Chapter 400: Chapter 400: The Ten-Tails Is Right
"Roar—"
The Ten-Tails let out a deafening roar toward the sky. Its thin, bony body was gone, replaced by a round, swollen form.
The sudden swelling made it drop down on all fours instead of standing upright. But even so, its height didn’t shrink at all. Just from this alone, you could see how massive the Ten-Tails’ third form was.
To put it simply, each of its ten tails was about as big as Kurama.
Naruto flew upward a bit, looking down at the growing Ten-Tails below, his head starting to ache. "I really want to just slice it with a Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion."
Sasuke flew in from a distance, landing on top of the golden Kurama’s head. Looking down at Naruto, he smirked. "With the Ten-Tails’ defense and regeneration, even if you cut it apart, it’d be fully healed in under a minute. It’s pointless."
As he spoke, Sasuke suddenly froze, narrowing his eyes slightly. "One of my shadow clones just dispelled. It brought back one good news and one bad news."
"That’s the clone you sent to capture Orochimaru, right?" Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Tell me the bad news first."
"Don’t people usually want the good news first?" Sasuke smirked. "The bad news is... before Madara died, he used a jutsu to cut off Kurama’s chakra link to the other Tailed Beasts. Right now, Kurama can’t pull the other beasts out."
That really was bad news. Naruto sighed. "So what now? If we can’t pull out the other Tailed Beasts, we can’t kill the Ten-Tails. Do we have to use Yin-Yang Power to seal it?"
Yin-Yang Power here didn’t mean just a type of energy—it referred to a technique strong enough to seal Kaguya.
Its name was "Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei."
This jutsu was sealed in the palms of Naruto and Sasuke. They had to use it together for it to work, and the condition was that they had to touch each other’s body.
Sasuke shook his head. "The Ten-Tails isn’t Kaguya. This jutsu could seal its body, but not its chakra. Kaguya could still use that to come back."
"So what do we do then?" Naruto scratched his head.
Sasuke chuckled. "That’s the good news—I say we rest a bit and wait for the Ten-Tails to enter its next stage."
Naruto: "..."
How was that good news?
Both of those sound like bad news!
"You..." Naruto had just started to speak when he suddenly felt an enormous surge of chakra condensing all at once.
Sasuke, Kurama, and Sakura all sensed it at the same time.
Naruto was the first to fully feel the chakra’s change.
"What is this?" Naruto stared blankly at the Ten-Tails. "Why... do I feel like its chakra is disappearing?"
Sasuke’s face turned extremely grim as the tomoe in his Rinnegan spun rapidly. "I’ve felt this before... but how? Even the strongest jutsu shouldn’t be able to affect the Ten-Tails like this..."
His face was full of disbelief.
"What is it?" Naruto asked without thinking.
The next second, everyone turned to look at the Ten-Tails—just in time to see it, having only just reached its third stage, suddenly throw its head back and roar to the sky. As the chakra that had paused began to flow again, the Ten-Tails’ entire body started to vanish.
Yes—vanish, as if it was disappearing into thin air.
It was like an eraser wiping over the Ten-Tails, removing every trace of its existence layer by layer, bit by bit.
Right in front of everyone, the Ten-Tails’ body vanished from sight.
Sasuke swallowed hard. His Tomoe Rinnegan caught the fleeting flow of chakra. He instinctively looked up toward where it came from, and there, a blurry figure began to appear.
Just like how the Ten-Tails had disappeared, this figure seemed to be filled in piece by piece — from almost transparent at first, to solid, until finally taking the form of a real person floating below the sky.
Naruto sensed the sudden chakra and turned his head without thinking. Then he froze. "Uchiha... Madara?"
How was this possible?
In the sky, Madara opened his eyes and looked down. Sasuke and Naruto stood out clearly in his sight.
Madara smiled. His blood-red Sharingan slowly lit up, and with a flash, the Rinnegan in his other eye suddenly dimmed.
He didn’t care, only smiling as he looked at the two of them. "It’s only been a short while, but you two look more worn out than before."
It was true — his body felt nothing, but his chakra had taken a hit.
Sasuke’s Tomoe Rinnegan spun as he ignored Madara’s words, his voice full of disbelief. "Izanagi... You actually used a Rinnegan as the price to cast Izanagi?"
What kind of resolve did it take to make that choice?
"Is that so strange?" Madara gave Sasuke a glance, raising his hand to look at his arm. "The Ten-Tails’ chakra is stronger... so it really evolved to its final stage?"
Then he looked back down at them. "You’ve worked hard, keeping the Ten-Tails busy for so long."
"Madara! You bastard!"
Before Madara could say more, Kurama suddenly shot up from below, holding a massive Tailed Beast Bomb. "Using the Rinnegan to reset the Ten-Tails, erase both your death and it leaving your body — you really pulled it off!"
To be honest, this shocked Kurama.
Using a Rinnegan as the price to cast Izanagi, rewriting all events against him — Madara was revived, and the Ten-Tails was back inside him. The only difference was that now it was in its third stage... the final form before turning into the God Tree.
Damn. Even while shocked, Kurama had to admit Madara’s skill. That was a Rinnegan — a power of the Six Paths that could even bring someone back to life — and Madara had thrown it away without hesitation.
But thinking about it, it made sense. With just Obito’s Mangekyou, which wasn’t even an Eternal eye, casting Izanagi probably couldn’t have affected the Ten-Tails. That’s why Madara used the Rinnegan as the medium.
Still... it left you at a loss for words.
Anyway, time to take this Tailed Beast Bomb!
Madara stepped back to dodge Kurama’s attack, watching as the beast flashed past him. A hint of surprise entered his voice. "My Six Paths power has grown stronger?"
He stopped and focused. "It’s not just that... there’s something else, too."
He looked up at the sky. It was still bright — only evening, not yet night — but it was as if he could see a full moon hanging above, faintly connected to him.
"So this is the Infinite Tsukuyomi?" Madara’s smile widened.
Kurama, Naruto, and Sasuke stepped forward again, surrounding him just like before, their chakra pressing down on him from all sides.
Madara looked at them, still completely unfazed. "Well, I guess you won’t give me the chance to use it."
"You’re right!" Naruto clenched his fist, speaking with force. "I don’t know why you came back, but if we kill you again, it’s over."
"Naruto’s right," Sasuke said with a nod.
"+1," Kurama added, also nodding.
Madara released his Truth-Seeking Staff and spread his arms toward the sky. "It doesn’t matter anymore... because you’ve already lost."
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