Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

If the Gedo Mazo successfully evolves into the Ten-Tails, then Kirito's terrifyingly powerful mysterious black spheres will no longer be a threat.

With its mobility and splitting abilities, the Ten-Tails can completely avoid the damage from these mysterious black orbs.

"Just hold on for about five more minutes."

Madara Uchiha did some mental calculations.

He had spent every day with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and had long since formed a special connection with it, allowing him to clearly know the current state of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and to draw upon its power.

Thinking this way, Madara Uchiha's confidence returned, and he grinned arrogantly, saying, "It's useless, Kirito Tohsaka. As long as Izanagi is available, you can't destroy the Gedo Mazo with your technique. Accept your fate; the ending is already predetermined."

Amidst laughter, Pain and Hashirama, under the control of Madara Uchiha's will, attacked once again.

Pain directly hurled a small black ball at Kirito, which landed in Kirito's mouth above his head and then embedded itself in space, forming a black hole with terrifying suction.

Earth-shattering Heavenly Star!

With a clap of his hands, countless enormous tree roots began to rise from the ground beneath and around Kirito. These roots had only one purpose: to strangle or temporarily imprison Kirito.

Sage Art: Wood Release: Flower Tree World Descends!

Faced with the terrifying ninjutsu unleashed by the combined power of the two strong individuals, Kirito didn't even flinch. He simply clapped his hands together and vanished from his spot. When he reappeared, he was already behind the Gedo Mazo.

At this moment, the advantages of the Flying Thunder God Formation, a space-time ninjutsu, were fully demonstrated, easily avoiding the attacks of the two powerful figures.

Madara Uchiha quickly located Kirito's position using his Rinnegan. His face darkened, and a three-tomoe Sharingan instantly appeared in his hand.

The next moment, another small black arrow formed from a Truth-Seeking Ball struck the Outer Path Demon Statue, causing it to collapse out of control once again.

Fortunately, Madara Uchiha activated Izanagi again in time to change reality, which restored the Gedo Mazo to its original state.

However, Kirito's attack did not end easily. Immediately, another Truth-Seeking Ball black arrow struck the Gedo Mazo, forcing Madara Uchiha to once again consume his three-tomoe Sharingan to use Izanagi to alter reality.

Kirito's offensive continued, and Madara Uchiha's counterattacks were equally relentless. The two powerful warriors, Pain and Hashirama, rushed forward to stop Kirito, even engaging him in hand-to-hand combat in an attempt to buy as much time as possible.

Among them, Hashirama the Sage is the main melee fighter.

This First Hokage was at the world's top level in both ninjutsu and taijutsu. Moreover, after being resummoned by Madara Uchiha using White Zetsu as a sacrifice, his strength was already close to his prime. His physical attributes were ridiculously strong, especially when he activated Sage Mode. He could unleash speed comparable to the Body Flicker Technique simply by using his physical strength.

In the blink of an eye, Sage Hashirama appeared in front of Kirito, without any fancy moves, and simply threw a punch.

Kirito didn't try to take the blow head-on; he instantly sidestepped, causing Hashirama's fist to land on the ground.

In an instant, the ground within a radius of several hundred meters trembled and countless fragments of earth appeared.

"What terrifying power! This is the real monstrous strength punch."

Kirito leaped through the collapsed rubble, sighing inwardly.

Suddenly, Hashirama Senju appeared again, throwing another punch, preventing Kirito from finding time to gather Truth-Seeking Balls to destroy the Gedo Mazo.

Suddenly, a terrifying pressure struck, causing Kirito's entire body to creak and groan.

It was Pain in the sky who seized the opportunity to unleash Shinra Tensei, creating a terrifying repulsive field to suppress Kirito.

With Kirito's current physical condition in Sage Mode, he can withstand Pain's full-power Shinra Tensei without harm, but his speed will inevitably be affected.

Left with no other choice, Kirito had to face Hashirama head-on with a punch.

He also used a superhuman strength punch!

"Oh!"

Two fists containing terrifying power collided head-on, and the force of the impact instantly created a terrifying shockwave that cracked the ground beneath them and stirred up a gale of over level 10 around them.

"Young man, your superhuman strength punches are quite impressive."

In the midst of the collision, a hearty and spirited voice reached Kirito's ears; it was none other than Sage Hashirama speaking.

"First Lord, can you speak?"

Kirito exclaimed in surprise.

"It didn't work before, but it works now. I guess that guy Ban is trying to distract you to buy him more time. Don't worry about it, just use your best skills to finish me off quickly."

"That bastard Madara is too powerful now. Bound by the Impure World Reincarnation technique, I can't defy his will."

"It's Hashirama the Sage," he continued.

As he spoke, relying on his extremely keen combat sense, he used the Body Flicker Technique without a seal to avoid a blue hand that suddenly reached out from Kirito's chest.

This is the soul ninjutsu that Kirito developed to counter the Impure World Reincarnation technique: Spirit Transformation Technique: Soul Stealing Hand. This soul ninjutsu can directly pull the soul out of the Impure World puppet's body.

Even if you can't tear it out, you can still rip open a part of the soul, damaging the enemy's soul.

"You already know, yet you still talk to me!"

Upon hearing the First Hokage's words, Kirito inwardly complained, while secretly marveling at the First Hokage's strength, which was far beyond that of the Second Hokage; his combat instincts were simply too sharp.

If we can't find an opportunity to temporarily suppress the First Hokage, it will be difficult to succeed with his soul ninjutsu.

"Young man, your soul ninjutsu is good, but it's still not fast enough. You need your companions to create opportunities for you. Fighting alone is not the best way for a ninja to fight."

Sage Hashirama gave instructions, then attacked again, clapping his hands together to release two wooden clones from his body.

As soon as the two wood clones appeared, they clapped their hands together and used Wood Release: Silent Killing Binding Technique to attack Kirito in conjunction with their main body.

Kirito had no choice but to retreat quickly, and then used Wood Release: Silent Binding Technique to fight back.

Pain, the Deva of the Sky, was not idle; he once again unleashed Shinra Tensei to suppress Kirito.

For a time, Kirito was entangled in the combined tactics of Pain and Hashirama, and couldn't spare much energy to deal with the Gedo Mazo.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Madara Uchiha continuously used the Rinnegan to assist the Gedo Mazo in rapidly evolving into the Ten-Tails.

"As expected of Hashirama. Even though he is a puppet and not his true self, his combat ability is still admirable. Very good. Let's continue to entangle this guy and not give him a chance to condense that terrifying black sphere."

Madara Uchiha was full of praise when he saw that Sage Hashirama had successfully entangled Kirito, preventing Kirito from using Truth-Seeking Balls to deal with the Gedo Mazo.

As expected of his once evenly matched opponent, having him serve as a guard was indeed the right choice. Orochimaru and Hiruko's solution to the Impure World Reincarnation technique was also brilliant.

It's truly beyond my expectations that using White Zetsu as a sacrifice could increase Hashirama's strength to this extent.

But as long as the result is good, nothing else matters.

"Go, Hashirama, keep this junior occupied and buy me enough time. It's almost over. In just a little while, my dream will come true."

Madara Uchiha sensed that the Gedo Mazo was getting closer and closer to evolution, and he was extremely excited.

But suddenly, a deadly tremor struck.

A black arrow, like a bolt of black lightning, fell from his mouth, its target none other than him.

Madara Uchiha was about to use the Body Flicker Technique to dodge without hesitation, but before he could, a terrifying gravitational force struck, slowing his use of the Body Flicker Technique by a fraction of a second.

But in that short time, the black arrow pierced his chest.

In an instant, Madara Uchiha felt his body rapidly collapsing, not only his body but also his soul.

"How could this be? Who released this black arrow? Kirito Tohsaka was clearly entangled by Hashirama and my Pain."

As his body and soul crumbled, Madara Uchiha was filled with doubt.

He was so close to success, and a strong sense of unwillingness to give up fueled his nerves.

High in the sky, the White Zetsu clone stared at Uchiha Madara, who was rapidly heading towards death, with the Tenseigan, and thought with some doubt: "I didn't expect to succeed so easily. Was it because we were too close to success that we became careless?"

Kirito's main body arrived at the battlefield first, followed closely by his White Zetsu clone.

In order to avoid being discovered by Madara Uchiha, the White Zetsu clone deliberately came from a height close to the atmosphere, and then used the Tenseigan's superhuman vision to keep an eye on the battle below.

In this way, Kirito and his White Zetsu clone achieved a balance of light and darkness.

Just now, taking advantage of the opening created by the main body attracting Madara Uchiha's attention, the White Zetsu clone decided to make its move and successfully killed Madara Uchiha with one clone.

However, Kirito still felt a little unreal that Madara Uchiha was killed so easily.

But no matter what, Madara Uchiha is now a living person, a mortal body, unlike the Edo Tensei puppets, who, even if hit, only suffer damage to their souls and a part of their bodies cannot be repaired.

The reason why the Seeking the Dao Jade is so terrifying is that it contains the power of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, which can directly destroy the body and soul of a living being, and can be said to be an all-round annihilation.

Once any living being is killed by the Truth-Seeking Ball, it is likely to be completely dead.

Unless someone eats the fruit of the God Tree like Kaguya Otsutsuki and possesses the ability to break the destructive power of the Truth-Seeking Balls.

Truth-Seeking Balls are ultimately a type of ninjutsu. As long as one understands the principles behind their operation, there are ways to break them.

For example, Kirito can fuse the power of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, so he naturally has the ability to decompose the power of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements again.

Clearly, Madara Uchiha is not included in this category. Before becoming the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki, Madara Uchiha had not yet mastered the power of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements without a teacher, nor had he comprehended the Truth-Seeking Balls.

Therefore, Madara Uchiha, who was hit by the Truth-Seeking Ball, was doomed to die.

"Next up is that big guy."

The White Zetsu clone shifted its gaze to the Gedo Mazo, and a Truth-Seeking Ball behind him rapidly compressed into a black arrow according to his will.

But at that moment, he saw Madara Uchiha suddenly use his hands to gouge out the Rinnegan and Homura Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan from their eye sockets, and then throw them somewhere.

Then, a white Zetsu emerged from the ground and quickly caught the two eyes.

Upon seeing this, the white Zetsu clone felt a sense of foreboding.

He also noticed something through his own body: Pain and Hashirama Senju did not cease their operations despite Madara Uchiha's death.

This situation undoubtedly indicates that Madara Uchiha did not die, or that there were other people behind Pain and Hashirama Senju manipulating Pain.

Kirito's first thought was the cunning black Zetsu.

However, he quickly denied this, because the White Zetsu, who used the Rinnegan and Mangekyou Sharingan that Madara Uchiha threw out before his death, quickly transformed into Madara Uchiha's appearance, then swiftly removed his eyes and replaced them with the Rinnegan and Mangekyou Sharingan.

"That was close! I almost died. No, no, I really did die once. So this is what death feels like. The sensation was terrible. Although it was only for a moment, it felt like countless years had passed."

Madara Uchiha, transformed from White Zetsu, laughed wildly at the sky.

Hidden in the shadows, Black Zetsu was startled upon seeing this, realizing that things were beginning to go astray.

The cunning and knowledgeable creature already knew why Madara Uchiha hadn't truly died despite being hit by Truth-Seeking Balls: Madara Uchiha hadn't actually died completely.

Reincarnation!

Madara Uchiha has just used the immortality technique developed by Orochimaru.

After Orochimaru was captured by Madara Uchiha and the Rinne Reincarnation Seal was placed on him, the Reanimation Jutsu, a technique for achieving immortality, naturally fell into Madara Uchiha's hands.

"When did he use this forbidden technique, and how many parts did he divide his soul into?"

Black Zetsu thought to himself, feeling distressed.