The Water Rasengan's terrifying and extraordinary destructive power was unleashed. Madara's chest was instantly torn apart, leaving a gaping hole as large as a human head.
Kei used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport away.
In that instant, the out-of-control Water Rasengan went completely berserk.
What was originally the size of a human head rapidly expanded into a monstrous, spherical spiral with a diameter of over ten meters.
Within this spiral, countless razor-sharp water blades, too small for the naked eye to discern, cut through the air at high speed.
A piercing buzzing sound echoed across the battlefield!
Madara's body was shredded into countless bloody particles in an instant, dyeing the once-blue Water Rasengan a deep crimson.
Unlike the Rasenshuriken, which appears to cause minimal external damage but actually severs a target's cells and chakra pathway at a microscopic level... This was not an attack on a cellular scale.
However, Water Release lacked the penetrative power of Wind Release. Instead, it possessed adhesion and friction that Wind Release did not.
As long as it hit its target, forget leaving behind a complete corpse like the Rasenshuriken.
If even a single piece of flesh could be found on the ground, it meant Kei had miscalculated his technique.
The bone-chilling winter wind swept across the devastated battlefield.
More than a dozen of Madara's wood clones rapidly lost chakra, as if a floodgate had been opened.
Susanoo dissipated, and Wood Release techniques came to a halt. Even the clones themselves began to morph into bizarrely shaped trees.
Yet, before they completely vanished, every single wood clone used the last of their strength to transform their humanoid wooden constructs—such as wooden warriors and dragons—into ordinary-looking trees.
Kei frowned slightly, immediately realizing their intent.
As the legendary "God of Shinobi" who founded the ninja villages, Hashirama's Wood Release was seen by most as an unparalleled, invincible force. And as the only ninja to stand on equal footing with him, Madara's iron-fisted rule had instilled deep fear in countless people.
No one wanted him to be alive. Even more so, no one wanted a living Madara who had mastered Wood Release!
Having remained hidden for decades, never appearing in the ninja world, anyone would suspect that such secrecy concealed a massive conspiracy. To prevent interference with the Eye of the Moon Plan, the best course of action was to make people believe he had died long ago.
It might sound difficult.
But in reality, as long as no indisputable evidence remained… Those who only knew him through legends wouldn't believe he was still alive. And those who had witnessed his power firsthand would not want to believe he was still alive.
People tend to believe what they want to believe.
As long as there was no solid proof, history would record that Madara had died at the hands of Hashirama, in the Valley of the End.
As for mere spoken claims?
How many would truly believe that a battle had taken place, based solely on the words of Kei?
That was something beyond his control.
[One of the bosses prematurely killed.]
[The worldline has deviated.]
- 1 concept trait extraction
- 1 trait duplication
- 3 gifting opportunity
- 1 trait downgrading
The system notification arrived belatedly. Kei stared at the words "killed" for a few seconds before finally exhaling in relief. Even though he had just witnessed Madara being completely consumed by the Water Rasengan… After the jutsu dissipated, the only thing left in the ten-meter-wide elliptical crater was a faint pinkish residue in the water.
The once-mighty wood clones vanished alongside the original body, as if their power had been drained. But Madara had once used a delayed Izanagi by sealing it in his eye, fooling even Hashirama.
And just moments ago, he had said that they would meet again. It would be foolish not to be suspicious.
"Hiss—!" Kei took a deep breath.
His eyes flickered over the dazzling system rewards, totaling eleven in all.
Forming a one-handed seal, he first took control of his ever-expanding Steaming Danger Tyranny, leaving it to stand guard around the battlefield.
Then, he activated the Mind Body Transmission Technique, linking his consciousness with his shadow clones. Of the 32 shadow clones that had just fought against Madara, thanks to the Flying Thunder God Technique and [Zero-Frame Start], their evasion skills were maxed out.
Only two were unlucky enough to be caught in the blast radius of large-scale jutsu and were destroyed.
Following Kei's command, the remaining 30 clones immediately sprang into action. One clone pursued the direction where an earlier shadow clone had teleported away with the Gedo Statue. Two clones rushed to the edge of the massive crater created by the Water Rasengan.
Using a relatively simple C-rank Earth Release jutsu, they carefully overturned the ground inch by inch. They stripped away three meters of soil, ensuring that every speck potentially stained with Madara's blood or body tissue was removed.
All the soil was then sealed into a storage scroll and tossed to the main body.
As for the rest of the clones, they all used Underground Projection Fish Technique to burrow into the ground.
The fight between Kei and Madara had been abrupt and explosive. The entire base had collapsed under the sheer destructive force of their battle.
Even if the White Zetsu hiding underground didn't fear death, they wouldn't be able to clear out the entire base in such a short time.
Now that Kei had gained the Sage Body, his chakra attributes were fully balanced.
Previously, Earth Release had been a chakra-intensive technique with only moderate power at best, but now, his proficiency had significantly improved. Even underground, he wouldn't find himself at a disadvantage against ordinary White Zetsu.
The treasures stored in Madara's base? He would seize as much as possible.
Even if he couldn't loot much, capturing a few White Zetsu would be worth it. These creatures, originally created as soldiers from the Divine Tree a thousand years ago, had unique physical properties with immense research value.
Not to mention, they were ideal vessels for Edo Tensei.
If he didn't capture a few now, what if he needed them in the future and they were hidden too well to be found?
"That should be everything." Kei stashed away the storage scroll filled with bloodstained soil, carefully securing it in his ninja pouch.
The first requirement for Edo Tensei was acquiring a portion of the deceased's body. By erasing all traces of Madara's blood and flesh from the battlefield… He had done all he could.
If Madara still managed to be reincarnated through Edo Tensei after all this, well—he'd have to admit, that would be seriously impressive.
After a moment of contemplation and confirming there were no major oversights, he finally turned his attention to the system rewards.
The Trait Duplication was only granted when a major storyline character's fate was altered, proving its immense value.
The Concept Trait Extraction had appeared for the first time—guaranteeing the ability to extract traits related to conceptual interference. Just imagining its potential made it clear how powerful it was!
The Trait Downgrade had now accumulated to two.
Though not as overwhelming as outright stripping a trait away, it was still a solid trump card. If he ever found himself facing a formidable enemy, it could be a lifesaver.
The Trait Reset? Now this was something new!
"Confirming the reset of a trait will randomly transform it into another trait of any tier within the same category..." Kei read the description and blinked.
Not sure yet—let's take another look.
Wait a second… Did this mean all his useless white-tier traits had a chance to turn into something incredible?
And hold on… Couldn't this also be used to screw over enemies?