258 Naruto: Snatching the Mangekyō

"Limbo!"

Madara's violet Rinnegan gleamed as four Limbo clones emerged.

Chakra surged violently, and the Limbo clones, each wielding a fully formed Susanoo, charged toward their respective targets.

The moment the Limbo clones appeared, Uchiha Hikari immediately sensed them and shouted, "Be careful! Madara's Rinnegan ability can summon some kind of invisible entity to attack!"

"Oh? I can see them just fine," came Akira's calm voice.

A third eye opened on his forehead, revealing a crimson gaze.

It resembled the Rinnegan but was adorned with three jet-black tomoe, making it look even more like the red Rinnegan-Sharingan hybrid that Madara possessed.

This eye belonged to Akira's Ten-Tails form—an eye that carried both the Rinnegan and Sharingan's power, though it had yet to reach the true level of the Rinne Sharingan.

At best, it could be considered a special form of the Rinnegan.

"Rinnegan?" Hikari was stunned.

She clearly remembered Akira mentioning before that people like them were generally unable to awaken the Rinnegan.

And now, he had one?

"Rinnegan?!" Madara's expression grew serious. Without hesitation, he unleashed a powerful repulsive force and, using the momentum, transformed into a streak of light, shooting toward the distant sky.

Seeing this, Akira immediately shouted, "Madara, watch out for Black Zetsu!"

Compared to Madara, Akira considered Ōtsutsuki Kaguya to be an even greater threat.

Kaguya's space-time abilities were simply too overwhelming—if she wanted to escape, no one could stop her.

"A pathetic attempt at sowing discord!" Madara's disdainful voice echoed from afar.

Clearly, he did not doubt Black Zetsu in the slightest.

And why would he? In his perception, Black Zetsu was a being he had created using Yin-Yang Release, an extension of his own will—a part of himself.

Who would ever suspect their own existence?

As Madara disappeared, his Limbo clones vanished with him.

Unlike Akira's Past and Future selves, these Limbo clones could not be sustained once the main body was too far away.

(T/N: In case anyone forgot, his Mangekyō ability was called Temporal Shadow. His left eye controlled the summoning of past selves, while his right eye commanded future selves—each power distinct from the other.)

Watching Madara disappear into the distance, Hikari sighed in disappointment. "I can't sense Madara's chakra anymore."

"That's to be expected," Akira replied, unfazed. "Now that he's the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, it's normal for him to be able to hide himself for a while."

There was no rush—there would be plenty of time to deal with Madara in the future.

Besides, he had already obtained a special Rinnegan of his own. The Infinite Tsukuyomi was no longer an absolute threat to him.

If Madara could cast it, then he could break it.

In some ways, Akira was now the Ten-Tails itself.

"Well, I'm not the Hokage, so this isn't really my problem to worry about," Hikari shrugged before descending back to the battlefield.

As the two landed, the remaining fighters gathered around them.

"Madara escaped. That complicates things," Senju Tobirama said grimly.

Madara's resurrection as the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki was already bad enough—Tobirama, who had always feared Madara's power, was understandably concerned.

Tsunade furrowed her brows. "Do you think he'll use the Infinite Tsukuyomi? If he does, we're doomed!"

"Infinite Tsukuyomi? What's that?" Tobirama turned to Akira for an explanation.

"It's the ultimate genjutsu—one that traps all living beings in an illusion," Akira explained briefly. "Only someone with the Rinnegan and the power of the Ten-Tails can cast it."

"Then we're finished! If Madara activates that technique, the ninja world is done for!" Tobirama exclaimed.

"No need to worry. I can break the Infinite Tsukuyomi now," Akira assured him.

As he spoke, the third eye on his forehead opened, revealing its crimson glow.

"A Rinnegan? And it looks just like the one Madara has!" Tsunade and the others were shocked.

"This is the eye of my Ten-Tails," Akira explained. "The Infinite Tsukuyomi is a genjutsu cast by the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki through the Rinnegan. As long as someone else has both the Ten-Tails' power and a Rinnegan, they can undo it."

Hearing this, everyone relaxed. As long as there was a way to counter the Infinite Tsukuyomi, the rest of their problems seemed more manageable.

"You have your own Ten-Tails?" Tobirama asked curiously.

Akira replied, "Let's deal with the battlefield first. We'll discuss the details once we return to Konoha."

By now, after the fierce battle, the entire battlefield had been reduced to rubble. The destruction stretched for dozens of kilometers, its scale unimaginable.

The tremors of their fight had spread across the Land of Fire and its neighboring nations, causing widespread panic. Many even believed the apocalypse had arrived.

Cleaning up the battlefield was a trivial task for them. This area had once been a vast mountain range, but after the battle, nothing remained.

The five of them, being some of the strongest ninja alive, swiftly cleared the battlefield and covered it with a large-scale Wood Release technique.

Despite the devastation, the direct casualties were not as severe as expected. However, the indirect losses remained uncertain.

As they began their journey back to Konoha, Tsunade turned to Akira. "Fifth Hokage, did you find anything when you were tracking Jigen?"

The others perked up with curiosity.

Akira shook his head. "No. Jigen's space-time abilities are incredibly advanced. He led me into a separate dimension and then immediately teleported away again, completely escaping my pursuit."

Even with the boost from Six Paths power, Kamui was ultimately a Mangekyō Sharingan technique, inherently inferior to Isshiki's abilities.

Within the same space-time, Kamui's teleportation could compete with, or even surpass, Isshiki's.

But when it came to opening portals to alternate dimensions, it fell short—just like the Rinnegan.

This was evident when Obito struggled to access Kaguya's dimensions using Kamui.

Even with residual Six Paths chakra and help from Sakura's Strength of a Hundred Seal, Obito had barely managed. It was nothing compared to Sasuke, who, after awakening his Rinnegan's space-time ability, could effortlessly move between dimensions—even after losing Six Paths chakra.

Tobirama sighed. "That's a shame."

Akira chuckled. "Some things aren't meant to be forced. Besides, this battle wasn't without its gains."

Hikari was proof of that—securing a Ten-Tails Jinchūriki was already an enormous victory.

"If you consider those 'gains,'" Tobirama muttered.

In reality, the battlefield cleanup had yielded only three notable things: the remains of Nagato and Madara, and one of Jigen's severed arms.

These weren't entirely worthless, but Tobirama felt they were still lacking.

It would take time to unlock their full potential.