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"Stop this, Madara!! If you continue like this, you'll only create more pointless casualties!"
"Hashirama, even at this stage, you're still preaching that nonsense to me?"
"Madara…"
Hashirama stood balanced on the massive bridge of his wooden construct's nose, staring across at the figure perched atop the forehead of the colossal Susanoo opposite him. The sight made the other man feel increasingly like a stranger. He could still faintly recall their childhood—two boys so close they were practically inseparable, sketching out dreams of the peaceful world they would one day forge together. Yet somehow, everything had spiraled to this moment: the two of them locked in bitter, unrelenting opposition.
What they were doing right now wasn't building peace at all. It was manufacturing war on a catastrophic scale.
Madara… did you change? Or was it me? Or maybe… we both did?
A quiet sorrow twisted in Hashirama's chest, but the man across from him had no patience for reflection. Madara swung his enormous blade downward without hesitation. Hashirama could only raise his defenses in a frantic rush.
BOOM!!!
The ground quaked violently. Mountains seemed to shudder. A titanic shockwave exploded outward, tearing across the battlefield in every direction.
Beneath the sheer force of that blast, countless Senju and Uchiha clansmen were obliterated without even a chance to scream.
Only a tiny handful—like Kagaya—could endure such an aftershock and remain completely unscathed.
When two near-divine beings clashed, ordinary shinobi couldn't withstand even the ripples of their power. Anyone who could survive those ripples was already considered an elite among elites.
Crack!
A human silhouette was brutally swatted aside by a gleaming golden skeletal palm. The body smashed into an upthrust slab of rock and instantly disintegrated in a spray of crimson.
Kagaya calmly dismissed his Susanoo without sparing a single glance at the Senju he had just reduced to pulp.
"Tch. They just keep coming."
He had only been in this sector for a few dozen minutes, yet he had already been ambushed by Senju shinobi more times than he could easily count. It served as a stark reminder: this wasn't solely Madara and Hashirama's duel. All around them, thousands of Uchiha and Senju were tearing each other apart in savage close-quarters combat.
As an Uchiha stepping into this meat grinder, Kagaya had naturally become a prime target for every Senju with a grudge.
After wave upon wave of relentless attacks, even someone as composed as Kagaya began to feel genuine irritation.
He took no particular pleasure in mindless slaughter, and he certainly didn't have infinite reserves of chakra or stamina. With the Senju refusing to let up, he made his decision: he wasn't staying here any longer. He would push straight toward the heart of the battlefield—directly into the zone where Madara and Hashirama were clashing!
The closer he drew to their epicenter, the fewer combatants there would be. He had no illusion that he could easily withstand the shockwaves in that zone, but he had to at least attempt it.
If he didn't even dare try, then what right did he have to talk about wanting to stand as an equal beside Hashirama and Madara?
The three tomoe in his eyes whirled at high speed, fusing into the intricate, mesmerizing pattern of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. A radiant golden glow erupted. Segment after segment of bone materialized, followed swiftly by layers of muscle and sinew. In moments, a roughly six-meter-tall golden Susanoo took form around him—upper body only, lacking legs beneath the waist.
Then the half-bodied golden titan began striding purposefully toward the two heaven-reaching giants in the distance.
"What in the world is that?"
Tobirama, his signature white hair whipping in the wind, noticed the golden figure almost immediately.
In comparison to Madara and Hashirama's towering constructs, it resembled little more than a speck. But to normal shinobi like Tobirama and those around him, a six-meter armored colossus was still an overwhelming, giant-like presence.
"It's an Uchiha. Identity unknown," a nearby Senju clansman reported hastily.
Tobirama's brow furrowed slightly.
"That trajectory… he's heading directly toward where Big Brother and Madara are fighting. Has he gone insane?"
The nearer one approached the center of that apocalyptic duel, the more ferocious the shockwaves became. Get too close, and even a single stray pulse of force could inflict mortal wounds.
So what possible reason could this golden giant have for deliberately marching into that zone? Was he simply seeking death?
With that thought, Tobirama decided he wouldn't interfere. If the fool wanted to die, he wasn't about to play hero and stop him.
Yet as he watched the golden figure advance, an inexplicable sense of disquiet gnawed at him. Why did it feel so wrong?
He examined it more carefully. Wait… that golden giant looked strikingly similar to Madara's blue one, didn't it?
Could they possibly be the same technique?
Tobirama's understanding of Susanoo was superficial at best. In this era, virtually no one truly comprehended it except Madara himself. Everyone else possessed only fragments of knowledge.
So even upon seeing Kagaya's Susanoo, Tobirama didn't immediately register anything amiss. He had witnessed countless ostentatious, over-the-top ninjutsu before—one more hardly stood out.
But the longer he stared, the more certain he became: this golden giant strongly resembled a scaled-down version of Madara's blue colossus.
The realization struck like ice water.
Though he didn't know the precise nature of the ability, Tobirama had witnessed enough of Madara's power to grasp one undeniable truth: any technique capable of manifesting such a gigantic avatar was horrifyingly strong!
If this golden giant actually reached the center of Hashirama and Madara's battle, there was a real possibility—however slim—that it could influence the outcome in some decisive, irreversible way!
Even if the odds were only around fifty percent, on a battlefield, that was more than sufficient reason to take action ahead of time.
"I'll intercept him personally!"
Tobirama rose to his full height and spoke the words decisively. In the next instant, blue light flashed—and he disappeared from sight.
Whoosh!
A sword streaked in from the distance and embedded itself in the earth directly in Kagaya's path. The following heartbeat, blue light shimmered behind the blade, and a white-haired man materialized.
Tobirama Senju? Why is he targeting me?
Kagaya recognized his interceptor instantly. Without a word, the golden Susanoo raised its right arm and smashed a colossal fist downward!
Kagaya belonged to a different era. To avoid being recognized, he had zero intention of engaging in conversation.
BOOM!
A fist the size of Tobirama himself cratered the ground, carving out an enormous depression.
But Tobirama had already flickered behind Kagaya. The blow hadn't touched him. He stared coldly at the golden figure.
"Hey, hey. You attack without even uttering a single word?"
Kagaya had never intended that slow, obvious first punch to connect. It had been nothing more than a feint—deliberately sluggish and telegraphed—to lull Tobirama into lowering his guard and set up the true strike!
The Susanoo spun violently. Its right hand opened wide and lunged to seize Tobirama—this time at full, terrifying velocity!
Tobirama's eyes widened in shock. This speed was monstrous!! Far faster than the initial attack!
The first strike had never been meant to land. It had been bait, designed specifically to dull his caution so this explosive follow-up could catch him completely off guard!
Who could have predicted that someone attacking at a moderate pace one second would suddenly erupt with horrifying speed the next?
The golden palm closed in at blinding velocity. At such acceleration, no ordinary Body Flicker Technique could possibly evade it in time!
The enormous hand was on the verge of closing around Tobirama's body—
Blue light flashed. Tobirama vanished!
Slap!
The Susanoo closed on empty air.
Flying Thunder God…
Kagaya felt a helpless frustration well up. Even though he had deliberately lowered Tobirama's alertness with that first sluggish feint, the man had still escaped!
Flying Thunder God truly was an unfair, broken ability.
"Cough… cough…"
On the other side, blood trickled from the corner of Tobirama's mouth. Though he had evaded the grab itself, at the final instant the palm had grazed him. The kinetic force carried by that incredible speed had still transferred into his body. Even a fraction of it was enough to cause serious internal damage.
"You…!"
Tobirama glared at Kagaya with killing intent. When he first arrived, he had been completely on guard. But that ridiculously slow opening attack had caused his wariness to drop slightly—after all, how could such a plodding strike possibly hit someone of his caliber?
Yet the instant his caution eased, Kagaya had exploded with terrifying velocity, nearly killing him in a single blow!
Tobirama now understood perfectly: that first attack had been a calculated ploy to make him drop his defenses!
"Yasaka Magatama!"
Three rapidly spinning, linked magatama beads hurtled toward him at high speed. Though swift, with Tobirama now fully alert, he evaded the technique effortlessly.
The Yasaka Magatama detonated in a violent explosion. Kagaya, not far away, felt another headache coming on. He hadn't landed a clean hit, and now Tobirama's alertness had returned to its peak. The situation had become considerably more troublesome.
"Water Release: Water Colliding Wave!"
An enormous volume of water surged into existence, rapidly pooling into a small lake that submerged half of the Susanoo's body.
Kagaya stood at the lowest point inside his construct. His entire field of vision was nothing but water.
Sensing the sheer volume of the liquid, Kagaya felt another wave of frustration. As expected, no shinobi from the Warring States era was easy prey. Forget the distant titans Madara and Hashirama—even this Tobirama right in front of him might prove more than he could overcome.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
A gigantic water dragon rose from the artificial lake and crashed down from above toward the golden Susanoo.
But it inflicted zero damage. The Susanoo didn't even bother moving—it simply ignored the technique completely.
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"
A thin, razor-sharp stream of water shot from Tobirama's mouth and sliced toward the Susanoo.
Kagaya remained unconcerned. Susanoo's absolute defense was no exaggeration. His only real irritation was how to actually land a blow on Tobirama.
But in the next instant, his mindset changed—because visible cracks appeared across the Susanoo's surface!
What the—?!
Crack… crack…
That slender water line from Tobirama's mouth had actually cut into the Susanoo!
Brilliant light flared within the Eternal Mangekyō. A massive surge of chakra poured outward from Kagaya's body.
"How about now? Can you still cut through this?"
The originally flesh-and-blood golden Susanoo rapidly became encased in a thick layer of armor, covering its entire form.
Sure enough, the water line that had previously sliced into it could no longer advance. It was firmly halted by the armored plating.
"Tch!"
Tobirama swiftly retracted the stream.
Staring at the half-submerged golden armored giant, Tobirama began to feel a headache of his own.
It appeared he couldn't breach its defense. So what now?
At the same moment, Kagaya looked up at the earlier cracks Tobirama had inflicted and felt a chill run through him.
If Tobirama pushed harder, he might even penetrate the armored layer! What exactly had that technique been? After careful recollection, Kagaya finally remembered: in the original storyline, Tobirama had once used a similar mouth-emitted water blade to sever enormous roots of the God Tree!
That made perfect sense. A pinpoint-concentrated attack like that could indeed potentially pierce through Susanoo's defenses.
The very next moment—
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bite Explosion!"
Vast quantities of water gathered into a gigantic sphere high in the sky. The sphere swiftly transformed into a colossal water dragon that plummeted from above, jaws gaping wide, and bit down viciously toward the Susanoo!
BOOM!
The tremendous impact sent lake water erupting dozens of meters into the air, temporarily obscuring the view of everyone watching from the periphery.
When the spray finally settled, Tobirama saw an utterly unscathed Susanoo.
Susanoo's defense was extraordinarily resilient. Unless an attack was concentrated at a single critical point, breaking through was virtually impossible. That was why Kagaya had no fear of wide-area techniques. Only the earlier Water Severing Wave had truly unsettled him.
Kagaya took another step forward. The lake water parted around him, but the sheer volume of liquid drastically slowed his movement. More critically, he still had no reliable method of striking Tobirama.
Flying Thunder God was simply too troublesome!
Meanwhile, Tobirama watched the golden giant's slow advance with an expression of pure exasperation. He could do nothing but observe. What kind of absurd ninjutsu was this? How could its defensive power be so ridiculous?
He had thrown technique after technique—each one devastating—yet the thing remained completely unaffected!
Sigh…
And so the two reached a complete stalemate. Kagaya couldn't touch Tobirama. Tobirama couldn't break Kagaya's defenses.
They simply stared each other down. Whenever one advanced a step, the other mirrored the movement. Deadlock.
From time to time, Tobirama would spit out bursts of water—essentially giving the Susanoo an unwanted bath while severely hampering Kagaya's mobility.
From time to time, Kagaya would launch a Yasaka Magatama—adding a bit of unwelcome excitement to Tobirama's day, always hoping one might finally connect and crush that irritating white-haired shinobi.
In essence, both kept needling and disrupting the other whenever possible. Neither had any intention of letting the other walk away freely.
Kagaya didn't want things to drag on like this, but with Flying Thunder God in play, outrunning Tobirama was impossible. He had no alternative.
As for Tobirama, he feared this unknown figure might eventually interfere with the main battle between Hashirama and Madara in some meaningful way. That would be catastrophic.
From Tobirama's perspective, this newcomer was genuinely terrifying. Across the entire ninja world, how many people could leave him—Senju Tobirama—feeling this helpless and cornered? Only Madara and Hashirama. No one else. Once, perhaps Izuna had been in that category, but he was long dead.
Therefore, no degree of vigilance toward this suddenly emergent "peerless master" was excessive!
After a while, Kagaya simply gave up advancing. He found a relatively stable patch of ground, sat down inside his Susanoo, and refused to move another inch.
At this rate, he had no idea how many centuries it would take to reach Hashirama and Madara. While Tobirama couldn't pierce his defense, the man's mastery at delaying and obstructing movement was practically divine.
So Kagaya decided: fine. I won't move at all. I'll just sit here and wait you out.
Tobirama, decisive as always, saw Kagaya sit and promptly found a distant vantage point to sit as well.
And so the two of them settled into a pure contest of endurance—two immovable objects, glaring at each other across the waterlogged battlefield.