Chapter 291 – Naruto and Sasuke's Crisis
On the battlefield, the clash between Obito and Naruto and Sasuke had reached its most brutal stage.
Because he had to suppress the Ten-Tails inside his body while simultaneously controlling the Rinnegan, Obito's attacks had become extremely limited and repetitive. On top of that, he had already been injured earlier by Yusuke and continuously pressured by the Allied Shinobi Forces. Even after entering Six Paths Mode, Obito failed to gain even the slightest advantage—in fact, he was being steadily pushed back.
The overwhelming power of Susanoo combined with the Nine-Tails' chakra, along with Naruto's Senjutsu, caused the wounds covering Obito's body to worsen by the second. As the prolonged battle dragged on, Obito began to struggle even more to suppress the Ten-Tails raging inside him.
Obito stared at Naruto, Sasuke, and the Allied Shinobi standing behind them. His heart began to waver. Even the Sword of Nunoboko in his hand was no longer stable, cracks slowly spreading across its surface as it began to crumble bit by bit.
Sensing the opening, Naruto and Sasuke launched their attacks at Obito simultaneously. A massive surge of power leaked out from within him. The power of the Tailed Beasts inside Naruto began to resonate with the Bijū chakra within Obito, and an unavoidable tug-of-war erupted.
From the very beginning, Obito's resolve had already been shaken. After being struck once more by Naruto's relentless "Talk no Jutsu," he finally gave up resisting altogether.
One by one, the Tailed Beasts were expelled from Obito's body. Because the vessel of the Tailed Beasts—the Gedō Mazō—was still within him, Obito did not die like a normal Jinchūriki. Even so, he was left in an extremely weakened state for the time being.
After all, having such an enormous amount of chakra forcibly extracted was no small matter. Even the Sage of Six Paths himself had once been weakened for months because of it.
Obito finally realized his mistakes. After finishing his conversation with Naruto, he struggled to bring his hands together and began forming hand seals.
The moment Naruto saw the seals, his eyes widened in shock. They were the very same hand seals Nagato had used to activate the Rinne Rebirth Technique.
Elsewhere, Madara was being suppressed by the First Hokage's Deity Gates. At that very moment, however, a strange smile crept onto his face. A mass of black liquid suddenly wrapped itself around Obito's body—it was none other than Black Zetsu.
"In that case, it's time to switch players," Madara said with a smile.
Seeing the situation rapidly deteriorate, Sai immediately used a sealing technique, trying to completely seal Madara away.
"Outer Path: Rinne Rebirth Technique."
As Obito completed the jutsu, the cracked, damaged surface of Madara's body began peeling away, flaking off like scraps of paper drifting to the ground.
At that moment, Madara was fully revived—no longer an Impure World Reincarnation. At the same time, the Rinnegan detached from the empty sockets of his eyes.
"I should thank you, Naruto," Madara said calmly, his eyes still closed. "You pulled the Tailed Beasts out of Obito, saving me the trouble of doing it myself."
"This is how it should be," he continued, a look of pure delight spreading across his face. "A body of flesh and blood—this is what a true battle should feel like."
Black flames suddenly ignited across Madara's body.
"Relics of a bygone era shouldn't embarrass themselves by showing up here," Sasuke said as he shot forward, stunning everyone present.
Madara remained expressionless. Only his armor slowly slid off his body and clattered to the ground. Naruto immediately warned Sasuke that Madara could absorb ninjutsu.
Hearing the warning, Sasuke instantly drew his sword and charged in. However, Madara clearly had no intention of wasting time. He formed a hand seal and unleashed a powerful blow that sent Naruto, Sai, and the others flying away.
In the next instant, Madara appeared in front of Senju Hashirama and grabbed him by the throat. Sage chakra began flowing from Hashirama's body into Madara's, bit by bit, while Hashirama's face started to crack and collapse.
"Even if the order is reversed, it doesn't matter," Madara said calmly. Yet deep down, he felt a hint of confusion—he couldn't understand why Hashirama still hadn't opened his eyes.
"So this is Senjutsu chakra?" Madara scoffed. "It's nothing special. Not difficult to master at all."
At that moment, Sasuke attacked again. He intended to completely kill Madara while Madara still possessed a physical body.
However, Sasuke had clearly underestimated him. Even without the Sharingan, Madara was still not an opponent Sasuke could handle. With a single Fire Release technique, Madara blasted Sasuke away, then leapt onto the peak of a mountain and looked down at the Tailed Beasts below.
"Next, it's time to gather the Tailed Beasts," Madara said arrogantly.
He shot forward toward them. At the same time, the Tailed Beasts joined forces to confront him head-on. Facing all nine Tailed Beasts at once, even Madara without the Sharingan could only be utterly overwhelmed.
"Interesting," Yusuke muttered with keen interest as he watched Madara being battered relentlessly. "He can still use Susanoo even without his eyes. But at this level? It's nowhere near enough to deal with the Tailed Beasts."
Madara's eyeless Susanoo clearly could not reach its final form.
The combined assault of the Tailed Beasts only managed to shatter one of Madara's arms. At that moment, however, a White Zetsu suddenly appeared and handed the Rinnegan back to him.
Madara also grafted one arm from White Zetsu's body onto his own. Then, he placed the Rinnegan into his eye socket. Thanks to the incredible regenerative power of Hashirama's cells, the Rinnegan became fully usable almost instantly.
Madara glanced at his arm, fresh blood still flowing from it, then instinctively licked it. With a satisfied tone, he said, "At last… I can truly savor the pleasure of battle." He burst into loud, unrestrained laughter.
After that, Madara summoned the Gedō Mazō from Obito's body using a summoning technique. The colossal demonic statue emerged behind him.
The Tailed Beasts stared at Madara standing before them, and the image of the Sage of Six Paths surfaced in their minds. They knew it instinctively—Uchiha Madara far surpassed Obito. With the Sage's body, all the wounds on Madara's body had already healed. He leapt atop the Gedō Mazō.
"Limbo: Border Jail."
Madara's gaze sharpened, and an overwhelming ocular power erupted outward. In an instant, all the Tailed Beasts were sent flying simultaneously.
"In that case, it's time to put collars on you," Madara said coldly.
In the next moment, iron chains burst forth from the Gedō Mazō's body and wrapped tightly around the necks of the Tailed Beasts. Even Naruto, who was trying to pull the Nine-Tails back into himself, was caught by the neck and violently flung away.
"Madara-sama, the absorption of the Tailed Beasts must continue," White Zetsu reminded him. "Starting from the Eight-Tails to the Nine-Tails."
Madara had no choice but to temporarily abandon his plan to deal with the Nine-Tails immediately. One by one, the nine Tailed Beasts were absorbed into the Gedō Mazō.
Killer B survived because the Eight-Tails severed one of its own tails. Meanwhile, the Nine-Tails was freed thanks to Gaara's intervention, saving Naruto at the last second.
Although Shukaku was captured and Gaara felt deep sorrow, he still chose to save Naruto.
After all nine Tailed Beasts were absorbed, Tobirama attempted a surprise attack. But how could Tobirama possibly be a match for Madara? Before long, he was suppressed and pinned down by black chakra rods, losing his ability to move.
Following Hashirama's words, Sasuke stepped forward to kill Uchiha Madara. Because Sasuke resembled Madara in his youth, Hashirama had believed that Madara would never kill him.
But the unexpected happened.
The Madara of today was no longer the Madara of the past.
Without the slightest hesitation, he pierced Sasuke straight through the heart, then walked toward the center of the battlefield without even looking back.
On the other side, Tobi controlled a lower-grade version of Senju's Thousand-Armed Buddha. The colossal figure manifested before everyone. From its five heads, five different types of chakra attacks were unleashed. Yet every single one of them was blocked by Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Even though he managed to withstand the assault, Hiruzen felt an overwhelming sense of dread. His body, aged and worn by time, was no longer capable of sustaining a prolonged battle.
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