When Masashi manipulated his Susanoo to deliver a slap, Madara immediately sensed an unusual ocular power.
In the shinobi world, chakra sensing was considered an extremely rare ability, a coveted asset for any organization. But being able to sense someone's ocular power was not just rare, it was practically nonexistent. There wasn't even a classification for it, nor did anyone really pay attention to it.
After all, aside from the Uchiha clan, even the Hyūga clan didn't really engage with the concept of "ocular power" as it was understood by the Uchiha.
For most people, it was a non-issue.
The target group was simply too small. Whether or not someone was lying about being able to sense ocular power, it was difficult for outsiders to verify.
However, having experienced the entire evolution from Sharingan to Rinnegan himself, and possessing deep insight, Madara could indeed sense others' ocular power.
So, the moment Masashi made his move, Madara felt it. And he determined that the level of this ocular power was on par with the Rinnegan, and not just its basic functions.
In fact, that was exactly the case. Masashi's slap carried a completely different style from before. Everything that Susanoo's hand touched in front of it began to disperse. As if the world before them was made of building blocks, now knocked over, scattered into pieces.
He looked up.
Madara's Susanoo had already flown into the sky, dodging the attack.
It seemed he had sensed it in time.
Madara's Susanoo made a sword-drawing motion.
Masashi willed his Susanoo to retreat, shifting directions mid-air. In the next moment, thick chakra, combined with a slash, descended from the sky. Though it wasn't strong enough to split mountains in one blow, it was still formidable.
Starting from the center of the lake, a long crevice extended outward. Trees toppled like a flood breaking through.
Nimbly evading the strike, he thought for a moment, then had his Susanoo fly into the air as well. However, upon seeing that Madara's Susanoo hadn't changed in size, he realized, Madara wasn't truly intent on killing.
He was a legend of the shinobi world, a hero of the chaos, the pinnacle of his era, the apex of the Uchiha, the beginning of Konoha, and the ultimate in ocular power.
But Madara never truly hated anyone. Even as a child, he believed that the deaths of loved ones were the result of the cruelty of war itself, not something to be blamed blindly on a single clan. Even regarding Tobirama, his resentment was more about his own helplessness.
He was immensely strong, but lacked a real purpose. If anything, he just wanted to defeat Hashirama. His brother was important, but he was willing to set aside hatred for the sake of the clan. The clan was important, but when most of the clan chose Konoha, he wandered off alone.
In their final battle, he thought he had finally won. Rather than joy, he felt more like a weight had been lifted.
But Hashirama was not Naruto, his greatest loyalty was to the village. Even if a close friend or family member threatened it, he would personally strike them down. That blow severed the last shred of hesitation in Madara's heart.
Now, in midair, Masashi and Madara faced each other from across the sky.
"You're pretty good with space-time ninjutsu," Madara's voice called out from afar. "You've even mastered Sage Mode. Among this generation of Uchiha, you're the strongest."
"You flatter me."
"But it's all just an illusion. Everything you grasp will eventually slip away. Friends will turn against you because of your differences," Madara said. "The stronger the power, the closer that day comes."
"I'm afraid I must respectfully disagree," Masashi smiled.
Activating the curse mark once more, this time he truly unleashed the power of the technique.
Orochimaru had developed it to perfect his Living Corpse Reincarnation, while also creating a different way to harness the powers of Ryuchi Cave's Sage Mode.
When Masashi cooperated with Orochimaru on the curse mark, his goal from the start had been chakra.
Through years of tireless effort, he had collected the majority of the tailed beast chakra. Except for the unlucky Three-Tails who had just been defeated and was in the process of reviving, the rest of the chakra from the tailed beasts was already in his possession, each acting as a "beacon."
It was nothing unusual for an Uchiha to forcibly control tailed beast chakra.
Clap!
With a crisp sound, he formed a hand seal.
All this time, he had never used this function, he had only maintained friendly contact with Matatabi. In the past, even if he wanted to use it, he wouldn't have done so inside the village. But now, with Hashirama already reincarnated through Edo Tensei, he could go all out without worry.
Today, he had to make an exception.
Matatabi, I need to use your chakra at full strength. Help me channel it.
The thought was transmitted.
Soon, Matatabi sent back a clear response. Even from a distance, it could sense the terrifyingly dangerous aura on this reincarnated Uchiha.
This was no time for sentiment between tailed beasts. Its chakra began connecting with the chakra of the other tailed beasts.
---
Meanwhile, in Konoha, the first person to notice this was Kushina. Thanks to the arrival of a certain god-like figure, the fighting in the village had essentially ended.
Except for the Third Hokage, who was still missing, everyone else was already in a non-combat state.
But Minato was not the center of everyone's attention.
Because...
"Shodaime-sama, we still haven't located the whereabouts of the Third Hokage." A member of the ANBU respectfully reported to Hashirama, even though he knew this was an Edo Tensei body. That was pretty much what everyone thought at this point, reanimated or not, it was a big shot, just clinged to him.
For years, people had thought the First Hokage's strength was just exaggerated propaganda. But after today, they realized it had all been literal.
The ANBU reporting right now felt he was doing an excellent job, the First Hokage even looked bright-eyed listening to him!
He was completely overthinking it.
Hmm... I don't quite understand what he's saying... Hashirama kept a friendly smile on his face. Despite the obviously unnatural look of Edo Tensei's undead face, on him, it somehow didn't look creepy at all, instead, it felt warm.
But the warmer his smile, the more confused he was internally. To be honest, he had never really managed any actual organizational affairs in his life. And this kind of overcomplicated, utterly pointless report from the ANBU was completely outside of his comprehension.
But while he couldn't understand, someone else could.
"You're being too long-winded," Tobirama cut in coldly. "Just get to the point." As the founder and cornerstone of the ANBU, he was still someone the ANBU held deep respect for.
"Yes. A few hundred Kumo ninjas managed to escape..." the ANBU responded quickly and directly.
"Why were the enemies allowed to escape?" Tobirama frowned. "Are Konoha's ninjas so weak now they can't even surround the enemy properly?"
He was visibly irritated. The main source of his frustration? The ANBU. He was extremely surprised to discover that the modern Konoha ANBU had almost nothing in common with the ANBU he remembered.
There were still some similarities, like the masks. But what good were masks?
"Nidaime-sama, please don't be angry," Minato said in a soothing tone. "The Kumo ninjas specialize in speed. It's not unusual for some to escape. We can still catch up and apprehend them."
"..." Tobirama glanced at Minato.
He was about to say something, But before he could, Kushina, standing beside Minato, suddenly stumbled. In an instant, every person of status present turned their attention to the woman of the Uzumaki clan.
"Kushina! What's wrong?!" Minato rushed to steady his wife.
Kushina quickly regained her footing, but instead of answering immediately, she focused inward, sensing the changes in her body. Just moments ago, she had felt part of Kurama's chakra being silently siphoned away.
And that phenomenon had triggered its rage. As the proudest of the tailed beasts, how could it tolerate having its chakra stolen? It instantly pursued the direction in which its chakra had disappeared, and then, it finally saw the thief's face.
It was an Uchiha. And not a stranger. It recognized this Uchiha.
Masashi, a powerful human.
It decided to swallow its anger. After all, it couldn't win this fight. Moreover, in every sense, this man utterly countered it. So what if some chakra was stolen? It could endure this, barely.
That was what it thought, until the next moment, when a far stronger suction force arrived. This time, it wasn't some small-scale theft, chakra surged out like a flood! As it felt its body being blatantly leeched by this thief, it was truly enraged.
Using the connection between their chakras, the Nine-Tails' consciousness charged forward.
And then, it saw him, that man.
---
At the Valley of the End, sensing the enemy's rapidly growing chakra, Madara stood with arms crossed, still maintaining his imposing demeanor.
But his gaze had grown serious. Because his opponent's Susanoo was growing in size.
Among the Uchiha, one's strength during the genin stage couldn't be judged solely by whether their Sharingan had awakened. Strong ocular power didn't always mean the jutsu cast with it would be overwhelming in effect.
Skill and technique were still required.
As the most complete champion of the shinobi world, he had one clear advantage over Masashi, ocular power. Thanks to his powerful eyes, he could unleash the most formidable Susanoo in Uchiha history. But ocular power wasn't everything, chakra could make up the difference.
And at this moment, Masashi's Susanoo continued to expand.
"You've earned my respect," Madara said with a shout. As his ocular power surged, even his hair began to rise from the pressure.
Under his full exertion, his own Susanoo also began to grow larger. And then, mid-process, he formed seals again.
The sunlight dimmed as a massive meteorite appeared, filling the sky with overwhelming pressure.
But to Masashi, this move was hardly a threat. His towering Susanoo merely raised a hand and slapped, and the massive meteorite began to shrink.
Meanwhile, chakra from various tailed beasts continued to pour into the Susanoo. The forms of the two colossal giants grew increasingly exaggerated...
---
In a place like a dark waterlogged abyss, a man floating mid-air slowly opened his eyes.
He had already sensed it, the descendant who had inherited his Rinnegan was now truly activating its power. At the same time, the tailed beasts were reacting. But this was not the way he had hoped they'd be used.
He was Hagoromo. He had always been able to clearly sense the Rinnegan that Madara had inherited from him.
Now it seemed his entire plan might fall apart.
He didn't even have time to worry whether prematurely gathering the nine tailed beasts would invalidate the "prophecy" he had set in motion.
Prophecies were just a tool, after all.
And he... knew everything.
He knew about Black Zetsu's existence and had watched over the countless reincarnations and seemingly endless battles between his sons. During his lifetime, he had traveled the world to spread chakra to ordinary people, though most didn't recognize him, and he didn't care. All he wanted was for people to begin practicing chakra.
He raised his hand slightly.
The waters around him rose, forming eight massive shadows, eight in total.
This was one of his backup plans.
Since the Ten-Tails couldn't be destroyed, he split its will into nine parts. These nine, each with their own free will unlike the original Ten-Tails, had the chance to prevent his mother from fully controlling its chakra, or at least carve out a portion of it to empower the Child of Prophecy.
But the Child of Prophecy hadn't matured yet, and now the nine tailed beasts were in danger of being forcibly turned into power banks.
"Where is this so-called Child of Prophecy you spoke of?" The first to speak was none other than Kurama. "Meeting like this... isn't quite how you said it would go."
As the water receded, the eight tailed beasts revealed their true forms. They all immediately saw the old man and showed various signs of surprise. Clearly, Hagoromo hadn't just split the Ten-Tails and scattered the tailed beasts across the world like kicking soccer balls and then simply walked away.
Otherwise, knowing full well the personalities of his two sons, he wouldn't have chosen Asura as his successor, which led to Indra breaking ties with his family.
Everything he did was to empower an heir who met his expectations.
His goals had always been twofold: Prevent his mother's resurrection. And stop anyone from gathering all the tailed beasts and becoming her vessel, her power reborn.
And now, it was painfully obvious that the current reincarnate, overly obsessed and now forcibly draining the chakra of the tailed beasts, was not the heir he had hoped for. If anything, he was exactly the type of vessel he feared.
Am I being too stubborn? For a fleeting moment, that thought crossed his mind, but he quickly discarded it.
No one in this era had seen Kaguya. They didn't understand and couldn't imagine her terrifying power. She was a force that had to be faced with unity.
"There's been a bit of a problem," Hagoromo said, looking at the tailed beasts. "It's been a long time."
Honestly, it gave him a headache, the so-called "inheritor" he had pinned his hopes on didn't even have the strength to enter this place yet!