"Dealing with someone like you, I alone am enough. Uchiha Madara, as a defeated subordinate of my grandfather, you don't even have the right to make him appear!"
Tsunade shouted fiercely, removing her green short shirt. Her golden ponytail swayed in the air as chakra surged from her body.
"Defeated subordinate? If it weren't for obtaining his cells back then, who would have won was uncertain. Do you really think awakening your grandfather's Wood Release allows you to stop me?"
Madara crossed his arms and coldly addressed Tsunade. He had learned about her from White Zetsu: Hashirama's granddaughter, Fifth Hokage, the only person after Hashirama to awaken Wood Release, who had fought Nagato with Rinnegan to a stalemate.
Madara disregarded all of this. Nagato, with transplanted Rinnegan, could only perform basic techniques. Even clashing with him resulted in mutual harm—hardly impressive.
"Very well. If I kill you, Hashirama won't be able to hide. Protecting the village? A boring gesture."
Madara saw rows of Wood Release walls erected in Konoha, each hundreds of meters high and over ten meters thick. Only Hashirama could produce such Wood Release. Did he trust his granddaughter enough to think she could stop him? Madara felt belittled—did she, a woman, think she could stop him?
"Looks like you're skilled in Taijutsu. Let me show you something. I'll deal with you first, then find Hashirama."
Madara deactivated Susanoo and leapt from the air to the ground with a heavy thud, shaking his armor, standing opposite Tsunade.
"Taijutsu, huh?"
Tsunade laughed. She had worried about keeping Susanoo away from Konoha, but now Madara approached her directly, ready to fight.
What a joke. An old man surviving from the Warring States era, lost in his own illusions. Tsunade wanted Madara to test the entire ninja world—who would dare challenge him in Taijutsu?
She clenched her fists with a hint of pride: "If you want to die, I'll oblige."
The first word barely left her mouth when she kicked off with incredible force, sprinting at a speed rivaling space-time ninjutsu, creating a small pit dozens of meters deep.
'Too slow!'
Madara's insight, though weaker than Rinnegan-level, allowed him to respond optimally.
Tsunade had activated Hundred Talents Technique, Sage Mode, and with Hyuga Mirai refining her cells, she strengthened her body while extending lifespan, incorporating remaining Ashura and Indra chakra to cultivate Rinnegan. Among Mirai's students, she was unique.
Her speed now rivaled Might Guy's Eight Gates; she instantly appeared behind Madara.
Boom!
Madara barely blocked her strike and was sent flying like a cannonball, smashing dozens of giant trees and traveling nearly 800 meters before stopping.
"Cough… speed and strength are impressive. No wonder Hashirama didn't send himself to block, but you… haha."
Madara spat blood, laughing. He had thought no one except Hashirama could match him, yet here was an unexpected opponent.
"Hope you still talk big!"
Tsunade charged again. This time the distance allowed Madara to react. As he moved, his leg suddenly kicked like a horse's leap, thrusting his body.
'My body… nerves malfunctioning? Was it that punch?'
Madara realized Tsunade had reached behind him. To avoid another hit, he had to rethink using Taijutsu.
"Almighty Push!"
A massive repulsive force radiated from Madara, throwing dust, trees, and debris aside.
Tsunade's eyes shifted from Eight Tomoe to Mangekyō, then to a faint purple Rinnegan, shocking Madara.
"Almighty Push!"
A similarly terrifying force surged from Tsunade, colliding mid-air, creating a circular crater in the ground.
Nearby, Hashirama, under Konoha's walls, activated Sage Mode, using Wood Release to shield the village.
Before the forces collided, Madara and Tsunade were thrown back, though Madara still maintained control.
'How does she possess Rinnegan? What technique allows her body to recover so quickly? I'll use Susanoo.'
Stunned by her Rinnegan, Madara still focused on battle. As he summoned Susanoo's first form, Tsunade used Wood Release to create a massive wooden humanoid.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each step of the giant wooden figure shook the earth. Under Tsunade's control, it moved slowly, destroying the forest, then lifted Susanoo and ran toward the Valley of the End—a safe distance for catastrophic-level ninja combat.
Hashirama, observing the retreating wooden figure, understood Tsunade's plan. Relocating the battlefield prevented damage to Konoha.
"Get out!"
At the Valley of the End, Tsunade hurled Susanoo from the wooden figure, forming hand seals as her chakra surged like waves. Every ounce of chakra from Hundred Technique poured into the next jutsu.
"Madara Uchiha, today you'll learn the consequence of being abandoned by the times and still causing trouble!"
"Wood Release: Thousand Hands Senju Technique!"
Rumble! Crack!
A nearly kilometer-tall wooden Senju Buddha slowly formed, clad in fiery armor. Tsunade's eternal Mangekyō bled from exertion—the first use of Susanoo in such magnitude, yet she endured the pain.
The thousand hands formed nearly a hundred-meter-long fiery Susanoo swords.
Madara, seeing this, opened his mouth in astonishment. Ten seconds passed before he spoke:
"Impressive."
(End of chapter)