"Is that... the Susanoo?!"
"It's so huge! If it weren't for Lord Yagyu's Thousand-Armed Kannon statue earlier, I wouldn't have believed that a Kekkei Genkai could produce a technique even larger than a tailed beast!"
"A technique like this... it's beyond the realm of ninjutsu, isn't it? It's on a completely different level from what we understand as ninjutsu."
"Thankfully, we have Lord Yagyu. Otherwise, this operation to take down the Akatsuki would have ended in our complete annihilation."
"..."
Watching the Complete Body — Susanoo, which had just sliced off the peak of a distant mountain with a single swing of its sword, the elite forces of the five great villages and the samurai of the Land of Iron, led by Konoha's elite troops, couldn't help but feel awe. Even though they had already witnessed the power of the Sage Art Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands — Top Transformation, and now faced the Ten-Tails, which was even larger than a tailed beast and was currently tearing through the earth, the sight of the Susanoo still left them stunned.
"Is that... Uchiha Madara?!"
Ōnoki, who was leading his forces to join up with Konoha's elite troops, immediately recognized the Complete Body — Susanoo. Even in its incomplete form, it had once made them feel powerless and insignificant. His pupils contracted slightly, and he cursed under his breath, "Damn Akatsuki! They've even reanimated him?"
Unaware that Hashirama Senju had also been reanimated, Ōnoki felt a sense of relief wash over him.
Previously, he had thought that someone like Yagyu would disrupt the balance of the ninja world.
But now, having let go of his grudges, Ōnoki realized that compared to being ruled by the Akatsuki, it was better to bet on Yagyu being as benevolent as Hashirama. At the very least, the situation would be far better than being ruled by a terrorist organization. Ōnoki suddenly felt grateful that they had Yagyu on their side.
Without Yagyu, the Akatsuki wouldn't even need their Rinnegan user to step in. Uchiha Madara alone could sweep through the five great villages and the Land of Iron.
In the face of such a colossal being, aside from his own Dust Release, which might have a slim chance of harming Uchiha Madara, no one else would stand a chance against this god of destruction.
"So he's finally appeared, huh?"
Like Ōnoki, Uchiha Obito, standing atop the Ten-Tails' head, also noticed Uchiha Madara.
Looking at the overwhelmingly powerful blue warrior god, Uchiha Obito's brows furrowed beneath his mask, his mood heavy.
At first, he thought Uchiha Madara had been resurrected, but upon further reflection, that seemed unlikely. Even if Uchiha Madara had been resurrected, Obito only had one Rinnegan, making it impossible to summon the Complete Body — Susanoo.
After all, Uchiha Obito hadn't yet reached the pinnacle of ocular power and didn't know that someone with ultimate ocular power could manifest the Susanoo even without the Sharingan.
Ruling out the possibility of Uchiha Madara's resurrection, the only explanation was that he had been reanimated.
Thinking this, Uchiha Obito felt a pang of regret.
After Uchiha Madara's death, his ninjutsu scrolls, the Uchiha Flame Fan, and his sickle had all been left to Obito.
If he had known that Black Zetsu had no real power, Obito would have destroyed Uchiha Madara's corpse immediately, leaving no loose ends.
Unfortunately, the corpse had fallen into Black Zetsu's hands.
Over the years, Uchiha Obito had secretly used Kamui to search for Uchiha Madara's body, but to no avail.
Now that Uchiha Madara had been reanimated, it was undoubtedly Black Zetsu, acting as Uchiha Madara's will, who had struck a deal with either Hundred Faces or Orochimaru.
Looking down at the roaring Ten-Tails, Uchiha Obito suddenly hoped that Yagyu, the biggest obstacle to his plans, could defeat Uchiha Madara, or at least buy him some time.
Because the Gedo Statue hadn't absorbed the complete chakra of all nine tailed beasts to revive, it needed to evolve through stages.
If even half of the Nine-Tails' chakra had been reclaimed, Uchiha Obito could have performed the Ten-Tails Coffin Seal Technique like Uchiha Madara in the original story, becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki immediately after reclaiming the escaped tailed beasts.
But there were no ifs.
Uchiha Obito didn't possess that level of strength. With only eight tailed beasts and a small portion of the Nine-Tails' chakra reclaimed, the Gedo Statue could only evolve step by step, reaching its third form before it could be absorbed.
Moreover, Uchiha Obito didn't realize that without being a true Rinnegan wielder, even knowing the Ten-Tails Coffin Seal Technique carried significant risks.
If his will wasn't strong enough, he would simply become a puppet of the Ten-Tails.
Unlike a single tailed beast Jinchūriki, the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki was essentially the Jinchūriki of nine—no, ten—tailed beasts.
As the Jinchūriki of the One-Tail and the Nine-Tails, Gaara and Naruto already faced immense side effects.
As the Jinchūriki of ten tailed beasts, without the corresponding willpower or strength, how could anyone withstand such an otherworldly power?
However, for Uchiha Obito to succeed, he not only had to face the imminent threat of Uchiha Madara but also the elite forces of the five great villages and the Land of Iron, who were rapidly closing in.
Fortunately, the Akatsuki members were still unaware that their leader, Nagato, had already died.
Having finished their rest, they too were heading toward the battlefield.
If Uchiha Obito could convince them, there might still be a slim chance of holding out until the Ten-Tails reached its third form.
Why only a slim chance?
It was simple. Unlike in the original story, where the Five Kage were held back by Uchiha Madara and Sasuke hadn't yet joined the fight, this time, Uchiha Obito was facing not only the Five Kage but also Naruto, who had mastered the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and Sage Mode, and Sasuke, who possessed the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
With such a lineup, even Uchiha Madara in his reanimated form wouldn't dare to underestimate them.
Of course, for now, this battlefield had nothing to do with Yagyu and Uchiha Madara.
At this moment, their attention was solely on each other.
"Wood Release: Wood Human Technique!"
Almost the moment the Complete Body — Susanoo appeared, drew its sword, sliced off a mountain peak, and dispersed the mushroom cloud, a shout rang out in the night.
Immediately, a Wood Human, as large as the Complete Body — Susanoo, rose from the ground.
Both the Complete Body — Susanoo and the Wood Human were far larger than Naruto's Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and Sasuke's Complete Body — Susanoo in the original story.
To easily create giants of this size required not only an ocean-like amount of chakra but also terrifying chakra control.
This form was essentially a dimensional transformation.
Even Naruto and Sasuke in the original story would have struggled to make their Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and Complete Body — Susanoo reach the level of Yagyu and Uchiha Madara, unless they were at their peak at nineteen, with their power declining by their thirties.
"Let me see how your Wood Human compares to Hashirama's."
Looking at the Wood Human before him, Uchiha Madara grew excited once more.
The blue Complete Body — Susanoo raised its katana, wielding power capable of easily splitting mountains and seas, and swung it down at the Wood Human.
Clap—
Standing atop the Wood Human's head, Yagyu's feet sank into its skull, as if fused with it.
He brought his hands together and shouted, "Sage Mode—activate!"
Blue flames appeared out of thin air, converging on Yagyu from all directions, quickly giving Uchiha Madara his answer.
Red markings appeared around Yagyu's and the Wood Human's eyes, and Yagyu's pupils turned from red to a golden hue.
Even more astonishingly, the Wood Human's eyes, which had been a plain green due to its wooden nature, also turned golden.
In Sage Mode, the Wood Human simply raised a hand and caught the descending blue blade.
The katana, capable of slicing through one or even multiple mountains, couldn't cut through the Wood Human's palm, nor even scratch its skin.
This sight left Uchiha Madara stunned.
Clearly, he hadn't expected Sage Mode and the Wood Human Technique to be combined like this!
This wasn't the Sage Art Wood Release: Wood Human Technique, but rather... the Wood Human's Sage Mode.
Both contained senjutsu chakra, but they were on completely different levels.
It was like the difference between the Nine-Tails and the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode—their natures were entirely different.
The simplest difference was that the Nine-Tails could only release Tailed Beast Bombs and had abilities like sensing malice.
But the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode could... use ninjutsu!
Could it be...?
Looking at the Wood Human, which could even use Sage Mode, Uchiha Madara suddenly had a thought he didn't dare to entertain.
As if hearing his thoughts, the Wood Human, which had caught the katana with one hand, suddenly raised its other hand.
A blue vortex appeared, and more blue vortices materialized out of thin air, rapidly coalescing into a blue energy sphere that, while small compared to the Wood Human's fist, was larger than the Hokage faces on the Hokage Rock from the perspective of the Konoha ninja.
This was the Wood Human's version of the Rasengan!
Not only that, but the rapidly spinning Rasengan's blue chakra visibly turned white, and gusts of wind began to howl around it.
This was a Rasengan infused with nature transformation, but not the Rasenshuriken—it was the Sage Art Wind Release: Rasengan!
Boom—
Holding the Sage Art Wind Release: Rasengan, the Wood Human slammed it into the Complete Body — Susanoo.
Although he wasn't afraid of the Complete Body — Susanoo being destroyed, Uchiha Madara instinctively controlled it to raise its other arm, clad in armor, to block.
In an instant, the Sage Art Wind Release: Rasengan unleashed a shocking shockwave, accompanied by terrifying cutting power. It instantly shattered the armor on the Complete Body — Susanoo's arm, and the arm itself didn't last much longer, disintegrating into blue chakra.
The Sage Art Wind Release: Rasengan continued unimpeded, striking the body of the Complete Body — Susanoo.
Just like the arm, the Complete Body — Susanoo, clad in armor and possessing absolute defense, which even S-rank Lightning and Wind Release techniques would struggle to damage, was on the verge of collapse from a single energy sphere from the Wood Human.
Seeing this, Uchiha Madara frowned slightly, then increased his yin chakra output, quickly repairing the damage to the Complete Body — Susanoo.
At the same time, two more arms, without armor, grew from the Complete Body — Susanoo's body, each holding a blue light sword, slashing toward the Wood Human.
Additionally, the newly repaired arm formed several magatama-shaped energy spheres and hurled them at the Wood Human's head—more precisely, at Yagyu standing atop it.
Just as the Wood Human could use ninjutsu, Uchiha Madara's Complete Body — Susanoo also had many applications.
Two faces, four arms, and the Yasaka Magatama were just the beginning.
If Uchiha Madara used the Rinnegan to summon the Complete Body — Susanoo, he could even have it form hand seals to use terrifying gravitational forces, pulling meteors from outer space.
If he could manipulate gravity like that, perhaps repulsive forces were also possible, though Uchiha Madara in the original story had disdained to use them.
Clang, clang, clang...
Boom, boom, boom...
Facing the slashing light swords and the incoming Yasaka Magatama, the Wood Human released the katana it had caught and crossed its arms in a blocking stance.
In the next moment, its green skin visibly turned black.
The light swords striking its arms produced metallic clanging sounds.
And the Yasaka Magatama, with explosive power surpassing a massive amount of explosive tags, blossomed into bursts of flame, their powerful shockwaves and heat failing to leave even a scratch on the Wood Human's arms.
This was... the Earth Release: Earth Spear Technique!
This sight left Uchiha Madara stunned once more. He muttered in disbelief, "Without even forming hand seals?"
Unbeknownst to him, thanks to his Wood Clones constantly capturing weaker individuals to extract their chakra natures, Yagyu had fused countless yin-yang and elemental chakra natures over the years. His understanding and application of elemental nature transformations had reached a godlike level.
If it weren't for the fact that developing Kekkei Genkai required perfectly fusing two nature transformations and altering one's genes—something he still hadn't figured out—Yagyu would have already created numerous Kekkei Genkai and even the Dust Release Kekkei Tōta.
Even so, Yagyu could manipulate the ultimate Earth and Water nature transformations in countless ways.
And Wood Release, as a Kekkei Genkai, was the fusion of Earth and Water nature transformations, centered around yang chakra.
So...
When the Wood Human lowered its blocking arms, it suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a high-pressure water jet, striking the Complete Body — Susanoo's head like an arrow.
Rip—
The sound of tearing fabric echoed as the high-pressure water jet instantly pierced through the formidable defense of the Complete Body — Susanoo's head. Unfortunately, it didn't shatter Uchiha Madara's body, only severing one of his arms and destroying half of his torso as he instinctively dodged.
Seeing this, the Wood Human prepared to sweep the water jet toward the stunned Uchiha Madara.
Sensing the danger, Uchiha Madara's eyes suddenly displayed concentric purple rings, and he raised his other hand to block the water jet.