Whoosh—!!!
A piercing whistling sound tore through the air. As Madara and his two Susanoo completed their hand seals, a gigantic, spherical meteorite—blotting out the sky—plummeted downward.
Even the air itself whipped up from the friction, creating a visible layer of white heat around the falling rock.
Nagato, pinned beneath Madara's boot, stared up at the massive meteorite, his face filled with disbelief.
"The power of a god… this is impossible!"
Nagato, who had always considered himself a god, was momentarily unable to accept the scene before him. He hadn't expected that within just one week, two people would appear who could crush him. And both of them, like him, possessed the Rinnegan.
One was Menma, who could unleash four Planetary Devastations hundreds of meters long at once. The other, Madara, could command this thousands-of-meters-wide meteorite to crash down from the heavens.
Only he, burning his life force with all his might, had managed to create a fifty-meter-sized Planetary Devastation.
How utterly shameful.
Thinking of this, Nagato's face hardened, and he gripped Madara's right leg, which was pinning him down.
But before he could retaliate, Madara, anticipating this, glanced down.
"The weak's struggle is as ugly as ever."
As he spoke, Madara's hands coalesced into the black rods unique to the Rinnegan. In an instant, Nagato's limbs were pinned to the ground. The chakra Nagato had painstakingly gathered was immediately dispersed, and the Preta Path's power was suppressed by the rods. All that chakra was absorbed into Madara's body.
Madara's face showed disdain. "Even with my Rinnegan, you are still too weak to satisfy me."
"What?!" Nagato's brows furrowed as he stared intently into Madara's eyes. "What does your Rinnegan mean?"
"Still don't understand?" Madara pointed to the Rinnegan patterns in his eyes. "Impure World Reincarnation allows the deceased to retain their former strength, which means I possessed this Rinnegan in my previous life. Then where do you think the Rinnegan I left behind went after my death?"
Nagato remained silent, still believing he had awakened the Rinnegan himself. But Madara saw through his thoughts, speaking mockingly.
"Do you really think this power from the Sage of Six Paths would spontaneously generate within a brat like you from the Uzumaki clan? And just wielding the power of this Rinnegan leaves you exhausted and overloaded. Don't you have any doubts? These are clearly due to acquiring uncontrollable external power, yet you've consistently chosen to ignore them?"
With each question, Nagato's face paled further. Indeed, as Madara said, power born from within wouldn't cause these issues. Furthermore, Nagato now realized something: his Rinnegan couldn't be hidden, just like how non-Uchiha ninjas who transplanted the Sharingan could only keep it active, unable to shut it off.
Madara ignored what Nagato was thinking and continued talking to himself, like someone who had been holding back for a long time finally opening up.
"Only I, the strongest of the Uchiha, by combining the strongest powers of the Uchiha and Senju, was able to finally evolve this unique Rinnegan. This divine power, once belonging to the Sage of Six Paths, appeared in this ninja world. Unfortunately, my life was nearing its end then, and I could only entrust the Rinnegan to you, who possesses the Uzumaki Sage Body. However, it's a pity that you are unable to control this power and can only use it rudimentarily."
He paused. "But that's normal. Ultimately, the only ninja I care about, besides Hashirama, is no one else."
As he spoke, Sasuke's predecessor unconsciously touched his left chest. Beneath that red armor was a face that had grown from Hashirama's transplanted cells.
"Only a life-or-death battle with Hashirama can give me a fleeting moment of exhilaration. Even with my unparalleled Rinnegan, you're still no match for a single finger of Hashirama's."
"Heh heh heh…" Nagato suddenly laughed at Madara's constant references to Hashirama. "The only, unparalleled Rinnegan? No! There's another person who also possesses the Rinnegan, stronger than you, and wielding it far more skillfully! He also defeated and sealed Hashirama Senju, who was also resurrected through Impure World Reincarnation. So, in my opinion, you and Hashirama are no match for even a single finger of that person!"
"Oh? Is that so?" Madara didn't even bother to respond to Nagato's words. He didn't believe anyone could evolve the Rinnegan, nor did he think anyone in this barren era could defeat and seal the resurrected Hashirama.
He then looked up at the meteorite that was almost overhead, speaking with a contemptuous expression. "Then let's wait and see how this person you speak of will stop my attack..."
"Run! Retreat!"
Seeing the massive meteorite falling from the sky like an apocalyptic disaster, the few remaining Cloud Village ninjas fled in panic.
Konan glanced at Nagato, who was being trampled by Madara in the distance. Then, she clenched her fist, transforming it into countless white sheets of paper to cover the falling meteorite, while shouting.
"Sasori, Kakuzu, Deidara!"
As she spoke, the white sheets covering the meteorite transformed into Explosive Tags. Instantly, a series of booming explosions resounded all around. Countless fragments of rock, large and small, rained down from the sky!
The three who had been called immediately understood Konan's intention to destroy the meteorite.
The ruthless and taciturn Sasori was the first to wave his hands, controlling the reanimated puppets of the Third and Fourth Kazekage, which rapidly ascended into the sky. Simultaneously, countless specks of gold and iron dust rose from the ground. In the blink of an eye, they formed two enormous iron hammers, which slammed down heavily on the falling meteorite!
Kakuzu took a deep breath, trying to avoid watching the painful chain of exploding tags. Instead, he controlled the remaining three Earth Grudge Fears to merge into one. Soaring high into the sky, it unleashed terrifying lightning, wind balls, and a sea of fire upon the meteorite.
Finally, Deidara, riding a giant clay bird, flew to a suitable attack range. He continuously conjured and hurled various flying clay bombs at the already cracked meteorite, bombarding it relentlessly. His face was flushed with excitement as he shouted repeatedly.
"Art is a bang! Drink! Drink! Drink!"
Under their desperate bombardment, their Nine-Tails chakra completely depleted, the massive meteorite was quickly shattered into countless fragments of varying sizes that rained down. The destructive force was almost negligible, only injuring a few weaker ninjas.
Looking up at the destruction of his summoned meteorite, Madara's expression remained unchanged. He simply said calmly, "Not bad, you actually destroyed the first meteorite. So, with your Nine-Tails chakra exhausted, what are you going to do with the second one?"
Whoosh—!
Above the shattered meteorite, the clouds instantly parted. An intact meteorite of the same size was falling rapidly!
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