The swirling air currents transformed into a wind sweeping across the land, even the silent clouds at the zenith were drawn into its vortex, and boundless pure white shockwaves tore through the earth one after another, forcing everyone standing behind to hunch their bodies to barely remain standing.
Uchiha Hikari's eyes widened as she stared at the scene unfolding before her.
The pale purple Hollow Technique: Purple, like a long blade, cleaved a path several kilometers long across the earth, devouring all the torrents that stood in its way, turning them into a dark void.
As for the Edo Tensei Kage standing in front of this pale purple torrent, they were incredibly fragile, almost completely swallowed the moment the imaginary mass exploded.
The Third Raikage, pinned to the ground, turned his head in astonishment, staring blankly at the scene unfolding before his eyes, his last shred of hope shattering with it.
This technique was hundreds, even thousands of times stronger than when he fought Sawara Kiri back then.
They were not on the same level at all.
How much had this monster grown over the years?!
The question weighed heavily on his heart like a lead weight.
In the end, only three survived this technique.
"Whoosh—"
Three figures appeared almost simultaneously on the scorched earth hundreds of meters away from the Hollow Technique: Purple's impact point.
Tobirama held Madara in one hand and his older brother in the other, instinctively turning his head to look back.
When his dark eyes reflected the massive crater behind him, which was over a kilometer in diameter, a bead of cold sweat trickled down his temple.
Although he had already learned from that bastard Madara that this junior from Konoha possessed strength far beyond ordinary imagination, otherwise he would never have allowed him to speak so arrogantly.
However, when the opponent's true strength was displayed vividly before him, even Tobirama couldn't help but feel as if his throat was being tightly constricted.
"What astonishing power."
"That last attack was also on a spatial level... No, it seemed to be some other type of technique."
"A remarkable junior."
Tobirama muttered involuntarily.
"Hmph."
Madara grunted after breaking free from his grasp.
However, from his Mangekyo Sharingan, only endless apprehension could be seen.
He had originally thought that leaving behind an equally excellent Uchiha Hikari could somewhat balance this guy, but he never expected this guy to grow to such an outrageous extent, to the point where even that child stood on Sawara Kiri's side.
Besides that, there was also that bastard Nagato.
"Don't worry, Tobirama."
On the contrary, Hashirama laughed heartily, not taking this small matter to heart at all: "That child is on Konoha's side, you know!"
"We're definitely doomed this time!"
"Big Brother!"
Tobirama habitually yelled at him.
But after realizing what he had said, he stopped speaking.
After all, it seemed to be the case?
"But jokes aside, that young man from the Uzumaki clan doesn't seem to be planning on letting us off so easily." Hashirama's tone was casual, but when his gaze swept across the figure still standing in the sky, his always round eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a hint of hidden killing intent.
However, even such a small movement was fully seen by Nagato.
He still stood with his arms crossed, and facing Hashirama's hostility, he merely snorted softly.
The next moment, a hint of struggle flashed in the eyes of the three, and they re-stood up from their original positions, assuming an attacking stance towards Sawara Kiri.
Nagato looked towards Sawara Kiri and murmured:
"Hollow Technique: Purple, huh?"
"It seems you don't have many trump cards left."
Sawara Kiri looked up at him and smiled: "Want to try it yourself?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Hashirama, Tobirama, and Madara had already shot towards Sawara Kiri in a pincer attack.
The first to arrive were a series of Kunai thrown at high speed.
"Swish—"
Amidst the dense rain of Kunai, Tobirama's figure rapidly warped through space, his entire being like a silver-white flash, twisting and turning.
By the time he approached Sawara Kiri, a silver-white Ninja blade had already appeared in his hand, which he swung down decisively.
"Clang!"
"This move again?"
Sawara Kiri didn't even bother to block this time, letting the blade strike an inch from his neck.
The invisible space, like an abyss, swallowed all that power, finally pinning it firmly beyond that one inch.
At the same time, Tobirama's figure also blocked Sawara Kiri's line of sight.
Behind him, Hashirama and Madara appeared simultaneously.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: Wood Golem Jutsu!"
"Susanoo!"
Amidst the thunderous roar, countless gnarled tree roots continuously erupted from the scorched, hard ground, intertwining and connecting to form a wooden giant over a hundred meters tall.
Not only that, but with Madara's Susanoo as the base, deep blue armor, like a living suit, completely covered this terrifying wooden man, ultimately forming a hundred-meter tall deity in full samurai armor, with a giant blade extending from its hand that matched its height.
"Oh."
After casually flicking Tobirama aside, Sawara Kiri raised his head in slight surprise, looking at the giant that obscured his entire vision.
Hashirama and Madara's combined technique, truly a rare sight.
Before he could think any further, Hashirama and Madara, standing on the left and right shoulders of the giant and maintaining a hand seal, roared in unison.
"Hooah—!"
Accompanying their techniques, the samurai giant suddenly swung its long blade, and the mere aftershock of the massive blade's sweep stirred up an unstoppable cloud of dust in the air, amidst deafening roars, it bravely stepped forward and slashed, like splitting the sea and mountains.
"Still haven't understood? The distance of Limitless cannot be..."
Just as Sawara Kiri was speaking with some confusion, his Six Eyes suddenly noticed the spot where Tobirama's previous attack had landed.
In that void, a minuscule rune mark, too small for the naked eye to detect, remained.
—Space Sealing Technique.
I see.
Sawara Kiri thought this, but did not move his feet, instead facing the scene like divine wrath and raising his hand towards the sky above him.
A dark luster based on Armament Haki covered his entire palm, directly facing the world-splitting blade.
"Boom—!!!"
Dust surged and waves swelled, the sound reaching the heavens.
When sound reached a certain extreme, all that remained in human ears was endless buzzing and stinging, leaving them to judge the terrifying power solely by what their eyes witnessed.
The ground surrounding Sawara Kiri, as if a pond had exploded, surged up a dust wave that inverted towards the sky, like a reverse-flowing murky black waterfall, while the surrounding land masses pulsed like jumping tofu, from inside out, one piece after another, and the hard ground beneath his feet seemed to have turned into fluctuating seawater.
The remaining aftershocks continued to spread out behind him, with no end in sight.
"Kiri!"
Uchiha Hikari stared at this scene in astonishment.
Until the very end, her Mangekyo Sharingan was unable to capture any trace of Sawara Kiri moving.
How was this possible?
He shouldn't have been unable to dodge an attack of that speed.
It wasn't until the swirling dust around them gradually settled that Uchiha Hikari finally stopped her advance.
However, what was reflected on the young girl's face was another level of 'incomprehension'.
Sawara Kiri still stood in his original spot.
Perhaps because this small area of space was sealed, his clothes were stained with some dust, and his entire body, under the immense pressure of the colossal force, had sunk nearly twenty meters into the surrounding ground, which now formed a smooth, sunken hemisphere.
He maintained his raised hand.
In his palm, he tightly gripped the giant long blade formed by the combination of the Wood Golem and Susanoo.
His tiny figure and the overly massive giant blade created a strong sense of contrast in everyone's minds.
In the distance behind him, Tobirama stared blankly at the scene before him.
'This kid, he really is a monster.'
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! This is a bit much, isn't it?"
Even the usually carefree Hashirama showed an expression of disbelief.
Although he was controlled just now, he hadn't held back at all with that move.
Madara's veins throbbed on his forehead.
He had already imagined before his death what level this kid would reach in the future.
However, reaching this level was still somewhat unacceptable!
Sawara Kiri had completely surpassed him and Hashirama.
At this moment, Madara clearly recognized this fact he was unwilling to admit.
"How is this possible!"
Almost at the instant his murmur escaped his lips.
"Crack—"
With a series of fine, grating cracks, countless fissures, like a spiderweb, rapidly spread from where Sawara Kiri had met the blade to the end of the hilt, like a corner of shattered glass.
In this mirrored reflection, Madara's scarlet eyes reflected Sawara Kiri's arrogant smile.
?!
A warning thought suddenly rose from the depths of his heart.
The next moment, a thunderous roar shattered the entire Susanoo longsword.
Sawara Kiri's figure then abruptly vanished.
'So fast!'
Madara had just managed to form this thought when Hashirama beside him, with a speed even faster than his own, completed the hand seals.
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!"
The dragon-shaped ornamentation originally coiled around the hundred-meter wooden man instantly transformed from an inanimate object into a living creature, writhing like a true long dragon, continuously shooting forward along the wooden man's arm, directly towards Sawara Kiri.
"Technique Reversal: Red!"
Boundless repulsive force, carrying a powerful red glow, shot out like a bullet towards the Wood Dragon directly facing it.
The tiny fiery red light, like a firefly, paused for barely an instant upon colliding with the Wood Dragon, then tore through the entire body of the giant dragon as if it were nothing.
Amidst the continuously scattering wood fragments, Sawara Kiri's speed, even faster than Red, followed closely behind it, moving further upwards, appearing before Hashirama in the blink of an eye.
What appeared before him was a summoning scroll unfurled forward.
"Open!"
Accompanied by Hashirama's roar, dozens of various weapons shot forward in unison.
At the same time, he also held a Nodachi in his hand, and with an excited expression, he slashed towards Sawara Kiri.
Such an opponent... a stronger one even than Madara!
In his entire life, this was the first time he had encountered such a foe!
Although his body was still being controlled, even Hashirama himself didn't realize that his emotions at this moment were incredibly exhilarated.
"Clang—"
His rapidly advancing figure easily deflected the scattered weapons, and the seemingly slender Kunai, in a head-on clash, directly met the long Nodachi, instantly erupting in countless scattering sparks at the point of impact, dazzling with golden light.
Amidst the scraping of weapons, Sawara Kiri's figure, however, advanced half a step without any obstruction, his left tiptoe raised, his azure eyes directly meeting the man before him.
Hashirama first pressed down the long blade in his hand, while simultaneously raising his knee to try and block the kick that was about to fly up.
Sawara Kiri, however, suddenly smiled.
In a flash, he released the Kunai he was holding, and his right hand extended forward even faster, grabbing the back of the Nodachi that was trying to block. His entire body, propelled by the momentum of his charge and the borrowed force, suddenly rose a notch. His previously raised knee, poised for a kick, abruptly lifted, smashing into Hashirama's chest and abdomen with an extreme speed and a loud thud, causing the dark red armor on the outside to explosively shatter, making him float as if airborne.
Hashirama first let out a sharp gasp, his body instinctively raising his hands to block the series of incoming blows.
However, Sawara Kiri did not release the hand holding the blade; instead, he pushed his arm forward with even greater force, thrusting the hilt of the blade he had just released like a staff into his chest, then forcefully smashing it into the thick shoulder of the wooden man.
At this moment, Madara, on the other shoulder, had arrived.
He descended with a thunderous crash, like a demon god, his long hair wildly flailing as he brought his blade down with full force.
Almost at the instant his blade fell, the Nodachi in Sawara Kiri's hand had already spun around. While stepping on Hashirama with one foot, he raised his hand to block Madara's full-power strike.
With a crisp 'ding', the short blade, which had been falling due to immense force and momentum, suddenly tilted upwards, creating a momentary opening in his chest and abdomen.
Sawara Kiri's wrist suddenly lifted, his palm containing a pale blue glow.
Then, Madara, as if losing control, was suddenly drawn towards Sawara Kiri's palm, and with a smack, his neck was tightly gripped.
Even as an Edo Tensei body, with his neck restrained, he couldn't exert any power at all. Madara instinctively grabbed Sawara Kiri's wrist.
However, Sawara Kiri looked at him playfully, like an adult toying with a child, his azure eyes meeting Madara's Mangekyo Sharingan, and he whispered:
"Do you wish to dance?"
Madara's expression suddenly froze.
Before he could make any further moves, he was already swept in a semicircle by Sawara Kiri's arm amidst a whistling sound, the violent inertia even distorting the skin on his face, before finally smashing heavily into the wooden man's head with a thunderous crash, sinking into a deep crater.
Uchiha Hikari stared blankly at this scene.
Watching Madara, whom even she couldn't resist, being easily overwhelmed by Sawara Kiri like a naive child.
This was the power that surpassed the God of Shinobi.
However, just as Sawara Kiri's hands and feet were restrained in this instant.
Dazzling golden light suddenly burst forth from behind him, and an endless storm seemed to condense into a single point, converging into a wind surge that human power could not resist.
"Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!!"
Nagato had finally made his move.