The Earth Collapses

Though Madara Uchiha felt powerless beneath the immense sword's might, his instinct to survive drove him into action!

In his Complete Body Susanoo, Madara Uchiha drew the Tachi at his waist and slashed at the giant sword!

The two collided in a burst of sparks. Flames burning along the sword's tip scattered in every direction like meteors, turning every place they landed into a sea of fire!

Madara Uchiha unleashed all his strength, his Chakra draining at an utterly terrifying rate.

But it was ultimately futile. Before the wrath of a "god," all resistance was useless.

Like an ant, no matter how it displayed its mighty fangs and great strength, it could only end up being crushed.

Crack! A shattering sound rang out as massive fissures spread from the top of the Complete Body Susanoo's head!

Before long, the entire Susanoo was covered in cracks!

"Madara." Hashirama knew that there was nothing he could do now. He could only watch his old friend struggle beneath this world-destroying strike.

If Madara died here, it would undoubtedly benefit Konoha. But Hashirama could not fathom the stance of this mysterious powerhouse.

With just one strike, he had nearly killed one of the two strongest people in the ninja world. What kind of power was that?!

"In the end, I was just a frog at the bottom of a well." Hashirama sighed. Now, the title God of Shinobi seemed rather laughable.

"But! If he dares make a move against Konoha! Even if it costs me my life, I won't let him succeed!"

With a resolute gaze, Hashirama spoke those words with the determination to die that day.

At the same time, Madara Uchiha could no longer withstand the giant sword's descent. The Susanoo instantly collapsed, shattering into fragments.

As Madara Uchiha fell through the air, he looked at the giant sword that was about to pronounce his death and laughed at himself.

He had called himself a god, yet he was nothing more than an ant. There was always a higher heaven beyond the heavens.

After slowly turning to glance in Hashirama's direction, he slowly closed his eyes...

The giant sword plunged straight into the ground with overwhelming force. The ancient earth, unchanged for countless ages, was effortlessly split open by a massive gash!

Countless enormous cracks spread across the earth before it began to collapse and cave in. River water surged wildly into the fissures!

The ground beneath Hashirama's feet also began to shake and crack. He had no choice but to move away to avoid being caught in it.

The instant after Hashirama leaped away, the ground that had merely been cracked suddenly caved in completely, forming a pitch-black abyss!

Not long afterward, Hashirama began to feel scorching heat. Red light shone from where the giant sword had fallen, accompanied by billowing black smoke!

In an instant! Torrential magma erupted from underground and spread across the earth, burning everything in its path to ashes.

Neither trees nor rocks were spared, and it continued spreading into the distance without any sign of cooling!

"That direction is the village! Not good!" The magma was not flowing slowly. Although this place was far from the village, Hashirama had no way of knowing when it would stop!

Without hesitation, Hashirama immediately set off to intercept the magma! His Chakra was still plentiful, and he was still in Sage Mode, so it should not be a problem.

Just then, the previous voice sounded again. "Disperse."

After that word, the white giant sword embedded in the earth suddenly broke apart, transforming into clouds and mist that enveloped the land for more than a dozen miles around.

An instant later, all the clouds and mist seemed to be drawn by something, pouring back into the sky!

Hashirama stood atop a small hill, staring at the sight before him with disbelief filling his eyes! Some people would never witness such a spectacle in their entire lives!

Seeing this method of controlling clouds and mist, Hashirama made some guesses, and his previous worries lessened somewhat.

Once all the clouds and mist had poured back into the cloud layer, Hashirama discovered that the land for more than a dozen miles around had been draped in a layer of white gauze.

It stood in stark contrast to the green land in the distance! The magma, earth, mountains, rocks, and trees had all been Ice Sealed.

All life had been frozen in the forms it had worn before death, forever preserved here!

The densely packed fissures and the bottomless rift created by the giant sword both showed the terror of that attack.

Suddenly, a beam of moonlight pierced through the clouds and shone upon the rift. As Hashirama gradually raised his head, he saw a young man leisurely walking through the air.

The man seemed to be playing with something in his hand, but Hashirama was too far away to see clearly. What puzzled him was this: where had the Nine-Tails gone?

Such a massive Nine-Tails had been effortlessly seized and dragged into the clouds. How had it simply vanished?

The clouds in the sky drifted constantly in the wind, yet that beam of moonlight remained uncovered.

And despite the fierce wind, the man's robes did not move in the slightest. Even his hair was not stirred.

This person was none other than Torikaze, who had used the Ancestor Experience Card.

"This... might have been a bit overboard. No matter what, this is my own land."

The move he had just used was none other than the family's inherited Cloud Release—Cloud Swords.

With the Ancestor's enhancement, Cloud Swords had shattered mountains and rivers with a single strike! If he used it at full power, with ten thousand swords returning to their source, the entire Land of Fire would probably be razed to the ground!

Of course, Madara Uchiha would not die so easily. After all, he still had Izanagi.

Though he did not know whether he could truly kill Madara Uchiha today, Torikaze still wanted to try. Maybe he really could change history?

He clenched his left hand in empty air, and countless streams of clouds gathered before him, forming a pure white spear.

With a light wave of his hand, the spear shot toward where Madara Uchiha had just been! In the blink of an eye, it pierced into the rift once more!

A violent explosion followed, and all the land surrounding the rift collapsed, forming a deep pit.

But at that moment, countless agonized wails rose from within the pit, like sounds from hell!

When Hashirama heard those cries, he thought the man in the sky had blasted open an entrance to hell.

Not just Hashirama—even Torikaze himself had no idea what was going on. He had intended to go all out anyway. Since the place had already become like this, he might as well wreak havoc to his heart's content.

Why were there cries coming from below? Could there still be life underground?

Torikaze still did not know whether Madara Uchiha was dead. The wailing from the bottom of the pit continued without end, making goosebumps rise all over his body.

Yet nothing else happened for a long while, making Torikaze wonder whether he had pierced an underground cave and the wind blowing in from elsewhere had created those sounds.

But then, beneath the bright moonlight, a completely naked person crawled out of the deep pit.

His entire body was pure white without a trace of color. Spikes grew from his back, and his green hair fluttered faintly in the wind.

Torikaze was truly surprised to see him. He had not expected to encounter White Zetsu at this point in time.

White Zetsu, having crawled out of the pit, grinned at Torikaze in the sky.

Then countless White Zetsu began continuously crawling out of the deep pit...