The Complete Body Susano'o, clad in chakra armor, crushed the Senju Clan Compound's Main Assembly Hall under one foot, while its other foot crushed two smaller courtyards.
The two families of Senju clansmen living in those courtyards were stamped into the ground along with the architectural rubble, turned into pulp.
The Complete Body Susano'o swung its massive sword down towards Uzumaki Kushina, who had fallen to the ground.
At that moment, a sharp cry rang out.
Tsunade leaped from mid-air, punching the side of the Susano'o's greatsword.
The Susano'o greatsword was sent flying by the punch, leveling many surrounding houses.
Tsunade's expression was grave.
Fortunately, Fox had warned her in advance, otherwise Kushina would have been killed by Uchiha Madara in their first encounter.
Namikaze Minato Body Flickered to Kushina's side.
Tsunade said: "Minato! Take Kushina and leave! Get to the shelters! This fight is not one you can participate in!"
Minato quickly helped Kushina up and leaped backward.
The moment they jumped, the Susano'o's greatsword came down again, its target clear: Uzumaki Kushina.
At that moment, the Adamantine Staff swung, deflecting the greatsword for a second time.
Boom!
The greatsword swept away another dozen or so houses, plowing a deep trench through the Senju Compound.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hatake Sakumo, and Utatane Koharu had arrived within the Senju Compound.
Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at the trench left by the greatsword – over ten meters wide, several meters deep, and dozens of meters long – and shouted:
"We can't fight inside the village! Cover me, I'll push the Susano'o out of the village!"
The thick Adamantine Staff elongated and slammed into the Susano'o's abdomen with a boom, pushing it backward.
Feeling the tremor, a slight change flickered in Uchiha Madara's eyes, as if he had found a bit of interest.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen, heh, you don't think just because you're holding the Adamantine Staff, you're Sarutobi Sasuke, do you?
Hurry up and stuff that staff back into Sarutobi Sasuke's grave.
Don't take it out and embarrass Sarutobi Sasuke.
Look at you swinging that giant stick; it's like a child trying to stir the ocean."
The Susano'o only took one step back before standing firm on the ground.
A moment of panic flashed in Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart. His father, Sarutobi Sasuke, had personally told him he was no match for Uchiha Madara.
But in the next instant, Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze hardened. He exerted strength, drawing forth chakra, and pushed against the Susano'o with even greater force.
His father had said that Uchiha Madara was skilled at psychological warfare. In a fight against him, one must neither look into his eyes nor listen to his words, otherwise, one wouldn't even be able to muster eighty percent of their strength.
However, even as the Adamantine Staff bent into an arc, it couldn't move the Susano'o an inch.
Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a sense of powerlessness. He was giving it his all, but he was being completely overpowered by the Susano'o.
Tsunade saw how the Susano'o's heels flattened numerous houses as it stepped back, and she dreaded to think how many Senju clansmen had died inside them.
She leaped up suddenly and punched the Susano'o's knee.
To her shock, Tsunade discovered that her full-force punch hadn't even shattered the Susano'o's knee.
Why did such a powerful jutsu exist?
Tsunade's right arm hung limply as she quickly used medical chakra to soothe the pain in it.
How did Grandfather ever defeat an enemy like this?
Tsunade raised her hand and pressed her forehead. It seemed it was time to use the Yin Seal...
The Susano'o raised its hand. In its palm, three chakra magatama spun rapidly.
Yasaka Magatama!
Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart trembled with fear. He had seen this technique before; its destructive power was on par with a Tailed Beast Ball, the Susano'o's strongest long-range attack.
The Susano'o slowly moved its hand, aiming the Yasaka Magatama at Sarutobi Hiruzen.
A visible mass of immense chakra gathered in the Susano'o's palm.
Hatake Sakumo drew his White Fang short sword, thinking to himself that he could slice apart a Tailed Beast Ball the size of a human head, but he didn't know if the White Fang's blade aura could handle the Yasaka Magatama.
Just then, two dragon roars echoed through Konoha's night sky.
Two Wood Dragons charged from behind, coiling around the Susano'o's shoulders, one on the left and one on the right.
The Susano'o staggered. The Yasaka Magatama shot high, grazing the Hokage Building and flying towards the right side of the Hokage Rock.
Yōkō caught the Susano'o's final motion of swinging its hand to the right.
The bond between Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama really is deep. Even now, his first instinct is to make his attack avoid Hashirama's face as much as possible.
Having Kyōi hide in Shelter Number One beneath Hashirama's face was indeed the right choice.
The Yasaka Magatama exploded in the forest on the Hokage Rock.
About one-fifth of the long stone cliff face was destroyed.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's likeness was blasted in half.
Sarutobi Hiruzen shouted: "Well done, Fox!"
With Fox here, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt significantly more at ease.
Opposite the Senju Clan Compound was the Uchiha Clan Compound.
Uchiha Kane stood atop the torii gate, watching the battle between Uchiha Madara and the Konoha leadership over two hundred meters away with his Three Tomoe Sharingan.
"Clan Head..."
Hearing Uchiha Tōka's call, Uchiha Kane turned and said, "Tōka, carry out the Hokage Building's orders. The Military Police Force is not to enter the battlefield. Focus all efforts on evacuating civilians!"
Upon hearing the Clan Head's order, Uchiha Tōka sighed with frustration and turned to arrange the Military Police's evacuation efforts.
Uchiha Madara was invading Konoha, yet the village wouldn't allow the Uchiha clan to participate in the fight.
It was a clear precaution against the Uchiha, a lack of trust.
But they couldn't just charge onto the battlefield; that would be blatant insubordination and would cause tension and misunderstanding among the Konoha shinobi who were fighting.
Uchiha Kane stood on the torii gate, his Three Tomoe spinning rapidly.
It was predictable that the Uchiha clan's situation would worsen after the battle.
With such a major event as the village being breached, the Uchiha clan had nearly stood by idly. The villagers' resentment towards the Uchiha would grow greater and heavier.
He had never used Susano'o himself. This was a learning opportunity.
Perhaps he would never use Susano'o in his lifetime, just like the water in the bronze vat in the courtyard, which would evaporate before ever being used to put out a fire.
But he absolutely had to master Susano'o.
Seeing the two Wood Dragons, Sarutobi Hiruzen quickly said: "Everyone, together! Push Uchiha Madara out of Konoha!"
With the Wood Dragons pulling from behind and the Adamantine Staff pushing from the front, the Susano'o began moving eastward.
Its hundred-meter-tall, massive, and majestic form made the very earth shake with each step back.
Uchiha Madara looked at the two Wood Dragons to his left and right: "Hashirama... it's still your techniques that can trouble me..."
The Susano'o's chakra was rapidly draining, being absorbed by the Wood Dragons.
On the surface, the Adamantine Staff was thick and powerful, Tsunade's fists created deafening booms with each strike that echoed through the night, and the White Fang's blade aura was brilliant and fierce, but the technique causing the most significant drain on the Susano'o was still the Wood Dragon Technique.
Uchiha Madara wasn't in a hurry either. His eyes, beneath his white hair, watched the ground.
The next instant!
Tobi emerged silently from a large tree within the Senju Compound.
From within Tobi's spiral mask, White Zetsu's Mangekyō Sharingan spun!
Mangekyō: Yono Shima!
A black dot suddenly appeared beneath Sarutobi Hiruzen's feet!
The black dot rapidly expanded, forming the Yono Black Island, about to touch Sarutobi Hiruzen's feet.
"Look out!"
Among the Second Hokage's six guards, Utatane Koharu had always been the team's medical-nin. She was accustomed to observing the battlefield, gathering intelligence, and promptly providing aid to Hiruzen and the others.
Utatane Koharu was observing every detail of the battlefield from the flank and rear.
Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't move while holding the Adamantine Staff. Koharu was the first to spot the black dot and recognized it as the Yono Black Island from the intelligence reports.
Without a moment's thought, Utatane Koharu lunged at Sarutobi Hiruzen, trying to shove him out of the Yono Black Island's range.
Her combat strength wasn't high; she was a medical-nin in the traditional sense, her only offensive medical jutsu being the Chakra Scalpel.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was hit on the shoulder. Seeing it was Koharu, he stumbled half a step sideways and then used the momentum to leap to the side.
The Adamantine Staff loosened its pressure, and the Susano'o ceased its retreat.
In that split second, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't care about that. As he turned his head, he saw that Utatane Koharu, in her effort to save him, had accidentally stepped onto the Yono Black Island!
The next instant, the space before Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes was empty.
There had been a person there just a moment ago, a living person...
Utatane Koharu had collapsed, collapsed into a thin, flat layer of pulp.
The outline of the twin buns in the pulp was the only thing that still identified where Utatane Koharu had been.
Blood rushed to his brain. All sound faded away from Sarutobi Hiruzen, leaving only a buzzing, electronic-like noise in his ears.
Dead... Koharu was dead... she died saving him...
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked across and saw, within the eye sockets of the spiral-masked Tobi, a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
The Mangekyō Sharingan that Fox had said were originally Uchiha Mahiru's, and were later stolen by Uchiha Madara.
Why?
Why did it have to be this way?
Why did Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu die one after the other?
Tobi's tone was full of regret:
"Sarutobi Hiruzen is really lucky. Someone was actually willing to sacrifice everything to save him.
If we could have killed Sarutobi Hiruzen by surprise, Konoha would have been severely weakened, and our goal would have been achieved.
What a pity. That old woman had good observational skills. She actually died in Sarutobi Hiruzen's place."
Sarutobi Hiruzen muttered, Old woman...
For the sake of Konoha, Utatane Koharu had shouldered the most complex internal affairs work. Lately, especially after the deaths of her daughter and son-in-law, she had aged dramatically.
But... Koharu used to care so much about her appearance...
Koharu in the Ninja Academy was just like the other cute girls; Koharu after graduation was just like the other beautiful young women... Countless images flooded Sarutobi Hiruzen's mind.
She...
Sarutobi Hiruzen's vision blurred. A hint of tears welled up in his dry eyes.
He had seen too much death.
When Mitokado Homura died, he had been in pain, but he knew Homura had died a glorious death for Konoha, and he himself would have such a day someday.
But Utatane Koharu died right before his eyes, and she died saving him.
When they graduated from the Ninja Academy, they had promised they would definitely protect Utatane Koharu.
Koharu was a medical-nin. All of them had boasted that they would definitely die before Koharu did.
Enma, the Monkey King, felt Hiruzen's hand trembling and quickly shrank back to human height.
A monkey's eye appeared on the Adamantine Staff. Seeing the outline in the pulp that vaguely resembled Utatane Koharu, Enma closed his eye.
There was nothing more to say.
He just needed to give Hiruzen a few seconds. Hiruzen would pull himself together.
Sure enough, the Adamantine Staff instantly elongated and smashed towards Tobi.
But Tobi had already submerged into the tree.
The tree was smashed to splinters.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyelids lowered. Then, he slowly raised his head.
"Black Ant, go notify Fox. Leave Uchiha Madara here to me.
Tell him to use his Wood Release to track and deal with Tobi. Don't let Tobi ambush anyone else in the village!"
No one except Fox could detect Tobi's sneak attacks.
If Tobi were allowed to kill indiscriminately, who knew how many people would die in Konoha tonight.
Hearing this, Black Ant quickly circled around the Susano'o to find Lord Fox behind it.
Hatake Sakumo Body Flickered over, wanting to know why the Hokage had stopped using the Adamantine Staff, but he saw the killing intent filling the Third Hokage's eyes.
"Hatake Sakumo, we must kill the rogue-nin Uchiha Madara here, at any cost!
At any! Cost!
Sakumo, our era is over. After killing Uchiha Madara, go and implement those ideas of yours.
The future is yours..."
Hearing this, Hatake Sakumo's eyes shone brightly.
***
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(End of Chapter)