One had to admit the truth.
Under the dual blessings of [Sage Body] and Sage Art, Hashirama's [Thousand Hands Manipulation Force · Summit Enlightened Thousand-Armed Cannon] was undoubtedly among the most formidable attacks a Kage-level ninja could unleash.
In fact,
in certain ways, it could even be considered as touching the threshold of Six Paths Level power.
So overwhelming was its force that even Lord Madara—employing his Rinnegan, Susano'o, and Wood Release together—could barely withstand the onslaught.
Numerous times already,
those devastating golden hands of the Buddha had pierced through his Susano'o, shattering the wooden avatar he wielded.
If he had still been riding the Nine-Tails as before,
then by now, his Susano'o would have already been torn apart, and the Nine-Tails captured by Hashirama.
But now that he himself had mastered [Wood Release], there was nothing to fear.
Even if his Susano'o was destroyed and his wooden avatar shattered,
with a single clap of his hands, he could instantly summon another towering wooden giant, which he could immediately wrap in Susano'o again, continuing the battle!
This new combination proved far more resilient than the old Nine-Tails-and-Susano'o pairing.
And this, precisely, was the superior endurance capability of Wood Release.
As long as chakra remained sufficient, there was absolutely no need to worry about damage.
And this was also why Hashirama had ultimately won during their earlier showdown at the [Valley of the End]...
Yet,
even though he now possessed Wood Release too, he still couldn't fully match those thousand surging golden arms.
His [Wood Release·Susano'o] was smashed apart again and again,
continuously reforming, rising anew to fight back.
At first glance, it seemed as though Hashirama held the upper hand.
In reality, however,
both fighters could clearly sense it—
the life force within Hashirama's reanimated body was accelerating its depletion.
Though perhaps only one ten-thousandth or one hundred-thousandth vanished each second,
this unavoidable loss steadily weakened Hashirama's attack strength.
Gradually wearing down…
Perhaps, within half an hour,
maybe less than ten minutes…
the tide of battle between them might well begin shifting.
"Hashirama! Your attacks are weakening!"
"Already at your limit that quickly?"
Lord Madara roared loudly, somewhat displeased.
"Madara!"
"Don't persist blindly anymore…"
"The rule of terror you advocate will never bring success!"
"Only love is the true path to peace!"
Hashirama called out in fervent persuasion.
Of course, not a single one of those golden Buddha hands ceased their bombardment.
Madara: "..."
Looking at the heavens darkening once more with incoming fists,
indeed, such 'heavy' love could truly bring peace to the world!
Unfortunately, Hashirama was simply too rigid-minded.
Otherwise, back then they could've combined Susano'o with the Thousand Hands Manipulation Force, easily conquering the four nations.
And later, countless Great Ninja World Wars would never have broken out…
"Foolishness!"
"As long as people possess desire, and countries remain unequal in strength, true understanding between humans can never happen!"
"And certainly not through your misguided notion of love bringing peace!"
"Hashirama, how much longer will you refuse to see reason?"
Lord Madara snorted coldly, fiercely retorting.
"Madara!"
"No matter what, you still refuse to back down?"
"Compromise will only prolong the tragedy..."
"Madara, don't force my hand!"
Hashirama roared in anguish.
If it could be helped, he truly didn't want to strike against Madara again!
But he understood even more clearly now:
Before his reincarnated body used up every last bit of its life force, he had to defeat Madara!
Otherwise,
he and all of Konoha might be destroyed by Madara!
"Don't force your hand?"
"How amusing!"
"Hashirama, do you really believe victory is already yours?"
"Fine then. Today I'll make sure you lose with no doubts left!"
Madara sneered coldly, seemingly provoked by Hashirama's words.
Besides,
his pride would never allow him to stall for time, waiting until Hashirama's life force was depleted.
Even if he won that way, he wouldn't feel satisfied!
Rather than that,
he'd rather seize this chance, go all-in, reveal his ultimate trump card, and defeat Hashirama head-on!
After all these years,
unless he defeated Hashirama directly, he could never fully stand tall before him.
"It's your time to appear..."
[Summoning: Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!]
Madara formed the hand seal and activated the technique.
The next instant, the ground beneath his feet rumbled violently as earth and stones rolled like they were alive.
A massive demonic statue exuding extreme hunger and malice erupted upward with a deafening roar, like an evil spirit crawling out from hell itself.
"Clang, clank—"
Two thick iron chains binding the statue's hands and feet snapped apart effortlessly.
"Roar—"
A mighty roar swept across the battlefield.
That towering body, that nearly tangible malevolence.
Just catching a glimpse of it made every distant Konoha ninja shiver uncontrollably, their hearts pounding in pure fear.
After all, just from a visual standpoint alone,
the [Demonic Statue of the Outer Path] looked absolutely grotesque!
It couldn't compare to Hashirama's Giant Buddha Statue at all.
At the same time, one could faintly see
ten closed eyes upon the statue's skull—one had already opened two.
This meant,
two tailed beasts had already been absorbed into the [Demonic Statue of the Outer Path].
Those two beasts were precisely the Four-Tails and Five-Tails originally belonging to Iwagakure Village.
In fact, to power the [Demonic Statue of the Outer Path],
on his way here, Madara casually captured the jinchūriki of those two beasts—Rōshi and Han—and quickly extracted their tailed beasts.
There was nothing that could be done about it.
Who told them not to stay safely inside Iwagakure Village?
Instead, they fled the village and wandered around traveling aimlessly.
Carrying the precious "Buddha's flesh" (tail beast chakra), yet refused to stay put, recklessly running off instead.
They could only be considered asking for capture.
Naturally, this was also why Madara took over two days to finally arrive at [Konoha].
Otherwise, with his speed,
half a day would have sufficed for him to cross most of the Ninja World...
It was also the reason why Madara had felt quite dissatisfied earlier when hearing how the [Akatsuki] organization hadn't managed to catch even one tailed beast.
In his opinion,
capturing tailed beasts should be easier than eating or drinking water.
...
Freshly unleashed, the [Demonic Statue of the Outer Path] roared furiously as it thrashed about violently.
Though it was merely a physical shell of the God Tree, it had no mind of its own.
It still retained its most primal instinct to consume, due to having its Tailed Beast Chakra extracted.
It was ravenous for absorbing every bit of surrounding Chakra!
But before it could finish roaring… before it could even begin its feast—
"Huaaa—"
Lord Madara leaped onto the head of the [Demonic Statue of the Outer Path], as a massive torrent of brilliant blue Chakra poured downward.
In an instant,
the Chakra enveloped the entire statue, stripping it of mobility.
Soon after,
a massive [Perfect Susanoo], nearly a kilometer tall, formed around the [Demonic Statue of the Outer Path].
You gotta realize—
the life force sealed within this [Demonic Statue of the Outer Path] far surpassed that of an ordinary [Wooden Giant].
It was even comparable to a perfect [Sage Body].
Combined with Chakra from two Tailed Beasts and Lord Madara's own [Perfect Susanoo],
layer upon layer, amplifying each time,
this power easily eclipsed the former [Wild Beast Calamity] by a vast margin!
In fact, it had already shattered the limits of Kage-level strength, teetering on the edge of Six Paths Level.
This was also Lord Madara's ultimate weapon, specially devised for Hashirama!
...
"What monstrous hatred!"
"What kind of monster is this?"
"Madara, where in the world did you find such a thing?"
"This is your confidence?"
Hashirama furrowed his brow, secretly astonished.
Clearly, this current [Demonic Statue of the Outer Path]-Susanoo Fusion was truly terrifying! It caused him to instinctively feel wary.
"Ahahaha!"
"Hashirama, come try this one out!"
"This time, you're definitely going down!"
With a maniacal laugh, Lord Madara seized control of his [Demonic Statue of the Outer Path]-Susanoo Fusion and launched a fierce assault on the [Senju Daibutsu].
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