The twilight at the ruins of Rōran always carries an eerie tranquility.
To facilitate the differentiation of different Shinobi World during wartime, the Shinobi Alliance named this Shinobi World Shinobi World No. 1.
Of course, there are other, less-known considerations involved.
But those were matters for the higher-ups of the Shinobi Alliance, and had little to do with Shion, who was located in the Dragon Vein.
At this moment, Shion stood in the center of the Dragon Vein Altar, her Pure Moon Eye reflecting the surging purple energy, her silver hair rising and falling in the wind and sand, like moonlight scattered by the wind.
Through communication with the Dragon Vein, he has been able to begin to perceive the differences in the flow of time and space.
Two months have passed in the current Shinobi World No. 1, while only one month has passed in the world where Hoshino is located.
"So, that means it'll be another ten months before Hoshino comes back!"
Shion sighed softly, rested her chin on her hands, and sat listlessly on the protruding part of the altar.
"Are you worried about that guy?"
A hoarse female voice came from behind the broken wall.
Temari leaped down with one foot, her Three-Star Fan dragging a piercing sound across the gravel ground.
His Forehead Protector was covered in dust that he hadn't brushed off, clearly indicating that he had rushed all the way from Sunagakure. His pupils, beneath his eyeshadow, were bloodshot, yet he still managed to maintain a nonchalant demeanor.
As Shion turned around, she caught a glimpse of the other person turning their face away, and the slight blush on their ears made her chuckle to herself.
" The Puppet Plan... they've already produced some finished products, around five hundred in number. They're very strong; the lowest level is Elite Jonin."
" The Shinobi Alliance asked me to send over a batch for you to check. Once we confirm there are no problems, we'll prepare for large-scale production."
Temari said casually.
After Shion merges the power of the priestess and the Moryo, she can directly sense energy balance and spatial fluctuations.
Its unique physique and control over Natural Energy can determine whether the puppet's core energy is stable and whether there are potential spacetime rifts.
This ensures that mass-produced puppets will not cause accidents due to energy repulsion in interdimensional warfare.
Shion leaped from the edge of the altar, and dust rose in fine, silvery mist under the moonlight.
Temari, summoning a puppet army of five hundred silver-gray puppets that lined up at the edge of the ruins.
In the Intelligent Puppet Plan of the Shinobi World No. 1, in order to visually distinguish them from human bodies, none of the puppets were given traditional facial features.
His flat face was fitted with only a pair of diamond-shaped prosthetic eyes.
Viewed from the front, the puppet's face resembles a smooth metal mask, with only the changing light and shadow of its prosthetic eyes subtly revealing the unique 'expression' of a machine.
This design not only avoids ethical controversies, but also creates a unique deterrent effect in actual combat.
When the puppet army arrayed itself, the sight of countless prosthetic eyes lighting up simultaneously resembled a floating cluster of purple stars, sending chills down the spines of the enemy.
"This one won't work; its core repels the Dragon Vein's energy, and mass production would trigger a chain reaction of explosions. This one won't work either..."
Shion's Pure Moon Eye, located between her brows, slightly contracted, allowing her to see the energy flow of each puppet.
The Chakra crystal serves as the core, transmitting Chakra throughout the body via a network of channels, while the seals at the joints are responsible for reconciling the conflict between mechanical and Natural Energy.
Of the 500 puppets, 378 were ultimately selected as qualified.
"Can it be fixed?" Temari, squatting down beside her.
Shion shook her head and said, "The rejection reaction stems from the energy ratio during manufacturing; this batch of cores needs to be melted down and recast."
Upon Temari nodded silently and waved her hand, ordering the puppet troops to retreat to the outskirts of Rōran.
As dusk settled, it gradually seeped into every crevice of the Rōran ruins.
The Dragon Vein pillar of light at the center of the altar stood out even more against the night sky, its purple energy surging like liquid stars.
Occasionally, tiny particles of light would splash out and land on the sand at the feet of the Shion, condensing into fleeting fluorescent patterns.
"Actually, you want to ask about Hoshino, right?" Shion suddenly chuckled.
Temari looked up abruptly, only to meet the blatant mockery in the other person's eyes, and her ears immediately burned even redder.
"Who... who wants to ask him!" she retorted, her neck stiff, as her Three-Star Fan 'whooshed' open to cover half her face.
"I'm just here to carry out a mission for the Shinobi Alliance!"
"Besides... that bastard left the Shinobi World without even saying a word. Who knows if he'll ever come back."
Shion gazed at Temari earlobes, which glowed warmly in the moonlight, and her smile grew even brighter.
That guy is all bark and no bite, he's really something else!
He'll come back! Don't blame him; time waits for no one, neither him nor us!
"... Forget it, I don't want to deal with that guy."
Temari bit her lower lip sharply, the Three-Star Fan spinning halfway in her palm before finally turning into a sigh.
He then turned and left, leaving behind a single sentence.
"I'm going to check on the barrier set up by the patrol team. Be careful yourself."
Shion's gaze lingered in the moonlight for a long time, until Temari's figure disappeared behind the broken wall.
"Ten months?"
After leaving Rōran, Temari paused and murmured softly.
The Land of Fire, the Valley of the End.
boom--
The roar of the waterfall was shattered into dust by the force of the punches.
The moment Hashirama Senju's Wood Release giant fist, carrying vines and the fragrance of flowers, collided with Madara Uchiha's Susanoo, a deafening explosion erupted from the depression created on the lake's surface.
Before the water had receded, Madara Uchiha had already leaped into the air, stepping on the afterimages of sword energy.
" Hashirama, is that all you've got?!"
His voice drowned out the roar of the waterfall, Susanoo's second sword strike was already aimed at Hashirama Senju's face.
" Madara, you're getting impatient."
The moment Hashirama Senju's Wood Release giant fist, carrying fragments of ancient trees, collided with Madara Uchiha Susanoo, the lake surface shattered like a mirror.
boom--
A water curtain, hundreds of meters in diameter, shot into the sky, refracting rainbows under the moonlight, only to be torn to shreds by a violent Chakra storm in the next instant.
" Madara!"
The roar of Hashirama Senju echoed through the valley, and the Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands that appeared behind him raised his fist as large as a mountain, each finger wrapped with vibrant vines.
At the foot of the Buddha, the lake water is squeezed out into a huge vacuum area, revealing the Madara Uchiha at the bottom of the lake.
" Susanoo - Complete Form!"
Madara Uchiha responded with a maniacal laugh, and a deep blue giant rose from the water curtain, his long sword slicing through the sky.
Susanoo's shoulder shattered the source of the waterfall, causing the water to flow back into the valley, only to evaporate into white mist the instant it touched the giant's body.
boom--
The clash between the two colossal figures unleashed a Category 12 hurricane, leveling the vegetation within a ten-mile radius.
The wooden Buddha statue controlled by Hashirama Senju unleashed hundreds of vine whips, each carrying enough power to crush mountains.
Madara Uchiha's Susanoo carving deep trenches hundreds of feet deep into the ground.
" Hashirama, your Wood Release is still so fussy and indecisive!"
Madara Uchiha's voice emanated from the chest cavity of Susanoo.
" Madara, you still don't understand."
Hashirama Senju wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "The meaning of power has never been destruction!"
Wood Release Chakra surged across the lakebed like a tide, and towering trees instantly sprouted from the withered rocks, their roots intertwining to form a cage that trapped Susanoo in the center.
Madara Uchiha's longsword struck the cage, but only stirred up a swarm of fluorescent pollen.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
Hashirama Senju together, and the flowers covering the mountains and fields instantly bloomed under the influence of Chakra, their pink petals oozing highly poisonous nectar.
Madara Uchiha cursed and swung his longsword, trying to cut a path to his death, only to find that the petals clung to the blade like a malignant tumor, and the light of his Chakra was rapidly dimming.
"Don't waste your energy, Madara."
Hashirama Senju's figure appeared on the shoulder of Susanoo. "Your Susanoo ocular power, while my Senjutsu Chakra... is inexhaustible."
Madara Uchiha looked up at Hashirama Senju, the Tomoe in his Rinnegan spinning wildly, and suddenly revealed a chilling smile.
The Susanoo's body shrank instantly, transforming into a close-fitting suit of armor covering its body.
The next second, he had already pierced the wooden doll's throat with his longsword, the tip of the sword only three inches away from Hashirama Senju's heart.
"You forgot, I still have this." Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan glowed with a bloody light.
" Limbo: Border Jail: Border Prison!"
Hashirama Senju's pupils contracted sharply as he sensed four unseen figures attacking from behind. He instinctively used Wood Release to defend himself.
Then Susanoo's longsword grazed his ribs, leaving a charred mark on the Chakra Armor developed by the Shinobi Alliance.
"This is the true power of the Rinnegan, Hashirama." Madara Uchiha's voice was filled with the ecstatic joy of victory. "You thought you could fight against a god with Senjutsu alone?"
Susanoo simultaneously swung his sword, and the wooden Buddha statue of Hashirama Senju disintegrated into fragments with a deafening roar.
I was thrown hundreds of meters by the force of the impact, crashing into three ancient trees before finally coming to a stop.
"Damn Rinnegan..."
Hashirama Senju tore off his tattered armor, revealing his muscular physique and the slight cracks characteristic of his Reanimated Body.
At the same time, he suddenly remembered the warning from the Shinobi Alliance's Technology Department: "When faced with forces beyond the reach of reason, any technological creation can become a double-edged sword."
Tap tap tap--
Madara Uchiha's footsteps pounded through the fallen leaves as he approached.
" Hashirama, you always rely on external things. Neither the Wood Release armor nor the scrap metal from the Shinobi Alliance can save you."
As soon as he finished speaking, five sword lights struck down simultaneously.
Hashirama Senju was launched vertically into the air like a rocket, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow.
In the instant he ascended, he glimpsed five abysses carved into the ground, each a thousand meters deep—it was utterly terrifying.
"Then let's try this trick!"
Hashirama Senju Hand Seals amidst the clouds, unleashing a massive amount of Wood Release Chakra from his palms.
The ground of the entire Valley of the End suddenly rose up, and countless wooden spikes burst forth from the earth, forming a forest dome that blotted out the sky.
Susanoo his sword and slashed, only to find that these wooden spikes could regenerate instantly after being cut, and each spike was wrapped with the 'ki' that Hoshino had mentioned.
"This is... the Power of Creation?" Madara Uchiha's pupils contracted slightly. "You've already reached this level?"
"It's not destiny, it's resonance." Hashirama Senju's voice came from above the dome.
" Madara, you have always pursued the ultimate in power, but you have overlooked the essence of power. It is never a simple destruction, but a cycle of mutual generation and creation."
"Don't try to lecture me!"
Madara Uchiha roared as he activated his Rinnegan, creating five Shadow Clone and simultaneously activating his Susanoo, as ten longswords slashed towards the dome.
Boom boom boom--
The wooden spikes crumbled amidst a roar, but as they fell, they transformed into countless green butterflies, each butterfly's wings reflecting the Hashirama mark of Chakra.
Genjutsu?
Madara Uchiha his sword to cleave the swarm of butterflies, only to find that the blade could not be withdrawn after passing through them.
Those seemingly illusory creatures were feeding on Chakra, continuously converting his eye power into Wood Release Chakra.
"This is ' Wood Release: Butterfly Mode Technique,' inspired by Hoshino's Mutant Insect Swarm."
Hashirama Senju's figure appeared above Madara Uchiha's head, his hands forming a hand seal he had never seen before.
"In the words of the Shinobi Alliance scientists, this is called ' Biological Energy Reverse Absorption '! Madara, times have changed, you need to learn this!"
Cracks appeared in the Susanoo's armor, Chakra was rapidly leaking through the blade.
Damn it!
Madara Uchiha's body retreated like a cannonball, carving a trench a hundred meters deep into the ground.
"You think you can win like this? I have one last trick up my sleeve..."
The sound stopped abruptly.
" Madara, that's enough." Hashirama's tone softened. "We're not children anymore; we shouldn't decide right and wrong with our fists."
Upon hearing this, Susanoo's ten longswords remained suspended in mid-air, no longer falling.
With this Butterfly Mode Technique, I have no chance against Hashirama. It's better to step down this step.
Thinking of this, Susanoo's armor turned into blue light and shattered into dust, revealing Madara Uchiha's arrogant face.
"Hmph... You win this time!"
Madara Uchiha coldly, turned around and sat down on his own statue, pondering to himself.
Should I also go and study at that research institute?
Even someone Hashirama could come up with a ' Butterfly Mode Technique,' so there's no reason I can't!
Am I not smarter than him?
On the other side.
Hashirama Senju forced himself to stand upright and secretly severed the energy connection with the Wood Release dome.
The fluorescent green butterflies suddenly lost their luster, fell to the ground like kites with broken strings, and turned into lifeless wood chips.
We almost lost!
Hashirama Senju couldn't help but curse Tobirama Senju.
The so-called ' Biological Energy Reverse Absorption ' is nothing more than a deadly technique that puts people on a fire to roast them!
Not only could it not move, but its duration was also pitifully short. If I hadn't been clever enough to persuade Ban with my words, I would have really lost.
Hashirama Senju dragged his heavy steps to sit down beside him, feeling the continuous flow of Chakra within his body.
Although theoretically this body has unlimited physical strength, the overdrawn mental energy is like a boulder pressing on the mind, making even speaking sound weak.
" Madara, that move you just made..."
"Shut up," Madara Uchiha interrupted. "If you mention it again, I'll throw you off a cliff."
Hashirama Senju chuckled to himself and turned to look in the direction of the waterfall.
Moonlight filtered through the water, casting dappled silver spots on his sharply defined profile.
Those sharp edges that once struck fear into the hearts of the Shinobi World now appeared somewhat gentle in the twilight.
Just then, Shikaku Nara's figure leaped out of the dense forest, stopping panting in front of the statue, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two.
" Lord Hashirama, Lord Madara... the Shinobi Alliance's Resurrection Plan has entered the experimental phase, and we need you both to prepare in advance."