Naruto: This Genius is Somewhat Ordinary-Chapter 355

Fire and water collided head-on.

The moment the roaring flames met the surging waves, vast clouds of steam erupted, swallowing the battlefield whole. Visibility vanished in an instant.

Within that white haze, Uchiha Madara held an absolute advantage.

Mangekyō Sharingan cut through the obscured world effortlessly. Without hesitation, Madara surged forward once more, several blazing fireballs trailing behind him as he plunged back into the Allied Forces like a wolf entering a flock.

Just as he expected, most shinobi never even saw him coming. Their vision was crippled, their reactions slowed, and Madara’s speed was overwhelming. Many fell before they could raise even basic defenses.

Then something felt wrong.

The impact didn’t feel like flesh.

It was resistance. Yielding, but firm. Like striking compacted earth.

Madara glanced down.

Sand.

Perfectly placed. Every time.

"Tch. Sand... the Sand Village, then," he muttered.

At the same time, his position was locked down.

Gaara and Ōnoki had found him.

The ground beneath Madara suddenly surged upward, lifting him high as massive stone slabs rose in unison. From all sides, torrents of sand crashed toward him.

"Not bad," Madara remarked casually, stepping off the rising rock and evading the assault midair.

That was when he sensed it.

A piercing white beam tore through the steam, rushing straight toward him. Even Madara felt a flicker of danger.

"Dust Release... so the old Two-Weight brat is still alive?" he mused.

He didn’t dodge.

At the instant the technique was about to hit, Madara’s eyes changed.

"Got him!" Ōnoki shouted, relief flashing across his face.

But the beam vanished.

Not dispersed. Not deflected.

Absorbed.

Madara stood there, unharmed.

And staring back at them—

"Rinnegan?!" Ōnoki gasped, his blood running cold.

Beside Madara, Orochimaru appeared, eyes gleaming. "As expected. The Rinnegan truly lies beyond the Mangekyō."

"I awakened these eyes shortly before my death," Madara said calmly, then turned his gaze on Orochimaru. "Now tell me. What did you do to this body?"

He could feel it clearly.

This form was stronger than when he’d been alive. Taijutsu. Ninjutsu. Even the Rinnegan had manifested again, albeit incomplete.

"It’s a specially prepared Edo Tensei," Orochimaru replied with a smile. "One that lets you exceed your prime."

Madara frowned. "You deciphered my body’s secrets without Sharingan? Even the Uchiha stone tablet rejects outsiders."

"When all other possibilities are eliminated," Orochimaru said lightly, "the remaining answer becomes worth betting on. And now, I know I was right."

His voice trembled with excitement. "Show me, Madara-sama. The power that once belonged to the Sage of Six Paths."

Madara studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Very well."

He formed a single hand seal.

Blue chakra erupted around him, condensing into a towering Susanoo with four arms and two faces.

Orochimaru’s breath caught.

"Heavenly Obstruction Star."

The sky darkened.

A colossal meteor tore through the clouds, blotting out the heavens as it descended toward the Allied Forces.

Silence fell.

Weapons slipped from numb fingers. Some shinobi laughed weakly. Others stared in despair.

"This... isn’t real, right?"

"We can’t escape that..."

"Is this the power of a god?"

"Are we really fighting something like this?"

Ōnoki clenched his teeth and roared, "Giving up now changes nothing! If we’re going to die, then we fight until the end!"

He shot upward toward the falling meteor.

"Lord Tsuchikage!"

"Dad!"

Kitsuchi followed him without hesitation.

Together, they slammed their palms into the descending mass.

"Earth Style: Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique!"

Even with the technique active, their faces twisted in agony. The weight was monstrous.

Gaara screamed, veins standing out as he unleashed everything he had. Sand surged upward, forming a massive pillar that wrapped around the meteor, holding it aloft.

"So close! Hold it, Kitsuchi!" Ōnoki shouted.

They did it.

For a moment—

Cheers erupted.

"We stopped it!"

"It worked!"

Madara smiled faintly.

"Then what about the second one, Ōnoki?"

Another shadow fell.

A second, even larger meteor slammed into the first.

The sand pillar shattered instantly. Ōnoki and Kitsuchi were thrown back, powerless, as the original meteor resumed its descent.

Hope shattered.

Despair returned.

And then—

Both meteors vanished.

The sky cleared, revealing blue once more, as if nothing had ever fallen.

"...What just happened?"

A stunned silence followed.

Then someone shouted, voice cracking with disbelief and joy.

"It’s the Hokage!"

"The Hokage is here!"

All eyes turned upward.

A lone figure stood calmly in midair, white cloak fluttering in the wind, positioned exactly where the meteors had vanished.

Fujimoto Tōma.

Cheers exploded across the battlefield.

"We’re saved!"

"If it’s the Sixth Hokage, we can still win!"

Ōnoki and Gaara exhaled at the same time.

If it was him... then maybe this nightmare could still be stopped.

Madara narrowed his eyes, intrigued.

"So you’re the one," he said quietly. "The one who erased my meteors... with space-time ninjutsu."

Orochimaru burst into laughter. "You finally arrived, Sixth Hokage!"

Tōma glanced down at the battlefield, then sighed and looked at Orochimaru. "I stepped away for a moment, and you nearly turned this into a catastrophe."

Orochimaru shrugged. "You erased my Tsuchikage body. I had to improvise."

"So you brought him here to stop me from using that technique again," Tōma said, understanding immediately.

"Exactly."

Madara laughed, hand covering his face. "Magnificent. To think this era would produce someone worthy of standing beside Hashirama."

The two figures faced each other in the sky.

And the real battle finally began.

...

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