Chapter 141 (Patreon)

Hearing Madara’s praise, Mihawk remained completely unmoved.

Nemesis flashed through his hand, attacking Madara from one unpredictable angle after another.

A faint icy-blue glow occasionally flickered within his red eyes as he searched for a weakness in Madara’s defenses.

Madara instantly understood what he was attempting and gave a confident grin.

“It’s useless. Your swordsmanship is indeed formidable, but none of your movements can escape these eyes.”

“Heh...”

Mihawk smiled faintly. By then, his red eyes had already transformed into the icy-blue Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

Beyond the blur of afterimages created by their colliding blades, his gaze remained fixed firmly upon Madara.

“You seem very confident in your swordsmanship... and in those eyes of yours.”

“Hm?”

The strange smile on Mihawk’s face filled Madara with a sudden sense of foreboding.

Clang—crack!

Their blades collided once again.

The metallic clang had barely rung out before a sharp cracking sound followed it.

The sword in Madara’s hand snapped cleanly in two.

“What—”

After severing Madara’s sword, Mihawk continued his swing toward Madara’s body without the slightest pause.

As Nemesis approached, the ominous feeling in Madara’s heart grew even stronger.

Boom!

Without hesitation, Madara activated his Susanoo once again.

Blue chakra surged around him and formed a skeletal defense, intercepting Mihawk’s blade as Madara leaped backward.

Riiip!

Almost at the exact moment Madara retreated, the sound of something being torn apart echoed across the battlefield.

The Susanoo, hailed as an absolute defense, had been cleaved cleanly in two by Mihawk.

After putting some distance between them, Madara glanced at the broken sword in his hand and then at his bisected Susanoo. His brows furrowed slightly.

“So those eyes can kill more than ninjutsu... They can even kill steel?”

“So close... I nearly fell for that.”

Madara discarded the broken sword and began forming hand seals.

“Those eyes of yours—I acknowledge them. In my current state, they are indeed capable of threatening me.”

“Our close-range exchange ends here. As a reward for making me feel a hint of pressure, I’ll show you something interesting.”

“Wood Release...”

Ōnoki’s expression changed drastically upon hearing Madara’s calm voice.

“Could it be...?”

“Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!”

Madara slammed both hands against the ground.

Boom!

The vast desert immediately began trembling.

The sand churned like a raging sea as enormous roots and tree trunks burst from beneath the ground. In a matter of moments, a dense forest had risen from the desert and was surging toward Mihawk from every direction.

Facing the legendary Wood Release, Mihawk made no attempt to stop it with his Ranged Slashes.

Instead, he stepped against the empty air with Geppo.

Bursts of compressed air erupted beneath his feet one after another, forming pale rings as his figure rapidly ascended.

“He can actually move through the air?”

Standing beyond the newly formed forest, Madara watched Mihawk escape the range of Deep Forest Emergence and gave a quiet chuckle.

“That brat possesses quite a collection of unusual abilities.”

“But Deep Forest Emergence was never meant merely to bury or restrain you.”

Madara formed another hand seal.

“Its true purpose is to create a battlefield that favors me.”

“Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!”

Roar!

As soon as Madara finished speaking, the forest churned violently.

An enormous wooden dragon rose from among the trees and released a piercing roar. Its immense body twisted through the air as it pursued Mihawk.

It was a Wood Release technique designed specifically to suppress tailed beasts. Once it wrapped itself around a target, it could also absorb their chakra.

“Wood Release may be unusual, but those eyes are clearly no ordinary dōjutsu either...”

Madara’s expression became thoughtful.

“I may as well take advantage of this Edo Tensei body and finish all of you with that technique.”

The pattern of his Mangekyō Sharingan began to ripple in concentric circles before transforming into the Rinnegan.

Boom!

The familiar blue chakra erupted from Madara’s body once again.

His Susanoo rapidly took shape and enveloped him completely.

However, its appearance was slightly different this time.

The face at the front vanished, replaced by a face on either side of its head. A second pair of arms emerged from its body, and its two pairs of hands formed seals alongside Madara, creating three sets of hand seals simultaneously.

“That is...”

Hinata, who was hovering in the distance, abruptly raised her head toward the clear blue sky.

The extraordinary perception of her Tenseigan allowed her to recognize the effect of Madara’s jutsu immediately.

“...”

Moments later, an enormous shadow blotted out the sky and engulfed the battlefield.

“Wh-What is that?”

“A meteorite... That’s a meteorite!”

“It’s enormous...”

The shadow was so vast that even the Allied Shinobi Forces, which had already retreated far from the battlefield, immediately noticed it.

Everyone turned around and stared upward at the colossal meteorite descending from the sky. Their faces were filled with shock, terror, and relief.

They were shocked by the meteorite’s sheer size, terrified of the man who had summoned it, and relieved that they had already escaped the area beneath it.

Several Iwagakure shinobi suddenly remembered something, and their expressions changed drastically.

“This is bad! Lord Tsuchikage is still back there!”

Ōnoki had remained behind to cover the army’s retreat. He was still on the battlefield with Mihawk and Madara.

Realizing that he remained directly beneath the falling meteorite, the Iwagakure shinobi could not conceal their concern.

Madara gazed upward at Mihawk. The wooden dragon was winding toward him from below while the enormous meteorite descended from above.

A playful smile appeared on Madara’s face.

“Now then, how will you deal with both of them?”

However, Mihawk felt none of the desperation Madara expected.

His heart remained perfectly calm.

Still using Geppo, Mihawk continued ascending. He returned Nemesis to its sheath and first directed his gaze toward the wooden dragon below.

Dark patterns spread across his icy-blue irises.

His vision fractured into multiple overlapping layers. The wooden dragon appeared to have been assembled from countless pieces, while graffiti-like cracks covered its entire body.

Whoosh!

After rising several meters higher, Mihawk suddenly stopped evading and dove directly toward the wooden dragon.

His feet struck the empty air in rapid succession, allowing him to shift his trajectory as easily as though he were walking on solid ground.

As he passed the wooden dragon, Mihawk drew Nemesis across one of the cracks and returned it to its sheath in a single motion.

Riiip!

That familiar tearing sound echoed once again.

The lifelike wooden dragon was split cleanly in two.

Mihawk focused chakra into the soles of his feet and landed atop one of the severed halves.

He raised his head toward the descending meteorite.

The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception faded, and Mihawk’s eyes returned to their ordinary red color.

His expression remained calm, and his posture was as loose and relaxed as ever.

Without coating Nemesis in Haki or assuming any special stance, Mihawk simply drew the sword and gave a casual upward swing.

Whoosh!

A vast dark-red Ranged Slash streaked with silver-white light erupted from Nemesis.

In an instant, its radiance stretched across the sky and could be seen from several miles away.