"As a reward, I'll let you witness... the true all things in the universe!"
Chiya's voice was not loud, but it carried an ancient desolation and majesty, cutting through the howling wind on the battlefield and reaching everyone's ears with perfect clarity.
The Third Hokage hung in midair, his Adamantine Staff locked tightly in the grip of several thick roots. His aged face was filled with uncertainty and alarm.
These familiar chakra fluctuations...
This overwhelming binding force...
And these lush green roots, brimming with tremendous vitality...
A name he had revered his entire life-a name whose shadow he had spent his entire life beneath-rose uncontrollably in his mind.
"No... impossible..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's lips trembled as he tried to deny that terrifying suspicion. "Since Lord First passed away, no one except Yamato, that unfinished experiment, has been able to use Wood Release at all, let alone at this level! You're an Uchiha. How could you possibly..."
"Nothing is impossible, old man Third."
Chiya stood atop the lava. Beneath his feet, the molten rock rapidly cooled into black obsidian under the life energy spilling from his body.
He slowly pressed his palms together.
The movement was simple, almost casual.
Yet the moment his palms met, a terrifying surge of chakra erupted, powerful enough to change heaven and earth, like a dragon awakening after ten thousand years of slumber!
If Ryūjin Jakka had embodied the ultimate "heat" that destroyed everything...
Then this power embodied the ultimate "life" that created everything!
Destruction and rebirth, yin and yang, Uchiha and Senju.
Two diametrically opposed powers fused perfectly within Chiya, forming "all things in the universe," a power capable of rewriting reality!
"You think you're worthy of invoking the First Hokage?"
The Mangekyō Sharingan in Chiya's eyes spun wildly. Deep within his scarlet pupils, strange, sacred golden rings of samsara began to shimmer.
"The First Hokage built Konoha to protect children and preserve peace."
"But you used that illusion of peace to conceal your filthy political purges."
"Since you miss your teacher so much, I'll grant your wish-"
"Letting you die beneath the power you revered most is... the greatest mercy a hypocritical politician like you deserves!"
"Wood Release Secret Technique: Forest World's Nativity!!"
RUMBLE-!!!!
The earth groaned, and the lava roared.
The next second, a sight no one present would ever forget unfolded before them.
The ruins of Root, already scorched into a crimson hell by Ryūjin Jakka, suddenly underwent a violent upheaval.
Crack! Crack!
Solid rock split apart, and searing lava was forcibly pushed aside.
Countless massive trees, like towering pythons, burst wildly from underground with unstoppable, ruthless growth!
One, two, a hundred, a thousand...
In the span of a single breath...
The lifeless, scorched ruins were swallowed by a vast, boundless primeval forest!
These were no ordinary trees. Every one contained Chiya's system-enhanced chakra, which surpassed Kage level. They were hard as iron, remarkably resilient, and fiercely aggressive.
The once-flat battlefield changed in an instant.
Enormous trunks crisscrossed one another, blocking out half the sky. Countless branches lashed like living creatures, slicing through the air with sounds that made everyone's scalp prickle.
"This... this is... Lord First's power?!"
In the distance, Hyuga Hiashi deactivated his Byakugan. The chakra before him shone so intensely that it made his eyes ache. He trembled all over as he watched the forest rise from the ground.
That reverence came from the depths of his soul!
Hashirama Senju, known as the "God of Shinobi," had used this very Wood Release to end an age of chaos, subdue the tailed beasts, and establish the order of the Five Great Nations!
And now, that mythical power had reappeared in the hands of an Uchiha boy!
"Hiruzen! Run!!"
Enma's terrified voice exploded in the Third's ears.
As a summoned beast, he sensed danger more keenly than humans did. He could clearly feel that these trees were more than plants. They were beasts hungry for chakra!
"Run? Where would you run?"
Chiya stood atop a gigantic tree a hundred meters tall, looking down at the antlike Third Hokage.
"Within this wooden world, I am a god!"
"Rise!"
Chiya gave a slight curl of his finger.
Boom!
The primeval forest seemed to come alive. Countless enormous vines and branches instantly became an all-encompassing green tsunami, sweeping toward the Third Hokage!
"Damn it! Adamantine Staff: Adamantine Prison Wall!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi reacted swiftly. The staff in his hands instantly multiplied into dozens, forming an impenetrable cubic cage around him as he tried to withstand the sea of trees.
Clang, clang, clang, clang-!
Branches struck the Adamantine Prison Wall in a dense barrage of metallic crashes.
Enma did possess an indestructible diamond body. His astonishing hardness actually held against the first wave.
But the sneer on Chiya's face only deepened.
"Impressive hardness. Too bad wood can 'absorb water.'"
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!!"
ROOOAR-!!
A deep dragon's cry rang out from within the forest.
Then a gigantic dragon, hundreds of meters long and made entirely of wood, rose from the sea of trees in winding coils. Intricate, ancient patterns covered its body, and a chilling red light gleamed in its wooden eyes.
This was a technique designed specifically to suppress tailed beasts!
It possessed a terrifying ability to absorb chakra!
"Go!"
The wood dragon hurtled forward with unstoppable momentum. Ignoring the Adamantine Prison Wall's defenses, it opened its jaws and bit straight into the cage formed from Enma's staff body!
Creeeak-!
A teeth-grating scraping sound rang out.
"AAAAHH!!"
Enma suddenly screamed. "Hiruzen! I can't hold on! My chakra... it's sucking it away! This brat's Wood Release isn't just hard-it can absorb chakra too!!"
"What?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi paled inside the cage.
He could clearly feel Enma's defenses weakening rapidly. That once-unbreakable diamond hardness actually began to soften as the wood dragon coiled around him and drained him!
It's not just chakra. Even my stamina is draining away...
Is this the power Madara faced back then?!
A profound helplessness welled up within Hiruzen Sarutobi.
He had always prided himself on being the "strongest Hokage in history," a master of all five elemental releases with exceptional taijutsu. Only now, facing the legendary Wood Release himself, did he understand that the gulf between him and his teacher, the First, was like that between a firefly and the radiant moon!
Damn it! I can't let myself die trapped here!
"Enma, undo your transformation!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi made his decision immediately, canceling the summoned beast's transformed state a second before the Adamantine Prison Wall collapsed.
Poof!
Enma returned to his elderly ape form, his face pale. Clearly, a considerable amount of his chakra had been drained.
"Hiruzen, there's something seriously wrong with this brat! He has the Uchiha's fire and visual jutsu, along with the Senju's Wood Release and vitality... He's practically a reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths!" Enma panted heavily, his eyes filled with apprehension.
"Whatever he is, we have to stop him today!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi bit the tip of his tongue, using the pain to force himself to calm down.
He formed hand seals, darting like lightning through the gaps between the densely packed attacking branches.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
He tried to burn the trees down with Fire Release.
But that played right into Chiya's hands.
"You're using Fire Release to burn my Wood Release? Third, have you forgotten what else I'm holding?"
Chiya watched the insignificant fire dragon below and casually swung Ryūjin Jakka.
"Torch!"
Boom!
A golden tornado of flame materialized out of thin air. It swallowed the Third's Fire Release instantly, then rode the wind to make the burning trees blaze even more fiercely!
The fire the Third had intended as a counterattack had instead become an "enchantment" for Chiya's Wood Release!
Forest World's Nativity, blazing with golden flames!
Now the attacks carried not only physical impact and chakra absorption, but also Ryūjin Jakka's searing heat, hot enough to burn souls to nothing!
"AAH!!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi failed to dodge in time, and a burning branch lashed across his back.
Even with chakra armor protecting him, the clothing on his back turned to ash in an instant. His flesh charred black, and he was sent flying like a kite with its string cut.
Thud!
He slammed into the trunk of a massive tree. Before he could slide down, countless sharp wooden spikes sprouted from it, ready to turn him into a pincushion!
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
At the last possible moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi barely managed an Earth Release defense. Even so, several wooden spikes sliced his arms and thighs, leaving blood streaming from the wounds.
A disgrace!
An utter disgrace!
Where was even a trace of the "Shinobi Hero" in Hiruzen Sarutobi now?
Covered in blood, his clothes in tatters and half his hair burned away, he could only scurry for cover like a rat beneath the wooden world's relentless onslaught.
"Is this the strength you were going to use to teach me a lesson, Third?"
Chiya's nightmarish voice came from every direction, carried by vibrations through the trees.
"Weren't you going to purge your own ranks?"
"Weren't you going to uphold the Will of Fire?"
"Well? Does your will amount to hopping around the trees like a monkey?"
Humiliation!
Blatant humiliation!
Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned against a sheltered corner inside a hollow tree, gasping violently.
The pain in his body was secondary. What truly drove him toward despair and collapse was the blow to his spirit.
The person he had admired most throughout his life was the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
He had always taken pride in inheriting the First's will.
Yet now...
An Uchiha boy he regarded as a rebel, whose clan's extermination he had tacitly approved, was using the power of his most revered teacher to beat him like a dog!
The irony, the sheer absurdity, shook his faith in that moment.
"Why..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his head, staring at the canopy that blotted out the sky, at the figure standing atop the trees and looking down at him like a god.
For an instant, he actually hallucinated.
He seemed to see Hashirama Senju as he had been all those years ago, looking at him with utter disappointment.
"Monkey-Hiruzen-is this the Konoha you've protected?"
"No... no!!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi clutched his head in anguish. The fear in his eyes gradually gave way to a crazed resolve.
He could not lose!
Even if he truly had been wrong, even if he truly had strayed from his original intentions, he could never let an uncontrollable "monster" like Chiya take command of Konoha!
If Chiya gained power, Konoha would surely become an asura battlefield filled with slaughter!
"I haven't lost yet..."
"I still have one final move..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi rose shakily, pushing away Enma when he tried to support him.
He looked at Chiya, his gaze becoming hollow and deathly still-the gaze of someone who had seen beyond life and death.
"Chiya, your power has indeed exceeded my expectations."
"Wood Release, the Mangekyō... you certainly have what it takes to look down upon the shinobi world."
"But..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly removed his ruined gloves. His hands began forming seals he had never imagined using against someone from his own village.
Those were the seals the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had used when sacrificing his life to seal the Nine-Tails-a forbidden technique!
"A battle between shinobi has never been a simple contest of strength."
"If I can take a menace like you with me, this old life of mine will have been well spent!"
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Poof! Poof!
Two shadow clones appeared beside him.
His real body stood behind them, his gaze locked firmly on Chiya above as he began quietly reciting the incantation for the contract with the Death God.
"Snake-boar-ram-rabbit-dog-rat..."
"Bird-Horse-Snake..."
A bone-chilling wind suddenly swept through the burning Wooden World.
Chiya stood atop a tree, his brow furrowing slightly.
He sensed it.
An aura that did not belong to the world of the living was gathering behind Hiruzen Sarutobi.
That aura was greedy, evil, hungry.
"Finally couldn't hold back anymore?"
Chiya made no move to stop him. Instead, his lips curled into a wild grin of anticipation.
"Come on, old man Third."
"Summon that so-called Death God of yours!"
"Let me see whether your Death God is tougher, or my Zanpakuto... sharper!!"
Before you continue