Though the might of the giant sword left Madara Uchiha feeling powerless, his instinct for survival drove him to act!
In his Perfect Susanoo state, Madara Uchiha drew the sword at his waist and slashed at the giant blade!
The two collided in a flash of sparks. Flames burning along the giant sword's edge scattered like meteors, and wherever they landed, a sea of fire erupted!
Madara Uchiha unleashed his full strength, his Chakra draining at a terrifying rate.
But it was all in vain. Beneath the wrath of a "god," all resistance was futile.
Just as ants, no matter how fiercely they bared their fangs or how much strength they mustered, could only end up crushed.
Crack! A sound of shattering rang out as enormous fissures spread from the top of the Perfect Susanoo!
In no time, the entire Susanoo was covered in cracks!
"Madara..." Hashirama knew there was nothing he could do to change things now. He could only watch his old friend struggle beneath this world-ending strike.
Madara's death here would undoubtedly benefit Konoha, but Hashirama couldn't figure out where this mysterious powerhouse stood.
With a single strike, he had nearly killed one of the two strongest people in the current ninja world. What kind of power was that?
"I really was just a frog in a well," Hashirama sighed. The title God of Shinobi seemed almost laughable now.
"But! If he dares attack Konoha, then even if I have to give my life, I won't let him succeed!"
With resolve in his eyes, Hashirama spoke those words, prepared to die today.
At the same time, Madara Uchiha could no longer hold back the giant sword's descent. In an instant, the Susanoo crumbled into fragments and scattered.
As he fell through the air, Madara Uchiha looked at the giant sword about to pronounce his death and gave a self-mocking smile.
He had thought himself a god, but he was nothing more than an ant. There was always a greater power beyond the heavens.
He slowly turned his head to look toward Hashirama, then gradually closed his eyes...
The giant sword plunged straight into the ground with the force of a thunderbolt. The earth, unchanged for countless ages, was effortlessly split open, leaving a massive gash!
Countless enormous fissures spread across the land, which then began to collapse and cave in. Rivers of water rushed wildly into the cracks!
The ground beneath Hashirama's feet began to shake and split as well, forcing him to retreat before he was caught in the destruction.
The moment after Hashirama leaped away, the land, which had only been cracked before, suddenly collapsed entirely, forming a pitch-black chasm!
Before long, Hashirama began to feel the heat. From the place where the giant sword had fallen came a red glow, accompanied by billowing black smoke!
In an instant, surging magma burst from beneath the earth and spread across the land, burning everything in its path to ashes.
Neither trees nor rocks escaped. The magma continued to flow farther and farther, showing no sign of cooling!
"That's the direction of the village! This is bad!" The magma wasn't flowing slowly. The village was far away, but Hashirama couldn't predict when the lava would stop!
Without hesitation, Hashirama immediately set off to block the magma! He still had plenty of Chakra, and he was in Sage Mode, so he should be fine.
Just then, the voice from before rang out again. "Disperse."
At the command, the white giant sword embedded in the earth suddenly scattered, transforming into a mass of Cloud Mist that blanketed the land for more than ten miles.
In an instant, all the Cloud Mist seemed to be drawn by some unseen force, pouring upward into the sky!
Hashirama watched the scene from a small hill, his eyes full of disbelief! Some people could go their entire lives without witnessing such a wonder!
Seeing this ability to control Cloud Mist, Hashirama began to form a few guesses, and his earlier concerns eased somewhat.
Once all the Cloud Mist had poured back into the clouds, Hashirama saw that the land within a radius of more than ten miles was covered in a veil of white.
It formed a stark contrast with the greenery in the distance! The magma, the earth, the rocks, and the trees—all of it was encased in ice.
Every living thing had been frozen in the state it was in before death, preserved here forever!
The densely packed cracks and the unfathomably deep ravine carved by the giant sword all attested to the terrifying force of that attack.
Suddenly, a shaft of moonlight pierced the clouds and shone on the ravine. As Hashirama gradually looked up, he saw a young man strolling through the air as if taking a leisurely walk.
He seemed to be playing with something in his hand, but Hashirama was too far away to make it out. What puzzled him was this: where had the Nine-Tails gone?
Such a massive Nine-Tails had been casually caught and pulled into the clouds. How had it disappeared?
The wind kept pushing the clouds across the sky, but that beam of moonlight remained uncovered.
Even with the wind blowing so fiercely, the man's robes didn't move at all, and not a strand of his hair stirred.
This was Kumonaka Torikaze, who had used the Ancestor Experience Card.
"Uh... wasn't that a bit too much? This is our own land, after all."
The technique he had just used was none other than his family's inherited Cloud Release: Cloud Sword.
With the blessing of his ancestor, his Cloud Sword technique had shattered mountains and rivers with a single strike! If he unleashed its full power—Ten Thousand Swords Return to Origin—the entire Land of Fire might be leveled!
Of course, Madara Uchiha wasn't so easy to kill. He still had Izanagi.
Although Torifu didn't know whether he could truly kill Madara Uchiha today, he still wanted to try. Perhaps he really could change history?
He clenched his left hand in the air. Countless streams of Cloud gathered before Torifu in the sky, forming a long, pure-white spear.
With a casual wave, the spear shot toward the place where Madara Uchiha had been moments ago! In the blink of an eye, it plunged into the ravine!
A violent explosion followed, and all the land around the ravine collapsed, forming a deep pit.
But just then, countless agonized screams rose from the pit, like the cries of hell itself!
When Hashirama heard the wails, he thought the man in the sky had blasted open the gates of hell.
It wasn't just Hashirama; Torifu himself had no idea what was going on. He'd been ready to go all out, since the place was already in ruins anyway.
Why were there screams coming from down there? Were there living things beneath the earth?
Torifu still didn't know whether Madara Uchiha was dead. The screams from the bottom of the pit went on without end, raising goosebumps on his skin.
But nothing else happened. Torifu began to wonder if the spear had broken through an underground cavern and let in wind from somewhere else, creating the eerie howls.
But just then, beneath the bright moonlight, a naked person crawled out of the pit.
His entire body was pure white, without a trace of blood. Sharp spikes grew from his back, and his green hair fluttered gently in the wind.
The sight took Torifu by surprise. He hadn't expected to encounter a White Zetsu this early.
The White Zetsu that had crawled out of the pit grinned at Torifu in the sky.
Then, countless White Zetsu began crawling out of the pit...
Before you continue