"This... this is..."
Uchiha Madara lowered his head, his eyes filled with excitement as he looked at his own hands, feeling the surging power within his body—a power completely different from that of Edo Tensei.
At the same time, he released his grip.
Nagato was now so weak that there was no longer any need to suppress him.
Nagato collapsed limply onto the ground.
Black Zetsu slowly detached itself from his body.
He felt an overwhelming emptiness inside himself.
It wasn't the familiar exhaustion of chakra depletion.
Rather, it felt as though his very life had reached its end.
"What's happening..."
Nagato's consciousness was already becoming hazy, but he still struggled to raise a hand and cast a technique.
At such close range...
"Still thinking of resisting?"
The cracks covering Madara's body had completely vanished.
The chakra of his Edo Tensei body slowly surfaced and dissipated back into the world.
"Your will is quite strong."
A trace of mockery appeared on Madara's face as he walked over and looked down at Nagato's weakened form.
Nagato now looked completely like an old man.
His cheeks were deeply sunken, and his skin was covered with wrinkles.
"What a pity. In the end, you were nothing more than a pawn."
Madara chuckled softly, as though recalling something.
Suddenly—
The Rinnegan in his eye socket shattered.
Only a deep, empty eye socket remained.
"So that's because my original Rinnegan was still with Nagato?"
Madara closed his eyes.
Now restored to the prime of his life, his body overflowed with an unimaginable amount of chakra.
Compared to his Edo Tensei state, he had undoubtedly recovered all of his original strength.
During Edo Tensei, he had possessed infinite chakra and an immortal body, but his overall combat power had been reduced by nearly thirty percent.
Now that he had returned to the living world, his strength had returned to its peak.
"I'll be taking back this gift."
Without waiting for Nagato to respond, Madara slowly extended his left hand.
Even without his eyes, his sensory abilities allowed him to perceive everything around him.
"Urgh..."
Nagato suddenly felt a chill in one eye.
Then—
An emptiness.
Warm liquid began flowing from his eye socket.
"Hah..."
Madara pressed the extracted Rinnegan into his own empty eye socket and slowly opened his eye.
The Rinnegan rapidly synchronized with his body.
"I'll take the other one as well."
He smiled faintly.
The moment he felt that familiar power returning, his mood improved even further.
The power of the Rinnegan could never be fully utilized while under Edo Tensei.
And the power it granted wasn't limited to the Six Paths techniques.
It also contained abilities unique to Madara himself.
Those abilities were the most terrifying of all.
"Nagato!"
Suddenly, a heart-wrenching roar echoed from behind.
Madara paused as he was about to crouch down and remove the second eye.
Slowly, he turned around.
An orange-haired ninja dressed similarly to Nagato was staring toward them with a face full of panic.
"Oh? A companion of Nagato's?"
Madara stood up and dusted off his armor, looking at the newcomer with mild surprise.
The man's concern for Nagato was obvious.
The moment he saw his longtime friend reduced to such a withered state, his heart clenched painfully.
"What did you do to him?!"
Yahiko glared furiously at the one-eyed ninja before him.
One of Nagato's eyes was shut tightly, blood flowing from the socket.
His once-red hair had turned pale white.
His entire appearance was that of a decrepit old man.
"Nothing much. I'm merely reclaiming what's mine."
Madara slowly raised his hand before his chest and looked at Yahiko with undisguised arrogance.
Yahiko quickly assessed the situation.
He knew immediately that he was no match for this man.
Leaving aside the fact that he had effortlessly subdued Nagato—
The mere fact that he had routed thousands of Rain shinobi by himself was enough to prove he was no ordinary ninja.
And now he possessed one of the Rinnegan.
His strength was undoubtedly even greater than before.
If Yahiko rushed in recklessly, he would only throw away his own life.
Fortunately, before charging here, he had already contacted Ning Feng.
The problem was that all nearby Flying Thunder God kunai had been withdrawn.
Even Ning Feng couldn't arrive immediately.
"What do you intend to do now?"
Yahiko took a deep breath.
The man standing before him radiated an oppressive aura like a bottomless abyss.
It was impossible to imagine how terrifying his true power must be.
"Aren't you going to protect your companion?"
Madara asked teasingly as he looked at Yahiko, who didn't dare make a move.
"..."
Yahiko unconsciously took half a step back.
His mind was screaming for him to save his closest friend, but his instincts as a shinobi were warning him relentlessly:
This man was unimaginably dangerous.
"Still not coming? Don't even have the courage to dance?"
Madara lifted his foot and lightly placed it on Nagato's head.
He barely applied any force.
Yet that single action turned Yahiko's eyes blood-red.
He was humiliating Nagato.
Right in front of him.
"How boring."
Madara bent down again, preparing to retrieve the second Rinnegan.
At that moment, Yahiko finally couldn't hold back any longer.
His hands flashed through seals.
A Water Release technique shot directly toward Madara.
"Water Release: Water Surge Wave!"
Although there was no natural water source nearby to amplify it, Yahiko's mastery of Water Release clearly surpassed that of ordinary elite jonin.
The technique surged forward with tremendous momentum.
"Interesting..."
Madara's lips curved upward slightly.
Now that he had regained his peak strength, his playful side had become even more pronounced.
The ninja world had become so devoid of worthy opponents that he often found himself lamenting the state of the age.
Whoosh—
The roaring torrent reached Madara.
Yet the moment it approached him, it seemed to collide with an invisible black hole.
The entire technique vanished without a trace.
"What?"
Yahiko froze.
His jutsu had simply disappeared.
Silently.
This was the first time he had ever witnessed such a phenomenon.
Nagato possessed a similar ability, but...
"You can already use the Rinnegan's powers?"
A horrifying realization struck him.
His face instantly turned pale.
Madara glanced at him in surprise while placing his hand over Nagato's remaining eye.
"Didn't I already tell you?"
"I'm simply reclaiming what's mine."
"Is it really so surprising that I can use my own eyes with ease?"
Whoosh!
Suddenly—
A kunai wrapped in crackling lightning shot straight toward Madara's vital point.
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