In the Valley of the End, rain pours from the sky in thick sheets.
Time seems frozen — the world around him falls utterly still.
On the lake's surface...
Heiyan shines with a golden glow across his body. Manipulating several massive golden chains, he lifts his sword toward the heavens and places its tip near his lips. Then he releases a dazzling blue laser from his mouth.
This beam pierces through the heavy rain, breaches the solid defense of Susanoo, and directly penetrates Madara Uchiha's chest.
Shock fills Madara's face.
"Heiyan…"
With resentment, he mutters the name once, as if determined to remember it forever. He stares intensely at Heiyan's face, trying to imprint the latter's appearance into his mind.
However, his breath grows increasingly weak, and his eyelids grow heavier. The image of Heiyan before him also becomes blurrier and blurrier…
Finally, Madara Uchiha tightly closes his eyes and collapses with a loud crash.
At the same time, his dozens-of-meters-high Susanoo shatters piece by piece, turning into countless blue glowing dots that vanish into the stormy rain.
This time, Madara no longer sees Heiyan as "a clumsy mimic of Tobirama Senju," but instead recognizes him as a true opponent.
One truly worthy of Madara Uchiha's respect as a rival.
He now realizes that if Heiyan were to grow stronger over time, another ninja legend might rise…
After defeating Madara Uchiha,
Heiyan wastes no time on celebration or rest.
After retracting the Adamantine Sealing Chains, he immediately forms hand seals. With a burst of white smoke and a puff, he creates a Shadow Clone.
Then, he closes his eyes and uses his powerful sensing ability to scan every inch beneath the lake's surface.
Found her.
Her chakra feels familiar but dangerously faint — at least she's still alive.
So his real body dives underwater, heading toward where Pakura lies unconscious.
Meanwhile, his Shadow Clone remains on the water surface, walking toward Madara Uchiha's corpse.
There's no doubt this body holds great research value — it must be recovered.
Yet—just at this moment—
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Suddenly, a surge of crimson flame erupts from Nagare's corpse and rapidly engulfs her entire body.
Even under the storm's downpour, it burns relentlessly and fiercely.
Before Heiyan's very eyes, the corpse burns completely clean in less than one second, its ashes swept away by the lake water without leaving even a trace.
Clearly, Madara's main body remotely activated a jutsu to incinerate this corpse.
Seeing this, Heiyan frowns.
This moment feels eerily familiar.
A lightning bolt flashes through his mind. Suddenly, he recalls that when he killed Kurokawa, the rogue ninja from Mist, the latter's body was also burned away exactly like this.
"So that's how it was... I must have been marked by Madara even back then."
A chill runs down Heiyan's spine as he muses to himself.
Back then, fortunately, he remained hidden in glory and identity, causing Madara to mistakenly believe it was Fugaku Uchiha who had killed Kurokawa.
Looking back now, Madara must have already met with Fugaku — the blazing war fan he holds now probably came from that very encounter.
It seems after everything settles down, I should find a chance to talk with Fugaku. Maybe I can get more information from him and uncover Uchiha Madara's true intentions.
Heiyan mused silently to himself.
In the distance, within a hidden corner of the woods.
Black Zetsu's head emerged from the tree trunk. His small eyes were full of shock.
"The invincible Madara Uchiha... has actually been defeated again."
He muttered under his breath. Wait—why did he say "again"?
Indeed.
Suddenly he recalled, many years ago, it was also at this place, in almost the same spot, that Madara Uchiha had fallen before Hashirama Senju.
He could never have imagined that, after so many years, the same scene would play out once again.
"That old man Madara, will he be okay?"
His heart tightened as he murmured to himself.
This time though Madara had only lost a sacrificial clone. But tracing back to its source, this clone was remotely controlled by his original body; spiritually, they were inseparable parts of one whole.
When the clone perished, Madara's original body would also sustain soul damage.
And soul damage could directly affect whether Madara would be able to open his Rinnegan afterward.
That's what concerned Black Zetsu most.
Thinking of this, he no longer wished to linger and decided immediately return to their underground base to check on Madara's condition.
Before leaving however, Black Zetsu still couldn't resist causing some mischief.
"Hehe, here's a parting gift for you all."
He looked toward the people joyfully celebrating Heiyan's victory at the lakeshore, his lips curling into a cold smile before forming a hand seal.
The next second,
On the shore and throughout the woods, layers upon layers of explosive tags silently surfaced from beneath the ground. These explosive tags had been buried deep underground by Black Zetsu using his earth-manipulation abilities earlier. Truly, not a soul had noticed Black Zetsu's stealthy work.
At this moment, hundreds and thousands of explosive tags were simultaneously detonated by Black Zetsu's chakra.
Then—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
With a series of earth-shaking explosions, various locations along the shore, cliffs, and forest began erupting one after another, flames bursting forth everywhere.
Instantly, boulders rolled down from the cliffs, tall trees toppled over in waves, and massive crowds scattered in panic.
A cacophony of explosions, cries, screams, and desperate pleas for help filled the air.
Mayhem reached its climax.
At one spot along the lakeshore, Tsunade knelt on the ground with her head bowed forward, lifeless and trembling as she held Nawaki's corpse tightly.
She was completely soaked by the rain now, golden strands of hair clinging wetly to her face. Rainwater and blood mixed together on the ground beneath her feet, creating a sorrowful yet beautiful scene.
Whoosh!
A huge rock flew through the air, launched from the cliffside by the explosion, heading straight towards her.
But she didn't move an inch, staring blankly ahead, unaware.
Just as she was about to be struck.
Swoosh!
Heiyan's shadow clone arrived in time, smashing the rock with a single punch and saving her.
He studied Tsunade, sighed softly, said nothing, and quietly turned away.
Because he knew that when someone's heart was shattered, no words could bring comfort.
Let her have some time alone.
In the forest clearing.
"Ao-sensei is dead..."
The kids at the Ninja Academy were crying their eyes out.
Just now, several explosive tags had appeared beneath them. It was Chunin instructor Ao who threw himself forward, using his own body to block the explosion.
CRACK!
A thirty-meter-tall tree, thick enough for several people to wrap their arms around, snapped from the blast and began falling toward the children.
Some managed to jump out of the way, but others were too scared to move.
At the crucial moment,
Heiyan showed up once more. Relying on his powerful Sage Transformation, he stopped the falling tree's collapse, allowing the children to regain their senses and escape safely.
Bang!
Heiyan exerted tremendous force, hurling the tree aside.
Then, his solemn gaze swept across the group of five- and six-year-olds.
Facing the wide-eyed stares of the little ones, Heiyan looked each child over before finally saying:
"Minato, take them away from here."
He walked directly toward the blond-haired boy, called him by name, then patted the latter's shoulder encouragingly before hurrying off to rescue others.
"Heiyan senior, how did you know my name?"
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