Chapter 246 – The Great Buddha vs. Susanoo
Obito's mind was unraveling.
The confidence he had roared with only moments ago now collapsed into bitter despair.
For the first time, he truly understood Nagato. That same hollow confusion was now eating away at him too.
Yes—he had always lost to Gen, always been humiliated, beaten down, toyed with. But unlike Nagato, he had always believed himself different.
Nagato had only been a pawn. Even those Rinnegan eyes hadn't belonged to him.
"But now… I'm different!"
Obito truly believed it. His current state felt like he had awakened the very essence of the "Power of All-Creation." He thought it was Rin's blessing, Rin's guidance.
His Perfect Susanoo had given him unshakable confidence.
And yet—Gen had shattered it with nothing but his body and a black blade. Shattered the same colossal avatar that had ravaged Iwagakure, that had driven Ōnoki and Deidara to the brink, that stood on the same level as Madara's own Susanoo.
Why? Why is it always like this?!
Obito's heart howled, and the watching shinobi were no less stunned.
The monster that had terrorized their village had simply… collapsed.
"That guy… he's that strong?" Naruto swallowed hard. Even the voices of his father and mother inside him had fallen silent, unable to comprehend.
"Has he really… become this powerful?" Sasuke murmured, shaken to his core.
The sight of Susanoo had terrified him, but also ignited his own ambitions. Yet to see it broken so easily…
"Looks like that brat really has grasped Yin–Yang Release," Jiraiya muttered at last. His words snapped Ōnoki back from his daze.
He had known Gen was powerful, but not like this. To see Susanoo—the nightmare of his youth—crumble before him, it was surreal.
"Yin–Yang Release? That's… a legend. Could anyone truly wield it?" Ōnoki whispered.
"Tch. Gen's never been normal, hm," Deidara muttered, though Black Earth tugged at his sleeve to quiet him.
Jiraiya, however, nodded gravely. "It's true. Gen has been pursuing Yin–Yang Release for some time. I didn't think he'd already… complete it."
Madara, too, understood.
"So it really is Yin–Yang Release. This boy…" His scarlet eyes narrowed. He knew Susanoo's strength intimately, yet Yin–Yang Release was something greater. Something belonging to the Sage of Six Paths himself.
Could he really be the descendant of the Sage's younger brother?
But there was no time for speculation. Gen was already moving.
"Tch. Obito can't die here. His power is still useful."
Madara forced his Susanoo to turn, but Gen was too fast. He tore through the fading remnants of Obito's chakra, closing the distance in an instant.
Obito, still coughing blood, barely had time to look up.
"You're… going to finish me?" Cold sweat poured down his neck. His Sharingan spun wildly as he tried to track Gen's approach.
Shing—
The black blade pierced. Blood spattered the earth.
Gen stood over him, his expression tinged with faint regret as he pulled his short sword free.
"You dodge well… little eel."
Obito's breath quickened. The words—he recognized them. They were his own, hurled earlier in rage at Gen.
And now, turned back on him like a knife.
"Still, you're easy enough to deal with, aren't you… ant?"
Obito's body shook violently. The humiliation cut deeper than the wound itself.
But Gen had already leapt away, eyes narrowing. Madara had arrived.
"Hmph."
Unlike Obito, Madara's control over Susanoo was absolute. The twin blades of his colossal avatar swept with earth-shattering force, mountains trembling, Iwagakure crumbling further with every swing.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Explosions thundered outward, dust clouds devouring the sky. Even shinobi who had fled far into the distance stumbled under the shockwaves.
"This… what kind of battle is this?"
The Iwa-nin were pale, most had never seen anything close to this scale of destruction. To them, Madara's Susanoo was like a wrathful god raining apocalypse.
All they could do was pray for it to end.
Jiraiya and the Konoha group were calmer. They had seen destruction like this before. Still, their concern wasn't for the battlefield itself—it was for Gen.
"…He'll be fine, right?" Naruto's parents whispered inside him, worry gnawing at them for both Gen and their son.
Madara finally slowed, his Susanoo hovering above the ruined village. His scarlet eyes scanned the dust below.
Did he teleport away?
But no—he could still feel Gen's chakra.
Buzz—
The dust blasted apart.
Below, Iwagakure had transformed into a dense, sprawling forest. Enormous trees rose from the shattered ground, their roots and vines weaving into a massive barrier.
"Wood Release…"
Madara's face darkened.
At last, Gen had revealed it. But instead of satisfaction, unease coiled in Madara's chest.
If Gen could break a Perfect Susanoo with brute force alone—what would happen now that he was wielding Wood Release?
"I recall you asking why I hadn't used Wood Release yet," Gen's voice drifted out.
The canopy split. He rose atop a towering wooden dragon, chakra radiating from his frame.
"…It's simple. I never thought you deserved it. Against you, I didn't need to bother with tricks."
Madara's expression tightened. "So what you mean is—if you wished, you could end me easily?"
"Think what you like," Gen shrugged. "Truth is, I'm not that skilled with Wood Release. But if you insist…"
Buzz—!
Chakra surged. The entire forest writhed, trees thickening, roots twisting, until a colossal form took shape.
The ground split.
And from it, a Great Buddha rose.
A giant statue of wood and chakra, its sheer size blotting out the sun, plunging the battlefield into shadow.
"What… what is that?" Iwa-nin stared, dumbstruck.
Even Jiraiya's jaw dropped. "That's… his power?"
Sasuke and Naruto could only gape, their bodies trembling.
Deidara alone grinned wildly. "Yes… that's it. That's what he did back then!"
Madara's face hardened. He knew this jutsu. He had seen it before.
The giant Buddha loomed skyward, countless arms unfolding behind it in endless waves.
"…True Several Thousand Hands."
It was the technique that had once utterly crushed him, the memory of his most decisive defeat at the hands of Hashirama Senju.
And now—Gen wielded it.
"Is this what you call 'clumsy' use of Wood Release?" Madara muttered, his voice dark. But then his eyes lit with fierce heat.
"…Fine. Show me. Show me how much of this power you truly command!"
With a roar, his Susanoo charged. Twin blades gleamed, tearing apart the land as they struck toward the giant Buddha.
Compared to the thousand-armed deity, his two-hundred-meter Susanoo looked small indeed.
Gen stood upon the Buddha's brow, his voice calm as ever.
"So desperate? Very well…"
He raised a hand. Chakra erupted.
"Sage Art: Top Transformed Buddha!"
The colossal figure stirred. The ground shook, the air itself shuddered. Thousands of massive arms swung down in unison, each blow carrying the force of a beast.
Boom. Boom. Boom!
The world shook under the cascade of strikes.
Susanoo's blades shattered arm after arm, but for every one destroyed, ten more descended. Hundreds, then thousands, an endless storm.
The pressure was suffocating, the battlefield drowned in a cataclysmic barrage.
Even Madara, locked within Susanoo, felt himself being swallowed whole.
Madara's unleashed fury was terrifying, but against the True Several Thousand Hands, even he could not break through so easily.
In moments, the storm of divine fists swallowed him whole.
"This… is this the true power of Konoha?"
Ōnoki's voice trembled. When Susanoo had been destroyed earlier, it had already eased the nightmare that haunted him.
But now—watching Madara Uchiha himself crushed beneath that same overwhelming might—his lifelong shadow seemed to lift entirely.
That's Madara Uchiha. And even he was being beaten down.
"…So Gen really held back against me."
Naruto's eyes widened with both awe and unease. At first, excitement surged through him, but then another thought struck—how many times had he cursed at Gen, how many times had he called him names?
Too many. Far too many.
"I'm still so far away from him…"
Sasuke's fists clenched. The suffocating gap between them made his chest tighten—but beneath that suffocation was exhilaration. To follow in Gen's shadow, to chase after this strength… it was the only path forward.
"Back in the Cloud… this was how he crushed them, wasn't it?"
Kurotsuchi tugged at Deidara's sleeve, her voice filled with disbelief. Even Jiraiya leaned in, curiosity burning in his eyes.
Deidara nodded without hesitation, his gaze locked on the colossal Buddha above. His voice came out low, almost reverent.
"Yes. This is it. This is the art I spoke of."
Rumble— Rumble—
The deluge of power did not cease. Blazing winds howled as the very ground ignited, shockwaves rolling in endless succession.
Madara's Edo Tensei body granted him inexhaustible chakra, his arsenal of dōjutsu nearly infinite.
And still—against the True Several Thousand Hands, even his Susanoo shattered like glass.
"Damn it!"
The explosion flung his body through the air, rubble and fire trailing in his wake. Before he could recover, another colossal fist hurtled toward him.
And in that instant, he heard Gen's voice echo across the battlefield.
"I told you—I'm not particularly skilled with Wood Release. That's why your suffering hasn't ended quickly."
"But since you wished for it, I'll oblige you."
His calm tone cut sharper than any blade.
"…And now, it's time to end this farce."