"Is this your power? As expected of the Ōtsutsuki Clan—truly awe-inspiring."
Madara smiled, battle lust igniting in his eyes.
The victor was still far from decided.
The overwhelming aura radiating from the two titans stunned everyone watching. Was such strength even possible for beings who walked the earth?
Katsumura Yota trembled with excitement. To him, Jigen had always been a god. His family had served Jigen since he was a child, and the man had long been deified in his heart.
And he knew Jigen's true identity—Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
Jigen was Isshiki's vessel.
And Kawaki, though presented as Jigen's adopted son, was in truth the shinobi carefully chosen by Isshiki as his next vessel.
Madara and Jigen clashed again.
Just the force of their initial collision shattered the ground within tens of meters.
Their movements flowed like water—sharp, fluid, refined. One was an ancient Ōtsutsuki who had lived for millennia; the other, Uchiha Madara—an unrivaled prodigy who had transcended eras.
Their taijutsu alone was enough to stand at the absolute pinnacle of the shinobi world.
Madara shifted his fist into a palm strike, the blow descending with the force of a falling sky.
Jigen sensed the lethal edge of the attack, but his expression didn't change. He answered with a compressed blast of raw energy.
Madara's eyes narrowed. He abandoned the strike and twisted mid-air as the blast roared past him.
Behind him, mountains and stone crumbled instantly.
Madara landed lightly, a new chakra construct forming in his hand—a weapon shaped like a humanoid Yasaka Magatama.
Condensed, destructive power radiated from it, as if it could split the world.
He swung it down.
The impact tore apart the ground. Shockwaves rippled outward.
But several of Jigen's counterattacks shot forth at once, colliding with Madara's weapon and dispersing its power.
Then Jigen raised his hand.
Another energy blast fired—but this time, magnified through his Rinnegan.
The orb expanded dozens of times in mid-air until it became a massive sphere of annihilation, descending toward Madara.
Madara's eyes widened.
"Sage Art — Fivefold Rashōmon!"
Five colossal demonic gates erupted from the earth, each layered in front of the other to intercept the falling attack.
"Is this his Rinnegan ability?" Madara thought, face tightening.
"To amplify an attack so drastically… its power must be increased at least fivefold."
The colossal sphere struck.
The first gate shattered instantly.
Then the second.
Then the third, fourth, and fifth—each collapsing like brittle paper.
Madara reacted instantly.
"Azure Steel Body — Asura Shield!"
His blood surged outward, forming a towering azure shield. Ten meters tall, almost insignificant compared to the descending energy, yet its density made it unimaginably durable.
The two forces collided—
BOOM!!!
A thunderous detonation erupted, like a mushroom explosion blooming into the sky.
Dust surged. Shockwaves blasted outward, forcing the Kara members to shield their eyes and cling to the ground.
They squinted toward the epicenter.
Jigen frowned.
"This body… is it already failing?"
Through Isshiki's perception, this vessel had no more than three years of life left.
If Orochimaru were present, he would probably say, "This feels familiar."
Under such extreme combat, the body's deterioration only accelerated.
"I'll have to end this quickly," Jigen murmured.
He sensed it—beneath the veil of swirling dust, a murderous intent waited.
As he stepped closer—
An energy blade tore out from the haze.
It grazed his torso, leaving a wound that instantly regenerated under Isshiki's absurd vitality.
"Kh… cough!"
Madara turned aside and spat a mouthful of thickened blood.
Blood streaked down from the corner of his lips—but he couldn't stop laughing.
"So this is you dancing?
You dance so freely… so beautifully!"
If someone could peer inside him now, they would see something terrifying:
Madara's Niwan Palace—his sea of consciousness—was undergoing a dramatic metamorphosis.
Madara Uchiha was evolving.
This was the Upper Dantian, the most difficult stage to open in the Three Dantian Method Naruto had previously developed.
At this moment, Madara's spirit had already stepped into the threshold of the Six Paths Level, at least in terms of spiritual evolution.
This alone was enough to grant Madara a state comparable to the Six Paths Sage, his spiritual existence gaining a faint trace of immortality.
It resembled the principle behind the Ōtsutsuki Clan's Kāma—a state where the soul could persist even if the body was destroyed.
Madara's spirit had undergone transformation before his physical body.
Jigen noticed the subtle change as well. A rare glint of caution flashed through his calm eyes.
But he still didn't understand what Madara had done.
Hashirama, however, sensed it immediately. Joy stirred in his eyes—
Madara had taken a step forward even before him.
The path was open…
And Madara was the first to break through.
In Hashirama's perception, Madara's spirit burned like a miniature sun.
According to Naruto's research, once the Upper Dantian was awakened, one's spirit could gradually reach, or even surpass, the conventional Six Paths Level.
Afterward, the next stage was to pursue physical transcendence—
the path toward true Six Paths Level longevity, with life spans reaching ten thousand years or more.
Beings like Kaguya, who had consumed high-grade God Tree fruit, naturally possessed lifespans far exceeding even that.
The Ninja World was considered a highly fertile planet in the universe, abundant in Natural Energy, and home to sanctuaries such as the Three Great Sage Regions.
Under Jigen's earlier assault, Madara had—by a stroke of fortune—opened his Upper Dantian. His chakra had surged dramatically in response.
Before this, Madara's raw combat power was inferior to Jigen in his second-stage Kāma form.
But now?
He had closed the gap significantly.
Madara had already reached a Six Paths combat level before. And now, with his life essence stepping halfway into the Six Paths realm, his strength rose even further.
"What happened to you?" Jigen asked, studying him closely. "You evolved… without consuming a God Tree fruit?"
Across the long history of the Ōtsutsuki, evolution through consuming God Tree fruit had become a fixed rule.
The fruit enhanced strength and refined bloodlines, allowing an Ōtsutsuki to evolve toward a more perfect form.
This was why the Ōtsutsuki Clan stood among the apex powers of the universe.
The highest-grade fruit required sacrificing an Ōtsutsuki to grow.
Lower-grade fruits, used to nurture young clansmen, could be mass-produced.
"Is this what you call cultivation?" Jigen asked calmly, as though expecting Madara to explain.