While the horizon screamed with the sound of Uchiha lightning, the center of the battlefield belonged to a different kind of terror. Hashirama Senju stood atop his Shinsuusenju, his hands pressed together in a prayer of desperation. Beneath him, the million-man army had been pushed back by Minato's teleportation, leaving a vast, empty wasteland of white sand for the two most powerful beings in history to settle the score.
Naruto hovered in front of the thousand-armed statue. He looked like a silver needle in front of a mountain.
The Forest of Despair
"Naruto!" Hashirama's voice boomed, amplified by Sage Chakra. "I built this village so that children wouldn't have to die in the mud! I gave my life for a dream of peace! If I have to tear you apart to save that dream, I will!"
"Your dream was a cage, Hashirama," Naruto replied. He didn't raise his voice, yet it drowned out the wind. "You built a village of wood. Aizen-sama has built a palace of eternity. Your peace was maintained by the threat of monsters. My peace is maintained by the absence of desire."
Hashirama didn't hesitate. "Top Transformed Buddha!"
Thousands of massive wooden fists rained down from the sky. Each strike carried enough force to pulverize a Susano'o. The earth didn't just shake; it liquified. The dust rose so high it obscured the moons of Hueco Mundo.
Naruto didn't fly away. He didn't dodge.
He closed his silver eyes and whispered: "Resurrección: Cero Absoluto."
The Frozen Apocalypse
A wave of translucent, silver energy erupted from Naruto's body. It wasn't an explosion of heat—it was a total removal of energy.
The wooden fists, mid-strike, froze. Not in ice, but in time and spirit. The massive wooden statue began to turn gray and brittle. The life-force that Hashirama pumped into the wood was being drained into Naruto's hollow hole.
Naruto raised his hand, and a spear of concentrated solar Reiatsu formed—the Lanza del Sol.
He threw it.
The spear pierced through the center of the Shinsuusenju. Upon contact, the statue didn't break; it evaporated into white petals. Hashirama fell from the sky, his Edo Tensei body missing half its torso from the spiritual erosion.
The Last Breath of the Will of Fire
Naruto landed softly on the sand as Hashirama's body began to reconstruct itself. Beside Hashirama, the Third Hokage (Hiruzen) and the Second Hokage (Tobirama) stood ready, their faces grim.
"It's no use, Brother," Tobirama spat, his hands forming seals for a Water Style jutsu. "His Reiatsu is eating our chakra before the jutsu can even manifest. He's a walking nullification field."
"Then we use the Reaper," Hiruzen said, his voice trembling with age and sorrow. "I will take his soul with me to the stomach of death."
"The Reaper?" Naruto laughed—a cold, hollow sound. "You think a Shinobi spirit can claim the soul of a Transcendent? Look behind you, old man."
From the shadows of the dust, Sakura appeared. She was no longer standing—she was floating, her green aura now pulsing with black veins.
"The Fourth Hokage is busy keeping the army alive," Sakura said, her eyes fixed on Tsunade, who was struggling to stand nearby. "The First, Second, and Third are broken. The legend of the Hokage ends today."
Naruto pointed a finger at the three legends. The tip of his finger glowed with a black light rimmed in gold—the Cero Oscuras.
"Wait!" a voice screamed.
Hinata Hyuga ran into the center of the crater. She was exhausted, her Byakugan strained to the limit, her hands glowing with the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists. She stood between the Hokage and Naruto.
"Naruto-kun... please," she sobbed. "I know you're still in there. I saw the orange cloth... I saw you hesitate!"
Naruto looked at her. For a split second, the silver in his eyes flickered. A single spark of blue appeared, then was instantly drowned by the cold platinum.
"The orange cloth was a funeral shroud, Hinata," Naruto said. "And you are the last ghost haunting my palace. It is time for the sun to set."