Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 256 Eye-Catching and Resurrection

"Nagato! You'll die if you keep going like this. You can't follow this damn thing's rhythm."

Ban's body was shattered once again, and a large number of fragments flew in the wind.

Normally, he could use Limbo shadows to take the hit for him, but all the shadows had already been used up in the intense battle. If no shadows had instantly replaced the main body to absorb the damage, he and Nagato wouldn't have lasted this long.

However, this tactic is essentially a short-sighted approach, merely trying to postpone the point at which defeat and death will occur.

Now, he has been scattered by the opposing Tree Spirit once again, and has reached a passive state where he can no longer use his shadow. He can only activate his complete Susanoo and use his enormous size to fight against the tiny Tree Spirit. Even so, Susanoo is riddled with holes and is teetering on the brink of collapse under the Tree Spirit's storm of attacks.

Even if the physical skills of the Divine Tree Man are not as good as Jigen's, they are still far beyond what ordinary ninjas can imagine.

Nagato's situation was even worse. Unlike Madara, he didn't have an immortal body or unlimited chakra. Every time he fought head-on, he was overdrawing the power of his Rinnegan. If there was any use to his resistance just now, it was that it allowed him to generate enough Sage Chakra to successfully enter Sage Mode.

Nagato's soaring physique and the cooperation of the Frog Kumite allowed him to challenge the God Tree Man in hand-to-hand combat. However, in one-on-one situations, he struggled to find a way to break the deadlock. Even when he teamed up with his shadow, he was repeatedly kicked away.

However, this arduous resistance was not without effect; they keenly sensed the changes in the Tree People.

"It seems it wasn't just my imagination. His rational thinking doesn't seem as sharp as it was at the beginning. Perhaps this is something we can use... What's your plan?"

Nagato used the Frog Kumite to forcefully knock the God Tree Man away. Looking at the unharmed enemy, and then at Madara's Susanoo, which had been badly damaged by another God Tree Man, a trace of helplessness flashed in his eyes: "We don't have many chances left. If we fail, we will have no choice but to abandon the Land of Rain and retreat."

A direct confrontation would be futile, and escape? Even if they could escape, letting those two monsters go would practically guarantee the Land of Rain's demise. More importantly, given Madara Uchiha's pride, he would never flee from an enemy that appeared out of nowhere!

Ban's eyes were fierce as he hesitated over the plan he had just devised, but he wasn't sure he would win. Just then, things changed.

The two Tree Spirits paused simultaneously, their expressions becoming blank and rigid. Although their overall strength had not decreased, their speed noticeably slowed down when they charged forward again.

This was very strange, but given Madara and Nagato's intelligence analysis abilities, they immediately realized what it was.

"This thing has split up again? It seems that Kaedeji Tsukasa is doing a good job in Iwagakure. We've actually managed to team up with him again in this way."

"Iwagakure has been destroyed; he's facing eight of them!"

Spot nodded. Although he also had extremely powerful perception, the information he could detect over long distances was very limited. He could only confirm that a great battle had broken out in the northwest and that the tremors from the earth and air were real.

Nagato, having entered Sage Mode, could clearly see the scene in the distance.

Having undergone multiple splits, the Tree People's intelligence plummeted once again. They made unconscious noises and were constantly panting heavily, as if they were only now beginning to show signs of exhaustion after the battle.

Madara and Nagato simultaneously realized that their opportunity had arrived.

"The key is intelligence and physical strength, huh? I see. So that's the price of this ability." Madara's expression became very strange.

Each of the split entities possesses the exact same strength. Judging from the current situation, being able to split into double digits of itself... this ability is undeniably powerful. Even with issues of intelligence and physical strength to address, if the number of splits is calculated in advance, it could be considered a divine skill.

With eyes like these, the spots are definitely a must-have!

“Watch out, those guys are going to charge again.” Nagato’s face was grim. “I don’t think we can hold out for much longer. If the enemy splits up again, we’ll die even faster. We’ll fall before the enemy can hold on.”

The two Tree Spirits' faces were contorted and twitching, their rationality fading and their violent instincts surging.

"Now that we've cracked their intelligence, we absolutely cannot let them go. Nagato, cover me!" Madara's eyes flashed with a fierce light as he controlled his Susanoo to charge forward, simultaneously forming hand seals.

He pulled three meteorites down from outer space, casting terrifying shadows on the earth, carrying a devastating pressure and an aura that could annihilate life on the surface, leaving Nagato utterly horrified.

"Are you crazy? If you do that, the Land of Rain will be—"

"What does it have to do with anything? Are you going to sacrifice yourself and use the Samsara Rebirth Technique to revive the dead in the Land of Rain? Don't be ridiculous. That's something Kaedeji likes to do, not something you should do."

Madara forcefully interrupted, drawing his katana and slashing down fiercely, simultaneously launching an attack with the falling celestial meteor.

Boom boom boom!
Three deafening roars seemed to damage the hearing of the world, rendering them unable to perceive sound. However, the sharp shrieks gradually dissipated. If one looked down from the sky, one could see three enormous craters appearing in the Land of Rain. Terrifying earthquakes spread outwards, cracks appeared everywhere, destroying towns and swallowing lives.

The shockwave also sent the Treant flying, but it was hard to say exactly how much damage it would cause.

At least it bought them a few precious seconds to catch their breath.

"hateful!!"

Although Nagato didn't understand what Madara was going to do, he had no choice at the moment. He mustered his last bit of strength and shouted, "Planetary Devastation!"

An unprecedentedly powerful repulsive force erupted from Nagato, lifting the three shattered meteorites back into the sky and reshaping them into an even larger sphere.

Madara released Susanoo, his eyes widened, and his figure entered the portal, immediately appearing beside a Tree Spirit. He then kicked out with a sudden kick, sending the Tree Spirit flying into the sphere in the sky.

First came the impact of the Heavenly Obstruction Star, followed by the pulling of the Earth Explosion Star. This back and forth made the not-so-bright mind of the Divine Tree Man even more confused, giving Ban an opportunity.

"In that case, there will only be one Tree Spirit left... before the other Tree Spirit escapes."

Ban's figure flashed, rushing to the edge of a collapsed pit, and reached out to grab the other's eyes.

The tree spirit had already reacted, raising its hand and a large tree growing from its palm. In an instant, it devoured Madara, frantically absorbing Madara's chakra. The tree was constantly growing, and it looked like it was about to envelop Madara's body.

Once sealed, even Madara, with his Impure World Body, cannot escape.

The Divine Tree Man struggled to turn its not-so-bright head, looked at Madara who had been completely swallowed up, and confirmed that Madara was no longer a threat. It then turned its eyes and fixed them on Nagato.

Once he defeats Nagato, no one will be able to stop him, and he can then directly drag the other Ten-Tails' husk back—that's the theoretical framework.

"Oh?"

The Tree Spirit sensed something, stiffly turning its head to see the body of the man being swallowed by the tree slowly disappearing. A completely new man appeared beside the tree, one of his Rinnegan eyes now devoid of light, its pupil turning grayish-white. The man himself was rushing across this extremely short distance at an astonishing speed, suddenly appearing on the tree's face.

Pfft!

With one hand outstretched, he gouged out the two Rinnegan eyes of the Divine Tree Man.

The whole process was incredibly smooth, as if it had been practiced countless times, followed by Ban's maniacal laughter.

"Hmph hmph hmph hmph... Hahahahahahahahaha!!!"

Madara looked at the two Rinnegan eyes on his left hand with his single eye, trembling with excitement and his expression contorted.

This was the result he wanted: to have a new pair of eyes! It was the core of his entire plan!

The last time he tried to steal eyes was when he went to Konoha to steal Obito's pair of near-eternal eyes that he was unable to complete the fusion of his eye power, but he was intercepted by Kaede Tsukasa. This time, no one will stop him because there are many Rinnegan!

Kaede Tsukasa was also unable to free his hands, as he was entangled by even more Rinnegan!

He has truly obtained a pair of Rinnegan.

The blind tree spirit immediately let out a shrill scream. Even if he was brainless, he could understand what this meant—a drop in intelligence and becoming an idiot were two different things.

Even small animals know how to seek advantage and avoid harm, let alone his current level of intelligence, which is much higher than that of small animals.

Nagato struggled to press another Tree Spirit into a rock sphere floating in the sky, taking in all of Madara's actions with a complex expression.

He should be happy, at least he has crippled one of the Divine Tree People, and he only needs to kill one more to win, but the truth is that he is not happy at all - because Madara himself is not a good person, and the previous cooperation was based on the fact that Madara was a dead man, and not only could he not exert his true strength, but he also had to rely on him.

"Now that the eye problem is solved, at least I don't have to worry about him finding a chance to ambush me and gouge out my eyes, but..."

Nagato sighed inwardly, listening to the deafening roar from the sky. Countless branches sprouted from the rock sphere, winding and spreading out densely. He knew that the Divine Tree Man had forcibly broken through the Earth Explosion Star.

Neither he nor Madara expected to be able to seal such a powerful enemy with this thing from the beginning; it was purely to buy time.

The blind tree spirit roared madly, more like a wild beast than ever before, attacking wildly and without any strategy.

"Bandit, now all we need to do is work together to take care of this—"

"You can handle this yourself. I have more important things to do."

Ban left those words behind and, without even having time to kill the blind treant, rushed off in a certain direction.

Nagato: "?"

Nagato watched as the enraged Tree Spirit charged towards him. It seemed that the emotional changes of one split entity could be perfectly transmitted to the other, and now only he could withstand the first wave of attacks.

As for Madara, he went straight for the bewildered and uncertain Chiyo!

Ban is now very grateful that the old woman has a good ability to survive, having hidden far away beforehand and managed to stay alive until now.

"Heh, looks like you've been targeted by that guy." Sasori of the Red Sand immediately opened the scroll and summoned hundreds of puppets from it, which were none other than his strongest technique, Hundred Puppet Manipulation.

Chiyo gasped for breath, vaguely understanding what White wanted to do. She also threw out a puppet to fight back desperately, but it was completely useless.

With a single slash from Susanoo's katana, dozens of puppets were reduced to dust, and the remaining puppets couldn't even break through Susanoo's defenses.

Sasori snorted coldly. The Third Kazekage puppet behind him was already ready. The iron sand that had been attached to the ground suddenly activated and grabbed Madara inside Susanoo, about to pull him out.

Chiyo tacitly prepared the Lion's Roar Sealing Technique, intending to seal Madara in one fell swoop.

But Madara's expression was cold, and he had no intention of playing house with the grandfather and grandson. The moment he was grabbed, a repulsive force burst out from his body, pushing away all the sand and iron. With a backhand, he used Universal Pull to forcibly suck Chiyo into Susanoo.

Sasori's expression instantly darkened. He could kill his grandmother, but no one else could, especially not a dead man like Madara!

"The dead should go back to the Pure Land and stop showing their claws in the mortal world."

Sasori of the Red Sand launched an attack without regard for anything else, but it was no match for Madara's Susanoo at all—if it couldn't stop the Otsutsuki and the God Tree Man, it couldn't stop a puppeteer like you.

“Kid, in a place like the Land of Rain, I’ve dealt with Chiyo far more than you have. I know better than you how to get this old guy to do his job.”

Madara grabbed Chiyo by the neck, showing no intention of communicating with her, and used his only remaining eye to cast a genjutsu, forcing Chiyo to perform the spell.

And the technique he used was... the technique of rebirth!

Chiyo's eyes were lifeless, she had lost her will, and mechanically followed Madara's orders to form hand seals. When her hands were placed on Madara's body, it meant that the spell had been successfully cast.

A continuous stream of life flowed into Ban's incredibly old and cracked body. With a hissing sound, the cracks disappeared, and his cold body finally came back to life.

The pulse returned, the blood flowed again, and the feeling of fresh flesh and blood filled Ban with immense pleasure.

Although he was resurrected in a frail and elderly state, and would be a weak old man even after surviving, that was enough.

His eyes were shattered like glass, clearly because the real Rinnegan was with Nagato, and the Impure World Reincarnation technique was simply insufficient to replicate eyes of the Rinnegan's level.

Madara immediately stuffed the Rinnegan he had just stolen into his own eye sockets.

As blood dripped, new eyes rolled around, making Madara's expression twist with excitement: "That's right, a vibrant body, powerful eyes... This is what it feels like to be alive, hahahahahahaha!!!"

Next, as long as he finds a way to become the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki, he can still become one of the top figures in the ninja world!
(End of this chapter)