The silhouette of Madara Uchiha emerged fully from the shadows of the forest.
Clad in ancient red armor, with wild, untamed hair like a lion's mane, his eyes were the most terrifying feature.
The Rinnegan, shimmering with purple ripples and harboring the power of creation and destruction, radiated a crushing pressure.
He simply stood there, and the air seemed to solidify while the light itself grew dim.
He stared at the young man in the valley, whose aura was as deep as an abyss, and spoke with a voice carrying the weight of ages and unquestionable authority.
"You recognize me? It seems you have guessed the truth."
He felt a flicker of surprise; his existence was supposed to be a secret buried under the dust of history.
But he quickly rationalized it—Saiki was a brat worth his personal intervention, clearly far more than he appeared on the surface.
Saiki held his long blade, Sage Chakra flowing slowly through his meridians.
His entire being radiated a pure, transcendent aura that stood in stark contrast to Madara's cold, gargantuan chakra.
His tone remained flat and unimpressed.
"Madara Uchiha, you're old. Why can't you just lie down in a coffin properly?"
"Why come out and stir this rotten world into an even bigger mess? Do you think you've lived too long?"
A sharp light flared in Madara's Rinnegan, and killing intent flooded the valley like a physical weight, causing the temperature to plummet.
"Arrogant brat. Knowing too much is a death sentence."
He hadn't expected his identity and intentions to be exposed so bluntly, making his resolve to silence Saiki even firmer.
"Your power is unique, but it ends here."
"Try me," Saiki replied, his voice short and powerful.
The moment the words fell, they both vanished!
No hand signs, no warnings of Ninjutsu—just a raw collision of speed and power!
Madara's figure flickered like a ghost, appearing instantly on Saiki's left.
A simple, direct side-kick screamed through the air, his leg wreathed in powerful chakra capable of pulverizing bedrock!
Saiki didn't dodge. He braced his left arm, condensing Sage Chakra into his elbow, and met the blow head-on!
BOOM!!
A dull, thunderous impact exploded between them!
A ring of shockwaves blasted outward, causing the ground beneath their feet to crater and shatter instantly!
Saiki's frame shivered slightly before stabilizing, while Madara used the recoil to flip through the air.
His right hand straightened into a blade, wreathed in high-density chakra, and lunged straight for Saiki's throat!
The movement was ruthless and seasoned—the signature of the God of Shinobi.
Saiki's blade rose like it had a life of its own, the tip precisely targeting Madara's wrist, forcing the old man to shift and retreat.
In a heartbeat, they had exchanged over a dozen blows.
Their figures flickered across the valley, clashing with deafening booms and blinding sparks of steel and energy.
Madara's Taijutsu was massive and overwhelming, full of raw power and lethal intent.
His Uchiha fan and scythe moved in a blur, every strike backed by centuries of combat experience.
Saiki's Taijutsu was more fluid and precise, seemingly effortless.
He neutralized Madara's heaviest assaults with minimal movement, launching sharp counterattacks.
His blade-work was like a ghost, untraceable, occasionally grazing Madara's armor and leaving shallow silver scars.
"Impressive Taijutsu and swordsmanship," Madara said, creating distance.
Excitement flickered in his eyes, but it was overshadowed by the rage of being challenged. "But this is not nearly enough!"
His hands blurred into signs for the first time, moving so fast they left afterimages.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
An ocean of flame erupted from nothing, the scale so massive it blanketed the entire valley.
The extreme heat turned the rocks red and began to melt the earth itself!
This was a scale of Fire Style no ordinary ninja could ever hope to manifest.
Facing the sea of fire that sought to boil the sky, Saiki's expression didn't change.
He raised his blade high and delivered a single, vertical strike.
"Sky Splitter!"
A thread of condensed white blade-qi tore away from the steel, expanding as it flew.
It transformed into a massive crescent moon of light that sliced silently into the inferno!
The berserk flames met their natural predator; the moment they touched the white blade-light, they were severed, shredded, and extinguished.
The strike didn't stop, carving a massive vacuum tunnel through the fire directly toward Madara!
Madara's pupils contracted as his Rinnegan spun. "Preta Path: Blocking Technique Absorption!"
He raised his hand, attempting to devour the strange blade-qi.
However, the Sage Chakra within that white light was of an unimaginably high quality.
His absorption technique felt like trying to swallow an entire mountain; the efficiency was pathetic.
The sheer sharpness of the energy made his palm sting as if cut by a thousand razors, forcing him to leap aside.
"Genjutsu!" Madara shifted tactics instantly as he retreated.
The ocular power of the Rinnegan flared, sending invisible waves of illusion toward Saiki, seeking to drag his soul into a nightmare.
However, the Auspicious Cloud manifested over Saiki's head, raining down its veil of pure energy.
The invisible Genjutsu waves struck the rain-curtain and vanished like pebbles dropped into the ocean.
Saiki's mind remained as clear as glass, untouched by the illusion.
"Hmph. Even the Rinnegan's Genjutsu is useless?!" Madara's shock deepened.
This boy's defensive methods were beyond bizarre.
"Is that all you have?" Saiki's voice drifted through the dying embers of the fire, laced with a hint of disappointment.
He flickered forward again, his blade transforming into multiple afterimages that blanketed Madara from every angle!
Each strike was lethal, carrying the will to sever the world.
Madara swung his Uchiha fan to counter, and the clearing was filled with the rhythmic clack-clack-clack of steel hitting wood.
Though the fan was forged from the branch of the God Tree, under Saiki's Sage-infused strikes, it began to show deep gouges.
The vibrations made Madara's arms go numb.
"Damned brat!" Madara roared.
Unable to secure an advantage, he felt his pride being trampled.
He leaped backward, one of his Rinnegan reverting to the Eternal Mangekyo as he unleashed a terrifying surge of ocular power!
"Susanoo!"
Blue chakra erupted from his body like a volcanic blast, instantly condensing into a massive ribcage that wreathed his frame!
The giant ribs acted as the ultimate shield, capable of withstanding multiple S-rank assaults.
However, Saiki simply condensed his Sage Chakra onto his edge until it glowed like a bone-white laser.
He stepped forward and slashed.
Susanoo looked invincible, but against an opponent of this caliber, it was a liability.
Hashirama's wooden buddha had once pounded the Armored Susanoo into dust.
Danzo's Wind Style had managed to cut Sasuke's Susanoo shell.
Later, Isshiki Otsutsuki would shatter it with a single kick.
Saiki's blade was far beyond Danzo's wind, even if Sasuke was a weakling compared to this Madara.
Under Madara's confident yet soon-to-be-horrified gaze, Saiki's blade passed through the ribs like a hot knife through butter.
SHRED! If Madara hadn't reacted with his legendary instincts and leaped back, he would have been bisected.
Madara's pupils shrank. He wasn't panicked, but his focus was absolute.
He pushed his ocular power further!
Stage One: Skeletal Susanoo!
The severed ribs were repaired instantly, and a deluge of chakra formed a complete skeletal upper body.
Four massive skeletal arms swung toward Saiki, looking like ghost hands from the underworld, covering the entire clearing.
Saiki moved like a bolt of lightning, weaving between the grasping hands, his blade-light flashing in a silver blur.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
With every flash of the blade, a skeletal arm was cleanly severed, the blue chakra spraying and dissipating like blood.
The Susanoo's regeneration couldn't even begin to keep pace with Saiki's cutting speed!
In seconds, all four arms were on the ground.
"Let's see how many times you can swing that sword!" Madara hissed.
Stage Two: Armored Susanoo!
The skeletal arms condensed instantly, and four massive blue chakra swords appeared in their hands!
Each arm gripped a blade, the steel carrying the sharpness to rend the earth itself.
They descended from four directions in a coordinated, hurricane-like execution!
The wind from the blades plowed deep trenches into the valley floor.
"Now we're having fun," Saiki said, finally showing a shred of effort.
He stopped dodging and met the four giant swords head-on!
CLANG! CLANG! DING! SHING!!
A flurry of impacts filled the valley!
Sparks and stray chakra fragments exploded at every collision point.
Saiki's strikes were condensed and rapid; he hit the pressure points of the chakra swords.
He parried, deflected, and physically batted the massive blades aside with the flat of his own sword!
His speed was so high and his focus so concentrated that the four "godly" swords looked clumsy and slow in comparison.
They couldn't even form a proper encirclement.
"Too slow!" Saiki barked.
He spotted a microscopic gap between the arcs of the four swords.
He merged with his own blade-light, becoming a needle of pure white energy.
He shot through the gap like a thread through a needle!
SHRED—!
The moment he passed through, the white line expanded horizontally!
The massive, four-armed Second Stage Susanoo was caught in a "Heaven's Scar."
It was sliced perfectly in two at the waist!
The upper half, along with Madara inside, began to slide apart as the construct collapsed!
"BASTARD!!!"
The repeated failures, especially being bisected so easily, finally set Madara's soul on fire.
Standing among the ruins of his Susanoo, his hair danced wildly in the wind.
His eyes erupted with a power and killing intent he hadn't felt in fifty years!
"A mere brat... dares... such arrogance!!"
Perfect Susanoo!
He skipped the remaining stages. An ocean of blue chakra erupted, piercing the clouds!
A giant God of War, taller than the surrounding mountains, rose from the earth!
It was clad in the full Crow-Tengu armor, possessed massive wings, and held two chakra tachis the size of hills!
The apocalyptic pressure made the sky change color and the clouds reverse their flow.
The very ground of the battlefield began to groan and sink under the weight of his presence.
"This is the true power of a god! Feel despair, you ant!"
Madara stood within the diamond crystal on the giant's forehead, his voice like the freezing winter.
The Perfect Susanoo's mere existence sent tremors of fear through the Tailed Beasts themselves!
He raised the massive right-hand blade. No fancy moves were required.
With the simple will to crush all things, he brought the blade down on the tiny speck that was Saiki.
The blow was slow, yet it was an absolute, unstoppable force!
Wherever the edge passed, the air itself warped, and the ground below was split into a bottomless canyon by the sheer air pressure alone!