Chapter 362: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Madara Uchiha

Just stopping a single Tailed Beast Bomb from the Ten-Tails had required the combined power of all the remaining Allied Shinobi Forces—and even then, they had only barely managed to succeed.

Now, with this second one incoming and no time to prepare… how could they possibly stop it?To survive now... perhaps only a miracle could save them.

At this moment, facing the second Tailed Beast Bomb heading their way, most people closed their eyes and watched their lives flash before them, memories rushing by like a slideshow, as they silently lamented their fates.

Madara Uchiha, meanwhile, looked on with a hint of boredom. He had expected them to at least put up a bit more of a struggle for his entertainment.

But it seemed they had no fight left. Still, it was true that for a mere ragtag army to block even one of the Ten-Tails' bombs was enough to give them something to be proud of for the rest of their lives.

"…Hm?"

Just then, Madara's eyes narrowed in surprise. When he caught sight of the newcomer, especially the eyes that looked back at him, his expression changed completely.

"That's impossible!"

Back where Naruto was still recovering, a kunai had been planted in the ground. Now, the kunai was gone, replaced by a figure, none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke took in the scene. It was obvious the battlefield had already endured a Tailed Beast Bomb.

After awakening his Rinnegan and adjusting to its abilities, Sasuke had rushed over, but apparently, he was still a step too late.

It seemed something major had happened during his awakening. But since he had blocked out all external sensory input during the process, he had no idea about the chaos that had transpired.

Now, as the second bomb approached, Sasuke's Rinnegan flashed. Even with the Rinnegan, he wasn't foolish enough to try to block a Ten-Tails' bomb head-on with Susanoo.

"Shinra Tensei!!"

Sasuke's voice rang out. He wasn't aiming to block the bomb outright, but rather to use an upward repulsive force to shift its trajectory.

As his ocular power surged, the bomb veered upward, as though swatted aside, and shot diagonally into the sky. A moment later, it exploded violently in the distance.

Sasuke, having pulled this off, clutched his eye. The sheer chakra mass in that bomb was enormous, even deflecting it with the Rinnegan had been no easy feat.

Normally, no one would attempt something so taxing and unrewarding. Against an attack of this scale, the best option would be to dodge, but…

Behind him was the Allied Shinobi Force. Reality left Sasuke with no choice but to take on this burden.

"Are… we still alive?"

The pain they had braced for never came. Some people opened their eyes, and saw the back of a figure standing tall, the pattern of a fan on his cloak fluttering in the wind.

"That's… Sasuke Uchiha!" Finally, someone shouted in joy, and some even burst into tears.

"Damn, we cheated death again," muttered Shikamaru, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Even he was shocked by Sasuke's power.

To deflect such dense chakra… he had considered this approach before, but only by combining the entire army's chakra. If everyone could synchronize their chakra, there might be a chance.

But how could they? Even blood siblings struggled with chakra resonance, let alone thousands of shinobi from different villages. The only outcome would've been prematurely triggering the bomb and dying in the explosion. So Shikamaru had rejected the idea from the start.

Sasuke said nothing to Shikamaru's gratitude. In his mind, even if he hadn't arrived in time, it wouldn't have been the end—because there was still one other person who could act if needed.

He didn't know why Natsuro hadn't shown up, likely due to personal reasons, but if things truly became dire, Sasuke believed he would step in.

Unbeknownst to them, Natsuro, who was deep in training, had nearly broken his focus. Only after sensing Sasuke's arrival did he return to his training.

"Hey, are you done resting?" Sasuke asked, glancing at Madara, then at the Ten-Tails, which was growing visibly more frustrated after yet another failed attack.

"Of course." Naruto slowly opened his eyes, golden flames rising around him, he had entered his Sage of the Six Paths mode.

"You handle the Ten-Tails. Don't let it fire at the Allied Shinobi Forces again. Shikamaru, pick out a squad of elites to stay. Everyone else should retreat to the base. The aftershocks from the upcoming battle won't be something they can withstand." Sasuke gave his instructions after a moment of thought.

"Understood." Shikamaru nodded.

He knew that as long as the Allied Forces remained here, any attacks from the Ten-Tails or Madara would force Naruto and Sasuke to take the hits themselves.

So it made sense to only keep elite ninja from each village and a few support types.

"Leave it to me." Naruto looked at Madara and understood Sasuke's intentions, Sasuke clearly wanted to settle something with Madara. He had no problem agreeing.

Sasuke then walked to the opposite side. Although they hadn't spoken about it beforehand, Madara also understood and jumped down from the Ten-Tails, approaching Sasuke.

"You're Madara Uchiha, aren't you?" Sasuke stared at Madara, then glanced at the Rinnegan in his eyes. In the past, he might have been surprised. But now, with his own Rinnegan, he had nothing to be shocked about.

"That's me. You must be the one the Sixth Hokage said surpassed me, the last scion of the Uchiha, Sasuke," Madara replied, eyeing Sasuke and especially his Rinnegan with clear astonishment.

Madara had awakened his Rinnegan at death's door. But how had Sasuke done it? He had erased all records of the method from the Uchiha stone tablet. Sasuke shouldn't have known how.

"Then tell me, how did you figure out how to awaken the Rinnegan? The Uchiha stone tablet shouldn't have had that information anymore." Madara asked.

"Huh? Isn't it just a matter of ocular power reaching a certain level?" Sasuke replied, genuinely confused.

"Hmph. So it really was a fluke," Madara muttered, staring at Sasuke. He could feel a familiar chakra from Sasuke, one that belonged to an old friend. Given what Madara had done, and the face embedded on his chest, he could more or less guess what Sasuke had done.

Sasuke stared back, realizing that awakening the Rinnegan might not have been as simple as he'd thought.

After all, his Rinnegan had only awakened after combining three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan, same-origin ones at that. Not exactly a trivial feat.

No normal Uchiha could replicate that.

But Sasuke had no interest in asking about the awakening method.

Madara looked at Sasuke. He still didn't think Sasuke had surpassed him, but since the boy had awakened the Rinnegan, his power couldn't be denied.

"…What do you think of this world?" Madara suddenly asked.

Sasuke frowned. Why was Madara saying this now? Trying to win him over with talk of shared blood?

Then, Madara spoke of his views on Konoha and the world, why he had left Konoha, how its path had diverged from the dream he had shared with Hashirama.

"I don't care about your drama with the First Hokage, and I don't want to hear any more," Sasuke cut in, glancing over to Naruto, who was still busy dealing with the Ten-Tails. That side was clearly the tougher fight, he had to finish things with Madara quickly and go help.

"So, Uchiha traitor, since you're already dead, stop crawling out of the grave to stand in our way." Sasuke said.

Suddenly, Madara burst into laughter, covering his face.

"Traitor? Are you referring to me?" Madara grinned menacingly, his Rinnegan glowing with an eerie intensity.

"I didn't betray the Uchiha…They betrayed me!"

Faced with Madara's arrogant declaration, Sasuke snorted coldly.

The next moment, both of them charged at each other, beginning a fierce taijutsu clash.

It could be said that both men had long surpassed the level of most shinobi, their taijutsu was at the very pinnacle.

However, as someone who had lived far longer, Madara's taijutsu was clearly superior to Sasuke's, and he quickly gained the upper hand.

"Looks like your fists aren't nearly as sharp as your tongue," Madara sneered. His previous fight with Natsuro had been utterly frustrating, despite his formidable close-combat skills, Natsuro's Flying Thunder God Technique made it almost impossible for Madara to even approach him, let alone land a hit.

Now, seeing Sasuke gradually forced back, Madara finally felt a sense of satisfaction in battle. Unfortunately, his current body was only that of an Edo Tensei reincarnation. Though not weak, it lacked the rush and thrill of blood pumping through a living body.

From the moment the fight began, Sasuke realized that his taijutsu wasn't a match for Madara's. Suddenly, a sealing formula drawn on Sasuke's arm activated, summoning a kunai, which he threw at Madara.

"Pointless," Madara said as he easily dodged the kunai, until he suddenly paused.

The Sasuke who had been in front of him was gone, replaced by a familiar kunai lodged in the ground. It looked exactly like the one he had just dodged.

If the kunai was now here, then..

Madara turned his head, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Sasuke, already behind him, hand crackling with Amaterasu Chidori, its black flames surging.

Flying Thunder God again? No, something was off. The Flying Thunder God Technique only teleports the user to the kunai, not swaps positions with it.

Besides, if Natsuro could mark Madara with a Flying Thunder God seal, then Sasuke, who had been in taijutsu combat with him for some time, should've been able to do the same. In that case, there'd be no need for him to throw kunai anymore.

Whatever the technique was, Madara knew it was too late to dodge. His Rinnegan lit up.

"Preta Path!"

But to Madara's surprise, it didn't work. That shouldn't be possible, even Amaterasu was a ninjutsu, and should have been absorbable through the Rinnegan's Preta Path.

In an instant, Madara realized, could it be because Sasuke also had the Rinnegan, interfering with the Preta Path's function?

Moreover, his current Rinnegan was an incomplete one, awakened through Edo Tensei. There was no way it could compare to a full pair of true Rinnegan.

Taking a deep breath, Madara suddenly summoned massive tree branches from beneath his feet.

"It's too late!" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, his Amaterasu Chidori just about to strike Madara.

But then, Madara's body was suddenly yanked away, as if something had forcefully pulled him from the spot.

It turned out the tree branches weren't meant to block Sasuke, but had wrapped around Madara's legs and hurled him out of harm's way at the last moment.

Still… Sasuke managed to tear off one of Madara's arms, and the black flames of Amaterasu had begun to burn on Madara's flying body.

However, without Sasuke's control, Madara soon activated his Rinnegan's absorption ability again, extinguishing the flames entirely.

Even as Madara finished absorbing the Amaterasu, another kunai appeared in his field of vision.

"Not this time!" Madara still didn't understand Sasuke's exact technique, but he knew he couldn't let another one of those tools get close.

With a Shinra Tensei, he repelled the kunai away.

Coincidentally, the kunai flew straight toward Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked, and his hand once again lit up with the now-familiar black-flame-clad Chidori. He lunged toward the kunai.

That movement made Madara's heart sink.

The moment Sasuke's Amaterasu Chidori was about to collide with the kunai, the kunai suddenly transformed, into Madara's own body.

This time, he had no chance to react.

In Madara's stunned expression, Sasuke's Amaterasu Chidori pierced directly through his chest.

If you want to read more...

Check out the patreon and get 55 chapters in advance -> SaintXI

Currently on Chapter 416 - Natsuro VS Renji