"Do you know the location of the Four-Tails' jinchūriki?"
Hearing Madara suddenly ask this, Black Zetsu immediately understood that Madara intended to act personally. With a strange smile, he replied, "Of course. During your absence, I did quite a bit of preparation."
On the second night, deep within a dense forest, a middle-aged man dressed in purple was moving at extreme speed.
His movements were as agile as an ape's, leaping across thick branches while occasionally turning back with a solemn expression to check behind him.
Just as he paused on the branch of a giant tree, thinking he had finally shaken off his pursuer, a clear voice came from above.
"Four-Tails' jinchūriki… where do you think you're escaping to?"
Rōshi looked up.
Standing at the edge of a cliff above him was a man with black hair and crimson armor. His expression was cold and grim as he stared down.
Beneath the dark bangs, a pair of purple eyes—patterned like rippling rings of wood—radiated a terrifying, godlike power.
Rōshi's voice sank.
"Who are you? Why are you chasing me?"
He was originally a ninja of Iwagakure and the jinchūriki of the Four-Tails. Because of his strained relationship with the previous Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, he eventually left the village and wandered the world as a monk.
Since Ryoma unified the continent, wars had disappeared and peace had spread everywhere. Rōshi had been enjoying this free life like a wandering crane.
Originally, he had planned to visit Amegakure to relax in its famous hot springs.
But on the way, he encountered the man before him—someone clearly targeting him from the start.
Madara spoke calmly.
"I have no interest in you. What I want is the Four-Tails inside your body."
"Hmph. So it really is the tailed beast you're after."
Rōshi had hoped to avoid conflict and simply escape. Unfortunately, reality rarely followed one's wishes.
This battle was unavoidable.
"Melt Release: Chakra Mode!"
Jumping down from the tree, Rōshi's entire body was instantly wrapped in scorching lava. The ground beneath his feet charred and sank, as if everything he touched would melt.
He didn't know Madara's identity, but the overwhelming pressure he felt from the man forced him to immediately use his strongest technique.
With molten armor covering his body, both his offense and defense were greatly enhanced. Anyone who attempted to attack him would be burned by the lava coating his body.
"Melt Release: Scorching Rock Stream!"
Rōshi opened his mouth and fired more than a dozen blazing magma spheres toward Madara.
However—
Just before they struck their target, the magma spheres were violently deflected in all directions.
In the next instant, several invisible forces slammed into Rōshi's body.
His molten armor shattered instantly.
Rōshi couldn't even see Madara's figure.
His body was blasted backward and smashed into a distant rock wall, carving a massive crater into the stone.
Madara walked forward slowly.
Halfway there, he suddenly stopped.
From the smoke ahead, a crimson chakra erupted skyward.
"Oh?"
Madara's gaze turned cold.
"Half-transformed already?"
In the clearing stood Rōshi, now on all fours, his body enveloped in dark red chakra.
Violent chakra surged from him.
His eyes had become feral, filled with madness, and four massive tails swung wildly behind him as he breathed heavily.
The fusion of Melt Release and tailed beast chakra produced an astonishing heat. Even from a distance, the scorching air distorted the space between them.
BOOM!
Rōshi suddenly opened his mouth.
A dense mass of pitch-black chakra rapidly gathered, compressing into a miniature sphere in front of him.
"A Tailed Beast Ball…"
Madara's tone was indifferent.
"I do feel a little nostalgic."
He looked at the growing sphere with clear disdain.
"But compared to the Nine-Tails back then…"
"This level of power is far too lacking."
Just as Madara finished speaking, the Tailed Beast Ball gathered in Rōshi's mouth was already fired.
The pitch-black sphere shot forward like a meteor. Its terrifying impact tore open the ground along its path, carving a deep trench as it rushed toward Madara with earth-shattering power.
At that moment, Madara slowly extended his left hand behind him.
In an instant, a massive war fan appeared in his grasp.
This was the Gunbai—a treasured weapon passed down through generations of the Uchiha clan. Carved from sacred wood, it possessed the ability to absorb chakra and reflect an opponent's attack back at them. During the Warring States Period, Madara had relied on this very weapon to counter countless ninjutsu and defeat many powerful shinobi.
"Uchiha Reflection."
With a powerful swing, Madara slammed the Gunbai forward.
The Tailed Beast Ball collided with the fan like a cannonball. The dense chakra was immediately absorbed into the Gunbai, only to be redirected and released again under Madara's control.
A massive storm burst forth.
The rebounded force formed a colossal tornado that tore through everything in its path.
BOOM!
The surrounding forest was devastated in an instant. Trees, rocks, and soil were ripped apart by the overwhelming force. Within several kilometers, the land was nearly wiped clean by the destructive energy.
The violent shockwave spread outward like a tidal wave of air, traveling nearly eight kilometers before gradually dissipating.
(End of Chapter)
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