Chapter 37: Madara's Literary Level

Unfortunately, Sasuke was not easy to deal with. Susanoo was both offensive and defensive. Even though Danzo could use a simplified version of Izanagi with the Sharingan on his right arm, relying solely on this forbidden technique against Sasuke's Susanoo was still somewhat difficult.

The so-called Izanagi was a forbidden technique of the Uchiha clan. By sacrificing one Sharingan, the caster recorded their own state. Within the effective duration of this technique, all damage the caster endured, including death, could be transformed into a dream, reverting the caster to their initial state—the recorded state.

Conversely, during this period, the damage the caster inflicted on the enemy turned into reality. This was a type of illusion, a very advanced one, capable of freely switching between dream and reality.

Danzo had mastered this technique, but he was not a member of the Uchiha clan after all, and the prerequisite for using it was the Sharingan.

Although Danzo wasn't Uchiha, he had a vast power base. In a deal with Orochimaru, Danzo had Orochimaru transplant a large amount of Hashirama cells into his body, and then transplanted ten Sharingan onto his right arm. This allowed him to use Izanagi for extended periods. For every Sharingan sacrificed, Danzo could use Izanagi for one minute.

Used Sharingan were essentially scrapped, but Danzo had a large stockpile. Therefore, ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan were consumables for him, like bullets.

With Danzo's chakra reserves, even after transplanting Hashirama cells, his "ammunition capacity" was only ten rounds. He had already used six, and could only replenish them after returning to Konoha.

Danzo's original plan was to first defeat Sasuke with the technique on his right arm, then use the Sharingan of Shisui Uchiha in his right eye to cast an illusion, thereby stalling Obito and making a clean getaway.

However, Danzo had used Shisui's eye during the Five Kage Summit, employing the unresolvable jutsu Kotoamatsukami on Mifune. Now, Shisui's Sharingan was temporarily unusable.

Su Xiao's arrival was undoubtedly bad news for Danzo. In his view, whether "Uchiha Madara" was real or fake remained to be determined. Sasuke Uchiha was a brash young man. If not for the threat of "Uchiha Madara" looming nearby, he would have already dealt with the kid, especially since Sasuke was already injured before their fight.

As for Su Xiao, Danzo felt he was an even greater threat than the so-called "Uchiha Madara." Madara had yet to make a move, and according to Konoha's records, his Sharingan was not space-time based.

Compared to the threat of "Uchiha Madara," Su Xiao's danger was tangible. Beheading the Raikage during the Five Kage Summit had already demonstrated Su Xiao's combat prowess.

Now that Su Xiao had arrived, Danzo found it hard to continue fighting. He wanted to retreat, but Sasuke, consumed by hatred, would never let him go.

After a period of manipulation by Obito, Sasuke had been driven to the point of extremism by his hatred. This showed how well Obito understood someone like Sasuke, because he had once been the same. So he knew how to exploit Sasuke and what words would resonate with him.

On the stone blade, Su Xiao, Obito, and Bubu Wang were all watching the battle. Amu, meanwhile, held a cloth bag in his hand, occasionally pulling out a wild fruit.

"You seem to have forgotten something."

Su Xiao spoke while watching. Obito narrowed his eyes beside him.

"Of course not."

Obito pulled two scrolls from his bosom and handed them to Su Xiao. Su Xiao took the scrolls, and a notification from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.

[You have obtained Original Hashirama Cell Data (2/5).]

...

Obito had divided the "Original Hashirama Cell Data" into three parts. He had given Su Xiao one-fifth at the start of the Five Kage Summit, and now this was the remaining four-fifths.

Su Xiao took out the one-fifth data he had obtained earlier, and another notification appeared.

[Notification: You have obtained Original Hashirama Cell Data (Complete).]

Seeing this notification, Su Xiao nodded. This meant Obito had given him the real deal. The value of this data was very high. It was compiled by Uchiha Madara himself. After all, Madara had awakened the Rinnegan back then, proving he had a thorough understanding of "Original Hashirama Cells."

Su Xiao stopped paying attention to the battle below. He unrolled the first scroll and began reading the information on it.

Compared to the data Orochimaru had provided, the records of Long'ao Madara were much more straightforward. Orochimaru's data was mostly numbers, formulas, and the like. For someone unfamiliar with the subject, it was like reading a book from heaven.

Uchiha Madara's data was much simpler. When Su Xiao reached a certain passage, he almost laughed out loud.

'Hashirama cells have strong vitality and aggressiveness, but as long as you endure the initial backlash, there will be a very wonderful change afterward. I haven't eaten for three days, and my body's demand for water has greatly increased. Am I going to turn into a tree? Sprouts are starting to grow on my arm...'

It was easy to imagine that when Madara wrote this, he was feeling a bit panicked. He had just transplanted Hashirama cells and was worried about turning into a woody plant—literally becoming a vegetable, a tree.

Compared to Madara's straightforward records, Su Xiao preferred Orochimaru's data-filled documents. Madara was strong, but he was a warrior. Asking him to study biological formulas was indeed a bit difficult.

"Between trees and plants? What does that mean?"

Su Xiao couldn't understand one sentence in Madara's data.

"Cough..."

Obito cleared his throat dryly.

"When I recorded this data back then, the biological level of the ninja world was backward..."

Since Obito was currently pretending to be Uchiha Madara, he had to take the blame for Madara's plain-language records. However, for certain reasons, he couldn't rewrite the data, because he knew Su Xiao was a professional in Hashirama cells and couldn't be fooled.

"Let's not talk about the biological level back then. First, explain this sentence to me."

Su Xiao found this data a headache.

"Which sentence?"

"This one. First, tell me clearly: is this a typo or does it have a special meaning?"

"At the time, I was being eroded by Hashirama cells and wasn't fully conscious. It's a typo."

The corner of Obito's mouth twitched under his mask. To be honest, he hadn't understood Madara's data at all. His research on Hashirama cells was only at a basic level. Because he had been implanted with Hashirama cells, he was very familiar with their characteristics. But asking him to compile that understanding into data—he really couldn't do it. Obito had never systematically studied this kind of knowledge.

Su Xiao mastered Alchemy Pharmacology and Alchemical Creature Manufacturing. This meant Obito's words couldn't fool him at all. He had been researching Hashirama cells for a long time and could solve the risk of tree transformation while preserving the cells' characteristics. The improved No. 1 potion proved this.

Only one person in the ninja world could do this: Orochimaru. Everyone else was suppressing the Hashirama cells, which would erupt once they were in a desperate battle near death.

"That's the general idea."

Obito, with sweat on his face, breathed a sigh of relief. He knew Su Xiao understood Hashirama cells, but he hadn't expected Su Xiao to understand them so thoroughly.

"Crude method of use."

Su Xiao took the scroll. He roughly understood the meaning of Madara's plain language.

"The battle below is about to be decided."

Obito changed the subject, inwardly vowing never to discuss Hashirama cells with Su Xiao again. If compared to ninja ranks, his understanding of Hashirama cells was at the genin to chunin level, while Su Xiao was at the kage level.

Hearing Obito's words, Su Xiao looked down. The battle was indeed almost over. At that moment, Sasuke and Danzo were shoulder to shoulder, their chakra blades piercing each other's chests.