Chapter 346: A Thousand-Armed Buddha, A Terrifying Clash of Giant Buddhas
The pitch-black substance churned, collapsing inward upon itself with a violent, gravitational pull. It compressed tighter and tighter, finally condensing into a gigantic, hyper-dense sphere of dark energy.
"Six Paths Susanoo Orb."
"Shinkenso — Heavenly Authority."
Under the extreme, reality-bending amplification of Heavenly Authority, deep, glowing runes etched themselves across the surface of the black-purple sphere. A terrifying aura blasted outward, warping the very air around it.
"This is..." Senju Hashirama's pupils constricted to pinpricks.
Without a fraction of a second to spare, he slammed his palms together. He injected a massive, unreserved surge of his colossal chakra into the Wood Golem beneath his feet.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: Hobi Technique!"
The Wood Golem let out an devastating roar. From its massive arm, an enormous wooden shield violently erupted outward, twisting and groaning as it took the shape of a fanged, demonic visage to block the incoming devastation.
This was the ultimate defense, a shield capable of withstanding a direct hit from a Tailed Beast Bomb and absorbing its volatile energy.
"It's over," Uchiha Akira stated, his voice devoid of any inflection.
The moment the words left his lips, the Susanoo's massive arm vibrated, blurring with sheer kinetic force.
The Six Paths Susanoo Orb transformed into a blinding streak of dark light, tearing through the atmosphere toward the Wood Golem.
When the Orb collided with the Hobi Shield, time seemed to freeze. The world held its breath for one agonizing second.
Crack... crunch...
A faint, sickening sound of splintering wood echoed across the silent battlefield.
Senju Hashirama watched, his jaw tightening, as fine, spiderweb-like cracks spidered outward from the exact point of impact.
The next instant, the world turned white.
An indescribably destructive pillar of light erupted. The Hobi Shield, the moment it was fully engulfed by the beam, was instantly pierced. The legendary defense vaporized, evaporating into nothingness as if it were made of fragile rice paper.
The beam did not stop. It tore through the hundred-meter-tall Wood Golem behind the shield, utterly shattering the colossal construct into microscopic dust within an unstoppable, destructive torrent.
The terrifying pillar of light carried its momentum forward, mercilessly slamming into the distant earth.
Rumble... rumble... rumble...
The earth groaned in agony. A bottomless canyon was violently torn open, splitting the horizon and stretching all the way to the end of sight, swallowing everything in its path.
As the smoke and dust slowly drifted away on the wind, only the unscathed, towering purple Susanoo remained on the devastated battlefield, standing in absolute silence.
Pinned to the ground nearby, Senju Tobirama lay completely dumbfounded. His crimson eyes were wide, his brilliant, tactical mind utterly blank.
One strike. Just one strike. His elder brother's Wood Golem, a construct powerful enough to rival a Perfect Susanoo, was completely, effortlessly erased from existence?
On the scorched earth, countless tiny paper scraps and specks of ash began to swirl and gather.
Senju Hashirama's Edo Tensei body, shredded in the terrifying aftermath of the explosion, rapidly reassembled itself.
A moment later, the First Hokage stood perfectly intact upon the ruined ground.
Only this time, the gentle, easygoing smile that usually graced his features was entirely gone. In its place was a heavy, unmatched seriousness.
"The power of that last strike..." Hashirama took a slow, deep breath, his chest rising as he stared at the purple giant. "It far exceeds a Tailed Beast's attack!"
He could not lose.
For the future of the Shinobi World. For the fragile path of peace he had sacrificed everything to build.
"Uchiha Akira!" Hashirama's voice boomed across the wasteland. "I acknowledge your strength!"
He lowered his stance, his eyes burning with absolute resolve. "However, I also have... a reason I absolutely cannot lose!"
As his declaration echoed, Senju Hashirama clasped his hands together with a resounding clap.
At the corners of his eyes, dark crimson Sage markings instantly bloomed, framing his gaze with ancient power.
Sage Mode.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands — Top Transformed Buddha!"
The earth did not just tear apart this time; it exploded.
A colossal, impossibly towering Thousand-Armed Buddha erupted from the depths of the earth. It was larger than a mountain range, casting a shadow so vast it inspired instinctual reverence and dread at a mere glance.
Behind the main body of this Wood Release Great Buddha, countless dense, sky-obscuring giant arms unfurled like the petals of a monstrous lotus.
Thousands upon thousands of giant wooden palms formed a terrifying canopy, enveloping more than half of the visible sky in their shadow.
This was the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama's, ultimate technique, the absolute pinnacle of power in the Ninja World.
Pinned to the dirt, Senju Tobirama stared up at the world-destroying giant Buddha. A fierce flame of hope rekindled in his crimson eyes.
"Big Brother!" Tobirama gritted his teeth, a savage grin pulling at his lips. "That's it! Use this move to utterly crush that Uchiha brat, along with his damned Susanoo, into dust!"
Far in the distance, Naruto and Gaara, who had already evacuated to what they thought was a safe zone, stared blankly at the giant Buddha that seemed to pierce the very heavens. They were too shocked to even form words.
"Wh-what is that...?" Naruto stammered, his entire body trembling uncontrollably as the sheer scale of the chakra pressed down on his lungs.
Facing this world-destroying sight, Uchiha Akira stood within the crystal core of his Susanoo. His expression remained utterly impassive. Not a flicker of surprise crossed his cold eyes.
"True Several Thousand Hands, huh..." Akira murmured, his voice a low, dangerous hum. "A good technique."
His lips curved into a faint, mocking smirk.
"Too bad..."
Uchiha Akira slowly raised his hand, his fingers curling inward.
"...I can do it too."
Rumble... rumble... rumble...
Under Senju Hashirama's incredibly shocked, even terrified, gaze, the earth beneath Uchiha Akira's feet violently ruptured.
A second Thousand-Armed Buddha, whose sheer, monstrous size was in no way inferior to the First Hokage's, roared as it breached the surface, rising from the abyssal depths of the earth.
Two towering, god-like giant Buddhas now faced each other across the shattered wasteland.
The entire world seemed to have regressed to the Age of Myths.
But Akira was not finished.
"Majestic Attire: Susanoo," Akira's cold, commanding voice rang out.
The colossal purple Susanoo instantly dissolved into a blinding stream of light, wrapping itself around the newly risen Wood Release Great Buddha.
The next second, a nightmare was born.
A Majestic Attire Great Buddha stood upon the earth, entirely clad in impenetrable, jagged purple armor. From its back, thousands of ferocious, armored giant arms extended, gleaming with cold, metallic malice.
If Senju Hashirama's True Several Thousand Hands was a benevolent deity descending to save all living beings...
Then Uchiha Akira's Armored Susanoo Great Buddha was an Asura Demon God, crawling from the depths of hell to deliver absolute slaughter and destruction.
Senju Hashirama stared at the Demon God before him. It was infinitely more oppressive, ferocious, and terrifying than his own creation. For a fleeting moment, the God of Shinobi's expression fractured into stupor and sheer confusion.
"Senju Hashirama."
Akira's cold voice cascaded down from the crown of the Demon God Great Buddha, echoing like the merciless judgment of a sovereign deity.
"Open your eyes and see clearly."
The purple armor flared with blinding chakra.
"See how fragile, how utterly vulnerable your so-called path of peace truly is in the face of absolute power!"
Akira's eyes narrowed, glowing with lethal intent.
"Now, let me show you... what true power is!"
At his absolute command, the two world-destroying giant Buddhas moved simultaneously.
"Uoooohhhhh!" Senju Hashirama let out a roaring battle cry, casting aside all distracting thoughts. He commanded the countless wooden hands behind him to strike. Like a world-ending meteor shower, thousands of massive fists hurtled furiously toward the armored giant opposite them.
Uchiha Akira let out a cold, dismissive snort.
The countless Demon God hands behind him roared forth to meet them.
Each colossal arm was sheathed in a layer of hyper-condensed, tangible purple Susanoo armor.
The next moment...
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Between the heavens and the earth, all other sounds ceased to exist. Only the endless, deafening roar of fists colliding with fists remained.
The first wooden Buddha hand and the first armored Demon hand slammed into each other in mid-air.
A crisp, violent shattering sound rang out.
Senju Hashirama's iron-hard wooden fist was instantly blown apart the very millisecond it came into contact with the Susanoo-armored Demon God's fist. Splinters the size of massive trees exploded outward like shrapnel.
Immediately after, it was the second! The third! The hundredth! The thousandth!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Violent shockwaves of purple energy and exploding wood chips filled the entire sky, blotting out the sun.
Senju Hashirama watched, his eyes bloodshot and straining, as his Buddha hands collided with Uchiha Akira's Demon God hands. Without a single exception, every wooden fist was utterly crushed, pulverized, and overwhelmed by the sheer, unyielding density of the Susanoo armor.
A monstrous wave of disbelief surged in Hashirama's heart.
'How could this be...?'His mind reeled.'My True Several Thousand Hands... is actually being completely suppressed?!'
In just a dozen breaths of time, the clash was decided.
His proud, invincible thousand Buddha hands had been entirely eradicated, reduced to falling debris.
Meanwhile, on Uchiha Akira's side, the Asura Demon God clad in purple armor remained perfectly intact, not a single scratch marring its ethereal plating.
Behind it, thousands of armored Demon hands were raised high, casting a suffocating shadow over the world.
"It's over, First Hokage," Uchiha Akira's cold voice pronounced the final outcome of this battle.
The thousands of Demon God hands blurred, merging into one single, apocalyptic strike.
Transforming into a gigantic fist covered in purple Susanoo energy condensed to its absolute extreme, it slammed down fiercely onto the main body of the Buddha statue beneath Senju Hashirama's feet, a statue that had already lost all its arms to the slaughter.
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