Landing on the ground, Naruto bellowed, "Sasuke, it's heading your way!"
"There's something I can't see running around all over the place!"
Sasuke nodded subtly. "Is that so? Personally, I can see it quite clearly."
Madara was mildly taken aback. These two... as I thought, they've seen through my Limbo...
In Sasuke's vision, an entity identical to Madara, functioning like another Madara entirely, stood right beside the man.
Now that he has the Rinnegan, he can finally see it?
And Naruto... you cannot see it, yet you can perceive it.
Madara rapidly analyzed the situation.
"Naruto! It seems our physical attacks won't work on the other Madara!" Sasuke called out.
"Yeah, I get it!"
Madara lowered the Truth-Seeking Ball staff in his hand, staring at Naruto and Sasuke in disbelief. Logically speaking, it should be absolutely impossible to perceive or observe me from this world while I exist within the invisible world of Limbo.
How did they suddenly obtain such immense power? Madara's gaze locked onto Sasuke.
Sasuke Uchiha... Aside from Kanon, he is the only other person besides myself to awaken a straight-tomoe Sharingan.
There might be a connection between Sasuke and me that transcends mere bloodlines.
If that's the case, his left eye will undoubtedly prove to be the most suitable eye for me.
With a sudden burst of speed, Madara lunged directly at Sasuke. But Sasuke's reflexes were peerless. Activating Amenotejikara, he instantly swapped places, plunging his Kusanagi sword straight through Madara's torso.
"Is that the ability of your left eye...?" Madara muttered, turning his head in surprise.
Sasuke stepped up to Naruto's side, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "Let's test it out then."
"An injury of this caliber shouldn't be enough to kill you anyway."
The same rule applied to the shadow Madara. Realizing that attacks imbued with Six Paths Senjutsu chakra were effective, Sasuke noted a lingering wound on the arm of the Limbo clone.
It was likely left behind from when the shadow blocked Naruto's initial assault. Now that they had seen through Limbo, Sasuke prepared to make his move. "It looks like your shadow has to return to your body after a certain period of time."
"Naruto, when that guy's shadow appears again, you handle it."
"I'll take care of the one we can see. However..."
Naruto let out a defiant smirk. "Getting ordered around by you always ticks me off. Guess some habits never change."
Sasuke replied softly, "Let me finish, Naruto!"
"Listen up, this is our chance."
"I bet he and his shadow will temporarily overlap to prepare his next move with Sage power. Any jutsu will do—"
"Just as long as we bind his movements!"
Within Naruto's inner world, Shukaku chimed in, urging Naruto to utilize his chakra to execute a sealing jutsu.
"Thanks, uh... who are you again?"
"The name's Shukaku!"
Watching Naruto and Sasuke standing side by side, orchestrating a counterstrategy, Madara's brow furrowed. Have they already deduced the duration of Limbo, its cooldown interval, and the exact methods to counter it? Have these two boys completely figured it out?
Madara stared intensely at Sasuke. This brat is far too sharp. As expected of little Kanon's older brother, his battle intellect completely eclipses the rest. His analytical precision and calm judgment are superb.
More importantly, just like me, Sasuke has awakened a straight-tomoe Sharingan. If he had been born before Obito, I could have easily manipulated him into a pawn.
Such were the thoughts drifting through Madara's mind. For an older brother who had brought nothing but pain to Kanon, he deserved no sympathy whatsoever.
But at this stage, none of that mattered anymore. No matter what happened now, he had to keep his core objective firmly in mind. He could not allow the dream Kanon entrusted to him to go to waste.
He could no longer afford to underestimate his opponents. Neither of the two boys before him were ordinary brats anymore. What he needed to do now was retrieve his other eye as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, a massive, swirling Rasengan infused with magnet forces manifested in Naruto's hand.
"Sage Art: Magnet Release Rasengan!"
At the same time, gray, crackling electricity surged around Sasuke's left hand. He stated flatly, "I have the power of the Six Paths as well."
"Chidori!"
A brilliant, grayish-white Chidori erupted from Sasuke's palm. Sasuke yelled to the boy beside him, "Naruto, attack right toward me with that jutsu!"
"That'll definitely do the trick!"
Naruto nodded, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "It's annoying as hell, but your judgment is always spot on!"
Madara froze. In that exact instant, Naruto and Sasuke struck simultaneously!
One holding the Rasengan and the other wielding the Chidori, they slammed their techniques toward the empty air between them.
Boom!
A terrifying explosion detonated squarely in the center. Before Madara's consciousness could even process what was happening, he was forcibly dragged into the epicenter of the collision by Amenotejikara.
"How did I end up here?! Why?!" Madara was horrified. Any lingering desire to play around vanished instantly.
He was in critical danger; he could feel his entire body beginning to grow numb, completely paralyzed.
Seeing the opening, Sasuke shouted to Naruto, "Naruto, use that jutsu granted to us by the Sage of Six Paths! You know what to do!"
"Got it! Here it comes!"
But right as Naruto spoke, he realized Madara had already broken free.
"What?!"
"He moved?!"
Both Naruto and Sasuke were caught off guard. Even though Madara had escaped, there was still a figure of Madara trapped right between them.
"He used his shadow as a substitution?!" Sasuke deduced, using his Rinnegan to analyze the field.
"Over there!" Naruto pointed directly in the direction of Madara's retreat.
"Sasuke, I'll pin this one down! Go after the real body, fast!"
Sasuke attempted to use Amenotejikara to swap Madara back, but he quickly realized it was impossible. The distance was far too great.
Madara's vast combat experience had been accumulated over a lifetime of warfare. Seeing Sasuke at a loss, he immediately deduced the approximate operational limit of Amenotejikara.
At this distance, it seems the ability of your Rinnegan cannot be deployed.
I'm gradually beginning to figure out the capabilities of your left eye, Sasuke.
As Madara fled further into the distance, Naruto urged his friend, "Sasuke, hurry up!"
…
Within the dimension of the Flower Realm, Konin gently laid Kanon's body down in a sprawling meadow teeming with countless vibrant flowers.
She gazed down at Kanon, her expression remarkably serene. Konin gave a small nod. "By all accounts, you should have resurrected a long time ago."
"As expected, you've evolved into an entirely different branch of existence, Kanon."
"You will possess a future far better than mine."
"I have believed that from the very beginning to the absolute end."
As Konin's words faded, a terrifying bolt of crimson lightning crashed directly into the center of the Flower Realm, utterly obliterating everything within the meadow.
From the very heart of the scorched earth, a figure slowly rose to her feet. Her long black hair drifted elegantly through the air of the Flower Realm. On her forehead, the fox-mask remained completely pristine, without a single scratch.
In stark contrast, her crimson Uchiha trench coat was heavily tattered and torn.
Her slender silhouette possessed a peerless, breathtaking grace, looking as though she had stepped straight out of a fairy tale. She was utterly transcendent, resembling a divine goddess.
Walking out from the scorched earth, Kanon looked toward Konin. Her expression was calmer than it had ever been, tinged even with a trace of quiet exhilaration.
Faint, intricate markings appeared across Kanon's skin, the signature markings belonging to the Otsutsuki.
Yet, just as quickly, those markings receded, dissolving into nothingness. In their place, her eyes underwent a profound, brand-new transformation.
"An endless, overflowing well of power... Konin, I won the gamble."
"Yes, you won the gamble," Konin replied with a gratified smile.
At that moment, a thrilled smile slowly spread across Kanon's face.
"Right now, I feel like I can do absolutely anything."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Kanon. You understand, don't you? Even though our dream is right before our eyes, that path will be more painful and lonely than any other."
"You still have one final chance to choose. Once you take this step, there is no turning back from that path," Konin cautioned.
"There's no need. We've carried far too much weight just to make it to this point, haven't we? There was never a path to turn back to. I'm not backing down now."
"Very well... Let's go, Kanon... You will truly have no path of return."
"I know! I will forge straight ahead."
Kanon stood tall. Within her gaze, her right eye shifted, revealing a Mangekyo Rinnegan. Inside that crimson Rinnegan, a rose-shaped Mangekyou pattern spun continuously.
In her left eye, a Rinnegan bearing twelve tomoe emerged. Aside from her eyes, her overall appearance remained largely unchanged from before she opened the Eight Gates.
Yet, Kanon's aura was completely different from anything before. At this moment, she seemed to no longer belong to this mortal world, radiating an ethereal presence detached from worldly desires.
She gave off the impression of possessing unparalleled, peerless talent, as if she could ascend to divinity and transcend the regular boundaries of the shinobi world at any given second.
Even so, this was still not her true, complete form. The aura Kanon emanated now was enough to make even Konin view her in a completely new light.
If she were to perfect that final jutsu and achieve her ultimate form, whether she could cross the great river of time, look down upon the eternal ages, and stand alone at the very end of time and space remained entirely unknown.
"Konin, it's time for me to go."
"Mhm, go forth. The era of the future will be carved out by you! Kanon Uchiha!"
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NOTE: This fic has been completely translated. If you want to read the whole story head over to my p-atre-on: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]