard.
At this moment, Madara, who had been preparing to use Izanagi again, paused. He looked at the dense spears that had shattered the Ice Golem and a meaningful smile appeared on his face. "A fine dōjutsu. What is it called?"
"Yachihoko no Kami," Tekka said, appearing at his side.
"A very fine dōjutsu indeed," Madara praised with a light chuckle. "Much stronger than that Amaterasu. It seems you now have the power to support your determination to rebuild the Uchiha clan."
"Indeed," Tekka nodded. "This dōjutsu was born for that very purpose. However, this guy Kinoshita Genichi is not so easily dealt with. He has mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique." He looked up at Fugaku and the others in the sky, his expression slightly complicated. "Did he fly directly back to Konoha?"
Madara looked at the pile of ice shards. "No."
Tekka looked, only to see a nondescript piece of ice suddenly expand, condense into a human form, and then turn back into flesh and blood.
An ability similar to the Hydrification Technique? And those eyes? Tekka was taken aback as he looked at Genichi's Mirror Eye. Is that… the Sharingan?
"It should be some kind of dōjutsu researched based on the Sharingan," Madara speculated. "I have not yet seen anything special about it." He hadn't noticed any sign of Genichi using those eyes.
Genichi looked at the masked man. "So you did awaken the Mangekyō. One eye is Amaterasu, and the other… an ability similar to the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack? Very strong." And, two offensive-type dōjutsu were rare.
"So, you must be Uchiha Tekka," he said with a smile.
"I've been exposed," Tekka said, startled.
Madara was also a little surprised, then smiled indifferently. "It seems that was an unnecessary step."
"Lord Madara, can you still fight?" Tekka stared at Genichi.
"There is no point," Madara shook his head. "Let's retreat."
"Then I'll go first." Aloe White Zetsu sank into the ground. Madara leaped back, and Tekka stood his ground for a moment, then activated his dōjutsu again.
Amaterasu!
Black flames ignited on Genichi's body, but the next moment, he took a step forward, his body rippling like water, and passed right through them. The black flames landed on the ground and quickly dissipated.
He… passed through it? Tekka was shocked. Is that a space-time ninjutsu? He then leaped back and retreated.
Genichi did not pursue, watching as Madara and Tekka disappeared into the distance. This battle had yielded a good harvest. He had mirror-copied Madara's Susanoo, though he didn't know if he could make it his own yet. Secondly, he now knew Tekka's dōjutsu. To be honest, that spear jutsu was strong, but it was easier to deal with than a dōjutsu like Kamui. Finally, he had verified the ability of his Ice Release Kekkei Tōta. With an equal amount of chakra, its power was not inferior to Hashirama's Wood Release. In fact, Wood Release would be restrained by it. The key was that its ultra-low temperature could suppress life activity and even kill cells extremely quickly, while the key to Wood Release's strength was its terrifying growth ability.
So, there was no invincible, perfect jutsu. Wood Release was powerful, and Hashirama's was even more so, a perfect counter to the Tailed Beasts. But now, Genichi's Ice Release Kekkei Tōta could also counter it. In fact, even his Kekkei Genkai-stage Ice Release, backed by massive chakra and Sage Mode, could have countered it. It was just that the Kekkei Tōta level was even more astonishing.
Moreover, he had discovered that there was still much to be explored with Ice Release. For example, when he was attacked by Tekka's jutsu just now, he had hidden in a small ice shard and found that he could quickly transfer to other ice shards. This meant that even without the Flying Thunder God, it would be even harder to kill him. This also made him think of the jutsu Kaguya had used in the ice dimension to merge with nature. Besides developing it into a Kekkei Mōra, his Ice Release itself still had room for development.
"Genichi-kun!"
"Lord Genichi!"
The four Uchiha landed, their attitude even more respectful and reverent than before. The strong are revered.
"Clan Head Fugaku," Genichi said, reining in his thoughts, "you should have confirmed Tekka's identity, right?"
"It was indeed him." Fugaku nodded. The Sharingan could see chakra, so he could naturally recognize the former Uchiha genius.
"It seems the ninja world will not be peaceful in the future," Genichi smiled.
"Lord Genichi," Inabi couldn't hold back, "with your strength, couldn't you have kept one of them here?"
"Madara's three-tomoe Sharingan was not his," Genichi shook his head. "Tekka has Hashirama's cells. Although it's not an Eternal Mangekyō, it's close enough. He won't suffer much of a side effect from frequent use of his dōjutsu." And with Izanagi, he was very hard to kill, unless he could plant a Flying Thunder God marker on him. He also didn't know to what extent Tekka could use the Susanoo. If he could also use the complete body, and Madara had another burst of power... facing two of them, even he wouldn't be able to hold out.
His current chakra, even with half the Nine-Tails, was only just enough to clash with Hashirama, and probably still couldn't compare. Right now, he could only bully the elderly Madara. If it were Madara in his prime, even without the Rinnegan, it would probably be a fifty-fifty fight. With the Rinnegan… well, even if he still had trump cards he hadn't used, he probably wouldn't be his opponent. But now, he could confirm that he had entered the Super Kage tier.
"Let's go. Back to Konoha." He took to the air and flew off.
Fugaku and the other four, each with their own thoughts, quickly followed. As for the army of White Zetsu hidden deep underground, he had no interest in dealing with them. They were buried too deep. And he didn't even have to think to know that they would definitely seal all the passages.
Actually, Madara wasn't using his full strength either… Genichi suddenly thought mid-flight. Even without the Rinnegan, he can still summon and control the Gedo Mazō. Also, after this battle, it should dispel any ideas they have of capturing the Nine-Tails first. I just don't know if Madara will manage to hang on to life.
If Madara died, then the only ones in the ninja world who could really fight him would be Nagato with the Rinnegan, and Tekka with his Mangekyō and Hashirama's cells. These were all Super Kage level. As for who was stronger, they would have to fight to find out. After all, a real battle was never as simple as comparing on-paper stats.
As Genichi was heading home, Madara and the others had taken another route back to the underground base. Re-plugging the tubes, he sat down, trembling slightly.
"Lord Madara, does Genichi's strength already rival that of the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju?" Tekka asked.
"He's still a little off," Madara said flatly. Although he had been beaten up today, back then, he had also been beaten up by Hashirama's True Several Thousand Hands, and that was when he had been in his prime and had the Nine-Tails. Genichi's Ice Release was indeed very powerful, even able to affect his Susanoo. But compared to the True Several Thousand Hands, it was still a little lacking.
However, he then changed the subject. "If you cannot master the complete body Susanoo, you will probably be no match for him."
"I will work hard," Tekka did not refute this. "Genichi will not be able to stop our plan."
"Naturally," Madara said with confidence.
"Given his strength, it will probably be very difficult to capture the Nine-Tails, right?" Spiral Zetsu interjected.
"Lord Madara," Aloe White Zetsu smiled, "with Tekka and Nagato, there should be no problem, right?"
With Nagato? Tekka frowned slightly. This was not part of the plan. Although he and Nagato had rebuilt the Akatsuki, that man clearly had his own ideas. The Nine-Tails must be under his control, so that he could deter Nagato and hold the initiative. But on the surface, the leader of the Akatsuki was Nagato, or rather, the Tendo Pain on the surface.
But Madara was calm. There were always setbacks in a plan. "The Nine-Tails is not necessary right now," he said flatly. "We can collect the other Tailed Beasts first."
"That is true," Spiral Zetsu said. "Even for the sealing, we need to start from the One-Tail."
"After Nagato collects the Tailed Beasts," Tekka said, "he will not obediently use the Rinne Rebirth technique."
Madara naturally knew this, but he smiled slightly. "That will be your mission. But now, with Genichi in the picture, I believe he will." He had concealed a key point about the technique from Nagato: that with enough chakra, he would not die. After sealing the other Tailed Beasts, when he couldn't complete the final step, Nagato could fully draw on the power of the Gedo Mazō to revive him. At that time, Nagato wouldn't think the revival would kill him; it would just be a small consumption of chakra. He believed it would be a very simple choice.
"Lord Madara," Tekka said thoughtfully, "do you think that even if we join forces, we cannot take the Nine-Tails from Konoha?" This "we" clearly referred to him and Nagato.
Madara didn't answer directly. "A lot of intel has been exposed now. Your identity is no longer a secret to Konoha. As for the Tailed Beasts, they may not know the secret of the Rinnegan, but I was once the one who controlled the Nine-Tails. Secondly, as the Akatsuki gathers the beasts, our purpose will naturally be exposed. It will become more and more difficult to collect them, and the five great villages may even join forces."
"It seems we must lie low for a period of time," Tekka said, "gather enough intelligence, and then, in a very short period of time, before the other villages can react, collect all the Tailed Beasts. At least, all of them besides the Nine-Tails."
"A good idea," Madara nodded in praise. "You are learning quickly. I am no longer fit to exist in this world. This battle has exhausted the last of my strength. From now on, you just need to proceed according to the plan."
With that, he stood up and placed his hand on Aloe White Zetsu's shoulder. Black matter quickly covered half of Zetsu's body.
"This is Black Zetsu, which I created with Yin-Yang Release," Madara said, slumping back down. "My will, manifested. He will complete the task of collecting the Tailed Beasts and reviving me, together with you. Go…"
With that, he pulled out the tube connecting him to the Gedo Mazō. After a few gasping breaths, his life came to an end, and he slowly closed his eyes.
Tekka silently watched him die. After standing for a moment, he said, "Dispose of the body, and then seal this place for the time being."
"What about us?" Spiral Zetsu asked.
"Of course, we will join the Akatsuki," Tekka said. "From now on, I will walk the ninja world under the name of Madara Uchiha. You… I'll call you Tobi. Tobi, you will attach to me. And Zetsu, you will be responsible for intelligence gathering."
Tobi and Zetsu both nodded. This place was indeed no longer suitable, as Konoha had already discovered it.
The Hidden Leaf Village.
By the time Genichi and the others returned, it was already evening. It had truly been a long journey for just a few moments of fighting.
After splitting up with Fugaku and the others, he went to the Hokage's office. Tsunade and Hiruzen were both there. Seeing him return, they secretly sighed in relief. Although he had gone out without telling them, how could they not have noticed?
"Are you alright?" Tsunade asked, sizing him up. After his battle with Madara back then, her grandfather Hashirama had passed away not long after.
"Don't worry, no problems at all," Genichi said, spreading his arms and spinning around. "Madara is old, after all."
"What about Uchiha Tekka?" Hiruzen asked.
"It was indeed him," he said, his smile fading. "And he has awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. His dōjutsu is very good. One is the black flames that do not extinguish until the target is burned to ashes, called Amaterasu. The other dōjutsu's name is unknown, but its attack power is very strong, its range is very large, and it condenses chakra into dark-red spears that suddenly appear above the enemy. But that is probably not its only form of attack. The power of this dōjutsu… even the First Hokage's Wood Golem could not withstand it."
Tsunade and Hiruzen's expressions turned grave. The Wood Golem was a jutsu that could sweep away the five Kage.
Seeing their expressions, Genichi smiled. "Don't worry. Since I've returned, it means this jutsu is not invincible." The Wood Golem couldn't. But the True Several Thousand Hands definitely could. And his opponent's move was not unavoidable. Not to mention the Flying Thunder God, even the speed of the Third and Fourth Raikage could dodge it with preparation.
But this did not comfort them. With such an enemy lurking outside, the threat to Konoha was too great.
Genichi could also see this, but he couldn't comfort them. "Let's stick to the plan for Sister Kushina's delivery day," he could only say.
They both nodded. This was all they could do.
"I'm going back." He waved, then turned and winked at Shizune, who was watching anxiously, and then teleported home.
"Genichi!" Ina exclaimed, then leaped into his arms like a koala. She had been waiting at home for him to return all day.
(End of Chapter)
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