Clashing with the Five Kage, Susanoo!

The Raikage moved first.

Blue-white lightning exploded across the ground, and A vanished from where he stood—not vanished, but moved too fast for the naked eye to follow. His Lightning Release Chakra Mode had pushed his speed to its limit, and the rock beneath his feet shattered into powder the instant he launched himself forward.

In the next instant, he was already in front of Madara.

His right fist was wrapped in lightning, carrying the force to pierce through anything as it blasted straight toward Madara's face.

Madara did not dodge.

He raised his left hand and caught the punch head-on with his palm.

Boom—!

A shockwave spread outward from the two of them. Loose stones were blasted into the air, while dust was shoved away by the gale, forming a visible vacuum around them. Lightning Release arcs crackled over Madara's palm, blue-white light casting his ash-gray skin in a ghostly glow.

But that hand did not move in the slightest.

Like a wall.

Like a mountain.

A's pupils contracted sharply. That punch was enough to smash apart a small mountain. He had defeated countless enemies with it, and even the Eight-Tails had suffered under its power. Yet this man—this dead man—had caught it with one hand.

"Not bad power." Madara's voice was as calm as though he were reviewing a junior's homework. "But not enough."

His left hand suddenly tightened around A's fist. A felt an irresistible force surge from that hand, and his entire body was lifted into the air—then hurled away as casually as a bag of trash.

But A did not go flying.

He forcibly steadied himself in midair, his feet plowing two deep trenches through the ground. After sliding more than ten meters, he finally stopped. Five dark bluish-black finger marks were clearly visible on