Madara's arrival put a crushing pressure on the Allied Shinobi Forces, and morale instantly plummeted.
Kakashi knew the man facing them was a legendary monster. This wasn't a situation where you could win just by throwing more people at the problem, so he immediately commanded the troops to begin a slow withdrawal.
Only he and Guy stayed behind.
Among the entire unit, only the two of them had power that could really count as "strong," and they had excellent teamwork, so the two of them were enough to remain on the front line.
Everyone else had to pull back as much as possible, so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire and die for nothing.
Madara noticed Kakashi's arrangement and simply smiled, leaping lightly onto a large boulder, looking down at the members of the Third Division from on high.
His body wasn't especially large, but he radiated the domineering presence of a king.
Everyone couldn't help swallowing hard; they were clearly scared out of their wits.
But seeing Kakashi, their commander, standing his ground gave them some courage. The fear in their hearts lessened somewhat. Some even wanted to summon up their bravery and rush forward, but the acting captain, Tatami, stopped them.
As Kakashi had said: this was not a situation where numbers mattered. Anyone without enough strength who charged in now would just be throwing their life away.
So retreating wasn't shameful, because they had powerful comrades capable of matching this enemy, already on their way.
Madara spoke in a dominant tone. "What's this? Only the two of you plan to stay and fight me? So this is the so-called Allied Shinobi Forces? Nothing but scattered grains of sand, not even worth mentioning."
Kakashi replied solemnly, "To fight someone of your level, numbers don't matter. The two of us still have a few tricks. We'll keep you company for a while. How about it?"
"'A few tricks', huh? Very well, I'll treat it as a warm-up."
Madara didn't refuse. He sprang down in an instant and rushed straight at Kakashi and Guy.
The very next second, Madara lunged in with a flying kick aimed right at Guy's face, but Guy's taijutsu body was absurdly strong. How could he possibly fall for something like that? He tilted his head aside to dodge, then whipped his leg around in a horizontal sweep, countering with a Konoha Senpū (Leaf Whirlwind).
Madara simply slapped a hand onto Guy's whirling leg. Using that as leverage, he flipped cleanly in midair, bringing his heel snapping down onto Guy's head.
Boom!
Guy's head was hammered into the ground, but he immediately rolled away like a donkey, dodging further damage.
Madara tried to follow up with another kick, but his strike hit nothing but air. He snapped his arm sideways, and in the same motion easily caught Kakashi's wrist, squeezing just enough to make Kakashi drop the kunai from his hand.
Just as he was about to continue his attack, bandages whipped in from behind and wrapped tightly around him, successfully binding him up.
Kakashi used the moment to drive a kick straight up into Madara's jaw, blasting him upside-down into the air.
Guy seized the opening to launch another flying kick, knocking Madara even higher. The bandages wound tighter and tighter around him as he rose, and when Guy judged the timing to be just right, he grabbed hold of the "mummy-wrapped" Madara and drove him downward.
"What exactly are you planning to do?" Madara sounded like he was still in a playful mood.
"Take this! Omote Renge (Front Lotus)!"
Guy roared, spinning at high speed with Madara as they plummeted, then smashed Madara's head straight into the ground.
Boom!
The impact blasted out a huge crater. Madara's skull was buried in the pit, his body sprawled forward like a puppet with its strings cut.
But he just sat up laughing. "Hahahaha! A fine technique. But that's all it is. If this is all you've got, then I… huh? Nani!"
Kakashi had already set the "coffin" in place, both palms pressed toward Madara. A surge of chakra exploded out from him.
"Fūinjutsu: Mafuuba (Sealing Technique: Demon Sealing Wave)!"
"You brat, you can use that too?!"
Madara clearly had some trauma regarding the Mafuuba. It was like Piccolo Daimaō back in the day.
Now, seeing Kakashi using the Mafuuba as well, and picking his timing perfectly, even Madara couldn't help his voice cracking a little. This technique really was a bit of a bug.
Once it hit, your power was almost completely sealed in an instant, leaving only the Mangekyō's ocular power not entirely suppressed.
Last time, he had only escaped by using Susanoo to smash the coffin away and break the technique. And this time…?
As the spiraling chakra vortex was about to swallow him, Madara's eyes instantly shifted into the Rinnegan. A pulse of repulsive force burst out, blasting the coffin away and sending Kakashi flying along with it.
"Phew. That was close. I almost got done in by that again."
Madara wiped the nonexistent sweat from his forehead. It was clear he'd been playing around a little too much just now and had nearly gotten himself killed.
He would have to start taking things more seriously. Who knew what other tricks these two still had?
Guy had already flashed to Kakashi's side and helped him up. "Such a shame. We were so close."
Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. I didn't think his eyes would resist the sealing. Just like Natsuki's intel said. His reaction was too fast. If he'd been even a second slower, we might really have pulled it off."
Fortunately, Kakashi wasn't discouraged. Their mission from the outset had been to buy time.
To stall until Natsuki could arrive.
Since their previous plan had failed, then they had no choice but to fight head-on. It was still better than letting Madara rampage through the entire alliance, which would lead to truly horrific casualties.
"Guy, we're going all in."
Kakashi formed seals and gathered chakra into his hand, lightning chirping: Chidori (One Thousand Birds).
"Right! We fight side by side! Hahaha! Hachimon Tonkō: Rokudai Keimon, Kai! (Eight Gates Released Formation: Sixth Gate of View, Open!) The Blue Beast of Konoha is on the move!"
Guy opened the Sixth Gate of the Eight Gates without the slightest hesitation. He understood how tough an opponent Madara was. There was no room for doubt here. He just had to burn his youth and go all out.
"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!"
Guy bellowed as he charged in. A straight punch blasted the air into flames, the fiery fist print shooting straight for Madara's forehead.
"So, the Hachimon Tonkō (Eight Gates Released Formation), huh? Not bad."
Madara's interest was piqued. He slipped his head aside to evade the flaming fist, but Guy was incredibly fast. In a blur, he slipped behind Madara, his whip kick scything in, the air around his leg sizzling with heat.
Faced with this kind of extreme-speed, ferocious taijutsu, Madara did not dare underestimate it in the slightest.
He instantly wrapped himself in a skeletal Susanoo, but in the very next moment there was a sharp crack.
The ribcage of the Susanoo was shattered by a single straight punch from Guy.
"Beautiful straight punch!"
Madara had barely finished the compliment when a shrill birdsong rang past his ear.
He instinctively twisted aside, but the Chidori was even faster, grazing past his shoulder and slicing it clean off in an instant.
However, he was an Edo Tensei body. The severed shoulder flew right back and reattached itself almost immediately. Madara then whipped around, driving a backfist into Kakashi and knocking him flying, lifting his leg in the same breath to block Guy's next whip kick.
Crack!
His shin actually fractured.
"Oh? That's some impressive power. What's your name?"
For the first time, Madara took Guy's strength seriously.
"Me? I'm the proud Blue Beast of Konoha, Might Guy!"
Guy raised a thumbs-up and introduced himself proudly, eyes brimming with confidence, without a trace of fear toward Madara.
"Good eyes. Good confidence. But it's still not enough to deal with me, Madara!"
Madara clapped his hands together. "Mokuton: Kaikai Kutō (Wood Release: Undo Trousers)!"
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
Thick, dense trees erupted rapidly from the ground, their branches moving like living things as they lashed toward Guy and Kakashi, trying to bind them.
The two of them, however, slipped past or cut through the branches with relative ease.
Even so, their expressions were very grim.
This Madara was absolutely no easy opponent.
…How had Natsuki fought this guy back then, again?
(End of Chapter)
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