1097/Dragon Slaves

Dragon Slaves
Date of Scene:	07 December 2014
Location:	TARGET: The Rookery (TR)
Synopsis:	Madara decides to test out his Reanimated body a bit against the Union's Elites. Blood, pain, and violence. Fun had by all.
Cast of Characters:	172, 609, 651

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Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
One moment, it was business as usual at the Union-held Rookery. The next, a trio of winged dragons came zooming in, bombarding the Grey Citadel with fire breath - all with a strange figure standing upon the back of one of them. Said figure dismounted, and amid the chaos, took out dragon trainers and seemed to halt retaliation from the dragons accompanying such by subduing them and then making eye-contact. Now there's fire everywhere, land-bound and airborne dragons are rampaging, and a man in red armor simply walks sedately towards the Grey Citadel, his eyes glowing, taking out anyone who comes at him with a practiced ease that speaks of enormous experience and skill in battle. Those with guns shoot at him, and he side-steps or turns out of the way. When there is enough fire incoming, he suddenly blurs out of sight and up onto a wall, where he vanishes again, only to appear directly in front of the soldiers, defeating two with palm strikes to the chest with such force that they go hurtling back with crushed sternums. The third, holding his position at the door, brings up his rifle, aims it at the warrior's face, and fires at point-blank range.

He makes the unfortunate discovery that a hole in the head does not stop his opponent, who seems terribly unimpressed. The soldier realizes how screwed he is just before Madara swings his left leg around and hits the man in the side of the face with his heel so hard his jaw practically comes off. He goes flying off to the side, and does not get back up. And the entire time, dragons under the control of Madara continue to bring havoc and destruction everywhere else.

Madara stops to pick up a dropped rifle, looks it over, and replicates the motions he saw others performing as he just stands in the hallway of one of the Grey Citadel's entrances, sighting along the rifle, wasting time... It's almost like he is not even in a hurry to take out the communications center, or mop up the rest of the defenders. When some more soldiers come out into the hall, the former Uchiha Clan leader decides not to bother actually firing the gun and just hurls it down the hall, striking the man in the lead in the face and taking him out. As the others open fire around him, Madara rushes towards them, arms hanging loosely at his sides, seeing the bullets, predicting their trajectory, even predicting future shots, and avoiding them all.

More violence. More spilled blood.

Some Elites need to intervene here.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Clouds gather, in the sky above. A thick bank of fog rolls through the valley, as rain begins to pour from the dark clouds above. Lightning even streaks across the sky once or twice.

    Within the Citadel, there's suddenly a yellowish wall of energy blocking Uchiha's charge. A split second later, a figure blurs into view in front of him - a figure wearing a pale pink, hooded robe, with leather armour beneath. At her side is a scabbard with an ornate rapier held in it, and around her body is a combined turquiose and pink glow. Wordlessly, the girl draws one foot back, raising one hand up. Her hands are spread out flat, rather than balled into fists.

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
"Honestly, can't a man get even a single weekend free to deal with the ramifications of his own genius?" Mutters Spider-Man to himself as he swings in on a long web-line attached to one of the rocky edges of the deep gorge. The lithe, red-and-black clad figure perches on one of the battlements and scans the scene below through darkened lenses curiously. First he pays attention to the dragons as they swoop in, blasting vast parts of the citadel with firey wrath. Animals, not something he's overly concerned with. Surely the guards and any others that show up can deal with them.

Then he notices the red-clad figure riding atop them.

"Oh-ho? What's this?" He squints his eyes, the lenses of his goggles zooming in as he watches the figure seem to tear through several of the guards with seemingly no effort. Dodging both bullets and blows as if they were of no concern whatsoever, even seeming to vanish from sight momentarily before finshing off other guards with the same amount of effortless precision.

. o O (Non-chalant combatant, superior speed, strength, reflexes, possibly teleportation. Fairly impressive.} Spider-Man muses to himself, only to have his lenses narrow when the bullet to the head doesn't even seem to slow down the figure. . o O (And possibly not even alive...at least not in any meaningful scientific sense.)

A few more moments of observation and that yellow-ish wall leaps up to block the figure's progress, with the young, hooded girl standing in the middle of it, seemingly armed with a sword. At this, Spider-Man bristles slightly beneath his costume. . o O (A child, judging by the figure and size. Wonderful...)

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
Madara does not stop immediately when the field springs up, though he certainly notices it - and the girl who seems to have erected the barrier itself. He does slow gradually, going from high-speed dash to a slow walk, as he just looks at this new challenger. Different attire than the others. Drastically different age. Capabilities not seen so far by the other defenders. Probably one of the Elites he has been waiting for. At first it seems like is just going to keep walking right towards Sakura, with the intent to pass by her or through her, but he finally comes to a stop, at about two yards away. Well within striking range of a projectile, and not too far out of reach of a fast melee attacker like the Uchiha himself.

The Union soldiers seem to realize at this point that they are way out of their league and will probably just get in the way, so they move to deal with the dragons. Madara stops and folds his arms, looking upon his apparent opponent, and unaware that he is being observed by yet another Elite - possibly through one of the openings in the damaged walls. "I was wondering when you would get here. Though I was expecting more of you, and a bit older." The bullet in his forehead is gradually forced out by Madara's body, the cracks radiating outwards from where the metal entered starting to seal and vanish in a matter of seconds as the bullet hits the stone floor, bounces twice, and then rolls away.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura retains her ready stance. If Madara were from an Earth analogue, he -might- recognise it as being more Indian than Japanese or Chinese. But he isn't so he probably doesn't.

    "I'm more capable than my age would suggest. And don't worry. I'm never alone," she responds to him, peering out at him with steely eyes - which are just visible under that hood of hers. "Sakura Kinomoto," she introduces herself, still not budging from her position. She glances down at that bullet for a moment, though.

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
The lenses of Spider-Man's googles narrow further as he watches the bullet slowly push its way out of Uchiha's head to *tink* lifelessly onto the stone floor without so much of a grimace from the man himself.

. o O (Regenerative abilities similar to Logan's, wonderful.)

As he lets the situation sink in, Spider-Man debates what to do. The guards seem to be handling the dragons, since they work here that shouldn't be any problem for them. The child facing down Uchiha seems confident in her abilities, perhaps overly so. Does he simply watch? Bide his time? Wait to see what happens? No, confident and possibly capable though she might be, she's still a child. He can't let her get injured or killed by a man who seems to casually destroy life with such effortless force.

A momentary tensing of his legs and then he leaps. He lunges from the crenelations of one of the citadel's upper towers, arms stretched out and he falls down towards the pair. The wind whistles past his ears, buffeting at his mask. He kicks outwards with his legs, twisting his body about through the force of the motion, dropping almost completely silently some twenty feet behind Uchiha in a crouch, one hand against the stony pavement and his legs bent outwards.

"As the girl said, she's not alone." Spider-Man states coolly, still seeming to be taking the man in, his mind lingering on even the slightest twitch of muscle or shift of attention.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
"I intend to have you prove it," Madara retorts. His glowing red eyes take in the stance being employed, the attempt at guarding Sakura's vision via her hood (or perhaps that is a coincidence. She may not be aware of what Uchiha can do if they make eye-contact), her stated confidence in her abilities, and the weapon at her side. The nearly-silent arrival of Spider-Man a distance behind the shinobi is either not noticed or not acknowledged until after the hero speaks. His gaze drifts to the side, and he turns his head slightly - just enough to look back over his shoulder.

"So it seems," he replies calmly to the fact that Sakura is not alone. Stealth on-par with a ninja's, likely agility of a similar level as well. Readiness to act. Just as Spider-Man watches for muscle movement, Madara likewise can extrapolate at a glance, from the slightest hint of movement, what a foe's future movements will be. Right now, the as-yet-unidentified foe behind him seems to be content to stay where he is, but trapped between two enemies like this is hardly an acceptable situation.

"I am Madara. Madara Uchiha. Since the two of you are presumably from a different world than mine, you likely haven't heard of me. In some ways that gives us a level playing-field." Madara lowers his arms to his sides, spreads his feet apart slightly, and then turns so that he is facing neither of his opponents, with his back to one wall, and one at either of the hall. "In others, it puts you two at a distinct disadvantage."

The one in the full-body costume has lenses of some kind, it seems. Eye-protection. That renders him protected against Genjutsu as well. Madara is not sure that they really don't know about him, but he is not reliant upon Genjutsu to fight, so regardless of their foreknowledge or lack thereof, the situation is unchanged.

Regardless of Sakura's capabilities, even if she is very strong, Madara sees no reason to go all-out against a child. What adult would? Likewise, no matter how good this stealthy foe is, rushing right to the end of the fight would be a waste. He seeks entertainment in this battle, not simply victory. So, looking straight ahead, at neither enemy, he says calmly, "You can move first."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura pauses for a split second. "...What is it with Uchihas and trying to take the Rookery? Seriously it's like dragons are a ninja magnet." And then... sunglasses are produced from one of her many pockets. "Okay so I guess I'll have to try to blind you so you don't use your weird ninja eye magic." ... Okay looks like Sakura -does- know who he is. Or has met one of his clanmates.

    She gets back into her ready stance - and then suddenly blitzes towards him, so quickly even he might have a bit of difficulty keeping up with her. A normal person would be completely blindsided by the sudden open-handed jab aimed at Madara's stomach!

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
. o O (Ninja, honestly. When was the last time I had to deal with ninja? Kingpin's dollar-a-dozen Hand, I think. This one, however, he's on a far different level from those minions. No time to sift through memories, I'll have to improvise with what little I know on-hand.) Spider-Man continues to watch Uchiha, one of the great blessings of his abilities is having his reflexes operate on a higher level than humanly possible, which leaves ample time for his mind to take in everything and calculate a given situation.

Of course, he isn't immune to surprise. Especially when Sakura moves fowards with a speed that's impressive even to him and lands a solid blow at Madara's stomach. The lenses widen in surprise and even a bit of shock. . o O (That technique, similar to some of what Shang-Chi taught Parker...how did a child learn something like that?)

No, no time to think about that. He's got to act to take advantage of his ally's opening. He flicks his wrists forwards, fingers pressing against his palms. There's a soft *thwip* as he fires off two quick lines of webbing with rapid taps of the concealed triggers hidden in his palms, aiming the quick lines of webbing at Uchiha's heels. Should they connect, he'll then *tug* at the lines with all his strength in an attempt to haul Uchiha off his feet and hopefully slam him fast-first into the pavement before he has a chance to recover from Sakura's gut-punch.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
So there have been other Uchiha here before him after all. Possibly that 'Miaka' he was asked about a while ago. Something to ask about. The fast movement and the successful strike from Sakura knock the larger fighter back into the wall behind him forcefully. Madara's body bounces off the wall slightly from the impact. He is seemingly making no move to defend himself, or perhaps simply unable to react in time. Magic is every bit as potent as Ninjutsu when it comes to bodily enhancement and other capabilities, but whether Sakura is even using it is unknown to him. He can see and measure Chakra, but other energies are probably off his radar.

When his legs are snared by strange webbing and he is pulled off-balance, and to the ground, he likewise hits the floor limply, seemingly allowing himself to be hit - or simply unable to react in time to the combination of a high-speed blow and then some sort of ranged elasticity-based attack before he could even recover.

Madara just lies there, motionless, for several seconds afterwards. Is that it? Was he defeated already? No way! It couldn't be that easy. And indeed, it isn't. Because a moment later, a hand reaches out of the wall, attempting to seize Sakura by the back of the neck, before the arms owner emerges from the castle wall after his appendage. It's like he just melded into the wall, and then came back out of it. But there he is, still lying on the floor! How is this possible!?

The figure on the floor loses its color, and assumes the texture of wood. Some sort of clone, made out of wood. When did he switch with it? Wood Clones, replacement, and merging into walls... Perhaps it was not the clone that took the damage though. There is a small place where Madara's armor is chipped, and though the webbing is attached to the clone's remains now, there is evidence it was once on the real article as well.

"Now it is my move." Whether successful in grabbing Sakura or not, Madara's right hand comes up, and attempts to drive two fingers into the side of her neck hard - a blow that would have punctured the skin of a non-Elite, and easily at that - before spinning around and trying to kick her towards Spider-Man with significant force. Regardless of success, afterwards, he shifts his attention to the web-slinging opponent at the other end of the hall. He employs the Body Flicker Technique to vanish and appear right next to Spider-Man, and attempt to elbow him in the face.

Of course, Sakura is really fast, and Spider-Man has his own methods of detecting and evading attacks. But it's clear this is not your typical Uchiha.

The fact he is using Ninjutsu already, however, is a testament to the fact he is willing to try a bit against these foes. He recognizes they have some level of ability.

A compliment, perhaps, but not necessarily a good thing.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura's neck muscles feel tougher than iron as Madara jabs his fingers against them - but she still yelps in surprise and pain, and then again as she's roundhouse-kicked into Spider-Man. She kinda crumples to the ground, bleeding rather profusely from her neck as she struggles to her feet.

    One hand comes up to try to wipe the blood away. "..." She looks at the ninja - and then darts away, backwards, while drawing her sword. She swipes the sword through the air, creating cutting beams of light and wind - but it's mostly an attempt to get distance.

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
To Spider-Man, something definitely isn't right in the moments before Sakura is attacked. Uchiha is just standing there, slumped, yet his spider-sense is still buzzing madly in his head. That feeling only increases, even though the attack that comes isn't directed at him.

First that arm comes out of the wall and grasps Sakura by the neck even as the figure on the floor turns to wood.

Then everything slows down to a crawl as if in slow-motion. Uchiha's fingers rise up and then stab down towards Sakura's vulnerable neck, Spider-Man's eyes widen in horror, his muscles tensing to move even as the momentarily limp girl is sent hurtling his way by a vicions roundhouse kick.

"NO!" He whirls about, following the arc of Sakura's travel and raising his arms to fire off his webs in an attempt to create a net to catch her.

Then something flickers out of the corner of his vision, his spider-sense goes crazy and his reflexes start to cause him to bend backwards to dodge.

Not fast enough.

The elbow slams into his chin, his vision swims, one leg slips back to catch himself. For a few precious seconds the world is out-of-focus, black and white. Then Sakura's bleeding form rises in his sight again even as the girl attempts to rise, herself.

"...Monster..."

The word slips from Spider-Man's throat in a hoarse, deadly whisper as his head jerks up towards Uchiha. There's a momentary *click* sound, almost imperceptible. Then Spider-Man's arms flash up, razor-sharp talons concealed in the suit aiming to rip upwards in a raking pass along Uchiha's chest even as the masked man launches himself airborne from the half-crouch he'd found himself in.

*click* More talons, this time concealed in the feet as the momentum of his leap is transferred into a spinning, almost helicopter-like leg motion, those razor-sharp toe-talons aimed squarely at Uchiha's throat.

"You'd dare hurt a child?! I'll kill you! I'll tear every limb off your body and burn them until there's nothing left!"

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
The cutting beams of wind and light slash across Madara's body, leaving deep gouges, or even cutting through parts of him in places as he makes an attempt to minimize the amount of damage taken with rapid changes in stance or location. Over-all, it still looks like his body has been repeatedly sliced all over. Before he can do much about Sakura's new ranged approach, Spider-Man adds to the amount of being-sliced-over by getting his feet and lashing out with razor-wire and talons. Madara turns his head when he detects movement, and moves quickly as he tries to evade Spider-Man's attacks, but his opponent is agile as all get-out. Dusty flesh is shredded, more and more, and it seems perhaps the two heroes finally have their opponent on the ropes!

Then Spider-Man's next attack strikes something very solid, and stops several inches away from his opponent. A glowing blue aura surrounds Madara now, he is scowling a bit, and there is a giant, partial ribcage made out of Chakra surrounding him. That is the obstacle. Madara still has gouges all over his body, some of them going clear through to the other side. His face even has a gash across it.

None of his wounds are bleeding, though. And Madara's eyes have a different design in them now. A more complex one. The energy from him was noticeable before. Now it is even more so, expanding outwards, exerting an almost physical pressure, seeping into every crack, making spent bullets and fallen stones jump and jitter. A huge pair of skeletal arms form out of Chakra on either side of the rib cage, and one of them lashes out to try to strike Spider-Man out of the air.

The other strikes directly above, demolishing the ceiling. Then the Chakra aura rises upwards, solidifying further, turning into a humanoid figure - at least from the waist up - with glowing circles for eyes. It is as least twenty-five feet tall, and its emergence has abruptly turned the inside into the outside. Chunks of the castle fall all around, some of which might strike Sakura, or strike near her, though the size of the stones and the other materials this patchwork castle is made out of vary.

Scraps of dust and loose material - detritrus and remnants taken from the surroundings - begin to float through the air and converge on Madara's wounds, slowly patching up the gouges as she stands at the center of one of the legendary eye powers of the Uchiha Clan - the Susano'o.

"She is a combatant on the battlefield, who has already attacked me and claimed to be more capable than her age would indicate," Madara responds to Spider-Man, regardless of his condition, in a lecturing tone. "Do you expect me to simply stand and take her attacks without retaliating?" That said, aside from the damage that might be caused by destroying part of the Grey Citadel, Madara does not seem to be pursuing an attack against Sakura at this time. He may not feel bad about hurting her, but he sees no reason why he should go full-force against her either. Some strong kids grow up to be even stronger. There is no need for children to fight, in Madara's mind, but no reason to cut that potential short either.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura's fall was softened by a spider web! She doesn't really have time to freak out about this, though. Luckily she didn't get stuck to it...

    As Madara summons... -something- that shatters the roof, she makes a quick gesture with her left hand. The yellow barrier she summoned before vanishing, yellow-blue energy streaming past Uchiha and Parker before collecting in Sakura's hand. She then tosses the energy up - where it resolves itself into the shape of a card - before bringing up her sword. The sword suddenly changes shape, switching from a rapier to a large pink staff in the fraction of time between heartbeats. Sakura brings the staff up with both hands, pressing the shaft of the staff against the card. "SHIELD!" she calls out.

    As a magic circle appears at her feet, a yellow dome appears around her to intercept the falling debris! Well, most of it. Some of it still hit her while she was doing that fancy magic...

    She looks up. "...Huh." Another card is produced. "FLY!" she cries, as pink, feathered wings erupt from her back - and she leaps into the air. Still carrying the staff - it's got to be as long as she is tall - she wheels her way up higher and higher, before pulling out yet -another- card. So this is her true fighting style?

    "That huge thing needs to be taken out before it can wreck the place any further. Alright! Burn the giant to ash! FIREY!"

    That same magic circle appears again - Madara may notice it involves a five-pointed star flanked by a sun and crescent moon, as well as symbols probably too small to make out from here - as a winged, flaming humanoid appears in the air before Sakura. It spread its wings, then unleashes a torrent of flames from its hands!

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
The dust crumbling from Uchiha's body combined with the holes blown straight through him seems to confirm Spider-Man's suspicions about the man being some kind of undead being. Not that the Web-Head has any time to congratulate himself on his observational skills or postulate any other theories on the situation.

Then his attacks are suddenly stopped cold, "...!" Some kind of massive, blue rib-cage seemingly made out of energy. Surely this would send his mind into another series of postulations on exactly what was generating it were he in a better frame of mind. No chance of that now, however, especially when that huge palm made out of the same energy slams into him, smashing him aside like a bug.

"NNNGH!" He feels something start to give way inside of him, a cracked rib, possibly two? Hard to say as the initial shock of the impact hurls him backwards. He kicks out with his legs and lands on one of the falling pieces of rock from the ceiling while it's still in the air. He reflexively fires off a single web-line towards Uchiha's feet and kicks outwards, the rock seeming to be sticking to his feet until they've reached full extension.

Then he releases the huge, man-sized slab and sends it hurtling straight at Uchiha with speed borne of frightening strength.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
An intriguing power that Sakura wields. It seems to use seal marks and writing not unlike some ninja arts do - most notably, Sealing Techniques. That makes Madara's brows come down a bit. The girl has already given plenty of evidence she has dealt with Uchiha before. But has she also discerned that he is a Reanimation? If her capabilities allow her to performing abilities even SIMILAR to sealing techniques, she could be more trouble than Madara thought. Taking to the air, and blasting Susano'o with intense flames seems to do no visible damage - at least to the Chakra construct itself - but Madara seems to take the attack seriously once the Chakra actually starts to dissolve enough for the heat to pass through and broil his still-recovering flesh. Sakura seems to be full of tricks.

Madara is focused on her, thus, as the webbing attaches to the outside of the Susano'o, and the huge slab of rock strikes the outside with incredible force as well. It actually seems to leave glowing cracks in the solidified energy. So it is not an 'absolute defense'! Or at least not against super-strong people and people with considerable magical power. Maybe they have a chance after all!

Then the Susano'o grows two more arms, these two forming a giant sword of blazing Chakra in each palm, and the face on the back of the Susano'o's head seems to allow Madara to even look behind him. Because he stays right where he is, while the Susano'o lashes out with its giant swords at Spider-Man, shockwaves trailing from each blow that further damage the terrain. And the first pair of arms aim their palms at Sakura as she flies through the air, and spinning constructs of Chakra like over-sized 'commas', form on a 'string'. This string snaps as the projectile is launched, and each of the magatama goes flying in a spread-out pattern to make up for Sakura's mobility. If they hit anything, they explode with the force of an Explosive Tag.

The ashes of Madara's own skin crumble and fade as his body continues to restore itself. His restoration ability may have limits, but his enemies likely do not realize that. Even so, he realizes he can not fight them forever. Unlimited Chakra and immortal body just means he can enjoy his fights longer. That alone does not mean victory. And that is why he is stepping up his attacks even as his opponents likewise put their best efforts in.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura takes a bit of webbing stuck to her robe, and sticks it to the wound on her neck. She's so pre-occupied tending to her wound, in fact, that she doesn't notice those esplosive-magatama coming at her until it's almost too late. She yelps, covering her face with her arms!

    ...Luckily the Shield is still active, but Sakura still gets blown off course by the explosion and crashes into a wall of the Citadel. She leaves a Sakura-shaped indentation in the stone, in fact, which she kinda just... rests in, for a bit, before leaping back out of.

    "...Nngh. Fine, fire won't work? Then... Pierce the giant's heart! WATERY!" Another card! And another 'spirit', this one blue and resembling a fish. Slightly. Mostly it resembles a human. A rather cute human. A jet of water is created between her hands, forming into a piercing lance!

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
Those twin blades slice through the air, sizzling with some kind of fierce fire that Spider-Man can't quite place. Almost subconciously, his body twists about tucking his arms in and straightening his legs as he 'threads the needle' between the two blades. He passes just between them, a couple arcs of the energy crackling along his suit, singing the material but otherwise not seeming to do any outward harm. He aims his web-shooters at Uchiha and fires off several high-speed shots of hardened impact-webbing like bullets, peppering the ground around Uchiha but seeming to be missing him as Sakura's water-lance shoots towards the ninja.

Is his vision off from the previous blow? Or is it merely an attempt at distraction?

The answer to that comes a moment later, four crimson, seemingly mechanical spider-limbs explode from Spider-Man's back and lash out like spears right on the heels of Sakura's water-lance, aimed to slip through the rib cage of Uchiha's Susano'o and impale him through the chest.

"Fry, bastard!" Should they succeed in hitting Uchiha or not, the arms crackle to blue, arcing life as they begin to pour torrents of electrical current hopefully into the soaked and impaled ninja.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
The Susano'o is not air-tight. Otherwise Madara couldn't talk to them through it, and the heat from Firey wouldn't have managed to get through. Madara hmphs to himself as Watery's lance pierces the partially-dissolved Chakra, and disrupts its structure. Madara can repair it, or summon it anew, but that takes time. So he dismisses the construct for now, allowing it to melt away, as he looks up towards the flying opponent. Just as Spider-Man lands behind him and rams his seemingly mechanical arms right through him. Electricity surges and sizzles through his body, sending up smoke, and causing cracks to radiate outwards from the impact points. The electricity seems to be paralyzing him.

Whenever the electricity stops being put into him, Madara himself hanging there limply, the battlefield is quiet. The dragons have either been defeated, recaptured, driven off, or have simply stopped fighting - as mysteriously as they attacked, they simply lose all desire to fight. It seems Madara's Genjutsu has been released. Is this finally the end?

A series of sharp, black rods of some unknown metal suddenly protrude out of Madara's back, and possibly right through Spider-Man if he's not able to extract his arms and get out of he way in time. If Madara wounds him with them, there is an immediate, jarring, unpleasant sensation like someone else's presence is flowing into the hero. An invasive feeling like his very body is being subverted and hijacked, to say nothing of the PAIN of impalement.

Madara lifts his head, that was hanging, as smoke continues to rise from his body. Cracks are still rife across his body, and he is not restoring himself as quickly as before. They are having an impact, regardless of anything else. But Madara's eyes have changed yet again, to something wholly different than the Sharingan, the Mangekyou Sharingan, or the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.

They are grey, with rings radiating outwards from the center. Madara looks over his shoulder towards Spider-Man and says, "That's a bit too much energy." Then he looks towards Sakura, with his Rinnegan, and raises one hand. And if she is unable to resist, get out of sight, or otherwise evade, Sakura may find herself suddenly pulled off her feet, hurled through the air, and then thrown straight down into the ground with considerable force. Not enough to kill her, if this even works, but it would still probably hurt.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura was already in the air! But that doesn't stop her from getting grabbed anyway. "Telekinesis..?!" she manages to gasp out, before she's -slammed- into the ground. She's winded, but still alive, as she struggles back to her feet. God bless the Shield card.

    She stays where she is for a moment, before springing back into the air and heading for the corrdior they were fighting in before - crying out "SHOT!" on the way and pelting Madara with shots of... lasers?

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
. o O (Excellent, that body of his isn't immune to electricity.) Spider-Man thinks to himself as the volts pour into Uchiha's body, would that he could keep that up all day and just reduce the man to dust. Unfortunately, the generator was designed to fire in bursts. Long bursts, but bursts nonetheless. As the current slackens Spider-Man looks down at the impaled, sizzling, smoking figure. Is it finally over?

No, there goes his spider-sense again, buzzing like an alarm clock through a loudspeaker. Those sharp, black rods explode outwards in the same instant that Spider-Man's mechanical arms retract from Uchiha's body. He twists, spiralling his body out of the way of several of them, using his webbing, the walls, the crumbled rocks from the ceiling.

It's an amazing feat of acrobatics and superhuman agility but as Uchiha mentions the energy Spider-Man poured into him and turns his attention to Sakura, that's when one of the rods finds him.

"Unnngh!" The metal rod impales itself through Spider-Man's right shoulder, sending out a spray of blood even as Sakura is slammed into the ground. "..." Then there's that feeling, that horrible, sickening feeling that he's not alone in his mind. That something else, someone else is crawling inside, attempting to sink his claws into him and attempting to claw at his very nature. Pry at his very secrets.

"N...No...this is...my body...m...my mind...I won't...let you." There's a slow, sickeningly wet sound as Spider-Man twists his body painfully, teeth gritting beneath the mask as he slowly pulls his injured shoulder off of the rod, the whole of his mind bent on freeing himself both in body and psyche.

"Not again.../NEVER/ again!" *SCHLUCK* with a final, stomach-churning sound and a brief spray of blood he pulls himself free and drops to the ground, landing on one knee.

"..."

For a long time he's silent, lifting his arm up and spraying some of his web-fluid onto his shoulder to form a makeshift bandage.

"...You..." He lifts his eyes up to Uchiha, seeming to stare at him, almost through him through those black lenses. "You said we don't know anything about you, yet, you know nothing about us." He rises to his feet, muscles and bones cracking as he slowly rolls his limbs to loosen and return his equilibrium.

"Let me educate you."

Then he's in motion, webs, limbs, everything moving in a blur as he completely lets himself loose. He tears through the forest of crumbled ceiling rock and metallic rods generated by Uchiha almost without even touching the ground for more than a millisecond.

Then he's in front of the ninja, and everything explodes. Arms, legs, the mechanical arms. Every part of Spider-Man becomes a scything, twisting coreography of motion that's beautiful in its symphonic brutality. He stabs at Uchiha's neck, his chest, his arms, his legs, every part of him both natural and mechanical behaving in perfect synch. He aims for nerve clusters, pressure points, chakra points. He strikes with the proportionate speed, strength and lethality of a spider, holding nothing back. This is the ultimate expression of his power, this is the Way of the Spider.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
Spider-Man's evasion of the rods has Madara turning his attention on him as the next target, after slamming Sakura to the ground. So when Sakura fires lasers into his back, scoring several deep pockmarks in Madara's armor and some holes in his body, he sighs in annoyance even as he staggers under the onslaught. These two are definitely strong. The girl in particular seems to have a variety of abilities available to her, while the still-unnamed foe has a predictive sense that Madara imagines is not unlike his own, though it also seems not to be tied to sight.

When Spider-Man appears before him, Madara does his best to dodge or block the attacks that come at him, but his eyes are Rinnegan right now, not Sharingan, and attack prediction is no longer available. He takes a great many hits, and by the end of it, is even missing an arm and is practicall sawn in half at both the neck and across the torso.

And at the end of it, though his body is very slowly repairing itself, Madara is still functional enough to perform a superhuman leap of his own, up onto the Citadel's roof (or part of it). His body starts repairing itself, and he looks down upon his two foes. Then he says, "To the contrary, I have already learned much about you. But while we are in an educational mood, let me teach you something in return for the marvellous dance you have given me." As his missing arm rebuilds itself, he puts the half-formed right hand together with the intact left, interlacing his fingers, and prepares his Chakra. Then he chants, "Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Koutan. <<Wood Release Secret Technique: Nativity of a World of Trees.>>" He seperates his hands and aims them at the two heroes, as the ground begins to rumble.

Plants in the area, seeds buried in the soil, dragon fire-charred trees, small shrubbery, all begin rapidly expanding and growing at an incredible, supernatural rate. In a matter of moments, this part of the Grey Citadel has transformed from a rubble-strewn castle and sooty wasteland, into a small forest. Plants grow huge, becoming huge, thick branches of massive trees. Powerful trunks surge outwards forcefully with the energy and strength a tree exerts throughout the course of its whole lifetime, compressed into a span of seconds.

Vines and roots and branches crush everything around them, and if the Unionites are unable to get away in time, even if they are not caught in the rapid expansion itself, they may still find themselves in quite a tight, and painful, squeeze.

As the jutsu finishes, the branches lashing out to strike at everything around finally slowing their movements, there is now greenery everywhere, and Madara can be seen up on the Citadel, in the deep shadow cast by all these trees. "You are worthy opponents. I salute you. Now be gone from this world."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura sees the surging roots and branches and vines coming for her. She finds them growing up and around her, coiling around her and trying to crush the life otu of her. She only just barely manages to pull a card out. "W.. WOOD!"

    There's a sound very much like a slow-motion explosion, as suddenly a -bubble- forms in the sudden vegetation, the overwhelming power of the Wood card just -refusing- to let them into an area about ten yards wide - large enough to encompass Spider-Man, too, if he's close enough. Sakura flops to the floor, down on one knee, panting. "...Man... I shouldn't have... wasted so much energy..."

    Sakura holds out one hand. She makes a complicated gesture - and a -door- appears. A -violently pink- door. Sakura gets to her feet, and opens the door. "...Kick his ass," she says in encouragement to... Spider-Man, probably. Then she retreats through the door, which quickly vanishes.

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
If there had been any doubt in Spider-Man's mind as to the mortality of Uchiha, it's pretty much gone now seeing him still standing there after that kind of visible damage.

Then the ground begins to tremble, the entire castle starts to crumble, the citadel seeming to fall in on itself as roots, vines, thorns and whole trees erupt from the ground.

"What?!?" Spider-Man is caught up by the branches of one of the trees and carried into the sky, other branches closing in around him, cutting at him, scratching, seeking to impale him. He struggles, his suit gives in places, his flesh, too. Blood is drawn from countless wounds as he's pierced, sliced and torn by the seemingly unending press of bark and foliage. He vanishes in the seemingly endless mass of green.

As Sakura retreats, Uchiha sees no sign of Spider-Man for at least several minutes. The battle seems to have been won.

Then the forest shudders once, and a long, wickedly sharp tree branch explodes from the foliage, propelled straight up at Uchiha. 'Branch', however, doesn't seem to do it justice. It's more a huge sharpened log like the kind someone would use as a battering ram, propelled by a cunningly constructed web-slingshot using some of the larger trees Uchiha created.

Oh, and Spider-Man's riding on it like a surfer, of course.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
Sakura retreats. Madara assumes it is some sort of dimensional shifting. A reverse summoning, or something like it. She really has an amazing assortment of powers. He is glad to have her off the battlefield for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the threat she poses. While he is scanning for his other enemy, and allowing his body to come back together, he catches sight of movement... In his condition he isn't able to dodge in time. The battering ram sling shot attack succeeds! It slams into Madara, going right through him, and finishing the job that the previous attacks started. For a moment, as the weaponized branch slams into one of the towering tree trunks, there is a cloud of splinters and wood dust that obscures sight of the ninja.

When the dust clears, Madara's eyes are empty. Black hollows in a heavily chipped face, with his lower body completely missing.

A spectral blade of Chakra rises out of the wood beneath Spider-Man's feet, attempting to impale him with the very tip of a giant sword. The rest of the blade rises, either way, and the hand attached to it, and the arm, and the rest of the glowing aura of Susano'o, as well as the heavily-damage Madara who has apparently once more replaced himself with a Wood Clone. He is still seriously torn apart, but his ability to merge with his surroundings seems to include his ninjutsu-created trees as well.

He has little more to say to his opponent. He has proven himself more than a mere distraction several times already. The entertainment has been wonderful. But all good things must come to end. "I suspect we are nearing the end of this dance," Madara offers, as he glares upwards, still-repairing arms folded over armor that is torn apart, a huge chunk of it missing... And a pale, human face displayed visibly on his chest. No, not a tattoo. An actual face. Eyes and mouth closed. Merged into Madara's own flesh.

Creepy. But does it mean something or is it just more evidence that whatever Madara is, he is a monster?

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
Whatever Uchiha might prove to be, at the moment Spider-Man is certain of only one thing, and that's that he wants to end this. The sword rising out of the wood and his own words affirm that Uchiha wants no less than the same thing. If he didn't have his spider-sense and reflexes, he no doubt would've been impaled straight through. However, Uchiha will have to settle with a long, but shallow slice starting from Spider-Man's sternum and rising up to his left shoulder as the blade hisses through suit and flesh.

A grunt of pain is all that escapes Spider-Man's throat as he twists himself about, landing on the ground a few feet from the still-healing ninja.

"I agree, let's put an end to this." Spider-Man replies, the lenses of his mask narrowing as he tenses his body in preparation. To be fair, Madara isn't the only one whose worse for wear. The most recent slash to his chest, the impaled shoulder, those are mixed in with countless smaller lacerations and splinters from the wooden forest he just escaped from and the cracked ribs from earlier.

Those wounds seem to be pushed out of Spidey's mind for now, though, as he raises his web-shooters, aiming directly at Uchiha's face.

What comes out isn't webbing, however, its fire. Pure, clinging, liquid fire. The fluid sprays out like a sticky, self-igniting gunk not unlike naptha or Greek Fire. Forest, Wood, Fire. They tend not to go together too well. Or perhaps /too/ well.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
The caustic fluid lands upon the Susano'o, and ignites. This does not do much damage. But when it also hits the wood that Madara is merged with, it quickly creates a significant blaze around and underneath Madara, that does a bit more. The Susano'o swings its arm and blade down to slice through the burning branch, dumping it and him, into the darkness below. That seems like an act of desperation, but with someone seemingly unkillable like this, a long fall may not be that big of a deal.

Evidence, and flames, arise to support this idea, as he forms hand seals rapidly, and then chants silently, <<Katon: Gouka Mekkyaku! (Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!)>>

The darkness below is immediately lit up by a massive wall of flames that surges upwards, engulfing trees, branches, blasting away or incinerating leaves, and essentially creating a tidal wave of fire that moves ever upwards, removing the ground, the trees, or even the sky as a safe place to be. Hopefully Spider-Man's spider sense and web-slinging will help him out here, because this does not look good at all.

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
That tidal wave of fire is probably the last thing that Spider-Man would have expected from someone that can control wood. There's a reason he hates dealing with the supernatural, this is certainly a big part of it. He immediately leaps into the air, using his webbing with one arm to try and climb higher and higher utilizing the burning trees and whatever is left of the Citadel to attempt to websling out of the oncoming curtain of flame. It becomes rapidly apparent he's not going to completely make it, however. So, he quickly webs himself up, creating a web-cocoon against the uncoming flames which surge over him.

It burns, oh, does it ever burn. It sizzles him, sears him through the dome of webbing, through the suit. His skin blisters. When the flames have passed there's nothing but the smouldering, smoking dome of cracked, almost glass-like webbing left behind.

Then it cracks like and eggshell. "Haaaah...haaaah!" Wounds cauterized, suit burned, skin blistered, Spider-Man digs his talons into a huge piece of crumbled stonework. The muscles of his body tense and coil beneath the suit as he rips it from its crumbling foundations and leaps from his perch high atop the ruined battlements. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUGH!" It would almost be comical if it weren't actually happening, Spider-Man's comparatively small, thin body hefting a rock that must weigh in at countless tons, using it and gravity as he falls from the sky, swinging the stone down like a makeshift hammer right towards Madara's face.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
The forest is ablaze, fire is everywhere, but Madara is using his now-restored Susano'o to protect him. He has even advanced beyond the 'upper-body only' level, to a full giant of Chakra, with working legs. And yet... His opponent is still not dead. Still not defeated. "I take it back," Madara says as his final opponent hefts a gigantic chunk of the Citadel, with a might battle cry, and leaps down towards him, down through the corridor of flame, smashing through huge branches with his boulder, and coming right at Madara and his Chakra-giant armor.

"The girl was not the only one with a bag of tricks."

Then Spider-Man smashes into him, burying both Madara and his Susano'o in the ground, practically. The Susano'o cracks, and shatters, and then it dissolves into countless small blue flames of energy that in turn dissipate rapidly. Unlike the lattice of hell-hued light and blistering flames high above, that has replaced all sight of the sky with choking, toxic smoke, and eye-searing brightness.

Then, terribly, it becomes evident the fight is not quite over. The evidence comes fast, and hard, as the boulder flies up into the air, possibly with Spider-Man still on top of it, moving at speeds so great they could pin someone to it. The boulder travels the same route Spider-Man just took to get down there, until the boulder smashes through the conflagration that is the supernaturally-grown forest's canopy.

Madara is lying in the crater where the boulder struck, looking pretty badly damaged. Yet he is still able to wield powerful gravity techniques like this. He releases the hold he has on the chunk of the Citadel, and then he controls the forest fire - or rather, the forest that is on fire. All those burning trees and giant branches and roots all wind together into a single, enormous pillar of wood, completely egulfed into flames, and that tower of wood and fire attempts to strike Spider-Man, whether he is on the stone or not, as hard as a couple hundred giant trees woven together and controlled with ninja magic can.

Which is pretty damn hard.

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
Spider-Man pants heavily, his body wavering slightly from the blood loss, the pain of the wounds and the burns. The constant gnawing of his spider-sense in the back of his head since it seems the entire landscape has become his enemy. He wobbles for a moment but then catches himself, keeping his footing through a mixture of super-human stamina and sheer stubborn willpower.

Then the whole damn forest decides he needs to die.

The burning, charred, sharp, thorny, living forest is twisting together, being woven into a massive tower of foot and fire. It crashes down towards him and he moves. Gods does he move. He utilizes everything he has, his muscles scream for release, for peace but he doesn't give it. His hands burn as they grip flaming branches and his feet howl as they're burned and scratched by thorns and hidden barbs. He crawls, claws, twists his way through the falling, burning tower and as it crashes to the ground he leaps from it in a halo of flames, landing in the crater where Madara is.

Curling plumes of smoke rise off of him as he moves towards the ninja, the sharp rocks in the crater cutting his feet more as he leaves blood trailing behind.

"Those powers of yours, those supernatural abilities. Any other man would've fallen to them. No matter how amazing, how spectacular his abilities."

He stops, looming above Madara wreathed in flame, blood and the smouldering, smoking sky. "I'm beyond that, though." One hand clenches into a fist, "I am. Superior." The fist falls straight towards Madara's face with every ounce of strength Spider-Man's body can muster.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
Somehow, he survives that too. Madara has not been this entertained by a fight in a long time. Not since Hashirama. As the tower falls upon the valley, creating a huge length of what is essentially burning rope woven from entire trees, a massive tremor goes through the ground. Spider-Man lands nearby, hurt, exhausted, but still alive and - more importantly - still willing to dance. Madara's inverted eyes (red on black once more, and not the grey-with-rings of the Rinnegan, perhaps a signifier of his weakened state) move towards his opponent as he lies there, calmly, in the crater. Even now, his body is clearly putting itself back together - just very, very, very slowly. He watches as Spider-man approaches, listens to his words, and then starts to speak. "Unfortunately-" then the fist comes down, cutting him off. A fist powerful enough to take the head off of any normal man, and probably a lot of abnormal ones as well, comes right towards Madara's face.

And is prevented from landing by two events.

The first is that Madara sinks into the ground, merging with it like he has multiple times before.

The second is that boulder that Madara sent straight up into the sky with control over gravity itself, finally comes back down, right at that exact moment, timed with his Sharingan.

And with all the other danger around, it might not be noticed until it's too late.

Either way, Madara emerges from the ground a short while later, and a couple dozen feet away, to finish his sentence. "You are a merely a worthy opponent. Not my equal, and certainly not my superior."

Peter Parker (609) has posed:
Spider-Man's fist sinks into the crumbled ground even as Madara vanishes into it. "What...?" Then his spider-sense starts to tingle, his head tilts back and he looks at the boulder falling out of the sky, then back at Uchiha. "Impossible! This is all...." . o O (This is all Parker's accursed luck!) "Damn and blast...!" Yanking his arm free, Spider-Man hurls himself out of the range of the falling boulder, but certainly not out of range of the resulting shockwave. The blast sends him flying, he spins head over heels, impacting one of the nearby rocks and ragdolling a few more feet before coming to a stop in a crumpled heap, unmoving.