"Cough..."
Madara opened his eyes.
Those eyes were the Rinnegan. But unlike Nagato's transplanted eyes, these were the complete Rinnegan Madara had awakened himself. He sat up and rolled his neck, his bones cracking sharply.
"It's been a long time since I last breathed." Madara's voice was low, heavy with the weariness of a thousand years. He looked at Obito. "Obito, you've done well. But who is this brat?"
"Uchiha Ye, an Uchiha orphan, a Mangekyo wielder, and the host of the Wish System," Obito said. "He has the potential to break the curse and may interfere with the Eye of the Moon Plan."
"Break the curse?" Madara smiled coldly. "Indra's curse is a fate decreed by the Sage of Six Paths. No one can break it. What makes you think you can, brat?"
"Because I'm not from this world," Lin Ye said. "Because I've brought a new variable, and because I'm going to fulfill every Uchiha's unfulfilled wish and give this clan a real future."
Madara's gaze sharpened. "A visitor from another world... no wonder. Zetsu, do you sense it? His chakra has the scent of the 'outside.'"
Black Zetsu emerged from the jutsu formula. "I do. Lady Kaguya would be interested in him, too."
"Then I can't let you live." Madara stood, his Rinnegan turning. "In the world of the Eye of the Moon, you'll have a happy dream. But for now, please die. Tengai Shinsei!"
He formed hand seals, and a massive meteor appeared in the sky-even though they were underground, the jutsu penetrated the surface-and hurtled toward Lin Ye and the other three.
"Run!" Lin Ye used Kamui to teleport himself and the others to the edge of the space, but the meteor's shock wave still sent them flying.
"Cough, cough..." Naruto spat blood. "This old man... he's too strong..."
"So this is Madara Uchiha's power..." Sasuke gritted his teeth. Under the pressure, his Sharingan evolved-from two tomoe to three.
"Oh? Three tomoe now?" Madara looked at Sasuke. "Are you this generation's reincarnation of Indra? Interesting. Obito, he's yours. I'll deal with that variable."
"Yes." Obito charged at Sasuke.
Madara approached Lin Ye. With every step, his oppressive presence grew stronger. Lin Ye struggled to breathe as the Rinnegan's eye power suppressed his Mangekyo.
"Use everything you have, brat," Madara said. "Let me see whether this so-called Wish System can overcome my Rinnegan."
"As you wish." Lin Ye poured all his Desperate Power-the buff left over from his previous mission-into his Mangekyo. The patterns in his eyes shifted another step toward the Rinnegan, but the transformation remained incomplete.
"Kamui-Amaterasu combination!"
His left eye's Kamui warped space while his right eye's Amaterasu released black flames. The spatial distortion sent the flames burning toward Madara from an impossible angle. But Madara merely raised his hand. "Preta Path."
The black flames were absorbed.
"It's useless. The Rinnegan possesses the abilities of every ocular jutsu," Madara said. "Besides, your ocular jutsu is still in its infancy. Let me teach you what a true ocular jutsu looks like-Limbo: Border Jail!"
Four invisible shadows split off from Madara and attacked Lin Ye from four directions. Lin Ye's Divine Dominion could block only three. The fourth shadow's fist slammed into his chest.
Crack! His ribs broke. Lin Ye spat blood as he flew backward and crashed into the wall.
"Ye!" Naruto tried to save him, but Obito's Kamui blocked his path.
"I'm your opponent," Obito said. "Sasuke, show me what this generation's Indra can do."
"You'll see." Sasuke's three tomoe spun wildly as he formed hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
A fire dragon lunged at Obito, only to pass through his intangible body. Obito appeared behind Sasuke and thrust a kunai toward his heart from behind. But Sasuke had anticipated it. He escaped with the Substitution Technique, then struck back at Obito with Chidori.
"Not bad speed." Obito turned intangible again, but Sasuke's Chidori suddenly changed direction, stabbing toward another spot-exactly where Obito's real body was emerging from intangibility.
"What?!" Startled, Obito hurriedly used Kamui to shift away, but Chidori grazed his arm, leaving a wound.
"The Sharingan can see chakra flow. I can predict the timing of your intangibility," Sasuke said. "Your Kamui has a weakness."
"Interesting." Obito's gaze turned serious. "Then how about this? Kamui Shuriken!"
He threw shuriken, which slipped into the Kamui Dimension in midflight before appearing behind Sasuke. Sasuke saw through the attack with his Sharingan and barely dodged, but his arm was cut.
Meanwhile, Lin Ye's battle with Madara was completely one-sided. Madara's Limbo shadows were too powerful, leaving Lin Ye able to do nothing but defend. Divine Dominion kept shattering under their attacks, and he had used up all three chances to activate Time Reversal.
"This ends here." Madara formed hand seals. "Chibaku Tensei!"
An enormous gravitational field pulled Lin Ye into the air. Rocks rose from the ground, threatening to seal him away.
"Ye!" Naruto unleashed his Nine-Tails chakra. Four tails appeared as he broke free of White Zetsu and charged toward Chibaku Tensei. He blasted it with a Tailed Beast Bomb, but Chibaku Tensei was too powerful and absorbed the attack.
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki..." Madara looked at Naruto. "Obito, capture him."
"Understood." Obito reached for Naruto with Kamui, but Sakura slammed her Monster Strength Fist into the ground, sending Obito flying.
"Don't you dare touch Naruto!" Sakura stood in front of Naruto.
"Annoying insect." Obito formed hand seals. "Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Dance!"
A tornado of flames swallowed Sakura. She protected herself with medical ninjutsu, but her clothes were scorched and her skin burned.
"Sakura!" Naruto flew into a rage. A fifth tail appeared, but the Nine-Tails began eating away at his consciousness.
"Naruto, calm down!" Lin Ye shouted, but Chibaku Tensei had already formed. Encased in rock, he couldn't move.
[Ding! Host detected near death. Activating final safeguard protocol.] [Protocol details: Consume all Rinnegan Fragments (10) to forcibly evolve the Mangekyo into a Rinnegan (temporary). Duration: 3 minutes.] [Accept?]
"Accept!"
[Consumed Rinnegan Fragments ×10. Remaining: 0/1000.] [Beginning evolution... evolution complete (temporary).]
The rocks surrounding Lin Ye exploded. He hovered in the air, his eyes no longer bearing the Mangekyo's patterns, but purple ripples-the Rinnegan.
Though temporary, they were genuine Rinnegan.
"Oh?" Madara raised an eyebrow. "A temporary Rinnegan? Interesting. But how much of its power can you actually wield?"
"Try me and find out." Lin Ye pressed his palms together. "Tengai Shinsei!"
He copied Madara's jutsu and summoned a meteor. But Madara laughed. "An imitation will always be an imitation. Limbo: Border Jail!"
The four shadows attacked at once, but Lin Ye's Rinnegan could now see them. He dodged while forming hand seals. "Modified Chibaku Tensei!"
Rather than summoning one, he summoned ten miniature Chibaku Tensei, sending them crashing toward Madara from different directions. Madara absorbed them with the Preta Path, but there were too many. He had no choice but to move.
An opening! Lin Ye used Kamui-now in its complete form-to teleport behind Madara and pressed his hand against his back. "Human Path!"
Read memories, extract the soul. But Madara's will was too strong. The Human Path had no effect.
"Parlor tricks." Madara reached back and seized Lin Ye's hand. "You've lost."
"Have I?" Lin Ye smiled. "Look beneath your feet."
Madara looked down and saw that sealing formulas had somehow covered the ground. They came from the sealing scroll Karin had given Lin Ye earlier, and he had secretly laid them during the battle.
"Modified Reverse Four Symbols Seal!"
The black sealing formation activated, threatening to drag Madara into hell. Madara tried to switch places with a Limbo shadow, but the formation had locked down space. He couldn't shift away.
"Obito!" Madara shouted.
Obito tried to save him with Kamui, but Sasuke's Chidori Stream forced him back. Naruto's Tailed Beast Bomb struck Zetsu, blasting him away.
The sealing formation closed, dragging Madara inside. But at the last moment, he smiled. "Uchiha Ye, you've won this round. But the Eye of the Moon Plan will not stop. Obito, execute Plan B!"
"Yes!" Obito took Zetsu away with Kamui and vanished.
The formation was complete, and Madara was sealed. But Lin Ye knew this was only temporary. Madara's soul was too powerful; the Reverse Four Symbols Seal could hold him for a year at most.
He landed, his Rinnegan reverting to the Mangekyo, though its patterns now looked closer to the Rinnegan's ripples. Having overdrawn his eye power, he went blind again, but this time it was temporary.
"Ye!" Naruto caught him.
"I'm fine..." Lin Ye panted. "Fulfill Madara's unfulfilled wish. Bury him in the Uchiha Cemetery."
"But he's been sealed..."
"His sealed body is still a corpse. We can bury it."
Sasuke walked over and looked at the sealing formation. "So this is the Uchiha's ancestor... powerful, but he took the wrong path."
"Sasuke, what did you see?" Lin Ye asked.
"I saw the Uchiha's pride, and I saw their obsession," Sasuke said. "I won't become another Madara. I'll follow my own path."
"Good."
After treating herself, Sakura came over to treat Lin Ye. But his injuries were too severe. They needed to return to Konoha.
"Finish the mission first," Lin Ye said. "System, submit the unfulfilled wish."
[Submitting Madara Uchiha's unfulfilled wish.] [Completion: 80% (successfully buried, though not in the traditional sense).] [Rewards obtained: Rinnegan Fragments ×80 (reward reduced due to incomplete completion), fragmentary manual of the forbidden jutsu "Limbo: Border Jail" (can summon one shadow for 10 seconds).] [Current Rinnegan Fragments: 80/1000.]
Eighty fragments were still a long way from a thousand, but at least he had made progress. The fragmentary Limbo manual was also a powerful trump card.
"Let's return to Konoha."
The four left the Valley of the End with Madara's sealed body. After they departed, Obito and Zetsu emerged from the Kamui Dimension.
"Lord Madara has been sealed," Zetsu said.
"The plan remains unchanged," Obito said. "Collect the tailed beasts, resurrect the Ten-Tails, and activate Infinite Tsukuyomi. With Madara gone, I'll carry it out myself. Our next target is Killer B of the Eight-Tails."
"What about Uchiha Ye?"
"He's growing too quickly. We have to deal with him as soon as possible," Obito said. "Notify Nagato. Have him take action personally. It's time to make the world feel pain."
"Understood."
Silence returned to the Valley of the End. But the storm had already left the valley, sweeping toward the entire shinobi world.
Before you continue