I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 654 Many happy things are based on self-harm.

"As expected of the Fourth Hokage who bears the name of Hokage, you are worthy of my utmost effort! Please me!"

As the giant wooden figure rose up and gradually absorbed the power of the tailed beast, Madara Uchiha, located within Susanoo, laughed heartily, even though the aura emanating from Susanoo had been completely suppressed by the wooden figure.

Standing atop the wooden doll's head, Tatsuma looked at the two-faced, four-armed Susanoo before him with considerable astonishment. Even in his old age, was Madara Uchiha's power still so formidable?

It merely replenished some of its life force, and the power it unleashed—the power of Susanoo—would probably be enough to slap Tianfeng repeatedly across the face with four hands.

Moreover, judging from Madara Uchiha's words, this doesn't seem to be over yet. Could he possibly continue to perfect his Susanoo? With just those transplanted three-tomoe Sharingan? How is that possible?

At this moment, Tatsuma was no longer as relaxed as when he first arrived. He originally lent his life force to Uchiha Madara only so that Madara could unleash greater power, thus making him sincerely praise Madara's power.

But Madara's power truly surpasses his own.

Suddenly, a white Zetsu emerged from the ground, holding something in its hands and offering it to Uchiha Madara.

Madara did not immediately accept it, but instead formed hand seals and said, "Let me show you the true power of Susanoo! A power that only Hashirama could resist, but unfortunately he is no longer here."

As he spoke, the Susanoo with two faces and four arms formed hand seals. Soon, even more surging chakra covered the Susanoo, further perfecting its form, and its flesh began to be covered with armor.

The two sides gradually merged, and Susanoo continued to grow taller, gradually forming a tengu mask. Its two arms also began to be covered with feathers, as if they were about to transform into wings, but they stopped halfway. The remaining power transformed into two giant swords.

"Is it a complete Susanoo?"

Tatsuma's expression was solemn as he continuously refined his chakra while simultaneously absorbing the natural energy supplied by the seedlings below, making his sage chakra increasingly abundant.

As Susanoo changed, so did Madara Uchiha. The pair of crimson Sharingan eyes with three tomoe turned dark and dull. The moment Susanoo stabilized, his eyes turned completely gray.

"I'll use this remaining life force to regain my sight!"

Madara raised his hand and, without changing his expression, removed the eye that had completely exhausted its power. Then he took two more eyes from Zetsu's hand and stuffed them into his own.

The Sage Chakra of Shikkotsu Forest, along with Tatsuma's life force, allowed his eyes to quickly connect. He opened his eyes, and the pupils of his Sharingan throbbed within their sockets, but his breathing stabilized.

"This level is roughly half of the power he had in the final battle against Hashirama."

Madara clenched his fist inside Susanoo, and Susanoo followed suit. The air inside the fist was compressed and exploded, causing the already crumbling cave to tremble once more.

"Half the power? That's about what I expected."

Tatsuma wasn't intimidated. After all, he had just met Hashirama Senju. Although they hadn't fought, Hashirama had mentioned that Tatsuma's chakra reserves were almost half of what they were before him.

Whether it's Hashirama Senju, Tatsuma Senju, or the current Madara Uchiha, they all benefited from the Shikkotsu Forest Sage Mode. Combined with their mastery of their respective techniques, they all reached the pinnacle of the ninja world. Therefore, their power could be simply calculated based on their chakra reserves.

In actual combat, there will be slight differences due to different methods or varying levels of combat talent.

Moreover, Madara Uchiha has now lost his eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, and the Rinnegan has already been given away as a backup plan. It can be said that Madara Uchiha has lost his strongest means.

Although Tatsuma felt the situation was tricky thanks to his other abilities, he was not without confidence.

At worst, we can just wear down Madara's chakra.

Their thoughts flashed by in an instant, but both Madara and Tatsuma had imagined countless scenarios in their minds, and in the end, the two tacitly chose to rely on brute force!

"Boom~ Boom~"

Inside the cave, the two giants rushed towards each other. Madara Uchiha controlled Susanoo and drew two giant swords, gathering chakra to strike. However, Tatsuma controlled the three-headed, six-armed wooden golem, with two of its arms clamping down on Susanoo's hands that were about to strike.

Madara Uchiha reacted extremely quickly, using the scabbards of his Susanoo as weapons to smash the wooden dummy with its other two arms. However, the wooden dummy did not only have two arms, but with the addition of the cross-hand taijutsu technique, it quickly restrained the other two arms of the Susanoo.

"Bang bang bang~"

As the struggle intensified, the cave collapsed, and even streaks of light pierced through from the unknown depths of the ground, bringing the cave its first rays of sunlight in a thousand years.

A crystalline protective plate on the forehead of Susanoo was removed, revealing Madara Uchiha's naked body. He formed hand seals and spat out a line of fire, which instantly turned into a sea of ​​fire.

"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"

"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"

Tatsuma also formed hand seals, though his seals were slightly different from Madara's. He formed the seals later than Madara, but he caught up with Madara's rhythm and also spat out a line of fire.

However, unlike Madara Uchiha's blazing orange flames, Tatsuma's flames were a deep blue. He knew that his fire jutsu skills were inferior to Madara Uchiha's, so he cleverly incorporated the power of the Two-Tails.

【Spirit of Ash】, a talent that greatly amplifies fire-style techniques, allowed Tatsuma to forcefully contend with Madara Uchiha's fire-style attacks.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~ Bang bang bang~"

Explosions continued to occur inside the cave, and more and more sunlight streamed in.

"boom!"

The massive explosion sent the wooden golem and Susanoo flying backward, crashing into the cave walls and triggering an even larger earthquake.

"Hahaha~"

Madara Uchiha unleashed his maniacal laughter, lightly extinguishing the sparks on his tattered burlap robe, and said, "Aside from Hashirama, you are the strongest opponent I have ever faced, young man. You have indeed made this battle incredibly exciting!"

It was always Tatsuma who talked trash during battles. He glared at Uchiha Madara with an unfriendly expression. Why did this guy always steal the spotlight?

"Enough with the nonsense!"

Having his chance stolen, Tatsuma could only control the wooden dummy and charge headlong towards Uchiha Madara. Uchiha Madara, controlling Susanoo, pushed off the ground and stood up, the Susanoo's twin swords slashing down.

A flash of golden light appeared, perhaps because the sword was swung too swiftly, the air it passed through seemed to be ignited, and two golden flames accompanied the slashes that rushed towards the giant wooden figure.

"Ninjutsu! Rock Kamiya!"

Tatsuma clapped his hands together, and the power of the Three-Tails attached itself to the surface of the wooden body, directly confronting the golden flame slash.

"Boom boom boom~"

The aftershocks of the shattering strikes made the cave brighter, not from the flames, but from the increasing amount of sunlight streaming in.

"Using the power of a tailed beast to block a slash powerful enough to kill it is foolish!"

Madara Uchiha snorted, and his Susanoo slashed again, two more golden flames accompanying the slashes rushing towards the wooden doll. This time, the wooden doll definitely couldn't stop it.

But a kunai moving through the sunlight made Madara Uchiha frown slightly. Flying Thunder God Technique? But... he was really looking forward to it!

He slightly turned his head to dodge, and a flash of silver light appeared. Tatsuma, holding a purplish-black Rasengan, suddenly appeared behind Uchiha Madara.

"Flying Thunder God Technique, Second Stage!"

"You use it better than Tobirama Senju, but that's all it is!"

Madara Uchiha didn't even glance at him before turning around and elbowing him. Tatsuma was forced to stop advancing and lean back to avoid the elbow strike that swept towards his temple. Madara's elbow tip swept past the tip of Tatsuma's nose.

Before Tatsuma could catch his breath, Madara Uchiha suddenly straightened his arm, forcing Tatsuma to continue retreating. His fingertips brushed past Madara's nose again, but it wasn't over yet. A black rod flew out from Madara's sleeve.

"Sizzle~"

With a flash of silver light, Tatsuma returned to the top of the dismembered wooden dummy, its limbs about to fall to the ground, a black rod stuck in its left shoulder.

"whispering sound!"

Madara Uchiha spoke with some disappointment. Tatsuma grabbed the black rod on his left shoulder with his right hand and pulled it out forcefully. His momentum did not decline due to his injury; on the contrary, he became more confident.

With a casual toss of the black stick, Tatsuma clapped his hands, and vines instantly sprouted from the dismembered wooden figure, reconnecting it and pulling it back.

After restoring the wooden dummy, Tatsuma finally spoke, "As expected of the top ninja of the Warring States period, that black rod, you prepared it before you severed your connection with the Gedo Mazo, didn't you?"

Madara Uchiha, who once possessed the Rinnegan, had indeed mastered Yin-Yang Release. After losing the Rinnegan, he might still be able to create Yin-Yang Release artifacts with the help of the Gedo Mazo, but he had already severed his connection with the Gedo Mazo.

So this black rod attacking him now was a tactic prepared before the battle even began, before Madara Uchiha deliberately severed the connection with the Gedo Mazo. How cunning!

Seeing the hint of smugness beneath Madara Uchiha's apparent disappointment, Tatsuma smiled and said, "You're right. When it comes to the use of the Flying Thunder God Technique, I, standing on the shoulders of giants, am indeed fortunate enough to be superior to the Second Hokage in some aspects."

So... boom.

"Boom!!!"

A massive explosion erupted from beneath Susanoo's feet, completely engulfing it in flames. On the ground, a Flying Thunder God technique slowly dissipated.

"Not only the Flying Thunder God Technique, but your mastery of the Tailed Beast Ball surpasses even those beasts!"

As the smoke dissipated, Susanoo's lower body was reduced to skeleton, and its upper body was also covered in mottled wounds. However, chakra was constantly repairing Susanoo. Madara Uchiha composed himself and looked at Tatsuma with a serious expression.

This Tailed Beast Ball is far more powerful than those used by the Tailed Beasts, and it is also more stable and inconspicuous. With the constant collision of the two people's chakra, the chakra in the cave has long been in a state of extreme disorder.

Therefore, a Tailed Beast Ball that is extremely stable before detonation cannot be detected at all. In addition, this Tailed Beast Ball may exist outside of space-time for a period of time.

Madara Uchiha looked down at his clothes, now even more tattered from the explosion, and the wound on his arm, then glanced at Tatsuma's injuries, which seemed to have no intention of being healed.

Why would an adult argue with a child? Since the child wants to fight while injured, he, as the "elder," should at least accompany him.

Moreover, no one understands fighting while wounded better than him, someone who has dominated since the Warring States period! Not to mention...

"The taste of blood. The feeling of pain, hahaha~ This is the joy of battle! Fourth Hokage! You really went to great lengths to please me!"

In return, after a thoroughly satisfying battle, I will give you the most complete end!

(End of this chapter)