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Chapter 172: The Curtain Call for Konoha's King of Dance!
🕑 Added 2025-09-04 13:42:42 +0000 UTCChapter 172: The Curtain Call for Konoha's King of Dance!
"So you're..."
Nara Keisuke nonchalantly raised his right hand, aimed his index finger at the old man, and fired a black shadow bullet without warning.
"...Uchiha Madara, huh?"
Spiraling Shadow Piercing Bullet!
Swish—
The black projectile shot through the air like a gale, flying with perfect accuracy toward Madara's forehead, seemingly intending to kill the frail, white-haired old man on the spot.
"How unethical!" the White Zetsu beside him squawked. "Do you Konoha ninja only know how to launch sneak attacks?"
The Zetsu quickly raised its arm. Without any hand seals, its pale forearm rapidly transformed into a plank of wood, which then extended to form a wooden shield in front of Madara.
Thud!
The Spiraling Shadow Piercing Bullet slammed into the shield, managing only to punch a hole through it before its Yin Release chakra was spent. A few splinters of wood flew off, but Madara, protected behind it, was completely unharmed.
"Wood Style," Keisuke said meaningfully, his eyes fixed on the White Zetsu. He had already identified it. Its pale body and strange, spiral-shaped face clearly marked it as the unique White Zetsu, Tobi. The very same super Zetsu who could use the Wood Golem technique.
"Heh heh, this is getting more and more interesting..." Keisuke looked at Madara, meeting his gaze without flinching. "Mr. Uchiha Madara, where did you acquire this Wood Style power? The entire ninja world knows that it is a Kekkei Genkai unique to the First Hokage!"
"Then do you know the other secret that is known throughout the ninja world?" Madara's single crimson eye stared back at Keisuke, his voice low and eerie. "When fighting an Uchiha, never look into their eyes!"
Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!
In Keisuke's vision, the world was suddenly turned upside down. The dark, gloomy cave vanished, replaced by a vast, blood-red space that seemed to stretch on forever. He was no longer standing calmly; he was now pinned against a giant iron stake, with other massive spikes shooting in from all directions, immobilizing him completely.
The white-haired Madara appeared before him. Even without his cane, he could now stand perfectly straight. In this world constructed from spiritual energy, it was as if he had shed his decrepit, mortal coil and reclaimed his strength.
"The Shadow of Darkness of Konoha. I never thought you'd be such a careless fool."
Madara produced a kunai from somewhere and slowly approached, preparing to slit Keisuke's throat.
"Your next line is..." Keisuke's Lacquer Eye was continuously analyzing the flow of spiritual energy in the illusion, completely deciphering it. "...'It's all over.'"
"It's all over... what?" Madara froze, his left eye widening slightly. With his mastery of genjutsu, he easily detected that something was wrong with the illusion around him. But the change was too fast. In his aged state, it was difficult for him to react in time to stop it.
By the time the Yin Release chakra had stabilized, Madara realized that he and Keisuke had, without him noticing, switched places. Now, he was the one impaled on the giant iron stakes.
Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change!
"This is... a genjutsu reversal?" Madara was stunned again. Nara Keisuke is a genjutsu master, and a powerful Yin-style user who specializes in visual illusions... This was a piece of intelligence that was completely outside his grasp.
But Keisuke had no intention of wasting time like Madara. Before his opponent's consciousness could withdraw from the illusion, he decisively molded several balls of Yin Release chakra and fired them like bullets.
Two to the chest, one to the head.
Crack—Crackle—
The sound of something shattering seemed to echo through the void. The illusionary space instantly broke apart. Keisuke's consciousness returned to his body. Across from him, Madara, who had been so confident just moments before, now had beads of cold sweat trickling down his wrinkled, ancient face.
The clash in the spiritual world had been swift and silent, but Madara's suddenly labored breathing was clearly audible to everyone else in the cave.
"Sweat?" Tobi the Zetsu exclaimed in his usual theatrical way. "Madara, an opponent of this level can actually make you sweat?"
Minato quickly raised his kunai, moving to protect Keisuke. His mind, moving at incredible speeds, had instantly pieced together what had just happened—Keisuke and Madara had fought a secret battle of genjutsu, and Madara had lost.
'How are you this ridiculous?!' Minato suddenly wanted to turn around and see what kind of ninja Keisuke was actually made of. On a large scale, he could summon a giant to fight a Susanoo. On a small scale, he could play with genjutsu and go toe-to-toe with Uchiha Madara. Was there anything he couldn't do? But, it had to be said, having a teammate like this filled Minato with a profound sense of security.
'Just as I thought. He must be a fake. His genjutsu shattered that easily...' Keisuke thought to himself, looking at Madara with a flat expression, his thoughts hidden from all. 'No Gedo Mazō, no endless chakra supply, and his spiritual energy is as weak as a flickering candle... If this Old Man Spot is the real deal, I'll give up being lazy for the rest of my life!'
Even so, Keisuke had no idea where Madara had found such a convincing double. The Shackling Stakes Technique had almost made him believe he was facing the genuine article. But for the illusion to shatter after just three hits... although, considering the state of the old man before him, perhaps that was perfectly in line with his current condition. After a certain age, a ninja's strength inevitably declined. While their experience and spiritual power grew, their aging bodies and atrophying chakra pathways prevented them from exerting their peak strength. For the man before him to cast a genjutsu of that level at his age... if anyone but Keisuke had been caught in it, even Minato, they would have instantly believed he was the real Uchiha Madara.
"Genjutsu, Yin Release, and that jutsu from before that was just like a Susanoo..." Madara gasped for breath, his eyes locked on Keisuke's, searching for any trace of tomoe or pinwheels. "Are you from the Nara clan, or the Uchiha?"
"Are those your last words?" Keisuke asked. Keeping his Lacquer Eye active, he sent a thin shadow tentacle shooting out from beneath him towards Tobi. "Now!"
Without needing to be told, the instant Keisuke attacked, Minato perfectly coordinated, throwing multiple Flying Thunder God kunai at Madara's position.
"Oh no, oh no!" Tobi yelped, dodging the shadow attack. Having witnessed the tragic fate of the other Zetsu, he knew there was something wrong with Keisuke's shadows. Even the slightest touch could lead to total incapacitation. Unless absolutely necessary, he would not engage him directly.
But the cave was cramped. While dodging the shadows, Tobi also had to protect Madara from being instantly decapitated by Minato. Minato's kunai, however, were thrown precisely to create multiple attack vectors. The Yellow Flash flickered around the cave, his bright golden hair leaving faint, glowing trails in the dim torchlight. Amidst his continuous teleportation, Minato, with his incredible reflexes and absolute calm, finally found the opening he was looking for.
He appeared in front of Madara and threw a three-pronged kunai straight at his head. But at that moment, the three tomoe in Madara's left eye connected, forming a familiar black pinwheel.
Minato's kunai struck Madara's head, but in the next instant...
Caw—Caw—
With the harsh cry of crows, Madara's body dissolved into a flock of black birds, easily evading the single-point attack.
Yatagarasu!
'That's the ability Kagami-senpai used earlier!' the thought flashed through Minato's mind.
The crows beat their wings, trying to fly out of the dangerous cave. But what they didn't notice was that Keisuke's earlier attacks had laid a crisscrossing grid of shadows on the cave floor. The flock flew straight into the trap. Their bodies were instantly frozen, their wings lost all power, and they fell to the ground.
The crows converged, reforming into Madara's body. He crashed heavily onto the floor, a trail of dark red blood trickling from beneath his remaining left eye.
Keisuke didn't hesitate. He aimed at the downed Madara and fired.
Two to the chest, one to the head.
Three black bullets pierced through Madara's body, extinguishing his life for good.
"Whoa!" Tobi the Zetsu froze in place, ignoring the approaching Minato. His single eye, visible through the hole in his spiral mask, stared straight at Keisuke. "You... you actually killed Madara!"
"And what about you?" Keisuke had no interest in playing along with Tobi's act. He raised his hand and fired a Spiraling Shadow Binding Bullet at him.
"I'll be watching you," Tobi said. Like a plant, he instantly sank into the ground, leaving only his head exposed. "Nara Keisuke. Minato Namikaze."
Keisuke frowned and fired another Shadow Piercing Bullet at the head, but it only blasted through a patch of wet mud.
"There's no trace of his chakra underground..." Minato quickly knelt, his fingers touching the ground in his unique sensory pose. "That White Zetsu has vanished!"
"At least we got one thing out of this," Keisuke said, looking at the corpse on the floor with a meaningful expression. "The 'news' of Uchiha Madara's death."
