Jiraiya to the Rescue? Lord Madara Declares: I'm Taking My Uchiha!

Gamabunta's thunderous arrival was like a massive boulder dropped onto a taut battlefield, scattering dust and shockwaves, causing everyone's movements to freeze.

That flippant voice, those signature white hair and headband, instantly ignited a spark in the hearts of the Konoha ninjas.

"It's Lord Jiraiya!"

"The Legendary Sannin... Lord Jiraiya is back!"

"That's great."

Jiraiya, carrying a giant scroll, leaped from Gamabunta's head and landed steadily beside Minato. He first glanced at Hinata, who was being held protectively in Minato's arms, then his gaze fell upon the young man opposite them, covered in wounds with his mask shattered.

Upon seeing the distorted yet familiar face, even Jiraiya, who had witnessed countless storms, felt his pupils contract.

"Minato, this kid... isn't that Uchiha Obito? From the Kannabi Bridge battle..."

He had seen Obito's memorial portrait; Jiraiya's words weren't finished, but their meaning was clear.

"Teacher, it's a long story," Minato's voice held a trace of exhaustion, but more so, a sense of peace from seeing a loved one. "He is the mastermind behind the Nine-Tails Incident."

Minato said to Jiraiya as he handed the child in his arms to Hyuga Hiashi standing beside him.

"What?!" Jiraiya's expression instantly turned serious.

His usual lazy demeanor vanished, replaced by the oppressive aura of a Kage-level powerhouse.

His gaze towards Obito shifted from initial surprise to cold scrutiny.

Minato ignored the surrounding commotion. He gently handed Hinata to the arriving Hyuga Hiashi, then took a step forward, his azure eyes once again fixed on his former student.

"Obito."

His voice was soft, yet filled with power. "I know you harbor hatred. Hatred for me, for Kakashi, for this village. What happened back then was my failure as a teacher; I didn't protect you all."

"What's the point of saying that now?" Obito clutched his bleeding right eye, laughing maniacally, his laughter filled with desolation. "Rin is dead! She died right before my eyes! Killed by Kakashi's own hands! Are you trying to make me forgive you now?!"

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness," Minato's expression was incredibly earnest. "I'm telling you, it's not over yet. Come back to the village with me, and let's investigate everything. Who turned you into this? Who is exploiting your pain? We can find the answer together."

"The answer?" Obito's laughter abruptly stopped, his scarlet Mangekyo Sharingan fixed on Minato. "I've already found the answer! This world, from the very beginning, is wrong! Filled with lies, betrayal, and hypocrisy! So-called peace is merely an illusion bestowed by the strong upon the weak!" "This village's system has rotted from the core!"

His voice grew louder and louder, filled with bone-deep hatred.

"Therefore, I will destroy it! I will create a world where Rin exists! A world without war, without suffering, a truly peaceful world!"

"He's gone mad... this kid has completely lost it," Jiraiya frowned, his hands already forming hand seals.

He could feel the chakra emanating from the young man named Obito, cold and despairing, no longer in a normal ninja's state.

"Minato, stop wasting your breath, take him down first!"

"Obito, stop," Minato made a final effort, a hint of heartache in his eyes. "You were once a hero of Konoha, don't let yourself..."

"Hero?" Obito seemed to hear the biggest joke in the world. He pointed sharply at the right half of his face. "This is the fate of your Konoha hero! Crushed under a cold stone, waiting for death! If 'that person' hadn't saved me, I would have long since rotted into a pile of bones!" "In the end, I was just a cold casualty number in the eyes of you higher-ups! Have you ever cared about the families represented by those names on the Konoha memorial monument?"

His scarlet single eye spun violently, and the surrounding space began to distort visibly.

He knew that Jiraiya's appearance had cost him his last chance.

If he didn't leave now, he truly wouldn't be able to.

"This false world, I'll leave it for you all to continue guarding!"

Obito's figure began to blur, as if being sucked into an invisible vortex.

"Trying to escape?!"

Jiraiya grunted, slamming his hands onto the ground!

"Ninjutsu: Needle Jizo!"

His signature white hair instantly grew, like countless steel needles, shooting towards Obito's position, sealing all his escape routes!

At the same time, Minato moved.

Without the slightest hesitation, his figure vanished from his spot!

Flying Raijin Jutsu!

He appeared next to a kunai he had thrown earlier, a position precisely in front of where the space was about to be completely swallowed.

"I told you, the same trick won't work on me!"

Minato's voice, like a death knell, echoed in Obito's ears.

A high-speed spinning Rasengan had appeared in his hand at some point, and he pressed it fiercely into the distorted space!

A clash of space-time ninjutsu!

Jiraiya's physical blockade, combined with Minato's precise strike on the space-time node using Flying Raijin!

Double insurance!

Obito was bound to lose!

Just as the Rasengan was about to touch the distorted space--

A golden flash, without any warning, appeared out of nowhere beside Obito!

It wasn't Minato!

That golden light was even more brilliant and domineering than Minato's.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

Minato's Rasengan stopped in mid-air, his pupils contracting violently, and an expression of disbelief he had never shown before appeared on his face.

Jiraiya's rapidly growing white hair also halted in mid-air; he could feel an indescribable, terrifying chakra, like a great mountain, pressing down on the skies above Konoha.

From within that golden light, a figure slowly emerged.

Clad in ancient red armor, his black hair moved as if by an unseen wind, and a pair of pale purple Rinnegan eyes swept over everyone present with indifference, as if they were mere ants.

Uchiha Madara!

He didn't even glance at Minato's and Jiraiya's attacks, merely casually reaching out and placing a hand on Obito's shoulder, who was about to be sucked into the spatial vortex.

With a flash of golden light, he instantly transferred to another side of the Hokage building.

"Obito, even if he's trash! He's still trash of our Uchiha clan!"

Lin Feng's voice was as calm as water, yet it carried an irrefutable majesty, clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"It's not your turn to lecture us?"

The moment his words fell, the hand he had placed on Obito's shoulder exerted a gentle force.

The next second, under the horrified gaze of Minato and Jiraiya, that golden flash ignited once more, and with him and Obito, whose body was already half-submerged in the spatial vortex, they vanished without a trace.

The Flying Raijin technique!

Completely and utterly, the Flying Raijin technique!

The area in front of the Hokage building fell into a deathly silence.

Jiraiya's Needle Jizo lost its target and drooped powerlessly.

The Rasengan in Minato's hand dissipated into the air.

He stood there dumbfounded, his body trembling slightly from extreme shock.

How could this be...

How could this be...

That man, Uchiha Madara, why would he use the Flying Raijin technique?

That was a technique developed and mastered by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. In this era, only he and his guards, forming the Flying Raijin formation, could use this jutsu!

Why?! Uchiha Madara had mastered this technique, and used it with such proficiency!