God's Wrath

"I have seen the true path to peace with these eyes!"

The Wood Dragon slowly descended, facing off against the Nine-Tails. "The peace you speak of is destroying the village?"

Madara wore a disdainful expression. "I was too naive back then, to have wanted to build some so-called village with you."

The Nine-Tails' massive body had already risen above the clouds, and Madara could now clearly see the bright moon.

"So I will kill that naive version of myself with my own hands!"

Without hesitation, Madara controlled the Nine-Tails and launched an attack!

Its sharp claws swept toward the Wood Dragon, leaving deep gashes across it with a single strike!

"Madara, are you really going to destroy everything we worked for?!"

Madara Uchiha remained silent and gave no answer. Hashirama, meanwhile, seemed to have made up his mind. The confusion had vanished from his face.

The Nine-Tails opened its enormous jaws, releasing blue and red Chakra that merged together, forming a blackish-purple sphere!

This was a ninjutsu only Tailed Beasts could use—the Tailed Beast Ball!

The Nine-Tails fired the Tailed Beast Ball toward Hashirama! The Wood Dragon shattered into countless splinters the instant it collided with it!

Wood Release—Wood Golem Technique!

Just as the Tailed Beast Ball pierced through the Wood Dragon's head and was about to fly farther away—

A wooden knot bulged from the Wood Dragon's body, transforming in moments into a massive wooden giant with a mouth full of fangs!

The Wood Golem caught the immensely powerful Tailed Beast Ball with its bare hands, then slammed it toward the Nine-Tails' face!

Just as the blow was about to land, blue armor resembling bone suddenly appeared over the Nine-Tails' head!

The Tailed Beast Ball struck the armor and exploded violently, destroying more than half the forest with its enormous blast radius!

Konoha in the distance was also affected by the Tailed Beast Ball, though not severely. Huge cracks had been shaken into the village walls, but there were no casualties.

Rubble and wood chips whirled chaotically through the air. Once the smoke cleared, Madara Uchiha stood atop the Nine-Tails' head.

Having activated Susanoo, he had not suffered the slightest injury. Hashirama, protected beneath layers of mask-like wooden shields, was likewise unharmed.

"Wood Release—Hotei Technique?" Madara Uchiha muttered.

Hashirama looked at the sight before him with determination in his eyes, though he smiled. "Putting Susanoo over a Tailed Beast? Not a bad idea!"

The entire Nine-Tails was completely enveloped by Susanoo, with two massive Tachi in its hands!

Without another word, it brought one blade down!

Hashirama stepped forward and clapped his hands together. "Wood Release—Hotei Technique!"

A pair of enormous wooden hands firmly caught the Nine-Tails' descending blade!

Then, more wooden hands emerged from every direction within the massive crater blasted out by the Tailed Beast Ball, reaching for the Nine-Tails.

But with a single swing of its blade, the Nine-Tails severed every wooden hand. Splinters and chunks of wood filled the sky in an instant.

Hashirama leaped about, searching for a suitable foothold. This is too close to the village. I have to lead him away!

He then ran into the distance. Thinking Hashirama was trying to flee, Madara Uchiha controlled the Nine-Tails and pursued him.

After they had run all the way to a great river, Madara Uchiha finally lost patience. While chasing after him, he controlled the Nine-Tails to form another Tailed Beast Ball!

He then merged the Tachi formed by Susanoo into the Tailed Beast Ball! The enormous sphere brimming with destructive energy slowly gathered power.

"This time, you won't be able to stop it, Hashirama!"

The Tailed Beast Ball shot forth, reducing everything in its path to dust beneath its overwhelming energy!

Even Hashirama Senju, known as the God of Shinobi, seemed incomparably small before this ninjutsu.

Hashirama sensed the danger at his back. He was now far enough from the village.

He immediately bit his finger and slammed his palm onto the ground. "Summoning Technique—Fivefold Rashomon!"

The ground before Hashirama shook violently, and a gate resembling a demon from hell rose from beneath the earth.

The other four gates burst forth from the ground one after another!

Smoke filled the battlefield, and Hashirama's long hair fluttered in the wind. The Tailed Beast Ball pierced through all five Rashomon gates in an instant!

Yet its trajectory was altered. It passed by Hashirama's side and struck the land on the opposite shore!

A violent explosion followed, spanning an area as large as Konoha. In an instant, the land and trees were wiped away!

"You used Rashomon to alter the Tailed Beast Ball's trajectory. Just as expected of you, Hashirama!"

Though his words carried praise, his expression remained neither joyful nor sorrowful, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"Everything we have worked for until now! Do you want it all to have been for nothing, Madara?!"

Even after things had come this far, Hashirama was still trying to awaken Madara's former gentleness. He knew what Madara was like. Madara had once loved Konoha so deeply.

"At this point, what meaning is there in saying any of that?!"

The Nine-Tails beneath his feet let out a ferocious roar. Madara, whose expression had been blank until then, suddenly seemed to erupt in rage. "Hashirama! I've already made it to the other side!"

"There's no other way!"

Hashirama clapped his hands together, and markings representing Sage Mode instantly appeared on his face. "Wood Release—True Several Thousand..."

Just as both men prepared to fight with all their strength, a majestic voice seemed to drift in from the horizon. "Those who make a clamor shall be punished."

The voice was cold and clear, yet it instinctively inspired awe. For a moment, neither Hashirama nor Madara could determine where it had come from.

Both of them stopped moving, but the feeling of reverence in their hearts only grew stronger, until it gradually became fear.

Madara Uchiha muttered in disbelief, "Ridiculous. Madara Uchiha is actually afraid?"

Before he could speak again, a gigantic white sword engraved with strange patterns cleaved through the clouds. Carrying the power to destroy the world, it descended upon Madara Uchiha like divine punishment!

As it plummeted at high speed, fierce flames ignited at the sword's tip, as though it could burn away every impurity in the world!

"What is that?!" Madara Uchiha roared as he stared at the giant sword falling from the sky!

Hashirama was equally stunned. He could clearly feel the power of this ninjutsu—it was far beyond anything he could compare to!

As the giant sword continued to descend, the fear in Madara's heart grew ever heavier, as though it were dragging him into a bottomless abyss.

Yet Hashirama felt as if he had seen this sword somewhere before. But at a moment like this, he could not remember!

"Get away, Madara!"

As though Hashirama's words had jolted him awake, Madara's body, stiffened by fear, began to move again.

But the sword's sheer size surpassed Madara's imagination. Even controlling the Nine-Tails to run at full speed, he could not escape the range of the attack!

"How can I... die here?!"

Madara Uchiha leaped up in fury! Susanoo completely detached from the Nine-Tails' body!

Madara himself activated the Complete Body Susanoo. Towering like a giant, he looked at the massive sword falling from the sky and finally understood what helplessness truly was.

Even the hands gripping the War Fan and scythe trembled slightly.

"The sword... it's continuously absorbing the clouds, getting bigger...

Even in his Complete Body Susanoo, Madara was like an ant before the giant sword.

He could not muster even the slightest thought of resisting it.

At that moment, several white chains suddenly appeared at the horizon and shot toward the Nine-Tails!

In only an instant, they coiled around the Nine-Tails' body. The chains then tightened, hauling the Nine-Tails into the sky, where it vanished into the clouds.

And the punishment of the "god" descended upon the earth at that very moment, allowing fragile life to experience the wrath of a "god" for the first time.