On the battlefield of the Fourth Great Ninja War, smoke from the Wood Release terrain that had been incinerated by the high temperature continued to spread.
Ishikawa stood, his feet on the ground where a massive crater had formed due to the immense energy gathering just moments before.
He crossed his arms, imitating Madara, and stared coldly at Madara.
The reason he had intervened when the Five Kage had temporarily sealed Madara was because he knew their seal wouldn’t completely contain him.
He figured it was better to use the opportunity to gain a short period of control.
This way, he could get up close and personal to attack the controlled Madara, making the Five Kage’s seal at least somewhat useful.
Yeah, it was a good deal.
As paper fragments slowly floated between them, creating a standoff, Ishikawa suddenly noticed a figure slowly moving in the Wood Release ruins not far behind Madara, an area that hadn’t been flattened.
That person is…
Ishikawa narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to see through the hazy smoke to discern the person’s appearance.
Madara, standing opposite Ishikawa, was clearly closer to the figure.
He sensed the presence of a ninja behind him first.
Madara tilted his head slightly, his ocular power slowly burning, forming a deep blue aura.
The dark blue seemed to seep into the ground beneath his feet.
Then, Madara seemed to ignore the person behind him and turned back to face Ishikawa.
He didn’t dare to stop watching Ishikawa, who might be thinking up some new trick right now.
“Haa!!” A scream echoed from within the thick fog behind Madara.
It seemed to be the effect of the ocular power Madara had unleashed earlier.
Judging by the scream…
Was that Tsunade?!
Ishikawa thought this.
While the wind blew the smoke on the ground, preventing Madara from noticing his subtle movements, he secretly formed a hand sign behind his back.
Creak— A Wood Release clone slowly emerged from behind him.
In the smoke behind Madara.
Tsunade was impaled by a Susanoo blade that suddenly jutted out from the ruined wooden stakes.
She hung in mid-air, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
Good thing I opened the Strength of a Hundred Seal earlier…
Tsunade thought this.
If she hadn’t activated the Strength of a Hundred Seal, she would have been severely weakened by that attack.
Tsunade’s massive chakra began to surge, empowering her body.
Her right hand gradually became wreathed in a stream of blue chakra: “Hraa!!!” Bang!
She forcefully slashed her chakra-infused right hand onto the Susanoo blade that had pierced her.
The Susanoo blade, covered in ocular power, was actually broken by Tsunade and split in two!
“Hmph…” Tsunade endured the pain and forcefully pushed the section of the blade that had pierced her body backward.
The glowing blue Susanoo blade then detached from Tsunade’s body, and she caught it behind her!
Madara noticed the abnormality behind him.
He turned his head in surprise, staring at Tsunade in the smoke, who was holding his Susanoo blade.
She actually threw that bloody blade at him!
Bang!!!
The massive Susanoo blade was thrown fiercely by Tsunade onto Madara, striking his rib-like Susanoo with a loud noise.
It also cleared the swirling smoke.
Madara looked at Tsunade, who was still able to fight, with astonishment.
He could clearly see that the wound on Tsunade’s stomach that had been pierced was healing at a visible rate.
…Is it the same regenerative ability as Hashirama?
Ah, no, Hashirama’s body healed much faster…
Madara watched Tsunade’s abdominal wound continuously heal, mentally comparing her regeneration speed to Hashirama’s from his memories and scoffed inwardly.
Hmm?
Madara frowned.
He suddenly recalled an important point from his memories.
He looked at the panting Tsunade not far away and remembered…
Didn’t Hashirama…
try to commit suicide with a kunai once…?
Seeing Tsunade, who had been impaled by Susanoo yet was still jumping around, Uchiha Madara recalled Hashirama cutting himself open with a kunai and fell into thought.
Madara looked up at Tsunade again.
Her wound had already completely healed, leaving only torn clothing to prove where she had been injured.
Madara’s mood became somewhat complex.
With that thought, a skeletal arm extended from his Susanoo, and several tomoe began to spin in its palm.
He then aimed at Tsunade and flung them with all his might!
Boom!!!
“Haa!!” Tsunade, who had just managed to stand up, caught the rapidly flying tomoe with her hand.
Caught off guard, she was blasted away, crashing heavily into the ruins of stone and wood, kicking up a large cloud of dust.
Madara also kept an eye on Ishikawa opposite him.
Having learned from previous encounters, he never let his guard down around that guy, even when he seemed to be resting.
Bang!
Boom!!
At this moment, sounds came from beneath the rubble where Tsunade had been smashed, drawing Madara’s attention again.
The other four Kage who had been blown away had, at some point, surrounded Madara.
Tsunade propped herself up with one hand, while the other struggled to push away the massive stone pinning her down.
The special chakra markings of the Byakugo Seal appeared on her face.
Madara’s pupils constricted.
Logically, even Hashirama’s granddaughter should have been completely incapacitated after taking two of his attacks head-on.
He wanted to ask in confusion: “Why are you still moving…” Bad!
Madara suddenly sensed a chakra mixed with an unmasked ocular power instantaneously appear behind him.
His attention had been drawn by Tsunade, and he hadn’t noticed the movement behind him.
Madara felt that something was terribly wrong, and he quickly turned his head.
In his peripheral vision, he saw Ishikawa standing opposite him.
Looking closely at his purple Rinnegan, it wasn’t Ishikawa at all!
It was his Wood Release clone!
Where is the real Ishikawa?!
Just as Madara was about to search for the real Ishikawa’s location, a somewhat comical voice came from behind him.
Madara involuntarily shivered: “Konoha Taijutsu Secret Technique…” Madara instinctively turned his head, only to find the real Ishikawa crouched behind him, his hands clasped together forming the Monkey seal.
He was smiling at Madara with a chilling grin: “Thousand Years of Death!!” Plop!!
Ishikawa thrust his hands forward with the Monkey seal.
To be able to blast Madara away, he had even bothered to wrap it in wind-style chakra.
Thus, the Thousand Years of Death, imbued with sharp wind chakra, struck Madara!
Bang!
The chakra gathered at a single point and then exploded violently, creating a surge of force that sent the caught-off-guard Madara flying into the sky.
Whoosh— Madara flew through the air.
He regained his senses, extended a giant Susanoo arm in response, and used its fingers to grab the ground, stopping his flight.
The Susanoo fingers dug deeply into the ground, cracking it with several deep fissures.
Tsunade, who had just stood up from the rubble, looked up and saw Madara flying away.
She was stunned for a moment, then narrowed her eyes and looked at the Monkey seal formed by Ishikawa’s hands through the dust.
“…That is…
Kakashi’s…” Then, Tsunade looked at Madara, his face ashen as he flew in mid-air, with a look of sudden realization.
The image of the valiant and heroic figures of the Warring States era in her memory suddenly collapsed.
“You bastard!!!” Madara was furious.
Using the force of the ground, his Susanoo arm yanked hard.
The friction propelled him back towards Ishikawa.
Madara extended a second Susanoo arm in the air, flinging himself higher into the sky.