Madara draws his left hand backward. He produces a black rod and stabs it toward Minato.
"Kamui!"
A small spiral hole appears in space near Madara's head.
Whoosh…
Madara swiftly tilts his body and avoids the lethal attack. Kamui targets his shoulder and pulls away a major chunk of his left shoulder before collapsing. Madara's left arm falls to the ground with the black rod.
"Damn it, he dodged it!"
Kakashi's eye turns normal after he expands the last wisp of his chakra.
"Kakashi!" Guy quickly supports him.
"Looks like there is someone with good eyes on the other side."
Madara turns towards Kakashi and notices the foreign chakra signature in Kakashi's eyes.
"Hmm… so that's how it is!"
A mechanical arm pops out of Madara's back and grabs Minato's neck. Madara uses the powers of the Asura path and the Human path to hold Minato in a place and pull his soul.
A bluish shadow slowly crawls out of Minato's head. Before Madara could pull his soul out,
Poof…
Minato disappears into white smoke.
"A Shadow Clone!"
The rest of the shinobis heaves a sigh of relief.
Minato's shadow clone turns into numerous fuinjutsu seals. The seals quickly crawl over Madara's body. They seal his chakra and immobilize him.
"A trap!"
Madara's fingers tremble as he attempts to infuse chakra to break free.
Fwoosh…
Minato jumps out of the ground and makes multiple hand signs. He throws several sealing talismans around Madara and slams his palm on the ground.
"Fuinjutsu: Eight Trigram Demon Suppression Seal,"
A sealing formation slowly appears on the ground and in the air. The seal slowly seals Madara with numerous sealing runes. A black pillar with several chains made of fuinjutsu seals appears in place, engulfing Madara's body within it.
"Did we seal him?"
The rest gulp their saliva in trepidation. Sweat trickles down Minato's forehead as he fortifies the seal.
"MAJESTIC ATTIRE: SUSANOO,"
BOOM…
Suddenly, the chains around the fuinjutsu seals rattles and explode. Numerous cracks appear on the black pillar of seals and a blue glow emanates from within it.
Minato quickly retreats. The seal in front of him crumbles and a gigantic humanoid chakra construct appears in front of them.
The giant Susanoo swings the blade in its hands to sever the sealing formation around it.
"You almost got me!"
Madara stares at Minato with an amused expression.
"Very well, I will end this battle for once and all!"
A thick armor appears around Madara's Susanoo. It evolves to the next stage to form a Full Body Susanoo with a tengu head and wings on its back.
The giant Susanoo crosses the swords in its hand and gathers a large amount of chakra.
"Looks like I am not left with a choice," Minato murmurs as he walks toward the giant Susanoo.
Swoosh…
Suddenly, a dumbbell-shaped weapon with a ribbed spherical head on both sides appears in his hands. Minato holds the handle of the weapons in between. The weapon gleams with a metallic luster.
"That's the Ame-no-Hoko." Kakashi's eyes narrow as he recognizes the weapon in Minato's hand.
'I thought it was lost. How did it end up in Sensei's hands?' He wonders
Shua…
Minato infuses a large amount of his chakra into the spear.
Bzzt…
A lightning spearhead extends from both sides of the Ame-no-Hoko.
"Hmm… that's!"
Madara also feels a sense of threat from the spear.
Swoosh…
Minato stretches his arm and throws the spear toward Madara. The spear leaves a blue trail in the sky and flies towards Madara at a breakneck speed.
Bang…
It easily pierces through the defenses of Susanoo and strikes through Madara's chest. A curse mark flickers on Madara's body, increasing the damage output of the strike.
"What the…"
An expression of disbelief flashes across Madara's eyes for the first time. His Susanoo disintegrates into motes of light as his body slowly crumbles into ash fragments.
Phew…
Minato also heaves a sigh of relief and falls to the ground.
"Sensei, what was that?"
Kakashi and others also approach Minato with surprise.
"It was a prototype of a new weapon based on the Heaven Piercing Spear 'Ame-no-Hoko'. Though it's currently a one-time use item." Minato shakes his head.
Inside the In-Yō HQ,
Kushina and Ayaka also watch the battle with rapt attention.
'So, that's our grandpa!' Ayaka murmurs as she stares at Madara.
"Those curse marks in the end. They look similar to my curse technique!" Ayaka exclaims in surprise.
"Because it is! Minato-san studied your curse technique and created a similar technique of his own. He used it in tandem with the Heavenly Spear prototype to mark Grandpa Madara beforehand with his kunais and the shadow clone. That curse mark then acts as a beacon for the spear to strike. Truly a genius idea." Izuna praises the ingenuity of the idea.
"Unfortunately, that's the most I could do with the limited time and resources."
A man in his early thirties with black hair walks into the room. The man has a lush beard, a trimmed mustache, thick glasses with orange lenses, and light green eyes. He wears a black-collared shirt and matching pants.
"Oh, doctor!" Kushina turns towards the man and greets him.
"Izuna, this man is doctor Amado. He is a genius doctor, a researcher, and a scientist." Kushina introduces the man to Izuna.
"It has been a while, Lord Izuna." Amado greets Izuna.
"Huh! You two knew each other." Kushina asks in surprise.
"We had some dealings in the past, lady Kushina." Amado smiles faintly.
"Hmm… so it was you who created this prototype of the Ama-No-Hoko." Izuna curiously stares at Amado.
"Indeed… it was me!" Amado nods his head.
"However, it's not perfect and there are still a lot of changes that can be made."
"I see." Izuna nods and turns towards the visual feed.
"Doctor Amado joined Konoha a year ago. He helped us track down the evil puppeteer Mukade from Sunagakure and also aided us in the investigation and neutralization of the former missing-nin Hiruko." Kushina explains Amado's circumstances to Izuna.
"He is looking for a cure to treat his sick daughter. Our medical team examined his daughter several times and even Tsunade Nee-san investigated her condition. But they were unable to diagnose her diseases, much less cure her." Kushina shakes her head.
"Let me take a look at her." Izuna opens his mouth and glances at Amado with a smile.
Amado's facial expression turns stiff for a second before he nods his head.
"This way, please!"
He quickly leads the way.
"Oh, I almost forgot that Izuna is also a top-tier prodigy medical-nin." Kushina and Ayaka also quickly follow them.
'Amado, so you have decided to jump the ship already?' Izuna's voice appears directly in Amado's head.
Ah…
Amado is slightly startled by Izuna's sudden voice. He pauses and then continues to move forward.
'The only reason I joined Kara to work for Jigen was to search for a cure for my daughter. Jigen promised to heal my daughter if I aid him in his plan. It has been six years since that day.
I worked hard for him, and yet the cure for my daughter was nowhere to be seen. Gradually, my daughter's condition worsened and now she is on the brink of death. These past few years, I begged Jigen to treat my daughter and yet he never made an appearance.'
Amado glances at Izuna from the corner of his eyes.
'I wonder who it was that left him in such a state.' Amado remarks with a sneer.
'So, you decided to join Konoha because of that!' Izuna raises an eyebrow while walking.
'Yes, and no!' Amado responds.
'After our previous meeting, I took some of your blood to study your Otsutsuki bloodline and perhaps create a cure for my daughter. However, it failed. Otsutsuki bloodline is too aggressive, and I can't guarantee the safety of my daughter.'
'Hehe… is that all you did?' Izuna snide at him.
'Do you think you can fool me, or even Jigen, for that matter?' Izuna chuckles.
Suddenly, he steps forward and pats Amado's shoulder.
Amado's body freezes on the spot. Even Kushina and Ayaka curiously stare at his action.
Amado attempts to open his mouth, but no words come out. Izuna walks in front of Amado and stares into his eyes.
Fwish…
A Roman numerical seal VIII appears under Amado's left eye. Izuna glances deep into Amado's eyes and opens his mouth.
"Do you think you can fool me, Jigen? Just wait for me!'
Izuna infuses some chakra at his fingertips and swipes the curse mark with them.
The curse mark turns orange-black and squirms around Amado's body. Agony appears on Amado's face. A feeling of immense pain spreads across his body. Izuna finally removes the seal from Amado's body after a few seconds.
A wisp of purple flame burns on his fingertips and wipes away the curse that is squirming between them.
"Looks like you are not being honest, Mister Amado." A chilly smile appears on Izuna's face as he glances at Amado with killing intent.