Just as Ryōsuke finished off Biwa Jūzō,
Kisame Hoshigaki seized the opportunity to strike from the other side, swinging the Samehada directly at the Susanoo.
"Samehada, absorb it all!"
Samehada opened its maw wide and bit into the Susanoo, rapidly draining the chakra from it.
The blade quickly swelled into a massive, bloated sphere.
With such a large amount of chakra being siphoned away, the Susanoo began to lose its stability.
It looked brittle, as if its very structural integrity were failing.
Ryōsuke looked coldly at Samehada. Was it actually absorbing the chakra he used to manifest the Susanoo?
How interesting.
He directly controlled the Susanoo, which could still maintain its basic form, and slammed its left fist into Kisame.
The blow sent Kisame flying through the air.
The swordsman coughed up a mouthful of blood.
However, he wasn't critically injured.
Because so much chakra had been drained, the Susanoo's power had clearly diminished.
The previously repelled Kakuzu crouched on the ground with his limbs bent like a beast.
He then turned and began to sprint away into the distance.
Staying here was simply too dangerous.
Even with so much chakra absorbed, that Susanoo still possessed such terrifying power.
'What an incredible amount of chakra. This guy is a monster.'
'Even after Samehada gorged itself, he can still maintain the Susanoo's form.'
But he had already completed his part of the mission. Although he was surprised he couldn't completely drain the opponent's Susanoo, such a degraded form would surely have far lower defenses.
The rest was up to Kakuzu.
As for Jūzō, after being crushed by that blow earlier, he was likely deader than dead. There was no point in trying to save him.
Outside the thick mist, Kakuzu was already prepared. Five masked monsters emerged directly from his body.
Seeing that the opponent's Susanoo was now highly unstable, he knew its defenses would be at their lowest.
"Earth Grudge Fear: Final Shot!"
"Turn into ash!"
The five masked monsters charged their energy and unleashed five terrifying ninjutsu attacks simultaneously.
The volley contained lightning, high-pressure wind spheres, fire style, water style, and earth style techniques.
Five different natures of chakra ninjutsu surged toward the weakened Susanoo.
Seeing this, Kisame's spirits lifted.
What a shocking display from Kakuzu.
He was already stunned when Kakuzu used water, fire, earth, and wind before; he hadn't expected the man to have lightning style up his sleeve as well.
There were likely no other freaks like this in the entire shinobi world.
With five types of ninjutsu attacking and reacting with one another, the power was multiplied. This guy was definitely finished.
He watched the scene with high expectations, waiting for the result.
Yet, Ryōsuke remained perfectly calm.
Good. So this was how these three coordinated their efforts.
'It feels like I'm some legendary beast they're trying to hunt down.'
But Ryōsuke was about to show them that all their efforts were in vain.
He brought his hands together, and the chakra around him began to condense so intensely that it turned into a visible, solid blue energy.
"Perfect Susanoo."
The previously weakened Susanoo received a massive influx of chakra.
It didn't just regain its original strength; it began to grow muscles and don armor, rapidly expanding into a gargantuan, peerless Perfect Susanoo.
It stood so tall that it towered over the nearby mountains.
At that moment, Kakuzu's attacks arrived, but they could only reach the giant's feet.
A deafening roar echoed through the area.
The collision sent up a massive wall of fire, lightning, and water, creating a dense cloud of mist.
However, this impressive destructive force only reached the Susanoo's shins.
The Perfect Susanoo didn't move an inch despite being hit by the combined assault.
Both Kakuzu and Kisame were paralyzed with terror at the sight of the colossal avatar.
"It's massive... how can it be so big?"
"Is this really something a human can achieve?"
In that moment, they both felt like they weren't even the same species as their opponent. The gap between them was simply too vast.
Kakuzu finally understood the true power of Senju Hashirama. In his heart, he was now convinced that this man was indeed Uchiha Madara.
Could anyone else in the shinobi world be this strong?
Obviously not.
His choice to flee from Senju Hashirama back then had been absolutely correct.
If Uchiha Madara was this powerful, then Senju Hashirama must have been even worse.
He would have died for certain if he had tried to keep fighting.
Therefore, he decided to do exactly what he did back then: run.
"Kisame, even my strongest attack was useless. I'm leaving!"
He turned and immediately began his escape.
His heart was a mess of emotions; he hadn't expected to be forced into a retreat like this after so many years.
The current Uchiha Madara was just too strong.
He probably used something similar to Earth Grudge Fear to maintain his peak condition for so long.
Choosing to run was undoubtedly the right decision, just as it had been all those years ago.
Now, he no longer felt that retreating from Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara was a disgrace; it was a brilliant tactical decision.
Hearing his words, Kisame also chose to turn and flee. There was no way he could win this.
Even though the Tailed Beasts were crucial to the Akatsuki's ultimate plan, his Great Explosive Water Colliding Wave would probably only reach the guy's knees.
He couldn't submerge the opponent, which meant his ninjutsu was useless.
He had to get this information back to the other Madara.
This man claiming to be Madara was a massive threat. If he remained, the Akatsuki's plan was unlikely to succeed.
Ryōsuke watched the two of them fleeing in the distance, a slight smirk playing on his lips.
"So, you're trying to run?"
It seemed he had been too powerful; the strength he displayed had terrified them.
But the truth was, he hadn't even shown his true power yet.
This was a good chance to test that technique on these two.
He rarely had opponents who could serve as a proper display of his dominance.
He could feel that his blade was already hungry for a strike.
With a single swing of the Perfect Susanoo's massive blade, he could level the land for kilometers.
Even though those guys had put some distance between them, they were well within his reach. Anything within a few miles was his striking range.
He could pierce through mountains in an instant. In terms of raw power, he didn't fear even the strongest Tailed Beast. He was the personification of destruction.
Besides, this area was uninhabited, so he didn't need to worry about collateral damage. The moment the thought occurred, he acted on it.
He raised the massive blade to build momentum and then swung it with all his might.
"Cleave in Two!"
A terrifying wave of blade energy surged forward, chasing after the two fleeing ninja.
It closed the gap in an instant. The two fugitives only had time to feel a sense of overwhelming crisis before they were struck by the energy.
The blade energy instantly tore through the earth, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Even a mountain that was merely grazed by the attack was sliced clean in half.
The upper half of the peak slowly slid off and crashed into the base of the mountain.
Ryōsuke looked at the terrifying result of his strike. The power was indeed quite fierce.
Before long, the dust settled, revealing a massive ravine carved into the earth.
With his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan active, Ryōsuke saw the two of them get caught by the energy. They should be dead, likely reduced to nothing more than a pulp.
If they were dead, so be it. Kisame was somewhat similar to Uchiha Itachi.
Before defecting from the Mist Village, he had followed his superiors' orders perfectly, even going so far as to kill his own comrades to protect the village's secrets.
In that regard, he was slightly better than the stubborn Itachi.
It was just that this guy eventually rebelled against the Mist Village anyway.
And he had killed his superior, Suikazan Fuguki.
He wasn't like Itachi, who only knew how to stab his own family while acting as if he were being righteous. Righteousness? My ass.
Itachi was still rotitng in prison, which could be considered his deserved punishment.