Jie's attention sharpened.
Complete Body Susanoo against Hashirama's Sage Art Wood Release. This was the real clash.
In size, Complete Body Susanoo was still smaller than True Several Thousand Hands. But size alone did not decide strength. Complete Body Susanoo was the peak of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, and in Madara's hands, it was fast, sharp, and terrifyingly destructive.
The blue giant drew its blades and rushed forward.
Chakra swords tore through the air, cutting apart one wooden arm after another. For a moment, even Hashirama's giant Buddha was driven back.
Hashirama did not panic.
Wood Release was dangerous not just because of its power, but because of how quickly it recovered. As long as Hashirama continued feeding chakra into the technique, the broken arms were quickly restored.
More wooden fists came crashing down, blocking Madara's advance. The two giants collided again and again.
Then Hashirama's chakra changed.
A vast amount of chakra poured into the wooden statue all at once. Even from the air, Jie could feel its scale clearly.
His eyes sharpened.
Was Hashirama about to use that move?
This was the true peak of Hashirama's Wood Release. It required both Wood Release and Sage Mode, and from what Jie remembered, even the Nine-Tails wrapped in Susanoo had been broken apart by this technique during the battle at the Valley of the End.
That attack had left Madara badly wounded.
This time, Madara did not have the Nine-Tails.
But because of Jie, he had something else.
Sage Mode.
On the ground, Hashirama finished gathering chakra. His hands came together, and his voice rang across the battlefield.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
"Top Transformed Buddha!"
The wooden statue began to transform.
More arms rose behind it, spreading outward in countless layers. The already massive figure expanded again, towering over the battlefield like a mountain.
A small Buddha-like figure appeared at the center above the statue, completing the form.
Madara frowned.
Hashirama had grown stronger too.
This was not a technique Hashirama had been able to use before. If Madara had not learned Sage Mode, this battle might have ended here.
But after the first shock passed, Madara became even more eager to fight.
Good.
If he defeated Hashirama here, Hashirama would have to accept that his path was wrong.
Madara took a deep breath.
"Sage Mode!"
Black markings appeared on his face, different from Hashirama's Sage Mode pattern.
At the same time, senjutsu chakra surged through the ground beneath him.
"Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation!"
Earth and stone began to move as though they had come alive. Huge pieces of rock rose from the battlefield and gathered around Susanoo, forming the shape of an enormous giant.
Then Madara poured more ocular power into Susanoo.
The blue armor spread over the stone giant, layer after layer. Fine chakra scales covered the surface, denser and sharper than before.
This was not the same as wrapping Susanoo around the Nine-Tails. But in size, it was enough to stand before Hashirama's giant Buddha.
For a moment, Hashirama almost smiled. Having an opponent who could keep moving forward with him was a rare thing.
But this was still a battlefield.
The result of this battle would decide the future of both clans. Neither of them could afford to hold back.
Hashirama trusted his power. As far as he knew, perhaps only the legendary Sage of Six Paths could take this technique head-on.
Madara raised his head from within Susanoo and shouted.
"Majestic Attire: Divine Descent!"
Jie laughed when he heard the name, but the move itself was clever.
Madara had no Nine-Tails, so he used Inorganic Reincarnation to create a giant from earth and stone. Then he wrapped Susanoo around it, using the stone giant as the body and Susanoo as armor.
In chakra quality, it could not compare to the Nine-Tails.
But the stone giant had its own advantage.
It had no mind, no pain, and no will of its own. It would not resist Madara's control, and there would be no delay between Madara's command and its movement.
As long as Madara himself remained unharmed, the giant could keep fighting.
Jie nodded slightly.
This was not a bad answer at all.
For him, it also served as a useful reference. If he ever wrapped Susanoo around his own Wood Buddha, he would need a name that did not lose to Madara's.
The two giants moved.
The countless arms of Top Transformed Buddha struck first.
Wooden fists fell like a storm, each one carrying enough force to shatter an ordinary Susanoo. When hundreds of them descended together, the battlefield seemed to sink under the pressure.
The fists crashed against Madara's armored giant, sending ripples through the blue chakra armor.
Cracks appeared across the surface.
But the armor did not break.
Madara's ocular power and senjutsu chakra surged together, repairing the cracks as soon as they formed. The scale-like armor held firm, while the stone giant inside gave Susanoo a stronger frame to support it.
Madara did not simply stand there and take the attack.
The enormous chakra blades in Susanoo's hands swung out again and again. Each strike cut through dozens of wooden arms, sending broken pieces crashing down like falling towers.
Hashirama restored them just as quickly. Broken arms regrew, and the attack continued.
From above, the battlefield no longer looked like a fight between ninja. It looked like two natural disasters crashing into each other.
Jie watched silently.
By now, he understood the situation.
Both Madara and Hashirama had brought out their strongest methods.
Neither side could easily break through the other's defense. No single strike could decide the battle.
After this, the fight would become a contest of chakra, stamina, control, and will.
Whoever lasted longer would win.
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