539. Madara Uchiha Reappears

"Huh!"

Suddenly, Naruto and Jiraiya's expressions turn grim.

"Something is approaching!"

Both of them take a combat stance.

"Something powerful and sinister!" Jiraiya murmurs and glances in a direction.

The next second,

Shoom…

A figure crash lands on the battlefield. A giant cloud of dust and debris rises at the landing position.

"What's that?" Mei's eyes narrow.

A figure slowly walks out of the dust cloud and pats his clothes to wipe the dust.

"Looks like you are having fun here… Obito!!"

"He's- who's he?"

Naruto warily stares at Madara's figure.

"That's a reanimation!" Jiraiya notices the several cracks and black pupils.

"Re-reanimation! I thought they dispelled it!" Mei glances at Madara.

"He's Madara Uchiha! Grr…" Kurama grits his teeth and stares at Madara with hatred.

"He is Madara!" Shock appears on the faces of the three shinobis.

"It's just like you… to have defied the Edo Tensei."

"More importantly, what's taking you so long?" Madara glances toward Naruto.

"I thought you would have captured the Nine-tails by now." Madara activates his Sharingan.

"You even launched the plan haphazardly before you even took the Eight and the Nine-tails? You are hasty, Obito."

'So, that's Madara Uchiha, my grandfather-in-law.' Mei recalls Izuna's words.

'Since we are standing on the opposite side, I can't hold back or I might lose my life. Besides, he is already dead. So, I am not disrespecting him.'

Jiraiya makes a series of hand signs and expels a huge fire dragon towards Madara.

"Sage Art: Exploding Great Fire Dragon Breath,"

"Here!"

Obito removes the chains from the Gunbai and tosses it towards Madara.

"I'll return that to you. It's yours to begin with!"

Madara grabs the Uchiha Gunbai and infuses his chakra in it.

<Uchiha Block>

A blue barrier appears in front of Madara and blocks the fire dragon.

"Explode!"

Jiraiya claps his palm and the fire dragon explodes in a dazzling burst of flames.

A pillar of fire shrouds Obito and Madara.

"Did we get him?" Naruto warily stares at the fire in the distance.

"Not even close!" Kurama shakes his head.

The fire slowly dies down to reveal a perfectly fine Madara and Obito.

Hmm…

Madara glances towards Jiraiya.

"A Sage Art user! How rare!"

Madara remarks in amusement.

"It's the second Sage Art user I met after the resurrection in this war. Looks like the quality of shinobis has improved after my death."

Madara cracks his neck.

"They are still quite a talented bunch of shinobis in the enemy camp." Madara turns to Obito.

"No wonder you were struggling and were forced to initiate an early resurrection of the Ten-tails."

Whoosh…

Naruto suddenly flickers from his position and reappears in the air above Madara. There is a Tailed Beast Rasengan charging up in his hand.

"Then, I will capture the Eight-tails and the Nine-tails. The Edo Tensei restrictions on me are already removed."

"Dead man shouldn't go around messing things up!"

<Tailed Beast Rasengan>

Naruto slams the Rasengan towards Madara.

"Hmm… controlling such a dense-tailed beast chakra in a technique. Not bad!"

Madara blocks Naruto's attack with the Gunbai. The surface of the Gunbai glows with a unique blue light. Several fuinjutsu runes on its surface light up and absorb the chakra from the tailed beast Rasengan.

"It didn't explode?!" Naruto's eyes widen.

The next second, Madara swings the Gunbai in front of Naruto.

"Uchiha Reflection,"

The Gunbai unleashes the previously stored chakra in the form of a powerful wind blast. The compressed wind blows away a major portion of the surroundings and generates a powerful hurricane that engulfs Naruto.

GAAH…

Madara's counterattack sends Naruto flying. He smashes into several rocks along the path.

Poof…

He disappears into a puff of white smoke.

"He's strong!"

The real Naruto remarks.

"I will leave that woman to you. Leave these two fellows to me." Madara turns to Obito.

Shoom…

"Sage Art: Frog Fist Kata,"

Jiraiya drops from the sky and punches Madara.

BANG…

His fist creates a massive crater at the point of impact. Madara flickers away at the last moment and narrowly dodges the attack.

Swoosh…

Jiraiya turns towards Madara and charges at him. He rapidly punches Madara, but the latter dodges his every attack.

Heh…

Jiraiya smirks.

Bang…

The next second, a blow lands on Madara's face and sends him flying.

Guffaw…

Madara's face regenerates slowly. He glances at Jiraiya and murmurs.

"So, that's the blunt nature of Mount Myoboku Sage art."

Madara wipes his face, and his eyes turn to Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Too bad. I can't use my Mangekyo abilities in this form. Or else, things would have been different."

HAAH…

Madara continues to engage in a close-combat battle against Jiraiya. He dodges Jiraiya's every attack while striking Jiraiya's body at several points.

Bang…

Madara crosses his arms and blocks Jiraiya's fist.

Boom…

The force from Jiraiya's punch blows away his arms and sends him sliding a long distance.

"I can't really take the attacks of a Mount Myoboku Sage head-on." Madara's arms regenerate slowly. A grin appears on his face as he makes a hand seal.

"Suppress!"

Several black curse marks spread across Jiraiya's body.

<Uchiha Demonic Curse Seal>

His body turns stiff and the flow of his chakra stops. Jiraiya stands paralyzed at a spot.

Whoosh…

In the next instant, Madara flickers beside Jiraiya, ready to take his life.

"Not so fast!"

Naruto appears beside Madara with a Rasenshuriken in his hand.

"Eat this!"

He slams the Rasenshuriken into Madara's body.

BANG…

The powerful burst of chakra sends Madara flying across the battlefield.

ARGH…

Jiraiya also breaks free of the curse seal by riling up his chakra.

"Thank you, Naruto! I thought I was a goner now." Jiraiya wipes the cold sweat from his head.

"It's the same technique as that man from earlier!"

The pattern in Madara's eye changes again. He activates his Rinnegan and absorbs the Rasenshuriken.

"What intense energy?"

Smoke rises from Madara's body. His body regenerates rapidly.

"Those eyes!" Naruto and Jiraiya's eyes widen in shock.

"T-that's Rinnegan!" Both of them point at him with trembling fingers

The terror of the Rinnegan is still fresh in their mind.

"Madara also has the Rinnegan." Kushina explains the entire situation to Naruto and Jiraiya.

"So, Mom, you mean to say that Madara is the actual owner of Nagato's Rinnegan? And it was a part of his plan to use the Rinnegan to revive himself later." Naruto stares at Madara in shock.

Swish… swish…

Jiraiya makes a series of hand signs and slams his palm on the ground.

"Sage Art: Agonizing thorn of death,"

Several rock spikes erupt from the ground and pierce Madara's body.

Boom… Boom…

Suddenly, multiple explosions detonate within the rock stakes. Several mini-missiles fly out of Madara's arms and destroy the rock stakes.

Madara jumps out of the rock spikes. A blue chakra ribcage protects his body.

"Tch… that's Susanoo." Jiraiya clicks his tongue.

--------------

Meanwhile, at the HQ

The expression of Shikaku and other shinobi changes at the appearance of Madara Uchiha.

"Madara Uchiha is back on the battlefield!"

They swiftly inform the several commanders, and vice-commanders, on the desert battlefield.

"What? That bastard fled all the way to the other battlefield to create trouble." A smash his fist on the table.

"His goal is to capture the Nine-tails from Naruto. With us here, it won't be easy for him to make a move on eight-tails. However, the nine-tails isn't as protected as the eight-tails. So, he has a chance." Onoki analyzes the situation.

"Also, the most troublesome thing is the resurrection of the ten-tails. We still have no idea, how strong the ten-tails actually is?" Rasa also presents his thoughts.

"In the records, the Ten-tails is the origin of all chakra in the shinobi world. Then, according to those tales, the ten-tails should be the strongest-tailed beast in existence."

"Wait, could it be!"

Suddenly, the expression of everyone in HQ and the desert battlefield camp changes.

"Madara wants to become the Jinchuriki of the ten-tails. This must be his intention from the start." Shikaku voices his speculation, which might be closest to the truth.

"In the legends, the legendary Sage of Six Paths was also the Jinchuriki of the Ten-tails. He used his god-like powers to shape the world. If Madara controls such a power, then the amount of destruction he can cause to the world is too immense to even calculate." Everyone's face turns pale.

"We have to stop him!" Onoki swiftly rises from his seat.

"Let's head to the battlefield to fight Madara."