However—Boom! The first giant fist, covered in Black Magnet Release armor, smashed down. Wood chips exploded and rocks fractured. Following closely behind it—Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The second! The third! The fourth! The hundredth! The three-hundredth! A metallic storm descended with a deafening roar.
Crack! The outermost Wood Fortress Wall shattered after enduring dozens of punches. Rumble! The Earth Flow Continuous Wall shook, fracturing into countless fissures from the savage impact as large chunks of rock peeled away. The defenses collapsed at a visible speed under the relentless bombardment of the Senju fists.
But the giant fists, coated in Black Magnet Release armor, did not pause for a moment.
Boom! Smack! A massive fist pierced through the shattered remains of the Wood Fortress Wall and slammed violently into Senju Hashirama's Edo Tensei body.
Bang! Hashirama's body exploded like a fragile clay figurine, the reincarnated debris ground into dust by the sheer force of the punch.
Immediately after, another fist blasted in from the side—Boom!—tearing through the Earth Barrier Wall hastily raised by Senju Tobirama. Crash! The Second Hokage's Edo Tensei body shattered as well.
The two strongest combatants resurrected by Edo Tensei couldn't last a single second against the absolute power of the Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands.
Even with their immortal physical bodies, the relentless assault left them no time to reform. Above them, a storm of death descended with world-destroying momentum.
Orochimaru bit his lip until it bled. He knew that if he didn't use his final resort immediately, he would be completely erased from this world in the next instant, just like those two piles of Edo Tensei dust.
'There's no other way.'
Orochimaru raised his hands to form a seal, no longer holding back his chakra. "Eight Branches Technique!"
Dense white scale patterns appeared on his skin as his entire body began to swell violently. But the moment he began to transform—Boom! A giant fist covered in Iron Sand slammed into his expanding form.
Splat! "Uwaaaah!" Orochimaru let out a harrowing shriek.
One-third of his rapidly expanding upper body was forcefully pulverized by the punch. Shattered flesh, broken ribs, and fragments of internal organs sprayed into the air. Yet, strangely, his remaining body was still swelling.
Hiss! The white mass of flesh continued to expand without slowing down, growing faster and faster.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Eight hideous white snake heads burst from Orochimaru's serpentine body. Eight heads. Eight tails. The Eight-Headed Serpent, pure white and tens of meters tall, had arrived.
"What... is that thing?!" Horrified gasps rose among the shinobi.
Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his Adamantine Staff heavily into the ground. Staring at the white behemoth that continuously regenerated beneath the barrage of giant fists, he spoke in a deep voice. "Eight Branches Technique..."
"Lord Hokage?" Yamato asked from beside him. "Do you know this jutsu?"
"It's a forbidden jutsu researched by Orochimaru," Hiruzen replied, his voice heavy. "It fuses the power of the white snake, transforming him into the Eight-Headed Serpent... granting him near-immortal regenerative abilities."
"Immortal..." Yamato muttered in shock, watching the constantly regenerating beast. "Doesn't that mean it can't be killed?"
Hiruzen shook his head. "No. True immortality does not exist in this world." He raised his gaze, watching the Eight-Headed Serpent struggle desperately before the Great Buddha. "Every jutsu has a weakness. The Eight Branches Technique is still a ninjutsu in the end. If its chakra is exhausted, or if it suffers a devastating blow that exceeds its regenerative limit..."
Hiruzen didn't finish his sentence, but his grave expression explained everything.
The eight snake heads had just reared back to roar when they were repeatedly struck down by the Thousand-Armed Kan'on. Boom! Boom! Boom! White scales burst instantly, sending flesh and blood flying. One snake head was pulverized, another had its neck broken, and a third had its skull caved in.
Hiss! Orochimaru's pained howl erupted simultaneously from all the serpent heads.
The terrifying recovery power granted by the Eight Branches Technique was evident, but the massive body—comparable to a Tailed Beast—made for a highly conspicuous target.
'Regenerate! Regenerate, now!' Orochimaru roared frantically from inside the serpent, his chakra pouring out wildly.
Granulation tissue rapidly expanded across the broken wounds, white bones reformed, and new snake heads broke through the flesh of severed necks. Yet, the speed of regeneration clearly couldn't keep up with the pace of destruction. The giant white serpent twisted and writhed under the rain of fists. Its eight tails thrashed wildly, but could only barely deflect a few scattered blows. More iron fists slammed solidly into its torso, leaving behind shocking, bloody craters. Orochimaru braced himself, attempting to tough out the wave of destructive attacks.
Atop the wooden statue, Tejima Shinichi looked down at the Eight-Headed Serpent. It was having its flesh and heads blown off, only to regenerate again under the Thousand-Armed Strike.
"Eight Branches Technique..." Shinichi murmured. "You've finally played your last card!"
Seeing that Orochimaru had used his trump card, Shinichi stopped his relentless assault. All the massive wooden arms that had been swinging suddenly paused, then slowly retracted to the back of the Great Buddha.
"It's time to end this, Orochimaru!" he called out. "Everything I've learned over the past month... was prepared just for you!"
Ox → Tiger → Dog → Ram.
Shinichi formed a new hand seal in front of his chest. Sage Art chakra circulated through him as his gaze fell indifferently upon the regenerating white mass of flesh below. He was observing. Or perhaps... waiting.
Hiss!...Seeing Shinichi's attack stop, the main head of the Eight-Headed Serpent opened its massive mouth, and Orochimaru's upper body emerged from deep within its throat. Pale and gasping for breath from the excessive chakra consumption, he nevertheless cracked a maniacal smile as he looked up at the boy on the wooden statue.
"Do you see... Shinichi?" Orochimaru's voice was hoarse, filled with the madness of someone who had just survived a catastrophe. "This is... the power of immortality. So what if your Wood Release, Magnet Release, and Sage Art are powerful?! As long as the jutsu formula of the Eight Branches Technique remains active—as long as there is a single cell carrying my will—I can regenerate infinitely! Your attacks will never kill me!"
Atop the Buddha statue, Shinichi quietly listened to Orochimaru's frenzied shouts. He let out a cold, disdainful snort.
"Immortal? As long as a cell carries your will, you can regenerate infinitely?" Heh. What a coincidence.
Shinichi slowly raised his right hand, pointing his palm toward the coiled Eight-Headed Serpent and the reforming bodies of Hashirama and Tobirama.
"In that case…" His voice was quiet, yet it cut cleanly through Orochimaru's shrill laughter."…then allow me to suppress your will."
Shinichi swung his raised palm downward. Orochimaru's smile froze. Before he could even understand what the gesture meant—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Ten massive crimson torii gates tore through the sky, plummeting toward the heads of the Eight-Headed Serpent and the two reincarnated Kage. This was the true sealing jutsu.
"Sage Art: Gates of the Great God!"
"What?!" Orochimaru's eyes went wide. He instinctively tried to control the snake heads to dodge, attempting to spit out a ninjutsu to resist, but it was too late.
The first gate enveloped the leftmost snake head. Thud! The serpent was forcefully pressed into the dirt. The gate crashed down heavily, and crimson sealing runes wrapped around it like chains, instantly paralyzing the head.
Then came the second. The third. The fourth—each one crashing down in relentless succession.
"Head Seal!"
The final, massive torii gate pinned the head containing Orochimaru to the ground. Ten continuous, deafening crashes echoed across the battlefield. All eight heads of the Eight-Headed Serpent were firmly suppressed against the earth by the crimson gates. Not a single serpent could move.
Two slightly smaller crimson gates simultaneously suppressed the Edo Tensei chakra that Hashirama and Tobirama were attempting to gather, pinning their reforming bodies deep into the earth. All regeneration came to an abrupt halt.
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