From the end of the Warring States era until now, Uchiha Madara had seen countless strong opponents.
Clan heads of the great shinobi families, the Five Kage of the great nations, even Hanzo of the Salamander who was praised as "dem-god." Yet of so many, the only one Madara ever truly acknowledged—was Senju Hashirama.
In all the world, only Hashirama and I, Madara, stand as true heroes!
This was Madara's pride. Pride carved out with Susanoo's blade, one strike at a time.
But now, in Hikari's eyes, that pride—his very measure—was dismissed as nothing more than "only this much" … "far from enough."
An indescribable fury ignited inside Madara. The twisted Uchiha bloodline, born proud and battle-mad, was pushed to its absolute extreme. Terrifying waves of chakra erupted from his body.
"Since when was my measure something for a mere tool like you to judge?!"
"Limbo!"
The Rinnegan in Madara's eyes flared with a dark violet light.
In an instant, Hikari's Perfect Susanoo reeled as though struck. Its chakra wings were ripped clean off, its chest armor shattered, and even the crystalline shell encasing Uchiha Hikari herself cracked with spreading fractures.
Her delicate brows furrowed, blood-red eyes locking onto Madara below with a mix of confusion and shock.
"He didn't move… there was no chakra fluctuation… how is this possible—?"
Boom!!
An unspeakable, crushing force struck from all directions. In just a few breaths, Susanoo's armor was battered full of craters. Even with Hikari pouring her endless ocular power into rebuilding it, the frequency and ferocity of the invisible attacks only grew faster, heavier.
The shadows of Limbo could not be seen, could not be touched—yet each one carried the same strength as Madara himself. Even Susanoo could be wielded by them.
In the original story, the one-eyed Madara had used Limbo's power to instantly flatten all nine Tailed Beasts, kill Naruto by ripping Kurama out of him, and even one-turn annihilate Eternal Mangekyō Sasuke.
Now, with both Rinnegan eyes restored, his Limbo was only stronger.
And yet Madara himself stood utterly still, without the slightest movement or visible chakra reaction.
"Invisible, intangible… I can't sense it at all, yet it strikes me. What kind of technique is this?"
At last, even Hikari's Perfect Susanoo could no longer withstand the pounding assault. With a deafening crack, it shattered.
Dark red spirit particles scattered everywhere.
Falling from the Susano'o prism, Uchiha Hikari's eyes rapidly scanned her surroundings, but even with her Mangekyo, she couldn't detect any trace of Limbo.
Without the slightest hesitation, upon confirming she couldn't analyze Uchiha Madara's jutsu in a short time, Hikari unleashed her full power.
Spiritual power surged out from her slender body, wrapping her in a radiant glow. A blood-red spirit particles disc formed above her head, while vast scarlet wings unfurled from her back.
Her jet-black hair whipped wildly, like storm clouds unleashed. And then—her entire body beneath the disc and wings warped, transforming into a colossal blood-red single eye.
The pattern within the eye was precisely the shape of the Eight Thousand Spears.
"So this… is the Vollständig?!"
Madara's eyes narrowed as he watched Hikari's transformation, unmoved. With a mere thought, his Limbo clones lunged toward the gigantic eye.
Buzz!!
The Mangekyō inside the gigantic eye spun. From its crimson depths, a dark red light lanced out. The intangible Limbo shadows caught in its sweep froze instantly, locked in place.
Mental suppression!
Without the Rinnegan, without the power of Senjutsu, or without reaching the Six Paths level, it was impossible to deal with Limbo at all.
But in this Vollständig, Hikari's mental strength soared without limit. With spiritual power amplifying her eyes, her ocular and spiritual power now stood on par with the Six Paths… perhaps even beyond.
The intensity of her spiritual power was no less than that of Sage Chakra. With such vast mental force bolstering her, Uchiha Hikari was now able to lock onto—and even counter—the Limbo clones.
Under the suppression of her dark red spiritual power, faint crimson markings began to appear on the bodies of the two spectral shadows—an imprint unique to the highest ocular technique of the Mangekyō.
"Eight Thousand Spears!"
With a low shout, the red marks on the two Limbo clones became extremely dazzling.
Immediately, the already intangible and formless Limbo bodies began to turn even more ethereal, and as their figures grew hazy, the clones started slipping out of Madara's control bit by bit.
And that wasn't all.
Even after invoking such overwhelming power to suppress Limbo, Hikari's presence showed no sign of weakening. In fact, it only grew stronger—ever more overwhelming.
This was precisely why, back in the Warring States era, she was hailed as the Uchiha's ultimate weapon: Eight Thousand Spears not only stripped and transferred chakra, ocular power, and other forms of energy from its targets, it also funneled that stolen strength into Hikari herself, making it her own.
"What—?!"
Madara's eyes widened at the sight of his Limbo clones faltering. Most shocking of all, he now felt immense pressure radiating from Uchiha Hikari.
That pressure came from ocular poweritself—from the very root of Uchiha power, the Yin Release of the Sharingan.
"Eight Thousand Spears…"
"Lord Madara, retreat!" Black Zetsu's head suddenly emerged from the ground, his voice urgent and tinged with tension. "Only the power of Kekkei Mōra can perfectly counter this girl's dojutsu. We've already secured the Three-Tails—we should withdraw now!"
Black Zetsu had been monitoring the battle closely from the sidelines. Beyond tracking the tailed beast capture, his main role was to act as an early warning system—ready to alert Madara if Yuki Yoru appeared.
But to his surprise, Yuki Yoru still hadn't shown up. And yet, even without him, the strength displayed by Kirigakure had shaken Black Zetsu to the core. Their "Anti-Yoru Alliance" plan to capture tailed beasts was being frustrated at every step.
"Retreat?" Madara's gaze turned icy cold. "Don't joke with me. I am Uchiha Madara. To flee from a mere weapon—how could I possibly—"
"But the tailed beasts are the core of the plan!" Black Zetsu cut him off sharply. "Even if you could defeat Uchiha Hikari here, it would take time and effort. And when that happens, if Kirigakure's other elites arrive—or worse, if Yuki Yoru himself moves—"
Those words froze Madara into silence, cooling the boiling blood surging in his veins.
He was no longer the reckless Madara who only swung Susanoo's blade blindly. Ever since Izuna had entrusted him with his eyes, Madara had begun to change. After the Valley of the End, that change had transformed the so-called Shura of the Shinobi World entirely.
He could abandon his homeland, the place where dreams began, in order to pursue the realm of All Creation. He could accept defeat, even swallow Hashirama's flesh.
For the Eye of the Moon Plan, he could lie in wait in the shinobi world for decades, live a humble life in the dark underground, and wait for the right time to come little by little. He could even put the hard-to-come-by Rinnegan into Nagato's eyes.
Calm and wise, Madara at this moment had become a true Uchiha!
And right now, the situation was clear: Kirigakure's power was beyond expectations. Even without Yuki Yoru's direct involvement, their plan was already difficult. If Yoru himself were to intervene, it would spell absolute disaster for the "Anti-Yoru Alliance."
They had already secured a tailed beast. To lose everything because of a pointless battle-lust—that was an outcome Madara would never accept.
"We're leaving!"
Madara, having regained his calm, did not hesitate—he decisively chose to retreat.
But Hikari, who was floating in the air and had activated her Vollständig, would she let him leave so easily?
"Tsukuyomi Restriction!"
With her cold, clear voice, a dark red radiance flared to life, shooting straight toward Uchiha Madara.
Black Zetsu's expression changed drastically. He immediately sank into the ground while shouting in alarm:
"Lord Madara!"
But Madara, once the proud clan head of the Uchiha, hardly needed a warning. He knew perfectly well what kind of power such a technique would hold in Hikari's current state.
With that level of spiritual power and ocular power behind it—even with the Rinnegan—he might still fall under its sway!
Without hesitation, he relied on the remaining two Limbo clones, instantly switching places with one of them. In a flash, he widened the distance between himself and Hikari, narrowly evading the Tsukuyomi Restriction.
Within just a few breaths, Uchiha Madara had already withdrawn from the battlefield.
...
"I long ago completed my transformation, Orochimaru!"
While the battle raged fiercely in and around Kirigakure, another confrontation blazed just as hotly within a secret laboratory.
At first, Danzō had assumed that although Orochimaru had joined Yuki Yoru's side, he was merely a researcher—just as when he once joined Danzō himself. A man of experiments, not of battle. Surely his combat power could not compare with that of other captains.
But once they clashed in earnest, Danzō was shocked to discover that Orochimaru's combat strength far exceeded his expectations!
"It seems you still see me as I once was, Danzō."
Orochimaru extended his long tongue to lick his lips, eyes wide open, the pale-gold vertical pupils gleaming with undisguised mockery and greed.
"My power is nowhere near as simple as you imagine. On the contrary—right now, you are the one with considerable research value."
At first, Orochimaru had no interest in the Chimera Technique. But as more and more powerful users of that technique appeared, he had finally begun to take it seriously.
With the improvements and refinements contributed by Hiruko, Obito, and others, today's Chimera Technique was entirely different from its original form. And as of now, within Kirigakure there wasn't a single Chimera experimental subject.
A fusion of Senju and Uchiha power, combined with Crystal Release, Shikotsumyaku, and Dark Release—
Orochimaru's desire to keep Danzō and dissect him for study grew ever stronger.
"Research me?!"
Danzō whipped off the explosive scroll robe covering him, shouting furiously:
"I am the Hokage!"
Crystal Release as the core, Wood Release as the blade—Danzō's sword surged with cutting winds, swift as a dragon, slashing toward Orochimaru.
But Orochimaru's expression did not change. With clean, fluid motion, he used his white serpent to block the attack.
Such exchanges had already occurred multiple times, so Danzō wasn't surprised. Using the recoil from the clash, he suddenly clenched his left hand, unleashing a volley of countless wooden spears.
"Raging Wood Spears!"
Orochimaru only chuckled softly. His body moved like a supple serpent, weaving between the strikes, slipping past them with ease.
At the same time, from within his sleeve burst forth a white snake, lunging at Danzō's throat with a vicious bite.
Danzō didn't even glance at it. Twisting his waist, he advanced instead of retreating, pressing the attack toward Orochimaru while his entire body erupted with countless fine crystals.
Crystals scattered and instantly expanded, sealing the white snake within. The crystalline growth spread rapidly along its body, in the blink of an eye clinging onto Orochimaru himself. But around Orochimaru, a sharp gale erupted, blowing away every last fragment of crystal.
Danzō's eyes narrowed. He had almost forgotten—Orochimaru was also a master of Wind Release!
The two of them shared striking similarities: both skilled in Wind Release and kenjutsu, both fascinated by experimental research, both creatures of the shadows—one the embodiment of Root, the other a serpent.
In fact, back when Hiruzen Sarutobi had taught Orochimaru, that old monkey had often asked Danzō to help instruct him. As a result, their fighting styles bore many resemblances—aside from Orochimaru's fondness for snakes.
But that was old history. Now, the two stood as something far greater: one, the captain of the 12th Division in the Soul Soceity; the other, the ultimate shinobi who had perfected the Chimera Technique!
Who was stronger, who would prevail—it was still uncertain!
"Feel the might of All Creation, Orochimaru!"
After countless close clashes had failed to overwhelm Orochimaru—and with the battle outside growing fiercer—Danzō clenched his teeth, pressed his hands together, and unleashed a surge of trees:
"Wood Release: Wood Golem Technique!"
From beneath him, a wooden giant erupted upward, tearing straight through the roof of the secret laboratory and continuing to rise—seventy, eighty meters tall.
An aquiline-nosed wooden dragon, covered in spines, roared as it coiled around the golem's neck. But Danzō's voice did not stop there.
As the wooden golem and dragon manifested, the three-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes spun, transforming once more into a Mangekyō. Vast ocular power poured forth as a jet-black Susanoo wrapped itself around the wooden giant like armor, turning the golem into a hulking warrior clad in dark plates of killing intent.
"Wood Golem Susanoo Armament!"
"Interesting…"
Orochimaru's gaze fixed on the monstrous figure. Raising one hand, he grasped the blade of the White Snake sword.
"Since you want to play this way… then come."
Without hesitation, Orochimaru drove the White Snake blade straight into his own abdomen. Yet no blood spilled from the wound. Instead, his stomach began to split apart, as though something within was forcing its way out.
In the next instant, a massive white serpent's head burst forth, swelling at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Within just a few breaths, a colossal eight-headed white serpent towered over the battlefield—no weaker than the Susanoo-armored wood golem—standing face to face against it.
The Eight Branches Technique!