"What the—?! That much natural energy?!"
The moment Uchiha Yōrin began drawing on natural energy, Uchiha Madara was completely stunned—shocked, overwhelmed, and intimidated.
As Senju Hashirama's longtime rival and counterpart, Madara knew exactly what natural energy was.
Hashirama had been hailed as the God of Shinobi, and the reason he could unleash so many absurdly over-the-top techniques wasn't just his freakish chakra reserves—natural energy was a major part of it too.
Madara had once privately mocked him: Is Hashirama some creator god's illegitimate child or something? Why can he command that much natural energy?
But compared to what Yōrin was pulling in right now, Hashirama's "huge" natural energy looked like a tiny animal puffing itself up in front of a prehistoric beast—nothing but bluster.
This was Uchiha Yōrin's current ultimate trump card:
A Pro Max, fully upgraded version of the "Primordial Titan," fused with Truth-Seeking Orbs, natural energy, and chakra—power that embodied every attribute, the full force of "all things," and complete elemental authority.
If Six Paths Madara was fifty times stronger than he'd ever been before, then Uchiha Yōrin was at least five thousand times stronger than he'd ever been—if not more.
"I've already been acknowledged by this world," Yōrin said calmly. "This planet is in my grasp. As long as I walk on it, all of its natural energy is mine to command."
"Here, I am undefeated—unbeatable. Even if the strongest warrior of the Ōtsutsuki clan invaded this world, I could kill him with ease."
"…Damn it…"
Faced with a godlike enemy like this, even Six Paths Madara knew he had no chance of winning.
And yet, in the next moment, Yōrin waved his hand—and the surging natural energy dispersed.
Under Yōrin's precise control, not a trace was wasted. He redirected it all to where the planet, humanity, and the natural world needed it most.
The world itself was nourished. The circulation of natural energy became smoother.
And that was exactly why the planet was "happy" to lend him its power.
In a sense, if Yōrin truly wanted, even the beings deep within the Pure Land—Asura, Indra, and the two Ōtsutsuki brothers—would have no choice but to lend him their chakra, pushing him even further beyond limits.
But in this situation, there was no need.
If the gap in strength became too vast, the fight would lose all meaning.
So this time, Uchiha Yōrin intended to rely only on his own power—and fight Madara head-on.
Madara silently endured the humiliation—then made a decision.
If Yōrin was this arrogant, this overbearing, then Madara would leave him a lesson he'd never forget—one that proved a simple truth:
Your elder is still your elder.
But the next moment, even facing Yōrin—still in that divine Titan state—Madara realized that even with Yōrin "holding back," he might still lose.
"Even so… I'll fight. I'll fight to the end."
He threw away every stray thought and focused everything on the one thing that mattered:
Battle.
He would trade his newly regained life for dignity—and for pride.
"OOOOH!! Come on!! Let's fight!! You bastard!!"
The scene that had been described earlier became reality.
From the sky: massive meteors falling—Tengai Shinsei.
From the earth: hardened growths erupting—God: Nativity of a World of Trees.
At the same time, Madara charged in with the Ten-Tails and Perfect Susanoo layered together, hurling terrifying techniques like they cost nothing—jutsu that would instantly erase any normal Kage-level fighter.
In that situation, even Hashirama at his peak—if revived—would have been no match for Madara's berserk power.
But Uchiha Yōrin wasn't Hashirama.
Even as Madara's strength reached an absurd peak, Yōrin only sighed.
"Strip away all the complicated surface detail, and every technique is just chakra in a different form."
"In other words…"
In the next instant, a massive, chakra-targeting technique wrapped around the entire Valley of the End.
Blocking Technique Absorption Seal (Fūjutsu Kyūin).
One of the Rinnegan's most powerful—and most unfair—abilities:
Form a barrier, and absorb any technique that touches it.
In Jiraiya's final battle, he'd paid dearly for underestimating this.
But this time, Yōrin's Absorption wasn't a passive shield—it was a wide-area, active technique.
That was the sign that Yōrin's Rinnegan had evolved further.
If Madara's eyes could upgrade into the Rinne Sharingan, then of course Yōrin's eyes had advanced too.
A pair of eyes even stronger than the legendary Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's—nearly unrivaled.
A Nine-Tomoe Sharingan formed of pure gold and shining silver—so strange that even Madara, who had seen nearly everything, felt genuine shock.
Not merely unseen—one of a kind.
In an instant, Absorption forcibly nullified both Tengai Shinsei and God: Nativity of a World of Trees—two top-tier, indiscriminate area-wipe attacks. And that nullification continued to spread.
Madara watched in disbelief as his supposedly invincible Susanoo armor began to dissipate.
No "Sacred Treasures," no tailed beast bombs, no grand techniques—everything he threw was canceled out.
In the end, all he had left was the bare Ten-Tails body—what people called the God Tree—still present, still something to rely on… yet he felt as if he'd been stripped naked.
"This kind of technique…"
Six Paths Madara could use Absorption too—but nothing like this.
If Yōrin could do this, then no one on earth could cast ninjutsu in front of him.
Even the Ōtsutsuki clan's "all-abilities" bloodline might not work—because this wasn't just absorbing chakra or techniques anymore; it had risen to a conceptual level: absorbing energy itself.
In that case—settle it with taijutsu.
Six Paths fighters were complete, all-around monsters. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, ocular techniques—at the highest level.
So Madara lunged at Yōrin—
—and was met by a single "Thunderfire Sword Dance."
Yōrin's once-famous "Merit Wheel Kunai Formation" had been refined and upgraded into something like a mythical sword array.
Sword-light filled the space. Every single strike carried the full force of a Six Paths-level blow.
And the number of those strikes had been pushed to an extreme:
1,080.
Against that onslaught, even Madara was beaten until he could barely function.
At first, he could keep up.
But as time went on, he faltered. He was struck more and more, until he finally collapsed.
He tried to rise again—but couldn't. He couldn't even move a finger.
In that moment, after being cleanly crushed, he finally accepted a truth.
He didn't want to. It hurt. It enraged him.
But he had to admit it:
His era was over.
The instant he accepted that, his fighting spirit vanished.
Given time, he might have recovered… but Uchiha Yōrin had no intention of giving him that chance.
"Anything you want to say?" Yōrin asked as he walked over.
After the battle ended, looking at Madara—old and worn—Yōrin felt a flicker of pity. He asked quietly:
"Is there any final wish you want me to fulfill? If it's within my power, I'll do it."
Madara didn't ask for anything. Instead, he asked:
"Tell me… you really unified the shinobi world and brought peace to everyone?"
"Yes."
"I'm about to die. Don't lie to me."
"I'm not lying."
"If that's true… then good."
"Heh… heh… hahahaha…"
As Madara laughed freely, Black Zetsu appeared at Yōrin's side, watching him with complicated eyes.
For Black Zetsu, Kaguya's revival was far more joy than grief.
And yet, seeing Madara die again still stirred something inside him.
He'd been with Madara for a long time. His ambition, his vision, his dreams—Black Zetsu had witnessed it all.
Seeing such a titan die so miserably still brought a strange sadness.
This time, don't come back, Black Zetsu thought. Rest properly in the Pure Land, Uchiha Madara.
At the same time, Madara's laughter—pure, unmistakably Uchiha—rang out once more.
"If that's the case…"
"Then I'm entrusting this world to you, Uchiha Yōrin!"
He shouted, gathering the last of his strength—
—and cast Infinite Tsukuyomi.
In an instant, everything under the moonlight fell into sleep and illusion.
And within that world-spanning dream, the legendary Rabbit Goddess—
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki—
finally revived.