Naruto: This Genius is Somewhat Ordinary-Chapter 371

Six Paths Madara hovered high above the battlefield, his silhouette cutting into the sky like a god carved from shadow. The black staff in his hand pointed straight at Fujimoto Tōma.

Madara did not favor this weapon. Normally, he preferred bare hands or the Uchiha war fan. But against Tōma, those options were liabilities.

Anything made of ordinary chakra could be marked.

And once marked, it became prey.

Tōma’s Flying Thunder God seals were absolute. Whether flesh or steel, once touched, they turned into stepping stones for instant death.

Madara’s body had grown monstrously strong after ascending to Six Paths power, but one thing was gone: the ability to recover from total physical destruction. If his body was shattered beyond repair, there would be no miracle reset.

So he adapted.

The Six Paths staff, forged from Yin Yang Release, suppressed chakra itself. Flying Thunder God seals could not attach to it. Not even senjutsu chakra could bypass that property.

That was why Madara held it now.

Across from him, Tōma stood in the sky as well.

Flame shaped wings unfurled from his back, beating with steady rhythm. Unlike before, he was no longer relying on Magnet Release to stay aloft. This was true flight, smooth and controlled, closer to a bird than a shinobi.

No, better than a bird.

Birds obeyed air currents and inertia. Tōma did not.

Even now, Magnet Release subtly adjusted his movement, letting him perform sudden lateral shifts and impossible midair corrections no living creature could replicate.

Behind him hovered nine feather blades, each one angled toward Madara like a ring of execution.

The two locked eyes.

No words were needed.

The air detonated.

Two sonic booms exploded at once as both figures vanished from their positions, colliding in a violent flash at the center of the sky.

The nine feather blades surged forward, carving arcs of distorted space. At the same time, Tōma closed in, his black blade slamming again and again into Madara’s staff, each strike carrying the force of space itself shattering.

Every clash left a notch in the staff.

That told Tōma everything he needed to know.

His attack power had surpassed Madara’s defense.

But when he swung a second time, the notch was gone.

Restored.

Tōma clicked his tongue internally.

Madara was the true owner of the Rinnegan. Every chakra nature. Yin Yang Release. Six Paths power in its purest form.

Given time, Madara would eventually recreate genuine Truth Seeking Orbs, not the disposable versions used by Obito or Naruto. Even now, though he had not perfected them, he could rapidly repair any damage to them.

The staff was made of the same material.

Breaking it permanently was impossible.

Meanwhile, the nine feather blades split off, engaging Madara’s four invisible Limbo shadows.

Tōma could not fully perceive their movements, but quantity and pressure made up for perception. Reinforced by Susanoo and driven by spatial cuts, the blades forced the shadows to defend. They could not simply ignore the attacks.

Madara’s voice rang out, sharp with genuine surprise.

"I didn’t expect you to sense Limbo."

Tōma didn’t answer.

If he could sense them completely, the battle would not be this tight.

The feather blades were being pushed back. Even with Susanoo and Nine Tails chakra reinforcing them, the strain was obvious. The chakra tails connecting the blades were beginning to fracture.

This was bad.

If the blades broke, all four shadows would rush him at once. His only option would be escape via Flying Thunder God.

But this form had a time limit.

If he retreated now, there would be no second chance.

Tch. So that’s how it is.

Black material seeped quietly across the cracks in his crimson armor, filling the fractures like living ink.

Truth Seeking Orbs.

"Come on," Tōma said calmly. "Let’s keep going."

Madara laughed. "Gladly."

Tōma inhaled, eyes snapping wide.

The black blade in his hand blazed with light. He didn’t have the luxury to prepare a full dimensional weapon, but continuous combat had condensed enough chakra and space-time energy.

He swung.

"Dimensional Slash."

The blade cut forward, tearing through space itself.

Madara’s eyes widened.

"So this is the power that killed Obito."

He brought the staff down to block.

It didn’t matter.

The staff split cleanly in half, sliced like soft clay.

The spatial slash continued onward, unstoppable. No Truth Seeking Orbs. No Susanoo. Nothing could block it.

"Well done," Madara said, smiling.

Then he vanished.

Tōma’s blade fell, cleaving through one of Madara’s Limbo shadows instead.

As expected.

He had never believed the slash would land.

Madara had swapped positions with a shadow at the last instant.

But that was the cue.

The nine feather blades flared, carrying the light of spatial rupture as they slashed toward Madara’s new position and the remaining shadows.

This was the real killing move.

Madara’s eyes sharpened.

"Shinra Tensei!"

A massive repulsive force exploded outward, cracking the sky itself.

The blades stalled for a heartbeat.

Then kept coming.

Spatial destruction ignored repulsion.

Madara smiled.

That pause was all he needed.

Behind him, the Truth Seeking Orbs moved, wrapping around his body like a black cocoon. The feather blades crashed into them, carving deep fractures, but the orbs repaired themselves almost instantly.

The attack was stopped.

And yet—

Tōma smiled.

Madara’s shadows regrouped beside him. The cocoon dissolved, the orbs spreading out again.

"That was an impressive slash," Madara said. "But you’re running out of time."

Tōma’s chakra was unstable. Anyone with eyes could see it.

Madara’s Limbo shadows also had a limit, but they would last longer than Tōma’s current form.

"This isn’t over," Tōma replied quietly.

Madara froze. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

A sense of danger screamed through him.

His Rinnegan pushed perception to its limit.

Nothing.

No dimensional slash. No hidden seal.

Then he noticed it.

The Truth Seeking Orbs.

Ten of them.

"...That’s not right."

Madara only possessed nine.

The extra orb pulsed violently, chakra compressed beyond control.

Realization struck.

"An orb... explosion?!"

Madara instantly swapped places with the farthest shadow.

Too late.

The world turned white.

The explosion tore through sky and earth alike, swallowing Madara’s former position and Tōma himself, who had wrapped his body in the feather blades reinforced with Truth Seeking Orbs.

Flying Thunder God was useless here. They were too high. Every marked location lay beyond the blast radius.

If he backed out now, everything would be wasted.

The explosion roared like the end of an era.

When the light faded, silence returned.

The detonated orb shrank, drifting back to Tōma’s side.

His flaming armor was shattered with cracks, but it still burned.

He looked at Madara.

Half of Madara’s body was gone.

The rest remained intact, protected by a black shield formed at the final instant.

Tōma exhaled.

He’d blocked it.

As expected... and still unbelievable.

That final reaction speed was inhuman.

The plan had been flawless. The moment the feather blades struck the orb cocoon, the fragments of Truth Seeking Orbs embedded in the blades had latched on. Tōma’s taunt and spatial attacks masked the buildup.

But an explosion, no matter how fast, still took time.

And Madara had noticed.

His body regenerated visibly, flesh knitting itself back together at terrifying speed.

Ten Tails jinchūriki regeneration was no joke.

Still...

Tōma felt hope.

Limbo should have been destroyed.

He moved to strike.

Then froze.

Three shadows reappeared.

"...You recalled them," Tōma muttered.

At the moment of life and death, Madara had withdrawn the shadows into the Rinnegan rather than letting them tank the blast.

Only Madara could do something like that.

"...Uchiha Madara," Tōma said softly.

He had reached his limit.

Susanoo was on the verge of collapse. Against a crippled Madara alone, he might have won.

But not with the shadows still present.

Madara laughed, blood pouring from his mouth, eyes blazing with madness.

"No. That line is mine," he roared. "Fujimoto Tōma! I admit it. You almost killed me. A mortal... standing on the brink of slaying a god!"

The sky burned.

And the battle was not yet finished.