Wood-Style: Wood Dragon Technique, Second-Stage Susanoo

Chapter 48: Wood-Style: Wood Dragon Technique, Second-Stage Susanoo

Tobirama Senju's expression darkened. The forbidden technique he had developed had actually failed, leaving him somewhat at a loss. If he wanted to get close enough to attack again, the difficulty would be far greater than before.

He had simply prepared too few explosive tags beforehand. The forbidden Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags Technique had failed to blow the giant snake to death in one go.

But there was nothing he could do about that. The forbidden technique had only been developed recently and had never been tested in actual combat, so he had no idea what its true effects would be. Naturally, he could not have prepared too many explosive tags.

"Tobirama Senju! Don't think you can run!"

Uchiha Shangwu spotted Tobirama Senju's location and whispered something into giant snake Sin Ya's ear. He immediately felt the massive creature beneath his feet surge forward in fury.

Countless ninja tools came flying at them along the way, accompanied by continuous ninjutsu attacks of every attribute.

But with his tough scales, Sin Ya feared no attack at all. Neither ninja tools nor ninjutsu could breach his scaled defense.

"Damn it! It's Uchiha Shangwu!"

Tobirama Senju's face sank. He turned and tried to flee without the slightest intention of fighting, wanting only to evade Sin Ya's furious strike.

Boom!

The earth shook!

Dust billowed from the ground!

Looking closely, a massive crater had appeared before them.

That was caused by nothing more than Sin Ya ramming forward with his head. He had not used any other power.

Unlike other summoned beasts, Sin Ya could use senjutsu and spit out attacks that petrified his enemies.

Uchiha Shangwu shook his head regretfully. "What a pity. He got away."

Sin Ya snarled, "Hmph! He can't escape. He's still within my sensory range."

Uchiha Shangwu's eyes flickered. He was quietly surprised, but it also seemed perfectly reasonable. In the Naruto storyline, Naruto Uzumaki and Jiraiya, both of whom had learned Sage Mode, possessed extraordinarily powerful sensory abilities.

Sin Ya was a giant snake from Dragon Lair who could use senjutsu, so it was perfectly normal for him to possess sensory abilities.

"Wood Release! Wood-Style: Wood Dragon Technique!"

Seeing his younger brother about to be attacked by a gigantic python, Senju Hashirama immediately abandoned his old friend Uchiha Madara. Clapping his hands together, he used Wood Release to create a fierce-looking wooden dragon that slammed sideways into Sin Ya.

"Wood Release?!"

Uchiha Shangwu's expression darkened. People like Senju Hashirama annoyed him the most—always shouting about peace and mutual understanding. That saintly radiance was especially revolting, and now he had even jumped out to interfere.

"This technique is troublesome! Kid, do you have a way to smash that wooden dragon?"

Sin Ya discovered that the wooden dragon attacking him was unexpectedly tough. It was not something he could snap apart as easily as he had imagined.

Uchiha Shangwu shook his head. He knew very well what level his own strength was at. Compared with someone like Senju Hashirama, the son of the Sage of Six Paths, the gap between them was enormous.

Fortunately, Uchiha Madara suddenly charged in. His crimson eyes burned with rage. He could not even be bothered to use ninjutsu, directly activating Susanoo and overwhelmingly cleaving the wooden dragon apart.

Uchiha Madara roared, "Hashirama! Your opponent is me!"

Only then did Senju Hashirama turn back. He stared seriously at his enraged opponent, his gaze filled with resolve. "I will protect my younger brother. I will never allow anyone to harm Tobirama!"

"Hahahaha! Interesting, Hashirama. Truly interesting!"

"You told me to trust you. You said that only by trusting each other could we lay down our hatred and achieve true mutual understanding."

"But look at yourself now. Tobirama Senju has killed plenty of Uchiha. So what is wrong with the Uchiha Clan wanting to kill Tobirama Senju? Yet you say that you will not allow anyone to harm Tobirama Senju. Then what about my younger brother, Izuna Uchiha?! Would I allow anyone to harm him?!"

At that moment, Uchiha Madara's fury soared into the heavens. His rage burned to its utmost limit, and his pair of ferocious Mangekyo Sharingan shone with incomparably dazzling light. In an instant, the basic form of Susanoo became even more robust, gaining a body of flesh and blood as well as armor.

"Second stage!"

Uchiha Madara's expression darkened, fury dancing in his eyes as he shouted, "Hashirama! Stop talking to me about impractical dreams. Let's have a true battle to the death! If you win, you can step over the corpses of the Uchiha Clan and do whatever you want."

After a brief pause, he looked over the entire battlefield. Then Uchiha Madara suddenly burst into mad laughter and declared arrogantly, "But if I win, I will kill Tobirama Senju. Because I am also an older brother. I will stand up for my younger brother, and I will trample the Senju Clan beneath my feet, turning them into slaves."

Anger flashed across Senju Hashirama's face. He slammed his hands together and shouted, "Then come! As you said, a true battle to the death! Let us use our lives to decide who is right!"

"I will protect my clan! I will protect my younger brother!"

"But at the same time, I truly long for the arrival of peace!"

"Believe in me, Madara!"

Uchiha Madara sneered disdainfully. "Naive fool! This world cannot possibly have someone as naive as you. Let me kill you and put an end to that naivety of yours!"

Second-Stage Susanoo was countless times stronger than its basic form. A gigantic sword condensed from chakra swept horizontally, splitting apart the wooden dragon charging toward it. The descending blade did not slow in the slightest and continued slashing toward where Senju Hashirama stood.

"Wood Release! Wood-Style: Wood Human Technique!!"

Perhaps he felt that a wooden dragon alone could not possibly contend with the crazed Uchiha Madara. Having grown up sparring with Uchiha Madara since childhood, Senju Hashirama knew very well just how astonishing Uchiha Madara's potential was.

Moreover, he possessed a pair of strange and terrifying Mangekyo Sharingan. If Senju Hashirama did not use all his strength, he suspected that the enormous blade would definitely chop him into a mangled mass of flesh and blood.

The wooden human dropped to one knee and forcefully pressed its palms together before it, displaying overwhelming and unmatched strength as it steadily caught the descending sword.

The madness on Uchiha Madara's face deepened, and the light in his eyes grew even brighter. He desperately squeezed the ocular power of his Mangekyo Sharingan, seeking to further strengthen Susanoo.

Senju Hashirama used the Wood-Style: Wood Human Technique to block Uchiha Madara's slash in the Second-Stage Susanoo state. While sensing Uchiha Madara's formidable strength, he also gained a deeper understanding of Wood Release.

Feeling that the wooden human alone was still insufficient, he once more slammed his hands together. He summoned a fierce-looking wooden dragon, which coiled around the giant wooden human's neck as it threw a punch at the Susanoo ahead.

Far from where Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara were fighting, he watched in astonishment as the wooden human knelt on one knee and caught Susanoo's blade between its clasped palms. Then he saw the wooden dragon coil around the wooden human's neck, able to attack in tandem with the wooden human's punches.