But the result...
Two meteorites fell one after another, stacking atop the first like a pyramid — yet they didn't even cause the slightest ripple on the battlefield.
Seeing this, Madara's expression was unreadable, but Ōnoki, who was watching the battle from afar, nearly collapsed in despair.
Although he knew the man who once flattened Iwagakure with mountains was terrifying, he hadn't expected him to be this outrageous.
Could a human being really withstand that?
If it were only the first meteorite, perhaps he could have tried his best to stop it.
But three together? Even if he exhausted his life force, it would be impossible.
Yet that white-haired youth... he looked so relaxed. And he was only using one hand.
Kawaki Aoba indeed appeared at ease.
In fact, he was even hoping Madara would send a few more meteorites.
However, sensing the spatial fluctuations above — so faint they were almost imperceptible — Kawaki Aoba knew: three meteorites were Madara's limit.
Even Madara couldn't summon any more with Tengai Shinsei.
Moreover, summoning three meteorites in succession had placed an obvious strain on Madara — for just a moment, he seemed absent-minded.
Seizing this opportunity, Kawaki Aoba's construct struck without hesitation.
Countless streams of sand twisted into thick ropes, tightly binding Madara's Susanoo.
Normally, such restraints would have been meaningless against a complete body Susanoo, capable of shattering them with brute force.
However, the time it took to break free was enough for the Sand Giant Soldier to launch a devastating attack.
The Kusanagi Sword, gripped by the Sand Giant Soldier, slashed down fiercely.
Its golden light was dazzling to the extreme — so bright it could blind an ordinary shinobi.
This single strike consumed an enormous amount of chakra — enough to shatter even a full-body Susanoo.
And so it was.
The blade cleaved through Susanoo's outer Tengu armor, shattering it like brittle glass.
The muscles and bones beneath, constructed from chakra, fared no better — they split open like tofu.
Until the Kusanagi Sword struck the rhomboid crystal where Madara himself resided.
Here, it met true resistance.
But Kawaki Aoba was relentless.
The Sand Giant Soldier poured a massive amount of chakra into the Kusanagi Sword, forcing it against the crystal.
Crack, crack, crack...
Fissures webbed across the crystal, while Susanoo itself crumbled inch by inch.
At the same time, the Kusanagi Sword, unable to withstand the strain, began to fracture.
The two forces deadlocked.
Until, three seconds later—
Bang! Bang!
Two distinct shattering sounds echoed across the battlefield.
The rhomboid crystal protecting Madara fractured, exposing him — but the Kusanagi Sword, overloaded with energy, collapsed into shards.
Yet, the Sand Giant Soldier still had its fists.
It still had the sand — an endless supply since Kawaki Aoba's mastery over the Sand-Sand Fruit had awakened.
Without Susanoo's protection, Madara had no chance of resisting once entangled.
Even Kawaki Aoba believed the battle was decided.
But fate is never so simple.
---
"Wood Release: Wood Human Technique!"
Uchiha Madara roared.
From the sea of sand, a colossal wooden giant — nearly a hundred meters tall — erupted forth.
One massive hand caught Madara, while the other slammed into the Sand Giant Soldier, deflecting its attack.
But this battlefield, made of unstable quicksand, was no place for such a massive creature.
The Wood Human's enormous weight caused it to sink deeper with every second.
Yet Madara remained confident.
"Armored Susanoo," he muttered.
Kawaki Aoba was genuinely shaken now.
Madara's Wood Human, clad in full Susanoo armor — a technique combining Wood Release and the ultimate defensive chakra construct — was almost unheard of outside legends.
Only Hashirama Senju's True Several Thousand Hands could be said to surpass it.
Even so, Madara alone could replicate something close.
"Hahahaha! It's been so long since I've felt like this. Come, dance with me!"
The infamous Uchiha Dance King had truly returned.
---
Madara extended his invitation to battle, but Kawaki Aoba hesitated.
If he unleashed his full power — revealing his secret identity, the Hundred-Armed Guanyin — the balance of the world could collapse.
The other great villages would never tolerate such overwhelming power in Konoha's hands.
An alliance of the Five Great Nations against Konoha was possible.
And maybe... Madara himself would join them.
Fleeing was an option. Madara couldn't stop him if he chose to leave now.
But leaving? It left a bitter taste in Kawaki Aoba's mouth.
---
A plan took shape.
He would bet everything on one final strike — a trump card attack.
If Madara survived, Kawaki Aoba would withdraw temporarily.
If not... perhaps the world would change.
Resolute, Kawaki Aoba raised his hand, still balancing the three floating meteorites overhead with the powers of the Float-Float Fruit.
Under his control, the meteorites ascended higher, changing their trajectory.
The sun, blocked for so long, now shone down on him once more — casting a radiant halo around his figure.
Bathed in this artificial glory, Kawaki Aoba prepared to speak.
Madara, standing atop the armored Wood Human, paused.
Recognizing Kawaki Aoba as a worthy opponent, he waited patiently — curious to hear what he would say.
Madara even suspected that Kawaki Aoba might finally reveal his true motives — the real reason he had targeted him from the shadows all this time.
However, Uchiha Madara was destined to be disappointed.
The reason Kawaki Aoba did all this was simply to recreate a famous scene — and to record the moment forever.
In the distance, a Susanoo avatar had somehow detached from the Sand Golem and was now holding a camera, filming Madara Uchiha and Kawaki Aoba from a low angle.
"How many floors does a bag of rice have to carry? Two floors for one bag of rice. How tiring is it to carry a bag of rice? It's so tiring. There's mud in the rice. Who's giving you this bag of rice? Heavenly Punishment: Meteor Shower."
Madara Uchiha: "..."
After all this time, this is what you show me?
Madara felt like not only could he not understand Kawaki Aoba's strange speech, but he was also being mocked.
Without hesitation, Madara moved.
The wings of his Armored Susanoo flapped, and the Wood Golem beneath him began to rise again.
However, Kawaki Aoba, still striking a flamboyant pose, smiled.
He's really impatient. Doesn't he know to wait a little longer?
But judging from the distance… it was about time.
Standing atop the Susanoo-armored Wood Golem, Madara looked up at the sky — and his pupils shrank sharply.
"That is…"
From the heavens, meteors — trailing tails of flame — rained down toward the earth.
But that wasn't the most shocking part.
It wasn't just one, two, or even a dozen meteors — the sky was filled with them, too many to count, blotting out the stars.
Heavenly Punishment: Meteor Shower.
Madara suddenly remembered Kawaki Aoba's final words earlier.
It hadn't been nonsense — it had been the name of the large-scale ninjutsu the man was unleashing.
Facing the vast meteor storm, Madara felt no fear — only exhilaration.
It had been so long since he'd felt this way — not since he fought Hashirama Senju.
The threat posed by this Meteor Shower technique was second only to Hashirama's Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands — the colossal deity of battle.
"Not bad… dancing, you bastard."
Madara's eyes gleamed.
"I, Madara Uchiha, acknowledge you. After Hashirama… and that guy you controlled… you're the third worthy opponent.
Then… let us dance properly."
Madara was ablaze with fighting spirit, energized beyond his years.
However, Kawaki Aoba had no intention of staying to "dance" with him.
The meteor shower descending from the heavens was a completely uncontrollable large-scale bombardment.
Those meteors?
They were massive rocks that Kawaki Aoba had earlier lifted into near-orbit using the powers of the Float-Float Fruit — the Devil Fruit ability famously wielded by Donquixote Rocinante in another world — and held suspended until now.
What Kawaki did moments ago was simply release them — canceling their floating status, letting gravity do the rest.
The biggest flaw of such an attack was its lack of accuracy.
But in the face of overwhelming numbers, pinpoint precision was meaningless.
This was pure saturation attack.
Leaving Madara alone to face it, Kawaki Aoba grabbed the unconscious Third Raikage and teleported away using Shangri-La: Dimensional Array.
As for Ōnoki — that stubborn old man — he would have to fend for himself.
Teleporting to where the Auspicious Three Treasures awaited, Kawaki Aoba found that the Susanoo avatar had already arrived via Shangri-La's spatial ability.
On the ground, Kisame Hoshigaki lay like a corpse.
Kawaki casually revived him by pulling his soul back from the Pure Land using a secret technique.
"Hey, hey, wake up, Kisame Hoshigaki. Come on — watch the meteor shower."
Kisame, freshly dragged back from the brink of death, opened his eyes in a daze.
And what he saw instantly jolted him fully awake.
Meteors — tens of thousands, maybe more — were falling from the heavens.
The sky itself was bathed in red, lit by the flaming tails of the falling rocks.
The scene was so unreal that Kisame wondered if he were dreaming.
"Wait… what's going on? That thing… that can't be real. How could any ninja…"
He sat bolt upright, muttering to himself.
Before him stood the colossal Wood Golem, desperately withstanding the endless meteor storm.
As for Madara Uchiha — nestled within the Susanoo armor protecting the Golem — he was too small to be seen from this distance.
"This isn't a dream," a deep voice said beside him.
Raikage Yotsuki (A) — the former Third Raikage — appeared, patting Kisame's shoulder.
"You're seeing it for real. That big guy was created by Madara Uchiha — the one who killed you earlier. Impressive, huh? That's the Asura of the Shinobi World."
Kisame turned and stared blankly at the Raikage.
Because he'd died early, Kisame had missed much of the god-like battle that unfolded afterward.
At this moment, Yotsuki A smiled mysteriously and said,
"Want to know something crazy?
This entire meteor shower? That's all thanks to our leader."
"All of it…? No wonder it's so spectacular."
Kisame thought he'd get up in shock — but instead, he just flopped back down lazily, completely overwhelmed.
The sight made Raikage Yotsuki's mouth twitch.
In the end, he let Kisame be and silently watched the meteor shower with the others.
Of them all, the one who observed most seriously was undoubtedly the Third Raikage.
From beginning to end, this battle had shattered his expectations:
The appearance of a revived Madara Uchiha…
The terrifying combat strength…
And now, the overwhelming meteor shower that even Kage-level techniques could not hope to stop.
Whether it was their mysterious "leader"…
Or Madara Uchiha himself…
Or even the "deputy leader" standing among them…
Each of them possessed a sense of oppression so immense that it made it hard to breathe.
Their power transcended words.
Oh, and that "deputy leader" — while a bit weaker than the other two — was still far beyond any ordinary Kage-level powerhouse.
Just these three alone…
Their very existence was a threat to the entire Shinobi World.
And their leader…
He even mastered a technique capable of altering the heavens themselves.
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