"I've seen with these eyes the true path to peace!"
The Wood Dragon slowly descended to the ground, facing off against the Nine-Tails. "Is the peace you speak of destroying the village?"
Madara's face showed contempt. "I was too naive back then. That was why I wanted to build a so-called village with you."
The Nine-Tails' enormous body had risen above the Cloud Mist, and Madara could clearly see the bright moon.
"So I'll kill that naive version of myself with my own hands!"
Without hesitation, Madara controlled the Nine-Tails and launched an attack!
Its sharp claws slashed at the Wood Dragon, tearing deep wounds into it with a single blow!
"Madara, are you really going to destroy everything we worked for?"
Madara remained silent, offering no reply. Hashirama, too, seemed to have made up his mind; the confusion had left his face.
The Nine-Tails opened its jaws and released blue and red Chakra, merging them into a blackish-purple sphere!
This was a jutsu that only Tailed Beasts could use: a Tailed Beast Bomb!
The Nine-Tails spat the Tailed Beast Bomb toward Hashirama! The Wood Dragon shattered into countless pieces of wood the instant it collided with the bomb!
"Wood Release: Wood Human Technique!"
Just as the Tailed Beast Bomb pierced the Wood Dragon's head and continued flying into the distance,
a wooden lump bulged from the Wood Dragon's body. In moments, it became a giant wooden figure with a mouth full of fangs!
The Wood Golem caught the mighty Tailed Beast Bomb with its bare hands, then shoved 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 Bomb struck the armor and exploded violently. The blast was so immense that it destroyed half the forest!
Konoha was also caught in the shockwave, though the damage wasn't severe. The village walls were left with enormous cracks, but no one was injured.
Boulders and splinters whirled wildly through the air. When the smoke cleared, Madara stood atop the Nine-Tails.
With Susanoo activated, he hadn't suffered a scratch. Hashirama, too, was unharmed, protected by layers of wooden shields shaped like masks.
"Wood Release: Wood Shield Technique?" Madara murmured.
Hashirama stared at the scene before him, resolve in his eyes, and smiled. "You wrapped Susanoo around a Tailed Beast? That's a pretty good idea!"
The Nine-Tails was now completely encased in Susanoo, and it held two enormous swords in its hands!
Without warning, it brought one down in a slash!
Hashirama stepped forward and clapped his hands together. "Wood Release: Hotei Technique!"
A pair of giant wooden hands caught the Nine-Tails' descending blade with ease!
Then, from the crater blasted into the ground by the Tailed Beast Bomb, more wooden hands emerged, reaching for the Nine-Tails from every direction.
But the Nine-Tails cut them all down with a single swing. In an instant, wooden shards and chunks filled the sky.
Hashirama leapt about, searching for a suitable place to land. We're too close to the village. I have to get away from here!
He ran into the distance. Thinking Hashirama was trying to escape, Madara made the Nine-Tails pursue him.
When they reached a great river, Madara finally lost patience. As he gave chase, he made the Nine-Tails launch a Tailed Beast Bomb!
Then he fused Susanoo's sword into the bomb! A massive sphere, brimming with destructive energy, began to form.
"You won't be able to stop this, Hashirama!"
The Tailed Beast Bomb shot forward, reducing everything in its path to dust with its immense energy!
Even Senju Hashirama, hailed as the God of Shinobi, seemed utterly insignificant before this jutsu.
Hashirama sensed the danger behind him. By now, he was far enough from the village.
He bit his finger and slammed his palm against the ground. "Summoning Technique: Fivefold Rashomon!"
The earth before Hashirama shook violently. Then a gate, like the entrance to a demon's lair, rose from beneath the ground.
Four more gates burst from the earth in succession!
Smoke filled the battlefield, and Hashirama's long hair whipped in the wind. The Tailed Beast Bomb pierced the Fivefold Rashomon in an instant!
But its course had been diverted. It passed by Hashirama and struck the land on the opposite bank!
A violent explosion followed, its blast radius as large as Konoha. In an instant, the land and trees vanished completely!
"You changed the Tailed Beast Bomb's trajectory with Rashomon. As expected of you, Hashirama!"
Though his words were praise, his expression remained impassive, giving no hint of what he was thinking.
"After all the effort we've put in until now, do you really want it all to go to waste, Madara?!"
Even in this dire situation, Hashirama was still trying to awaken the kindness Madara once possessed. He knew Madara well—he knew how much Madara had once loved Konoha.
"What meaning does any of that have now?!"
The Nine-Tails snarled ferociously beneath his feet. Madara, whose face had been expressionless, suddenly seemed to erupt in fury. "Hashirama! I've made it to the other bank!"
"I have no choice!"
Hashirama clapped his hands, and the markings of Sage Mode appeared on his face in an instant. "Wood Release: True Several Thousand—"
Just as both men prepared to fight with all their might, a majestic voice seemed to ring out from the edge of the sky. "Those who make a commotion shall be punished."
The voice was cool and distant, yet it filled them with awe. Hashirama and Madara couldn't tell where it came from.
Both men stopped moving, but the reverence in their hearts only grew stronger, until at last it began to turn into fear.
Madara murmured in disbelief, "Ridiculous. I, Madara Uchiha, am actually afraid?"
Before he could speak again, a huge white sword carved with strange patterns cleaved through the clouds. With the force of world-ending destruction, it hurtled toward Madara like divine punishment!
The sword's tip blazed with fire as it plummeted at high speed, as if it could burn away every impurity in the world!
"What is that?!" Madara roared at the sword falling from the sky!
Hashirama was dumbfounded, too. He could clearly feel the power of this jutsu! It was beyond anything he could match!
As the giant sword continued to fall, the fear in Madara's heart grew heavier, as if it were dragging him into an endless abyss.
Hashirama, meanwhile, felt as if he'd seen this sword somewhere before, but at a moment like this, he couldn't remember!
"Get out of there, Madara!"
Hashirama's words seemed to jolt Madara awake, and his body, stiff with fear, began to move again.
But the sword was far larger than Madara had imagined. Even with the Nine-Tails running at full speed under his control, there was no way to escape its range!
"How can I die here?!"
Madara leapt into the air in a rage! Susanoo separated completely from the Nine-Tails!
Madara himself then activated Perfect Susanoo. Like a giant, he looked up at the falling sword and finally understood what helplessness meant.
His hands, gripping the Gunbai and Scythe, trembled slightly.
"The sword is constantly absorbing clouds, growing larger..."
Even with Perfect Susanoo, Madara was like an ant before the giant sword.
He couldn't even bring himself to think of resisting it.
Just then, several white chains suddenly appeared at the edge of the sky, shooting toward the Nine-Tails!
In an instant, they wrapped around the Nine-Tails. The chains tightened, hauling it into the sky until it disappeared into the clouds.
And at that very moment, the punishment of "God" descended upon the earth, making the weak lives below feel "God's" wrath for the first time.
Before you continue