In the underground hall, the puppets' bone-spike attacks grew increasingly dense.
Their Byakugan scrutinized every movement, chakra point, and attack trajectory.
Hashirama glanced around.
There were too many puppets and too little room to use Wood Release freely.
Bone spikes clattered against Madara's Susanoo, and his expression grew darker.
"So annoying," Madara said.
Hashirama suddenly shifted both hands.
He formed hand seals rapidly.
"Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!"
Bzzz-
There was no light, no sound. But the entire hall went dark in an instant.
The lights had not gone out. Everyone had been stripped of their vision.
The Byakugan in the puppets' eye sockets instantly became useless. They froze in place, their movements stiffening like marionettes with severed strings.
"Now!" Hashirama shouted.
Ryuto had kept his Ki Sense active all along, so the darkness did not affect him.
He moved.
Trailing afterimages of golden ki flames, he charged straight into the mass of puppets.
One punch.
Bang!
A puppet's chest exploded, sending fragments of bone spikes flying.
Then a kick.
Crack!
Another puppet's head shattered under his kick.
Ryuto's movements were fast, precise, and ruthless. Without visual interference, they flowed even more smoothly.
Elsewhere.
Tobirama moved too.
Flying Thunder God Kunai had already been planted in several places.
His figure flashed, and he appeared behind a puppet.
His ninja blade swept past.
The puppet was cut in two at the waist.
Another flash.
Another slash.
Tobirama was no slower than Ryuto. Combined with Flying Thunder God's teleportation, his clearing efficiency reached its peak.
Relying on their Sharingan's perceptiveness, Izuna and Madara could just barely sense the flow of chakra.
They joined the battle too.
Kunai, blades, taijutsu.
Puppets fell one after another.
In less than a minute.
Over a hundred puppets combining Byakugan and bone spikes had all been reduced to fragments.