Chapter 176: The Seemingly Simple-Minded First Hokage
Terumi Mei fell into hesitation.
Getting the chance to fight the First Hokage was, without a doubt, a rare opportunity.
Shiromo had already told her about the future back then, the Five Kage would get absolutely stomped by Uchiha Madara.
And among them, she performed the worst.
Her fighting spirit and combat experience were both way behind the others.
Terumi Mei turned her gaze toward Shiromo, wanting to hear his opinion.
"Go for it. Wake up and fight properly, don't embarrass yourself. If something goes wrong, I've got your back."
Shiromo gave her a firm answer.
Terumi Mei's real problem was that in the original timeline, she was way too confident when facing Uchiha Madara.
Now, after being strengthened, she was being overly cautious when facing Senju Hashirama.
Of course, that caution mainly came from Shiromo telling her how badly she'd been beaten by Madara. Otherwise, she wouldn't even know how terrifying those two actually were.
In the entire ninja world, aside from a few people like Ōnoki, almost no one truly understood how strong they were.
Otherwise, when Kakuzu bragged about having fought the First Hokage, people wouldn't have reacted with "Holy shit, that's insane, such overwhelming pressure" but rather "Holy shit, you idiot, who are you trying to fool?"
"Mm."
With Shiromo's encouragement, Terumi Mei finally felt steadier inside. Just as she was about to move, Uchiha Hikari suddenly stepped in front of her.
"What is it?"
Terumi Mei asked in confusion.
"Nothing. Just taking a look at this form of yours."
"Mm… okay, that's enough."
After scanning Terumi Mei from head to toe, Hikari patted her arm and stepped aside.
In reality, she had secretly left a Yachihoko mark on Terumi Mei.
If Terumi Mei ended up losing later, she'd secretly buff her.
Unfortunately, Hikari found Senju Hashirama way too disgusting and repulsive, she didn't even want to leave a Yachihoko mark on him.
Otherwise, at a critical moment, she could've just transferred Hashirama's chakra straight into Terumi Mei.
That would've been the real "behind-the-scenes manipulation," "black box operation," and "match fixing."
Honestly, users of techniques like Yachihoko and Flying Thunder God were absolutely terrifying.
Even during normal diplomatic meetings, if you were a Kage or high-ranking ninja from another village, would you dare shake hands and take photos with Namikage Minato?
What if he left a Flying Thunder God mark on you, and then one night while you were going at it full throttle, he suddenly teleported in?
Look at Hikari now, naturally kind as she was, under Shiromo's influence she'd already learned to casually pat someone while secretly planting marks.
"The First Hokage, please enlighten me."
Terumi Mei landed on the lake's surface and launched the first attack at Hashirama on the shore.
A high-speed stream of water shot from her mouth. Just like when she tested it on the lake earlier, the water suddenly thickened in front of her, the diameter becoming even wider than her own body.
"Oh!"
Hashirama's eyes lit up with excitement.
He truly loved peace, but he also genuinely loved fighting, and seeing powerful, high-level ninjutsu made him happy and thrilled.
Hashirama clapped his hands together. A giant wooden palm burst from the ground in front of him, blocking the water stream.
What he didn't expect was that the Wood Release hand couldn't fully hold it back.
The water was slowly forcing it backward, and cracks began spreading across the wooden surface.
"Not bad at all, this Water Release feels even stronger than Tobirama's."
Hashirama slammed his hands onto the ground again. The original wooden hand broke through the soil, and a massive wooden golem rose from beneath the earth.
The golem braced both arms against the water stream and began pushing forward, its feet digging into the ground.
Terumi Mei's pupils shrank.
This wasn't some probing attack.
She hadn't used Boil Release or Lava Release because during her earlier tests, those actually turned out weaker than her regular Water Release.
After entering this special state, she could clearly feel it, the power of her Water Release had skyrocketed.
And once she entered this mode, rain began falling continuously from the sky.
This wasn't ordinary rain.
It contained natural energy, seemingly boosting the power of Water Release even further.
The sea-blue outfit on Terumi Mei fluttered, and the brown-red patterns on it, matching her hair color, began to glow.
One water sphere after another condensed around her body.
They floated behind her like Truth-Seeking Orbs.
Then…
Every single sphere fired a water stream at the wooden golem at the same time.
The sudden surge in power nearly knocked the golem flat on its back.
Hashirama hurriedly stabilized it, and while blocking the water with one hand, he flung the wooden dragon attached to the golem straight toward Terumi Mei.
Holding back the amplified water with one arm caused that arm of the golem to shatter, but in exchange, the wooden dragon launched its attack.
Seeing the wooden dragon already in front of her, Terumi Mei hurriedly stopped her water barrage.
Instinctively swinging her arm, the lake surged violently.
A fat-headed fish formed entirely of lake water leapt out from the surface and bit the wooden dragon to pieces in a single snap.
"Huh? What's that? A variant of the Water Dragon Bullet?"
Hashirama exclaimed in surprise, but didn't stop moving.
The golem, whose shattered arm had already regenerated, charged straight at Terumi Mei.
Uchiha Madara was actually a close-combat type ninja.
His Susanoo wielded swords, not bows.
He loved charging into crowds, throwing hands, and asking people whether they liked to dance.
But against Senju Hashirama alone, Madara turned into a long-range bombardment specialist.
He had no choice.
Whether it was Wood Release, the wooden golem, or Hashirama himself, their close-combat advantage was simply too absurd.
Hashirama himself didn't even need explanation, monstrous strength, insane regeneration, Wood Release that was ridiculously tough and could absorb chakra at the same time.
How the hell were you supposed to fight that up close?
The moment Terumi Mei saw the wooden golem rushing toward her, she knew things were over.
She was a turret-type ninja to begin with, terrible at close-range taijutsu.
Once she got caught in melee, she'd be completely screwed.
"Let me handle it."
Shiromo pressed down Uchiha Hikari, who was about to rush in and help.
He'd already expected Terumi Mei to lose.
After all, who was Senju Hashirama?
They said Indra was the genius and Asura relied on teamwork.
But by Hashirama's generation, that setting was basically thrown straight into the trash.
Madara chased power relentlessly.
Every time he finally broke through and went to fight, he'd get beaten senseless by a Hashirama who had somehow also broken through for no apparent reason.
Not once did that pattern change.
Even at the Battle of the Valley of the End, after finally getting the Nine-Tails, the so-called disaster of beasts, it still got Ora Ora'd into nothing by the True Several Thousand Hands.
And that still wasn't the end.
During the Fourth Great Ninja War: Impure World Reincarnation Rinnegan Madara vs Impure World Reincarnation Hashirama.
Hashirama still won.
Madara got pinned down by Rashomon. If he hadn't been revived by Rinne Rebirth, that would've counted as a complete defeat.
Where do you even go to complain about that?
Both of them were nerfed by Impure World Reincarnation.
Madara had already evolved from Mangekyō to Rinnegan, and he still lost.
Don't be fooled by Hashirama's honest, simple-minded appearance.
The stuff he was hiding was terrifyingly deep.
(End of this chapter)