Chapter 242: Uchiha Madara Steals the Prize
Uchiha Madara's expression turned grim as he saw Jigen hurtling toward him.
At this moment, he couldn't see where Uchiha Dali was at all—only Jigen, being one-sidedly and mysteriously beaten.
"What's going on with this kid?"
Madara strained his sensory abilities to the limit, trying to locate Dali.
Finally, after a while, he picked up the faintest trace of Dali's presence—so faint it was almost undetectable.
By then, Jigen had already flown past Madara's side.
Suspended in midair, Jigen was still being pummeled, his body twisting and contorting violently in unnatural angles. The dull thump, thump, thump of blows landing rang out incessantly.
And yet, despite his great strength, Jigen couldn't fight back—he didn't even have time to react.
Seeing this bizarre scene, Madara immediately deduced what was happening. After all, he was a veteran of countless battles.
"Could it be…"
Madara narrowed his eyes.
But Jigen spoke up first.
"You've also turned into an imperceptibly small form? That's impossible—how could you do that?"
Jigen muttered to himself in shock. Then, all of a sudden, his body rapidly shrank and vanished from Madara's sight.
In an instant, both Uchiha Dali and Jigen were gone.
This strange pocket space now seemed to hold only Madara and the still-sealed Ten Tails.
But that wasn't really the case.
Though the two were no longer visible, the air still rang with the muffled thump, thump, thump, thump of impacts.
Now shrunk to the same size as Dali, Jigen could finally see his opponent and match his speed.
The two exchanged blindingly fast blows, and Jigen—stronger overall—soon shifted from an initial disadvantage to pressing Dali back.
In a burst of explosive power, Jigen's offensive overwhelmed Dali, forcing him to defend.
The clash raged evenly for a time, neither side able to overpower the other.
"Why can you use this technique too?" Jigen demanded.
He had recognized it—Dali was using Sukunahikona, Jigen's own divine technique, a power he had only attained after evolving over many years into something near godhood.
But Dali wasn't a pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki, nor had he ever devoured a chakra fruit.
Where had this power come from?
"I told you—you've got a lot you don't know," Dali said with a light chuckle.
Then he unleashed his own Sukunahikona—the perfected, high-grade version.
Unlike Jigen's "crippled" form of the technique, Dali could freely change his own size and enlarge or shrink other targets at will.
He cast the perfect Sukunahikona on Jigen, whose body immediately and uncontrollably grew, restoring him to normal size.
Once again exposed, Jigen was at a disadvantage against an unseen foe. Dali seized the opportunity for another brutal assault.
The relentless strikes finally began to take their toll on Jigen's already fragile body.
He first felt his chakra draining faster than he could control, then his stamina plummeted. Soon, his movements slowed and his attacks weakened noticeably.
Now, faced with Dali—still shrunken and invisible—Jigen couldn't mount even a fraction of a second's effective defense.
The worsening situation was clear to Madara.
"Ōtsutsuki Isshiki is clinging to life using Jigen's body, but this vessel is already at its limit. He can't beat Dali," Madara thought.
"I didn't expect that kid to be this strong… but this turn of events is very much in my favor…"
His gaze shifted from the distant battle to the sealed, barely visible Ten Tails nearby.
Though small in form, the young Ten Tails' chakra was immense—but to Madara, a war god of his level, it wasn't much of a threat.
The idea of taking it for himself surged in his mind, and without hesitation, Madara struck.
With a single motion, he absorbed the Ten Tails into himself.
Vast chakra flooded his body, merging with him completely. His entire being began to transform.
First, his old Warring States-era armor shifted into a white robe marked with magatama.
Then, two horns slowly grew from his head.
Every change signaled Madara's transcendence beyond mortal limits.
Behind him, black orbs of truth floated into existence, and his chakra stabilized into a terrifying new equilibrium.
Compared to before becoming the Ten Tails' jinchūriki, his chakra reserves and quality had grown more than tenfold.
"So this is the power of a god…"
Madara savored the inexhaustible chakra coursing through him, along with the new abilities that came with ascending to the Six Paths tier.
Now he understood why Jigen had been so obsessed with planting god trees and devouring chakra fruits.
The temptation of such power was overwhelming.
With strength like this, everything else could be taken with ease.
Madara's resolve hardened—he would become the new Ōtsutsuki, following Jigen's plan to harvest chakra fruits from other worlds and evolve into the ultimate god.
His sudden surge of chakra instantly drew Dali's and Jigen's attention.
Dali stopped his assault, giving Jigen a moment to breathe.
Both turned to look at Madara.
"You… you despicable wretch," Jigen roared when he saw Madara had taken his Ten Tails.
Dali, arms crossed, regarded the newly ascended Six Paths-level Madara with calm amusement. "So… are you joining the fight now?"
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