— — — — — — —
"There's no mistake!"
Obito nodded repeatedly. "Sensei, look at the person inside the crystal on that blue giant's forehead. There's no doubt—it's Uchiha Madara! I've seen his portrait in our clan archives!"
"I've also visited the Valley of the End and seen the statues of the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara. There's no way I'd mistake him!"
Truth be told, Obito had always admired Madara.
After all, the guy was the ultimate badass—cool, powerful, and everything Obito had ever dreamed of becoming.
"Is that so…?"
Minato's frown deepened as he gazed at the colossal figures clashing in the distance, a heavy weight settling in his chest.
"Madara is still alive? Not just alive, but active in the present day? This is a huge problem!"
The world had long believed that Madara was dead.
He was supposedly killed by the First Hokage himself, and before that, he was practically forced out of Konoha. If he had been lurking in the shadows all these years, his grudge against the village had to be monumental.
Minato's expression turned serious as he looked at his three students.
"Tell me everything—every single detail!"
"Why is Renzo here? Why is Uchiha Madara here Why are they fighting?"
"What exactly happened before I arrived?"
"I need all the details!"
Minato was determined to understand the situation in full. If Madara had been in hiding all these years, there had to be a reason.
His gaze lingered for a moment on Kakashi's left eye—or rather, where it used to be—his expression darkening with regret.
He should have arrived sooner.
"It went like this…"
Immediately, Kakashi, Obito, and Rin took turns recounting everything that had happened.
---
BOOM!!!
"Hahaha! Not bad! You're really something, kid! That was a good warm-up—now let's see where your limits truly lie!"
After exchanging countless blows, Madara realized something shocking—he couldn't easily overpower this eleven- or twelve-year-old brat.
The kid had an insane amount of combat experience. His punches and kicks weren't just strong—they were well-honed, precise. Even his martial arts style was far from ordinary.
Madara was impressed—but he didn't have the luxury of wasting time.
The stronger Renzo appeared, the more Madara felt the need to eliminate him now, before he could grow into a real threat.
If he didn't, this kid might end up messing with his plans down the line.
"Just what I was thinking!"
Renzo grinned, pushing his mecha's power to the max.
In an instant, his speed shot through the roof.
He shot up into the sky, over a thousand meters high, and activated the DRAGOON system.
"Madara! Let me show you the power of technology!"
ZIIIING!!
The next moment, dozens of rainbow-colored particle beams rained down from above, bombarding Madara mercilessly.
"Good!"
Madara drew both his Susanoo blades and moved to deflect the attacks.
He managed to block some of them, but a good number still slipped through, slamming into his Susanoo.
CRACK!
The impact tore through his defenses, shattering parts of the Susanoo's armor and leaving visible damage.
"Hiss…"
Seeing his Susanoo riddled with holes, Madara sucked in a sharp breath.
"What the hell is this weapon?! These beams… their attack power and penetration are terrifying!"
Good thing he had defended himself properly—if he hadn't, this brat might've ended the fight right then and there!
"I can't underestimate him anymore."
Madara's eyes sharpened as he activated his chakra. The Susanoo instantly repaired itself, and with a powerful flap of its wings, he shot into the sky, sword flashing as he lunged toward Renzo.
"Trying to end this quickly? Not so fast!" Renzo smirked, expertly maneuvering his mecha to evade.
For over ten minutes, he dodged and weaved, forcing Madara to chase after him in frustration.
"Tch, technology really is terrifying… The only downside is the high energy consumption."
Back then, he had thought Gundams were strong but not quite at Madara's level.
But now?
After fighting Madara firsthand, Renzo had changed his mind—this thing was insanely powerful!
Of course, Madara wasn't at his peak strength. Not even close right now.
But even if he wasn't at full power, he was still a legend, and Renzo's enhanced Gundam, powered by both chakra and nuclear energy, was actually holding its own!
That alone was enough to make Renzo excited.
"Brat! Is all you can do run?!"
Madara was growing more and more pissed.
Renzo kept dodging while pelting him with those damn particle cannons.
This was beyond frustrating.
He had never fought an enemy like this before.
Even Hashirama—his greatest rival—had never annoyed him like this.
At least Hashirama fought him head-on, using Wood Release to suppress him.
Not like this damn brat, who kept dodging and spamming those annoying long-range attacks!
Just then, Red Queen's voice rang in Renzo's ears.
"Master! The energy system is nearing overload! The energy channels are about to collapse!"
Renzo clicked his tongue. "Just as I thought… What a shame."
The materials he had access to were still limited, and his research wasn't complete. The energy system was far from perfect, and its output wasn't high enough to pose a real threat to Madara.
On top of that, such a massive mecha consumed energy at an insane rate.
"Alright then, one last attack!!"
Renzo unleashed all his Beam Weapons, lighting up the battlefield once more.
Then, a terrifying force began gathering in his mech's chest.
"Uchiha Madara! Take this— Particle Cannon!!!"
With a roar, Renzo fired.
A blinding platinum-white beam, over 20 meters in diameter, tore through the sky, slamming directly into Madara's Susanoo before he could dodge.
In an instant, most of Susanoo's body was vaporized.
Madara barely managed to move half of Susanoo's head out of the blast's range, leaving only the remaining half intact.
That was the only reason he survived.
But even so, the sheer chakra and life force he had to burn through just to endure the attack pushed him to his absolute limit.
Madara was beyond frustrated—he wanted nothing more than to rip Renzo apart.
"Damn brat!"
At this rate, things were only going to get worse for him. He couldn't afford to stay here any longer.
Gritting his teeth, Madara immediately connected with Black Zetsu, who was lurking underground, and made his move.
— — —
Meanwhile…
"Warning! Chakra energy channel is destroyed!"
"Ordinary energy channels overloaded! Dual-system mode shutting down! Master, please take caution!"
Red Queen's alerts rang out again.
Renzo chuckled bitterly and gave his orders.
"Red Queen, take the mecha back to the base. Activate optical camouflage—make sure Konoha doesn't notice it."
"Understood, Master!"
The next moment, Renzo teleported out of the mech, letting it fly off on autopilot, while he himself chased after Madara.
Just then, Red Queen's voice came through his wrist communicator.
"Master! The target's chakra signature has split into two. One is being carried underground and is currently undetectable!"
The Gundam was out of commission, but his satellite surveillance system was still active.
Yet even with that, he couldn't lock onto Black Zetsu's presence.
"Shadow Clone, huh? Looks like Madara isn't planning to keep fighting. Heh…"
Renzo smirked, not too concerned.
After that fight, he could clearly sense Madara's life force rapidly deteriorating. The guy was on the verge of death.
"Uchiha Madara! So you just left a shadow clone here to stall me?"
Renzo slowly descended, hovering a meter above the ground, arms crossed as he looked down at Madara's clone.
Madara narrowed his eyes.
"As expected, I can't fool you, brat… Tell me—what the hell was that strange puppet of yours? Was that your creation?"
Renzo shrugged. "Who knows?"
Then he smirked.
"I have no obligation to tell you my secrets—especially not to an enemy."
"An enemy, huh? Hahaha…!"
Madara laughed loudly, but his eyes were filled with murderous intent as he stared at Renzo.
"Becoming my enemy isn't something to take lightly, brat! Let me show you what that really means!"
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!!"
The next instant, Madara took a deep breath and unleashed a massive firestorm.
A sea of flames roared to life, swallowing the sky as it surged toward Renzo like an unstoppable tsunami.
"Brat! Now that you don't have that weird puppet anymore, let's see what you're really made of!"
"Let's see if you're worthy of being my enemy!"
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