Chapter 380 - 380: Uchiha Madara
After all, Starrk being the Primera Espada meant his underlying strength was definitely astronomical. You might not trust the System's abstract data scaling, but you could certainly trust Sosuke Aizen's discerning eye.
[Perform a ten-pull?!]
"Yes!"
Ren started his fifth ten-pull, and a familiar purple light shone across the digital interface.
"Hmm?"
It was Asuma Sarutobi, the son of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Fodder. Recycle.
To be honest, other than vaguely recognizing his name and his signature trench knives, Ren really didn't have much of an impression of the man. If he couldn't even remember the guy's major battles off the top of his head, his performance in the original story must not have been all that great.
[Perform a ten-pull?!]
"Yes!"
On the sixth ten-pull, two bright purple lights flashed simultaneously. Ren instantly recognized both of these characters.
One was Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist, and the other was his loyal shadow, Haku.
Zabuza was the first true mini-boss the protagonist team encountered, wielding the massive Executioner's Blade. Haku was always by his side during that arc, and his lethal precision with Ice Release meant his actual combat strength was even slightly higher than Zabuza's.
Perhaps because they were the primary antagonists of the very first major emotional arc in the series, Ren's impression of them remained exceptionally deep despite how much time had passed. They were beautifully written, tragic figures.
But overall, they were still just fodder. Even within the purple-tier Character Cards, they sat firmly in the low-to-mid range.
Recycle!
That universe truly was a brutal world where people died frequently and tragically. It made sense that so many of the characters he pulled originated from there.
[Perform a ten-pull?!]
"Yes!"
The seventh ten-pull began.
His luck was objectively terrible this time around. He hit that dreaded forty percent failure rate, resulting in a series of dull, grey lights that yielded absolutely nothing.
[Perform a ten-pull?!]
"Yes!"
The eighth ten-pull commenced.
Another purple Character Card materialized, and the figure on it was once again from the shinobi world.
It was Kimimaro.
He was a very memorable character from the early stages of the story, possessing the Kaguya Clan's terrifying Bloodline Limit, the 'Shikotsumyaku'. He was scouted and groomed by Orochimaru to be the ultimate vessel, a perfect weapon forged from bone and loyalty.
Unfortunately, having fallen seriously ill with an incurable disease, he couldn't fulfill that dark destiny. He ultimately died when his illness flared up during his intense battle with Gaara and Rock Lee.
Overall, he had some serious skill and immense potential, but his actual combat output was capped by his failing mortal body.
Recycle!
[Perform a ten-pull?!]
"Yes!"
On the ninth ten-pull, yet another flash of purple illuminated his vision.
It was the Stone Hashira, Gyomei Himejima.
Considered the absolute physical mainstay of the Demon Slayer Corps, he wielded a massive spiked flail and axe with blinding speed. He fought valiantly and ultimately died in the apocalyptic final battle against Muzan Kibutsuji.
But in a world of mountain-destroying magic and ancient dragons, peak human conditioning simply wasn't enough.
Recycle!
After performing nine consecutive ten-pulls, the only barely useful card he had acquired was Starrk. The rest of the pulls were nothing more than glorified EXP bags destined for the recycling bin.
He had already prepared himself mentally for the harsh reality of gacha rates, but he still felt a bitter wave of frustration wash over him.
"Only one last time left!" Ren muttered, exhaling a long breath.
[Perform a ten-pull?!]
"Yes!"
The gacha animation lit up the screen once more. This was his first time ever sitting through so many multi-pull animations in a row.
After the first nine attempts had turned out to be so underwhelming, Ren genuinely didn't hold much hope for this final roll. He half-expected another string of purples or a total dead pull.
However, fate is funny like that sometimes. Right when you completely abandon all hope, it decides to drop an absolute miracle directly into your lap.
Swoosh—!
The digital sky shattered. A brilliant, blinding golden star tore through the interface, plummeting toward the earth like a localized meteor strike.
"A gold!"
Ren was instantly delighted, his prior frustration melting away the second he saw that radiant hue. Even though he had seen it multiple times by now, the golden glow was always so intoxicatingly lovely.
After all, even if a Gold Legendary Card turned out to be completely incompatible or utterly useless in combat, recycling it provided an astronomical amount of experience compared to the lower-tier Character Cards.
Ren eagerly reached out and quickly flipped the Character Card over.
When the majestic artwork on the front of the Character Card was finally revealed, Ren couldn't help but widen his eyes in absolute shock.
"This... this is..."
An unspeakable, euphoric joy rose from the very depths of his heart. His body couldn't stop trembling as a surge of pure adrenaline flooded his veins.
He blinked hard, rubbing his eyes and double-checking the name on the card repeatedly, finding that the impossible really was true.
"It... it's really him!!"
The man depicted on the Character Card possessed wild, long, untamed black hair. He wore a high-collared deep blue mantle entirely covered by layered, segmented crimson samurai armor.
Standing there in the artwork with his arms casually crossed over his chest, he radiated a suffocating, terrifying pressure. One look at his indifferent, contemptuous stance was enough to tell that this man was frighteningly strong.
"Lord Madara!!!"
That's right!
It was him! Madara Uchiha!
The true, undisputed ceiling of the shinobi world, the man who proudly bore a name synonymous with a literal god of destruction.
Ren had actually pulled one of the absolute supreme Character Cards he had secretly wanted the most, just like that.
"Ooooohhhhhhh!!"
Ren couldn't help but howl into the empty room, jumping up and dancing around uncontrollably like a madman. He was simply too excited; he had finally pulled a top-tier Gold Legendary that could fundamentally alter the landscape of any battle.
If one were to officially rank the most charismatic, dominating villains in the history of anime, Madara Uchiha would undoubtedly be sitting right at the very top of the list.
Ren still vividly remembered the iconic, spine-chilling scene from the anime where Madara faced down the Allied Shinobi Forces entirely alone. He didn't just fight them; he systematically dismantled them, bringing an incredibly terrifying sense of absolute despair to the battlefield.
That suffocating, god-like pressure effortlessly weighed down on the hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers that made up the Allied Shinobi Forces.
The Five Kage, supposedly the absolute strongest leaders of the Five Great Nations, were treated like mere helpless children before his might.
Even Kaguya Otsutsuki, who was technically designated as the strongest final boss by the narrative, had far less screen presence and sheer intimidation factor than Madara. If she hadn't been forcefully shoved into the story by the author's sudden pivot, who knows what the glorious, blood-soaked finale of that world would have actually looked like.
Ren couldn't wait another second. He immediately took over Minato Namikaze's card, and in the next instant, he utilized the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport far away to a remote, uninhabited mountainous region.
"Full Body Take Over: Madara Uchiha!"
Ren's physical form began to drastically alter. His hair grew incredibly long, spiking out in wild, untamed directions.
Layer upon layer of heavy crimson samurai armor materialized over a deep blue mantle, and as he opened his eyes, a pair of blood-red Sharingan shone brilliantly in the dark night. The three tomoe spun violently before bleeding together into the intricate, overlapping design of the Eternal Mangekyo.
Simultaneously, Madara's memories surfaced in his mind, cascading through his consciousness one after another.
He experienced it all: from innocently skipping stones across a river with Hashirama Senju as a child, to the bitter reality of participating in endless, bloody clan wars. He felt the soul-crushing agony of his younger brother Izuna being killed, the hollow victory of establishing Konoha Village, and the apocalyptic duel with Hashirama at the Valley of the End.
The memories rushed forward through the decades—his awakening of the Rinnegan, the Fourth War's Edo Tensei resurrection, the absolute betrayal by Black Zetsu, and finally, having Kaguya forcefully stripped from his flesh, leading to his pathetic, tragic death.
After reading and absorbing all of those agonizing memories, Ren could only sigh and admit that Madara himself was a profoundly tragic figure.
A man historically perceived as a bloodthirsty, irredeemable arch-villain actually possessed the deepest inner desire and goal of bringing absolute, eternal peace to a war-torn world. He just chose the most tyrannical, uncompromising path to achieve it.
Ren shook his head and quickly put those melancholic matters behind him. Those were Madara's lived experiences, his failures, and his burdens—not Ren's. He didn't need to mourn for a ghost.
What he needed right now was to properly experience and harness Madara's devastating power.
Ren clenched his fists, immediately feeling the surging, impossibly dense Chakra roaring within his veins. It was a terrifying, abyssal ocean of energy—a Chakra limit that neither Minato Namikaze nor even Nagato could ever hope to compare to.
"Susanoo!!"
Ren immediately activated the ultimate defense, and the earth groaned in protest. Ribcages of spectral blue flame erupted from his spine, quickly knitting together with muscle, skin, and heavily plated armor.
Soon, a colossal blue energy-formed warrior god heavily resembling a Karasu Tengu materialized around him, towering hundreds of meters into the sky.
This was the Perfect Susanoo.
It was an absolute pinnacle technique that required training one's visual prowess to the utmost extreme, alongside possessing an astronomically massive amount of Chakra just to sustain its existence.
Ren stood safely suspended within the glowing, diamond-shaped crystal located in the forehead of the Perfect Susanoo. Looking down from this godly vantage point, the surrounding massive mountain peaks suddenly looked incredibly small and fragile.
Commanding the colossal avatar, Ren gripped the hilt of the giant, undulating chakra sword resting at its hip and swung it horizontally with casual force.
Swoosh—!
Rumble—!!!!!
The resulting shockwave of sheer kinetic force was cataclysmic. A massive, towering mountain situated several kilometers away was cleanly and effortlessly sliced in half.
The top half of the mountain peak cleanly slid off its base, flying through the air before crashing heavily to the ground. The earth trembled violently, groaning under the impact, almost as if the very continent itself felt primal fear because of Ren's sudden appearance.
"So strong! Truly too strong!" Ren gasped, his red eyes wide with awe as he looked at the devastation he had caused with a mere flick of his wrist.
He truly was the man who could treat the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox like a mere pet. As for why he never bothered to forcefully capture any of the other Tailed Beasts as his personal familiars, the answer was chillingly simple.
Madara just didn't think much of any Tailed Beast other than the Nine-Tails; the rest were simply too weak to warrant his attention.
"Is this the power of a 'god'?"
Ren looked silently at the utterly destroyed mountain in the distance, the cold night wind whipping past the glowing blue armor of his avatar as he truly felt Madara's absolute, peerless strength.
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