Kitazawa's thoughts suddenly turned to Uchiha Madara.
In half a month, Nagato would perform Edo Tensei.
Edo Tensei required a sacrifice, and the quality of that sacrifice would determine the strength of the resurrected Madara.
Kitazawa was weighing a single question:
Should he try to restore Madara as close as possible to his peak strength in life?
He was mainly worried that if Madara was too weak, it would affect his system mission.
After thinking it over, he decided to use a special White Zetsu infused with Hashirama's cells as the sacrifice.
Peak Uchiha Madara was terrifying—but the current Kitazawa was even stronger.
If he still lost, he might as well go die by throwing himself into Tsunade's arms.
Not long after, Konan returned to the Hokage's Office.
"You've worked hard, Konan," Kitazawa said, not looking up.
"It's my duty."
Konan's gaze landed on the mass of chakra floating in front of him, and her eyes widened slightly.
This chakra was unlike anything she knew. It felt like a blend of seven different chakra natures.
And that was exactly what it was.
Kitazawa was attempting to create ninja tools using Yin–Yang Release.
Konan didn't interrupt him; she simply watched in silence.
Time passed quickly, and soon evening fell.
Kitazawa went home, anticipation written on his face.
Lately, every night, he'd been fighting one against two, enjoying himself to the fullest.
The only regret was that he couldn't get Konan to join in.
Otherwise, that would truly be a thrilling battle.
The next day, 9 a.m.
Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Kitazawa and Karin appeared at the clearing in front of the Forest of Death.
Orochimaru was already there, waiting.
When he saw Kitazawa and Karin arrive, he took out a summoning storage scroll.
With a flick, the scroll unfurled, and an Orochimaru clone identical to the original emerged.
Karin's face twisted in confusion, her gaze darting back and forth between the two Orochimarus.
She had no idea what was going on.
"Let's begin,"
Kitazawa said as he tossed out a Shinigami mask.
Orochimaru caught it and placed it over his face.
He formed a sequence of hand seals and activated the Reaper Death Seal: Release.
A bone-chilling aura spread through the clearing.
Behind him, the Shinigami appeared in an instant.
It wore a tattered robe, its hair hanging in wild tangles, its entire presence radiating danger.
Kitazawa's eyes narrowed slightly.
He couldn't see the Shinigami at all.
More accurately, no one but the caster could perceive the Shinigami's existence.
Kitazawa, however, could sense it.
To him, it felt like a mass of natural energy refined to an extreme degree.
Just as expected, he thought.
In the original story, the Shinigami's origins were shrouded in mystery, but it was clearly unrelated to Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. Now, it seemed far more likely that the Shinigami was a native deity of the Ninja World.
Like the Summoning Beasts of the Three Great Sage Regions, it must have existed long before Kaguya's arrival.
The most direct piece of evidence was the Pure Land.
Under normal circumstances, the Shinigami should have ruled over the Pure Land.
Yet the reality was completely different.
The Shinigami's stomach could contain souls, and the Pure Land could also contain souls, but the two functioned like separate, unrelated systems.
As the Reaper Death Seal was released, the Shinigami's stomach was cut open, and the souls of Minato and the Yin Kurama spilled out.
Kitazawa activated his Rinnegan and immediately seized control of the Yin Kurama.
As for Minato Namikaze's soul, it would naturally drift on to the Pure Land.
At that moment, the Shinigami reached toward Orochimaru.
Whether casting or releasing the Reaper Death Seal, the caster's soul must be offered as a sacrifice; it was a forbidden jutsu that demanded an equal price—one life for one life.
Orochimaru instantly used the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique.
By the time the Shinigami's hand pierced Orochimaru's body, his soul had already slipped into the prepared clone.
The Shinigami grabbed twice at empty air, failing to catch his soul. Its expression twisted into something truly hideous.
But it seemed bound by its own rules and unable to act beyond them. In the end, it could only vanish helplessly.
Kitazawa quickly formed hand seals and sealed the Yin Kurama into Karin's body.
In an instant, an endless tide of chakra erupted, crashing violently through her.
Kitazawa casually overlaid an Eight Trigrams Sealing Style onto Karin.
"I'll send you back."
Kitazawa took Orochimaru and Karin back to the Hokage Building.
Orochimaru said nothing and headed straight for the Science Department.
Karin said his goodbyes to Kitazawa, then went to Training Ground to train.
Half a month passed in a flash.
The first film produced by Konoha's Film and Television Department officially premiered.
It had originally been scheduled for September 1st, but since that was the opening day of the Ninja Academy, the date was moved up by one day.
Following Kitazawa's suggestion, Kurenai organized a premiere ceremony.
The heads of the major clans and all available jōnin attended.
Kitazawa, Tsunade, and the others also sat down to watch.
How to put it?
It was quite good.
After all, Senju Hashirama's life was essentially a blockbuster action epic.
In particular, the segments where he swept across the Ninja World—he was simply invincible.
Kitazawa felt the movie's box office performance should be decent.
There were a lot of special effects—more accurately, a lot of ninjutsu on display.
In past films, that aspect had always been sparse and unimpressive.
The reason was simple: shinobi didn't normally go around making movies.
But this production was different. It was made by Konoha itself, with many ninja directly participating.
The main target audience was actually nobles, merchants, and ordinary residents of the various countries.
Their numbers far exceeded those of shinobi.
Yet very few of them had ever seen a battle between jōnin with their own eyes.
This movie undoubtedly offered them a rare chance to witness such a clash.
Even so, limited by the era and the overall environment, it was impossible to achieve the kind of box office explosions he'd seen in his previous life.
Fortunately, the movie's production costs were low, so turning a profit wouldn't be an issue.
After the premiere, Kitazawa returned to the Hokage's Office.
Before long, there was a knock at the door.
"Hokage-sama."
Nagato pushed the door open and stepped inside. "I have mastered Edo Tensei," he announced.
"In that case, let's not waste time. We'll start now."
Kitazawa stood up. "I'll take you to the Valley of the End."
Fighting Madara inside Konoha was out of the question.
The Valley of the End, with its special significance, was the ideal battleground.
Kitazawa used the Flying Thunder God.
In the next instant, he and Nagato appeared at the Valley of the End.
Kitazawa casually produced the White Zetsu prepared as a sacrifice, along with the coffin containing Madara's corpse.
Nagato drew in a deep breath and began forming hand seals.
Black sealing formulas spread out densely from beneath the White Zetsu.
Soon, White Zetsu's body was wrapped in an earthen-colored chakra.
With a dull bang, the coffin lid flew open, revealing Madara within.
Madara's eyes snapped open. The first thing he saw was Nagato—and he immediately sensed that something was wrong.
According to his plan, he should have been revived by Nagato's Rinne-Rebirth jutsu.
Yet the Nagato standing before him was alive and uninjured.
"…Is this Edo Tensei?"
Madara shifted his body slightly and felt the strange sensation for himself.
He swept his gaze around and frowned.
This place… was actually the Valley of the End?
"Nagato."
Madara's voice was cold. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Uchiha Madara."
Kitazawa smiled faintly. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kitazawa, the Sixth Hokage of Konohagakure."
Madara's eyes moved to him on instinct.
The Sixth Hokage?
His confusion about the situation only deepened.
"I'm sorry, but your Eye of the Moon Plan has already failed," Kitazawa said bluntly. "Black Zetsu is sealed, Uchiha Obito is dead, and the Akatsuki organization has joined Konoha."
Madara's expression shifted slightly.
Prompted by Kitazawa's words, he finally noticed that neither Black Zetsu nor Uchiha Obito were present.
Under normal circumstances, they would never miss his revival.
Unless, just as Kitazawa claimed, one had been sealed and the other killed.
"The reason we summoned you," Kitazawa went on, "is because Nagato wants to know the truth about his parents' deaths."
"The younger generation these days is truly remarkable," Madara remarked, having pieced together the general situation.
In his entire life, the only person who had ever defeated him was Senju Hashirama.
Yet what Kitazawa had accomplished had inflicted losses on him no less severe than Hashirama's.
"However, you miscalculated one thing."
Madara let out a cold snort and quickly formed hand seals.
But his hands froze mid-motion as his expression hardened.
He had failed to break free from Edo Tensei's control.
"I used a special sacrifice," Kitazawa explained calmly.
Back then, even Senju Tobirama had been unable to free himself from Edo Tensei because Orochimaru had used a special sacrifice as well.
"Madara, let's make a bet," Kitazawa said. "If you defeat me, I'll release you from Edo Tensei. If I defeat you, you tell Nagato the truth."
"You think you can defeat me? Hahahahaha!"
Madara was taken aback for a moment, then burst into wild, arrogant laughter.
Every movement and word radiated overwhelming confidence and pride.
In his eyes, aside from Senju Hashirama, there was no one in the entire shinobi world who could stand as his equal.
"Very well, I accept!" Madara declared without hesitation. "Even if I can't use my full power in this state, it's more than enough to defeat you!"
"Please," Kitazawa said, raising his hand in invitation.
Nagato, seeing the escalation, silently retreated to the side.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Madara opened his mouth, unleashing a torrent of searing flames.
In an instant, half of the Valley of the End was swallowed by fire.
"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
Kitazawa stood his ground, calmly weaving hand seals.
Boundless water surged into existence, crashing forward like a tidal wave and smothering the flames.
Madara's eyes narrowed.
Kitazawa's strength was even greater than he had anticipated.
He had actually blocked his Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation alone.
In the original story, it had taken more than twenty Hidden Mist ninjas using Water Release: Water Formation Wall together to stop that same technique.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Madara stopped holding back. He raised his hand.
An overwhelming repulsive force exploded outward, tearing up the earth and blasting everything aside in its path.
"Wood Release: Hobi!"
A massive wooden shield sprang up before Kitazawa.
Boom!
The repulsive force slammed into the wooden shield with an explosion-like roar.
The air split open, and violent currents howled in every direction.
"Wood Release."
Madara spoke the words flatly, his face unreadable.
Now he understood why Black Zetsu and Uchiha Obito had failed.
To wield an advanced Wood Release like Wood Release: Hobi, Kitazawa was most likely a Senju who had naturally awakened Wood Release.
"You're now qualified to be my opponent."
As he finished speaking, a suffocatingly dark aura erupted from Madara.
In an instant, a colossal blue warrior god rose up behind him—
Perfect Susanoo.
"Wood Release: Wood Golem!"
Kitazawa clapped his hands together.
Before him, a towering wooden golem burst from the ground.
Seeing the all-too-familiar wooden golem, Madara drove his Susanoo forward, bringing its twin blades down in a vicious strike.
The wooden golem's response was simple and direct: it reached out and caught both swords in its hands.
The clash of their colossal strength shook the battlefield.
The wooden golem's feet drove into the earth, sinking down, but it quickly steadied itself.
Madara's heart trembled.
Kitazawa's power far surpassed his expectations.
The wooden golem he had summoned was actually not inferior to Madara's Perfect Susanoo.
That meant Kitazawa's strength was already approaching that of Hashirama.
It was unbelievable.
How could a second Hashirama appear in the ninja world?
"Planetary Devastation!"
Madara's expression darkened as he rapidly formed hand seals.
The sky dimmed.
A small black sphere rose high into the air.
A howling gale erupted, carrying with it an irresistible gravitational pull.
Heaven and earth quaked as everything was dragged upward toward the sky.
"Tenseigan Chakra Mode."
"Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
Shrouded in a green chakra cloak, Kitazawa swung with all his might.
The nine Truth-Seeking Orbs converged, transforming into a single golden sword beam.
Boom!
The black core of Planetary Devastation shattered.
The world stilled, returning to silence.
"What kind of eyes are those?"
Madara demanded, doubt thick in his voice.
The Tenseigan's power felt no weaker than the Rinnegan.
It completely overturned his understanding.
"Yasaka Magatama!"
Without giving Kitazawa a chance to respond, Madara flew through hand seals.
His Susanoo moved in tandem.
Fourteen magatama linked together, descending upon Kitazawa like a blazing sun.
"Perfect Susanoo."
Kitazawa's Tenseigan shifted, transforming into the Rinnegan.
"Rinnegan?" Madara's composure finally cracked. "That's impossible!"
He knew better than anyone how difficult it was to awaken the Rinnegan.
Even he had only succeeded in his twilight years.
Yet Kitazawa, who didn't even look thirty, had awakened the Rinnegan?
He deliberately used the word "awakened" because Nagato still possessed Madara's original Rinnegan, ruling out any possibility of transplantation.
As Kitazawa's own Susanoo manifested, it raised its twin blades and slashed down at the fourteen magatama.
Sword shadows flashed in a blur, and in the next instant, every magatama was sent flying.
"…I truly never expected a kid like you to appear."
Suppressing the shock in his heart, Madara spoke.
The current Kitazawa looked like a fusion of himself and Senju Hashirama.
Madara quickly formed hand seals.
The sky dimmed without warning. An enormous meteor tore through the clouds, descending from above. It blotted out the sky with its sheer size, plunging toward the wooden golem and Kitazawa like a falling mountain.
"Flying Thunder God!"
Seeing the meteor, Kitazawa kicked off the ground and shot upward.
The moment he reached the meteor, both he and the colossal rock vanished.
A heartbeat later, Kitazawa reappeared in midair—alone. The meteor was gone.
"Flying Thunder God…" Madara's voice dropped, laced with hostility.
His younger brother, Uchiha Izuna, had fallen to Tobirama's Flying Thunder God Technique.
A shinobi with the Rinnegan, Wood Release, and now the Flying Thunder God as well?
Beyond irritation, Madara felt a chill of unease.
Even at his peak, facing such an opponent, he couldn't say with certainty that he would win.
How could someone this powerful appear in the ninja world?
Madara immediately poured all his chakra into the technique.
A second meteor materialized in the sky.
It was more than twice the size of the first.
The instant it appeared, its vast shadow engulfed Kitazawa's Susanoo and the wooden golem below.
Madara fixed his gaze on Kitazawa.
Wood Release was powerful, but without Sage Mode, it could never display its true might.
And Sage Mode was notoriously difficult to master.
Just then, Kitazawa pressed his hands together. Distinct markings formed around his eyes.
Madara froze for a brief moment.
He actually knows Sage Mode?
Then what next…? Madara's eyes widened on their own.
A thousand-armed Buddha, so immense that its upper reaches were lost from sight, rose into his field of vision.
The colossal statue moved.
A storm of fists erupted, countless blows hammering down on the falling meteor.
Cracking sounds rang out one after another.
In an instant, the meteor crumbled, shattering into countless fragments.
"…The younger generation is to be feared."
After a brief silence, Madara added, "Your current strength is no less than Hashirama's."
Having fought to this point, his earlier confidence and pride had been stripped away.
Kitazawa's power had earned his recognition.
"Madara."
Kitazawa let out a light chuckle. "Then please take a look at this."
As his words fell, his Susanoo suddenly shifted, transforming into armor that wrapped itself around the thousand-armed Buddha statue.
"Susanoo-clad Buddha?"
A trace of reminiscence flickered in Madara's eyes.
He and Hashirama had been both rivals and kindred spirits.
"It seems it's time to end this."
Madara's body trembled slightly, and four invisible shadows appeared around him.
Limbo: Border Jail.
He had no intention of using them for a sneak attack.
Kitazawa possessed the Rinnegan; he could see the shadows clearly.
The four shadows immediately activated their own Susanoo.
In an instant, five towering Susanoo giants stood between heaven and earth.
Madara raised his hand.
All five Susanoo charged straight at the thousand-armed Buddha.
An unimaginable battle erupted.
Heaven collapsed, and earth split.
Countless torrents of chakra clashed and twisted together, forming a storm-like maelstrom.
Nagato watched, his breath catching in his throat.
Only now did he truly understand: he was not the master of the Rinnegan.
He did not know Limbo: Border Jail. He did not know Heaven-Concealing Star.
But the one who truly terrified him was still Kitazawa.
Under the relentless barrage of the thousand-armed Buddha's fists, the five Susanoo were smashed apart one after another.
In the end, Uchiha Madara suffered a crushing defeat.
[Current Mission: Defeat Uchiha Madara.]
[Mission Reward: Limbo: Border Jail.]
[The host has completed the mission. Reward issued.]
Seeing this, Kitazawa smiled.
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