CHAPTER 273: CHAPTER 273: ARE YOU SERIOUSLY PLANNING TO THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY?

Uchiha genjutsu was powerful—no doubt about that—but not entirely unbreakable.

Kyoichi didn’t bother explaining further to Madara.

The "Third Mizukage" merely smiled and raised a hand. "You’re welcome to try."

However—

The next second, his smile froze.

The genjutsu had failed—and not only that, it had been analyzed, countered, and reflected back. While he himself was also a genjutsu master and wasn’t caught by it, the outcome said a lot—

Kanda Kyoichi’s genjutsu prowess was extraordinary.

If this guy combined genjutsu with Sage Chakra... his illusion might actually be broken.

The Mizukage’s fingers flashed into hand seals.

In the next moment, a barrier rose up from beneath the house.

Dozens of sealing formulas began converging toward Kyoichi. Madara had been laying down groundwork in this place for over a decade—his preparations were extensive.

But before those jutsu could fully activate, strange patterns already began to glow across Kyoichi’s body—

Sage Mode.

And then—

BOOM!!

A deafening explosion.

The "Third Mizukage" instantly used Body Flicker to escape.

Outside...

Elder Genji and the others were so startled they instinctively leapt back.

Kirigakure’s shinobi rushed over in a hurry, but when they arrived, the scene was strange—yes, something had clearly happened to the Mizukage... but where were the guards?

Even stranger—

When they reached the site and saw Elder Genji standing outside, surrounded by angry, shouting guards—but none of them dared go in.

At the same time—

Within the collapsed courtyard of the Mizukage’s estate—

A massive stone golem stood tall, the ground beneath it crushed to dust.

Barriers, seals, jutsu—

All shattered under the assault of Sage Chakra-infused force. Nothing remained.

Water vapor exploded upward.

The "Third Mizukage" walked out, staring silently at the ruined courtyard.

At that moment, he finally understood what it felt like to face his own Susanoo.

More than anything, it reminded him of Hashirama Senju’s True Several Thousand Hands.

That wooden giant...

Though Kyoichi’s technique was far from the scale of True Several Thousand Hands and couldn’t truly compare, the fact that Kanda Kyoichi had climbed to this level from a normal ninja, refining his techniques step by step—spoke volumes about his innate genius.

He had no choice but to admit it.

Without a Sharingan, relying purely on his own ability, he—Madara—might actually be inferior to Kanda Kyoichi.

"Kanda Kyoichi... you’re a true prodigy. After all these years, I never imagined Konoha could still produce someone like you. If I were twenty years younger..."

The "Third Mizukage" sighed deeply.

Only he and Kyoichi truly understood what was being said.

Madara didn’t bother keeping up the act.

As for everyone else—he didn’t care enough to explain.

"Mizukage-sama!"

Voices clamored outside.

Kyoichi glanced toward the entrance—tons of shinobi were swarming the area.

And this was only because Yagura had gone berserk elsewhere—otherwise, there’d be even more people crowding this place.

"...Time to end this."

In a flash, Kyoichi appeared right beside the "Third Mizukage."

Madara’s true self might be powerful, but this vessel was just an old man in his seventies or eighties—already under mental control. If he could exert even half his strength in taijutsu, that’d be impressive.

There was no way he could dodge.

Moreover—

Before Kyoichi even reached him, chakra suppression had already struck.

Air Palm.

No Byakugan. No Eight Trigrams field. But Kyoichi’s medical knowledge allowed him to precisely strike the tenketsu points necessary to suppress the Mizukage’s chakra.

The next step—

Was simple genjutsu cleansing.

Madara’s genjutsu was troublesome, yes—but for Kyoichi, it was just a matter of time. The real concern was the Kirigakure shinobi outside, who were starting to lose their patience.

However—

Elder Genji stood firmly at the entrance, blocking them.

More importantly...

Kyoichi was standing right next to the Mizukage. Even if they wanted to rush in, they didn’t dare—what if that guy just killed the Mizukage?

They could only watch in anxious frustration.

While purging the genjutsu, Kyoichi had hoped to use a space-time technique to trace it back to its source—but unfortunately, Madara was fast.

Almost instantly, he severed the connection with the Mizukage.

The genjutsu was broken.

Kyoichi turned to Elder Genji and said, "The Third Mizukage’s illusion is dispelled. Get him treated. And remember what you said earlier."

"Thank you, Kyoichi-dono!"

Elder Genji bowed deeply.

Of course he remembered—

Even if he didn’t, the massive stone statue still looming behind Kyoichi would be enough to remind him exactly what he had "said."

The next moment...

Kyoichi vanished.

The Third Mizukage was still alive. His body felt hollow and drained, but he wasn’t dead.

The information he carried would shake all of Kirigakure.

But that wasn’t Kyoichi’s concern.

He now had to find Yagura. And along the way...

Figure out how Yagura had been controlled.

Kyoichi guessed it was likely through a binding curse seal—otherwise, Yagura couldn’t possibly have retained fragments of consciousness or spoken coherently.

But...

The fact that Yagura was being controlled to a degree was undeniable.

Take now, for example—

His rampage was clearly Madara’s doing.

A last-ditch effort to slow Kyoichi down.

But too bad—

Flying Thunder God doesn’t play fair.

And Kyoichi had no intention of negotiating with the shinobi of Kirigakure.

Yagura had completely transformed into his tailed beast form and was tearing through the village on a direct path toward Kyoichi.

However—

That level of power?

To Kyoichi, it wasn’t even a threat.

Big doesn’t mean strong.

To deal with a tailed-beastified Yagura, he didn’t need anything fancy—

Absorb. Seal. Done.

And conveniently, he could use this as an opportunity to obtain Three-Tails chakra.

---

"How was it?"

"Hahaha! What a fascinating guy. If I were twenty years younger, I’d love nothing more than to fight him to the death!"

Madara laughed beneath the Gedo Statue.

Sage Chakra combined with Wood Release, and hidden chakra-suppressing techniques—yeah, it wasn’t hard to understand how he avoided White Zetsu’s detection.

Even Madara himself—

Hadn’t sensed Kanda Kyoichi until the moment he made his move.

The guy had trained his anti-detection instincts to a near-reflexive level.

But that wasn’t all—

Flying Thunder God, genjutsu, sealing techniques, taijutsu... this guy had reached terrifying levels across the board.

In terms of raw talent, Madara admitted—he was inferior to Kanda Kyoichi.

"...You sure now’s the time to be grinning?" Black Zetsu asked, speechless.

How could this old man still be laughing?

If they weren’t careful, their entire operation might be blown wide open. Decades of planning—ruined.

"What’s there to fear? We still have time. You’re immortal and unsealable. And I’ve long since planted a backdoor into Nagato. The moment you possess him, you’ll be in control. So... what’s the rush?"

Madara chuckled, a trace of regret flashing across his aged face.

"What I really crave... is a real battle. It’s been so long since I’ve felt that spark. Such a shame... this was just a fragment of my consciousness."

"Ugh..." Black Zetsu couldn’t understand Madara’s train of thought.

He was certain the old man had gone completely mad. Not only was he not thinking about how to salvage the situation—he was eager to throw himself into an intense battle with Kyoichi.

With that old body?

Did he even know what he was doing anymore?

"What about Yagura?"

"Don’t worry. Over there, I just used a temporary genjutsu talisman. It’ll vanish once he loses control. A shame—I had hoped to use him to ambush Kyoichi. Didn’t expect Kanda Kyoichi to completely ignore my plans."

Madara sighed.

In his version of the plan, Elder Genji would escape with the prisoner, and then Yagura—working with Kakuzu and Sasori—would kill Kyoichi.

But who could’ve guessed—

Kanda Kyoichi had mastered Flying Thunder God.

No.

Maybe that wasn’t all.

Madara paused, then said, "That guy has mastered some extremely advanced stealth techniques. Even my clones can’t detect him. You need to be careful in the future."

"No wonder he was able to catch both of them. Good thing the White Zetsu units weren’t directly connected to the Demonic Statue—otherwise, he might’ve traced us back."

Black Zetsu felt relieved.

But something still didn’t sit right.

Wait a second...

From the way Madara was talking—

"You need to be careful in the future"?

What’s that supposed to mean?

Was this crazy old man seriously planning to go out in a blaze of glory?

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