Uchiha Madara's overwhelming power startled Jigen; even among the Ōtsutsuki Clan, such talent would have been considered extraordinary.
"I acknowledge your power."
Jigen's voice remained calm, his golden eye narrowing with a hint of superiority.
"By my calculations, despite being a descendant of that woman, I am willing to return you to the Ōtsutsuki fold. Become my follower. Once I reclaim Chakra, you will have a chance to attain the body of a true, pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki."
Madara immediately sensed the condescension behind Jigen's tone.
"Heh. I am Uchiha Madara. Who do you think you're talking to?"
Jigen did not react to the insult; his expression remained placid, almost bored.
"What a pity," Jigen whispered, "your arrogance is only a symptom of your limited perception."
He wasn't lying. Jigen could indeed elevate Madara into a pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki—
but only if he returned to the clan's homeworld with the proper catalyst.
And yet, he genuinely admired Madara's talent. He wanted him as a subordinate.
"With how weak you currently are, where do you get the nerve to say such things?"
Madara scoffed. Jigen's body was barely holding itself together—ridiculous, considering Madara himself had once faced death in a similar state.
"Then die," Jigen said coldly. "This world has no need for so many strong people."
Chakra surged in his hand, forming a dense sphere of power.
In eras past, such an outpouring of Chakra would have been unimaginable. But the shinobi world had changed; everyone's Chakra capacity had increased dramatically. The days when Hatake Kakashi could only manage two or three Chidori before exhaustion were long gone.
Only the Senju and Uzumaki—with their inherited fragments of Ōtsutsuki physiology—could compete with such output.
But Jigen's ruthlessly unrestrained Chakra release still exceeded nearly all shinobi by far.
Behind Madara, a massive blue Susanoo rose, gripping a colossal blade.
The sword fell, cleaving Jigen's Chakra sphere cleanly in half.
Madara's transformed soul pushed his power even higher. Chakra surged wildly through him as he blurred forward, every ounce of energy focused in his strike.
He hit Jigen like a thunderbolt.
The impact cratered the earth, leaving a pit tens of meters deep.
"Fire Release: Meteor Shower!"
Madara formed a hand seal, unleashing a storm of blazing fireballs into the crater—
one after another, meteors of flame consumed the depths below.
Members of Kara stared in alarm.
Delta and Katsumura Yota showed open panic.
"Lord Jigen!"
"You shall not pass." (TN: Gandalf?)
Senju Hashirama appeared before them, blocking their advance.
Katsumura immediately ordered Asura to attack.
Delta fired laser beams from her eyes, forcing Hashirama back—but every attack was brushed aside as if meaningless.
Madara cast a sidelong glance at Hashirama and smirked faintly.
His attention shifted back to the burning pit.
Smoke billowed upward. Heat distorted the air. But none of it obscured Madara's vision.
A sudden explosion erupted.
Jigen shot out of the crater at blinding speed.
Madara's strike missed him completely—and in the next instant Jigen counterattacked, sending Madara flying.
"Banshō Ten'in."
Madara's body was yanked back toward Jigen, who drove a heavy punch into Madara's stomach. Blood burst from Madara's mouth.
The long-lost sensation of pain made Madara grin—feral, exhilarated.
That technique…
That gravity manipulation—
Madara recognized it.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's Rinnegan.
He had no time to dwell on it.
A massive boulder, barely a meter away, suddenly expanded to a ten-meter giant. It smashed into Madara, launching him hundreds of meters across the battlefield.
Jigen followed up instantly.
A burst of raw energy detonated from his hand, annihilating everything in its path.
The air trembled with power.
The battle between Uchiha Madara and the vessel of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki had only just begun.
Madara's silhouette emerged through the smoke.
Bang!!!
The figure burst apart—nothing but a puff of smoke.
A Shadow Clone.
The ground rippled.
Madara's real body surged up from beneath Jigen, fist already driving forward. After being blown away earlier, he had swapped places with the clone and tunneled beneath the battlefield.
His strike sent Jigen flying.
Before Jigen could stabilize his footing, another impact crashed into him—then another.
It felt as if three unseen figures were pummeling him from different angles.
Blood spilled from Jigen's lips as he staggered back, eyes scanning the battlefield.
"Shadows…? Is this the ability of your Rinnegan?"
His injuries rapidly regenerated, but Madara's blows were laced with Sage Art chakra, infused with natural energy—an irritation even an Ōtsutsuki could not ignore.
Madara hadn't expected Jigen to recognize the technique so quickly.
But then he remembered—Sasuke had also seen through Limbo. Another fellow Rinnegan user. Jigen, too, possessed Isshiki's ocular power. It made sense.
"What if you can see it?" Madara said quietly. "Can you handle it?"
Right before Jigen's eyes, the invisible shadow peeled away from Madara's body—then split again.
And again.
Until five Limbo clones stood around him, descending upon Jigen simultaneously.
They weren't ordinary shadows.
They weren't ordinary clones.
Even weakened versions of Madara, fighting in concert, were more than enough to suppress him.
Jigen was battered repeatedly—fists, kicks, and weapons striking in perfect coordination.
Finally—
"Six Paths Sealing: Celestial Firmament Restraint!"
Jigen's counterattack surged outward. One of the Limbo shadows was forcibly sealed away—its form snapping back into Madara, before reemerging moments later.
Jigen's mind raced.
The main body can generate shadows…
Currently five.
Upper limit unknown—likely five.
Shadows must return to the main body periodically to recover Chakra or receive Rinnegan support.
If sealed, they disappear temporarily.
He avoided Madara's next strike with a burst of Isshiki's abilities, shrinking space and matter as he slipped through the attack.
He'd lived far too long to be rattled. Even now, he calmly analyzed the battlefield, searching for a countermeasure.
Then—
A cold flash of steel pierced through his back.
Jigen stiffened. His head turned slowly.
Behind him stood Madara, hand gripping a blade driven cleanly through Isshiki's host body.
Madara's voice was almost mocking.
"What is a shinobi? Do you know?"
He'd baited Jigen with the Limbo shadows—forced his attention outward.
The real Madara had teleported behind him using the Flying Thunder God Technique, a jutsu he had finally mastered after absorbing so many techniques and paths of chakra.
The blade sank deeper, Sage Art chakra flooding the wound, corrupting and burning from the inside.
Even for an Ōtsutsuki, a direct strike to the heart infused with natural energy was fatal.
Jigen's pupils trembled.
"You—"
Madara twisted the blade.
"Your calculations," he whispered, "failed to account for me."
The battlefield trembled as Isshiki's vessel finally collapsed.