202 - Susanoo Buddha Rising
In Kiri, the ninjas who had not been deployed to the front lines remained behind to guard the village.
When a massive creature suddenly appeared several kilometers outside the village, the alarm was immediately sounded.
Sitting atop the Mizukage Building, Hikari casually swung her feet.
The intricate patterns of the Mangekyō Sharingan appeared in her eyes, allowing her to clearly see the grotesque and ferocious first form of the Six-Tails several kilometers away.
Beside her, Jigen stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm and indifferent.
"Six-Tails and Nine-Tails—two complete tailed beasts. More than we initially expected."
"Does it trouble you?" Hikari turned her head and looked toward the seemingly empty railing beside her.
"No matter how much power they have, if they can't even speak properly, they're nothing more than mere beasts... Want a drink?" Jigen's expression remained unchanged. As he raised his hand, a glass of deep red wine, as rich as blood, suddenly appeared.
"I don't eat or drink anything from strangers."
"Is that so? It seems we haven't built enough trust yet. But once you gain an extended lifespan, we'll have all the time we need to understand each other."
"When are we going in?"
"No rush. In its current state of chakra depletion, the transformation process will take longer than usual. You just need to ensure that Kiri reacts as expected."
"Oh."
Hikari waved her hand at the fervent Kiri high command behind her.
Without any unnecessary words, the numerous Kiri ninjas who had stayed behind, accompanied by a large number of White Zetsu, charged toward the location of the Ten-Tails.
---
In the emergency shelter at the southwestern corner of Kiri, Genji listened to the muffled tremors and the shrill alarms from outside. He gently patted the head of the young boy beside him, soothing his fears.
The eleven-year-old Mei watched in exasperation as the boy in front of her trembled and wiped away his tears. This kid was already six years old, yet he was still crying from a bit of shaking?
Seriously… Hopefully, Genji wouldn't make her comfort this crybaby later!
"Are we really not going out? There are still many civilians in the village who haven't made it to the shelters."
Genji's subordinate was filled with worry.
He hated war, and he loathed the extremist Kiri ninjas. But the civilians were innocent. The village was under an unknown attack, and yet they were hiding here.
This…
"The dawn will come." Genji's gaze swept over the people looking to him for guidance. He raised his hand, silencing all voices.
Ever since he had received that anonymous note a day ago, he had known, this time, he was right.
The Fifth Mizukage may have her own agenda, but after this upheaval, Kiri would finally see the dawn that would illuminate the village.
---
Above the Ten-Tails, Madara felt the hunger in his eyes. A primal instinct was urging him to merge the Ten-Tails' power into his own. He let out a sneer.
Because of the direct connection between the bloodlines of the Uchiha, Senju, and the Ōtsutsuki clan, and because the Ōtsutsuki clan thrived by consuming chakra to strengthen themselves, now that the Ten-Tails had been activated to this extent, he too was feeling the pull of that desire.
However, having heard the truth of the shinobi world from Kei countless times before, there was no way he would let himself be controlled or influenced by something like this.
The chakra fruit had long since been devoured by Kaguya. Even if he absorbed this Ten-Tails, the power he gained would never truly belong to him. At any time, Kaguya could take it back—making it nothing more than a false strength.
The God Tree...
Sooner or later, he would have his own God Tree!
"Madara~! This form of the Ten-Tails is too ugly! Can't you make it look a little better?"
Hashirama's voice rang out from within the billowing dust stirred up by the Ten-Tails.
"Shut up!" Madara's face darkened. How could he not know that Hashirama was actually worried about him being tempted by the Ten-Tails' power?
That damn bowl-cut idiot!
A Six-Tails, a Nine-Tails, and a bit of chakra from the other tailed beasts—this still wasn't a power that could truly belong to him. How foolish would he have to be to succumb to such a thing?
If not for the severe chakra deficiency within the Ten-Tails, if not for the fact that the transformation was happening so slowly, would he still be standing here like a fool?
With a low growl, Madara formed hand seals, his Rinnegan flashing with a deep purple glow.
Forcing the Ten-Tails to continue its transformation.
Under the power of the Rinnegan, the creature's massive, armored body began to shed its heavy exoskeleton-like structure.
Its size shrank by more than half. What remained was a skeletal, malnourished-looking Ten-Tails, its emaciated form making it resemble a walking skeleton.
He did not stop, continuing to accelerate the Ten-Tails' metamorphosis.
And in just a brief moment, a large force of Kiri ninjas, accompanied by waves of White Zetsu, surged toward them like a tidal wave.
"Truly... disgraceful." From a distance, Kei's pale eyes radiated a faint white glow as his Byakugan scanned the Mizukage Building.
The first thing he saw was Hikari, turning to speak to someone beside her.
But in the Byakugan's field of view, there was no one next to Hikari!
Even at the limits of the Byakugan's perception, all he could see was a faint, wispy chakra presence—thinner than even the lowest-level clone technique. The distance between him and the Mizukage Building was still too far.
At this range, neither his sensory abilities nor the Byakugan's perception could capture the finer details. However, he was certain—Jigen was definitely standing beside her.
First, Hikari was not the type of person who would turn her head every time she spoke, just to be polite. Second, knowing her personality, if there was no one beside her, she would have already approached him directly, rather than waiting so long without even using a casual ability like the Yachihoko to greet him.
If I can't detect anything at long range, but she keeps looking in that direction, it must mean that the Mangekyō Sharingan is capable of seeing him.
Kei stroked his chin thoughtfully.
In the original timeline, Sasuke's Tomoe Rinnegan was able to see Jigen's transformations and track his movements after he changed form. His own soul quality had already far surpassed that of senjutsu chakra.
With that level of spiritual energy enhancing his Byakugan and sensory abilities, his close-range observation should be at least on par with the Tomoe Rinnegan.
---
"What a spectacle." Ōnoki looked at the Kiri ninjas and White Zetsu surging out of Kiri, rushing toward them, and sighed softly.
"Want to compete?"
Third Raikage clenched his fists, taking the initiative to challenge Tsunade. Last time, her speed was slightly slower than his. Against these small fry, if he just moves a bit faster, he's sure he can kill more than her.
"Let's place a bet… no, forget it, I'm quitting gambling today!" Tsunade cracked her knuckles, originally intending to seize the chance to gamble. But thinking about her luck, and especially Kei's mention of her Cursed Gambler destiny, she forcibly suppressed the temptation.
This was wartime—losing a bet was no big deal.
But if she won...
"Let's go!"
Izuna drew the ninja blade from his waist, not even glancing at Tsunade or the Raikage beside him, and charged forward directly.
Daring to interfere with his brother's work—these guys can all go to hell!
"Three, two, one!" As the Third Raikage finished counting down, his body surged forward, wrapped in electric light.
Beside him, nine white dragons spiraled around Tsunade, who launched ahead of the Raikage and slammed a punch toward the ground!
Ōnoki watched the three of them charge forward.
Then he turned to look at Madara, standing atop the Ten-Tails, accelerating its transformation, and at Hashirama, who had leaped to his side.
And after heading toward the Ten-Tails' head, Kei sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, pressing a hand against its head, seemingly sensing something.
Ōnoki sighed softly.
Seriously. Why was Kitsuchi so dumb? He still hadn't mastered Dust Release!
And here he was at his old age, still fighting desperately. Also, he didn't know if it was due to old age and osteoporosis, but he'd been pulling his back twice a day lately.
If Tsunade weren't around, he'd probably have to be wheeled onto the battlefield.
Muttering complaints internally, he resigned himself and flew toward the incoming Kiri ninjas and White Zetsu. Whether intentionally or not, he always kept himself within a hundred meters of Tsunade.
At that distance, even if he pulled his back again, getting Tsunade to slap him once should mostly fix it.
---
"Achoo~ Achoo~ Achoo~ Ugh! Who's cursing me!" Kei sneezed three times in a row, then looked toward the direction of Kiri.
He mentally noted a grudge against Jigen, then closed his eyes again, fully opening his sensory abilities to guard against a sneak attack from him after shrinking, while inscribing the Ten-Tails' body with space techniques engraved using his spiritual power.
Once the Ten-Tails was fully wrapped in space techniques, he began to activate his super strong spatial perception as a [Multiversal Voyager] to probe movements in the Pure Land.
Jigen had already leaped into action, the God Tree had been activated, Kaguya was about to be unsealed, and a massive number of souls were flying into the Pure Land.
Sage of Six Paths, let me see what you're going to do!
The sound of battle cries echoed endlessly.
Ten minutes passed, twenty minutes, half an hour!
Without any interference, and with Madara accelerating its transformation using the Rinnegan, the Ten-Tails finally entered its third stage.
And upon reaching the third stage, with all its chakra already converted, the Ten-Tails, under Madara's control, didn't pause for even a moment—it immediately began transitioning into the fourth stage.
Kei sensed two presences rapidly approaching.
With a smirk, he slapped the Ten-Tails' body.
The spatial technique activated.
In the next instant, the Ten-Tails' massive form appeared in the wilderness, about 50 km away from Kiri!
On the Ten-Tails' body, countless gigantic tree roots, like giant pythons, began to grow wildly. They shattered earth and stone, crushed forests, and drilled relentlessly into the ground.
One by one, tree trunks shot straight upward and twisted together rapidly as they grew, forming the trunk of the God Tree.
Dense roots from it surged toward Kei and Hashirama, but they were directly blocked by Madara's Rinnegan.
Purple flowers bloomed at the top of the God Tree.
Buzz—
A strong spatial fluctuation emanated from the top of the God Tree.
And a pitch-black, twisted space vortex opened, and out of it leapt Jigen, now restored to his normal form, his body covered with black engraved markings.
His cold eyes swept over Kei, who had suddenly used Flying Thunder God Technique to relocate the God Tree. This illogical move had completely disrupted his plan.
He aimed his right palm at the flower on the God Tree.
As the flower bloomed, its disk-shaped center reflected the black pattern of an eye, projecting the power of the God Tree directly onto the moon.
Crack—
A sound like shattering glass echoed from the flower's core. The black eye pattern was violently pierced by a pale, bloodless, slender arm and then completely shattered. He leapt backward and decisively vanished into the spatial vortex behind him, which had not yet closed!
"Isshiki!" A cool female voice rang out.
Kaguya slowly floated out from the flower's core.
"You chase him. This one's ours."
Madara crossed his arms, and in an instant, a fully-formed Susanoo materialized around him.
"Fighting alongside Madara? Kei, what do you think?" Hashirama looked eager to fight, fists clenched, the markings of Sage Mode already appearing on his face.
"Be careful. Even though the lab still has your flesh and cells, reviving you again would still be quite a hassle."
As Kei said this, he casually tossed over the True Several Thousand Hands that Hashirama had created during their trip to Suna.
"Who do you think you're underestimating?! I am Madara!"
"And I'm known as the God of Shinobi!"
The two shouted in unison. Chakra flared up, and Hashirama activated the giant Buddha statue.
Madara's Susanoo quickly enveloped it.
"Just a reminder, Indra and Asura are technically Kaguya's grandsons. So, grandsons fighting their grandma..."
As soon as Kei said this, he gave Hashirama and Madara no chance to retort.
His figure vanished from the spot in a flash.