The head in midair was still smiling as it gradually scattered into scraps of paper. Countless motes of dust gathered at the neck, trying to rebuild it.
A trace of a smile seemed to linger on Hashirama's lips. He knew that even if he recovered, he had already lost this round.
Restoring his body would take time, and that was enough time to perform ten sealing jutsu.
While his head was regenerating, the clouds wrapped around him underwent an instantaneous transformation.
The soft clouds rapidly turned into bone-chilling frost and snow mist.
Crack, crack, crack!
Ice crystals raced up from the soles of his feet, turning Hashirama into a crystal-clear ice sculpture in the blink of an eye.
It wasn't just his skin. Even the chakra pathways inside his body were frozen solid by the penetrating chill.
Immediately afterward, countless black sealing runes crawled across the ice sculpture like ivy. Several thick Cloud Mist Chains bound the ice tightly, their other ends driven deep into the ground.
The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, had been captured!
The whole process had taken no more than ten seconds!
Raito's true self, floating in the sky, watched in utter disbelief, unable to resist the urge to applaud Great Sage.
That was so smooth.
The switch between cloud and mist was as fast as magic.
So Cloud Release could be used like this!
Raito doubted he could achieve that degree of precision even with six months to a year of practice.
But the idea was invaluable! First, immobilize the enemy with cloud-mist solidification, then turn it into mist, and finally switch to acid mist or snow mist for the killing blow.
Snow mist's ability to freeze someone from the inside out was even more overpowering than ordinary Ice Release. It shut down the opponent's chakra