This bombardment lasted for tens of minutes before finally coming to an end.
Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara stopped at the same time, staring at the area they had just attacked.
Before them, the once flat earth had been replaced by a massive, bottomless crater, spanning several dozen kilometers in diameter.
Thick clouds of dust completely obscured the inside of the pit.
For a moment, the entire battlefield was dead silent—only the swirling smoke remained, faintly hinting at the terrifying intensity of the earlier clash.
"With Yuto's strength, that kind of bombardment won't be enough to kill him,"
Uchiha Madara said in a low voice.
Hashirama nodded, closing his eyes slightly as he carefully sensed the life force within the pit.
In Sage Mode, Hashirama's sensory abilities were heightened many times over.
At the bottom of the enormous crater—
Yuto lay on the uneven ground with his eyes closed. His clothes were tattered beyond recognition, and unusually for him, his body was marked with bruises and wounds of various sizes.
The combined assault from Hashirama and Madara had been too sudden and overwhelming.
Even though he could absorb energy, Yuto simply couldn't take it all in at once—only some of it.
The rest had impacted him directly.
At this moment, Hashirama and Madara were at their absolute peak. This was no longer the timid fighting seen in anime—it was the kind of overwhelming power that made Yuto fully aware of how terrifying these two really were.
But Yuto was waiting…
Suddenly—
A faint, nearly undetectable chakra entered Yuto's perception.
They're here.
Yuto's eyes snapped open.
He slammed both hands against the ground and launched himself from the crater like a shooting star, soaring into the sky!
"Sage Art: Shinsuusenju – Myojin Gate!"
Hashirama formed hand seals and shouted.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Massive, gate-shaped constructs rained down from the sky, hurtling toward Youto.
Each enormous gate was covered in countless seals and talismans.
Seeing this, Youto twisted midair and punched fiercely toward the air in front of him.
A sharp sonic boom exploded, and using the recoil, he launched himself in the opposite direction.
The Myojin Gate—this was the very technique Hashirama once used to suppress the Ten-Tails, even managing to pin down Edo Tensei Madara.
If Yuto were struck by this, escaping would be extremely difficult.
However, what Yuto didn't realize was that the direction he fled toward… was exactly where Uchiha Madara stood.
BOOM!
"Tailed Beast Bomb!"
The Nine-Tails let out a roar.
A terrifying black chakra rapidly gathered at its mouth, and in an instant, formed a massive chakra sphere dozens of meters wide.
Amidst the beast's roar, the Tailed Beast Bomb shot toward Youto.
"Little Madara, I appreciate the energy! Thanks for the meal!"
Seeing the incoming attack, Yuto wasn't afraid—in fact, he was overjoyed.
He stretched out his hands and plunged them directly into the Tailed Beast Bomb.
There was no explosion.
The sphere shrank visibly to the naked eye, and in the blink of an eye, the massive bomb was completely absorbed by Yuto.
But the moment it was fully absorbed, a chilling aura of death suddenly surged into Yuto's mind.
Ahead of him—
Madara, who had previously been some distance away, had now silently appeared right in front of Yuto, hidden by the distraction of the Tailed Beast Bomb.
Madara's eyes snapped open, revealing the eerie Mangekyo Sharingan, which locked eyes with Yuto.
Shit—genjutsu!!
By the time Yuto realized Madara's intent, it was too late. His body froze completely in place.
At the same time, Black Emperor's energy absorption stalled for a moment.
Hashirama and Madara's eyes lit up simultaneously.
Their guess had been correct!
Boom! Boom!
Without the slightest hesitation, the two launched a barrage of terrifying attacks.
Blood sprayed everywhere!
Yuto was wounded. Since acquiring the Black Emperor's powers, this was the first time Yuto had ever been injured—and the wound was serious enough to be fatal!
The instant he realized he'd fallen into Madara's genjutsu, Yuto forcefully summoned his Ghost and violently disrupted the flow of chakra in his body.
Yuto hadn't summoned the Ghost to block the attacks from Hashirama and Madara.
In the world of demi-humans, the Ghost's strength was terrifying, but this was the Naruto world. At best, a Ghost could match a mid-level ninja.
Using a Ghost to defend against the likes of Hashirama and Madara would be like asking for instant vaporization.
No—Youto summoned the Ghost to attack himself.
Squelch!
The moment the Ghost appeared, it plunged its claws into Yuto's body.
To counteract the genjutsu, Yuto had rehearsed this exact move countless times.
The excruciating pain jolted his mind into clarity. Combined with the disruption of his chakra flow, Yuto forcibly broke free from Madara's illusion.
A move like this—hurting yourself to break free from the enemy's illusion—was a desperate, high-risk method.
But against opponents like Madara and Hashirama, even a momentary lapse was enough for them to strike dozens, even hundreds of times.
Blood gushed continuously from Yuto's mouth.
At this point, nearly half of his body had vanished.
"You've lost, Yuto."
Hashirama's voice was calm as he looked at Youto's devastated body.
"The moment you exposed your weakness… you no longer had a chance to win."
Madara folded his arms, his tone tinged with a trace of regret.
For fighters at their level, even the smallest flaw could be magnified infinitely.
Madara and Hashirama gazed at Yuto's figure, now half-destroyed and swaying like a dying flame.
There was no longer any doubt—
Yuto's era was coming to an end.
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