In just an instant, a large number of zombies were dismembered. Many of them were already decaying, and under the terrifying impact, their flesh splattered like raindrops, their bodies falling apart into shattered pieces.
That blade that tore through everything pointed directly at Kaede Kanshi himself.
Kaede Kanshi calmly formed a one-handed seal, activating the Void Realm Technique. His figure vanished instantly, swapping places with one of the zombies that had been first cleaved—though it still had one intact arm and could form seals with it.
That zombie essentially took a second strike and was utterly annihilated.
One move. No hand signs. Just opening his eyes was enough to clear the battlefield.
The terrifying chakra slowly faded away. The translucent ribcage, arm, and katana also gradually disappeared. Madara remained still, maintaining the same slow and lazy posture.
"If I'm not mistaken, is that the legendary… Susano'o? You really surprised me. To think you can activate Susano'o with only a three-tomoe Sharingan? That makes your identity rather suspicious. As far as I know, only one person had such powerful eyes—and he should've been dead for a long time."
Kaede Kanshi even clapped in admiration for Madara's brief but horrifying display.
The Uchiha clan's bloodline limit has a peculiar trait: single-eye dōjutsu cannot be used once the eye is lost, but for dual-eye techniques like Susano'o, as long as the power of the eye is strong enough, even without eyes, it can be used briefly.
However, until now, only Uchiha Madara had evolved both eyes into Rinnegan, granting him legendary levels of ocular power. Only he could use Susano'o without actual eyes.
As for the current three-tomoe Sharingan Madara was using... Kaede Kanshi knew well—it was just to provide vision. Losing it wouldn't weaken Madara at all.
But Kaede Kanshi couldn't say that aloud.
"You surprised me—you actually know about Susano'o. In today's shinobi world, that technique has been lost," Madara said.
"The Uchiha clan's strongest eye technique—I've heard of it. But that makes your identity even more suspicious. Now that you've revealed yourself to me, even more so," Kaede Kanshi replied. "This age, that dark chakra, and being able to use Susano'o with just three tomoe… you must be Uchiha Madara. But you should be long dead. If this news spreads, it'll shake the ninja world—every village would rather call a ceasefire than let you live."
White Zetsu laughed loudly. "Wahaha! You figured it out in an instant! Lord Madara, you've hidden your identity for years, and now it's all blown up after just one move!"
Madara wasn't angry. He never got angry with his own imperfect clone of Hashirama. Every time he saw White Zetsu, he remembered that brainless fool, Hashirama.
"Your space-time technique is quite interesting. It looks like you're summoning and swapping places with a corpse, but in theory, that shouldn't work. Performing mutual summoning at the same time would cause you to lose track of the target's coordinates the instant you switch. But you managed space-time displacement anyway."
Simultaneous summoning from both ends should be impossible.
There had to be something he hadn't figured out yet—likely the core secret of this space-time ninjutsu.
"If I can't understand it in one try, I'll just keep testing."
Once again, Madara's skeletal ribcage appeared. A giant skeletal arm lunged out, but Kaede Kanshi always managed to teleport away in time.
From a normal perspective, it would look like Kaede Kanshi's body flickered across dozens of locations like a glitched hologram with bad internet.
Madara stopped. He realized he couldn't catch Kaede Kanshi with conventional methods—and still hadn't cracked the secret of his technique.
Even if he destroyed all the zombies and the positional coordinates they provided, Kaede Kanshi could teleport to farther locations. He must've planted corpses elsewhere, too.
"All your techniques are very unusual. Each of them, alone, could qualify as an S-rank forbidden jutsu."
Madara's gaze lingered on the many zombies on the ground. Several with intact brains were still "alive" even with their bodies shattered into pieces. Some with intact hands could even help Kaede Kanshi use the Void Realm Technique.
Such a bizarre space-time ninjutsu truly earned Madara's respect.
"I can't kill you, and your abilities might be useful to me. A black flower like you growing out of this filthy world—how extraordinary. I'll tell you some truths about this world. After you've heard them, you can decide what to do."
Madara's tone left no room for refusal: "If you still decide not to cooperate after listening, I won't stop you."
"You talk as if I have no choice. I could just kill you here—even if you really are the legend himself."
Kaede Kanshi sneered. "Ever since that white thing threw something strange on me—"
A lump of white flesh swelled up on his body.
"No way, how did you notice my Spore Technique?" said a newly grown White Zetsu, shocked. "But don't worry, it won't harm you—just a convenient way to take you to our base."
"Such a petty trick. I have plenty of ways to get rid of you."
With a thought, Kaede Kanshi released a massive virus invasion, making White Zetsu scream in agony. He could even teleport with White Zetsu on him.
Even Kage-level shinobi would be caught off guard by White Zetsu's spores. Apart from Sage Mode, no sensory technique could detect them. But Kaede Kanshi was different—his body was full of viruses.
Madara remained calm. "So you have special sensory abilities. Since Hashirama, it's been a while since someone could keep surprising me. Though I'm old and weak now, I'm still not so easy to deal with. Before we keep fighting, let's talk. Maybe we're allies."
Kaede Kanshi hesitated. He likely couldn't do anything to Madara right now. Even if he could overpower him at the moment, if Madara donned the Tobi mask and went all out with Susano'o, Kaede Kanshi would be in trouble.
Besides, Madara had things Kaede Kanshi needed—like the clone of Hashirama.
Before long, both Kaede Kanshi and Madara disappeared. The remaining White Zetsus cleaned up all the corpses.
When Jiraiya finally arrived, he saw only devastation—and shattered zombie remnants.
"Damn it, I was too late. But what was that huge commotion earlier? Who was fighting whom? And what are these things? They seem mindless, only driven by instinct. I can't even tell which village they're from."
Jiraiya was deeply uneasy. He didn't want any unexpected factors, especially ones that could interfere with his training of Nagato.
And most of all, he didn't want anyone discovering Nagato's Rinnegan before he was strong enough to protect himself.
(To Be Continued)