Inside the Kingdom of Roran, the air was thick with a murderous chill. Following Shiraishi's provocative actions, several Uchiha clansmen could no longer restrain themselves. They lunged forward, intent on teaching this masked freak a lesson.
To their surprise, Shiraishi executed a fluid side-step and a series of crisp, lightning-fast high kicks. With clinical precision, he sent the lunging Konoha shinobi flying backward.
Though the movements were simple, the sheer physical prowess and reaction speed Shiraishi displayed caused Uchiha Madara's eyes to narrow.
The Snake Queen watched with growing admiration as Shiraishi took down over a dozen ninja, his momentum only increasing as he fought.
"Using no ninjutsu or genjutsu... just pure combat instinct to floor the elite of the Uchiha and Senju?" she mused.
The surviving Hagoromo members and Reto's allied forces were equally stunned. As Shiraishi's fist connected with the last standing Konoha ninja, Uchiha Madara flickered and descended like a bolt of lightning.
The air rumbled as he landed, forcing Shiraishi to leap back several paces until he stood beside the fallen Amanonuhoko.
"That combat intuition suggests immense battlefield experience," Madara said, his voice cold. "Yet, as far as I know, no such figure exists among the nations. Who are you?"
Facing Madara directly, Shiraishi didn't flinch. He narrowed his eyes behind his mask. "I took these bodies merely as research material. Why be so petty?"
"Those are spoils of war."
Moments ago, a teenage Hagoromo youth had been killed by a kunai through the heart. Shiraishi had used the distraction of Madara's Majestic Destroyer Flame to seal the corpse into a scroll.
In Shiraishi's original era, the Hagoromo were history, but the northern branch—represented by Kinkaku and Ginkaku—had taken root in the Hidden Cloud.
By securing these bodies, he could better infiltrate the Cloud Village. His Heavenly Curse of the Five Phantoms was nearing its third split, and a Hagoromo descendant would be the perfect vessel for his third clone.
Madara couldn't see through Shiraishi's true identity, but it didn't matter. As the peak of the shinobi world, his arrogance was absolute. "Was it you who saved Reto just now?"
"Yes." Though he wasn't close to the future First Kazekage, Reto was still a man of the Sand. Shiraishi helped where he could.
"Heh." Madara let out a cold laugh. Suddenly, the immense spiritual pressure of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan swept forward like a tidal wave, seeking to crush the mysterious Sage practitioner in a single blow.
Whether it was Konoha's pride or the Uchiha's honor, such provocation could not be ignored. Madara intended to take Shiraishi's life right here.
The Battle of Wills
As Madara's gaze locked onto him, Shiraishi stepped toward the Amanonuhoko. In that heartbeat, he found himself dragged into Madara's mental realm.
In a world of chaotic darkness, Madara stood like a god, looking down at Shiraishi. A suffocating pressure of death began to manifest in the gloom.
"You wish to command the Amanonuhoko?"
"I do."
"Arrogant fool!"
As the dark world began to collapse and swallow Shiraishi, a powerful, frigid flame erupted from within him. The extreme cold of this "Chill-flame" instantly froze the encroaching darkness.
"There is no law stating only the Hagoromo can wield this spear."
Historically, the Amanonuhoko was a tool of the Sage, passed to the Ashura lineage and then to the Hagoromo ancestors. Only those of that bloodline could technically interface with it.
In the physical world, barely a second had passed. As Shiraishi broke free from the mental suppression, Madara's expression finally turned solemn.
His Mangekyo was a "Straight Tomoe" type; while not primarily focused on genjutsu, his mental intrusion was no weaker than Tsukuyomi. Yet, this man had used a freezing flame to forcibly shatter his control.
"Who. Are. You?" Madara asked for the third time.
"Just a humble practitioner from Ryuchi Cave. Don't overthink it, Mr. Madara."
As Shiraishi gripped the Amanonuhoko, his chakra went wild. The residual consciousness of the Sage of the Six Paths within the weapon violently rejected this new, "alien" master.
Shiraishi's eyes flashed. Pure natural energy transformed into a localized shockwave of pressure, slamming into the spear and producing a violent sonic boom.
"Still resisting?"
The spear emitted a blinding light, fighting against the intruder. However, Shiraishi activated his Dragon Seal Sage Mode. The power of the Core Punisher manifested as a brilliant pillar of cyan light.
He gripped the spear with crushing force. "I asked... are you still resisting?!"
Under the bath of cyan light, Madara's brow furrowed. He didn't recognize the technique, but he instinctively sensed that this power was not of this world.
Even the Snake Queen was startled—this was the first time she had seen the Core Punisher's light. This "Dragon Power" possessed a purification quality so intense that it was actually suppressing and erasing the traces left by the Sage of the Six Paths.
The 'Heavenly Power' this boy wields is no weaker than the Otsutsuki's, she thought.
Rebirth of the Artifact
Under the baptism of the Core Punisher, the thousand-year-old influence of the Sage and the Hagoromo bloodline was scrubbed clean.
At that moment, a resonance formed between Shiraishi and the spear. In his Sage Mode, the Dragon Seal on his body pulsed in harmony with the weapon.
The pitch-black spear began to shed its outer layers like a shell, molting into a shimmering silver Greatsword—a true Heavenly Artifact.
The light from the sword transformed into countless silver butterflies that fluttered around Shiraishi. As the light faded, a set of Sacred Silver Armor suddenly encased Shiraishi's body.
The pauldrons and helm were intricately crafted into the likeness of roaring dragons. Shiraishi's mask shattered, replaced by a majestic dragon-themed helmet.
"Lord Uchiha Madara... how about a fight?"
Before the words had even finished echoing, Shiraishi leaned forward. Countless gale-force blades formed around him, swirling above Roran until they merged into a terrifying atmospheric vortex!
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