A Sage's Pursuit of Power

After being revived, Hashirama's current body was not as strong as his original one. After all, it was merely a clone, and White Zetsu's cells had been used to stabilize it. It simply couldn't compare to his original Sage Body.

However, when Senju Hashirama entered Sage Mode, Aoba still felt an unparalleled sense of pressure.

There was no need for intelligence gathering, no need for conventional ninja skills, once he made a move, he became a god of the ninja world, unleashing large-scale devastation.

The true God of Shinobi had appeared before Aoba.

"Aoba, you are an exceptional ninja. But unfortunately, you have chosen the wrong path. I will not kill you, but I must correct your mistakes."

"Sage Art ~ Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands, Top Transformed Buddha!"

"Correct my mistakes? Hashirama, have you forgotten? You were supposed to be dead. I was the one who brought you back. And now, as a remnant of the old era, you dare lecture me?"

This time, Aoba was truly enraged.

The tailed beast chakra within him surged violently: Shukaku, Gyūki, and Matatabi, three tailed beasts' chakras merged with his Susanoo.

In an instant, Susanoo's size skyrocketed.

Originally standing at just a hundred meters tall, its body rapidly expanded several times over, surpassing five hundred meters in height.

And yet, this towering behemoth still wasn't larger than Hashirama's Wood Release construct.

Fortunately, since this revived body wasn't as strong as his original, Hashirama's wooden Buddha was not as terrifying as in the original storyline. It stood at roughly six hundred meters, taller than Aoba's Susanoo but not to an overwhelming degree.

At this scale, both Susanoo and the wooden Buddha were absolute forces of destruction, even for tailed beasts, they would be overwhelmingly powerful.

That infamous scene from Aoba's past life, where Hashirama casually held Kurama with one hand? Now, Aoba could replicate it himself. It might take some effort, but with enough force, he could definitely pull it off.

As the two colossal entities emerged, everyone else retreated several kilometers away.

Even Kakashi knew full well that Kamui wouldn't work against something like this.

In the original storyline, Kakashi had attempted to use Kamui to instantly kill the Ten-Tails. At the time, the Ten-Tails wasn't even in its final form, and its size wasn't larger than Aoba's Susanoo. But despite exhausting himself, he still failed.

That was because his understanding of Kamui had been too shallow. Due to his constant chakra deficiency, he had never truly explored its full potential.

But in this timeline, Kakashi had both Mangekyō Sharingan abilities.

With the assistance of his chakra cloak, and through repeated training, he had discovered Kamui's limits.

This ability was an absolute god-tier technique in support, escape, and ninja battles. However, when it came to fighting a fully-powered Susanoo or Hashirama's Top Transformed Buddha, it simply wasn't enough.

Aoba speculated that if Kamui evolved into an Eternal Mangekyō, there might be a chance. If his dual Kamui Mangekyō could ascend to the Rinnegan, he could probably dominate the entire ninja world.

But for now, that was just wishful thinking.

Konoha hadn't yet found a way to artificially bypass the Mangekyō's limitations.

Aoba controlled his Susanoo, and with the immense chakra coursing through his body, the katana in Susanoo's hand extended wildly.

Within moments, it became a hundreds-of-meters-long colossal blade.

Then, he swung it.

With a single slash, three nearby hills were sliced apart, and the sword collided directly with the wooden Buddha.

At least a hundred wooden arms were severed in one stroke.

But at the same time, even more arms surged forward.

Simultaneously, a second Wood Dragon emerged beneath Aoba's feet.

From atop the wooden Buddha, Obito attempted to use Shinra Tensei to block Aoba's strike.

But the moment their attacks collided, he felt an explosive pain in his head, as if it were about to shatter.

The power of the Rinnegan should have been much greater than this.

But Obito's body simply couldn't fully unleash its potential.

Even though he possessed the eyes of a god, when facing this level of power, he found himself helpless.

Hundreds of wooden arms rushed forward.

Even though more than three hundred were severed, the remaining ones still managed to bind Susanoo's arms tightly.

Then, a colossal Wood Dragon burst from underground and coiled around Susanoo's body.

Aoba was completely restrained.

However, Hashirama quickly noticed something unusual.

A crack was beginning to spread along one of the wooden arms.

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