Chapter 608: Retrieving the Tailed Beasts I
With those words, the Rinnegan gaze in Madara Uchiha's eyes immediately converged on a single point within the Four Red Yang Formation.
He intended to use Space-Time Ninjutsu to bypass the Four Red Yang Formation and directly attack its interior.
Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan did not possess a true Space-Time dōjutsu.
However, at the level of the Rinnegan, all attributes were complete.
Although Madara Uchiha could not directly cast a specific Space-Time dōjutsu, the Rinnegan did possess some Space-Time capabilities.
Otherwise, the Animal Path of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain wouldn't have been able to summon so many otherworldly summons.
The high-tech missiles of the Asura Path were also summoned from a different dimension, which similarly demonstrated the Rinnegan's Space-Time ability.
With the Rinnegan in Madara Uchiha's eye sockets, the Space-Time Ninjutsu effects he could display were stronger than when they were in Nagato's.
Madara Uchiha was confident he could land his attack inside the Four Red Yang Formation.
He didn't need a powerful attack; he just needed one strike to injure one of the maintainers of the Four Red Yang Formation, causing the barrier to malfunction.
Even if it only malfunctioned for a short time, Madara Uchiha was confident he could destroy the Four Red Yang Formation or rush in directly through the gap.
Without this turtle shell, the entire Iwagakure would be left to his slaughter.
However, as time passed, Madara Uchiha's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.
He muttered to himself, "Iwa actually locked down the entire space inside the Four Red Yangs."
But Madara Uchiha did not give up. He knew that Iwa's Space-Time Ninjutsu originated from Tobirama Senju's Flying Thunder God.
He had researched the Flying Thunder God. Although he couldn't use it himself, Madara Uchiha was clear about its level.
He believed that with the level of his Rinnegan, he could definitely break Iwa's Space-Time lockdown.
So he increased his pupil power output, letting the Rinnegan's power directly vibrate the entire space within the Four Red Yang Formation.
However, the spatial vibration Madara Uchiha anticipated did not occur. The space remained as stable as ever.
"Impossible!" Madara Uchiha said in his heart. He had carefully studied the Flying Thunder God developed by Tobirama Senju; it shouldn't have this kind of effect.
Madara Uchiha was right, but what he didn't know was that the spatial barrier set up by Akino Atsumi used a special material.
The Sage of Six Paths had given Ishiro a White Sphere. Ishiro used the five-attribute structure within the White Zetsu-kun to learn the five-attribute chakra fusion.
After Ishiro became a Sage, the five-attribute structure on the White Sphere was no longer useful to him.
Ishiro could make a White Sphere himself with a wave of his hand.
So Ishiro casually dismantled the White Sphere.
It turned out the White Sphere wasn't simple. Its five-attribute chakra was just a surface layer, like a shell.
When Ishiro peeled off the shell, inside was actually a Truth-Seeking Ball.
Ishiro didn't have time to study the Truth-Seeking Ball, so he used a tray made of his own five-attribute chakra to hold the Truth-Seeking Ball and placed it in the Anbu to reinforce Akino Atsumi's spatial barrier.
Ishiro didn't know if he could touch the Truth-Seeking Ball, and he didn't dare to risk it yet.
But Ishiro knew that the Truth-Seeking Ball was the manifestation of chakra condensed to the extreme, or rather, the sublimation of chakra.
The level of the Truth-Seeking Ball was definitely Sage level, and a fairly high Sage level at that.
At the very least, the current Ishiro, Neji-kun, Sōkai, and Izumi Uchiha could not create Truth-Seeking Balls. Even Naruto and Sasuke in the original story couldn't create them on their own initially.
Madara Uchiha, who was currently attacking Iwagakure with all his might outside, also didn't have the ability to create Truth-Seeking Balls.
Therefore, the level of this spatial barrier in Iwagakure was actually very high; calling it Sage level wasn't much of a problem.
If the one attacking Iwagakure were the Sage-level Obito Uchiha, Akino Atsumi definitely wouldn't be able to defend against him.
Obito Uchiha had Kamui, and his understanding of space-time far exceeded Madara Uchiha's.
But Madara Uchiha was not adept at Space-Time Ninjutsu, so he was completely helpless against Iwagakure's spatial barrier.
This was truly embarrassing. Madara Uchiha had an urge to go nowhere today and just fight to the death against this turtle shell of Iwagakure right here.
But thinking about Orochimaru, Sōkai, and Izumi Uchiha mentioned by Black Zetsu, Madara Uchiha felt it was better to be conservative.
So, after venting by smashing the Four Red Yang Formation with Susanoo a few more times, Madara Uchiha left Iwagakure directly.
He flew straight towards the Land of Whirlpools. Black Zetsu silently complained about Uchiha in his heart but also signaled the White Zetsu he was possessing to follow.
After Ning Minazuki died, the Six-Tails dissipated. Afterwards, the Mist ninja searched for a long time but couldn't find any trace of the Six-Tails.
However, the White Zetsu clone found the Six-Tails. It hadn't returned to the Land of Water but had been hiding in a lake along the coast of the Land of Whirlpools.
Madara Uchiha didn't waste much time capturing the Six-Tails.
Subsequently, Madara Uchiha plunged headfirst into the battlefield in the Land of Water.
The location of the wild Eight-Tails was unknown. Madara Uchiha decided to revive the Ten-Tails first, and then use the Ten-Tails' connection with the Tailed Beasts to find the Eight-Tails.
To revive the Ten-Tails, the other necessary Tailed Beasts just happened to be on the battlefield in the Land of Water.
As for the dozens of Kage-level and Super Kage-level experts currently fighting, Madara Uchiha didn't regard them as enemies at all.
These people weren't worthy!
Only Hashirama Senju could stop him!
No, with his current Sage-level strength, even if Hashirama came, he would have to adjust his posture according to Madara's will.
Aside from Hashirama Senju, those few Sages on the moon could barely be considered his opponents.
The others weren't worthy of being his opponents yet; the ninja world was still too small.
The Allied Forces were completely unprepared for Madara Uchiha's sudden arrival.
However, Natsuki and the other two controlling the numerous Edo Tensei bodies on the Iwa side knew about it.
Specifically, in the room next to the Tsuchikage's office, everyone was discussing a matter related to Madara Uchiha.
Iwa already knew about Madara Uchiha's actions to retrieve the Tailed Beasts.
They also guessed that since he couldn't break through Iwagakure to get the Four-Tails and Five-Tails in a short time, he went to find other Tailed Beasts instead.
So now Ōnoki was hesitating whether to release the Edo Tensei of the Four-Tails Jinchūriki and Five-Tails Jinchūriki.
Ōnoki wasn't clear that the Sage of Six Paths would pass the Six Paths power to Naruto and Sasuke.
He also felt that if they could check Madara Uchiha beforehand, it would be beneficial to Iwa.
But looking at it from another angle, the current situation on the battlefield in the Land of Water was actually unfavorable to Iwa.
Although Obito Uchiha had summoned the Gedo Mazo, the overall strength was still dominated by the Alliance side.
If Madara Uchiha joined in, the ones who should have the biggest headache would be the Alliance.
If they could use Madara Uchiha's hand to eliminate the Kage-level figures of Konoha and Mist, that wouldn't be bad either.
Moreover, the ones Iwa sent out were all Edo Tensei bodies; it wouldn't hurt if they died.
The Alliance would definitely be more anxious, especially since Madara Uchiha was collecting Tailed Beasts, so he definitely couldn't bypass Naruto.
And behind Naruto stood the Sage of Six Paths.
So letting Madara Uchiha get a portion of the Four-Tails and Five-Tails chakra, and then having him focus his attention on Naruto to test the depth of the Sage of Six Paths, seemed like a good idea.
In the end, Ōnoki did not order the release of the Edo Tensei for the former Four-Tails and Five-Tails Jinchūriki.
He was mainly worried that if Madara Uchiha couldn't get the chakra of the Four-Tails and Five-Tails, he would make up his mind to come and attack Iwagakure.
Madara Uchiha didn't launch a sneak attack. On the contrary, he exploded with his full aura and appeared directly on the edge of the battlefield in the Land of Water.
By the time the Nine-Tails inside Naruto sensed Madara Uchiha's appearance and warned everyone, they didn't have time to make any preparations.
Madara Uchiha swept his gaze around; there were quite a few acquaintances. Obito Uchiha, the First Tsuchikage, the Second Tsuchikage, the First Raikage, the Second Raikage, Mito Uzumaki, and Danzō—Madara Uchiha recognized them all.
However, his gaze only lingered on Mito Uzumaki for a few extra seconds. This woman, who had snatched Hashirama Senju from his hands, had some commendable qualities.
Aside from Mito Uzumaki, Madara Uchiha didn't pay attention to anyone else, whether acquaintances or strangers.
In the original story, when the Five Kage gathered, what Madara Uchiha valued was not their strength, but their status.
Since he, Madara Uchiha, had reappeared in the ninja world, the Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages should come together to face him!
Here and now, the only current Kage present was the Fifth Mizukage, which left Madara Uchiha with no interest in chatting.
Madara Uchiha dropped Gaara, whom he had been carrying, and the two shrunken Tailed Beasts.
He looked at the Edo Tensei Obito Uchiha standing on top of the Gedo Mazo and spat out a single word: "Trash!"
Then he formed a seal with one hand and shouted, "Summoning Jutsu!"
Then, the Gedo Mazo, originally under Obito Uchiha's feet, broke free from Obito's control directly and swatted a palm at him.
At this time, Obito Uchiha had self-awareness, and both he and Sakura, who was controlling him, were startled.
Neither of them expected Madara Uchiha to snatch control of the Gedo Mazo so easily.
Fortunately, Sakura's reaction wasn't slow. She immediately had Obito Uchiha use Kamui intangibility to dodge the Gedo Mazo's attack.
Seeing Obito Uchiha use intangibility to dodge, Madara Uchiha didn't care. He was just an Edo Tensei body anyway.
After controlling the Gedo Mazo to come to his side, Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan scanned the surroundings, looking through the many Jinchūriki present to see the Tailed Beasts inside them.
He found that, just as Black Zetsu said, apart from the One-Tail, Two-Tails, and Six-Tails at his hand, the other Tailed Beasts were either present within Jinchūriki or had their former Jinchūriki present as Edo Tensei bodies.
Light flashed in the Rinnegan in Madara Uchiha's eye sockets. Then, he casually tossed the two Tailed Beasts and Gaara toward the Gedo Mazo.
The speed at which the Gedo Mazo absorbed Tailed Beasts in Madara Uchiha's hands far exceeded that in Nagato's hands in the original story.
In just a few breaths, the Gedo Mazo absorbed the Two-Tails and Six-Tails, and also drained Gaara dry.
Thud! Gaara's corpse fell from mid-air and smashed directly onto the ground.
It was only at this moment that the Alliance felt a vague sense that something bad was about to happen.
Hinata immediately said to Minato Namikaze, "Fourth Hokage-sama, please transfer Senior Fū and Senior Ao of the Mist."
Minato Namikaze nodded and was about to use the Flying Thunder God Technique, but he found he was a step too late.
Ao and Fū, who were originally staying in the rear of the Alliance, seemed to suffer a sudden attack and simultaneously spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Then the two flew toward the Gedo Mazo's mouth at extreme speed.
Minato Namikaze gritted his teeth and risked using the Flying Thunder God to appear beside Fū.
But just as he was about to teleport Fū away, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. His entire body was smashed a distance toward the Gedo Mazo by some invisible enemy.
Coupled with the suction from the Gedo Mazo's mouth, Minato Namikaze was about to be sucked away just like Gaara.
Minato Namikaze was an Edo Tensei body, so he wasn't worried about his own safety, but he still had half of the Nine-Tails inside him!
Fortunately, the current Minato Namikaze was an Edo Tensei body, and the damage caused by that heavy blow recovered quickly.
In the next instant, Minato Namikaze disappeared directly from the Gedo Mazo's mouth.
After returning to Hinata's side, Minato Namikaze sensed himself and discovered that in that instant, the Nine-Tails inside him had actually shrunk by a whole circle.
Minato Namikaze's sudden disappearance made the Gedo Mazo appear somewhat irritable, angry that prey at its mouth had slipped away.
Fortunately, at this time, Ao and Fū, following closely behind Minato Namikaze, filled the gap perfectly.
The Gedo Mazo quickly drained the Tailed Beasts from inside Ao and Fū.
Minato Namikaze's failure was seen by everyone, and they all realized that there were enemies invisible to the naked eye around them.
Hinata immediately said to everyone, "Everyone be careful, there should be invisible enemies around."
"Fourth Hokage-sama, Naruto, ask the Nine-Tails inside you to help sense. Mizukage-sama, use a large-scale Water Release to monitor the surroundings with water."
"Sasuke, use your Sharingan to observe carefully and see if you can find traces of the enemy."
"Others hold off Madara Uchiha. Solve the hidden enemy first!"
While speaking, Hinata was also observing the surroundings with her Jōgan.
Unfortunately, neither her Jōgan nor Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan had reached the Sage level, so neither could capture Madara Uchiha's Limbo: Border Jail.
Naruto obediently began to sense, Sasuke searched unwillingly, and Kisame formed seals quickly under Mei Terumī's protection.
But Minato Namikaze didn't sense; he had already confirmed that neither he nor the Nine-Tails could capture the hidden enemy.
He went directly to Naruto's side and, under Naruto's puzzled gaze, placed a hand on his shoulder.
Naruto looked at Minato Namikaze in confusion, about to ask, but was suddenly stunned.
At this moment, inside Naruto, in the space sealing the Nine-Tails, behind the iron gate of the Eight Trigrams Seal, the Yang Nine-Tails, who was cooperating with Naruto to sense, suddenly opened its eyes.
In front of the Yang Nine-Tails, a large amount of dark red chakra suddenly surged, gathering more and more.
Finally, it formed a Yin Nine-Tails slightly smaller than the Yang Nine-Tails.
The Eight Trigrams Seal on Naruto was set by Minato Namikaze himself, so he directly transported the Yin Nine-Tails behind the iron gate in the seal through a special method.
Seeing the other half of its body, the Yang Nine-Tails grinned, then lunged forward.
The next moment, the two Tailed Beasts merged into one.
The instant the two Tailed Beasts merged, Naruto's aura skyrocketed.
Naruto was stunned for a moment, then closed his eyes and entered the sealing space.
Naruto grinned at Kurama, who was much larger behind the iron gate, and then, under Kurama's astonished gaze, tore off the seal on the cage.
Kurama froze, then pushed open the iron gate with a claw, letting out a deafening roar at the same time.
While Kurama roared inside Naruto, a golden Nine-Tails phantom appeared outside Naruto's body, which also raised its head and let out a roar.
Madara Uchiha watched this scene without much turbulence in his heart. He just said indifferently, "Interesting, but it's a pity you didn't live in the same era as me."
After speaking, Madara Uchiha immediately activated the Perfect Susanoo, and the Perfect Susanoo raised a fist and smashed it toward Naruto.
Naruto, entering Kurama Mode for the first time, was sent flying by Madara Uchiha's punch before he could even show his power.
Madara Uchiha was very fast. He controlled the Susanoo to follow up quickly, intending to launch a follow-up attack. Judging by his posture, he intended to absorb the newly united Nine-Tails directly.
But at this time, the Alliance members had all reacted and naturally wouldn't just watch.
Minato Namikaze, Sasuke, Hinata, Mito Uzumaki, Kushina Uzumaki, Kisame, Mei Terumī, Yagura Karatachi, and the former Six-Tails Jinchūriki launched attacks toward Madara Uchiha one after another.
Among everyone, only Danzō didn't make a move; he didn't want to listen to a little girl's command!
Facing the attacks from the Alliance, Madara Uchiha remained calm. He smiled contemptuously, the light in his Rinnegan flickering, and directly absorbed all the ninjutsu attacks.
But not all ninjutsu attacking the Susanoo were absorbed. Hinata's attack wasn't absorbed. Her full-force Gentle Fist: Vacuum Palm made the unprepared Madara Uchiha's Susanoo stumble.
Minato Namikaze reacted fastest, analyzing the intelligence immediately. He said, "Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan can absorb five-attribute ninjutsu. Only Senjutsu works on him."
"Those who don't know Senjutsu, can only attack with Taijutsu."
After speaking, Minato Namikaze closed and opened his eyes, entering Sage Mode just like Hinata.
However, Minato Namikaze knew Senjutsu, but the others didn't.
Mei Terumī's Lava Release had just been absorbed by Madara Uchiha, which meant he could no longer be of any help.
As for competing in Taijutsu with Susanoo, Mei Terumī felt Minato Namikaze was joking.
Kisame felt similarly to Mei Terumī; he also wasn't good at Taijutsu.
Assuming ninjutsu was useless, it meant they couldn't participate in the ensuing battle.
But Kisame didn't give up attacking like Mei Terumī. He took a deep breath, retreating while forming seals quickly with both hands.
Mito Uzumaki and the other former Jinchūriki were better off; they could barely use their semi-transformed bodies to charge at Madara Uchiha's Susanoo.
Charging at the Susanoo along with them were the summons from the Three Great Sacred Places.
Feeling even worse than Mei Terumī and Kisame was Sasuke. Sasuke wasn't without means; at least, he could still cast Susanoo.
But looking at Madara Uchiha's exaggeratedly large Susanoo, Sasuke knew that his Susanoo alone was useless.
Sasuke felt bad both because he couldn't support Naruto and because he couldn't compare to Naruto and Hinata.
Yes, both Naruto and Hinata had learned Senjutsu, only Sasuke hadn't.
Ryūchi Cave had signed a summoning contract with Sasuke, but after the White Snake Sage checked him, Sasuke was told he had absolutely no talent for Senjutsu.
The arrogant Sasuke naturally refused to accept this. He had tried to forcibly cultivate Senjutsu twice, but both times he failed.
What Sasuke didn't know was that if he weren't the reincarnation of Indra, he would have been done for on his first attempt.
Now seeing Naruto in danger and Hinata able to intervene in Madara Uchiha's actions, while his own ninjutsu was directly absorbed by Madara Uchiha...
Sasuke immediately felt unconvinced. He immediately formed seals and used the Summoning Jutsu.
This time, Sasuke didn't summon a giant battle summon like Manda, but Tagitsuhime, one of the three goddess snakes of Ryūchi Cave.
The abilities of the three goddess snakes of Ryūchi Cave varied, and Tagitsuhime specialized in Genjutsu.
And what Sasuke feared least was Genjutsu.
Tagitsuhime hadn't figured out what was going on after being summoned when she saw Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Tagitsuhime, whose vision began to blur under Sasuke's Genjutsu, was startled. As an expert, she naturally realized immediately that Sasuke was trying to cast a Genjutsu on her.
However, Tagitsuhime didn't panic. Although Sasuke had the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, in her Sage Mode, she didn't think her Genjutsu would be inferior to Sasuke's.
So Tagitsuhime immediately stretched her neck and bit into Sasuke's neck with her sharp fangs.
This was Tagitsuhime's way of activating Genjutsu.
Little did she know, this was exactly what Sasuke hoped for.
Sasuke didn't engage in a Genjutsu confrontation with her as Tagitsuhime imagined. Sasuke directly activated the Mangekyō Sharingan pupil technique: Breaking Delusion.
Tagitsuhime's Genjutsu was broken on the spot, and Sasuke's Genjutsu took direct effect on Tagitsuhime.
At this moment, Tagitsuhime was completely unaware that she had fallen into a trap.
In the illusion, she was still constantly transmitting her chakra, which could induce hallucinations in enemies, into Sasuke's neck.
She was still engaging in a Genjutsu confrontation with Sasuke.
But in reality, Tagitsuhime was transmitting her Senjutsu chakra to Sasuke.
After Tagitsuhime's Senjutsu chakra was transmitted into Sasuke's body, Sasuke's entire body generated a strong repulsive force.
This situation was the same as the past two times. In the past, the White Snake Sage would stop inputting Senjutsu chakra into Sasuke at this point.
But this time, not only did Sasuke not stop, he controlled Tagitsuhime to increase the output of Senjutsu chakra instead.
Soon, the transmission of Tagitsuhime's Senjutsu chakra was completed. Then, the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in Sasuke's eye sockets spun rapidly.
The next moment, he immediately activated the Complete Body Susanoo.
Sasuke controlled the Complete Body Susanoo to draw its bow and nock an arrow. An arrow containing both Amaterasu flames and Senjutsu chakra was ready to shoot toward Madara Uchiha.
At the same time, feeling the huge boost brought by the Senjutsu chakra, Sasuke shouted at Madara Uchiha, "Relic of the old era, die!"
At this moment, Madara Uchiha had just knocked away Kushina Uzumaki, the others, and the summons, arriving in front of Naruto.
Kushina Uzumaki, Mito Uzumaki, Yagura Karatachi, and the former Six-Tails Jinchūriki only blocked Madara Uchiha for a few short seconds before their Edo Tensei bodies were blown apart.
Those summons, except for Katsuyu who was beaten into countless small slugs, were all beaten back to their respective Sacred Places.
Hearing Sasuke's words, Madara Uchiha turned his head. His Rinnegan glared, and in the next moment, a Limbo clone appeared beside Sasuke's arrow, kicking it off course.
Then, bang, bang, bang, three consecutive sounds rang out. Before Sasuke could recover from the annoyance of missing his shot, he, along with his Susanoo, was beaten to the ground by three other Limbo clones.
Moreover, cracks appeared on his Complete Body Susanoo, and these cracks were spreading rapidly.
The next moment, with a bang, Sasuke's Complete Body Susanoo exploded entirely.