"Did you really kill all three of those Jōnin?"
Seizing this brief moment of respite, Uchiha Madara hurriedly asked. Naturally, he was willing to believe Xuan's words, but the result was simply too shocking to easily accept.
"We'll talk about that later. Right now, we need to take care of this Hyūga Elite Jōnin. You take the vanguard." The three tomoe in Xuan's eyes darted sideways, tracking the Elite Jōnin who was already charging toward them.
"You're screwing me over again!" Madara roared furiously. Being the vanguard wasn't a glorious job—he had figured out long ago that whenever he teamed up with Xuan, "taking the vanguard" was synonymous with "going in to get beaten half to death."
"Cut the crap, he's here!" Xuan snapped. His hands blurred continuously, hurling a torrential rain of kunai and shuriken at their attacker.
Hyūga Akikaze's Byakugan flared. He spun his longsword into an impenetrable curtain of steel, violently swatting away every single projectile. In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance between them. "Vacuum Slash!"
An explosive, crescent wave of concentrated chakra erupted from his blade, threatening to engulf them both in a lethal shockwave.
"I'll leave this to you," Xuan said casually. With a flash of golden light, he teleported to an unknown location.
Madara forcefully swallowed the string of curses threatening to erupt from his mouth. The lethal slash was already upon him. His expression hardened into absolute seriousness. Refusing to dodge, he brazenly met the attack head-on.
Violent chakra clashed as the two engaged in a blistering, ear-shattering melee. Madara knew perfectly well that if he tried to fight an Elite Jōnin using standard Taijutsu exchanges, he wouldn't even last a minute. Tapping into his innate ferocity, he completely abandoned all defense, adopting a suicidal, blow-for-blow fighting style. You slash at my heart? Fine, I'll stab you in the throat. It was a psychotic game of chicken, and Madara wasn't afraid to die.
Under this deranged fighting style, the number of bloody gashes on Madara's body rapidly multiplied, but he miraculously managed to temporarily stalemate the Elite Jōnin.
Standing on a distant branch, Xuan observed the brutal clash with his Sharingan. He couldn't help but inwardly praise Madara's unparalleled, heaven-defying combat instincts.
Killing this Elite Jōnin using conventional methods was highly unrealistic. Xuan was able to slaughter standard Jōnin because his Flying Raijin Jutsu was too bizarre and unpredictable for them to counter. But an Elite Jōnin was an entirely different beast. The gap between a Jōnin and an Elite Jōnin was like the difference between twelve-year-old Kakashi and twenty-nine-year-old Kakashi. They weren't even on the same playing field.
Even Madara's claim that he could kill a standard Jōnin was likely due to him possessing a highly lethal S-rank Ninjutsu. Otherwise, based purely on overall combat specs, he was still a hair shy of the Jōnin level.
The most effective strategy is to completely restrict his movements, then instantly obliterate him with Kamui, Xuan thought. Hidden behind the thick canopy, he gently closed his eyes, his mind rapidly running through viable tactical simulations.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
His hands blurred through the seals. Three clones materialized instantly beside him. Xuan slapped a paper bomb onto the back of each clone. Tightening his grip, dozens of chakra threads manifested, seamlessly connecting to the kunai Akikaze had just swatted away. Coursing with chakra, the threads instantly pulled taut and hardened. The scattered kunai violently reversed their trajectories, shooting back toward the Hyūga Elite Jōnin.
"Madara! Get back!"
Hearing Xuan's roar, Madara didn't hesitate for a microsecond. Willingly taking a deep slash to his shoulder from Akikaze's blade just to create distance, he violently shoved himself backward.
The exact moment Madara retreated, the storm of kunai converged on Akikaze. His Byakugan swept the area. Chakra wires? he thought dismissively. His longsword flashed with cold light, cleanly severing all the connected threads. Just as he was about to unleash a burst of concentrated chakra to blow the projectiles away, a voice echoed.
"Rasengan!"
Suddenly, three Uchiha Xuans materialized perfectly beside the severed kunai, approaching from three completely different angles. Each clone held a roaring Rasengan.
"Annoying brat!"
Akikaze growled in irritation. The trajectory of his longsword shifted instantaneously, cleanly slicing through the waists of all three Uchiha Xuans in a single, fluid arc.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
The three clones dissolved into white smoke, leaving behind only three live paper bombs silently fluttering in the air where they had stood.
Not good! Akikaze's expression tightened, but it was too late to react.
"Detonate!" Xuan whispered sharply from the distant branch.
BOOM! The three paper bombs violently detonated in unison.
"Madara! Now!"
Naturally, Madara wouldn't let such a perfect opening slip by. Gritting his teeth and completely ignoring the blood pouring from his shoulder, his hands blurred into seals. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Release Song!"
Three roaring fire dragons plunged directly into the thick smoke of the explosion. The combined destructive power was equivalent to three independent A-rank Ninjutsu.
The three tomoe in Xuan's eyes locked onto the epicenter of the blast. His hands didn't stop for a fraction of a second. His weaving speed was so fast it left a trail of afterimages, making it look as though countless hands were simultaneously casting completely different Jutsu.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!"
"Fire Style: Flame Slash!"
In less than two seconds, four distinct high-level Fire Style Ninjutsu were completed and sent crashing into the smoke one after another. A chain of deafening explosions violently shook the forest.
Under a bombardment like this, even an Elite Jōnin will die if they take a direct hit. Elite Jōnin were still human. Their physical durability might be vastly superior to a civilian's, but they were still made of flesh and blood. If he took that onslaught head-on, there was no way he could survive.
Yet, Xuan's expression remained utterly solemn. He tightly gripped a kunai gleaming with cold steel, not daring to drop his guard for a second. Below him, Uchiha Madara was equally tense.
With a flash of light, Xuan teleported directly to Madara's side. "Status?" he asked immediately.
Madara panted heavily, glancing down at his bloody wounds. "I'm nearing my limit. If he isn't dead, we are in deep trouble. You have your space-time Ninjutsu so you can escape, but I'm probably screwed."
Xuan pondered for a second before saying calmly, "Didn't you say you had an ultimate move capable of killing a Jōnin? Why haven't you used it?"
"Easy for you to say," Madara snapped. "The chakra cost for the Five Fire Gods' Gate is astronomically high! I only have enough reserves to cast it exactly once. After that, I'll be completely drained and helpless. Plus, while it has no problem instantly killing a standard Jōnin, I have no idea if it can actually kill an Elite Jōnin."
Madara coated his left hand in medical chakra and pressed it against the gruesome gash on his shoulder. He inhaled sharply, his muscles violently twitching from the agonizing pain, but the crude first aid was effective—the bleeding began to slow.
"Five Fire Gods' Gate? That's the S-rank Ninjutsu you learned?!" Xuan's eyes lit up immediately. Exasperated, he aggressively slapped Madara on the back. "Why the hell didn't you say so earlier, you idiot?! If you had told me, we could have combo-ed this cataract bastard to death instantly! We wouldn't be in this mess!"
Cough...
The heavy slap caused Madara to violently cough up another mouthful of blood. He smiled bitterly. "You're definitely hitting me out of spite. Don't tell me... you still have a hidden trump card too?"
Xuan nodded. "Of course I do. The second he shows his face, you cast your Jutsu. As long as you can trap him in place for exactly two seconds, I guarantee he will die without a grave."
Though it took a while to explain, the actual conversation had flashed by in mere seconds. The thick smoke from the bombardment finally dissipated, revealing a rapidly spinning, translucent blue dome of chakra.
Xuan scoffed coldly. "Kaiten. Just as I expected. Get ready... Now!"
Madara nodded. He had already finished a highly complex sequence of hand seals. Slamming both palms violently onto the dirt, an absolutely massive, terrifying surge of chakra erupted from his body. "Fire Style: Five Fire Gods' Gate!"
RUMBLE!
The earth violently trembled. Five colossal, towering gates of searing crimson flame erupted from beneath the ground, forming a perfect circular prison. The exact second Akikaze deactivated his Kaiten, before he even had a microsecond to react, he was completely trapped within.
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