Unification of the Shinobi World (Six)

A vast expanse of frost rose from the frosty earth, an aura that directly affected the soul. The extreme freezing was such that even the soul could not escape its effects. Although Madara's body possessed the characteristic of immortality, his soul was not indestructible. Assaulted by this frost aura, Madara felt his soul gradually becoming prickly, and the bone-chilling coldness piercing his soul terrified him.

"Levitation Technique!!" Madara had no choice but to use the power of the Rinnegan to leave the ground, presumably so that the icy aura would no longer be able to threaten his soul.

Issui, however, didn't care at all. His technique was not just about the frost aura emanating from the Land of Frost. The large number of ice crystal cherry blossoms forming a canopy in the sky were not meant to block out the sunlight.

Four luminous ice walls rose from the Land of Frost, connecting with the ice crystal cherry blossoms in the sky, sealing off the entire space. What followed was a devastating attack.

Ban stared intently at the ice crystal cherry blossom dome overhead, the atmosphere above growing increasingly heavy. Suddenly, the white ice dome flashed with silver light, and countless needle-like ice crystals formed beneath it, filling the entire sky with dense, countless ice needles.

Once the number of ice needles reached a certain level, they fell from the sky like rain. However, unlike rain, these ice needles traveled at an extremely high speed, reaching the speed of sound.

The target of the ice needles was Madara Uchiha in mid-air. Madara, showing no fear, watched the falling needles, calmly extending his left hand and shouting, "Shinra Tensei!!!!"

However, the situation Madara had imagined did not occur. The large number of ice needles were not deflected, and their speed was not affected by the chakra. The principle of Shinra Tensei is to concentrate a large amount of Chakra on one's own body surface and deflect all matter centered on oneself. Here, the objects deflected by Shinra Tensei are all matter, and this matter must be something with a physical form.

But are ice needles really matter? Maybe they're virtual, otherwise why wouldn't they be repelled by the repulsive force of Shinra Tensei?

Madara's Rinnegan carefully examined the ice needles. The ordinary naked eye could not discern the true nature of things, but the Rinnegan possessed a level of insight comparable to the Byakugan. Under Madara's Rinnegan, the true state of these ice needles was merely a point of light, without any physical form. Genjutsu? No, that's not right. Genjutsu scenes are all virtual, but these ice needles were not virtual; they simply lacked a true form.

Some things are more dangerous the more unknown they are, and these ice needles are such a thing. Although they don't have a real form, being hit by them would be extremely dangerous.

As if making some kind of decision, Madara took out the Fire Fan, a treasure passed down through Uchiha, from behind him and fiercely fanned it at the numerous ice needles above his head.

"Uchiha Slap Reflection!!"

The Uchiha Clan's secret Ninjutsu can reflect any attack back. Of course, the intensity of this attack cannot exceed the user's tolerance limit; otherwise, the attacks will not only fail to reflect but will also cause injury. However, in the current world, there are very few people whose strength surpasses Madara's. Even if there are a few who surpass him, he can withstand them. Therefore, the Uchiha Reflection technique is essentially useless. Although it consumes a considerable amount of energy, it is negligible for Madara.

The large number of ice needles suddenly stopped and bounced back in the opposite direction. Although the ice needles were not a form of matter, they were still energy-containing objects, so they were naturally bounced back. However, because there were too many ice needles and the range was too wide, even with Uchiha Fire Fan's rebound, it was impossible to bounce them all back.

Although Madara intentionally or unintentionally left some ice needles behind, it could be said that he had ulterior motives. He wanted to learn more about the extent of Issui's power. Madara had already developed a curiosity about Issui, and this curiosity fueled his desire to explore Issui's various abilities.

Issui thought to herself, "Madara is really arrogant. He actually wants to deliberately withstand my attack. Although it's true that he's powerful, my ice needle attack is not ordinary. It's aimed at the soul. I don't know if he's pretending to be confused or if he really doesn't understand. Well, there aren't many ways to specifically attack the soul in this world. Apart from the Reaper Death Seal, other soul attacks aren't very sudden. The Rinnegan can also manipulate and absorb souls. Anyway, anything related to the soul is not a simple thing."

As the ice needles drew closer to Madara's body, the hairs on his body stood on end. It was no simple attack; the mere sensation was enough to terrify his very soul. He knew that once the needles actually struck, they would be something far more formidable.

"Sizzle..." The ice needle pierced Madara's body, and a ripple appeared where Madara was pierced. Then the ice needle disappeared. Madara's face turned pale quickly, and large beads of sweat dripped from his head. His body began to tremble rapidly.

If you observe carefully, you will find that Ban's spiritual energy is rapidly declining, his overall mental fluctuations are getting weaker and weaker, and his body's energy is gradually becoming insufficient.

Suddenly, Ban's mind went blank, and he fell from the sky, crashing onto the ground where Frost Breath from him. Now, his body trembled violently, and the power of the Frost Breath further shrouded his current state in a layer of cold.

Issui sneered, "This is your own doing. The ice needles before were aimed at your soul. Each ice needle would pierce your soul, leaving a hole the size of a pinhole. But these holes cannot heal in a short time. With your soul damaged, no matter how strong you are, I estimate you won't have any power to move. You might even shatter and disappear, dying. And now the Frost Breath on the ground is directly freezing your soul."

Unfortunately, the true power of my technique hasn't been revealed yet; it's a little unsatisfying. You're already a thing of the past, Madara. Accept your fate; today you're destined to become my stepping stone."

"Is that so?"

Suddenly, a sound came from above Issui's head. Ban suddenly appeared above him, stretched out his right hand, and a piece of wood emerged from his palm, quickly binding his body together. The force was so great that his body ached, and the more he struggled, the stronger the binding force of the wood became.

"Bang..."

Suddenly, Issui's body turned into a wisp of white smoke and disappeared, while the real him suddenly emerged from the ground beneath Ban's feet.

"Earth Release - The Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!!!"

Issui burst forth from the earth, grabbed one of Ban's feet, and was about to drag him underground.

"Banshō Ten'in!!" Ban indifferently looked at Issui beneath his feet, and a powerful suction force erupted from his body, instantly pulling Issui's body out from under the earth. His right hand tightly gripped Issui's neck, and with a gentle twist...

"Smack..."

This one is also an Issui Shadow Clone. Madara waved his hand lightly, not caring at all, but his hands quickly Hand Seals, and his body suddenly turned around, spitting out a large ball of flame behind him.

"Fire Style: Majestic Demolisher Flame!!!"

A massive fire spear formed in the air and hurtled forward from in front of Madara. After flying for a while, Issui's body appeared precisely in the trajectory of the fire spear. Prediction! It was prediction! Madara predicted Issui's movement trajectory, saw through Issui's "future" actions, and then launched an attack. His Insight Eye was used instantly.

Issui was slightly surprised, but he wasn't too flustered. Instead, he simultaneously formed a hand seal with both hands...

Madara stared at Issui in astonishment. The last hand seal Ikki formed was the Tiger Seal (寅), indicating that Issui was using Fire Style. Strange, he was using Fire Style to clash with his own Fire Style. Was his face made of glue? What use could Fire Style have against Fire Style? Although Issui's Hand Seals were relatively fast, Madara could still clearly see that Issui's entire Hand Seals was the Great Fireball Technique: Snake-Sheep-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger, six seals, completed in less than a second, demonstrating unparalleled skill.

Of course, although Madara praised Issui's Hand Seals speed, he scoffed at his "foolish" actions. The idea of using Fire Style to counter Fire Style was an extreme fallacy, and it was based on a low-level Fire Style against a high-level Fire Style. Madara didn't know whether to call Issui clever or not.

However, Madara didn't believe that based on Issui recent encounters, he would do something so foolish. It was obvious that he had planned it, and the slight smirk on his lips showed his immense confidence that his low-level Fire Style could defeat his high-level Fire Style.

"Fire Style: Amaterasu God-Devouring Great Fireball Technique!!" Issui spat out a strange ball of flame with gold and black colors from his mouth. This ball of flame was naturally much smaller than Madara's Flame Spear, but its power was not much less than Madara's Flame Spear, and even surpassed it.

Madara stared in astonishment at the black and gold flames that spewed from his mouth. He was extremely familiar with the black flames; they were the kind of powerful flames that only the Uchiha Clan could use, or more precisely, only those Uchiha clan members who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan or higher could use— Amaterasu, a flame from the sun with the ability to incinerate everything.

Moreover, the golden flames that rivaled Amaterasu's flames possessed a detrimental effect on the spirit. Madara only glanced at those golden flames before sensing a slight depletion of his spiritual energy and a slowing of his reactions.

Regardless of how Issui possessed both types of flames simultaneously, the combined power of these two flames alone was enough to threaten all enemies. Although Madara was confident in his advanced Fire Style, he lost even the last shred of confidence under Issui's low-level Fire Style. That ball of flame was practically invincible.

The black-gold fireball collided with Madara's fire spear. There was no violent explosion; the black-gold flame, though small, was small but resilient, gradually engulfing the fire spear...