Chapter 245 – Why… Is It Always Like This?!
Gen's words left both Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Obito visibly displeased.
For Madara especially, it was galling. Such arrogance was always his line—never directed at him. To awaken and be treated with such disdain? Unthinkable.
This brat… he's more irritating than most.
Madara's Susanoo shifted, its vast frame casting shadows over the battlefield. He shook his head, sighing almost theatrically.
"Still, your courage is worth acknowledgment. To boast so brazenly before this form…"
His eyes sharpened. Susanoo's titanic blade drew free with a howl, the sheer force of the movement whipping the air into a frenzy.
Even before the strike fell, the ground beneath him shattered under the pressure.
"Let's see if your strength matches your mouth."
The azure colossus—towering over two hundred meters—swung its blade down in a single, earth-rending arc.
The sky split. Dust and stone screamed through the air. Distant mountains cracked in half, cleaved cleanly by the stroke's aftershock.
What power is this…?
From afar, every onlooker felt their resolve collapse.
One Susanoo was already godlike—forcing Deidara and Ōnoki to fight at full tilt, forcing an entire village to evacuate, and still leaving Iwagakure in ruins.
Now there were two. Two Susanoo, and one of them even larger.
The crushing weight of despair pressed down like a physical force.
"Damn it… it's over."
Ōnoki's face was gray. No longer daring to hover above the battlefield, he dropped lower, regrouping with Deidara, Kurotsuchi, and Jiraiya. Just looking at those titans made his heart seize.
Madara was terrifying enough. Madara with Wood Release was worse. And he wasn't even alone.
Two monstrous Susanoo—just standing there, they froze the soul.
"We need to retreat further," Jiraiya said grimly. His voice was tight, his face troubled. "Gen can handle himself. Even if he can't win, Flying Thunder God will let him escape."
"Hey," Deidara cut in, smirking strangely, "you're underestimating him. Haven't you ever seen Gen fight seriously?"
Jiraiya blinked. Sasuke and Naruto both turned sharply at that.
Seeing their confusion, Deidara's grin widened.
"So you haven't. Then… watch closely. You're about to."
Gen's… full power?
The words felt surreal. They had never thought of it that way—but when had they ever seen him truly go all out?
Then, in the next instant, their eyes widened.
Susanoo's strikes came heavy and relentless, but Gen slipped between them like water, untouchable, impossibly nimble.
"This brat moves like a loach," Obito growled, his pride stung. He had no interest in working alongside Madara, but Gen's taunts had drawn him in.
This fool wanted death? He'd grant it.
But the more they pressed, the clearer it became—neither he nor Madara could touch him.
The earth split in canyon-sized fissures beneath Susanoo's blows, yet Gen danced through every gap, never once caught.
"You're slipperier than I thought, Gen."
Obito snarled, timing his strike as Gen leapt skyward to evade Madara's blade. He swung again, intent on cutting him down midair.
But Gen's eyes gleamed.
"Good. I've gauged your speed."
Rather than flee, he shifted—body dropping sharply to skim past the edge of the colossal weapon.
"Che—!"
Obito snarled, wrenching Susanoo into a vicious backhand slash, its force enough to shake the very fabric of space.
Yet even then, Gen slipped past—so lithe it made Obito's teeth grind.
Compared to his towering giant, Gen was an insect… but one that refused to be crushed.
He darted up the massive frame, feet finding purchase as if climbing a cliff face. In seconds, he was racing toward Susanoo's head.
"Damn ant!"
Obito spat, forcing Susanoo to leap and twist, flinging its arm violently to shake him off.
Gen vaulted free, letting momentum hurl him higher into the air.
"Tch."
Madara, watching coldly, scoffed. He had no desire to aid Obito—but he was curious. Could this child truly match his arrogance?
Perhaps, in that madness, there was a hint of Hashirama's spirit.
"I've heard your Wood Release is impressive," he said softly. His Susanoo stirred, moving with a grace Obito's lacked.
"Show me, then. Show me how your Wood Release compares."
Susanoo's blades whirled, carving arcs of annihilation through the sky.
Every strike was ruin incarnate, a storm that leveled mountains and churned the earth into dust.
Watching from afar, even the hardened shinobi of Iwagakure felt their scalps prickle.
This was destruction beyond human scale. Now they understood why their forebears had feared Hashirama and Madara so bitterly.
This kind of power… did not belong in the world of men.
Gen… Deidara said you once summoned Wood Release that stretched for kilometers… if there was ever a time… it's now.
Ōnoki's chest tightened with dread and hope alike.
And then—
A resounding clang split the battlefield.
Ōnoki, Sasuke, and Jiraiya froze, eyes wide.
Madara's Susanoo had swung—and Gen had met it head-on.
With nothing but the short black blade in his hand.
The shrill ring of steel echoed through the village as the impossible became reality:
The massive chakra-forged sword of Susanoo… had been cleaved in two.
Madara's Susanoo swung its colossal blade once more.
But in the same instant, Gen raised his black short sword—
Clang!
A piercing metallic shriek rang across the entirety of Iwagakure. Madara's brow furrowed.
Before his eyes, the massive chakra-forged blade of Susanoo had been cleaved in two.
What…?
Even Madara couldn't quite believe it. That weapon, wrought of pure chakra, was shattered by a single strike? The notion itself was absurd.
His gaze locked onto Gen, a chilling thought flickering in his mind.
Could it be… Yin–Yang Release?
He would know—after all, he had awakened the Rinnegan himself. He understood how rare, how impossible it was to touch that level. Even he had only reached it after decades of cultivation, after gathering the "All-Creation" force, right at the end of his life.
And yet this boy—
How could this child wield such a thing?!
Madara's heart tightened.
But Obito's eyes glimmered instead. He saw an opening.
Gen's strike had broken Susanoo's blade, leaving him momentarily still in midair.
"A perfect chance!" Obito roared. "Die, you damned eel!"
His Susanoo lashed out, another enormous swing tearing across the battlefield.
BOOM—!
The earth cracked like tofu under the sheer pressure, mountains of debris launched skyward, the world itself shaking as though it would split apart.
Anyone caught in that blow would be obliterated. Even hardened shinobi watching from afar felt their guts twist.
And yet—Obito's expression darkened. Even Madara's eyes flickered in surprise.
From within the storm of dust and ruin, a calm voice carried:
"Impressive. Susanoo truly is the ultimate power of the Uchiha…"
The smoke parted.
Gen stood upon the giant blade itself, utterly unfazed, his voice cool enough to chill the marrow.
"…But the speed is slower than I thought. And there's something I've always wanted to test."
Buzz—!
He leapt.
Faster than lightning, his form blurred—one heartbeat later, he was face-to-face with Obito inside his Susanoo.
"Is its defense really as unbreakable as legend claims?"
Obito's face drained. He forced Susanoo into a guard, every instinct screaming danger.
Madara too felt it—an unease in his gut. But before he could intervene, Gen's speed surged again, too fast to follow.
Whoosh—!
Like a phantom, Gen twisted midair, accelerating in a spiral. He pierced straight through Susanoo's crystalline guard.
Crack—!
The sound was like shattering glass. The crystal core of Susanoo fractured, splintering into pieces as Gen appeared directly before Obito.
"Damn it—!"
Obito hadn't thought it possible. His perfect Susanoo, undone in an instant. He tried to activate Kamui—but Gen was already there.
BAM!
A savage kick slammed into his chest.
Pain tore through him, bones splintering under the force. His features twisted grotesquely as he was hurled back like a cannonball.
Susanoo itself buckled, breaking apart around him, its azure chakra dispersing into the sky like dying embers.
The colossus that had terrorized Iwagakure was gone—obliterated in a single exchange.
Ōnoki and the others were frozen, utterly dumbfounded.
How… How could something so monstrous be destroyed so easily?!
"What kind of power is this…?"
But Obito himself was asking the same question.
His body smashed through rubble, bouncing across the ground in a trail of dust and ruin. His mind rang with confusion and disbelief.
I've grown stronger. With Rin's memory driving me, I've awakened power beyond anything I had before…
So why—why is it like this again?!
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