Clang!
The initial blast of Madara's Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation struck glancingly against Metroplex's armored hull. Blazing flames instantly lit up the entire battlefield, sending a suffocating heatwave radiating outward.
The allied shinobi gasped, forced to retreat step by agonizing step as the air itself seemed to catch fire. The ethereal aura of the Susanoo cloaked the World Tree construct, the raging inferno reflecting off its armor and dyeing the wooden titan blood red. A towering pillar of black smoke clawed into the sky like a vicious, writhing dragon.
Roaring through the distorted air, a meteor-sized fireball plummeted toward Metroplex like a phoenix diving for the kill.
Inside the cockpit, Mufasa's hands flew through a rapid sequence of seals. Metroplex mirrored the motion flawlessly, rearing its colossal head back and opening its metallic jaws wide.
"Water Release: Super Shark Bomb Jutsu!" Mufasa roared.
A gargantuan, shark-shaped water missile erupted from the mecha's maw, rocketing upward to intercept the falling meteor.
Down in the allied ranks, Kisame Hoshigaki stared in utter bewilderment.
'How does he know my signature jutsu?' Kisame thought. He looked at the water shark—a construct larger than a literal mountain—and suddenly felt a deep, humiliating sense of inadequacy.
The colossal water shark slammed head-on into the apocalyptic fireball.
The earth instantly buckled under the shockwave. Searing steam exploded outward, whipping up a violent hurricane that tore through the desert. It felt like the very end of the world, a cataclysmic rebirth of fire and water.
The sheer scale of the destruction made even the most battle-hardened shinobi tremble in raw terror. True to its nature, the Super Shark Bomb aggressively devoured the chakra fueling the flames. As it absorbed the fire, the massive water construct expanded even further, gradually swallowing the inferno whole.
Madara clicked his tongue in absolute disgust.
'How could I lose an exchange of pure ninjutsu?' he thought bitterly. He immediately followed up, spitting another colossal fireball toward the mecha.
Unfazed, Mufasa casually countered with yet another Super Shark Bomb.
Standing atop the World Tree, Hashirama felt a deep knot of anxiety form in his gut. The sheer scale of their elemental clash was terrifying. They were lucky they were in the barren Devil's Desert; anywhere else, and an entire country would have just been washed away in the crossfire.
Suddenly, a strange, chilling surge of senjutsu energy flooded up through the World Tree's roots. It lacked the gentle warmth of Shikkotsu Forest or the balanced vitality of Mount Myoboku. This natural energy was cold, heavy, and venomous.
Ryuchi Cave had officially entered the fray.
As the venomous senjutsu poured into him, Hashirama felt his power spike dramatically. He slammed his palms together.
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!" Hashirama shouted.
The massive roots wrapped around Metroplex's feet rapidly mutated. The wood violently twisted, forming a colossal dragon with a distinctly snake-like head.
The wooden serpent unhinged its jaws and sank its razor-sharp fangs deep into the mecha's armored ankle. The moment the armor was pierced, highly corrosive Ryuchi Cave venom pumped directly into Metroplex's chassis. The thick metal immediately began to blacken, violently rusting and flaking away.
Feeling the familiar, toxic signature of the snake sages, Mufasa was livid. He amplified his voice to echo across the battlefield.
"White Snake Sage, you treacherous old hag!" Mufasa roared. "I deliberately held back the Kamen Riders so I wouldn't have to drag Ryuchi Cave into this slaughter! And you dare betray me?! Are you asking to die?!"
The White Snake Sage's echoing hiss replied from the distant allied lines.
"You are undeniably strong, Mufasa. But the Sage of Six Paths is stronger! I cannot afford to stand on the losing side!"
'Six Paths?!' Mufasa thought, his eyes narrowing. 'That ancient ghost has been dead for centuries! What is she so afraid of?'
The bitter sting of betrayal burned hot in Mufasa's chest. "You cowardly reptile. I'm going to rip you apart!"
Metroplex let out an earth-shattering mechanical groan. With a violent, grinding heave, the mecha ripped its leg upward.
The thick wooden serpent shattered into millions of splinters. The severed roots fell away as the mecha's self-repair protocols instantly purged the rust and sealed the breach.
Not missing a beat, Hashirama clapped his hands together once more. "True Several Thousand Hands!"
A hundred colossal wooden arms sprouted violently from the back of the World Tree construct. Moving in a synchronized blur, the massive fists rained down on Metroplex like a meteor shower.
Mufasa sneered. "Water Release: Water Mirror Jutsu!"
A sheer, crystalline wall of water materialized directly in front of Metroplex. The mirror rippled, and a perfect, watery duplicate of the World Tree stepped out of the glass.
The watery clone mirrored Hashirama's attack flawlessly, launching its own hundred-fist barrage. The two cataclysmic attacks collided in mid-air, the fists violently exploding against each other and completely canceling out their momentum.
Boom! Boom!
Ignoring the shockwaves, Metroplex aggressively charged the World Tree. Every heavy, metallic footfall caused a localized earthquake.
'What is he planning?' Hashirama thought, bracing himself.
Madara simply sneered and unleashed another torrent of flames. "Just burn and disappear!"
As the mecha closed the distance, intricate, pitch-black formula lines illuminated across its massive right hand—the ultimate Anti-Ninjutsu seal.
Mufasa didn't even bother dodging. Metroplex merely swiped its glowing right hand through the air. The moment the metal fingers brushed against the incoming meteor and the residual shark bombs, the massive jutsu instantly dissolved into harmless wisps of vapor.
Madara froze, his Sharingan widening in sheer disbelief. "What kind of jutsu is that?!"
Down below, the Kage who had previously witnessed this horrifying ability screamed in panic.
"Get out of the way! Dodge it!"
But it was too late. The colossal, glowing metal hand tore straight through the residual smoke, lunging directly for the World Tree's head.
"Madara, look out!" Hashirama yelled. He lunged forward, violently shoving his old rival off the canopy just as the metal fingers clamped down.
CRUNCH!
Metroplex's hand gripped the right half of the World Tree's head and its massive shoulder. The black Anti-Ninjutsu formulas flared blindingly bright.
In a horrifying instant, the gripped sections of the titan didn't just break—they completely dissolved into absolute nothingness.
The sheer terror of the attack didn't stop at the wood. Hashirama gasped, stumbling backward. This wasn't like having his construct broken before. The chunk of his chakra that Mufasa had grasped was completely eradicated. It was gone permanently.
Madara caught himself mid-air and landed on a lower branch, looking up in shock. "Hashirama, what's wrong with you?!"
Hashirama looked down at his own Edo Tensei body. Because he was directly linked to the construct, the Anti-Ninjutsu formula had fed back into him. His entire right arm and a massive chunk of his right abdomen had simply ceased to exist, the paper-like debris of his immortal body completely failing to regenerate.
Suddenly, a sharp, crystalline sound echoed across the battlefield.
Crack.
It sounded exactly like a sheet of thick glass violently shattering in an empty room. The noise was chillingly clear, cutting through the roar of the wind and the fading explosions.
Every single shinobi on the battlefield, from the lowest genin to Madara Uchiha himself, stopped and looked up at the sky in bewildered dread.
What just happened?