"Well, well!" the White Snake Sage hissed, her golden eyes widening in sheer amazement.
'He is exactly the man I thought he was,' she mused. 'The one who holds the summoning contract with Ryuchi Cave.'
She watched the crystal ball intently. Mufasa was beating the entire shinobi world like a stray dog. She cast a calculating, sideways glance at the Great Toad Sage.
If she took out the old toad right now and threw her full support behind Mufasa, wouldn't they easily conquer the shinobi world? Then Ryuchi Cave would reign supreme above the other two Sage Regions.
Her forked tongue flicked rapidly, tasting the damp air as she weighed the pros and cons.
The Great Toad Sage already knew she was a ruthless opportunist. He hadn't come here expecting her to join him out of some noble sense of duty.
"White Snake, don't even think about it," the Toad Sage warned, his voice a low, dangerous rumble.
The White Snake Sage sneered, baring her venomous fangs. "Hmph. And what if I decide to kill you right now?"
In truth, the ancient toad possessed far more raw senjutsu power than the serpent. He locked his massive, glowing eyes onto hers.
"If you try it, I will drag you down with me. Even if it costs me my life."
She held his gaze without flinching, though she cursed him internally. 'Vicious old bastard.'
"Hmph. I refuse to cooperate with you," she hissed. "So, what are you going to do about it?"
"I won't do anything," the Toad Sage replied calmly. "But someone else will."
"Who?"
"The Sage of Six Paths."
The White Snake Sage froze, the legendary name sending a sudden chill down her scales. "Him?"
The Great Toad Sage nodded slowly. "Given his ideals, he will never allow a dictator like Mufasa to rule the shinobi world. When the time comes, he will intervene."
A tremor of genuine fear rippled through the giant serpent. She had been alive long enough to remember the sheer, terrifying power of the Six Paths.
"Join me now. Help the allied forces," the toad urged. "When the shinobi world is saved, they will owe Ryuchi Cave a massive debt. You'll receive more high-quality sacrifices than Mufasa could ever offer."
She fell silent for a long moment, her golden eyes narrowing in deep thought. "Fine," she finally agreed. "You have a deal."
Loyalty meant absolutely nothing to her. She simply followed the best offerings.
"Good. Let's move," the Great Toad Sage commanded. "Today, the three great Sage Regions will fight as one. We will crush Sunagakure."
With a massive, echoing bang, both ancient Sages vanished in thick clouds of white smoke. It had only taken a few tense minutes for the old toad to secure her allegiance.
Back on the front lines, the situation remained critically tense.
After Metroplex's clone successfully shattered the World Tree's head, Mufasa immediately dispelled the duplicate. Maintaining a shadow clone of that colossal size burned through chakra at a terrifying rate.
He had only used it for the psychological shock value anyway.
The synchronized Double Lariat had delivered a flawless visual spectacle. It completely broke the morale of the Allied Shinobi Forces, scattering their ranks like frightened insects.
However, the actual physical damage left a lot to be desired. Mufasa never truly expected to instantly execute Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha with a single combo.
If the absolute legends of the shinobi world were that fragile, they wouldn't be revered as gods.
The World Tree's shattered neck resembled a blown-out mountain peak. Splinters and thick wooden debris rained down across the battlefield like a chaotic blizzard.
Through the falling wood, a dense, bowl-shaped dome was visible at the stump of the titan's neck. Beneath that impenetrable shield, Hashirama and Madara remained completely unharmed.
In the exact fraction of a second before the Double Lariat connected, Hashirama had reacted. He tackled Madara to the floor, instantly casting Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall.
Infused with his maximum chakra output, the domed shield was harder than solid diamond. Even the apocalyptic force of the dual lightning strike failed to crack it.
The deafening roar of the impact finally faded, leaving a heavy silence outside the dome.
Madara violently shoved Hashirama away, wiping imaginary dust off his crimson armor with a look of pure disgust. "Couldn't you have made this dome any bigger? It's cramped in here."
"You know how this jutsu works, Madara," Hashirama replied, dusting himself off. "The larger the defensive area, the weaker the structural integrity. It would have shattered."
"Whatever. Just get off me," Madara muttered, rolling his Sharingan in intense annoyance.
Hashirama offered an apologetic smile and released the hand seal. The wooden dome split open, retracting seamlessly into the floorboards.
As the two legends stood back up, the swirling sawdust cleared. Across the ruined landscape, Metroplex stood tall, its cold, expressionless metal visor seeming to mock them.
Aside from his historical clashes with Hashirama, Madara had never been humiliated like this in his entire life.
"You metallic bastard!" Madara roared, his chakra flaring wildly. "You think you're the only one who can cast jutsu in a giant construct?!"
'I'll show this arrogant brat what real power is,' Madara thought viciously. 'I'll make my Susanoo weave signs!'
"Hashirama! Follow my lead!" Madara ordered, his hands blurring into a sequence of seals.
Down below, Hashirama felt a massive, soothing surge of natural energy. The endless swarm of Katsuyu's clones had coated the World Tree's roots, pooling their senjutsu chakra together.
A pure river of natural energy from Shikkotsu Forest aggressively flowed up the wooden titan's legs. Hashirama gasped as he felt his physical strength forcibly multiply.
The battered World Tree violently shuddered as it absorbed the massive power boost.
"Alright then," Hashirama grinned, his fighting spirit reignited. "Let's show him what real ninjutsu looks like!"
He violently slammed his palms together.
With a deafening crack, fresh timber erupted from the titan's neck, instantly weaving a brand-new head. Thick trunks burst from its shoulder blades, twisting into two massive new wooden arms.
Combined with the two ethereal blades wielded by Madara's outer Susanoo armor, the World Tree transformed into a terrifying, six-armed war god.
Deep inside the cockpit, Mufasa let out a dark chuckle.
'Interesting,' he thought. 'Now the real fun begins.'
Across the battlefield, the massive blue arms of Madara's Susanoo began to weave hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!" Madara roared.
The ethereal Susanoo inhaled sharply, unleashing a cataclysmic wave of fire. The resulting fireball was the size of a falling meteor, hurtling directly toward Metroplex.
"Wood Release: Silent Strangle Jutsu!" Hashirama shouted in tandem, his colossal construct clapping its wooden hands together.
Jagged roots, each as thick as a mountain ridge, violently erupted from the earth beneath Metroplex. The wood coiled around the mecha's heavy metallic legs like enraged pythons, locking it firmly in place.
The meteor-sized fireball cast a blinding, hellish glow over the wasteland. It truly looked like the sky was falling.
The scattered remnants of the allied forces fell completely silent, their bodies drenched in sweat. A collective, terrified gasp rippled through the ranks.
The intense heat was suffocating. The Devil's Desert was already an unforgiving wasteland, but this blazing inferno pushed the temperature to a boiling point, making the shinobi feel like they were roasting alive.