The Thousand Hands Brothers and Uchiha Izumi were forced to retreat, but Uchiha Madara remained.
He had previously dispelled the jutsu on himself, fully present in the living world through his own power. However, due to the fungal strain that formed his body, he was still constrained by the little White Snake.
Even so, Uchiha Madara had no intention of returning to the Pure Land.
From what he learned from Orochimaru, his plan had been exposed, much of it even ruined. What remained now was his last thread of hope.
Watching the little White Snake being tormented and devoured by Orochimaru and the White Snake Sage, Uchiha Madara's gaze shifted to the invisible cage before him, his brow deeply furrowed.
Even with the near-infinite natural energy of the strange snake supporting him, he couldn't defeat Orochimaru. Without such excellent assistance, he was naturally even less of a match.
He couldn't just stand by and watch that strange snake be destroyed. At the very least, he had to get out of here to have a chance of escaping.
With this thought, Uchiha Madara released his Susanoo, his gaze turning to the starry sky, purple light flashing in his eyes. "Heavenly Destruction: Meteor!"
Instantly, fire lit up the sky. An unprecedentedly massive meteorite, breaking through the hazy, chaotic night, hurtled towards the Earth.
Orochimaru, who was busy absorbing the natural energy from the remains of the little White Snake, felt something and glanced at the sky. He roughly estimated the meteorite's landing point and a smile appeared on his face.
"Such spirit. But you've got the wrong idea."
The space he had temporarily created with his Six Paths-level doujutsu was indeed still lacking. It couldn't stand on its own and couldn't completely block chakra and spiritual power.
But even so, some of the basic properties of space were still present. Uchiha Madara's attempt to break through the space with brute force was simply absurd.
In comparison, lending a hand to the little White Snake from afar was more valuable.
Boom…
With a deafening roar, dust and sand billowed outwards like waves. The spot where Uchiha Madara had been was struck by the meteorite, creating a deep crater.
Orochimaru momentarily considered releasing his doujutsu and letting Uchiha Madara suffer the consequences. But this thought was instantly dismissed – it was unnecessary.
As long as he was free from other tasks, he had plenty of ways to deal with Uchiha Madara trapped in the cage. For now, he just needed to keep him contained.
But would Uchiha Madara willingly stay put and be slaughtered? Orochimaru knew it was impossible. He was merely delaying the time the opponent might escape.
And within the "Heavenly Stable" space overlapping with the meteorite, Uchiha Madara's purple eyes lit up in the darkness. He softly shouted, "Limbo: Border Jail!"
An unseen shadow suddenly appeared beside him and then walked towards this "border." His main body held his breath, watching for changes.
He couldn't traverse space with his main body or shadow, unlike Obito's "Kamui." But the latter had a unique existence, similar to the Nara clan's shadow imitation jutsu, both being creations between reality and illusion. Since spiritual power and chakra could extend into this space, perhaps the Limbo shadow might have some possibility.
As Uchiha Madara gazed intently, a part of the Limbo shadow directly crossed the "border." But before he could show any joy, a sharp pain spread through his body.
The injured part of the shadow's body was also reflected on his main body.
"This is the space…"
Uchiha Madara clenched his fist. "No, it should be the effect produced by the doujutsu maintaining the space."
Ordinary chakra and taijutsu attacks would not cause any damage to the Limbo shadow. But with the addition of natural energy, the situation was different.
And from what he saw, Orochimaru was almost a born Sage. His Senjutsu chakra was astonishingly large, even contained within his doujutsu. It was incredible. No wonder he could use such a doujutsu.
However, even so, Uchiha Madara had found a way to counter it.
Light flashed in his eyes. He directly healed the wounded part of the Limbo shadow and even made it extend further.
Terrifying wounds appeared on Uchiha Madara's main body, serious ones even tearing him from head to toe. But in the next instant, his body completely recovered.
This fungal body, although subject to the control of the strange snake, possessed extremely strong regenerative capabilities, far more durable than a flesh-and-blood body. The side effect was merely some pain.
And this gave him the possibility of using his "Limbo shadow" as a conduit to wear down the distorted space's doujutsu.
Uchiha Madara believed that while his life level might be slightly lower than the opponent's, his Rinnegan doujutsu was not far inferior. Although it was a clumsy method, it might still be a means to break free.
"…" Orochimaru naturally noticed the anomaly on the other side but didn't divert his attention to deal with it.
A clumsy method meant it would consume time. At least on this battlefield, time was on his side.
Above the desert, the intense pursuit battle continued. Although the little White Snake was at a disadvantage, its counterattacks were not without effect. In fact, under the combined pressure of Orochimaru and the White Snake Sage, it was rapidly growing.
A cornered beast fights fiercely.
Its primal instincts, honed through the most intense means, were emerging. Though its body had shrunk considerably, the injuries it inflicted on the White Snake Sage were becoming increasingly severe.
Indeed, if this little creature had severed its tail to escape, abandoning half its body to flee separately, it would not have been pushed to this extent.
But almost by instinct, the little White Snake did not choose this survival strategy.
This battle was far from over. Not only had the White Snake Sage anticipated it, but this little creature also knew of the Akatsuki.
If it didn't find a way to defeat Orochimaru, like Roran, like now… there would be many more times like this in the future.
This little snake, born from Orochimaru's soul, possessed no inherent desire to settle or be a victim. Even if it was truly unable to resist the power, it would seize opportunities to bite Orochimaru back.
Boom, boom, boom…
Plunder and resistance, with opposing beliefs, dull roars continuously exploded across the desert. The west wind raged, blowing away the vast sands of the sea of deserts.
And time slowly flowed by amidst it all, until the night ended and day broke.
As the first ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds and fell upon the little White Snake, "Sun Breathing" instinctively activated.
The dawn light was far less intense than the midday sun, but even so, the little White Snake instantly endured immense pain.
Orochimaru and the White Snake Sage naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity. Instead, they launched a final burst, wanting to tear off more flesh before the opponent regained that terrifying regenerative ability.
Enduring the pain and increasingly heavy attacks, the little White Snake didn't lapse into unconsciousness. Instead, it stubbornly pushed against Orochimaru, moving back along the direction of its injuries.
Large amounts of fungal corpse fragments were absorbed by the snake's body. Its once significantly shrunken form surprisingly began to grow slowly.
"…" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't stop it, merely joining forces with the White Snake Sage to accelerate their attacks.
Part of the flesh torn from the little White Snake earlier was consumed by the White Snake Sage, but most of its natural energy entered Orochimaru's body and turned directly into dust.
But without the natural energy, its physical properties didn't change. It still had value for absorption and regeneration into new fungal matter.
After daylight arrived, the little White Snake was precisely in need of these materials. Its energy, on the other hand, was overflowing.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss…"
After devouring all the material, the little White Snake hissed, as if it could no longer hold on. Its entire body went limp on the desert, returning to the flat snake form initially seen.
At the same time, the attacks from Orochimaru and the White Snake Sage became significantly less effective, no longer able to plunder sufficient energy as before.
The White Snake Sage stopped its futile attacks and said, "Orochimaru, let's stop here. This energy is enough for me to digest for a while."
In fact, since around two or three in the morning, she had no longer been able to eat the flesh torn from the little White Snake.
She hadn't stopped not for the present moment, but for the future.
"I understand."
Orochimaru nodded slightly. "But before you return to Ryuchi Cave, help me with one more thing."
"Alright."
After agreeing, the White Snake Sage moved her body and in a short while, arrived at the meteorite's impact site.
Golden light flashed in Orochimaru's eyes. He directly released the doujutsu in the most violent manner. The next moment, the meteorite let out a muffled thud. The surface dust stirred, but it didn't explode as he had expected.
"Did something happen?" Orochimaru couldn't immediately figure out the reason and directly sent a thought to the White Snake Sage.
The latter nodded slightly, her gaze shifting to the massive meteorite. Her arm, covered in white scales, swung a golden hammer and struck the meteorite heavily.
Rocks flew, dust billowed, and the meteorite was largely shattered. But just as she swung her second hammer, a world-shaking roar exploded in her ears.
Bang!
The golden hammer was blocked. From within the dust, a withered, humanoid monster emerged. Its size was no less than that of the current snake-person.
"Gedo Mazo…" Orochimaru's heart leaped in surprise, but at the same time, it felt natural. He even wondered why Uchiha Madara, possessing this ability, had only summoned it now.
Above the Gedo Mazo's head, Uchiha Madara's body appeared with countless large and small wounds like shattered glass. Yet, they were gradually healing. However, his expression was quite grim.
The power struggle had not created a gap in the doujutsu's operation. It was merely a reduction in its quantity, which led to the gradually shrinking area of distorted space.
The stability of this jutsu was beyond Madara's expectation, but it would only require a bit more effort.
However, at a certain moment, the energy supply from the strange snake suddenly disappeared, making Madara realize that something must have gone wrong with the strange snake.
Yet, before he could react, the doujutsu was abruptly released. The violent fusion of the two spaces resulted in a small part of the meteorite's interior being shattered, and his body was almost sliced into pieces.
The pain was secondary. The fungal body's self-repair also consumed energy, and it was his own chakra.
This wasn't sustainable. Before he was boiled like a frog, Uchiha Madara resorted to his final measure.
"Gedo Mazo… you're really willing to bring it out."
Orochimaru, while the White Snake Sage was fighting it, flew directly from his brow, his figure flashing as he sped towards the Gedo Mazo.
"Almighty Push!"
Uchiha Madara spread his hands and uttered a low shout.
A surge of repulsive force erupted, even stiffening the White Snake Sage's body, making her uncontrollably retreat. However, this had no effect on Orochimaru.
Obito's "Kamui" had once been formidable, advancing the "Moon Eye Plan" significantly with a single move. But now, inspired by this move, his application of spatial doujutsu had brought Madara into a rather fatal predicament.
Orochimaru, exploiting the time gap when the opponent couldn't continuously use doujutsu, directly charged to his front.
Bang, bang, bang…
In a confined space, fists and feet collided fiercely. In just a few seconds, the two had exchanged over a hundred rounds.
Madara, a veteran of countless battles, was an accomplished taijutsu master. Coupled with the Rinnegan doujutsu and its perceptive abilities, he was formidable.
Orochimaru was currently in his youthful form, with shorter limbs. Logically, in a taijutsu contest of the same level, he should be at a disadvantage. However, with his superior physical conditioning and perceptive abilities that were no less than the opponent's, he appeared even stronger. In just a few seconds, he had completely suppressed Madara.
Orochimaru placed one hand on Uchiha Madara's chest. "Contract Seal!"
Dense curse marks spread like a spiderweb, almost instantly covering Uchiha Madara's entire body. His expression was incredibly grim. He had heard of this sealing jutsu, which separated summoned creatures from their contractors, and hadn't expected to see it here. Without the Gedo Mazo as support, he feared he was truly beyond hope this time.
But to their surprise, nothing happened.
The Gedo Mazo remained full of vigor, roaring and fighting against the White Snake Sage. It didn't disappear on the spot and return to its pre-summoning location.
Orochimaru didn't have time to ponder the reason. His body lunged at the opponent again, but darkness befell his vision, and he found himself in a dark shadow.
"Limbo?"
The thought flashed in his mind, and the next moment he was fighting against it.
Beside the Gedo Mazo, Uchiha Madara let out a deep sigh, his face filled with frustration.
If he were at his peak during his life, even if he couldn't win, he wouldn't have been so utterly defeated, suppressed by taijutsu in such a short time.
"No, don't think about these things…"
Uchiha Madara shook off his distracting thoughts and refocused his mind on the current battle situation.
As he had predicted, the Gedo Mazo couldn't suppress the White Snake Sage. Or rather, as the shell of the Ten-Tails, its only advantage was its toughness. Even with the collection of six or seven Tailed Beasts, it was of no use.
But that wasn't the key point.
No matter how capable it was, the Gedo Mazo could at best fight the White Snake Sage to a draw. The crucial fact was that he himself was no match for Orochimaru.
If the fight continued, there was only defeat. Although "Limbo" was powerful, its drawbacks were very obvious, and Orochimaru was clearly the most outstanding type of Sage.
"Could it be that today is the day Uchiha Madara perishes…"
With no way to the heavens and no path to the earth, Uchiha Madara's heart finally found peace.
He had fought for decades without a moment's slack. Regardless of the outcome… heroism is not measured by success or failure.