As a Shura who once stood alongside the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, his debut after resurrection should have been an overwhelming display of power.
He had anticipated the Five Kage's united resistance, the rampage of the Tailed Beasts, and even the interference of that woman who called herself Kaguya.
However, he never expected to suffer a setback at the hands of a steel creation, let alone have his right arm burned by a bizarre energy.
This feeling was like a max-level player in god-tier gear returning to the novice village to slaughter newbies, only to be blinded by a wild chicken the moment he stepped out the gate.
'It's not just the physical pain...'
Madara stared at his right arm, a chilling light flickering within his Rinnegan.
"It's an insult to the dignity of Madara Uchiha."
He slowly looked up, eyeing Minato Namikaze, who stood far off in battle readiness, and Jiraiya, who was still pulling faces at him from the ruins.
"Since you enjoy relying on external objects and these flashy little tricks so much..."
Madara's voice suddenly turned calm.
Yet beneath this calm, a violent undercurrent surged, ready to swallow everything.
"Then I shall show you... the meaning of despair."
Whoom!!!
Blue chakra flames soared into the sky, instantly transforming into a hundred-meter-tall Perfect Susanoo.
This martial god of chakra stood tall outside Konoha, its shadow looming over half the village.
This time, however, the Susanoo did not draw its blade.
Its three pairs of massive arms rose simultaneously, forming three different seals toward the heavens.
Although Madara himself didn't weave signs, the Susanoo he controlled completed the preparation for the technique on his behalf.
A suffocating sense of pressure instantly enveloped the entire battlefield.
The once-clear sky suddenly darkened.
It wasn't dark clouds blocking the sun.
Something far larger and more oppressive than clouds was piercing through the sky, plummeting toward the earth.
"That's..."
The 'exchange students' from various nations observing the battle from outside the shelters were all frozen in place.
In the Hidden Stone's group, Kurotsuchi's mouth hung open as her binoculars fell to the ground with a thud.
Darui of the Hidden Cloud was covered in cold sweat, his body trembling uncontrollably.
Despair mounted in their minds.
High in the sky, ten thousand meters up.
A massive meteor, several kilometers in diameter and trailing crimson flames like a lotus of destruction, tore through the atmosphere. It descended upon Konoha like the manifestation of the world's malice.
Tengai Shinsei.
"You... you've got to be kidding me..."
Kankuro slumped to the ground, his voice shaking. "Is that thing... really a ninjutsu?"
"So this is the legendary Madara Uchiha?"
Temari gripped her Giant Folding Fan so tightly her knuckles turned white. "An attack of this scale... it's not something human power can block! If it lands, forget Konoha—everything within dozens of kilometers will be reduced to rubble!"
Despair. Pure despair.
In this moment, the geniuses from the various hidden villages finally understood why their respective Kages were so wary of the name 'Madara Uchiha.'
They had originally thought Konoha's mecha and Sage Arts were already exaggerated enough.
But before this sky-obscuring meteor, those technologies and jutsus seemed as laughable as children's toys.
"Konoha... you have to block it..." Darui murmured to himself.
At this moment, they no longer had the heart to just watch the show, nor did they care about 'Great Power politics.'
They knew clearly that if Konoha failed to stop this strike, they—the hostages staying in the village—would be turned into ash in a crater along with everyone else.
Atop the Hokage Rock.
Minato Namikaze looked up at the massive meteor that occupied his entire field of vision.
The violent winds disheveled his blonde hair, and his Hokage cloak fluttered loudly in the gale.
"Quite the grand gesture."
Gamakon, perched on his shoulder, dropped his playful expression. His golden toad eyes were filled with solemnity. "Unleashing such a massive field-clearing move right away... this old guy is truly seeing red."
"Minato, what's the plan?" Gamakon asked. "With this mass and volume, even the Guiding Thunder won't be enough to teleport it. Unless you have enough chakra to tear open a rift several kilometers wide."
Minato shook his head.
"I can't do it."
He was honest.
Although Flying Thunder God was the pinnacle of space-time ninjutsu, it had its limits.
Teleporting a Tailed Beast Bomb was already his limit; teleporting a meteor as large as a mountain was impossible even if he drained himself dry.
"Then we'll just have to blast it head-on."
Minato took a deep breath, his gaze becoming incredibly sharp.
He felt the green energy within him, originating from the Tenseigan.
'Six Paths Power...'
Minato calculated silently in his mind.
While powerful, this energy was not inexhaustible.
This was a 'sample' that Orochimaru and Jiraiya had risked their lives to extract from the Tenseigan. Once used, it was gone.
Currently, Konoha had not mastered the technology to mass-produce this high-level chakra.
Originally, this was a trump card saved for the arrival of the Otsutsuki main family.
Or as insurance in case Princess Kaguya suddenly turned against them.
"But now, I can't worry about that."
Minato glanced back at the village behind him.
There were the villagers taking shelter, the newborns, his wife Kushina, and Naruto, who hadn't grown up yet.
He was the Hokage.
As long as he was still standing, he would never allow this meteor to fall on Konoha's soil.
"Orochimaru! Prepare the Chakra Cannon!"
"I'm going in!"
Whoom!
The chakra within Minato instantly boiled.
A faint green aura surfaced once more, more radiant than ever before.
Even if it was just a phantom, it was enough to prove the level of power Minato currently wielded.
Swish!
A flash of golden light.
Minato's figure vanished instantly.
A second later.
He appeared thousands of meters in the air, directly facing the massive Susanoo and the falling meteor.
Before such a gargantuan meteor, Minato's silhouette was as tiny as a grain of dust.
But the light radiating from him was more blinding than the sun.
"Oh? You wish to be the brave mantis trying to stop the chariot?"
Standing within the Susanoo's forehead, Madara watched the suddenly appearing Minato, a cold sneer curling his lips.
"It's useless."
"Before this power capable of destroying the world, individual bravery is meaningless."
"Perish, Konoha!"
Madara controlled the Susanoo to increase its chakra output, causing the meteor's descent to accelerate sharply.
However.
Minato did not attack the meteor.
He knew well that shattering it was easy, but the countless fragments would still deal a devastating blow to Konoha.
To completely resolve the crisis, he had to go to the source.
Which meant—the caster!
"Madara, you underestimate the Hokage!"
Minato spun fiercely in mid-air. What gathered in his right hand was no longer an ordinary Rasengan.
It was a sphere of black light that fused Six Paths power, Sage Chakra, and the space-time properties of the Flying Thunder God.
"Sage Art: Six Paths: Flying Thunder God: Space-Time Gale Pitch-Black Arrow Zero... Type II!"
Minato's form turned into a streak of light. He didn't charge the meteor; he went straight for Madara's Susanoo!
"What?!"
Madara's pupils shrank slightly.
He hadn't expected Minato to ignore the meteor and attack the caster directly.
"Reckless!"
Madara controlled the Susanoo to swing its blade.
But Minato was too fast.
With the enhancement of the Six Paths Power, his Flying Thunder God had also evolved, becoming even more unpredictable.
Swish!
Minato's figure passed through the Susanoo's blade like a ghost.
Then, he slammed violently into the Susanoo's chest.
Boom!!!
With a crisp sound like glass shattering.
The Perfect Susanoo, touted as having absolute defense and capable of withstanding even a Tailed Beast Bomb, was as fragile as a sheet of paper before Minato's strike concentrated with Six Paths Power.
The black sphere instantly dismantled the Susanoo's chakra structure.
Crack! Crack!
The massive blue giant began to collapse from the chest, fissures spreading across its body in an instant.
"This is impossible!"
For the first time, a look of shock appeared on Madara's face.
He could feel that the power contained in Minato's strike was not at all inferior to his own ocular power!
That was... Six Paths Power?!
"Break!"
Minato let out a furious roar, and the light sphere in his hand completely erupted.
The Perfect Susanoo shattered instantly, dissipating into a sky full of blue light particles.
Without the Susanoo to maintain it, the massive meteor in the sky lost its guiding force. Though it was still falling, the world-ending pressure significantly weakened.
Yet Minato's attack didn't stop.
His momentum remained unchecked as his kunai pointed straight at Madara's throat.
"It's not over yet!"
Madara was, after all, a battle-hardened Shura.
The moment the Susanoo shattered, he realized something was wrong.
This Hokage held a power in his hands that could actually harm him!
He couldn't take it head-on!
That useless Obito hadn't transplanted Hashirama's cells into him yet; now that he sensed danger, he had to minimize his injuries.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Madara once again unleashed the Rinnegan's ability.
But this time, he didn't just release a simple repulsive force. He concentrated his entire body's chakra in front of him, forming a visible wall of repulsion.
Thud!
Minato's kunai stabbed into the repulsive wall, making a piercing grinding sound.
The two were locked in a stalemate in mid-air for a brief moment.
Then, a terrifying reactionary force blasted them both apart.
Minato used the momentum to perform a backflip, landing steadily.
He gasped for air, the green glow on his body rapidly dimming.
That single strike had nearly exhausted all the Six Paths Power stored within him.
Meanwhile, Madara was sent tumbling back several times before he managed to stabilize himself.
His Susanoo had been shattered.
Before the eyes of the entire shinobi world, it had been shattered by a junior in a single blow!
"Minato Namikaze..."
Madara spoke the name, the battle intent that had recently vanished surging once again.
This man before him was worthy of being his opponent.
Just then.
The uncontrolled meteor, though no longer accelerating, continued to plummet toward the ground fueled by its immense inertia.
While it lacked the previous world-crushing aura, a rock of that size was still enough to destroy half of Konoha.
Minato looked up, anxiety flashing in his eyes.
His Six Paths Power was spent, and his body was empty; he had no strength left to deal with the meteor.
"Orochimaru!" Minato called out to the man.
He had told Orochimaru to prepare the Chakra Cannon. Based on previous experimental estimates, shattering the meteor wasn't the problem; the issue was the debris, which he was supposed to handle.
"Is it... still not enough?"
In the distant shelter, the foreign students watched the still-descending meteor, the hope that had just been ignited flickering out once more.
"It's over... everything is over..."
Just as everyone was falling into despair.
A brilliant blue light suddenly rose from the distant horizon.
The light was so scorching, so violent.
Like a shooting star racing across the earth!
"That's..."
Gamakon's eyes widened.
"He's here! That man is here!"
It seemed... he wouldn't have to step in after all!
Rumble!
That blue streak of light charged into the battlefield at an incredible speed.
Accompanied by a roar filled with hot-blooded passion, it echoed across the skies of Konoha.
"Konoha's Blue Beast! Might Guy! Arrives!!!"