[Shinobi World's Classic Battle Number 7: Uchiha Madara VS the Shinobi Alliance.]
As soon as the Sky Screen's voice faded, people everywhere in the Shinobi World who had still been silent over Jiraiya's death were instantly pulled back to reality.
Since it didn't involve them personally, their lamentations over Jiraiya's fate came and went quickly, and everyone's attention was quickly drawn to the new scene.
[Strictly speaking, this battle wasn't a traditional 1v1 duel, but its spectacular nature was in no way inferior.]
[When Madara was reanimated by Edo Tensei, that one kick didn't just break the coffin, it also broke the Shinobi World's power-scaling system into pieces.]
[Although the reanimated Madara only faced one main force of the 80,000-strong Shinobi Alliance, numbering around ten thousand. But unlike the Third Raikage, who died of exhaustion fighting ten thousand Shinobi, ten thousand was merely the limit of the shinobi count, not Madara's limit here.]
[To the reanimated Madara, ten thousand or eighty thousand made no real difference—it was just a matter of a few more meteorites.]
[This battle not only presented a visual feast of a legendary powerhouse absolutely crushing the modern Shinobi System, but it also became the most oppressive highlight moment for a villain in the history of Shinobi World combat.]
The screen's commentary continued, but people across the various timelines of the Shinobi World were already stunned speechless by this description.
An 80,000-strong Shinobi Alliance!
That was a number they couldn't even imagine!
But reanimated Madara could single-handedly suppress over ten thousand shinobis, and even eighty thousand was, in his eyes, merely "a few more meteorites."
This kind of power once again exceeded the scope of their understanding.
Was this where Kage-level powerhouses started becoming glorified cannon fodder?
---
[Konoha, Year One. High platform outside Konoha]
Madara and Hashirama stood shoulder to shoulder at the edge of the platform, the breeze ruffling their long hair and robes.
They were immediately intrigued, though not because of Madara's strength.
Madara knew his own strength, and Hashirama knew it even better. They weren't reacting to "Madara's strength," but were shocked by the number of shinobis in the future Shinobi World timeline.
"That many?!"
"An 80,000-strong alliance?" Hashirama's mouth hung wide open, shocked beyond measure.
He truly found it hard to imagine that, after three Ninja World Wars, in the future at the time of the Fourth Ninja World War, the number of shinobis would actually reach as many as eighty thousand.
One must know that in the previous Warring States Era, shinobi fought in chaotic melees with clans as units, and the village system hadn't yet formed—meaning a few hundred people was enough to count as a major clan!
The Uchiha and Senju fought back and forth, and each time only a few hundred were mobilized; a battle involving a thousand people was considered a decisive war.
Even now that the major Hidden Villages had been established one after another, the shinobi of the Five Great Ninja Villages each numbered in the thousands, totaling only twenty or thirty thousand altogether.
So an 80,000-strong alliance sounded like a fairy tale in the current era!
"Brother. No, the number of shinobis in the future should be more than eighty thousand; the major Hidden Villages couldn't possibly not arrange for personnel to stay behind."
"And many Genin definitely couldn't go to the battlefield either. If you count all these people, the number of Shinobi in the future is probably more than a hundred thousand!" Tobirama analyzed rapidly.
His voice carried a hint of disbelief, as well as lamentation over the changes of the times.
A hundred thousand Shinobi—that number was practically a myth in the Warring States Era.
After all, a hundred thousand chakra users were enough to flip the entire Shinobi World upside down.
Madara's mouth twitched slightly. How did the shinobis of the future just keep increasing in number the more they fought?
Did war not only fail to reduce the shinobi population but instead cause it to surge?
This sounded like pure fantasy.
According to common sense; war kills people, and the Shinobi World had experienced three World Wars, so they should be getting fewer and fewer.
Madara's brain couldn't quite wrap around it.
However… according to the Sky Screen's earlier intelligence, the Fourth Ninja World War was roughly Obito plus Kabuto, plus the reanimated shinobis, fighting against the entire Shinobi World.
So he was reanimated by that bastard Kabuto and controlled to fight the Shinobi Alliance?
The scene of himself being controlled surfaced in Madara's mind—like a puppet with someone pulling his strings.
At that thought, Madara's expression turned extremely ugly.
He slowly turned his head and stared at Tobirama without a word.
Tobirama felt that gaze and his body stiffened slightly. Of course he knew Madara was looking at him, and he also knew what Madara was thinking.
He coughed dryly and braced himself to speak, "You know that the Edo Tensei Jutsu I'm currently developing isn't that powerful; it only has the effect of carrying an Explosive Tag to self-destruct. That's all the wisdom of later generations."
Madara snorted coldly: "Don't give me that! You must figure out a counter for me!"
If his future self really was reanimated, then he absolutely had to give whoever controlled him an unforgettable lesson.
'Yakushi Kabuto, is it? Don't let me run into you or best hope you can travel through time too.'
---
[Meanwhile, in other Hidden Villages during the same period]
The First Raikage A, First Kazekage Reto, First Tsuchikage Ishikawa, First Mizukage Byakuren, and the others had their expressions change drastically!
They hadn't expected that even just the reanimated body of Madara could suppress over ten thousand shinobis!
No, that wasn't right!
According to what the Sky Screen said, even the 80,000-strong Shinobi Alliance still wasn't a match for Madara.
Could it be that the shinobi of the future after leaving the Warring States Era had grown weaker?
And if numbers really weren't enough, could they—the Kage—join forces, add the village's Kage-level powerhouses, and beat Madara?
After all, in the future, Nagato, who was also Super-Kage level, would be defeated by a war of attrition, so Madara being defeated should also be possible!
Because if the Shinobi World really were unified, the power of these "Kage" would be greatly diminished.
So long as there was even a shred of possibility, none of them wanted to lose the power in their hands and be merged into a single nation.
However, they quickly became dejected again; even if they defeated Madara, so what?
Konoha still had the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, who was even more terrifying!
If only Hashirama would stab Madara to death like in the established fate, that would be good.
---
[Konoha, Year 60]
The high-ranking officials of the current Five Great Nations sat or stood, their expressions grim.
Right now they just wanted to know: had Obito already joined forces with Orochimaru and Kabuto?
And before Naruto and Sasuke grew up, who could stand against the reanimated Madara?
After all, if even the 80,000-strong Shinobi Alliance couldn't beat him, who else would be a match?
So if Obito got provoked, could he revive Madara right now?!
At the mere thought of that possibility, they almost felt their hearts stop.
They had previously thought that Nagato was the threat, and that Obito and Kabuto were just clowns—but unexpectedly, they were the real threats!
As for the possibility that they wouldn't join forces, the higher-ups of the Five Great Nations couldn't even be bothered to consider it.
After all, as long as their shared interests remained, their alliance was only a matter of time.
*****
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