Black Zetsu had really used that small opening well.
Jie glanced back at the crater behind him.
With Gyūki's help, the Adamantine Sealing Chains binding Kurama had already shattered. The moment Kurama broke free, it threw itself at the Gedo Statue, and Gyūki joined the attack without hesitation.
But after absorbing the chakra of the One-Tail through Seven-Tails, the Gedo Statue was no longer the same as before. Even against both tailed beasts, it did not fall behind.
For a time, the bottom of the crater became a chaotic battlefield. Huge stones slid down the walls as the three massive beings crashed into each other.
Things had gone slightly off course, but as long as Gyūki and Kurama were not trying to escape, Jie could still accept it.
In the end, it was only Madara and Hashirama.
Even with Madara's Rinnegan and the Sage Mode Jie had taught him, the two of them were only slightly more troublesome than before.
Jie had only looked back to check what was happening in the crater.
But to Madara and Hashirama, that glance meant something else.
They thought Jie was preparing to control the Gedo Statue and force it to swallow the last two tailed beasts, removing the final threat to himself.
Without needing to discuss it, Madara and Hashirama exchanged a glance and began forming hand seals.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
Hashirama had never truly seen Jie's full strength, but he did not dare underestimate him.
To stop Jie and seize the result for himself, Black Zetsu had appeared before Madara and Hashirama while pretending to be the will left behind by the Sage of Six Paths.
With his knowledge of ancient history, the altered Uchiha Stone Tablet, and Madara's newly awakened Rinnegan as proof, even Madara and Hashirama had to take his warning seriously.
Jie's origin had always been unclear, and now that suspicion was enough for them to go all out.
Hashirama used the strongest technique he currently possessed.
Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands.
Madara had the same thought.
Jie had taught him ninjutsu, and Madara remembered that debt. But if the entire ninja world was at stake, that debt could not stop him.
"Majestic Attire: Susanoo!"
Although Madara now had the Rinnegan, he had only awakened it recently and could not yet use its power perfectly.
So he chose the power he understood best.
The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
A powerful surge of eye power flowed from Madara's eyes. Blue chakra armor rapidly spread across the enormous wooden Buddha created by Hashirama.
"A Susanoo-clad Great Buddha?"
Seeing a technique that had only ever existed in his imagination, Jie was slightly stunned.
Then his interest finally rose.
Ever since obtaining both Susanoo and Wood Release, Jie had wanted to try this technique himself.
Obito and Pain were powerful by ordinary standards, but neither had been worth using something this excessive on.
Now, Madara and Hashirama together were barely enough.
Thinking of that, Jie brought his hands together.
Hashirama froze.
He knew that stance too well.
Before he could understand how Jie was using it, an enormous wooden Buddha rose behind Jie.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
"Majestic Attire: Susanoo!"
Crimson-gold Susanoo armor spread over Jie's giant wooden Buddha.
The statue had already been enormous, but once it was wrapped in Susanoo, its presence became suffocating.
A Susanoo-clad Buddha.
Created by Jie alone.
Madara and Hashirama's blue version had already looked overwhelming, but beside Jie's crimson-gold giant, it was clearly smaller.
For a moment, both of them were shaken.
Seeing Jie reproduce and surpass their combined technique only made Black Zetsu's warning sound more believable.
Jie did not know what they were thinking, and he would not have cared even if he did.
From the moment they attacked him, he no longer had any reason to hold back.
The moment his Susanoo-clad Buddha took shape, Jie's gaze cooled.
With a thought, the enormous crimson-gold figure advanced toward Madara and Hashirama.
Facing Jie's giant, which had been formed later but moved faster, Madara and Hashirama immediately gave their orders.
The blue Susanoo-clad Buddha they had created together charged forward to meet it.
As the two colossal figures closed the distance, the gap between them became impossible to ignore.
Madara and Hashirama's blue Buddha was smaller, but they had already committed. They refused to believe their combined technique would lose to Jie's power alone.
Unfortunately, reality did not care what they believed.
The moment the two Susanoo-clad Buddhas crashed together, the outcome was decided.
The earth shook violently.
Jie's crimson-gold Buddha did not move at all. Even the Susanoo armor covering it showed no sign of cracking.
Madara and Hashirama's blue Buddha, however, was forced several steps back, carving deep trenches into the ground beneath it.
At the same time, more than half of its blue Susanoo armor shattered.
Madara and Hashirama both stiffened.
Their strongest combined technique had been completely outmatched.
But both of them were battle-hardened shinobi, and this battle concerned the entire ninja world. They had no room to retreat.
After a brief adjustment, Madara and Hashirama steadied themselves and poured even more chakra into the Buddha and Susanoo.
Under their continued chakra supply, the blue Susanoo-clad Buddha quickly repaired itself, then charged toward Jie's crimson-gold giant again.
Jie understood their plan immediately.
If they could not defeat him directly, they wanted to drag the battle into a war of attrition.
But trying to exhaust Jie through chakra consumption was wishful thinking. Their Buddha suffered more damage with every collision, which meant they would be the ones paying the higher price.
Still, Jie did not mind playing along.
Madara and Hashirama alone were not enough to make him go all out.
So Jie simply split his attention.
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