Clash

Satoru Gojo loosened up briefly, turning his neck from side to side with faint clicks and stretching his wrists and ankles.

His posture was relaxed, as though he were about to do some morning exercise rather than fight a battle.

"It's fine to go all out," he said with a smile. "In fact, that's what I want you to do."

Madara stood ten meters across from him, his black uniform stirring slightly in the evening breeze.

He did not answer, only took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

The next second, his eyes changed.

His black pupils instantly turned blood-red. Three tomoe appeared in his irises, spun, then stretched, connected, and transformed-forming a more complex pattern.

His Mangekyō Sharingan activated.

At the same time, he began concentrating his cursed energy to channel his cursed technique.

"Susanoo!"

Cursed energy erupted from his body like a volcano.

A twenty-meter-tall blue giant, formed only from the waist up, rose from the ground. Blue energy flesh enveloped its bones, and four thick arms extended from its shoulders.

The giant enclosed Madara in the center of its chest, like the core of a suit of armor.

The air trembled, the ground cracked, and the intense fluctuations of cursed energy sent the branches and leaves of the distant woods thrashing wildly.

Gojo looked up at the enormous figure, his smile widening.

"Oh? Your cursed technique is getting more and more refined~" His tone was that of a teacher seeing a student turn in an excellent assignment. "Looks like I'll have to get serious too."

He raised a hand and removed his blindfold.

The black fabric slipped away, revealing those azure eyes-at that moment, Susanoo's outline was reflected in them.

In the distance, Panda sucked in a breath. "Seriously?! We'd better move farther back."

Inumaki had already silently retreated ten meters. "Salmon."

Maki tightened her grip on her naginata, her eyes behind her lenses fixed on the center of the battlefield.

Even from this far away, she could clearly feel Susanoo's oppressive presence. A mass of cursed energy on that scale was beyond what "Grade 3" or "Grade 2" could describe.

"You've already grown this much, Madara..." she murmured.

At the center of the battlefield, Madara stood within Susanoo's protection, his blood-red eyes looking through the giant's translucent body at Gojo.

"Here I come, Gojo-sensei."

Susanoo raised two arms. The outlines of enormous blades gathering in its palms instantly solidified into two deep-blue swords nearly ten meters long, which swung down fiercely at Gojo with the force to cleave through everything!

The enormous blades tore through the air with a piercing shriek, their wind pressure plowing deep furrows into the ground along their path.

The two swords crossed, sealing off every avenue of escape, as though they would crush Gojo and everything around him.

BOOM-!!!

The enormous blades struck, sending dust billowing into the sky.

Rubble and dirt sprayed like a torrential downpour. Shock waves spread in every direction, buffeting the distant trees until they swayed wildly.

But Madara's Sharingan caught it.

The instant the enormous blades touched Gojo, some invisible "wall" stood in their way.

No-the enormous blades hung less than half a meter above Gojo's head, unable to advance even a fraction farther, no matter what-not blocked, but "forever unable to arrive."

Limitless.

Infinitely approaching, but never intersecting.

Gojo stood at the center of the dust cloud, without even the hem of his clothes stirring.

He raised his right hand, palm up.

"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue."

A deep-blue sphere of energy condensed from pure cursed energy appeared in his palm.

The sphere was small, only the size of a basketball in diameter, but the density of the cursed energy compressed inside it was terrifyingly high, distorting the surrounding space.

The moment the energy sphere appeared, it unleashed a powerful gravitational pull.

The billowing dust, flying rubble, and even light were dragged toward it.

The view cleared instantly.

Susanoo's two enormous blades had indeed hit Gojo-or rather, they had hit that stretch of "infinite" space above him.

Between the edges of the enormous blades and Gojo lay a distance that could never be crossed.

Gojo smiled faintly and pushed his palm forward.

Blue became a beam of blue light that instantly slammed into Susanoo's breastplate.

Web-like cracks appeared across Susanoo's breastplate, but the flowing cursed energy quickly repaired them.

"Oh my." Gojo tilted his head, a flicker of interest passing through his Six Eyes. "It's tougher than I imagined. With that defense, even a full-power strike from a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit might not break through."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Susanoo's overall structure.

"But it seems to have a weakness-can you not move in this form?"

Madara stood inside Susanoo. Although it had blocked that strike, the impact had still reached him.

"I can't move yet," he answered honestly.

"So that means you'll be able to later? Once you've fully developed your cursed technique."

"I'm not sure either."

Madara was telling the truth.

Perfect Susanoo could certainly move, and even fight in flight-but Perfect Susanoo was far too enormous. Using it would inevitably cause a commotion.

It was not time yet.

Gojo seemed to accept his explanation and nodded. "I see. Still under development, then. Well-"

Before he finished speaking, Gojo vanished.

The visual tracking ability of the Six Eyes, combined with Limitless's manipulation of space, allowed him to move almost as though he were teleporting.

But Madara's Sharingan caught it.

Behind me!

Red light flashed in Madara's eyes. Almost simultaneously, Susanoo's remaining two arms slammed backward, crashing down like two small blue mountains.

BAM!!!

The arms struck the ground, shattering it and sending up another cloud of dust.

But amid the dust, Gojo had already appeared in another direction-on Madara's left, barely five meters away.

He stood there at ease, as though he had never moved.

"Oh my, your motion tracking is very good too." Gojo clapped his hands as if applauding. "Even a Special Grade Cursed Spirit might not be able to track my movements. But-"

He extended his index finger and wagged it lightly.

"That still won't get you through Limitless. So, what are you going to do?"

Madara remained silent.

His Sharingan spun furiously, analyzing the situation before him.

Limitless-an absolute defense operating on the level of space. Any attack approaching Gojo would be infinitely delayed, never reaching him.

Unless he neutralized it with Domain Expansion or forcibly broke through with some cursed technique capable of interfering with space.

But as he was now, he could do neither.

Then...

Madara formed hand seals again.

All four of Susanoo's arms rose at once, a deep-blue, tomoe-shaped mass of energy forming in each palm.

Yasaka Magatama.

This was one of Susanoo's ranged attacks.

"Yasaka Magatama!"

The four magatama shot out simultaneously, but not toward Gojo-they targeted the ground around him.

Gojo raised an eyebrow.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM-!!!

Four explosions rang out almost simultaneously.

The magatama struck the ground, unleashing terrifying force. The ground beneath Gojo collapsed, and his whole body dropped.

But he merely stepped lightly, and an invisible force supported his body, leaving him suspended in midair.

And at that very instant-

Madara dismissed Susanoo.

The twenty-meter-tall blue giant instantly dispersed into specks of light that filled the air.

Madara dropped from midair, then activated Domain Amplification.

He spread his cursed energy in a specific form, creating a small barrier capable of interfering with cursed techniques.

Although it could not completely neutralize Limitless, it could at least create a "technique-free" zone at close range, weakening its effect.

But a problem arose.

Susanoo had now become a cursed technique, as had the Sharingan.

So using Susanoo meant he could not use Domain Amplification, and using Domain Amplification meant he could not use Susanoo.

The same applied to the Sharingan. He had to make a choice.

And Madara chose-

To deactivate his Sharingan.

His blood-red pupils turned black again, and the Mangekyō pattern disappeared.

At the same time, however, Domain Amplification stabilized.

Madara pushed off with his feet, his body shooting like an arrow straight toward Gojo, who hovered in midair.

Gojo's eyes lit up.

"Using Amplification to close in is certainly a good choice. Giving up ranged attacks and defense in exchange for a chance to break through Limitless-a very decisive judgment."

He remained suspended in the air, watching Madara rapidly approach.

"But!"

The instant Madara entered the five-meter radius around him, Gojo voluntarily deactivated Limitless.

The infinite distance disappeared.

Madara's fist, carrying concentrated cursed energy, drove toward Gojo's face without obstruction.

But Gojo was faster.

Just as the fist was about to touch his skin, Gojo's right hand darted out like a snake and precisely caught Madara's wrist.

Madara's pupils contracted.

He deactivated Limitless himself!?

He reacted immediately, twisting his captured right wrist to try to break free while driving his left fist toward Gojo's abdomen and kicking his right foot at Gojo's knee.

But Gojo moved faster than him.

Just before Madara's left hand and right foot landed, Gojo pulled Madara's right hand toward himself while turning sideways, tipping Madara's center of gravity forward.

Both the left punch and the kick missed.

At that moment, Madara's Sharingan activated again-the Mangekyō pattern appeared instantly, and Susanoo's skeleton and one arm burst from his body, attempting to force Gojo back.

"Not a chance."

Gojo's voice was calm and even.

Before Susanoo could fully form, Gojo's free left hand had already pressed against Madara's abdomen.

With his palm against the uniform, his cursed energy compressed and released in an instant.

BAM-!!!

A dull impact sounded, like a heavy hammer striking a punching bag.

Madara's body doubled over, his eyes flying wide.

Web-like cracks appeared across Susanoo's bones before they shattered completely, dispersing into specks of light.

He flew backward, tracing an arc through the air before slamming heavily into the ground twenty meters away and rolling several more times before coming to a stop.

Dust billowed.

Gojo stood where he was and brushed nonexistent dust off his hands.

"We're not done yet."

He watched Madara struggle to push himself up in the distance. For the first time, a truly serious look appeared in his azure Six Eyes.

"Get up, Madara."

"Let me see just where your limits lie."