438 The Shimura Has Ice Release

"I see that guy!"

Obito pointed toward Isshiki's location, alerting Hashirama and Madara beside him.

"Keep your eyes on him. Don't let him get away."

After saying that, Madara and Hashirama controlled the Great Buddha together, launching an attack toward Isshiki.

...

Fighting with the dead is undoubtedly extremely foolish.

Isshiki originally wanted to exploit the Great Buddha's slow movements and immediately opened a portal to escape.

But the moment the portal opened, it was twisted by another force.

"Nice work, Obito."

Although Obito couldn't see it, Takeshi still gave a thumbs-up.

He had cared for Obito's eyes so well precisely so that they could shine in a crucial moment like this.

And Obito did not disappoint him.

Of course, the price was that Obito had used his ocular powers more in this single day than the sum of every day since he'd awakened them.

"Hikari, do it exactly the way I explained just now!"

After praising Obito, Takeshi stood beside Uchiha Hikari, watching Isshiki evade the attacks of the Great Buddha, and summoned his own Gundam.

"Sage Art: Wind Spirit!"

"Susanoo!" Uchiha Hikari summoned Susanoo in perfect cooperation.

The giant Wind Spirit Gundam became even flashier when sheathed in Susanoo's armor—shield in the left hand, blade in the right, and with Susanoo's red glow, it looked as if it had entered berserk mode.

"Another one?"

Isshiki had been handling the Great Buddha's attacks with ease, but upon seeing yet another colossal Gundam appear behind him, he became irritated.

Visible wounds had already formed on his body. Continuing to tangle with them was clearly unwise.

This couldn't go on.

Thinking this, Isshiki caused several Daikokuten cubes to appear in the sky.

Multiple Daikokuten suddenly manifested overhead, their shadows engulfing both the Wind Spirit and the Great Buddha.

"Where did he go?"

The moment Daikokuten appeared, Isshiki shrank his body, causing Madara and Hashirama to carefully search for his form.

"Here!"

A shout from behind came from Tobirama. The black rods Isshiki intended to use to ambush Hashirama were all blocked by Tobirama's body.

As an excellent sensory-type ninja, Tobirama sensed Isshiki's movement before the attack even began.

"Annoying!"

Kicking away Tobirama—once again turned into a hedgehog—Isshiki threw several more black rods, then grabbed a long, narrow rod in his hand and charged toward Uchiha Madara.

Everything happened fast. By the time Tobirama was sent flying, Takeshi and the others had only just noticed the disturbance.

"Damn, our beloved Second Hokage-sama is flying again!"

Takeshi watched Senju Tobirama perform free fall in midair and activated Shadow Clone Technique.

Two shadow clones used Flying Thunder God to appear beside Obito, ready to strike Isshiki at the right moment.

Naturally, Isshiki was not fooled. Sensing the change behind him, he didn't stop his assault, continuing to swing his black rod at Madara.

"Shinra Tensei."

Seeing that Hashirama had left the range of his own attacks, Madara used Shinra Tensei without hesitation.

"Naive."

With Isshiki's slightly mocking remark, Madara's expression turned ugly.

The bastard had actually torn apart Shinra Tensei's repulsive force field and slapped him directly on the head.

With Isshiki's strength, the upper half of Madara's body was reduced to dust, and his lower body was pierced by several black rods, leaving him immobile.

The Great Buddha began to collapse.

"Sage Art: Torii Gates!"

Seeing Madara's miserable state, Hashirama knew Isshiki's next target would be him, so he summoned the Torii Gates to restrain Isshiki.

Looking up at the falling Torii Gates, Isshiki shrank his body again.

Takeshi noticed this instantly. He also realized Isshiki intended to move behind Hashirama, so he raised his chakra blade high and slashed fiercely toward Hashirama.

And just as Takeshi predicted, Isshiki—having returned to his normal size—saw the blade behind him and aborted his offensive, flying upward instead.

Takeshi's blade was even more dangerous than the attacks of both Hashirama and Madara.

Because Hashirama was already dead, various factors caused the natural energy in his Sage Mode to be less concentrated.

Thus, Isshiki adopted far greater caution when dealing with Takeshi than with the others.

He jumped onto Takeshi's blade as easily as stepping on flat ground and ran toward him.

Along the way, he faced kunai and shuriken thrown his way, but he dodged them effortlessly.

Until a Flying Thunder God-marked kunai grazed his cheek.

Two figures appeared beside the kunai, grabbing Isshiki's arms from both sides.

"Sealing Technique!"

Black markings spread across the bodies of the two clones and quickly crept onto Isshiki's body.

Just from that instant of contact, Isshiki felt the seal contained a massive amount of natural energy.

"Trying to use natural energy to seal me?"

Unable to absorb it, Isshiki repeated his earlier tactic—shrinking himself so the enemy couldn't grab him.

After losing their target, the two clones were consumed by the black markings and dissolved into smoke.

"Right here!"

The moment before his clones dispersed, Takeshi used Flying Thunder God to appear in midair, accurately sensing Isshiki's shrunken position.

"Sage Art: Rasengan!"

Flapping his ice wings to maintain flight, Takeshi smashed the Rasengan downward.

"The sealing technique was just a feint, and this is the real kill stroke?!"

Caught off guard, Isshiki could only return to normal size, coat his body with thick black rods, and withstand the attack head-on.

With the rods' protection, Isshiki wasn't heavily injured, but his already damaged body could endure even less time after successive blows.

He desperately wanted to escape and find a new vessel.

A far more terrifying chakra burst from Isshiki's body, and the shockwave nearly blew Takeshi out of the sky.

Countless black rods rained down like a storm, stabbing toward Takeshi at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

Takeshi tried using Fire Release to alter their trajectory, but the moment the flames left his mouth, Isshiki vanished, followed by a ripping sound from behind him.

From here on, even Madara—with his Rinnegan—could barely track the fight.

Everyone looked up at the sky. They could only see two dark shapes flickering past each other, with the occasional flash of firelight.

"Hey, Hashirama, pull these black rods out of me."

Pierced through the lower body by the rods, Uchiha Madara spoke to Hashirama beside him.

"Sorry, sorry, I got too absorbed in watching the fight." Hashirama scratched his head and walked over to Madara.