"Short as one or two years, long as three to five years, I will die. But before I die, I have finally regained a portion of my power."
Madara's gaze sharpened as he casually draped the Akatsuki cloak over his shoulders, "Obito, you little brat, I've tolerated you for long enough. If I don't let you witness me at my prime, you wouldn't know how arrogant you really are."
Suddenly, Madara formed hand seals and took a deep breath.
"Take this—Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
A massive wave of fire spewed from Madara's mouth, the scorching heat illuminating the pitch-black cave, even scorching the surrounding rock.
In this narrow cave, there was nowhere to escape. In an instant, the flames engulfed Obito's figure.
Madara roared, "If you die to just this technique, then you never had the qualifications to speak with me!"
Obito's voice came from within the flames, thick with mockery, "Madara, your techniques are grand and overwhelming, enough to strike fear into many people."
"But I, and I alone, counter you completely. No matter how powerful your technique is, no matter how wide its range, no matter how many it can obliterate. If it can't hit me, what use is it?", As he spoke, Obito slowly walked out of the sea of fire.
Madara became excited, "As expected of the brat I set my sights on. So this is your ability to phase through matter?"
"But a technique like this must have some kind of limit. I refuse to believe you can maintain it indefinitely."
"I want to see how long you can keep it up. Five minutes? Or ten minutes?"
With that, Madara reduced the intensity of the flames slightly but adjusted them to precisely cover the area around Obito.
Whenever Obito moved, Madara's flames moved with him, ensuring that Obito would never escape the range of his Fire Release.
He was determined to prolong this Majestic Destroyer Flame, continuously spewing fire for several minutes, or even over ten minutes—he refused to believe Obito could maintain his intangibility forever.
Obito hadn't expected Madara to be so direct and brutish, using such a method to try and counter his phasing ability.
But this trick wouldn't work on him.
Back then, Konan had disguised six hundred billion explosive tags as an ocean. He had nowhere to hide.
But now? He could burrow underground. Madara's fire couldn't reach beneath the earth.
Yet, he didn't do so.
Unlike in his previous life, where Kamui's intangibility could only last five minutes at a time, his dual Kamui now extended that duration to a full twenty minutes.
He was curious, just how long could Madara keep breathing fire? If it really became unbearable, he could always escape later.
So, he simply stopped moving altogether, standing still in the sea of flames, his voice laced with mockery.
"Madara, trying to burn me with Fire Release? You can't do it. I advise you to give up on that thought."
However, Madara was not one to listen to advice. Without a word, he continued spewing fire at Obito.
He spewed for five minutes. Then ten minutes. Then fifteen minutes.
And yet, Obito remained completely unfazed, standing in place as if nothing had happened.
At this point, even Madara was starting to feel the strain. Maintaining a Majestic Destroyer Flame for fifteen minutes straight was enough to prove that his current strength had almost fully recovered. Aside from the lack of the Rinnegan, he was more or less at his peak.
But, just as Obito had said, no matter how powerful a technique was, if it couldn't land a hit, it was meaningless.
Madara pushed himself further. Sixteen minutes. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen.
As he reached the final minute of Obito's phasing limit, sweat had started to form on Madara's forehead.
Obito, too, was slightly unsettled. He hadn't expected Madara to actually sustain his flames for this long.
He was considering whether he should start burrowing underground to reset his phasing duration.
But at that moment, Madara finally stopped spewing fire.
Despite all his battle experience and having witnessed countless strange abilities, even he couldn't help but complain.
"Kid, this is just a Mangekyō Sharingan ability?"
Obito nodded honestly, "Yep. Not even an Eternal Mangekyō. Just a regular old Mangekyō Sharingan."
"This is what you call regular?", Madara looked dumbfounded.
"Kid, I acknowledge you. Among all the people I've fought, in terms of shameless abilities, no one surpasses you. I, Madara, am willing to call you the most shameless."
Through the continuous fire release, Madara understood. Even if he regained the Rinnegan and unleashed all his army-annihilating techniques, Perfect Susanoo, Chibaku Tensei, Deep Forest Emergence. So what?
No matter how many mountains he cleaved in half, no matter how many craters he created with meteors, he wouldn't be able to touch Obito in the slightest.
For nearly twenty minutes, Obito was invincible.
And he had no idea how much longer Obito could keep this up.
Thus, he lost interest in fighting Obito.
Battling someone like him was utterly unsatisfying. It lacked the thrill of his fights with Hashirama, where they clashed in grand, all-out combat.
Obito smiled slightly. Truthfully, he was also reaching his limit. But Madara didn't know that, nor that he needed to know.
After resetting his phasing duration, he felt a surge of excitement.
No one had yet forced him to go all out. He was curious. Just how strong was he at full power?
So, he said, "Madara, you can't be the only one attacking without giving me a chance to retaliate, right? Now, it's my turn to go on the offensive. Defend yourself. I don't know if you can withstand it."
With that, he activated his Mangekyō and formed hand seals, chanting: "Phantom Body Flicker Technique!"
Instantly, countless shadowy figures surrounded Madara from all directions, launching an attack.
Madara, experienced as he was, quickly discerned the technique's principles, "These are all intangible clones? But you've marked each one, allowing you to switch between them instantly?"
Madara's body moved in an elegant dance, dodging the oncoming clones as he charged toward Obito.
Obito, seeing Madara charge instead of retreat, immediately teleported to another clone to launch his attack.
However, Madara seemed to anticipate this, striking toward his true body, forcing Obito to phase at the last second to avoid the blow.
Their figures blurred as they crossed paths.
Obito was genuinely surprised.
'Madara identified my real body in an instant.'
'Is it experience? Instinct?'
But there were dozens of clones surrounding Madara.
Missing once didn't mean he wouldn't get another chance.
Obito teleported to another clone and resumed his assault.
This time, Madara didn't react immediately. Only when Obito's attack was close did he execute a backflip to evade.
But another clone was already closing in.
Obito teleported again and struck.
Again and again, Madara dodged seven or eight times, but Obito remained relentlessly on his tail.
At last, having fully grasped the nature of this infuriating technique, Madara couldn't help but shout: "Obito, you little brat! Do you not have a single normal ability?"
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