Chapter 343: Uchiha Akira's Overwhelming Taijutsu
Senju Tobirama's perpetually icy features remained carved in stone. He crossed his arms, his crimson eyes tracking the battlefield below before a sharp, dismissive scoff escaped his lips.
"Their chakra reserves are indeed impressive, and their coordination is adequate." He paused, his tone laced with grudging acknowledgment. "For mere brats, they do possess a fraction of potential."
Senju Hashirama, however, stood in stark contrast to his pragmatic younger brother. He leaned forward, gazing down at Naruto and Gaara with a broad, unshadowed smile of absolute relief.
"Hahahaha! Now that is incredible!" Hashirama's booming laughter echoed across the ruined landscape, his praise entirely unfiltered. "That Uzumaki child, Naruto, and the boy from Sunagakure... I can feel it! I clearly felt their Will of Fire, their unbreakable bond!" He clenched his fist, his dark eyes shining with pride. "Given time, they will undoubtedly grow into magnificent shinobi. They will stand on their own two feet and protect Konoha!"
Uchiha Akira listened to the First Hokage's booming optimism. A faint, noncommittal curve touched the corner of his lips. He slowly shifted his gaze toward the two reanimated legends.
"Next, it is our turn."
The moment those words left his mouth, the very atmosphere plummeted to a freezing halt.
Tobirama snapped his head around. His scarlet eyes locked onto Akira, narrowing into dangerous slits. A suffocating, glacial killing intent erupted from the Second Hokage's reanimated vessel, so dense it warped the air itself. Frost began to edge the shattered debris beneath his feet.
"Last time, an incomplete Edo Tensei severely restricted my capabilities," Tobirama hissed, his voice dropping to a lethal register. "But this time..." He lowered his stance, chakra flaring like blue flames around his armor. "I am restored to near-peak strength! And my elder brother stands beside me!"
He pointed a harsh finger at the young Uchiha patriarch. "Uchiha Akira! Do you truly believe you possess even a fraction of a chance at victory?"
Against the crushing weight of the Second Hokage's aura, Akira did not so much as blink. His dark eyes remained placid, utterly unimpressed.
"Tobirama! Silence!"
Hashirama's sudden, commanding bark cut through his younger brother's rising hostility. The God of Shinobi stepped forward, deliberately interposing his massive frame between Tobirama and Akira. He raised his hands in a placating gesture.
"Why must we immediately resort to bloodshed?" Hashirama pleaded, his voice heavy with earnest desperation. "We are all striving for what is best for the village, are we not?" He looked directly at Akira, his gaze entirely devoid of malice. "We can shake hands. We can make peace, sit down, and speak properly! Let us work together for the future of Konoha and pool our strength!"
Akira let the silence stretch. His dark eyes drifted from the seething, indignant Tobirama to the hopelessly idealistic Hashirama. He tilted his head slightly, his voice smooth and measured.
"Your proposal is not entirely without merit." He brushed a speck of dust from his sleeve. "I am willing to grant you both the title of 'Hokage Advisor.' You may continue to serve and contribute to the village under my administration."
He paused, letting a dangerous, alluring promise hang in the air. "Serve me well, and in the future, I may even consider granting you a chance at true resurrection." His eyes gleamed. "Allowing you to walk this world in flesh and blood once more."
Hashirama's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
True resurrection? He stood paralyzed. Even he, the legendary God of Shinobi, had never fathomed a jutsu capable of reversing death so absolutely.
"Utterly arrogant!" Tobirama roared, his reanimated body trembling with a rage so deep it threatened to tear his paper-ash vessel apart. "What do you take us for?!"
He bared his teeth, his face twisting into a mask of pure fury. "Hokage Advisor? To serve you?" A harsh, contemptuous scoff ripped from his throat. "You expect me, Senju Tobirama, to bow my head to an Uchiha brat?!" He spat the clan name like a curse. "You are dreaming!"
To the Second Hokage, the very concept of kneeling to an Uchiha was a humiliation far worse than death itself.
"Tobirama!" Hashirama reached out, desperately trying to de-escalate the explosive tension. "Calm yourself! The Fifth Hokage, he—"
"Brother! Shut up!" Tobirama snapped his head around, roaring directly into Hashirama's face. "Have you gone blind?! Have you forgotten Uchiha Madara? Have you forgotten the inherently evil nature of the Uchiha Clan?!" He jabbed a finger toward Akira. "Handing the village over to a man like this will only doom us to repeat history! I absolutely refuse!"
Hashirama stared at his younger brother. Seeing the fanatical, uncompromising hatred burning in Tobirama's eyes, the First Hokage let out a long, weary sigh. His shoulders slumped. He knew all too well that Tobirama's prejudice against the Uchiha was etched into his very soul, an immovable mountain of distrust.
This battle, it seemed, could no longer be avoided.
"It seems the negotiations have broken down." Akira offered a casual shrug. His handsome features remained entirely impassive, displaying neither disappointment nor anger. It was as if he had scripted this exact outcome from the very beginning.
"In that case..." Akira's dark eyes instantly iced over, a terrifying void replacing his previous calm. "Then there is nothing left to say."
Tobirama's killing intent crested like a tidal wave.
"Further words are entirely useless!" he snarled, drawing a kunai. "The shinobi world, in the end, speaks only through strength! Let me see exactly what this brat who usurped the Hokage seat truly amounts to!"
The instant the final syllable left his lips, Tobirama's figure blurred. He transformed into a blinding streak of blue lightning, vanishing from his position without a sound.
Flying Thunder God Technique.
'Playing with spatial ninjutsu in front of me?'Akira thought, a dry, mocking amusement flashing in his eyes.'Preaching to the choir.'
Without a single hand seal, Akira's figure also vanished from his spot, leaving behind nothing but a faint ripple in the air.
A fraction of a second later.
High above the shattered earth, two figures materialized simultaneously out of thin air. There was no warning, no buildup—only the deafening boom of displaced air as their fists collided in the dead center of the sky.
A pure, unadulterated clash of taijutsu.
The moment their knuckles met, an irresistible, catastrophic force surged straight down Tobirama's arm. The kinetic shockwave shattered the air around them, crashing violently into the Second Hokage's frame.
The impact was absolute. Faster than he had arrived, Tobirama's body was launched backward. He became a blur of black and blue, rocketing through the sky with a thunderous sonic boom before smashing brutally into the earth below.
Hashirama watched, his jaw slackening.
'Tobirama... repelled with a single punch?'
The First Hokage's mind raced. How was this mathematically possible? That was his younger brother restored to his absolute peak! The man hailed as the fastest shinobi in history! Yet, in a single, fleeting exchange, he had been cleanly, decisively, and utterly overwhelmed by pure taijutsu?
Deep within the newly formed crater, dust billowed. Tobirama's paper-like Edo Tensei body began to rapidly reassemble, ash and debris swirling to reconstruct his pulverized right arm. He slowly stepped out of the pit. His limb was fully restored, but the perpetually frozen, calculating mask he wore had completely shattered.
"Impossible!" Tobirama gritted his teeth, his crimson eyes wide with disbelief. "This speed... this sheer physical strength..." He clenched his newly formed fist. "During our last encounter, he was absolutely not this strong!"
Tobirama stared upward, locking eyes with Akira, who remained suspended in mid-air with casual grace. A violent storm of denial raged within the Second Hokage's chest.
This time, he was operating at near-peak capacity. His physical strength, his neural reaction time, his movement speed—everything was calibrated to the absolute pinnacle of his mortal life.
Yet, even with all those advantages... in that fleeting microsecond of their clash, he hadn't even been able to fully track the Uchiha's movements. It was a suffocating, sickening sensation. Pure powerlessness in the face of absolute, impossible speed and strength.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Tobirama threw his head back, unleashing a raw, unwilling roar toward the heavens.
He refused to accept this reality. He absolutely refused to believe that he, the creator of the Flying Thunder God, would ever lose to an upstart Uchiha brat! Especially in a direct contest of taijutsu and speed!
"Uchiha Akira!" Tobirama bellowed, his voice cracking with fury. "Do not get ahead of yourself!"
Blue lightning exploded around the Second Hokage once more, infinitely more violent and blindingly dazzling than before. The very ground cracked under the pressure of his surging chakra.
The next moment, Tobirama's figure disintegrated entirely. He split into dozens of intersecting blue lightning bolts, ricocheting wildly throughout the battlefield. His trajectory was completely imperceptible to the naked eye, a chaotic web of spatial jumps designed to disorient and execute.
Flying Thunder God, Stage Two.
Flying Thunder God Slash.
This was his magnum opus—the ultimate assassination technique born from the flawless fusion of spatial ninjutsu and lethal kenjutsu.
Watching from the sidelines, Hashirama's expression hardened into extreme solemnity. "Tobirama... he is going for the kill!"
In a fraction of a heartbeat, the chaotic web of blue lightning bolts violently converged upon a single, deadly point.
Tobirama materialized like a vengeful ghost directly behind Akira's back. Gripping a short blade that glinted with lethal, cold light, he thrust the weapon toward Akira's vital organs from an impossibly tricky blind spot.
However.
What greeted the Second Hokage's flawless assassination strike was a hand that had already been waiting.
Smack.
A soft, dull sound echoed through the air. That hand clamped precisely around Tobirama's wrist, locking it in a vice grip of iron.
Senju Tobirama's terrifying, lightning-fast momentum was effortlessly, casually... halted.
Tobirama's expression contorted into absolute, unadulterated horror.
"Too slow," Akira whispered softly, not even bothering to look over his shoulder.
The very instant those words left his lips, Akira pivoted. A dark boot rapidly enlarged within Tobirama's field of vision, moving with a velocity that defied physics.
This kick slammed squarely into the center of Tobirama's chest.
A terrifying, catastrophic surge of power instantly erupted.
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