Madara heard Akira's words.
And smiled.
A smile born not of arrogance— but of recognition.
"So you're ready too," Madara said calmly.
The air around him collapsed inward.
Six Paths Senjutsu — Great World-ending Annihilation
Madara clapped his hand.
And the sky burned.
Just like the legendary Great Fire Annihilation—but this was no ordinary version.
This was its Six Paths evolution.
Not one. Not ten.
Hundreds of colossal fire waves erupted simultaneously, layered atop one another like an endless inferno-tsunami.
Each wave carried sage chakra capable of erasing mountains, cities, and oceans alike.
The battlefield turned crimson.
Heat warped reality itself.
---
Akira watched it all—
And smiled.
"Good," he said softly.
His Rinnegan flared.
Six Paths Wind style — Infinite Tempest Guillotine
Akira extended his hand.
A Truth-Seeking Orb responded.
The orb liquefied, elongated, and hardened into a pitch-black sword—perfect, silent, absolute.
Akira swung it once.
Just once.
A wind slash over a kilometer long screamed forward, carrying compressed Six Paths wind chakra sharp enough to cut space itself.
The inferno met the blade—
And was split cleanly apart.
The world-ending flames were severed, scattered, and erased, dissipating harmlessly into nothingness.
The shockwave carved a canyon across the battlefield.
---
Akira didn't stop.
His mouth opened—
Six Paths Water Style — Ocean of Ten Thousand Storms
A literal ocean burst forth from Akira's mouth, not water alone, but Six Paths–enhanced tides, roaring like living beasts.
A tsunami hundreds of meters high surged toward Madara, swallowing the battlefield whole.
Madara's eyes gleamed.
"So even water bends to you…"
He raised his staff.
Six Paths Fire style — Divine Meteor Flamefall
The sky cracked open.
Dozens of colossal fire meteors—each burning like miniature suns—rained down, smashing directly into the oncoming tsunami.
Fire and water collided.
Steam exploded outward, blanketing the world in a deafening roar.
Yet—
Despite the chaos—
Neither Madara nor Akira lost sight of the other.
They stood calmly, staring through the storm.
---
Madara's expression sharpened.
He lifted his head slightly.
And opened his mouth.
Light Fang.
A beam of pure chakra—moving at light speed—shot forward, thin, precise, and absolute.
Anything it touched would be sliced cleanly from existence.
Akira's pupils contracted.
He knew this attack.
He had no intention of dodging.
A Truth-Seeking Orb instantly reshaped itself, flattening into a smooth black shield.
The Light Fang struck it.
SCREEEEE—
The sound pierced reality.
The orb dented.
Cracked slightly.
But it held.
The beam dispersed harmlessly into the distance.
Akira lowered the shield, eyes gleaming with excitement.
"…Still sharp," he admitted.
Madara chuckled.
The steam cleared.
"And you're still standing."
Six Paths Earth Style — Ten Thousand Cliff
Six Paths Senjutsu — Lightning Cloud Cumulonimbus
Six Paths Ice Style — Ice Age
Six Paths Senjutsu — Great Fire Might
Six Paths Yang Style — Five Finger Mountain
Six Paths Senjutsu — Planetary Devastation
Few minutes passed.
The battlefield lay ruined.
Mountains were cleaved. The earth was scarred. The sky itself trembled.
Two figures remained.
Seeing that the exchange of ninjutsu had reached its limit, Madara slowly brought his hands together.
Clap.
The sound echoed—not loudly, but heavily, as if the world itself acknowledged it.
Madara lifted his gaze and shouted:
"Six Paths — Wood Release: True Ten-Thousand Hands!"
The ground shuddered violently.
Cracks spread across the battlefield like veins, racing toward the horizon. Mountains groaned. The air thickened with ancient chakra.
Then—
From beneath Madara, the earth split open.
A colossal divine figure rose skyward.
A Buddha, towering beyond reason, manifested below Madara—its presence alone crushing the land beneath it.
Not one thousand hands.
Ten thousand.
Rows upon rows of massive arms unfolded behind the statue, each one infused with Six Paths senjutsu, each capable of annihilating mountains with a single strike.
The pressure alone bent space.
This was not Hashirama's technique.
This was its perfected, god-tier evolution.
---
Akira looked up at the colossal Buddha.
And smiled.
"So this is the upgraded version," he murmured.
His eyes gleamed with approval.
Hashirama's Thousand-Armed Buddha had once ruled an era.
But this?
This was something meant to end worlds.
Akira took a single step forward.
Chakra erupted from him like a storm tearing itself free.
Susanoo Manifestation.
But this time—
It wasn't layered. It wasn't gradual.
It was instant.
The sky darkened as a two-thousand-meter-tall Susanoo tore itself into existence.
Its wings spread wide—each one as large as towering skyscrapers, stretching outward like the wings of a fallen god. The wind pressure alone flattened the battlefield.
The Susanoo possessed eight massive arms.
Each arm wielded a different divine weapon:
One held a spear, sharp enough to pierce reality.
One carried a long sword, humming with condensed chakra.
One gripped a mace, heavy enough to shatter continents.
One wielded a lance, radiating lethal precision.
One carried a bow, forged from chakra and intent.
One held an arrow, already drawn, already locked.
One bore a chakra shield, etched with ancient symbols.
And the final hand spun a giant shuriken, humming like a guillotine of death.
The Susanoo's eyes ignited.
The air screamed under the pressure of two divine constructs standing face to face.
Ten-thousand-handed Buddha.
Eight-armed God of Destruction.
Madara looked up at Akira's Susanoo—
And laughed.
A deep, genuine laugh.
"HAHAHAHA—GOOD!"
Akira's voice echoed from within his Susanoo, calm and excited all at once.
"Now this," he said, "is worth my time."
The battlefield trembled.
---
The moment Akira finished speaking—
One of his Susanoo's arms moved forward.
The arm holding the divine bow locked into place, while another arm—gripping the arrow—slowly drew the string back.
The bow bent.
Space screamed.
Around Akira's Susanoo, the remaining weapons vibrated as if responding to the intent of the shot.
To those watching from outside the barrier, it no longer felt like a battle between shinobi.
It felt like two mountains trying to erase each other.
Every slight movement sent shockwaves through the land.
Every step caused earthquakes that spread for kilometers.
Despair crept into the hearts of those watching.
How could a person reach this level of power?
Even Tsunade stood frozen, unable to process what her eyes were seeing.
Hashirama, however, burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Tobirama, look at him!" he shouted proudly.
"Madara finally stopped relying on Susanoo and used my technique instead!"
Tobirama clenched his fists, silent—but his expression said everything.
---
And then—
Akira released the arrow.
Yatagarasu's Arrow
The divine arrow vanished.
Not flew.
Vanished.
It reappeared an instant later—moving at light speed, tearing through space itself as it shot straight toward Madara.
Madara's eyes sharpened.
Without hesitation, one hundred hands of the Ten-Thousand-Handed Buddha surged forward.
Madara judged calmly.
One hundred is enough.
The arrow pierced them.
One.
Two.
Ten.
Fifty.
A hundred.
Each massive hand shattered on contact, exploding into chakra fragments—
Yet the arrow did not slow down.
Madara's expression changed.
"Tch…!"
He raised his hand and summoned a Truth-Seeking Orb, compressing it instantly into a long, flawless black spear.
With godlike precision, Madara hurled it.
The spear and arrow collided.
The impact detonated reality itself.
A blinding explosion swallowed the battlefield, warping space and crushing the land beneath it into nothingness.
This single clash bought Akira exactly what he wanted.
Time.
Madara noticed.
He's stalling… but why?
Before the thought finished—
Six paths Yin Style — Ten Thousand Despair Hell
The ground beneath Madara began to change.
The earth blackened.
Cracked.
Then—
The Ten-Thousand-Handed Buddha began sinking.
Madara's eyes widened.
At first, he scoffed.
A sealing tactic? Trying to drag me down?
Then—
From beneath the earth, tens of thousands of black hands erupted.
Not wooden.
Not chakra.
Something deeper.
Darker.
They wrapped around the Buddha's arms, legs, torso—pulling it downward as if dragging a god into hell itself.
Madara snarled.
"Akira—!"
Akira's voice echoed calmly.
"Get ready."
His Susanoo spread its wings.
The bow and arrow dissolved, reforming instantly into divine chains crackling with Six Paths energy.
All eight arms moved at once.
Madara had no time to choose.
Below him, the Buddha was being dragged down.
In front of him—
A two-thousand-meter-tall demon-god descended.
Madara roared and commanded all ten thousand hands to strike.
Each one massive. Each one lethal. Each one capable of killing a tailed beast alone.
Akira answered.
The eight-armed Susanoo attacked head-on.
A god versus a demon.
A Buddha versus destruction itself.
The collision—
Was not an explosion.
It was a continuous annihilation.
The sound did not stop.
One minute passed.
Three minutes.
Five minutes.
Shockwaves rippled endlessly, flattening everything within range. The sky fractured, clouds torn apart by the pressure.
Those watching thought it would never end.
That the world itself might collapse first.
And then—
Akira's voice came
Kūkai No Kago— Cage Of Empty Space
SIX PATHS YIN-YANG STYLE — CRUEL SUN
Kagami no Hikan — Secret Mirror of All Paths
---