War Escalates, A Fated Duel

Just as the Kaguya patriarch broke free from a portion of the Four Symbols Sealing and descended into an even more frenzied state of berserk rage, poised to deliver a fatal blow to the Akimichi patriarch and Uzumaki Mito—

A massive, blue chakra arm descended from the sky like the wrath of heaven! It did not strike the Allied Forces, but instead grabbed the rampaging Kaguya patriarch with pinpoint precision!

It was Uchiha Madara! He had finally made his move!

"Gaaah?!" The Kaguya patriarch was filled with shock and fury. Feeling that irresistible, terrifying power, the bones all over his body proliferated wildly, attempting to pierce through the blue chakra palm. But how could he contend with the power of the Perfect Susanoo? The bone spurs shattered upon impact against the chakra palm!

"Trash. You can't even handle such a trivial task." Madara's cold voice drifted down from the sky, laced with impatience. The next second, the arm of the Susanoo exerted sudden, crushing force!

Crack—!!!

A dense, teeth-grinding sound of shattering bone erupted! The incredibly formidable Kaguya patriarch, who had withstood heavy blows from the Akimichi patriarch and sealing techniques from Uzumaki, was crushed by the Perfect Susanoo into a twisted, bloody mass of flesh and bone! He didn't even have time to let out a second scream!

Casually tossing the remains aside like garbage, Madara's Eternal Mangekyou swept over the chaotic battlefield below, lingering for a moment on the smaller clans like the Fuma who had begun to flee.

"Those who desert in the face of battle, die."

The cold words were like a law, pronouncing the fate of the deserters. The other arm of the Perfect Susanoo swung, and a massive Chakra Greatsword carved a lethal arc—not toward the Allied Forces, but toward the fleeing ninja of the smaller clans at the rear of the coalition!

BOOM—!!!

The earth tore open, and smoke and dust surged into the sky! Dozens of fleeing ninja were instantly reduced to ash!

This cold-blooded, ruthless scene instantly stunned the entire field! Whether it was the coalition or the Allied Forces, everyone felt a chill crawl up their spines!

Uchiha Madara had used the most direct and bloody method to forcibly stabilize the coalition's crumbling formation! The ninja of the smaller clans, coerced into fighting, were terrified out of their wits. Not daring to retreat even half a step, they could only grit their teeth and charge forward with even more frantic desperation, as if moving forward offered a sliver of survival, while retreating meant certain death!

The momentum of the coalition was forcibly bolstered by this terrifying display, their offensive becoming fierce once more, even carrying a sense of desperate madness!

"Madara!!!" Hashirama Senju let out a roar of heartbreak, "How could you do this!!"

"Hmph, boring mercy, Hashirama." Madara responded indifferently, "War only requires victory; it does not need dead weight."

Having said that, his gaze locked firmly onto Hashirama Senju. The Perfect Susanoo slowly drew its other Chakra Greatsword. As the two blades crossed, terrifying energy began to converge.

"It is time to end this farce."

The pressure shifted entirely onto Hashirama Senju. He knew that the final showdown with Madara was unavoidable. If he could not stop the Perfect Susanoo, all previous efforts and sacrifices would be in vain.

"Everyone! Hold the line! Stop the rest of the Uchiha!" Hashirama roared, slamming his hands together as a massive, boundless surge of chakra erupted like a tsunami!

"Wood Style: Wood Golem Technique!"

A wooden giant, no less impressive than the previous one and perhaps even more dense and massive, rose from the ground! A lifelike Wood Dragon with distinct scales coiled around the golem, letting out a heaven-shaking roar as it charged toward the towering blue god of war!

Rumble, rumble, rumble!!!

The Perfect Susanoo and the massive Wood Golem collided once again in the center of the battlefield! This clash was far more intense and violent than the one outside the Senju clan grounds! Because neither side was holding anything back!

Shockwaves spread in all directions like a physical tsunami! Ninja who were too close—whether Uchiha, the remnants of the Kaguya, or the Allied Forces—were instantly blown away or torn to shreds! A massive vacuum was cleared in the center of the battlefield!

"DIE!!" Madara roared. The Susanoo's twin blades slashed wildly, each strike imbued with endless rage and a will for destruction, as if he intended to hack the Wood Golem and the Hashirama beneath it into pieces!

Hashirama gritted his teeth, pouring Sage Art chakra frantically into the Wood Golem. The golem swung its massive fists to clash head-on with the Chakra Greatswords, each exchange erupting with thunderous roars and blinding flashes of energy! Wood chips flew, and fragments of blue chakra scattered everywhere!

The battle of gods had begun anew! And it was more intense than ever before!

The fighting below stalled briefly due to the clash of these top-tier combatants, everyone stunned by the cataclysmic scene.

Tobirama Senju's expression was extremely grim. He attempted to use the Flying Thunder God to interfere with Madara, but the defense of the Perfect Susanoo was too powerful; his attacks could not penetrate it at all. Moreover, Madara seemed to deliberately control the range of the battle, and the turbulent energy itself served as the best barrier.

"We must find a way to support Big Brother!" Tobirama said urgently to Uzumaki Mito beside him.

Mito nodded with a grave expression, forming seals with her hands: "Sealing Technique: Four Symbols Sealing!" She attempted to use the powerful sealing technique to restrict the movements of the Susanoo, but the golden sealing runes flickered and dimmed the moment they approached the violent energy field, unable to truly take hold.

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio also wanted to help, but their techniques seemed inadequate in the face of such high-level combat.

The battlefield seemed to fall into a stalemate again. The top-tier duel was locked in a struggle, while the melee below became even bloodier and more chaotic. Having lost the direct intimidation of the Kaguya patriarch and Madara (aside from his cold supervision), the Uchiha's offensive remained fierce, but the Allied Forces, relying on tacit coordination and tenacious will, held their ground and even began to claw back their disadvantage bit by bit. After all, the coalition was a hastily assembled force riddled with internal conflict, while the Allied Forces fought to protect a shared goal.

Uchiha Sou gasped for breath in the middle of the melee. The shock from Madara's indiscriminate strike had yet to fade. He looked at the two giants battling like gods and demons in the sky, then at the clansmen falling around him, his heart filled with complex emotions. Hatred, fear, a craving for power, disgust for this meaningless slaughter... all these feelings were intertwined.

His sense of "Weaving Logic" became exceptionally active under the immense pressure. He could vaguely "see" that the "line" connecting Madara to the Susanoo was incredibly thick, yet filled with violent and unstable "Dissonance"; the "line" connecting Hashirama to the Wood Golem was more vast and carried a natural vitality, yet there remained a subtle deviation from the "Inner Harmony" of the world.

He also saw that the lines representing "death" and "despair" on the battlefield were becoming increasingly dense.

This cannot go on!

Tsang gritted his teeth and made a bold decision. He stopped focusing on the enemies in front of him and concentrated most of his mental energy, attempting once again to touch those mysterious "lines of Causality"!

This time, his target was not a specific person, but the battlefield itself! He tried to perceive the vast power of "Dissonance" that permeated the air, gathered from countless acts of slaughter and negative emotions!

The process was extremely dangerous! His mind felt as if it were about to be crushed by the massive torrent of negative energy! But he held firmly to the core of his "Weaving Logic" state, guiding his own faint power of Inner Harmony like a small boat in a raging sea, struggling to "comb through" the chaotic tangle of lines!

He could not change the outcome of the battle, and he could not even clearly understand the specific meaning of these "lines." But relying on intuition, he aimed at the nodes where the sense of "Dissonance" was most intense and chaotic, and "wedged" his own mental energy and intent of Inner Harmony into them like a nail!

The effect was not an immediate change, but a certain extremely subtle "disturbance"!

The Wood Golem, currently attacking frantically, experienced an inexplicable, momentary, and minute disruption in its chakra flow at a certain joint, causing its next punch to be delayed by an infinitesimal fraction!

The Susanoo, currently slashing with its blades, also felt as if a grain of sand had been mixed into the operation of its energy core, causing a nearly imperceptible lag in its movements!

For powerhouses of Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju's caliber, this slight deviation was enough to be keenly captured!

"Hm?" Madara's brow furrowed. His Eternal Mangekyou swept the entire field in an instant, thinking that Tobirama or Uzumaki Mito had used some hidden method to interfere.

Hashirama also felt that slight lack of coordination, but he assumed it was a problem with Madara's power or his own Wood Style.

It was this momentary hesitation and distraction!

"Now is the time! Flying Thunder God Slash!" Tobirama Senju seized this fleeting opportunity! Having long since placed Flying Thunder God markers across the battlefield, he instantly appeared in a blind spot of the Susanoo—near the very point where the energy flow had just shown a subtle stagnation! The specialized Thunder God Sword in his hand condensed all of his Chakra and speed, transforming into a streak of extreme cold light as he thrust forward!

Sshhh—!

This time, the Flying Thunder God blade was not completely deflected! Perhaps it was because he had caught that minute flaw in the flow, or perhaps it was the result of Tobirama's desperate, all-out burst, but the tip of the sword actually managed to pierce a small distance into the Susanoo's armor! Although it was immediately shattered by the violent Chakra, the powerful Lightning Style Chakra and the force of spatial interference attached to the Thunder God Sword successfully seeped inside!

"Ugh!" Uchiha Madara let out a muffled grunt! It was not his body that was injured, but a sharp, stinging sensation and a sense of interference transmitted through his Eternal Mangekyou! The rhythm of controlling the Susanoo had been disrupted!

"Wood Style: Bringer of Darkness!" How could Hashirama let this opportunity slip by! The massive palm of the Wood Golem instantly softened, radiating a powerful force of suppression and calm, and seized the chance to slam down onto the chest of the Susanoo!

Hum—!

A powerful sealing force attempted to invade the interior of the Susanoo, interfering with Madara's Chakra!

"Get lost!" Madara roared in fury, his Eternal Mangekyou spinning wildly. Massive Dojutsu Power forcibly stabilized the Susanoo, elevating its strength once more to violently shake off the Wood Golem's hand and Tobirama's follow-up attack!

But with this move, he had indeed been forced back half a step! For the first time, his momentum had been suppressed!

On the battlefield below, this top-tier clash caused a shift in the tide; the morale of the Allied Forces soared, and they launched a counterattack! The Uchiha battle lines began to waver!

Uchiha Madara hovered within the Susanoo, his expression terrifyingly grim. He glanced at Hashirama and Tobirama, who remained high in fighting spirit despite being pushed back, and then looked down at the Allied Forces, who were beginning to show signs of defeat.

He knew that today, he likely would not be able to achieve his wish of thoroughly crushing the Senju. If the entanglement continued, even if he won, it would inevitably be a pyrrhic victory; the Uchiha would suffer heavy losses and might even be backstabbed by the remnants of the crazed Kaguya clan.

Endless rage and unwillingness burned in his heart, but his reason—however twisted—told him that he must retreat.

"...Retreat."

His cold, emotionless voice echoed across the entire battlefield through his Chakra.

The remaining Uchiha ninjas acted as if they had been granted amnesty, immediately beginning to cover each other as they pulled back. The smaller clans who had been coerced into fighting scrambled to flee. The remnants of the Kaguya clan let out roars of frustration, but under Madara's icy gaze, they dared not act out and followed the rout.

The Allied Forces did not pursue with full force; they, too, had suffered heavy losses and were exhausted, in desperate need of rest.

Hashirama Senju watched the enemy forces receding like a tide, especially the blue god of war that was slowly dissipating. He felt no joy of victory, only deep exhaustion and sorrow. He had stopped Madara once again, but he had also witnessed countless deaths once again.

On the Blood-Weeping Plain, corpses lay everywhere, and blood had stained the earth a dark crimson. Both sides had suffered; there were no winners.

Uchiha Sou followed the retreating ranks, taking one last look at that living hell. His face was pale, his mental energy nearly depleted. He did not know if his small "disturbance" had played a role, but he truly felt the insignificance of his own power and the long, arduous road of "Weaving Logic" ahead.

After this battle, the Uchiha were severely weakened, and the external environment had become even more hostile. The dream of peace for Konoha seemed even more distant.

The shadow of war still hung heavily over everyone's hearts.