Stopping even a single Tailed Beast Bomb had required everything the Allied Shinobi Forces had left.
Now, a second one was already flying toward them.
No preparation.
No chakra reserves.
No margin for error.
If they were going to survive this...
It would have to be a miracle.
As the second black sphere tore through the sky, many shinobi simply closed their eyes.
Faces from the past drifted through their minds. Childhood villages. Old teammates. Unfinished lives. So clenched their fists. Others let out quiet breaths, accepting the end.
Madara Uchiha watched in silence, his interest already fading.
He had expected one last, desperate struggle. Instead, he saw resignation.
But then—
He froze.
"...What?"
His eyes locked onto the battlefield near Naruto.
The kunai embedded in the ground vanished.
And in its place stood a young man.
Black cloak.
Calm posture.
And most importantly—
Rinnegan.
"That’s impossible," Madara said aloud.
Uchiha Sasuke stood at the front line.
He took in the battlefield in a single glance. Scorched terrain. Residual chakra storms. The unmistakable signs of a previous Tailed Beast Bomb.
He had co as fast as he could.
Still too late.
During the awakening of his Rinnegan, Sasuke had shut out the outside world completely. He hadn’t felt the catastrophic upheaval earlier. He hadn’t known how close everyone had co to annihilation.
But there was no ti to dwell on that now.
The second Tailed Beast Bomb was already descending.
Sasuke’s eyes narrowed.
Even with the Rinnegan, he wasn’t foolish enough to try blocking that attack head-on with Susanoo.
Instead—
"Shinra Tensei!"
A massive repulsive force erupted upward.
Sasuke didn’t try to stop the attack.
He redirected it.
The Tailed Beast Bomb’s trajectory bent violently, shooting diagonally into the sky before detonating far above the battlefield in a blinding explosion.
The shockwave rolled harmlessly overhead.
Sasuke staggered and grabbed his eye, breathing heavily.
Even for the Rinnegan, repelling sothing that dense wasn’t easy.
Normally, no one would choose such an inefficient solution.
But behind him were thousands of shinobi.
Running wasn’t an option.
"...Are we alive?" soone whispered.
Eyes opened.
At the front of the battlefield stood a lone figure, a fan-shaped crest visible on his back.
"It’s Uchiha Sasuke!"
Cheers broke out. So shinobi laughed in disbelief. Others cried openly.
Shikamaru wiped sweat from his brow, exhaling slowly. "That was way too close..."
He had considered redirecting the Tailed Beast Bomb earlier, but the logistics were impossible. Coordinating chakra resonance across thousands of shinobi would have detonated it prematurely.
Only a single, overwhelming will could have done that.
Sasuke said nothing.
He wasn’t surprised by his own arrival.
Even if he hadn’t co, he believed soone else would have.
Fujimoto Tōma.
He didn’t know why the Sixth Hokage hadn’t appeared yet, but Sasuke trusted that when the situation truly beca unmanageable, Tōma would step in.
In fact, not far away, Tōma had briefly stirred from his focus before returning to it once Sasuke intervened.
Sasuke turned his attention forward.
Naruto was stirring now, golden chakra flaring back to life.
"Ready?" Sasuke asked without looking back.
"Yeah," Naruto said, standing. "I’ve got the Ten-Tails."
"Good. Don’t let it fire again."
Sasuke glanced toward Shikamaru. "Pull back most of the forces. Keep only elite units and support. The aftermath of what cos next will wipe out anyone too close."
Shikamaru nodded imdiately. "Already on it."
Naruto moved forward to engage the Ten-Tails, drawing its attention.
Sasuke walked in the opposite direction.
Madara Uchiha stepped down from the Ten-Tails’ body and t him halfway.
"So you’re Uchiha Sasuke," Madara said, studying his eyes. "The one the Sixth Hokage spoke of."
Sasuke t his gaze calmly. "You’re Madara."
Madara’s focus lingered on Sasuke’s Rinnegan.
"How did you awaken it?" he asked. "The thod was erased. The Uchiha stone tablet no longer contains it."
Sasuke frowned slightly. "Isn’t it just a matter of reaching a certain level of power?"
Madara laughed softly. "So it was an accident."
That familiar chakra...
Hashirama’s influence was unmistakable.
Sasuke didn’t press the issue.
"I don’t care about your ideals," he said flatly. "Or your past with the First Hokage. I’m ending this now."
Madara’s expression twisted into a grin.
"A traitor calling a traitor?"
He burst into laughter. "It wasn’t I who abandoned the Uchiha. They abandoned ."
Their laughter and silence ended at the sa ti.
They moved.
Fists collided.
Their taijutsu exchange was brutal, precise, and far beyond normal shinobi standards.
But experience mattered.
Madara began to overwhelm him.
"Your mouth’s sharper than your body," Madara mocked.
Sasuke activated a seal on his arm.
A kunai flashed forward.
Madara dodged easily.
Then—
Sasuke vanished.
The kunai clattered to the ground where Sasuke had been standing.
Madara’s eyes widened.
Behind him—
A Chidori crackling with black flas.
Not Flying Thunder God.
A swap.
Anotejikara.
"Preta Path!"
Madara activated chakra absorption—
And it failed.
His eyes widened.
Sasuke’s attack pierced through.
Madara barely reacted in ti, wooden roots erupting from the ground and yanking his body aside.
Still—
An arm was lost.
Black flas ignited across his body.
Madara absorbed the Amaterasu monts later, but another kunai appeared in his vision.
"Enough!" Madara roared, blasting it away with Shinra Tensei.
The kunai flew—
Straight toward Sasuke.
Sasuke smiled.
He lunged forward, Chidori blazing.
The kunai vanished.
And in its place—
Madara reappeared.
There was no ti to dodge.
No ti to think.
Sasuke’s Amaterasu-infused Chidori drove straight through Madara Uchiha’s chest.
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