[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.]
Third Person POV
Northern kingdoms.
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...
Madara only looked at him as the jutsu in his hand grew stronger, while electricity continued to manifest. In the next moment, he shot forward.
Kenzu advanced as well, while his wind mask began launching an attack, rapidly exploding where Madara stood, seemingly hitting him directly.
But in the next second, Madara appeared with several clones running toward the foreign shinobi, continuously moving in an attempt to confuse Kenzu again.
'I can't let that jutsu touch me... it looks really dangerous...' he muttered, not understanding what kind of fire element it was, one he had never seen before.
Multiple Madaras kept running, dodging more of the wind attacks as they approached, predicting everything with his Sharingan.
Even Kenzu began launching his lightning element at Madara, managing to hit one of the clones, while he clicked his tongue. 'I'm running out of chakra...' he couldn't help but think, a sense of urgency in his mind.
As soon as Madara got close, Kenzu advanced too, throwing his threads and catching some of the clones by the neck, while others ran to the side.
It was at that moment that the green mask appeared, exploding on one of the clones, turning it into smoke. Another clone came at him with a kunai before the mask stomped on the ground and swung its arm, launching an aerial slash.
The last clone had disappeared by then, but Kenzu was a bit alarmed that Madara wasn't there, searching for him with the jutsu, trying to kill him.
That was when he looked up, seeing the boy with the sound of sparks as he quickly moved in reflex, extending his hair threads to catch him before he could reach.
"That was close, kid... but now you're dead..." Kenzu said, satisfied that he had finally caught him after he had been so slippery. After all, Madara had thunder sparking in his hand.
Madara seemed to grit his teeth as he was trapped by the threads, unable to react, forced to contort his body in a position that would break his bones in no time.
Even his jutsu began to fail until he couldn't maintain it anymore. Kenzu smiled at this, but at the same time, he sighed, exhausted by the difficulty of fighting this boy, ending up with two of his hearts gone, one eye missing, and multiple injuries... He would need some time to recover after this.
"You..." Kenzu looked at Madara, forcing his head toward him, looking at him with his Sharingan.
"Hm?" Kenzu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at him.
"You... remember what I said... about you not knowing how to fight a shinobi?" Madara said.
"What do you mean by that, damn brat?" Kenzu frowned at the boy's words.
"I'm saying you're going to die, you idiot," Madara said before bursting into smoke.
"What?! It was a clone... but he was using the jutsu!!" Kenzu exclaimed, quickly trying to locate the original, but it was already too late as another Madara appeared, charging the lightning jutsu. He had used the explosion from the mask to create enough of a distraction for a clone to use the jutsu and act as a decoy.
Now, he was advancing toward the original body, getting closer and closer, while his jutsu was a cheap imitation of the Chidori, as he had only trained it for two weeks—it wasn't fully developed yet.
However, before Madara could reach the body, his jutsu began to fail, and he frowned. This gave the mask time to stand between him and Kenzu.
'I'll have to resort to this...' Madara murmured, pointing the hand with the jutsu at his enemy, while holding his forearm with the other hand.
Kenzu, who had been evaluating his mask made of threads standing in front of him, was taken by surprise as his body exploded in purple thunder, passing through the mask and striking him right in the left chest. He looked down, stunned, as his heart was pierced.
"HRR!!!" He groaned in pain, trying to grit his teeth from the boy's surprise attack.
Madara had discovered during the development of this jutsu that he could launch it like a bolt of lightning. Taking advantage of the fact that the jutsu was about to fail, he aimed at Kenzu's heart on the other side, and the lightning passed through the mask's body, hitting him.
"..."
Kenzu fell to the ground, his fourth heart destroyed, as he collapsed to his knees.
Madara saw this and even tried to get closer, but the mask began to unleash lightning in all directions. He had to dodge the jutsu exploding around him, but was hit at point-blank range, sending him flying several meters. That didn't stop him, though, as he began forming his fire jutsu. He completed it quickly and spat a torrent of flames toward Kenzu and his mask.
The mask launched a wind jutsu, and the two elements clashed, but the fire soon gained the advantage over the wind.
The mask tried to avoid the incoming attack, but soon it was facing a huge wall of fire spat by Madara, the only thing standing between the Uchiha's jutsu and Kenzu's body.
In the next moment, Madara saw an explosion engulf them. He watched as smoke and flames rose, and then saw the mask's body emerging, carrying Kenzu's limp, nearly lifeless body, leaping into the forest.
Madara observed calmly, but strangely did nothing to stop them as they fled. At that moment, a bolt of lightning shot toward them, and Madara's eyes followed its path to where it came from.
Yennefer appeared once again, trying to strike the fleeing mask. She attempted another hit after her first, not wanting to let them escape. But just as her lightning bolt was about to fly forward again, a purple lightning bolt struck her attack, surpassing it. The purple lightning continued through the air, as she looked, stunned, at Madara, who had raised his hand, glowing with amethyst-colored electricity.
"Why?!" She didn't understand why he was letting that man go.
"Let him go." Those were the only words Madara spoke as he began approaching her. "You shouldn't be here... I asked you to take care of Ciri." Madara said, his tone severe.
The witch's eyebrow arched as the boy seemed to be commanding her. "You didn't answer my question. Answer me first!" she demanded of him.
"I saw his memories... He's not alone, though I couldn't tell how many there are," Madara paused before continuing. "I need to find all of them at once... to get rid of them all at the same time." He spoke, knowing that if he found them together, he could deal with them more easily and all at once. After all, each of them would likely be as strong as Kenzu. Handling surprise attacks could be risky for him and Ciri, so he chose to let the enemy become overconfident, knowing his capabilities. Madara had a plan to deal with all of them in a short time.
"You think you can handle that many like him?" Yennefer raised an eyebrow, still surprised. Despite seeing Madara covered in injuries from the fight, she didn't trust that he could pull it off. She was impressed by his strength and ability, even though she hadn't witnessed the entire battle. The changed landscape and the distant explosions had said enough.
He stared at her, waiting for a response, his gaze firm. Yennefer, despite not liking being treated this way, responded nonetheless. "I thought you might need help. We could see the flames and lightning in the sky—what kind of monsters are you?!" she asked.
"You know I'm not going to answer that, right?" Madara replied.
"And you still want my help?" she retorted.
"Ciri is tied to Geralt; if you don't protect her... what kind of woman would you be to the witcher?" he shot back, leaving her at a loss for words. After all, she was the one who had made Geralt go to Cintra.
"Anyway... let's head back to the forest; we have some things to discuss..." Madara said, not caring about leading the situation. He wanted information about the war, and with Yennefer there, it would be much better than the reports from that general whose tent he had invaded that night.
Yennefer clicked her tongue in disgust and didn't follow Madara as she created a portal. Madara didn't care and jumped into the forest, returning to where Ciri should be waiting with a clone—and now, the grumpy sorceress.
Meanwhile, to the south, a man struggled to get up. "AHHH!!!" he complained before slamming into the wall next to him.
"That bastard... how could I lose to a brat from that cursed clan!! How is this even possible... how does he have so much chakra at that age? He didn't even get tired after launching more than ten powerful jutsus!!" Kenzu, still with only one eye and burned skin, exclaimed in anger... He had been reduced to his last heart, saved only by his mask before it provided the heart for his body, preventing his death.
"I have to find the others immediately... we need to gather to take down that Uchiha before he grows stronger... he's a worse threat than any other we've seen from that clan!" he declared, starting to adjust himself as he looked at his last mask, broken and the body it had been protecting now inert.
"First, I need to find a village... I need to recover my hearts and fix my eye..." He limped out of the cave, thinking about his next plans...
He could still regain his normal form as long as he had the chance to sacrifice a heart to heal all his wounds, but he didn't do it due to the intense battle he had fought with Madara. If he had done that, he might be dead by now.
'You... remember what I said... about you not knowing how to fight a shinobi...?' Madara's words echoed in his mind as he leaped through the forest in search of hearts.
'That brat... he made me feel weak...' Kenzu could never accept this.
'I know your capabilities now... I will kill you and warn the others... you won't last much longer, damn Uchiha.' He declared, swearing to himself that the next time he saw the boy, he would kill him, no matter the cost.
It's a shame that when that happens, he won't be so confident when he realizes he won't be facing a child again.