Sword of Conviction: Amenonuhoko!

On the distant battlefield, two figures flashed across the earth and sky.

The crimson Long Halberd sliced through the layers of space, thrusting straight towards Kou's chest.

He dodged to the side, his cyan longsword flashing as it grazed the halberd, sending sparks flying.

The Long Halberd swept across the opponent's side the instant it missed its target, striking him with crimson steam and sending him flying.

Kou's body shattered, tumbling several times in mid-air before crashing into a massive rock.

Amidst the flying debris, his figure was smashed into the ground, leaving a deep crater.

The next instant, a flash of blue light appeared in the deep pit.

Kou's figure reappeared in mid-air, completely unharmed.

His aura showed no signs of weakening; on the contrary, it was even stronger than before!

He gripped his twin swords tightly and charged towards Ban again, his speed even greater than before.

Beneath the crimson sunset, the Long Halberd and twin swords clashed once more in the shattered space!

Their figures kept intersecting, separating, and intersecting again, each collision accompanied by a deafening roar.

Ban's offensive remained fierce, his Long Halberd breaking through the defenses of the Thunder and Fire Twin Swords several times, and with the full force of all Eight Gates open, he shattered Kou's body into pieces.

But each time, the debris would recombine in a very short time, and Kou's body would be reborn from the fragments, stronger than before.

His body adapted, and his meridians grew continuously through repeated breakage and reconstruction.

Gradually, the tip of the Long Halberd could no longer pierce Kou's skin, leaving only a faint white mark on his body covered with blue Susanoo patterns.

As Ban sensed the increasingly powerful aura emanating from Kou, a feeling of powerlessness he had never experienced before rose within him.

(Prisoner Madara: Here you go!!)

The two figures fought further and further away in the fierce battle, leaving the battlefield on the Land of Rice Border and crossing the scorched earth that had been repeatedly trampled.

They left cracks on the earth and traced paths in the sky, like two colliding stars, drawing everything in their path into their gravitational pull.

Whether it was a tacit understanding or a deliberate act, the two simultaneously swept across continuous mountain ranges during their high-speed encounter, eventually arriving at a place that was extremely familiar to both of them...

Land of Fire - Valley of the End

Two tall statues stand on either side of the waterfall. The one on the left is the statue Hashirama Senju, with one hand Hand Seals a mudra and a solemn and serene expression.

On the right is a statue of Uchiha Madara, clad in armor, holding Long Halberd, his posture proud, yet his stone-cast face is also etched with the cracks of time.

Between the two statues, a waterfall cascades down from above, its roar echoing.

Kou and Ban are now standing atop the two statues respectively.

The waterfall separated the two, a distance that could be crossed in an instant for ninjas of their caliber.

"Do you feel nostalgic, old man?"

Kou, wielding two black and blue swords, smiled calmly at Madara opposite him.

"Here, you were defeated by the First, and finally faked your death using Izanagi, beginning the plan you've been secretly plotting in the Ninja World ever since."

"And not long ago, you were here too, and you were saved by Obito."

He paused, then pointed his longsword at Madara, a resolute glint flashing in his Six-Tomoe Rinnegan:

"But now... I won't let you escape again."

Ban stared at Kokoro's determined gaze, paused for a moment on his face, and a familiar figure involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

The figure was much smaller than the young man in front of him, and his eyes held a precocious maturity beyond his years.

From an unknown child within the Uchiha clan to a genius who "made a name for himself" in the Third Ninja World War, and now to the Second Sage of Six Paths standing before him...

But whether as Teacher or an enemy, it seems that he himself participated in or even influenced his life very little...

No, it's more like I've almost never seen it.

Knock on his face, and you'll see such a confident look in his eyes.

"Hehe, do you miss it?"

Ban murmured softly, lowering his head, a faint smile involuntarily appearing at the corner of his lips:

"If we're talking about nostalgia, then yes, there is some."

Seemingly understanding something from Madara's words, the killing intent in Kokoro's eyes paused slightly.

After a moment, Kou slowly spoke, his voice slightly lower than before:

"... Do you regret raising such a formidable enemy as me?"

He shifted his gaze from the freckled face to the two longswords in his hands, as if looking at some trace of the past:

"It was right here that you guided me to abandon Hand Seals and instead focus on studying Chakra Nature Transformation and wielding dual swords in my fighting style."

"Although I hate to admit it, I was able to survive the Third Ninja World War and achieve my current strength, and you certainly deserve some credit for that."

He paused, then turned his gaze back to Ban's face:

"... However, a large part of the suffering I have experienced stems from you."

Kou spoke calmly, lowering his twin swords slightly, the tips pointing at the statue at his feet, and said in a deep voice:

"Ban, no... Teacher, just like you said before, you understand me."

"But on the other hand, I also understand you."

He raised his head, looked directly into Ban's eyes—one purple and one red—and smiled frankly:

"We are all true Uchiha, and we will not be swayed by anyone's opinions. We will only firmly do what we believe is right."

"Therefore, I won't say anything pointless like telling you to abandon the Eye of the Moon Plan and obediently atone for your sins."

"As your enemy, and also as your former student, this is the only thing I can do for you now, this final thing."

Kou said in a deep voice, as the eight Truth-Seeking Orb behind him slowly came to his side and circled around the two swords in his hands.

The two swords merged with the Truth-Seeking Orb, transforming into a spiral spear in his right hand.

The spear was entirely dark blue-black, exuding an aura of destruction and reconstruction of all things in the All-Encompassing Phenomena, with blue patterns running through it, as if it had become one with the spear.

The Artifact of Creation — The Amenonuhoko!

He gripped the Amenonuhoko in his hand, hovering in the air.

The eight Truth-Seeking Orb had vanished, leaving behind a clear, pristine sky.

"Let me bring your journey to an end."

He looked down at the spots below and said in a deep voice:

"A respectable... finish line!"

Ban felt the oppressive aura emanating from above, stared at the spear, and a faint smile crept onto his lips.

"The Sword of Conviction, the Amenonuhoko?"

He took the Long Halberd off his shoulder and held it in his hand.

The enormous Long Halberd that had accompanied him all the way now felt exceptionally heavy in his hands.

"Are you gambling with your own beliefs to bring this final chapter to a close?"

"Hmph, what a rash act! It's nothing like your usual composed self."

Ban sighed, about to say something more, when he seemed to realize something and looked at his own body.

Crimson cracks have covered its entire body, the edges of which are a withered grayish-white, like burnt charcoal.

Under the backlash of having all Eight Gates opened, his body was on the verge of collapse, and Zero-Tails's repair had clearly reached its limit.

Death has quietly arrived.

"Hmph, so that's how it is."

Ban no longer cared about the collapsing body, raised his head, looked up at the sky, and a relieved smile appeared on his face covered with red cracks.

That smile was open and composed, as if he had seen the end of the road:

"Is it not a mortal collapse, but a death in a battle of beliefs?"

He paused, then slung the Long Halberd back over his shoulder, his posture overlapping with that of the statue at his feet:

"It is indeed a dignified ending."

Having said that, Madara disregarded the cost to his life and unleashed the full power of the Eight Gates.

Every inch of flesh and blood in his body ignited at that moment.

His body disintegrated at a visible speed, and crimson steam gushed out from the cracks, more intense than ever before!

Steam condensed and rose around him, coalescing into a scorching red sphere of light at the tip of his halberd.

Ban raised his Long Halberd high, pointing it directly at the gods in the sky, pressing all his beliefs, all his pride, and all his resentment into that single strike:

"Let me verify it, knock!"

"Your awareness!!"

Kō stared intently at the light burning in Madara's eyes, one purple and one red, in the final moments of his life. He said nothing more, but simply pointed the Amenonuhoko and said in a deep voice:

"As you wish."

The moment the words left his mouth, the two of them moved.

Two figures crossed paths in mid-air, and Long Halberd and spears clashed violently between the two statues!

Everything around them was completely obliterated.

The water from the waterfall evaporates instantly at the point of contact, turning into a white mist that spreads in all directions.

The rocks on the two statues shattered in the shockwave, the mountain walls on both sides of the Valley of the End began to collapse, boulders rolled down, and dust filled the sky.

The two statues, which had witnessed countless historical events, also collapsed in the aftershocks of the shockwave.

Under the power of faith contained within the Amenonuhoko, the Long Halberd began to break apart inch by inch.

The crimson Long Halberd shattered from its tip, fragments breaking off amidst the bluish-black spiral patterns, only to be completely crushed by the power of the Amenonuhoko!

But Ban's gaze was not focused on the shattering Long Halberd at this moment, but rather on the knocking above.

Through the clash between the Amenonuhoko and the Long Halberd, their inner worlds seemed to merge at that moment...

Next episode, heading south!

Next is the end of the story of Prisoner Madara. I originally wanted to write the final battle longer, but I am still aware of my own limitations and know that I did not write the battle scenes well, so I changed my approach.

The reason I'm a bit late today and only updated one chapter is mainly because I spent a lot of time brainstorming the final battle with Madara. In the end, I decided to refer to the mysterious farmhouse of Itadori and Sukuna from Jujutsu and made a major revision to what I had written.

Sorry everyone, I'm still not good enough, I'm too bad...