Chapter 250 – The Absurdity of an Ant Telling an Elephant to Step Aside
"What the hell is going on?"
The power of the Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion tore through the entire valley, its thunderous roar echoing all the way back to Iwagakure.
Ōnoki, who was directing the survivors in clearing rubble, felt his heart sink. Despite his grief and fatigue, his reflexes remained sharp. He immediately sensed something amiss, lifting his gaze to the distant sky, his expression tightening.
"…Another problem already?"
Deidara, who had been bickering with Naruto and Sasuke, froze as well, eyes narrowing. Naruto and Sasuke followed his gaze, both boys' bodies tensing under the weight of an ominous pressure that seemed to claw at their very souls.
"No way…"
Even Jiraiya swallowed hard, unease crawling up his spine. Instinct screamed at him—this was bad.
"Oi, Pervy Sage!"
Without hesitation, Jiraiya broke into a sprint toward the disturbance. Naruto shouted after him, then quickly followed with Sasuke and Deidara in tow. By the time they reached the village outskirts, they found Kitagawa Gen already standing there.
"Gen!"
Jiraiya called out at once, but before Gen could reply, Ōnoki descended from the sky, face grim.
"That aura… that power… don't tell me—"
"Yes," Gen's God-Tree clone said heavily, nodding. "It should be him. After today's battle, with such massive chakra fluctuations and even the Five-Tails showing up… it was impossible not to draw him here. And don't forget—the Four-Tails hasn't been secured yet."
"…Ōtsutsuki Genshiki."
Jiraiya breathed the name aloud, and silence crashed over them all like a suffocating shroud.
The stillness weighed heavily—until Gen's voice cut through it.
"Let's go see for ourselves."
Chakra flared around him as his gaze locked onto the distant battlefield.
"Besides… there are things I want to confirm."
Inwardly, though, he couldn't help but sigh.
Is Obito… seriously pulling a stunt like this?
Because of all the rotten timing, Obito had appeared right as Gen unleashed his technique. That blast had ripped through him instantly, shredding his body into fragments—though Gen knew better than to expect him to die so easily. If Obito could be killed that simply, he'd already be dead dozens of times over.
Sure enough, as the dust settled, space rippled. Obito's spectral form emerged—but he didn't dare fully materialize this time.
"…It's you."
Obito raised his gaze toward the sky, breath ragged. Yet within that raggedness was an eerie calm, as if he had expected this all along.
"So you've come, just as I thought," he muttered, teeth clenched.
"Well, with the chaos you caused, it would've been harder not to notice."
Gen sighed, voice tinged with amusement.
"Still… I didn't expect to run into you again. And you've… changed."
"Tch. So he noticed…"
Inside Obito's mind, Isshiki's expression darkened. He understood all too well what Gen's words implied.
Damn it. First, that wretch's beating woke me prematurely, and now I stumble right into my deranged kin—the one who devours his own clan to climb his so-called divine ladder. Meeting him now is no different from suicide…
"I have changed."
Obito forced his tone steady, though he remained safely half-hidden in Kamui's dimension.
"Hiding like a rat in a pocket dimension—that's your big 'change'?"
Gen's tone dripped with disappointment as he shook his head.
"Come to think of it, I've met you plenty of times now… and I still don't know your name."
"…Uchiha Obito."
He said it after a pause, staring intently at Gen. But the name only made Gen laugh softly.
"Uchiha? Do you really not understand the situation you're in?"
"…What do you mean?"
Behind the mask, Obito's face twisted in confusion. Before Gen could elaborate, another presence descended.
Madara had arrived.
"…Ōtsutsuki Genshiki."
His voice was low, heavy, his eyes burning with focus. Even from afar, the sheer pressure Genshiki radiated—the power in that single unleashed technique—had told him enough. Now, standing face to face, Madara felt something he had not felt in a very, very long time: fear stirring in the depths of his soul.
He hadn't thought his Edo Tensei body was even capable of such raw sensation.
"…So, you know my name. Indra's reincarnation," Gen said coolly.
Madara stiffened. Indra's reincarnation? He knew the name, of course—Indra, the ancient progenitor of the Uchiha clan. But reincarnation? What was this supposed to mean?
Underground, Black Zetsu grimaced in silent agony. Not this again. He knows too much—far too much!
"Enough. There's no point in this idle chatter."
Gen shook his head, his gaze drifting toward the nearby Four-Tails, still in its beast form.
"Tell me, will you also try to stop me from reclaiming what's mine?"
"…Yours?"
Madara frowned deeper, detecting something odd in his tone. Even Obito and Zetsu felt it.
"Hmph. At least Obito is my 'vessel,'" Isshiki sneered silently within. "No matter how insane Genshiki is, he wouldn't lump me in with these low-born insects."
Still, the situation had become troubling. He'd been noticed—there was no way Genshiki would let this go.
"Your things?"
Madara finally barked a laugh.
"I don't recall the tailed beasts ever belonging to you."
"Oh?"
Gen tilted his head, voice curling with amusement.
"Then you intend to contest me for them?"
"I told you—they aren't yours."
Madara's tone was grave, but his eyes betrayed the blaze of fanaticism beneath.
Ōtsutsuki. The kin of Kaguya. A clan whispered to bring ruin to the world.
And here one stood before him.
His dream had always been simple: use the Sage of Six Paths' legacy to bring true peace to this broken world, no matter the blood it cost.
But how could he stand idle when someone who claimed dominion over the beasts appeared—someone who might plunge the world into destruction?
"Even in this incomplete state, even with my power diminished…"
Madara's Rinnegan gleamed, chakra surging as the very earth quaked beneath him.
"…I will never allow you to run rampant. Show me, 'god'—what power do you truly wield?!"
The ground trembled violently as his chakra erupted in waves, and all around, the atmosphere grew heavy with dread.
"…This is bad."
Black Zetsu's expression twisted with anguish. He had half-expected Madara to act recklessly, but now it looked like he was about to witness the legendary Uchiha suffer a humiliating defeat.
"…This guy…"
Inside Kamui, Obito dared not show himself. Even he was struck speechless. Within his consciousness, however, Isshiki sneered in utter disdain.
"Hmph. What a pathetic lower lifeform."
Gen only chuckled softly. "As expected."
In the next instant, his chakra surged outward.
The oppressive might swept over Madara, drowning his aura completely. Even the fabric of space seemed to ripple under the sheer weight of his presence.
Floating beneath the pale moonlight, Gen looked every inch a god of judgment. The Truth-Seeking Orbs shimmered around him, their resonance filling the night.
"Your resolve is admirable," he said coldly. "But do you understand the absurdity of an ant demanding that an elephant step aside?"
Buzz—
The Truth-Seeking Orbs at his side converged, morphing into a golden blade of pure light. Without hesitation, he swung it down.
The strike was blinding—bright enough to banish the darkness of night itself.
Madara's eyes widened. Even with all his foresight, the overwhelming force still caught him off guard.
"Damn it!"
In a flash, he twisted his body and summoned Susanoo. His mastery far outstripped Obito's—within an instant, the full-bodied giant enveloped him, a towering demon-god that radiated destructive majesty beneath the moon.
But against Gen's blade, that monstrous armor was nothing more than paper.
The golden sword carved through Susanoo's colossal body like tofu, splitting it clean in half.
Madara's face darkened as shards of his chakra avatar rained down. And before he could react—
Shhh!
Gen's figure flickered. A suffocating grip clamped around Madara's throat, cutting off his breath.
The two of them hovered in the night sky, the shattered remnants of Susanoo dissolving into nothingness behind them.
Gen's cold, detached voice echoed in Madara's ears.
"This is what you are now."