"This is the difference in raw strength. I am stronger than you, so naturally, you cannot see through my methods."
Seiryū replied nonchalantly.
Then the corners of his mouth curled upward.
"I wonder whether you still have any transplanted Sharingan left in your body. How many more times can you die?"
He raised one hand and recalled Ryuha, who had been suppressing Satori, allowing it to dive into the Yin Seal between his eyebrows.
'Boom!'
Dragon Vein Chakra surged through Seiryū's body.
The terrifying Chakra fluctuations caused the surrounding air to tremble continuously.
Purple Chakra flowed over the blood-red aura of the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
The two colours intertwined, resembling strands of purple flame rising from within the red aura.
Dragon Vein Chakra Mode had been combined with the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
Layering two transformations was proof that Seiryū was becoming serious.
In the past, when he had forcibly opened the Eight Gates, the power of the Eight Inner Gates Formation had been too violent for him to control completely.
As a result, the Dragon Vein Chakra would be forced back into the Yin Seal.
However, this was Seiryū's second time opening the Eight Inner Gates Formation, and his control over its power had improved.
Although he still could not control it perfectly, it would no longer force the Dragon Vein Chakra back into the Yin Seal.
That was also why he could use Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred Technique.
Every Jutsu required proficiency, and that was an extremely important factor.
As controlling the power of the Eight Inner Gates Formation became easier, Seiryū could combine the two states and increase his strength even further.
During his previous battle with Madara, Seiryū had also been familiarising himself with the power of the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
Now, he was confident that he could maintain both states at the same time.
'Boom!'
Seiryū casually threw a punch.
The force of the blow carved a trench into the ground to his right, extending for more than a hundred metres.
Feeling the overwhelming power surging through his body, Seiryū smiled.
"I have become stronger. I hope you have become stronger as well."
He stepped forward, cracking the earth beneath his feet.
Seiryū transformed into a streak of light and crossed the distance between them in an instant.
He threw a punch that shook the air, compressing it into a powerful shockwave that surged forward with thunderous momentum and carved a trench through the battlefield.
"Amenotejikara!"
Madara's Dōjutsu distorted space, allowing him to avoid the attack and appear elsewhere.
His expression became serious and solemn as he raised one hand toward Seiryū, attempting to pull him closer.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
Chakra gathered beneath Seiryū's feet, rooting him to the ground like an ancient tree.
The powerful gravitational force could not move him at all.
"Hmph!"
Madara let out a low shout.
His Chakra surged as he strengthened the Dōjutsu.
The increased gravitational force tore the earth beneath Seiryū from the ground.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Madara thrust his right hand forward.
A massive repulsive force spread out in a fan shape, distorting the surrounding air.
It resembled an invisible giant hand crushing everything in its path as it surged forward.
'Rumble!'
The repulsive force rushed toward Seiryū, but he merely raised one hand and threw a punch.
The power behind his fist erupted.
The two attacks collided head-on, producing a deafening roar across the battlefield.
At the point of impact, even space seemed to distort.
The earth could not withstand the collision and shattered, forming an enormous crater.
A destructive shockwave spread outward and once again devastated the surroundings.
The force of Seiryū's punch tore through the invisible repulsive force and continued forward.
Although more than half of its power had been weakened, it remained extraordinarily powerful, carving trenches through the ground as it advanced.
"Roar!"
Madara had become more proficient with the Rinnegan, and the interval between uses of Shinra Tensei had fallen to less than a second.
However, he still could not activate it again quickly enough.
Instead, he mobilised Susanoo.
Amid a thunderous roar, a half-body Susanoo emerged and struck the incoming shockwave with its fist.
'Boom!'
Susanoo shattered the force of the punch, but its own body cracked and was blasted backward.
Standing inside the half-body Susanoo, Madara's feet dragged across the ground.
He only managed to stop after retreating more than a hundred metres.
Madara was not injured, but his expression darkened completely.
"This power..."
The strength Seiryū was displaying was far greater than before.
A single attack had already left Madara in such a dishevelled state.
'Swish!'
The faint sound of movement caused Madara's pupils to contract violently.
A warning of death surged through his heart.
He immediately poured all his power into Susanoo to reinforce its defence.
At the same time, an Uchiha war fan appeared in his hand, blocking the point where Seiryū's attack was about to land.
'Boom!'
However, all defences were useless before the current Seiryū.
His punch struck, and overwhelming force erupted instantly.
Amid a sharp cracking sound, Susanoo's shell shattered without resisting for even a moment.
Although the Uchiha war fan could reflect attacks, it could not withstand power that exceeded its limit.
A deafening roar erupted.
Madara's body trembled as though struck by lightning, and he coughed up a large mouthful of blood.
The faint sound of bones breaking could also be heard.
Then the violent force erupted and sent him flying into the distance.
"Gran Rey Cero."
Seiryū did not stop.
He leapt into the air as his own Chakra and the Dragon Vein Chakra gathered at his fingertip.
Brilliant purple light appeared.
After gathering power for several seconds, a deep-purple beam tore through the air.
Purple light illuminated the battlefield, as though nothing else remained in the world.
"Damn it!"
Madara had just climbed out of the crater when he saw the light rushing toward him.
The overwhelming sense of death made his heart tremble.
He roared and fully mobilised the power of his Rinnegan.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Madara disregarded the consumption of both Chakra and ocular power.
This Shinra Tensei possessed enough force to flatten an entire major shinobi village.
The Rinnegan was the power of the Six Paths, and this attack truly resembled the strike of a god.
'Rumble!'
An even more terrifying collision erupted.
The moment the two attacks met, a small sun seemed to ignite at the centre of the battlefield.
Everyone who looked in that direction felt their eyes sting and instinctively closed them.
Only those resurrected through Edo Tensei were unaffected by the light.
The collision could only be described as world-shattering.
Its power had surpassed ordinary understanding.
After a roar that echoed across an unknown distance, a terrifying shockwave swept outward and destroyed everything around it.
Those fighting on the other battlefields hurriedly defended themselves, not daring to underestimate its power.
The collision forced every nearby battle to stop.
Everyone was driven backward repeatedly as they stared toward the destruction in shock.
"Lightning Style: Kirin!"
Dark clouds covered the sky as thunder rumbled within them.
Although part of the cloud cover had been scattered by the previous collision, the natural lightning inside could still be used.
Following Seiryū's movements, the clouds churned once more.
Amid the thunder, a ferocious beast formed from lightning plunged from the sky.
A flash of lightning instantly struck Madara's position.
'Boom! Crack!'
Before Lightning Style: Kirin could land, the exhausted Madara refused to remain still and wait for death.
A Complete Body Susanoo emerged around him, attempting to withstand the attack head-on.
However, it could not block the attack completely.
A sharp shattering sound rang out, and more than half of the Complete Body Susanoo was destroyed.
The backlash from Susanoo's destruction caused Madara to cough up another mouthful of blood.
'Swish!'
Before Madara could recover, an extraordinarily fast arrow shot toward him.
He could not react in time.
The arrow destroyed his head once again.
Death was the condition that triggered Izanagi, as well as the command engraved into its Transcription Seal.
Madara did not need to activate the technique himself.
Fortunately, that was the case.
Otherwise, he might not have activated it in time.
The backlash from the destruction of the Complete Body Susanoo was not easy to withstand.
"To think he has become this powerful."
After returning to life, Madara's expression became gloomy.
Seiryū's strength made him feel genuine fear.
He could not afford to die again.
Even after obtaining the Rinnegan, he had still been killed by Seiryū in only a few exchanges.
This was the difference in raw strength.
His current power was not enough.
He needed to become even stronger before he could defeat Seiryū.
He needed to become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki.
'I cannot continue fighting him. I need to leave this place first.'
A powerful sense of frustration rose within Madara.
He realised that he could no longer continue fighting Seiryū.
This was the first time he had experienced such frustration and helplessness.
Even Senju Hashirama had never made him feel this way.
Hashirama had been evenly matched with him.
Perhaps Hashirama's overall strength had been slightly greater, but the difference had never been insurmountable.
If they fought another battle to the death, the outcome would remain uncertain.
However, against Seiryū, even after surpassing the strength he possessed in his prime, Madara had still suffered a crushing defeat.
If the battle continued, he would die there.
Madara had been defeated several times before, but he had not recovered to his peak during those encounters.
He had not been in his prime.
Even after losing, he had never believed himself weak or incapable of defeating Seiryū.
This time, however, the defeat was real.
So was the frustration.
The feeling was enough to drive Madara mad, but he remained rational.
He had endured for many years to achieve his objective.
He was neither reckless nor impulsive.
He needed to escape.
Although Black Zetsu had summoned him there, Izanagi had already interfered with the Summoning Jutsu.
Furthermore, Madara's real body had been summoned.
He could not return to his original location simply by releasing the Summoning Jutsu.
He could only create an opportunity to escape safely.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Madara immediately thought of a method.
He formed hand seals and pressed both hands against the ground.
White smoke erupted, and seven Tailed Beasts appeared across the battlefield.
Their enormous bodies made the surrounding area feel crowded.
Madara did not hesitate.
His Rinnegan glared at the seven Tailed Beasts, placing them under his control and establishing a connection with them.
'Hum.'
Using the connection between the Rinnegan and the seven Tailed Beasts, Madara extracted their Chakra to restore his heavily depleted reserves and physical condition.
There was no Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to serve as an intermediary, nor did he have time to create one.
The Chakra of the seven Tailed Beasts was extremely violent and mixed.
Even Madara could not control it perfectly, and the strain placed a tremendous burden on his body.
The tearing pain throughout his body caused Madara to grunt.
However, he endured it.
His willpower was also exceptionally strong.
'Boom!'
With the support of the Tailed Beasts' Chakra, Madara's strength rose sharply.
The surging Chakra swept across the battlefield and faintly surpassed even Seiryū's current power.
"Hmm? Have you become desperate?"
Sensing the Chakra radiating from Madara, Seiryū could not help frowning.
Uchiha Sasuke had also used the Rinnegan to draw upon the Chakra of the Tailed Beasts during the battle at the Valley of the End.
It had strengthened his Complete Body Susanoo and allowed him to unleash the terrifyingly powerful Indra's Arrow.
However, Sasuke had channelled the Tailed Beasts' Chakra into Susanoo.
Madara had drawn it directly into his own body.
More Chakra was not always better.
The body still had to withstand the corresponding burden.
When Seiryū opened the Eight Inner Gates Formation, its violent Chakra also placed a tremendous strain upon his body.
That was why opening all Eight Gates normally resulted in death.
Gathering the violent Chakra of seven Tailed Beasts inside one body might impose a burden no lighter than that of the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
Madara was clearly desperate.
"Cero!"
Realising this, Seiryū raised one hand and fired a Cero toward Madara.
'Boom!'
Madara merely raised his hand.
The repulsive force he released easily destroyed the Cero and continued surging forward.
Seiryū used Dankū to block it.
Madara clenched his fists and stared coldly at Seiryū.
"I have not been defeated yet, and I will not fall so easily!"
"You are not afraid of being torn apart by the Tailed Beasts' Chakra? Interesting."
Seiryū grinned meaningfully.
"Then let us continue. I want to see whether you can block this attack."
He raised his right hand toward Madara and spoke.
"Gran Rey Cero!"
Gran Rey Cero was the most powerful form of Cero.
In the Bleach movie, Ichigo had even used this technique to pierce through Hell.
It combined Shinigami power and Hollow power to produce a Cero far more powerful than an ordinary Cero.
Fundamentally, Gran Rey Cero was still a Cero.
However, it could break through the original limits of the technique.
It was similar to Kidō.
Completing a Kidō incantation allowed the spell to exceed the power normally associated with its number.
Gran Rey Cero was like a Cero that required an incantation, allowing it to break through its original limits and surpass its normal maximum power.
'Hum, hum, hum.'
A deeper and more brilliant purple light gathered at Seiryū's fingertip.
Large amounts of his own Chakra and Dragon Vein Chakra were extracted.
The Chakra was compressed, condensed, and concentrated until it formed a purple sphere.
Compression, condensation, and concentration produced even greater power.
However, it required more time to prepare, just as completing a Kidō incantation required time.
'How did he compress and shape such an enormous amount of Chakra?'
Madara's eyes filled with indescribable shock.
Was this a Tailed Beast Ball?
How could a Tailed Beast Ball possess such terrifying power?
How had Seiryū managed to compress and condense such a vast amount of Chakra?
If the attack landed, even Madara could not imagine the extent of the destruction.
Would everything be annihilated?
He had to block it with everything he had.
(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.)