Upon realizing that Hayashi still had a backup plan, Madara decided to fight with everything he had left.
Secretly gathering his strength, he waited for an opening. Though the opportunity was far from perfect, it was enough to unleash the strongest technique he had used since his resurrection.
Madara and his three Limbo clones stood at the four cardinal directions, each encased within a Perfect Susanoo. Together, they formed a barrier that completely sealed the space around Hayashi.
It was a spatial prison designed to prevent any escape through the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Limbo: Border Jail.
At the same time, the four Madaras and their Perfect Susanoo formed different hand seals, summoning four colossal meteorites, each more than a hundred meters across. They descended from the heavens, aiming to crush Hayashi inside the sealed space.
In an instant, dark clouds blanketed the sky.
Thunder roared.
The gigantic meteorites eclipsed the heavens as they plunged downward, accompanied by deafening shockwaves and earth-shaking vibrations.
But that was only the beginning.
A sneer appeared on Madara's face. Raising one elbow, he pressed his palms together, twisted them, and suddenly flipped his hands.
The very gravity surrounding Hayashi reversed.
The threat was no longer just Tengai Shinsei.
Madara had manipulated gravity itself, making it seem as though the entire Earth was crashing down upon Hayashi.
Confined within the spatial cage and assaulted from every direction, there was nowhere left to retreat.
Or rather...
If Hayashi possessed enough power to split the moon, could he cut apart the entire planet?
As gravity inverted, Hayashi calmly adjusted his stance, allowing himself to move with the changing force.
Even so, the crushing weight of the world pressed against him.
His inverted Perfect Susanoo trembled as its knees slowly buckled beneath the unimaginable pressure.
For the first time since the battle began, exhaustion showed on Hayashi's face.
Blood vessels spread across his eyes.
At that moment, the chakra of the Nine Tailed Beasts surged wildly, merging into the silhouette of the Ten Tails. Raising its massive arms, it joined Hayashi's Perfect Susanoo in resisting the overwhelming force.
Panting heavily, Hayashi brought his hands together.
Natural energy poured toward him like an endless ocean, flooding into his body.
"Sage Art: White Rage Technique!"
A blinding flash erupted.
Even Madara, watching from afar, instinctively narrowed his eyes.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
The air for several kilometers became thick and heavy, as though the entire world had turned into liquid.
Then everything began to vibrate.
The air shook violently.
The earth quaked without end.
Madara felt every bone in his body grinding together. His limbs went numb, and even maintaining his Susanoo became increasingly difficult.
Hayashi formed another hand seal.
"Super: Planetary Devastation!"
This time, he held nothing back.
The power of his Six Tomoe Rinnegan surged to its limit as his chakra reached its peak.
Using the Rinnegan as a guide, he pulled countless meteorites from Earth's orbit.
The sky was instantly filled with them.
They covered the heavens so densely that almost no gaps remained, each one resembling a mountain suspended in the air, blotting out the sun itself.
Before they could descend completely, Wood Release bound every meteorite together, merging them into a single unimaginably massive celestial body.
The two attacks collided head-on.
Tengai Shinsei...
Shattered.
A thunderous explosion echoed across the heavens.
The roar lingered endlessly.
The blast was so overwhelming that not only the Shinobi Allied Forces, but people across the entire ninja world instinctively covered their ears in agony.
In the next instant, Hayashi burst through the Limbo: Border Jail.
Appearing before Madara in a flash, he grabbed him by the throat, yanked him downward, and slammed him violently into the ground.
It was like a comet crashing into the earth.
The impact split the land apart, leaving behind an enormous bottomless crater.
Hayashi interlocked his fingers into a massive fist and prepared to strike again.
Suddenly, an attack tore through the air.
It came from one of Madara's Limbo clones.
Caught off guard, Hayashi was blasted several dozen meters away.
Madara climbed out of the crater.
Blood poured endlessly from his wounds, staining his face until it was almost unrecognizable.
His three Limbo clones landed beside him, standing shoulder to shoulder.
After steadying himself in midair, Hayashi wiped the blood from his own face.
When he had endured the immense pressure of the Earth's compression, both his feet had been crushed into bloody pulp, and the flesh on his hands had been stripped away until bone was exposed.
Yet after escaping that technique, the injuries regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye.
By now, almost no trace of the damage remained.
Instead of attacking again, Hayashi suddenly spoke.
"Back then, when I was still at the Ninja Academy, I was terrified."
"Even though I was considered a genius among my peers, I knew how dangerous the future of the ninja world would become, and how perilous life in Konoha truly was."
"I worried every day about surviving the coming Shinobi World Wars. I feared becoming another victim of Itachi's massacre, after all, I wasn't Sasuke. I was even afraid I'd end up as cannon fodder in the final battle, just like Neji."
"There were nights when I couldn't sleep."
Madara listened quietly before asking,
"Why are you telling me this?"
Hayashi answered calmly.
"One day, I realized that the powerful people I had hoped to rely on had disappeared because of circumstances beyond my control."
"And before I knew it..."
"I had become the powerful one."
"From that moment on, the fear disappeared."
He smiled faintly.
"I prepared for this day for so long."
"How could I still lose to you?"
After a brief pause, he continued,
"I only told you all of this so you could understand before you die."
"Since I was very young, I regarded you as my greatest enemy."
"If you were merely another opponent, I wouldn't have to kill you."
"But you aren't."
"And I have the power to end you."
"So, Madara..."
"Are you ready?"
As Hayashi's voice faded, a barrier spread outward with him at its center, trapping Madara inside.
Moments earlier, Madara had imprisoned Hayashi.
Now their positions had completely reversed.
"I originally prepared this technique for Kaguya."
"But you'll have the honor of experiencing it instead."
Hayashi's Six Tomoe Rinnegan spun rapidly.
An incomprehensible phenomenon unfolded.
The dust scattered throughout the battlefield slowly drifted downward.
Yet instead of merely settling, it began to weather before their eyes.
The process looked perfectly natural.
And utterly impossible.
Dust naturally erodes over time.
But what should have taken years, even decades, happened within moments across only a few dozen meters.
It was like watching a child take a single step and instantly become a teenager.
Another step turned them into an adult.
A few more transformed them into an old person before they finally died of old age.
"Reincarnation."
Madara inhaled sharply.
A moment ago, he had stood in the prime of his life.
Now, his dark blue hair instantly became snow white.
Hayashi looked silently at the frail old man before him.
His own Six Tomoe Rinnegan had exhausted so much ocular power that it had reverted to an ordinary Rinnegan.
Madara's immense life force prevented him from dying immediately.
Even so, there was no resentment in his eyes.
He simply gazed quietly at the young man before him.
"So..."
"This is your Rinnegan's ability?"
"Yes."
Madara could clearly feel time racing through his body, draining away what remained of his life.
In a frail, aged voice, he said,
"You have won."
Hayashi looked at him calmly.
"Do you have any last words?"
Madara's fading vision fixed itself upon the sky.
Barely above a whisper, he murmured,
"Hashirama..."
A gentle breeze passed through the battlefield.
Madara's body crumbled into dust and slowly scattered into the wind.
Hayashi remained standing beneath the open sky.
Silent.
Wordless.