"He can actually release Susanoo with clones?!"
Sasuke clenched his fists, watching the ten Susanoo figures rapidly closing in. Jealousy clawed at his chest. He hadn't expected that Madara, besides Menma, could also summon Susanoo with clones—and ten of them, each nearly as powerful as his own.
Even with all his hard work and the evolution of his eyes, he couldn't achieve that. However, the envy was fleeting. Sasuke quickly regained his composure. Madara was a legend of the Uchiha clan; it was normal for him to possess terrifying strength. Besides, he was confident he would reach that level in the future, perhaps even surpassing both Madara and Menma.
As for Naruto, he no longer considered him a threat—just a soft, pretty girl... no, a disgusting transgender bastard. The thought of Naruto always stirring his heartstrings inexplicably made the Uchiha's face twist with revulsion. Should he take this opportunity to kill that disgusting Naruto here? Having made up his mind, Sasuke turned and glared fiercely at him.
However, a gentle voice spoke, cutting through his violent thoughts.
"Naruto, I'll hold these Susanoo off for a bit. You get out of here."
"What?" Naruto, already in a fighting stance ready to unleash a Daytime Tiger, was confused. "Why do I have to leave?"
"Are you trying to monopolize the chance to show off again, you bastard?!" Naruto felt confident he could handle these Susanoo. They weren't even as tall as Sasuke's. If one Daytime Tiger wasn't enough, he'd use two! With his current physical strength, he felt he could withstand the backlash of the Seventh Gate. Plus, he had the S-rank Rasenshuriken. Combined, he even felt he could beat Sasuke.
These four-armed Susanoo didn't seem dangerous to Naruto; in fact, he was eager to test his limits. Now that Sasuke wanted him to run, it was clearly the same as back in Konoha—he wanted to hog the spotlight.
"You idiot loser!"
Hearing Naruto's ungrateful words, Sasuke's face turned grim. He shouldn't have been kind enough to let Naruto leave; he should have let that bastard die here. Although he gritted his teeth, the Uchiha found a justifiable reason for himself: Naruto was Menma's younger brother. He had to ensure his safety to avoid incurring Menma's wrath. Yes, that was it.
Having successfully persuaded himself, Sasuke activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in his right eye. Blood gushed from the corner. He used his bleeding eye to scan the surroundings, unleashing a wall of jet-black Amaterasu flames to block the ten Susanoo's attacks.
Speaking rapidly, he said, "Each of these Susanoo clones is almost as powerful as me; you can't handle them! I'll create an opening for you; you run away quickly. Without you as a burden, protected by my Susanoo, I can retreat at any time. Understand?"
Although these Susanoo were summoned by Wood Release clones, their height was only one-tenth or one-twelfth of Madara's original Susanoo. However, they were actually only about a head shorter than Sasuke's current, approximately thirty-meter-tall Susanoo.
Furthermore, in the original story, a single Wood Release clone of Madara could fight the Five Kage to a standstill and nearly kill them. Therefore, each of these ten clone Susanoo was not much weaker than Sasuke.
It was only because Sasuke suffered so much trauma in the Wind Void that his eye power increased several levels. Otherwise, he felt he probably couldn't even defeat one of Madara's clone Susanoo alone.
"I told you, I'm strong too! Stronger than you now!"
Naruto puffed out his cheeks, vigorously shaking slender arms and pink fists. He looked cute, but not at all convincing, making Sasuke's heart pound wildly, his expression contorting in struggle.
Fortunately, a sudden tearing sound diverted his attention. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw the long wall of Amaterasu fire abruptly ripped open. Deep blue blades of light attacked from all directions, carving terrifying trenches in the ground. With destructive force, they hurtled straight towards Naruto and him in the middle.
"Damn it, they broke through Amaterasu so quickly!"
"Naruto, no time for nonsense, break through from the left!"
Sasuke unleashed Nine-Tails chakra, covering his Susanoo, and used the purplish-red Susanoo arm to protect Naruto. His other hand wielded a jet-black flame longsword formed by Kagutsuchi, deflecting the blades of light.
"I told you, I'm strong too, stronger than you!"
Feeling the power of the Eight Gates, Naruto aimed at the sword beams behind him, compressing the air around him to form a white tiger head and unleashing a Daytime Tiger.
BOOM!!!
The blinding white light emanating from the Daytime Tiger engulfed all the sword beams behind him. Sasuke's Amaterasu sword, wielded in front, also destroyed most of the sword beams. Finally, at the cost of the Nine-Tails Chakra Cloak on Susanoo's surface shattering, they managed to withstand the remaining small portion of the sword beams.
But just as the two of them blocked these sword beams, before they could catch their breath, Madara's voice rang out.
"Your Mangekyō Sharingan is also a straight tomoe. It seems you've already seen the contents of the stone tablet and taken action. Considering we are both survivors of the Uchiha clan, if you survive this, I can give you the opportunity to join forces with me."
The "straight tomoe" Madara referred to was a general term for the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan patterns. The stone tablet was a vessel recording the secrets of the Sharingan. The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan revealed how to achieve the Rinnegan, and the final Rinnegan revealed information about the Ten-Tails and the God Tree, as well as the Eye of the Moon Plan added by Black Zetsu.
"You're nothing but a relic of an old era, a dead man. I'll send you back to the world of the dead in a moment!" Sasuke shouted sharply, rejecting Madara's mercy without hesitation.
Naruto also shouted firmly, "That's right, we're going to send you back to the world of the dead!"
Hearing Naruto and Sasuke's shouts, the Wood Release clones shook their heads disdainfully.
"Mere sand and gravel, how arrogant. But it doesn't matter; you're going to die soon anyway."
As they spoke, a long string of blue tomoe condensed in the hands of the ten Susanoo. Then they hurled them fiercely towards Naruto and Sasuke in the center!
Yasaka Magatama!
This was Susanoo's ranged attack technique. Each tomoe possessed power comparable to an A-rank ninjutsu! And these tomoe thrown by the Susanoo were densely packed, numbering in the hundreds!
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, facing the dense barrage of Yasaka Magatama. At the same time, four Yasaka Magatama formed from Amaterasu condensed in the hands of the Susanoo.
Naruto understood, and the air around him was once again compressed into the white tiger head of the Daytime Tiger. Before the two could even react to neutralize the Wood Release clone's Yasaka Magatama, a familiar figure appeared before Naruto and Sasuke, causing their faces to light up with ecstasy.
"Menma!!!"
"Brother!!!"
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