A Sage's Pursuit of Power

The black rods are one of the foundational abilities of the Rinnegan. However, as shown in the original storyline, their usage isn't strictly limited to Rinnegan users.

During the fight with Madara, the Six Paths-powered Naruto used black rods to immobilize Madara's Limbo clones.

The black rods themselves aren't particularly sturdy. In the story, Hinata managed to break one, and Kakashi even snapped one with his bare hands.

However, the black rods have a critical property. Beyond serving as signal transmitters for the Six Paths of Pain, they also disrupt the chakra and physical movements of living shinobi.

Once pierced by a black rod, a person's chakra becomes almost uncontrollable. The more rods that pierce the body, the stronger the interference.

Madara hadn't expected Nagato to be so decisive. Two of the Pain bodies had been specially modified, and all previous maneuvers had been to set up this precise moment.

Dozens of black rods pierced Madara's body in an instant. Their interference ability immediately nullified 90% of his combat strength. The other Paths quickly arrived and completely restrained Edo Madara on the battlefield.

...

Meanwhile, the Akatsuki's battle against Black Zetsu also reached a fever pitch.

Kamui's abilities had been heavily countered, making Black Zetsu realize that if possible, he truly needed to recover the other Kamui Mangekyō Sharingan.

If he had both Kamui eyes at this moment, the battle would already be over.

The Akatsuki members attacking Black Zetsu weren't going at full force. Most, like Itachi Uchiha, weren't in peak condition.

During the battle at Kumogakure, they had used the Shapeshifting Technique (Shōten no Jutsu), which required their real bodies to inject a significant amount of chakra to create perfect clones.

As a result, when facing Black Zetsu, the chakra reserves of members like Itachi were only at about 60%.

Fortunately, the Akatsuki members were all elite ninja who knew how to manage their chakra wisely.

Moreover, they had Kisame, an outlier among them. Even with 60% of his chakra, he still possessed nearly half the reserves of a tailed beast, allowing him to fight without concern for stamina.

In this battle, Kisame continuously used his massive chakra reserves to generate large-scale Water Style techniques, trapping Black Zetsu within the water.

Any time Black Zetsu exited intangibility, he would be injured by the Water Style.

Additionally, the water was laced with Deidara's clay bombs, Konan's exploding tags disguised as seawater, and special underwater puppets created by Sasori, which constantly assaulted Black Zetsu.

The strategy to counter Kamui was both the simplest and most effective: maintain a relentless, gapless assault to seal off every angle, leaving Black Zetsu no opportunity to exit intangibility.

Inside Black Zetsu, more than half of the White Zetsu clones had already been consumed. However, this had allowed him to avoid any substantial damage throughout the fight.

The Akatsuki had meticulously prepared for this confrontation, with Aoba's intelligence providing critical support. They had tailored their strategies to counter all of Madara and Black Zetsu's known abilities.

Even if unexpected developments arose, the battlefield itself served as Akatsuki's last resort. The sea they were fighting over was the same one Konan used to ambush Obito in the storyline, it was a sea filled with explosive tags.

Though there weren't as many explosive tags prepared due to time constraints, there were still enough to eliminate Black Zetsu if needed.

With such thorough preparation, Black Zetsu had been unable to retaliate effectively, relying on sacrificing White Zetsu clones and regaining ocular power to prolong the fight.

In ninja battles, intelligence is everything unless one side has overwhelming strength.

Madara Uchiha crushed most opponents in the ninja world with his sheer power. But against Nagato, who had temporarily recovered to full strength and wielded the Rinnegan, he couldn't dominate, allowing Nagato to successfully counter him.

Similarly, Kamui was nearly invincible under most circumstances. But once its mechanics were understood, a top-tier team like the Akatsuki could render it ineffective.

Aoba had long believed Kamui was the most overpowered ability in all of Naruto. Even the author seemed to realize this in later stages of the story.

In the entire series, only during the final battle did the two Kamui Sharingan eyes temporarily reunite in a single user.

Had Obito reclaimed both Kamui eyes earlier, the story's balance would have completely collapsed.

Understanding the threat posed by Kamui, Aoba had prepared countless contingency plans to counter it.

Back in Konoha, Aoba had organized a sensory team, a communication team, and other personnel to broadcast live updates of the battle in real time.

Though there was a slight delay due to their inability to get close, Aoba was able to maintain a general understanding of the battle's progression.

When Nagato restrained Madara, Aoba showed no particular reaction. This outcome had been within his expectations.

Edo Madara's power had been portrayed as overwhelming in the original story, giving him an aura of invincibility. However, Aoba, having personally fought Madara, had a clear understanding of his true strength.

With Edo Madara's combat prowess, the conventional forces of the ninja world were indeed powerless. At the time, the Allied Shinobi Forces, no matter how numerous, were still within the realm of conventional strength. Even the Five Kage fell within this category. Combined with the immortality of the Edo Tensei body, this allowed Madara to easily overwhelm them one-on-five.

However, when faced with power equal to his own, Edo Madara was not invincible.

He was significantly weaker than a fully revived Madara with his physical body and the Rinnegan restored. In fact, Aoba's current plans were all aimed at preventing Madara from reaching his full power.

There might come a time when Aoba would need Madara fully resurrected, but not now.

After Madara was subdued, the next piece of news came: Black Zetsu had also been successfully captured by the Akatsuki.

This news left Aoba silent for a moment.

"What's wrong? Isn't this all part of your plan?" Tsunade, standing beside him, noticed the change in his demeanor.

"On the surface, yes. But in truth, the operations against Madara and Black Zetsu were only supposed to succeed individually. Capturing either Edo Madara or Black Zetsu would have been within expectations. But both being caught simultaneously… that wasn't part of my plan."

Aoba had the advantage of foresight, an ability that had propelled him to where he was. But he didn't see himself as a god, nor did he believe his plans were infallible.

If a plan fails, it means something went wrong. But if a plan succeeds too perfectly, it isn't necessarily a good thing either.

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Currently on Chapter 260 - The Uzumaki's Declaration of Vengeance