Chapter 388: Chapter 388: Seriously, does it really have to go like this?
"Rinnegan: Evil Sealing Absorption!"
A grey-white Rinnegan suddenly appeared in front of Orochimaru. A strong force burst out, activating the Hungry Ghost Path’s full power, constantly absorbing the exploding chakra wave.
But that wasn’t enough.
"Gedo Statue: Phantom Dragon Nine Seals!"
The Gedo Statue opened its mouth wide, and four purple chakra dragons shot out. They wrapped around the blast and started tearing it apart.
Still not enough!
"Flying Thunder God: Thunder Guide!"
Minato’s chakra was still pouring out, and the space-crushing force created by the water-style Flying Thunder God was still shifting the explosion around. With the help of the sealing and the phantom dragon, the collapsing space was actually held together!
Eight tailed beast chakras, Flying Thunder God: Thunder Guide, Rinnegan powers, and the full sealing strength of the Gedo Statue—only with all of these combined could they barely stop Kurama’s attack!
The space finally stopped breaking apart. Using everything he had, Orochimaru just barely managed to hold off the blast. What’s more... the Gedo Statue was still sucking in the tailed beast energy from the attack!
Six Paths Sage Art: Truth-Seeking Ball – Great Spiral Tailed Beast Wave. The name was long, the elements many, and naturally, it contained all kinds of power.
Power of the Six Paths, Sage power, Truth-Seeking Balls, tailed beast chakra, and the sealing power of the Uzumaki clan. The Flying Thunder God redirected the Truth-Seeking Ball and Six Paths power; the evil sealing absorbed the Sage power and Uzumaki sealing; and the Gedo Statue stripped it all away to take in the pure tailed beast chakra.
And this wasn’t just Kurama’s power—it was the combined force of all nine tailed beasts. In other words... it was the Ten Tails’ power!
The massive chakra was pulled into the Gedo Statue. One of its nine closed eyes snapped open almost instantly. The blood-red eye locked onto Kurama above, like it was staring at a meal.
"You really think I’ll let your plan go that smoothly?" Kurama immediately figured out what Orochimaru was trying to do. Without hesitation, he lunged down, forming another giant Tailed Beast Bomb. "You’re already running on empty! Even a normal Tailed Beast Bomb at this point could ruin everything you’ve set up!"
They had already used everything just to stop that last attack. Even a small Tailed Beast Bomb—or maybe just a single Rasengan—could flip the entire situation now.
"Tailed Beast Bomb!"
No fancy name. No special effect. Just a plain, regular Tailed Beast Bomb. It wasn’t even that big—Kurama formed it and fired almost instantly.
It was just a quick shot. If it hit Konoha, it might destroy some buildings—nothing more.
But that was enough!
So... Kurama fired the Tailed Beast Bomb. "Time to die!"
It was going to work!
Minato looked at Kurama, full of excitement.
It was going to fail!
Orochimaru glanced at the Gedo Statue beneath him, then shook his head. "No, not enough. I still need more chakra to replace Shukaku."
That’s right. He did all of this to lure Kurama into firing a strong enough attack—then use Minato’s Flying Thunder God to redirect it and force Kurama to explode early. After that, with the Flying Thunder God, Rinnegan, and the Gedo Statue all working together, he could suck up the released tailed beast chakra to replace the one beast he couldn’t capture—Shukaku.
In theory, this could work. After all, tailed beast chakra already holds parts of all nine beasts. As long as he absorbed enough of it, it could match what Shukaku would provide. After that, even without Shukaku, they could seal the other beasts and bring back the Ten Tails.
He just didn’t expect Kurama to go all in with such a powerful attack, leaving Orochimaru no room to adjust his plan. That part... was a little beyond what Orochimaru had prepared for.
But it’s fine—just hang in there a little longer.
So... it’s your turn now!
"Fire Release: Uchiha Flame Formation!"
Just as the Tailed Beast Bomb was about to hit the wheel trap, the kind of power that could’ve blown it all up in an instant and ruined Orochimaru’s whole plan, a huge wall of fire suddenly rose up and surrounded them, forcefully taking the hit from Kurama’s attack.
Kurama looked down at Madara, annoyed: "Really? You just had to do this, huh?"
A normal Tailed Beast Bomb wasn’t enough to break through Uchiha Madara’s flame wall.
Madara stood below with his arms crossed. His Mangekyou didn’t even glance at Kurama—his eyes were fixed on Orochimaru above. "So it looks like you lied to me, you rat."
Orochimaru grinned, mouth stretching wide: "That’s right. The Rinnegan was with me the whole time."
"Then... when do you plan to give it back?" Madara asked casually, but his voice was full of killing intent. "Or... are you waiting for me to take it myself?"
Don’t let the fact that Madara protected them just now fool you. If Orochimaru dared to say he wouldn’t give it back, Madara wouldn’t hesitate for a second to kill him.
Orochimaru clearly understood that too. He just shrugged and pointed to the Rinnegan in front of him: "No need. Come take it. It just finished absorbing chakra anyway."
As soon as he said that, one of the Gedo Statue’s eyes down below opened again. And in the sky, the explosion from earlier was instantly teleported away by Flying Thunder God—but no one knew where it had gone.
A loud boom echoed from far away. Judging by the direction, it seemed to be toward the Land of Water, though probably not inside it. Orochimaru wouldn’t have had time to send Minato’s kunai that far.
With the move complete, Minato dropped to one knee, gasping for air.
Even though he had unlimited chakra and backup from eight Tailed Beasts, teleporting an attack like Kurama’s—one strong enough to destroy the whole Land of Iron—still wore him out badly. It was like moving tens of thousands of ninja at once.
Kurama punched through the flame wall, looking grimly at Orochimaru inside.
Madara landed next to Orochimaru and grabbed the Rinnegan without saying a word. In front of everyone, he pressed it into his left eye. A green light flashed, blood ran down his face, and when he opened his right hand, the Rinnegan had settled perfectly into his eye socket.
A second later, Madara frowned: "What did you do to it?"
He felt something strange, but couldn’t sense anything unusual in the eye itself.
Orochimaru shrugged: "Relax. I just added a bit of Hashirama’s cells. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to control it."
"Hmph." Madara snorted coldly.
But that much made sense. Without a huge amount of chakra, not just anyone could handle the Rinnegan.
Obito could use it only because of the Hashirama cells in his body. So Orochimaru’s excuse checked out.
Still... Madara looked down at the Gedo Statue, which had now opened both eyes, and a small smirk appeared on his face. "Using the Nine-Tails’ chakra to power up the statue... you’re not as useless as I thought."
That was true—even Madara hadn’t seen that move coming.
"Hehehe~" Orochimaru laughed and licked his lips. "Then, let’s see your performance now, Uchiha Madara-sama."
Madara clenched his fists: "My body still needs time to recover. If I become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki now, I’ll probably explode from the chakra overload. So... rat, got any ideas?"
His tone was mocking, though it wasn’t clear who exactly he was making fun of—but it came through loud and clear.
Orochimaru’s face darkened. "You’re... not joking, are you?"
"What do you think?" Madara looked up and threw the question back.
Orochimaru was left speechless.
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