Wood Release Emerges

Chapter 17: Wood Release Emerges

Dual Kekkei Genkai were truly terrifying. A One-Tomoe Sharingan that granted dynamic vision, allowing him to see through an enemy's attacks and movements in battle, combined with the nearly invincible close-combat Shikotsumyaku, had turned him completely into a killing machine.

He was being besieged by Senju Clan ninja, Uzumaki Clan members, and ninja from several weaker clans.

Facing enemies more than ten times his number, he should clearly have been at a disadvantage. Yet it looked as though Uchiha Jobu had surrounded them instead. Rather than retreating, he advanced, using the Body Flicker Technique to rush before an enemy and, in an instant, pierce straight through him from head to toe.

In that instant, a spray of hot blood splashed over Uchiha Jobu. Scalding blood dyed the white bones exposed outside his body red. As his eerie scarlet Sharingan swept over the area ahead, it seemed to release killing intent, frightening several weaker Uzumaki ninja into retreat before he had even made a move.

Listening to that piercing, crazed laughter, Tobirama Senju could not help but feel anger rise within him. But as he stared at the figure clad in white bones, he knew he could not defeat this opponent alone. The gap in their strength was not that great; he had merely lost to the two Kekkei Genkai of the Shikotsumyaku and Sharingan.

"If only my older brother could help."

The thought was beautiful, but reality was cruel. Senju Hashirama was currently tied down and had no way to break free. Helping was simply impossible.

Because of the influence Uchiha Jobu had caused, Uchiha Madara was now roughly twenty to thirty percent stronger than he had been in the original timeline. The reason he had yet to defeat Senju Hashirama was not because he lacked the strength.

He simply could not bear to hurt his good friend.

"Madara! Stop! We're not enemies."

"Just like we said when we were children, if the two of us join hands, we can definitely change this world and create true peace in the Ninja World!"

For a moment, Uchiha Madara seemed to return to the past. Back then, the two of them had stood beside a stream, competing to see whose smooth stone could skip farther and more times across the water. They had tested each other's ninjutsu and grown through their constant clashes.

Both of them had lost brothers to war, and neither wanted the war to continue. So sometimes, they would speak of their dreams...

But the hatred accumulated between their two clans over hundreds, even thousands, of years could not possibly be resolved so easily.

Uchiha Madara shook his head. "Impossible. Stop being so naive. You and I both know exactly what this world is like. Living in a world like this, all we can do is protect our families with everything we have."

"Peace? Don't say such a laughable word."

"Otherwise, I'll only assume you still haven't grown up. And then I won't hold back anymore. I'll send you straight to the Pure Land with your naivety."

Uchiha Madara was clearly angry as he spoke, as though he hated that iron could not become steel. His furious strike sent Senju Hashirama flying far away. Then, with no intention of holding back any longer, he immediately formed hand seals and prepared to use a B-rank Fire Release ninjutsu to utterly blast his good friend Senju Hashirama to death.

Uchiha Madara's gaze darkened, killing intent fully revealed. His ninjutsu was poised to strike as he said, "Hashirama, die with that naivety of yours."

"Fire Release! Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

Since awakening his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Madara had mastered every Fire Release ninjutsu collected by the Uchiha Clan. Among them, Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame was the technique he excelled at most.

The greatest feature of Majestic Destroyer Flame was not the temperature of its flames. It was that it spat a fireball at the opponent like a falling meteor, and once it struck the ground, the flames spread into a sea of fire.

Such a terrifying Fire Release technique was enough to make hundreds of Senju Clan members tremble in fear merely from its scale.

Having been knocked twenty or thirty meters away, Senju Hashirama still showed no sign of injury after landing. The Senju Clan bloodline was truly powerful—not only did they possess chakra far beyond that of other ninja, but their vitality was monstrous as well.

Senju Hashirama rose to his feet. Without forming a single hand seal, he simply clapped his hands together, and the instant his palms met, rows upon rows of sturdy wooden stakes appeared before him.

"Wood Release!"

Uchiha Jobu vaguely heard Senju Hashirama shouting. His offensive was blocked once more by several Senju Clan Chunin working together, so he glanced back and saw rows of wooden stakes rising from the ground. He inwardly exclaimed in surprise, He mastered Wood Release at fifteen? But Madara hasn't awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan yet.

Among the countless Kekkei Genkai and secret techniques in the Ninja World, Wood Release was unquestionably at the pinnacle.

The First of the Warring States era had conquered the world with Wood Release. With one hand, he could pin down the Nine-Tails. And while Senju Hashirama was still alive, the other four nations of the Ninja World did not dare make a move at all.

Without a Mangekyō Sharingan capable of matching it, a Three-Tomoe Sharingan alone could not fight the current Senju Hashirama, who possessed Wood Release, to a draw.