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In the distance, Kagaya lowered his hand. The crimson glow flickering in his left eye gradually dimmed.
"Copying a ninjutsu like that really does consume a frightening amount. Good thing this is an Impure World Reincarnation body—otherwise, the drain would be brutal."
The ability of Kagaya's left eye was to copy a ninjutsu he had personally endured or witnessed, and reflect it back at the caster.
After all, this was merely a Mangekyo ocular jutsu. Using it to copy a Six Paths-level ninjutsu was somewhat of a stretch. But fortunately, Kagaya currently possessed an Impure World Reincarnation body, so he didn't fear the consumption.
He looked at Shikamaru and shrugged.
"We'll set aside the matter of you deliberately leading me here for now. But I've already helped you deal with those two meteorites. The thing you promised me just now—you'd better deliver. Madara can drop two meteorites on the Allied Shinobi Forces' heads, and I can do the same."
That statement wasn't a bluff. It was entirely genuine. This time, Kagaya had made a real, tangible contribution. If Shikamaru didn't properly fulfill what he had just promised, then Kagaya really would return those two meteorites to the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Without having made a contribution, Kagaya wouldn't dare demand repayment. But he had already made a significant contribution. If you still wanted to just walk away, that was impossible!
And what Shikamaru had just promised Kagaya was to persuade the Allied Shinobi Forces to help Kagaya find someone with a special constitution—someone who could withstand the Rinnegan.
This proposal had deeply moved Kagaya. Setting everything else aside, when it came to gathering intelligence, the Allied Shinobi Forces' capabilities were absolutely beyond anything Kagaya could match.
Gathering intelligence relied on numbers, not strength. The Allied Shinobi Forces had eighty thousand people. They didn't even need to do anything special—just each person casually taking a look would yield more than Kagaya could gather in months of intelligence work.
So if the Allied Shinobi Forces helped with the search, the efficiency would far surpass just Kagaya and Shikamaru searching on their own.
Kagaya originally hadn't considered asking the Allied Shinobi Forces for help. Because although he wasn't exactly their enemy, he certainly wasn't their friend either. So Kagaya hadn't even entertained the idea. But now that Shikamaru had confidently stated he could get the Allied Shinobi Forces to help, Kagaya couldn't help but be tempted.
As for Shikamaru, Kagaya still believed he could persuade the Allied Shinobi Forces. Of course, even if he couldn't, it didn't matter—Kagaya wouldn't lose anything. Just as he had said, if it couldn't be done, he would think of a way to drop two meteorites on the Allied Shinobi Forces' heads.
Shikamaru swallowed, somewhat nervous. He had just brought Kagaya to the Fourth Division's area, and the first thing he saw was a massive meteorite descending. It had terrified him—he had never seen such a scene, never even imagined it.
Directly dropping meteorites?
Was this serious?!
Was there even such an ability? Was this ninjutsu?
Shikamaru had far too many questions. That meteorite had shaken him to his core. But Shikamaru quickly suppressed those questions and began thinking of a solution. That meteorite, needless to say, definitely wasn't cast by friendly forces. Once it landed, the Fourth Division would suffer devastating casualties. So it had to be an enemy.
Then, how could that meteorite be stopped?
Shikamaru had no way. But he quickly thought of one person—Kagaya.
So Shikamaru requested Kagaya to act. But Kagaya wasn't Shikamaru's hired muscle—naturally, he wouldn't work for free. Shikamaru knew this too. So after much deliberation, drawing on his earlier guesses from their journey, Shikamaru grasped Kagaya's objective and decided to offer the intelligence capabilities of the entire Allied Shinobi Forces in exchange.
Kagaya was very satisfied with this trade, so he acted.
This was also where Shikamaru's current headache lay. When he had agreed, it had been simple—a few words, lips closing and opening. But now that it was time to actually do it, Shikamaru couldn't guarantee he could persuade the leaders of the Allied Shinobi Forces.
But he had no choice but to try.
"Of course. I'll do what I promised."
Kagaya watched Shikamaru's somewhat troubled expression and couldn't help but laugh. But that wasn't his problem. If you promised something, you solve it yourself.
"Fine. Then go negotiate with the Allied Shinobi Forces."
Shikamaru spoke with a face full of shock.
"Eh? You're not coming?"
Kagaya tilted his head.
"What I agreed to just now was only to help you deal with those two meteorites. I didn't agree to help you deal with Madara. If I go over there now, Madara will definitely come looking for me. And I'm very sorry, but I don't particularly want to fight a battle that wastes time. My mind is still on resurrecting myself."
Shikamaru suddenly felt like he'd been tricked. Earlier, because the situation was urgent, he hadn't thought too much. In his haste, he had begged Kagaya to act. He hadn't expected this loophole to remain. Shikamaru's original intent had been to exchange the Allied Shinobi Forces' intelligence capabilities for Kagaya's help in winning the Fourth Division's battle. But now it seemed Kagaya would only acknowledge what had been explicitly agreed upon.
Thinking about how to trick Kagaya onto the battlefield, Shikamaru spoke.
"Um... if I go over there alone, what if Madara sets his sights on me? I should be fairly important to you, right?"
Kagaya rolled his eyes and spoke with a face full of contempt.
"Save it. Trying to trick me onto the battlefield, and with such a clumsy excuse? That guy Madara—in his eyes, the only true opponent is Hashirama. Even the Five Kage aren't worthy of his attention, let alone someone of your strength. If Madara really went after you, I'd start suspecting whether that was actually Madara."
Shikamaru drew a deep breath, feeling somewhat helpless. There was no helping it. He could only go to the battlefield alone and negotiate with the Tsuchikage and the others about what he had promised Kagaya.
Kagaya watched Shikamaru's departing figure and smiled without saying anything. He found a stone pillar and sat down in its shadow to cool off.
He didn't want to confront Madara right now. It wasn't that he lacked confidence in beating Madara—it was, as he had just said, that he didn't want to fight a meaningless battle. Whether he won or lost against Madara, it held no meaning for him.
Over at the Fourth Division, in their field of vision, a person gradually walked out from their rear.
It was Shikamaru!
No one cried out in surprise. Any normal person knew that the one who had just summoned meteorites to block the meteorites couldn't possibly be Shikamaru.
Even Madara, who didn't know Shikamaru, merely glanced at him faintly, then shifted his gaze away and didn't look at Shikamaru again.
His chakra was too weak!
It absolutely couldn't be the person who had just blocked Madara's meteorites!
Madara didn't move. He was waiting—waiting for that person to appear. But what Madara didn't know was that the person he was waiting for had already started cooling off in the shade.
"Shikamaru! Amazing!! You actually summoned two meteorites too! How did you do it? Can you teach me?!"
Although by all logic no one would think Shikamaru could have done what just happened, clearly, there was still a fool among the Allied Shinobi Forces.
For example—Naruto.
At this moment, Naruto stood beside Shikamaru, shouting and looking at him with a face full of excitement.
Everyone stared at Naruto with expressions of utter speechlessness.
The corner of Shikamaru's mouth twitched. For a moment, he didn't know how to explain Kagaya's situation to Naruto. He could only say concisely.
"Naruto, I didn't summon those meteorites. I don't have time to explain the details right now. We'll talk later. Right now, I still have things to discuss with the Tsuchikage and the Kazekage."
Naruto scratched his head.
"Eh? Is that so? Well, alright then."
Shikamaru strode over to the Tsuchikage's side.
The Tsuchikage, Onoki, was the first to speak.
"Shikamaru, who is that person?"
When Kagaya had been resurrected through the Impure World Reincarnation, Onoki had just begun his standoff with Madara and had no time to learn about the situation on the other battlefields. So he didn't know about Kagaya.
Shikamaru organized his thoughts, then briefly recounted his and Kagaya's story.
There wasn't much between them. It wouldn't take long to explain. Besides, Onoki was clearly a smart man. Many things didn't need to be explained.
The Kazekage, Gaara, also came to Shikamaru's side and listened to the story about Kagaya.
"So... a mysterious Impure World Reincarnation subject named Uchiha Kagaya saved us?"
Gaara truly hadn't expected that in a war against Impure World Reincarnation subjects, he would actually be saved by one.
Of course, in reality, even if Kagaya hadn't acted, Gaara wouldn't have died with his strength.
Onoki, however, noticed something more important.
"You're saying... that Uchiha Kagaya also has the Rinnegan, and he wants us to help find someone who can adapt to the Rinnegan to help resurrect him?"
Shikamaru nodded.
"Yes."
Onoki instinctively glanced at the distant Madara and spoke with some worry.
"We know nothing about that person. If we let him resurrect, who knows what he might do."
Shikamaru spoke.
"That person also said that if we don't agree, he'll drop two more meteorites."
The moment those words were spoken, Onoki's expression changed. For a moment, he was caught in indecision.
"We agree to his request. We're willing to help him find a candidate who can adapt to the Rinnegan." Just then, Gaara decisively agreed.
Onoki looked at Gaara and spoke solemnly.
"Kazekage, you'd better think this through."
Gaara didn't hesitate at all. "Lord Tsuchikage, that Uchiha Kagaya is undoubtedly a figure on the same level as Madara. Right now, dealing with just one Madara is already difficult enough. What if there's another?"
Onoki fell silent. If the Fourth Division had to deal with two "Madaras" at the same time, it would truly be too difficult—there was even a risk of total annihilation.
On the other side.
Atop the stone pillar, Madara looked at the Second Tsuchikage.
"Why hasn't that trump card of yours come out yet?"
The Second Tsuchikage looked in Onoki's direction and spoke.
"Mm. The Allied Shinobi Forces seem to be discussing something over there. Let me speculate. My trump card hasn't completely defected. Although he helped the Allied Shinobi Forces, there must be conditions attached. And right now, the Allied Shinobi Forces are probably discussing the conditions he proposed."
With that, the Second Tsuchikage closed his eyes. After a moment, he opened them again.
"Mm. In my perception, that person is still lingering in the distance, not moving. He doesn't seem to want to participate in this battlefield. Or rather... is it simply that he doesn't want to meet you, Lord Madara?"
Madara spoke flatly. "Is he afraid of me?"
The Second Tsuchikage retorted.
"Based on my observations, his strength should be no less than yours. Even... no, nothing. But in any case, I don't believe he's afraid of you."
Madara narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the Second Tsuchikage. A dangerous aura spread outward.
"Insidious fellow... you were just about to say he's stronger than—"
Just then, a mass of sand rushed in, interrupting Madara's words.
The Second Tsuchikage—that is, Kabuto—secretly let out a breath of relief and smiled.
"It seems those Allied Shinobi Forces have reached a conclusion."
"Hmph!"
Madara gave a cold snort and stopped paying attention to the Second Tsuchikage. He leaped to another stone pillar, evading Gaara's attack.
His hands began forming hand seals. Madara spoke with domineering arrogance.
"My only opponent is Hashirama!! Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
Massive trees burst through the ground. In an instant, what had been a desert transformed into an oasis.
However, for the Allied Shinobi Forces, this oasis wasn't here to save them—it was here to bring death.
In the distance, Kagaya clicked his tongue.
"As expected of a man with Hashirama's face on his chest. He can even use Wood Release to this degree."
Kagaya's body also contained Hashirama's chakra, but not much—just enough to awaken the Rinnegan. So he couldn't use large-scale Wood Release.
Of course, if he absolutely had to, it wasn't impossible. Kagaya could use his left eye's ability to copy it. But copying a secret technique like Wood Release would undoubtedly consume an astonishing amount. During the Impure World Reincarnation, he could try it for fun. But if he truly resurrected—hey, wait. After resurrection, he'd have the Five-Tails' chakra. It seemed like he could try it then too?
At this moment, Kagaya also realized that his Mangekyo's ocular jutsu seemed to become more and more useful as he grew stronger.
Back when he was weak, even if his left eye could copy ninjutsu, it couldn't copy anything too powerful. Copying Kotoamatsukami once had nearly blinded him. But now, as he grew stronger, it seemed copying large-scale Wood Release was no problem?
"Ah... so having a weak constitution really isn't weak for nothing."
Curved-patterned Mangekyo wielders generally had weaker bodies but stronger ocular jutsu.
Over at the Fourth Division.
Naruto continuously used shadow clones to cast Massive Rasengan, blocking the Advent of a World of Flowering Trees. The Nine-Tails had given Naruto chakra, which was why this Naruto clone could continuously use shadow clones and Massive Rasengan.
The reason the Nine-Tails gave Naruto chakra was simple—the opponent was Madara.
There were many people the Nine-Tails hated. But if one had to rank them, Madara would absolutely top the list!
In the Nine-Tails' view, being controlled by anyone was several times better than being controlled by Madara.
The Allied Shinobi Forces Headquarters.
"Bastard!"
Tsunade stood up and walked to the side. She was preparing to set out.
Actually, headquarters had considered sending the Five Kage over earlier. Shikaku had even mentioned it in his communication with Shikamaru.
But they couldn't just rush over on a whim. Before going, headquarters wanted to observe Madara a bit more, as well as the situations on the other battlefields. If the other battlefields were fine and they had a certain strategy for dealing with Madara, then the Five Kage would set out.
But now, the situation no longer seemed to allow for slow observation. Tsunade had clearly decided to go.
"That one called Mabui, right? Come with me. Prepare the Heavenly Transfer Technique!"
The Heavenly Transfer Technique was different from the Flying Thunder God. It was not a space-time ninjutsu.
The Heavenly Transfer Technique could be simply understood as an "extremely fast technique." It could transmit an object to a target location at the speed of light. However, it could only transport objects. If a human body were transported, the body would be torn apart during the process, unable to withstand the excessive speed.
Just like when Kagaya released his body's limits and unleashed his full speed—the human body simply couldn't withstand that kind of speed.
Unless the body was hard enough, or the healing ability exceeded the speed at which the body was being torn apart.
Historically, only the Third Raikage and the Fourth Raikage, who inherited the Third Raikage's bloodline, could withstand the speed of the Heavenly Transfer Technique.
But now, one more could be added to that list—Tsunade.
Tsunade, who inherited Hashirama's bloodline! Under the Strength of a Hundred Seal, she possessed healing abilities on the same level as Hashirama. The speed at which the Heavenly Transfer Technique tore her body apart couldn't keep up with Tsunade's healing speed!