Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

Uchiha Madara's expression changed drastically.

Having lived for so many years and experienced countless battles, fighting from the Warring States period to the era of hidden villages, he had never seen such speed.

It wasn't the Body Flicker Technique at all, nor was it a Taijutsu acceleration. It looked like near-instantaneous teleportation.

The moment Uchiha Taiga's voice fell, his body transformed into a cluster of light particles. Those particles dissipated and condensed in the air, appearing at his side in the blink of an eye.

It was too fast.

So fast that even his Sharingan could only capture an afterimage.

Madara's body reacted in a thousandth of a second, crossing his arms to block his side while forcefully twisting his body in midair to deflect the incoming impact.

But Taiga's leg had already connected.

Bang!!

The power behind this kick was astonishing.

The moment they made contact, Madara's arms were kicked inward, his elbows slamming into his own ribs with a muffled thud.

His body was sent flying like a skipped stone, shooting diagonally through the air in an arc before crashing into the ground.

Boom!!

A massive crater was smashed into the earth, sending crushed stone and dirt flying as dust billowed several meters high.

Madara lay at the bottom of the crater, his red armor covered in dirt and shredded leaves. His arms had been shattered by the kick, crumbling away into falling debris.

He flipped back to his feet, his movements crisp and clean without the slightest hesitation. Standing at the edge of the crater, he stared intently at Taiga, who was slowly descending from midair. There was no anger or frustration in his eyes, only curiosity.

"What kind of jutsu is this?"

His voice was deep, carrying a probing tone.

"I have never seen it before."

Taiga landed, his feet touching the scorched earth. He grinned, revealing two rows of neat white teeth. His expression was a mix of smugness and absolute certainty.

"It's the Light Style I developed. How is it? Are you satisfied?"

Madara furrowed his brows.

The Sharingan in his eyes spun rapidly, the three tomoe rotating and merging until they formed the pattern of the Mangekyo.

His gaze swept over Taiga's body, as if analyzing the flow of chakra within him.

"A Lightning Style variant?"

He pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"No... there seems to be Fire Style chakra mixed in as well. Lightning Style as the primary, Fire Style as the secondary. A new jutsu formed by fusing the nature transformations of these two chakras."

Taiga raised an eyebrow, his smile taking on a hint of surprise and appreciation.

"Impressive. As expected of you, dead man. To think you could sense all that."

He tucked his hands into his sleeves and tilted his head.

"Light Style is indeed Lightning Style combined with Fire Style. Lightning provides speed and piercing power, while Fire provides light and heat. By fusing the two chakras in a specific ratio and applying a special nature transformation, it forms my current Light Style. As for the speed—"

His grin widened.

"The fastest in the ninja world, bar none."

As soon as the words left his mouth, his body once again dissolved into a cluster of light particles.

The particles flickered in the air and then vanished, as if they had never existed.

The next second, the light particles recondensed. Taiga appeared right behind Madara, his right leg sweeping out straight for the back of Madara's head.

Having experienced it once, Madara was prepared this time.

The moment Taiga disappeared, his body began to move. He didn't run in a single direction; instead, he spun rapidly in place, his newly regenerated arms spreading out like a whirlwind.

But Taiga's speed was simply too fast—so fast that even with preparation, it was impossible to completely evade.

The kick still landed on Madara's shoulder, sending him stumbling to the side.

Taiga didn't stop.

His body turned into light particles, continuously appearing, disappearing, and reappearing all around Madara.

Every time he appeared, he launched an attack. Fists, palms, elbows, knees, legs—every part of his body became a weapon.

His strikes came from different angles, different heights, and different distances. There was no pattern, no rhythm, making them impossible to defend against.

Madara's arms swung rapidly around his body, parrying the attacks raining down from all directions.

But his blocks were always half a beat too slow. His eyes could see it, but his body's reaction couldn't keep up.

The speed of the Light Style was too extreme. Even if he anticipated the direction of the attack, he couldn't move his arms into position before the strike landed.

Muffled thuds echoed through the night sky as Taiga's blows landed on Madara's arms, shoulders, and chest.

More and more dents and cracks appeared on the red armor, the metal plates along the edges rattling violently from the impacts.

Debris from Madara's reanimated body splattered outward time and time again under the assault, only to quickly mend itself. However, every restoration consumed chakra, and the frequency of the shattering was only increasing.

Madara let out a cold snort. His body jolted violently as deep blue chakra surged from within him, rapidly condensing around his form.

First came the ribcage, then the arms, and finally, a half-body skeletal giant enveloped him completely.

Muscles and meridians grew over the skeletal giant's surface, transforming it from a half-body skeleton into a half-body titan.

The second stage of Susanoo. It lacked armor, but it possessed flesh and blood.

The Susanoo's hand gripped a long chakra blade. The blade was slender, with a deep blue light flowing along its edge.

Madara swung his arm, and the Susanoo's arm followed suit. The long blade swept out, carrying a devastating force as it slashed toward Taiga.

Taiga's body dissolved into light particles and vanished into the air before the blade could reach him.

The blade swept through where he had just been standing, leaving a deep trench in the ground. The trench was several meters wide and over a meter deep, cleaving through the rocks and scorched earth, sending them rolling to the sides.

The blade continued forward, slicing through several severed tree stumps and shearing off the edge of the small hill, flying hundreds of meters away before finally dissipating.

Taiga's figure recondensed dozens of meters away. Standing on a tree stump, he looked at the freshly carved trench and let out a whistle.

"Well damn."

Madara stood within the chest of the Susanoo, his arms crossed. The corners of his mouth curled up into a cold sneer.

"I have already seen through your tricks. Your mere Light Style cannot compare to Susanoo in the slightest."

Hearing this, Taiga burst into laughter.

His laughter echoed through the night sky, carrying an uncontrollable excitement.

"Is that so? That's just perfect!"

He suddenly pulled his hands together in front of him, palms and fingertips facing each other, his ten fingers spread wide as if holding an invisible sphere.

Bright yellow chakra condensed between his hands, then split into dozens, hundreds of light orbs. Each orb was the size of a fist, floating around his body and orbiting him like countless stars.

"Yasaka Magatama!"

He thrust his hands forward, and the light orbs plummeted toward Madara's Susanoo like a shower of meteors.

The speed of the light orbs was astonishing, leaving trails of bright yellow in the air. They were densely packed, blotting out the sky.

They crashed into the Susanoo's body, triggering violent explosions.

Every orb's detonation was accompanied by a deafening boom and a burst of flames. Dozens, hundreds of light orbs exploded in rapid succession, drowning the Susanoo in a sea of fire.

Cracks began to form on the Susanoo's body amidst the explosions.

The fissures spread from its shoulders to its chest, and from its arms to its waist, each crack widening by the second.

Chakra fragments splintered from the cracks, dissolving into the fiery glow.

The Susanoo trembled violently, looking as though it would collapse at any moment.

On the small hill, Tsunade and Yugito Nii stared unblinkingly at the battlefield.

Tsunade's lips were pressed into a thin line, and Yugito's breathing grew increasingly ragged. Shizune had gone from crouching to lying flat on her stomach, her hands covering her head, too terrified to watch.

The Susanoo swayed slightly in the explosions, then steadied itself.

Madara stood within the Susanoo's chest. Several parts of his armor had been cracked by the shockwaves, and a new fissure had appeared on his face, but his gaze remained sharp, his aura as imposing as ever.

He swung his arm, and the Susanoo's long blade swept out once more. This time, it didn't aim for Taiga, but slashed at the incoming light orbs.

The blade collided with the light orbs, causing them to detonate against the edge in a shower of sparks. But the blade didn't stop; it continued forward, aiming straight for Taiga.

Taiga's body turned into light particles, vanishing before the blade could reach him.

The blade swept through his previous position, cleaving the tree stump he had been standing on perfectly in half.

Madara scoffed coldly, the chakra radiating from him surging even more violently.

Deep blue chakra poured out of his body like madness, and the Susanoo began to expand and grow.

The ribs formed a complete ribcage, the spine became a full torso, the arms fully materialized, and a pair of massive wings sprouted from its back.

Armor materialized out of nowhere, layering over the Susanoo's body piece by piece, transforming it from a giant skeleton into a fully armored warrior.

Perfect Susanoo.

Towering a hundred meters tall, it was covered entirely in deep blue armor, its massive wings spread wide behind it. Each of its hands wielded a long chakra blade, slender and glowing with a deep blue light along the edges.

Its face was obscured, with only a pair of crimson lights glowing where its eyes should be, looking down at the tiny figure on the ground.

Taiga stood on the ground, looking up at the deep blue titan, the grin on his face growing wider and wider.

Bright yellow chakra erupted from his body, condensing, expanding, and growing around him.

Skeleton, flesh, meridians, skin, and armor layered over each other until an equally massive, hundred-meter-tall titan appeared in the center of the battlefield.

A golden Perfect Susanoo.

Its wings spread wide, the golden armor gleaming brilliantly in the firelight.

It held a long chakra sword in each hand, the blades radiating a blinding golden light.

Its face was similarly obscured, with only crimson lights glowing in its eyes as it stared down the deep blue titan opposite it.

The two titans stood hundreds of meters apart on the shattered earth. Above them was the dark red night sky; below them was the devastated battlefield. The wind blew past, sweeping up dust and fallen leaves as it passed between them.

Taiga stood within the chest of the golden Susanoo, his arms crossed as he looked at the deep blue Susanoo across from him.

"Come, dead man."

His voice echoed from within the Susanoo. It wasn't loud, but it could be heard clearly across the desolate battlefield.

"Let me see just how strong your Susanoo really is."

Madara stood within the chest of the deep blue Susanoo, the corners of his mouth curling up into a faint smile.

"As you wish, brat."

The two titans moved at the exact same time.