Chapter 310: Madara Uchiha
Dark. Damp. Bitterly cold.
"Kabuto. Let's begin."
The black-haired, golden-eyed man ran an unnaturally long tongue across his lips, studying the intelligence report in his hand.
A message relayed through Kumo's Heaven Transmission Technique, containing only four words.
The tiger has arrived.
"Understood, Lord Orochimaru."
The bespectacled man beside him bowed respectfully and produced a small fragment of finger bone from within his robe, presenting it to Orochimaru.
"With a specimen this potent, we should be able to summon him with precision."
Kabuto's eyes stayed fixed on the bone fragment in front of Orochimaru.
"Well said."
"Being granted the chance to witness this particular figure again — you and I should both consider it an honor."
"Heh heh..."
Orochimaru lifted the bone fragment from the board in front of him. A small white-scaled snake slithered out from his sleeve, swallowed the fragment whole in a single bite, and vanished with a soft pop, right in front of the two of them.
"You really aren't afraid of dying, are you."
"If that Hokage ever tracks this place down."
"What will you do then?"
A clear, melodic voice rang out from the darkness, and a blue-haired girl, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old, stepped into view as she approached.
"Lady Ichikishimahime..."
Kabuto bowed respectfully at her arrival.
Ichikishimahime spared Kabuto only a glance before turning her full attention to Orochimaru.
"That would genuinely be a headache. All I can do is entrust it to the White Snake Sages of Ryūchi Cave."
Orochimaru studied the girl before him — outwardly no older than thirteen — with a flicker of genuine amusement in his eyes.
Despite her youthful appearance, her true age was likely close to that of Mount Myōboku's own Fukasaku and Shima.
"After all, aren't the ones who let me hide in Ryūchi Cave already in this boat with me regardless?"
Orochimaru's words made Ichikishimahime's expression shift slightly, irritation flashing across her face.
"I genuinely don't understand why the White Snake Sage decided to wade into this mess at all."
Orochimaru let the comment pass, only smiling faintly.
"Sa~ Who knows~~~"
Probably the promise of Hashirama cells, sweet enough to tempt anyone.
Hashirama Senju. A legendary man.
Even decades after his death, his body had never decayed, his Yang Release never fully dispersed.
While alive, he'd even used the Slug Sages of Shikkotsu Forest to help subdue Tsunade — going so far as to force the Slug Sage into a summoning contract with her when she'd been only six years old, as a birthday gift.
An existence on that level was tempting enough to make even a thousand-year-old White Snake Sage's heart skip a beat.
And besides... heh heh...
—
Land of Frost battlefield
By now, the entire tide of the war had swung firmly in Konoha's favor — the front that had been pushed back into the Land of Fire itself had now been driven back into the Land of Frost once more.
The Hokage stood at the very front line, surrounded by several figures who'd once been among the most legendary powerhouses of the shinobi world.
The Third and Fourth Raikage. The Fourth and Fifth Kazekage. The Fourth Mizukage.
Facing this gathering of five Kage — several of whom she'd already personally defeated once before — Sakura's expression didn't change at all, only a faint edge of mockery touching the corner of her mouth.
"Quite the impressive lineup."
"Though that's about all it amounts to."
Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, watched her, grim.
"Sakura Haruno. Whatever you've done—"
"This day, next year, will mark your death anniversary."
"No one can stand against five Kage at once."
Beside him, Gaara opened his mouth as if to say something, then fell silent instead.
When the Fourth Kazekage had died, this Hokage hadn't even been thirteen yet — Gaara had never even witnessed her fight against Yomi.
He didn't believe, for a moment, that five Kage alone could defeat her.
Especially with one of them — the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura — showing so little will to fight, clearly here only to go through the motions.
"Heh. In that case, once this war's settled, I'll wipe out Sunagakure entirely and kill Kankurō too — send your whole family off to reunite together."
The Hokage said it almost carelessly, toying with the staff in her hand, a faint cold glint in her green eyes.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
Rasa's fury exploded.
Gaara was already dead. And now she was talking about killing Kankurō too, sending the whole family to reunite in death.
Which meant—
"What happened to Temari?!"
Gaara asked, urgent.
In his memory, ever since Yashamaru's death, his older sister had always been the one who worried about him most.
"Ah. Dead."
"Barely took a single swing... and her whole body just tore apart."
The Hokage's words landed like a blade driven straight into Gaara's chest.
Edo Tensei revivals had no hearts, no capacity for pain — and yet Gaara felt it anyway.
That was — heartbreak.
"What did you... say?"
Gaara stared at her, trembling.
"What, want me to repeat it?"
"She's dead."
"I killed her myself."
"Don't worry, though — it was fast. She didn't feel a thing..."
The Hokage's words sent something shuddering violently through Gaara's chest.
Dead...
Dead.
DEAD!
"I'll kill you!"
Gaara's mind went completely blank. He didn't want to hear any more of this. He didn't want to hear it.
All he wanted was to kill this woman standing before him, casually boasting about her kills as if it were nothing.
Desert Funeral!
Consumed with rage, Gaara drew on the nearly limitless chakra within him, and countless grains of sand surged into the sky, crashing toward the Hokage like a tsunami.
On the other side, Rasa — having just heard the news of his daughter's death — looked ready to weep with fury, and gold dust, heavier and denser than ordinary sand, surged forward instantly to merge with Gaara's assault.
"Now!"
The Third and Fourth Raikage exchanged a glance and charged at the Hokage together.
Meanwhile, Yagura — entirely uninterested in fighting — was forced by Edo Tensei's control to form the full forty-four seals for Water Dragon Bullet regardless.
Watching the scene unfold, the Hokage nearly laughed out loud.
Even working together, these five couldn't have beaten her — and one of them was Yagura, phoning it in entirely.
With Rasa and Gaara already committing their combined sand-and-gold-dust technique, Yagura's Water Dragon Bullet joining in now would only cause chaos for the father-son pair.
"Mizukage!"
Rasa shouted furiously at Yagura.
"What? This whole war reeks of something wrong from the start."
"I won't be controlled by anyone. The only one who can free me from this is the Hokage herself."
Yagura shot back without backing down.
By then, the Water Dragon Bullet had already fully formed, merging with the seemingly overwhelming wave of sand and gold, surging toward the Hokage.
But before it arrived, the two Raikage had already reached her.
"How dull."
A single kick brought the Adamantine Staff around to strike the nearest Raikage — the Third — the Hokage and Enma working in perfect wordless sync, the staff extending instantly.
One strike sent the massive Third Raikage flying, and in the same motion, the Hokage spun and drove a kick into the Fourth Raikage's chest, sending him crashing straight into the water-soaked wave of sand and gold.
Only now did the combined wave — laced with the Water Dragon Bullet — finally reach where the Hokage stood.
The staff snapped back, and with a single flourish, extended again, splitting the massive wave clean in two.
At the same moment, the Hokage's feet shifted, and in an instant, she'd already closed the distance to Rasa.
"You!"
Rasa's eyes went wide with fury at finding her suddenly right in front of him.
"Same thing I said before — I don't mind repeating it."
"Of every Kage here, you're the weakest."
The Hokage let out a cold laugh, closed a hand around his throat, hauled him bodily into the air, and a surge of savage chakra flame crushed down on him instantly.
"Father!"
Gaara sent his sand surging toward her, but the Hokage simply raised a fist and shattered the seemingly overwhelming wave of sand with a single punch, as easily as paper.
Gaara's eyes went wide at the sight.
A second time.
For the second time, he felt this same, crushing helplessness — just like the first time he'd faced this Hokage, three years ago. Even his full tailed-beast transformation hadn't been enough to match her then.
Back then, his father had died to protect him. Chiyo had traded her own life for his, through the Life-Transfer Technique.
And now...
I really am this weak, aren't I.
Struggling under the crushing weight of the Hokage's chakra, Rasa reached out weakly, trying to grab at her — but the Hokage's expression never changed. She simply closed her hand and crushed his neck outright, then kicked his headless body away, sending it flying into Konoha's ranks.
Karin, already waiting there, immediately bound the body with her Adamantine Sealing Chains. Kakuzu, Chiyo, Hanzō, and Shisui already stood beside her.
All that remained was waiting for the sealing team to arrive — then the chains wouldn't need to hold them indefinitely.
Within those same few seconds, the Hokage gave the Fifth Kazekage no opening at all — another punch shattered his skull, and she hurled his body toward Karin as well.
At that instant, a figure came streaking toward Sakura, wreathed in crackling lightning.
This was—
The Fifth Raikage.
Killer Bee.
"DIE!"
Lightning wrapped his entire body, tailed-beast chakra blazing crimson around him, the terrifying red cloak flickering violently alongside the lightning.
At the same moment, the Third and Fourth Raikage had already gotten back to their feet.
All three Raikage converged on the Hokage at once!
"Heh. Three Raikage together, not bad, I'll admit..."
"Shame, really..."
The Hokage let out a cold laugh, paying no attention to Yagura, still trying futilely to hold himself back beside her.
The man had no will to fight at all — if anything, his continued resistance was actively disrupting the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Raikage's coordination.
It wasn't a god-tier opponent she needed to fear. It was a useless teammate.
And Yagura, notably, wasn't useless at all.
Facing an ally who clearly only wanted to sit this one out, the three Raikage seethed with frustration — but with the enemy bearing down on them, there was no time to deal with him now.
At that moment—
A streak of white light shot in from the distance!
Focusing on it, it turned out to be a massive spear!
Sasuke, still locked in single combat against the Second Tsuchikage and Second Mizukage among the coalition ranks, had still found the opportunity to hurl the weapon this way.
"WHAT?!"
The Third Raikage sensed the danger instantly, spinning to intercept the dozens-of-meters-long spear.
He and the Fourth Raikage were both Edo Tensei bodies — but Killer Bee, the Fifth Raikage, was not.
With a furious roar, the Third Raikage met the spear head-on, both hands closing around its tip.
The Third Raikage hadn't earned his reputation single-handedly holding off an army of ten thousand Iwa shinobi for nothing — lightning blazed violently across his body, and with a furious shout, even as he was driven back, carving trenches dozens of meters long into the earth with his own feet, he managed, through sheer force, to halt the hundred-meter-tall Susanoo's thrown spear entirely.
"DIE!"
At that same moment, Killer Bee had already reached the Hokage.
Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!
For my brother! For Kumo! For the shinobi world! For peace!
In that instant, Killer Bee felt himself slip into a strange, heightened state — his chakra flowing with an ease he'd never quite felt before.
He felt, faintly, like he'd finally touched the edge of a plateau that had held him back for over a decade.
Sakura watched Killer Bee closing in, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Not bad, living up to your reputation. Of every Kage here, you'd probably rank in the top ten overall."
"Better than the Fourth Raikage, certainly."
"Shame, though..."
Sakura didn't hold back the praise at all.
As for the shame — well, of course it was a shame. Today just happened to be the day he died.
She hurled the Adamantine Staff at Killer Bee, who tilted his head slightly, letting it graze past his ear.
His target was clear — the Hokage herself, and nothing else.
But just as the staff passed him by, it dissolved into white smoke, and a towering ape materialized in an instant.
Enma reached out without hesitation, grabbing straight for Killer Bee!
The sudden shift caught Killer Bee off guard, and he spun his body, all seven of his shinobi swords striking at Enma simultaneously.
But blades that had never failed him before now struck Enma's body like nothing more than wooden sticks — Enma let out a cold laugh, made no move to dodge, and every one of the seven swords sparked violently against him, leaving nothing but faint, barely visible white marks on his skin.
Startled, Killer Bee produced an eighth tail behind him, and a white, skull-like bone weapon formed in his hand, slamming into Enma with a fierce blow.
Both of them were sent skidding backward from the impact.
Meanwhile, the Fourth Raikage had already reached the Hokage.
His crackling, lightning-wreathed fist was on the verge of landing squarely — but the Hokage simply watched him, calm, as though she hadn't reacted at all.
But how could that possibly be true?
Because someone had already blocked the Raikage's path. And that someone—
Was Yuki.
"Yuki!"
The Fourth Raikage roared, furious.
But Yuki's expression stayed cold, her body wreathed in ghostly blue flame, and she landed lightly beside the Hokage.
"No — not Yuki..."
"Matatabi, is it..."
Watching Yuki's cold, unreadable expression, the Fourth Raikage understood instantly.
"Didn't expect even Matatabi would betray Kumo."
"The Hokage really does have a way with people, doesn't she!"
The Fourth Raikage bit back his fury, voice low.
"I was never part of Kumo. I simply came to recognize Yuki, that's all."
"And now, this Hokage is someone Yuki herself could never hope to measure up to."
Matatabi, speaking through Yuki's body, said it calmly.
The Fourth Raikage stared at her, breathing hard, eyes burning with hatred.
Losing to the Hokage — he could accept that. Her strength spoke for itself.
But Matatabi had once been someone he'd considered a true part of Kumo. This "betrayal" filled him with fury he couldn't contain.
"G-give up... Lord Raikage..."
"This war... was always destined to belong to the Hokage alone."
At that moment, Yuki's body trembled faintly, and her words only deepened the fury burning in the Fourth Raikage's eyes.
Clearly, Matatabi had ceded partial control back to Yuki.
"What are you saying, Yuki?!"
"Has even you betrayed Kumo, along with Matatabi?!"
The Fourth Raikage roared. If it had only been Matatabi's betrayal, he could have understood, in a way. But for Yuki herself to feel the same — how was he supposed to accept that?!
Yuki had been raised in Kumo, her whole life!
And the Fourth Raikage could tell — she wasn't under any genjutsu at all.
Which meant Yuki had genuinely, of her own will, chosen Konoha.
"There's no way to win this, Lord Raikage."
"Please... I'm begging you. Give this up..."
Yuki, trembling, looked at the three Raikage before her, her heart aching unbearably.
No one else knew — but she understood, with total clarity, exactly what stood beside her right now.
This Hokage was someone the Sage of the Six Paths himself had personally acknowledged. He'd even offered her power far beyond anything Yuki herself could comprehend — and though she'd refused it, she'd still accepted the entirety of his thousand years of accumulated knowledge on Yin and Yang Release, and Yin-Yang Release besides.
Which meant, inevitably, an understanding drawn straight from the Sage himself.
However this war played out — even if the coalition somehow won — there was no version of events where this Hokage actually died.
And how, exactly, was anyone supposed to beat her in the first place?
Yuki simply couldn't see any path to victory for the coalition, no matter how she looked at it.
Even the Rinnegan's own wielder had been crushed by her directly.
If surrendering now might convince the Hokage to treat Kumo more leniently, out of some consideration for Yuki's own defection — that felt like the only remaining hope.
"Yuki. You've fallen."
The Fourth Raikage looked at Yuki, practically pleading with him now, his expression twisted with something indescribable.
Just three years, and Konoha had turned her into this...
"Can't you just stay quiet in the back for once?"
"What's the point of saying any of this to them?"
Watching Yuki tremble beside her, the Hokage let out a light laugh, and — with startling intimacy, right in front of all three Raikage — wrapped an arm around Yuki's waist, leaning in close to her ear, her expression teasing as she looked at the three men before her. Warm breath brushed against Yuki's skin as the Hokage spoke, low, and Yuki's eyes flew wide.
The Hokage was saying—
"Matatabi. Go."
Watching the three Raikage in front of her, faces dark enough to wring water from, the Hokage found the whole thing genuinely amusing.
Was Matatabi's power impressive?
Certainly.
But to the Hokage, it was still nothing especially remarkable.
What she did find entertaining was watching these three Raikage face down a former asset of their own village, turned against them.
In that instant, Yuki's consciousness was pushed firmly aside, and full control of the body passed to Matatabi.
Yuki tried to resist, but the Hokage spoke once more into her ear.
"Yuki. This was your own choice, joining this fight~~"
"So don't blame me for it."
That left Yuki's will frozen entirely.
If she chose to resist the Hokage now, then after this war ended, Kumo would—
For Kumo's sake, she couldn't resist.
All she could do was watch, helpless, as Matatabi took full control of her body and moved against the three Raikage.
"MEOW!!!"
A massive, two-tailed cat, dozens of meters tall, materialized on the battlefield, letting out a furious roar that whipped up an endless gale.
The Hokage stood atop Matatabi's head, arms crossed, watching the three Raikage below with clear amusement.
At that moment, another figure climbed swiftly up Matatabi's flank and took a position beside Sakura.
Tobirama.
He looked visibly worn — dealing with the Gold and Silver Brothers had taken considerable effort.
But fortunately, he'd successfully claimed their Six Treasures.
The Binding Rope. The Palm-Leaf Fan. The Seven-Star Sword. The Red Gourd.
Aside from the fan, which was purely offensive, the remaining three formed a complete, functional sealing system.
"Took you long enough?"
Sakura glanced at Tobirama, faintly unimpressed.
"The Gold and Silver Brothers weren't easy."
Tobirama didn't elaborate further, simply gesturing toward the Red Gourd — its meaning self-evident.
He'd seized the Six Treasures and, using the Binding Rope, Seven-Star Sword, and Red Gourd together, successfully sealed both brothers inside the gourd itself.
"In that case, let's get ready to seal the rest."
Sakura's gaze stayed calm — though of course, she wasn't referring to the Edo Tensei revivals at all.
She meant Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails jinchūriki.
"The Six Treasures..."
The Third Raikage's expression tightened at the sight.
He felt, suddenly, like this war might already be over before it had properly begun.
This young Hokage was already faster than him. If she used the Binding Rope to catch any of them, forcing out their word of power, Tobirama could then strike that spoken name with the Seven-Star Sword and seal them away in the Red Gourd.
With the Six Treasures in hand, Konoha now had genuine leverage to turn this entire war around.
Especially given how badly outmatched the coalition already was.
"Stall."
Killer Bee, as Fifth Raikage, spoke a single word, grim — and the Third Raikage understood at once.
He looked down at his own hand, and it clicked into place.
Edo Tensei.
Whoever was controlling the Edo Tensei revivals within the coalition wasn't even present on the battlefield.
Is there still some other card left to play...
Only the Fourth Raikage stood there, visibly agitated, completely lost — he had no idea what his father and adoptive brother were even talking about.
His father being the Third Raikage was one thing. But Killer Bee — barely three years, and the man's whole personality had shifted?
The hot-tempered Fourth Raikage found the whole situation deeply irritating.
"Matatabi. Move."
The Hokage patted Matatabi's head, and the three Raikage scattered instantly to spread out.
And exactly as the Third Raikage had feared, Sakura grabbed the Binding Rope from Tobirama's hand and shot straight toward Killer Bee.
—
Meanwhile, on the rise where Killer Bee had once overseen the battlefield, a small snake appeared.
The snake opened its mouth, and, in a manner defying all reasonable physics, a figure crawled out from within it.
That figure was none other than Orochimaru.
Or, more precisely — one of his bodies.
"Quite the lively scene, isn't it..."
Orochimaru surveyed the battlefield, fighting breaking out everywhere he looked, an unsettling smile spreading across his face.
At that moment, the small snake spat out a fragment of bone onto the ground.
Orochimaru's eyes fell on Matatabi rampaging across the field below, and without further hesitation, formed a seal.
"Summoning Jutsu — Manda!"
With a deafening boom, a colossal purple serpent materialized before him.
"Orochimaru! Whatever it is, I want a hundred sacrifices for this!"
Manda let out a low laugh, looking at the man before him.
Orochimaru only smiled.
"Nothing much. I just need to... borrow your life for a moment."
Manda blinked, stunned — then exploded with fury.
"OROCHIMARU! WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
But Orochimaru gave him no chance to react, his hands flying through another lightning-fast series of seals.
"Summoning Jutsu — Edo Tensei!"
The bone fragment in front of the small white snake shot straight toward Manda, who had no time to dodge — it struck him dead center, at his most vital point.
"OROCHIMARU!!!!"
Manda roared in fury, feeling his own life force draining away at terrifying speed!
Countless sheets of paper materialized out of nowhere, wrapping around his colossal body.
At the same time, that massive form began shrinking rapidly.
However long it took — a second, perhaps a minute — Manda's colossal body vanished completely.
Standing where the serpent had been now stood a man.
Black hair. Black eyes. Crimson armor. Even before his eyes had fully opened, the sheer terror of his chakra alone was enough to send the surrounding wind and snow whipping into a frenzy.
And this man carried a name of his own.
A name terrifying enough to make the entire shinobi world tremble.
The Shinobi's Asura. Madara Uchiha.
(End of chapter.)
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