Uchiha Madara's words, and the scene unfolding in the sky, made Namikaze Minato's heart clench in dread. If Madara had truly killed Kaede, then the world would fall entirely into his hands, becoming nothing more than a dream world of illusion.
Gripping his Flying Thunder God kunai tightly, Minato hurled it toward Kaede's direction, trying desperately to intervene.
But,
At almost the exact same moment...
A hand suddenly stretched out from the twisted, mangled mass in midair and flicked away the incoming Truth-Seeking Orb with a casual tap.
Then, the distorted clump rapidly began to reconstitute itself. In just an instant, it had returned to Kaede's original form, his body bathed in a faint golden glow as he floated calmly in the sky.
"This is…"
Minato was stunned by what he saw.
Even Madara froze, and then his pupils contracted sharply. In his Rinnegan vision, he could clearly see that Kaede hadn't just recovered physically, his chakra had also been completely restored to its previous level!
And what was even more bizarre was that this restoration didn't come from absorbing energy from the surroundings. It was as if everything, chakra, body, power, had simply reappeared out of nothing, conjured back into existence.
"…Among all the shinobi I've encountered, you too are the strongest."
"But it's about time we end this."
Bathed in a golden radiance, Kaede spoke calmly as he looked at Madara. Then with a flicker, he flew straight toward him.
Seeing Kaede approach, Madara felt a rare jolt of fear, something he hadn't experienced in years. His chakra and ocular power had been heavily depleted. At best, he had only a third of his strength left. Even maintaining four Limbo clones was becoming difficult.
Gritting his teeth, Madara forced out another set of Limbo clones and lunged at Kaede, swinging his Truth-Seeking Orb staff in a desperate counterattack.
But,
Kaede didn't even flinch.
He didn't dodge. He didn't swing his sword. He didn't move defensively at all. He simply flew straight toward Madara, ignoring the attacks entirely.
The moment the Limbo clones made contact with Kaede's body, they froze in midair, wavered slightly, and then dissolved into shimmering white motes of light.
"…What?!"
Madara's eyes filled with disbelief.
As Kaede advanced, his four Limbo clones crumbled one after another. Even the Truth-Seeking Ball that Madara swung at him disintegrated instantly upon touching Kaede, vanishing without a trace into the air.
Smack.
Kaede reached out, pressing his palm gently against Madara's chest, and gave a light push.
He didn't use Six Paths power. He didn't use his Tenseigan.
From beginning to end, Kaede used only one ability: God-Eclipse: Time Reversal.
Once this ability could be extended beyond himself, used on others and the outside world, it became an extraordinarily potent offensive technique.
However,
For older shinobi, rewinding a year or two, or even four or five years, didn't produce any significant effect. The energy stored within the Illusory Clock could only rewind time by at most around thirty years.
If he had used it on someone like Sarutobi Hiruzen, it would've simply returned him to his prime, offering little advantage. And depleting all the stored time energy at once would leave Kaede unable to use any other time-based abilities for a while.
So up until now, he had never used Time Reversal offensively.
Not even once.
But this time, he did, because against Madara, this was the perfect counter.
And he didn't need to rewind very far.
"…What is this?"
Madara felt Kaede's hand press against his chest, and as he was pushed backward, he suddenly sensed something strange: the vast amount of Six Paths chakra he had expended began to return.
Even the power of his Rinnegan surged back to its peak within a single instant.
But,
There was no joy in his expression.
Because the reversal didn't stop there.
His body began regressing further and further in time… until cracks began forming across his skin.
The Edo Tensei state.
Could an Edo Tensei vessel become the Jinchuriki of the Ten Tails?
The answer, of course, was no.
Within Madara's unraveling body, the Ten Tails, which now resembled a chick breaking out of its shell, burst forth, tearing free from him and crashing down onto the earth below with a thunderous boom.
As the Ten Tails left his body, Madara's aura rapidly diminished.
Crack!
Kaede appeared beside him again, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him into the air. Six Paths chakra surged into Madara's body, suppressing his Edo Tensei form completely.
"You… What… did you do…"
Madara's voice was hoarse as he glared at Kaede, eyes wide in disbelief.
But deep inside, he already had an idea.
That perfect regeneration, restoring chakra, even ocular power… the strange regression of his body back to Edo Tensei…
Time reversal.
"You've already guessed it, haven't you?"
Kaede looked at him calmly. Then, with his left hand, he reached toward Madara's eyes, and casually dug out both Rinnegan.
Because Madara had reverted to his Edo Tensei state, his eye sockets began reassembling phantom versions of the Rinnegan almost immediately, fragments coalescing in an attempt to regenerate.
But,
Kaede raised his right palm. Six Paths power condensed into a Truth-Seeking Orb and shot through Madara's skull, then spread through his body, completely pulverizing it into nothing.
"…I lost…?"
In the final instant before his consciousness faded, Madara's heart was filled with confusion.
He had never considered the possibility of defeat.
Not after obtaining the Sage of Six Paths' power.
And yet he had lost everything.
That single, stunned thought dissolved into nothingness…
As his mind slipped into eternal darkness.
Kaede slowly released his grip.
Powdered fragments of Madara's body scattered from his hand, dissolving into the air.
He looked down at the pair of Rinnegan in his left hand. After sensing the remaining ocular power within, he calmly pressed them toward his own eye sockets.
The Tenseigan and Rinnegan made contact.
The Rinnegan rapidly shriveled, their chakra being fully absorbed into Kaede's Tenseigan, until nothing remained but fine dust, which scattered into the wind.
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Below.
A dead silence fell across the battlefield.
Minato, the First Raikage, the Fourth Raikage… all of them stared in stunned silence, momentarily unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Even the surviving shinobi of Kumogakure were frozen, eyes wide, minds blank.
This was…
What had just happened?
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