Strategic... Retreat

The Land of Earth.

A piece of land that was originally relatively flat began to tremble violently, and a rumbling sound came from underground.

At one moment, a huge, deep blue arm burst forth from the ground, like a giant sleeping underground stretching out its arm.

In an underground cave.

With Susanoo's massive fist slammed into the cave ceiling.

The hard rock layers were easily torn and crushed like tofu.

Countless boulders crashed down, and the entire underground space groaned under the immense pressure before collapsing completely!

Dazzling sunlight streamed down from the massive breach above. Madara stood proudly within the deep blue diamond-shaped crystal of Susanoo, looking down at the smoke-filled ruins below.

"Your struggle is futile in the face of absolute power!"

As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, Taiichi's figure was not buried.

Just before the cave completely collapsed, he had already used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to a relatively open area on the ground.

Looking at the towering half-giant, Taiichi had to admire Madara's abilities.

Yohei had seen the Mangekyo before, and even with a complete Mangekyo, it took him a long time to summon Susanoo each time.

Look at Madara now. His eyes are clearly in the Three-Tomoe state, yet he Susanoo. He is truly terrifying!

But----

"Absolute power?"

Taiichi's lips curled into a cold smile, but his words still carried a hint of teasing.

"Given their current state, it's still a long way off!"

The vast space outside the cave was his stage to unleash his full potential!

Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame.

Madara's Susanoo its hands together, opened its massive mouth, and unleashed a raging sea of fire that covered hundreds of meters in front of it. The temperature of the flames was so high that even the rocks on the ground melted instantly!

Water Style · Water Style: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave.

Taiichi showed no weakness, rapidly Hand Seals and unleashing a torrent of Chakra.

Like a river bursting its banks, a giant wave tens of meters high appeared out of nowhere, rushing towards the sea of fire with overwhelming force.

At the moment water and fire collided, a blinding white light shot into the sky accompanied by a deafening explosion, and water vapor instantly spread for dozens of miles!

In the pitch-black fog, Susanoo frantically gathered Chakra in his hands, and two giant Chakra swords extended from his left and right sides, their sword light dancing and cutting through the earth, heading straight for Taiichi!

Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.

Platinum flames spewed from Taiichi, transforming into a ferocious fire dragon that soared through the air.

Faced with the incoming Light Blade, the enormous fire dragon rose into the air and spiraled upwards directly to meet it.

The scorching heat melted everything, instantly destroying the Chakra structure of the Light Blade, causing it to dissipate into light Light Blade in the air before it could even strike.

At this moment, Ban's eyes grew even colder. "It seems I won't be able to crush this troublesome insect like you without showing some real skill."

He felt the threat posed by the opponent's endless stream of powerful Ninjutsu. More importantly, he could feel that his already dwindling life force was rapidly slipping away as he forcibly maintained his peak condition.

We must finish this quickly!

"Witness true despair! Drink up—!"

Madara let out a deafening roar, the Three-Tomoe in his eyes spun wildly, almost forming a line, and his Chakra surged outwards recklessly!

Buzz-!

The deep blue Susanoo emitted a dazzling light, and its form changed drastically once again! Thicker armor covered its entire body, and its lower body was fully formed, transforming into a towering, hundred-meter-tall, Perfect Susanoo with wings on its back!

The Fourth Stage Susanoo!

The destructive energy fluctuations it emitted caused the air within a radius of several kilometers to freeze!

The giant raised both hands to the sky, and an even heavier Chakra Light Blade instantly condensed into shape. The mere act of charging up caused the Chakra to vibrate and emit a teeth-grinding buzzing sound!

If this strike were to fall, it would be enough to split mountains and shatter peaks!

Faced with this world-destroying power, Taiichi deep breath, his eyes becoming incredibly calm.

He clasped his hands together in front of his chest, and emerald green patterns on his forehead extended outwards from his body, emanating a vast and powerful energy.

Yin Seal - Released.

Sage Mode - Activated.

Natural Energy and his own Chakra merged perfectly, and Taiichi's pupils turned golden.

His perception increased exponentially, and his strength, speed, and Chakra activity instantly soared to another level! A faint light surrounded him, as if he had merged with the world and nature.

Sage Art: Wind Style: Rasenshuriken.

Taiichi rapidly condensed a Rasengan in each of his hands. As he continued to pour in Senjutsu Chakra, four Wind Blade quickly formed around the Rasengan, their sharp whistling sounds echoing across the surrounding area.

"Cut!"

"Go!"

The two shouted at the same time!

A massive, deep blue Chakra blade tore through the sky, crashing down with the intent to annihilate everything!

Two Rasenshuriken slashed through the sky, crashing head-on like meteors.

Boom-!!!!

An indescribably terrifying explosion erupted between heaven and earth! A light a hundred times more dazzling than the Sun Barrier instantly engulfed everything!

The shockwave that followed swept out with overwhelming force! The earth was torn apart and shattered like fragile paper! Distant mountains collapsed and disintegrated silently! A huge crater thousands of meters in diameter was formed in an instant!

The light faded, and smoke and dust filled the sky.

The deep blue Susanoo's giant blade had shattered, and its massive body was covered in cracks. Inside the crystal protective chamber, Madara's face was deathly pale, and he was breathing heavily.

Forced activation of the fourth stage of Susanoo and such a violent impact caused his already dwindling life force to drain away like a flood, leaving his body feeling empty and in excruciating pain.

On the other side, Taiichi, though his clothes were torn and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, had obviously suffered a huge impact. However, thanks to the powerful recovery ability of Sage Mode, his aura had not diminished much. His golden vertical pupils were locked on Madara, indicating that he still had energy left!

"Madara Uchiha, your era has ended!"

Taiichi's voice came through the smoke and dust, carrying the declaration of a victor.

He gathered Chakra in his hands again, clearly preparing to launch the next attack.

"Cough—arrogant brat!"

Ban coughed violently, a hint of resentment and violence flashing in his eyes, but more so a clear understanding of his own situation.

If this continues, I'll probably really die at the hands of those brats.

Thinking of this, Ban stopped worrying. He was a man who was about to die anyway, and the only reason he was keeping his life was to ensure the smooth execution of the grand plan.

Now that we've stopped Taichi Matsushita's pursuit, there's absolutely no need to stay here and fight him to the death.

Chakra Light Sword reformed and slashed at Taiichi more.

A violent explosion rang out, and smoke and dust filled the entire sky. Taking advantage of this moment, Madara Hand Seals, and a Wood Human Clone appeared beside him.

The clone took Madara's place, while his true body concealed its presence and vanished from the scene from the earth.

The Wood Human Clone truly lived up to its reputation as a top-tier Clone Technique. Caught completely off guard, even Taiichi in Sage Mode failed to notice Madara's unusual behavior.

Taiichi never expected that Madara, who had previously fought him to a standstill, would suddenly decide to run away.

After exchanging several more blows, the massive Susanoo collapsed under the bombardment of Taiichi's Sage Art: Fire Style: Fire Dragon's Heavy Flame.

The Wood Human Clone turned back into a piece of wood and was burned to charcoal by the fire. Taiichi was still somewhat dazed.

They actually escaped.

Taiichi stood where Susanoo had collapsed, his golden pupils scanning the surroundings. He extended his Sage Mode perception to its fullest extent, but he could no longer detect even a trace of the other party.

He slowly deactivated his Sage Mode, his golden pupils returned to normal, and the Yin Seal patterns on his body re-converged on his forehead.

They really ran away.

Taiichi looked at the drastically changed terrain. With such a landscape, any experienced ninja could roughly reconstruct the battle scene at a glance.

He didn't want this information to leak out now.

Earth Style · Swamp of the Underworld.

Chakra surged, and a large area within sight was covered by a swamp.

Taiichi didn't care how deep the swamps were, as long as they were wide enough to erase the traces of the battle.

After doing all this, he stomped his foot, and a mangled White Zetsu corpse surged out of the swamp.

This was the White Zetsu he had previously beheaded.

"With this information, plus the intelligence Madara Uchiha, we should be able to give the Third Hokage a satisfactory explanation."

He muttered to himself, turned to look in the direction of Konoha, and vanished in a flash, leaving behind only the hardened earth that had witnessed an earth-shattering battle.

When Taiichi reappeared, he was already at his home in Konoha.

The Chakra fluctuations from the recent battle immediately attracted the attention of the three little ones in the house.

Itachi, who was training, was the first to notice the unusual fluctuations, followed by Jiangtai and Yami.

The three exchanged a glance and, with their short legs, hurried towards the direction from which the fluctuations were coming.

Taiichi had just appeared and was about to walk towards the Hokage's Office when he stopped after taking only a few steps.

His gaze shifted to the direction the three little ones had come from, and a relieved smile appeared on his face.

"Their perception is pretty good. Not only Itachi, but even Jiangtai and Yami have strong perception abilities," Taiichi muttered to himself.

A short while later, the three little ones saw Taiichi standing in the courtyard.

Although Taiichi hadn't been injured in the previous battles, the intense fighting and clashes of Ninjutsu had left him somewhat disheveled.

The three anxiously gathered around, pulling Taiichi up and down to check if Taiichi was injured.

Taiichi stopped because he sensed that the three of them had noticed his movements and was afraid they would worry. Without waiting for them to ask, he spoke first.

"Don't worry, it's just a small mission. I wasn't injured at all. You all should focus on your training; I still need to find the Hokage-sama."

After saying that, she ruffled the weasel's soft black hair, making the little guy dodge like Little Cat with its fur standing on end, and start smoothing his own hair.

Taiichi smiled, turned around, raised his hand and waved it in a distant gesture toward the three people behind him. His figure disappeared instantly. It wasn't Flying Thunder God, but just an extremely fast Body Flicker.

In the arena, the three boys looked at each other, all feeling an indescribable pressure.

If even Taiichi ninja of Taiichi's caliber is in such a sorry state, then what reason do they have to be so leisurely?

Training, double the training.

The three children nodded to each other, instantly understanding each other's meaning, and simultaneously turned and ran towards the Training Ground.

Today, we must double all training sessions, or we will not rest at all.

Taiichi had no idea how much his disheveled appearance stimulated the three little ones. At that moment, he was speeding towards the Hokage's Office.

The Hokage's Office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and his two Advisor are gathered here.

Since Lin's hospital room was attacked yesterday and Taiichi chased after them, the three of them have been staying together.

Even the two Advisor's daily work was temporarily moved to the Hokage's Office.

To this end, Hiruzen Sarutobi specifically instructed that two tables be arranged in the office to serve as temporary workstations for the two Advisor.

It's easy to imagine how intensely the three of them were affected by Wood Style and Mangekyo.

When Taiichi knocked on the door and entered the office, this was the scene he saw: three pairs of slightly tired eyes looked at him, their initial surprise turning into extreme caution.

"Taiichi, how's the situation?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi words and went straight to the First Gate.

Taiichi shook his head heavily, reached into his Ninja Tool Pouch and took out a Sealing Scroll. Without bothering to hide the fact that this was the Hokage's Office, he directly Hand Seals and released the seal.

With a "thud," a deathly pale corpse appeared at the scene.

There was no need for a detailed examination. Everyone present, including the Hokage and the two Advisor, were once highly skilled. They could tell from the shape and wounds of the corpse that it was not a normal human body.

Utatane Koharu, a former Medical Ninja, was the first to kneel down, her hands glowing with emerald green Chakra light, and began to perform a preliminary examination on the corpse.

A moment later, she stood up in surprise, her face full of disbelief.

"This... it looks so much like a plant!"

"These are the people who came to assassinate Lin."

Taiichi pointed to the abdomen of the corpse, where there was a small Flying Thunder God Mark.

"However, he was half black and half white at the time, but when I caught up with him, he turned completely pale. I guess this wasn't his true form; he was probably just a Puppet."

Taiichi shared his analysis, but even that surprised the three people present.

"That's the person who knows Wood Style. So, according to you, he's not dead yet?"

Mitokado Homura asked anxiously, as Wood Style was his primary concern, being the symbol of Konoha.

Taiichi nodded, and before the three could speak again, he solemnly uttered another earth-shattering statement.

"I... ran into Madara Uchiha."

The office fell into absolute silence for a moment. Not only that, but time seemed to stand still, with the Hokage and the two Advisor frozen in place, completely motionless.

It took nearly 30 seconds before Hiruzen Sarutobi finally asked the question he cared about most, his voice hoarse.

"You... you haven't admitted your mistake?"

As expected of the Hokage, he didn't question the person's existence; instead, he went straight to the core of the matter: whether he really was Madara Uchiha!

The two Advisor were also staring intently at Taiichi, unconsciously swallowing hard, hoping to get a negative answer from Taiichi.

Unfortunately, facts are facts.

"The Valley of the End has a statue of Madara Uchiha, the power to summon Susanoo directly with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and the lost Giant Scythe and Gunbai of the Uchiha."

Taiichi did not answer directly, but that was tantamount to stating everything.

The three of them knew perfectly well that this was referring to Madara Uchiha. Although they didn't know how he had been resurrected from the dead, those who met these conditions were undoubtedly the real Madara.

Okay, we haven't dealt with Wood Style and the lost Mangekyo yet, and now we have an even more troublesome Madara Uchiha.

This could potentially overturn the current power structure of Konoha, and it was also the Hokage's and the two Advisor' most genuine thought at that moment.