'Boom, boom, boom!'
Battles erupted across several areas of the battlefield.
The most intense was naturally the battle between Seiryū and Madara.
Every attack from the Complete Body Susanoo shook the earth, yet Seiryū blocked them one after another.
The thunderous impacts shattered the ground and sent cracks spreading into the distance.
'Hum.'
Madara absorbed the incoming Rasenshuriken, and the Rinnegan in his eyes appeared even more sinister.
As the battle continued, his mastery of the Rinnegan deepened.
At that moment, he awakened another Dōjutsu.
Nether River: Calamity
The Rinnegan in Madara's eyes emitted an eerie light, and the area around him underwent a strange transformation.
A murky, foul-smelling crimson mist spread through the surroundings.
As the mist appeared, blood-red spider lilies bloomed across the ground.
They carried an aura of death and decay.
Crimson liquid began seeping from the earth, bubbling like water from a hot spring.
'Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.'
The blood-like liquid seemed to possess powerful corrosive properties. Wherever it flowed, all life was extinguished.
Even the Wood Style trees, which possessed extraordinary vitality, began to wither and die.
More crimson mist spread through the surroundings, carrying the same deathly corrosive power.
"Hmm?"
Seiryū was slightly surprised.
This was a Dōjutsu he had never seen before.
Was it a new ability born from this pair of Rinnegan?
He could also sense fluctuations of space-time power.
Was it another type of space-time Dōjutsu?
The area covered by the crimson mist had been sealed and restricted, almost as though it had been separated into another dimension.
"Hadō #66: Hyōga Seiran."
Seiryū sensed danger from the spreading crimson mist.
It carried an aura of death similar to that of the Nether River in the Underworld. It seemed capable of corroding and extinguishing all life while accelerating the loss of vitality.
Seiryū had no intention of discovering what it felt like to have his life force eroded.
He formed a seal, and freezing air spread from his body.
'Crack! Crack!'
A torrent of cold air swept across the surroundings, freezing the approaching crimson mist and liquid.
The battlefield became a frozen world as white ice crystals covered everything.
"A power capable of corroding vitality? This is indeed an impressive Dōjutsu. It is no weaker than my former Limbo: Border Jail."
"No, in some ways, it may be even more effective."
As the caster, Madara was naturally unaffected.
After carefully examining the technique, he understood its abilities.
It transformed an area into the Nether River of the Underworld, the boundary separating life and death.
Anyone living within it would have their vitality drained before their soul was annihilated.
After death, the victim's soul would be unable to reach the Pure Land and enter the cycle of reincarnation.
It first drained vitality, then destroyed the soul.
It was a Dōjutsu capable of destroying both body and soul.
It was also a space-time Dōjutsu.
"Your Medical Ninjutsu is powerful, but can it withstand the deathly aura of the Underworld?"
Madara stood proudly within the crystal on the forehead of his Complete Body Susanoo.
The Rinnegan in his eyes glowed as he continued activating Nether River: Calamity.
'Clatter!'
The crimson liquid boiling from the earth surged with an aura of death that drained vitality.
More and more of it gathered until it formed a sea of blood.
Like ocean waves, it surged toward Seiryū.
No life remained wherever it passed.
Even the frozen ice was covered and swallowed by the crimson tide as it advanced with overwhelming force.
"As long as it does not touch me, there is no problem."
Seiryū grinned coldly and formed a seal with one hand.
Lightning surrounding his body transformed into mist and spread in every direction.
Although it resembled mist, it was formed from highly compressed lightning powerful enough to burn a person to charcoal.
The heat generated by the lightning was also sufficient to melt steel.
The moment the crimson sea approached, it evaporated into a bloody mist that drifted through the air.
The mist obscured his vision, turning everything before him red.
"Hadō #73: Sōren Sōkatsui!"
Under the special perception of Vollständig: Heavenly Eye, the surrounding mist had little effect on Seiryū.
He formed a seal with one hand and thrust his palm forward.
Scorching blue-white flames spread out in a fan shape, evaporating a large section of the crimson sea.
'Boom, boom, boom!'
The flames continued forward without losing momentum, surging toward Madara as though intending to swallow him whole.
"Shinra Tensei!"
The attack covered an extremely wide area, making the Absorption Seal less effective.
Madara simply raised one hand and released a powerful repulsive force.
The blue-white flames were easily blasted apart, scattering sparks throughout the air and sharply raising the surrounding temperature.
'Sizzle!'
Just as the repulsive force from Shinra Tensei dissipated, an arrow pierced through the air.
Lightning danced across its surface, granting it extraordinary penetrating power.
Even the Complete Body Susanoo's formidable defence could not stop it.
'Crack!'
The lightning arrow concentrated its force upon a single point, pierced through Susanoo, and flew directly toward Madara.
"As long as it is a technique, I can absorb it!"
Madara's gaze sharpened.
Instead of dodging, he raised his right hand and activated the Absorption Seal.
He intended to absorb the lightning arrow.
At the same time, he remained alert for Seiryū appearing through the Flying Raijin Jutsu.
Seiryū had attacked him that way before, and Madara had suffered one of his defeats because of his carelessness.
'Bang!'
However, just as the lightning arrow was about to be absorbed, it suddenly transformed.
White smoke rose with a muffled sound.
What appeared before Madara was Seiryū, wearing a playful smile.
'He approached me like this? Damn it!'
Madara's expression changed instantly when he realised what had happened.
He had never expected Seiryū to use such a method.
Caught off guard, his reaction was delayed for a fraction of a second.
'Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.'
Six beams of light appeared from nowhere and locked around Madara's waist.
Nine black spheres of Chakra formed instantly, sealing the space around him.
Golden chains pierced through Madara's body as black sealing formulas spread across him.
Rikujōkōrō, Kuyō Shibari, Fullbring: Heaven's Chain, and the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu.
An ordinary person could not cast so many Bakudō and Sealing Jutsu in such a brief moment.
However, Seiryū was like a walking artillery battery.
Kidō required only a single seal, making it extremely fast and convenient to cast.
Although the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu required more hand seals, Seiryū could still form them with one hand.
In less than a second, Madara had been sealed.
This was a battle between powerful shinobi.
The slightest opening would immediately be exploited.
"Never underestimate Naruto's battle instincts. Sometimes his ideas are genuinely useful."
Transforming into a Ninjutsu to approach an enemy was a tactic Naruto had once used against Pain.
By catching Madara off guard, Seiryū had succeeded in a single move.
It was all about creativity.
"Serious Punch: Dragon Fist Burst!"
The Bakudō and Sealing Jutsu restrained Madara.
Even if they could not seal him completely, they would disrupt his Chakra for a brief moment.
That was Seiryū's opportunity to strike.
He would not allow it to pass.
The muscles in his right arm bulged as the Eight Inner Gates Formation amplified his power.
His fist drove directly toward Madara's head like a dragon plunging into the sea.
The head was a vital point.
When given the opportunity, it was only natural to aim for it.
Such chances rarely came twice.
'Boom!'
Seiryū unleashed his full power with that punch.
Even steel would have been shattered.
A mortal body could not possibly withstand it.
Unless Madara had already become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki and reached the Six Paths level, there was almost no possibility of his head surviving.
Even after undergoing the transformation of the Six Paths level, taking such a blow directly to the head would still have been devastating.
Therefore, when Seiryū's punch landed, Madara's head exploded instantly.
Blood and fragments scattered in every direction.
After destroying Madara's head, the force of Seiryū's punch continued downward and struck the earth.
'Rumble!'
The ground exploded where the dragon-shaped force struck, creating a seemingly bottomless pit.
The overwhelming force spread through the earth, causing the ground to rise and fall like waves.
It resembled a dragon twisting beneath the surface as enormous cracks spread outward.
Massive rocks more than a hundred metres tall rose from the ground like mountains standing across the battlefield.
A single punch had transformed the surrounding terrain.
It revealed the terrifying power behind Seiryū's attack.
'Hum.'
With Madara seemingly killed, Susanoo immediately collapsed and disappeared.
The vision of the Nether River created by the Rinnegan's Dōjutsu also vanished.
Only the devastated landscape left behind by Seiryū's punch remained.
Nether River: Calamity was a space-time Dōjutsu that transformed an area into the Nether River of the Underworld.
However, it did not completely separate that space from the outside world.
Instead, it manifested the Nether River within the physical world.
'Boom, boom, boom!'
The aftermath of Seiryū's punch continued spreading in every direction.
The other fighters across the battlefield could not help turning their attention toward it.
At another location, Orochimaru avoided Jiraiya's attack and narrowed his eyes as he looked toward the destruction.
"What astonishing power. Is that the Eight Inner Gates Formation?"
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with interest.
"I wonder whether someone revived through Edo Tensei could use that power. The possibility is quite fascinating."
With the mindset of a researcher, Orochimaru's first thought was whether those resurrected through Edo Tensei could train in the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
If it were possible, he could create an Edo Tensei army capable of sweeping across the entire shinobi world.
"You truly are dangerous."
Jiraiya had Fukasaku and Shima standing on his shoulders.
His gaze shifted from the distant battlefield back to Orochimaru.
His voice turned cold.
"However, I will not allow you to escape today. I will beat you half to death and take you back to Konoha for judgement."
Fukasaku, standing on Jiraiya's right shoulder, looked toward the distant battlefield and sighed.
"As expected of the forbidden child mentioned in the Great Toad Sage's prophecy. To possess such strength at his age."
Shima, standing on his left shoulder, said, "That is enough, dear. We already know how strong little Seiryū is. There is no need to worry about him."
"For now, we should focus on the opponent in front of us. The Senjutsu of Ryūchi Cave will not be easy to handle."
"Hehehe. Defeating me will not be so easy."
Orochimaru licked his lips.
The purple markings around his eyes deepened, and his snake-like pupils became colder.
This was the Sage Mode of Ryūchi Cave.
Orochimaru had originally lacked the talent for Senjutsu, which had always been one of his regrets.
However, Hashirama's cells were extremely useful.
Even though he had only transplanted a weakened form of those cells, they had still transformed his body and granted him the talent required to practise Senjutsu.
Both Tsunade and Jiraiya had mastered highly developed forms of Senjutsu.
Naturally, Orochimaru had no intention of falling behind or allowing the other two Sannin to surpass him.
Elsewhere, Tsunade stood atop the wooden giant after blocking Hashirama's Wood Style attack.
Her chest rose and fell slightly, revealing that she had already consumed a considerable amount of strength.
She looked toward Seiryū's battlefield and felt relieved.
"Even after losing more than two years, that kid is still this powerful."
Seiryū's Chakra remained strong, while Madara's Chakra had disappeared.
Had the battle ended?
Had Seiryū won?
"Hahaha! Even Madara is no match for that boy? Tsunade, you truly chose an impressive partner!"
Hashirama continued attacking without pause, but he could not help laughing heartily.
"Even I, before my death, might not have been his opponent."
The power displayed by Seiryū surprised even Hashirama, the God of Shinobi.
Seiryū was stronger than him.
Tsunade was now the Fourth Hokage, and Seiryū was her partner.
Perhaps the two of them could create an entirely new era.
"However, Madara is not so easy to kill. His Chakra has not disappeared."
Hashirama's Edo Tensei body did not become exhausted and remained permanently at its peak, so his perception was also maintained at its highest level.
He could still sense Madara's Chakra.
"Not dead?"
Tsunade frowned, but soon relaxed.
"Do not worry, Great-grandfather. Seiryū will not be defeated. He should still possess trump cards that he has not revealed."
Was this truly Seiryū's full strength?
Not necessarily.
Seiryū had not yet used the full power of the Dragon Vein, and he was extremely skilled at combining multiple special abilities.
At present, he had only displayed the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
Seiryū definitely possessed other trump cards.
'Boom!'
Hashirama used Wood Style to block an incoming magatama before forcing Sakumo back with another attack.
He sighed again.
"That is still not his full strength? It is fortunate that he is your partner. Otherwise, he would be extremely troublesome."
Tsunade fell silent.
Could her Great-grandfather stop calling Seiryū her partner every other sentence?
Although she had already accepted that relationship, Seiryū was still only a child.
It sounded far too strange.
It made it seem as though she had deliberately chosen an eleven or twelve-year-old boy and was raising him to become her future husband.
She was not that kind of person.
The destruction on Seiryū's battlefield gradually subsided.
After landing on the ground, Seiryū looked toward a particular location and clicked his tongue.
"Izanagi truly is an incredible technique. It almost makes me want to transplant a few Sharingan into myself."
Izanagi.
It was Izanagi again.
Because of that Forbidden Jutsu, Madara had returned to life.
The technique was truly unreasonable.
Transplanting several additional Sharingan was almost equivalent to possessing several additional lives.
The margin for error it provided was absurdly high.
It even made Seiryū consider transplanting a few Sharingan into himself in case he ever encountered an unexpected situation.
Madara no longer appeared relaxed.
His expression was extremely solemn.
"You always devise methods that I cannot predict. No matter how vigilant I remain, you still manage to deceive me."
Madara did not possess many spare Sharingan.
The ones he had came from deceased members of the Uchiha Clan whose eyes he had collected during his invasion of Konoha.
Only one transplanted Sharingan now remained on his body.
That meant he had only one more chance at resurrection.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)