SLASH…
The invisible blade rips the chest of Susanoo like paper and arrives in front of Sasuke.
"KAMUII!!"
Before Izuna makes his move, a shout reverberates through the battle.
SWIRL… SWIRL…
A swirling black hole opens in front of Sasuke, pulling the invisible blade alongside it in another dimension.
"That was close!" Sasuke heaves a sigh of relief and glances at Obito, who had opened his eyes a few moments ago.
HEH…
However, Madara smirks at this moment.
SLASH…
Blood spews out from Obito's right eye, forming a cross-mark around it.
ARGH…
Obito grabs his destroyed right eye in pain.
"Indeed, you are quite tenacious!" Black Zetsu mocks Obito as he recalls the first time Obito met Madara.
Even back then, half of Obito's body was crushed, and he was close to being a corpse.
SWISH…
Izuna immediately swings his black dagger in front of his face.
DING…
Sparks fly around as the sound of metal clashing against each other echoes through the surroundings.
HAAH…
A red aura envelops the dagger, and he repels the invisible scythes. Izuna's attack reveals the spinning purple scythes.
Madara extends his hands and retrieves them. His eyes narrow as he glances at the black blade in Izuna's hands.
"My arm… it's… it's not regenerating!"
A purple aura covers the wound on Naruto's arm, preventing it from healing.
"Naruto, Sasuke, avoids those scythes as much as possible! They are powerful artifacts and can negate most of your Six Paths Power."
Whoosh…
Madara dual wields the scythe and rushes towards Izuna for close combat.
DING… DING…
Izuna engages Madara in a duel and repels the attacks of his scythes with the black blade in his hand.
"HAHA… NOT BAD! You can even repel these weapons I found in the ancient ruins. Then, shall we dance to our heart's content?!"
A grin appears on Madara's face as he swings the scythes like a reaper. His extreme proficiency with the weapon makes him a deadly foe.
Swoosh…
Izuna ducks down and dodges a horizontal spin attack.
Bang…
He kicks Madara's legs, making him tumble. Madara quickly stabilizes himself by stabbing one of his scythes in the ground and using it to rotate his body. He uses the rotation to perform a spinning slash towards Izuna with the other scythe.
DING…
Izuna repels the other scythe with his black blade and retreats.
Swish…
He makes a hand seal.
WHAM…
A sealing Fuinjutsu formation appears behind Madara's feet.
"DEMON SEALING SHADOW!"
Black shadow arms rise from the ground and pull Madara into the shadow realm.
Swoosh…
Izuna quickly flicker beside Naruto.
"Naruto, it will hurt a bit!"
Swish…
Izuna swings his black blade and slices the flesh on Naruto's shoulder, affected by the purple aura of deathly winds.
ARGH…
Naruto grits his teeth and withstands the pain. Blood leaks from his gums.
Whoosh…
One of the Truth-seeking orbs on his back flies at the stump of his arm and releases a cyan healing light.
Within a few seconds, Naruto's arm regenerates back.
"You guys, be ready! Madara will be back soon!"
Swirl…
A small black portal opens beside Izuna and he pulls out another identical black blade from it.
"Nii-san…just what the heck is that thing? It's invisible and formless, and we can't even sense its presence."
"It's a powerful weapon from another world. I am not sure how Madara got his hands on it! Looks like there are still quite many mysteries about the shinobi world."
Izuna recalls Madara's word of excavating an ancient ruin.
"Then how should we deal with it if we can't even dodge or defend?" Sasuke steps beside Naruto.
Hmm…
Izuna thinks for a moment before pulling out a black Katana infused with dark flames.
"This is 'Demon Sword Muramasa'. It's a very powerful artifact, but it has a powerful curse cast on it. I will lend it to you for now, but don't wield it for long, or else the curse on this sword will erode your mind and transform you into a mindless killing machine."
He hands the sword to Sasuke. Sasuke discards his Kusanagi blade and wields Muramasa. Sasuke inspects the blade.
Muramasa has a Gunome-Midare Hamon, with random wavelike shapes on its blade. It has a very long, shallow valley between a cluster of Gunome shapes. The front pattern and the back pattern coincide with each other, meeting at the tip of the blade.
WHAM…
As soon as Sasuke wields the blade, the dark flames on it spread across his right hand.
ARGH…
Sasuke feels a soul-wrenching pain course through his body. He grits his teeth and withstands the pain. The dark flames continue to move across his arms and cover his right eye in a wave-shaped pattern. The dark flames form a pitch-black horn on his forehead, giving him the appearance of an Oni.
"I feel a powerful strength coursing through my body." After adapting to pain, Sasuke tightens his grip on the blade.
"It feels like I am stronger by at least five-fold."
"Sasuke! Beware, this is the effect of the curse. Don't get consumed by it." Izuna's timely warning snaps Sasuke out of his euphoria.
"I will keep it in mind!" Sasuke nods with a serious expression.
"Hey… hey… what about me?" Naruto points at himself.
"Hmm… for you…" Izuna thinks for a second before pulling out a beautifully crafted Daitō.
"This is 'Ikutachi' - the sword brimming over with life force. Just like Muramasa, this blade is also a cursed weapon. It absorbs and turns the vitality of its wielder into strength. So, wielding this blade for long will permanently shorten your lifespan. The more power you draw, the more vitality it consumes until your body turns into a hollow husk."
Naruto inspects the Ikutachi longsword. Ikutachi has a black blade and silver cutting edge. An eastern dragon is inscribed on each side of the blade. The hand guard is a standard bronze color and the crossguard is shaped in a hexagon-like shape with an intriguing rhombus-shaped bright red gem inscribed into it. The handle is black and has a silver rectangular charm dangling from the end of it.
As soon as Naruto wields the blade, red vein-like protrusions extend from the red gem and stab into Naruto's right arm, fusing the blade into his hand.
Naruto grits his teeth and withstands the pain. The vein-like protrusions quickly spread across his body and cover his chest, giving Naruto an eerie appearance.
A large amount of vitality flows out of Naruto's body and fuses into the blade. A red aura envelops Naruto, raising his strength to another level. The red aura overlaps with his Six Paths Chakra mode, empowering it further. After controlling the output of the blade, Naruto turns to Izuna.
"Nii-san, why do you have so many cursed artifacts on you?"
'Well, I can't tell him that I raided and stole these blades from the vault of the Tentai Yōkai clan (Astral Demons) before fleeing, can I?'
Ahem…
"I had a few lucky encounters in these past few years." Izuna clears his throat.
"Stay alert! He is coming!"
Izuna suddenly turns around while dual-wielding the black blades.
RIIP…
Suddenly, the space in front of the trio is cut open in a cross-shape pattern.
Two pale hands stretch out from beyond the space and rip apart the space tear to expand it.
Madara walks out of the space tear with the dual scythes in his hand.
Hmm…
"You two look different from before!"
Madara notices the strange weapons in their hands.
"Ancient artifacts? Nonetheless, it doesn't matter! Even if a child wields a blade, he is still a child in the end!"
"Then, come and try me?" Naruto smirks and lifts his leg.
"SHIT! NARUTO, DON'T DO IT HERE!"
Shiing…
A purple light flickers from Izuna's eye, instantly displacing the space and people around him to another dimension.
BOOM…
Naruto stomps the ground, crumbling a major portion of the surroundings beneath his feet.
Whoosh…
A red aura envelops him as he arrives in front of Madara in an instant. Having anticipated the attack in advance, Madara blocks Naruto's strikes with his scythes.
BANG…
A powerful pressure acts upon Madara's body and sends him stumbling across the ground for a very long distance. Madara's body creates a vast gully through the barren land of this desolate dimension.
HAAH…
After tumbling across for several hundred meters, Madara stabilizes his body and slams his scythes into the ground to kill the momentum.
Spurt…
Suddenly, blood overflows from Madara's broken and twisted wrists.
SNAP… SNAP…
Madara snaps his broken wrists into place.
'His strength has increased by several folds. It's still a bit lacking compared to that Eight Gate Shinobi. However,"
Shiing…
Madara observes Naruto with his 'Eye of Truth'. He notices several red vein-like protrusions spread across Naruto's body. The protrusion emits a red aura that bolsters Naruto's strength and defense.
'I see! So, that's how this weapon works. It consumes the vitality of the user to strengthen him. Since this brat is a Uzumaki, he has almost endless vitality. Quite a fitting weapon for him! As for the other brat…"
Swoosh…
Madara dodges sideways and narrowly avoids a streak of black blade slash.
RUMBLE… RUMBLE…
The blade energy cleaves a massive portion of the land in two. Sinister black flames rise from the massive rift, burning and destroying everything in their surroundings.
'Why do these Amaterasu flames feel powerful from before? It feels like there is something malevolent hidden within them. These are no longer heavenly flames, but demonic flames.'
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A/N:- How is the battle between Madara and the Izuna Group so far? Give your precious feedback to help me improve the details and quality of these fights.
Also, a quick note, with every passing second, Madara is getting stronger and versatile in his techniques since he is adapting to his powers and discovering new abilities of his eyes. Also, Izuna too is slowly recovering from his previous battles. It's the reason the fight is so prolonged and Izuna appears weak. If not, we won't get to see such a long battle.