Uchiha Kagen lay collapsed on the ground, despair filling his eyes.
The rain was filled with toxic pollen.
The poisonous dust soaked into his body — flowing into his ears, seeping through his skin, and worst of all, entering his eyes.
His eyes burned and swelled painfully. The tomoe within his Sharingan rotated sluggishly, as if weighed down by invisible chains.
As expected of their former clan leader, Uchiha Madara — he understood their Sharingan all too well.
Unable to move, Kagen could only watch as Uchiha Dōma and several Special Jonin were crushed to death by the tree trunks.
Those who hadn't died were just like him — moments away from being engulfed by the forest.
Three massive trunks coiled around him like venomous snakes.
The pressure increased steadily…
Suddenly, Kagen remembered his first mission after leaving the village.
Back when he had just graduated from the Academy, he encountered a massive forest serpent in the Land of Waves — more than twenty meters long.
That snake had wrapped its prey tightly, slowly constricting… crushing bones, squeezing until suffocation.
He heard the creaking sound of his own skeleton under pressure — a nauseating noise.
So this was what it felt like.
When bones broke, the vibration reached the brain before the pain itself.
Just then, he heard more trunks bursting from the ground.
It's over… completely over…
Half of the Uchiha elite he had brought out would die here.
What would happen to the clan afterward?
Would the Uchiha follow the same fate as the Senju — fading into history?
Three trunks alone were already pushing his body to its limit.
Now more than ten additional trunks appeared nearby.
He was about to be crushed into pulp.
Tōka would die here too.
Fugaku wasn't yet a Jonin — who would become the next clan head?
Four Jonin dead. Twelve Special Jonin lost. Half their elite forces gone.
How would the village treat the clan after this?
Just as despair swallowed him, Kagen suddenly felt the pressure ease slightly.
He looked down.
Newly emerging trunks had forced their way into the gaps between the older ones — pushing them apart?
A thin branch slipped into the cracks, rapidly expanding into a massive trunk.
Madara's Wood Release bore ordinary green leaves.
But these new trunks… were covered in red maple leaves.
Two different Wood Releases?
Whose were these red-maple trunks? Why were they resisting the original ones?
Not only him — nearby, Uchiha Tōka was also freed, falling from the crushing grip.
From the look of it, Tōka's left leg had just been severed.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
A voice echoed nearby.
Not Madara's.
It was… Fox's voice?
Red maple trunks forced open gaps, freeing Kagen from the crushing embrace. He fell from four meters up.
As he fell, he saw Fox Squad Leader charging deep into the forest.
Fox clasped his hands together as countless red maple trunks burst from the earth around him.
They shoved aside the original trunks, instantly loosening the battlefield's oppressive grip.
The newly grown trees bore blazing red maple leaves.
This had been deliberately designed by Yako.
Both were Wood Release — but Madara's trees bore green broad leaves, while Yako's bore crimson maple leaves, matching his Copper Fox moniker.
Yes, maintaining such leaves consumed slightly more chakra.
But that didn't matter.
Presence was also a form of strength.
In situations like this, presence mattered.
Victory or defeat was temporary — style was forever.
The red maple trunks formed a vast maple forest. As they pushed aside Madara's trees, the hollow where Madara stood was exposed.
Madara stood halfway up the massive trunk, surprise flickering in his eyes.
Another Wood Release user… here?
Yako formed another seal.
Sharp spikes sprouted from the maple trunks.
All of them pointed toward Madara.
"Wood Release: Spiked Stakes Technique!"
Hundreds of wooden spears shot forward from every angle.
A Susanoo instantly manifested around Madara.
The wooden stakes slammed into it — all blocked.
The Susanoo's durability was immense. The technique failed to break through.
Yako frowned, turning toward the incoming wood dragon.
It had already defeated White Ram Squad and Blossom Deer Squad and was charging toward him.
He waved a hand.
Dozens of red maple trunks shifted, wrapping around the wood dragon.
Wood Release's flexibility made it ideal for restraining large targets.
Within Susanoo, Madara looked down at the ANBU ninja.
"When did Konoha produce someone like you? Someone who can use Wood Release?"
A White Zetsu emerged from a nearby trunk and spoke:
"Madara-sama, this ANBU is codenamed Fox. The Sand Village calls him Copper Fox. He possesses a strange Absolute Defense secret technique — physical attacks are ineffective against him."
"Physical attacks ineffective? There is no absolute defense in this world. Let me test just how strong it is."
Madara increased his power.
Muscle formed over Susanoo's skeletal frame. A massive sword appeared in its hands and swung down toward Fox.
Red maple trunks rose overhead, forming arching bridges.
Each trunk was two meters thick.
The Susanoo blade cut through more than a dozen trunks before its momentum ran out, crashing into Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall.
It failed to break through.
Madara paused.
Even that strike hadn't forced out the Absolute Defense technique — it couldn't even break the Wood Release?
For a moment, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu — as if fighting Hashirama's Wood Release again, unable to penetrate its defenses.
Why did this person possess such overwhelming Wood Release talent?
Was he of the Senju clan?
In the distance, Hyuga Ketsu exhaled deeply in relief.
Fox Squad Leader was too strong.
Within the terrifying Deep Forest Emergence, he had created a safe zone for the Uchiha.
And he had blocked Madara's heavy strike using only Wood Release — without even using his signature Absolute Defense.
Madara looked down from above.
"Not bad. Red Maple Fox. Your Wood Release has already reached one-tenth of Senju Hashirama's level."
Ketsu's heart jolted.
This information must be reported to the village.
Fox's Wood Release was acknowledged by Madara himself?
And Madara had even given him a new title — Red Maple Fox.
A title granted by an enemy carried true weight.
Those who called themselves kings were always mere pretenders.
Fox Squad Leader now had a second name: Red Maple Fox.
Yako thought to himself:
That's enough.
He wasn't here to kill Madara.
He was here to display Wood Release — to demonstrate strategic value.
This battle had tested its strength. In Kage-level combat, Wood Release's versatility and balance between offense and defense were top-tier.
What he lacked now was chakra reserves.
If he possessed beyond-Kage-level chakra, Wood Release would become even more terrifying.
Forcing out Susanoo and withstanding its strike was already a dazzling achievement.
Show value. Get kills. Aim for ANBU Vice Commander.
That was his true objective.
Time to stop pushing his luck — overacting could get him killed for real.
Susanoo raised its sword again. Yako dismissed Wood Locking Wall.
He glanced toward the reconnaissance team.
Hyuga Ketsu was watching. Good.
The village would soon hear of this performance.
Yako leapt backward.
Midair, he threw out several steel-wire vines, wrapping around eight severely wounded Uchiha.
Carrying them, he retreated from the battlefield.
As he looked back at Madara one last time, he noticed something strange.
Madara wasn't looking at him.
Following Madara's gaze, Yako saw the two brothers — Uchiha Gogo and Uchiha Tōka — both paralyzed by poison.
Yako felt a faint unease.
He had just resisted Madara with Wood Release… yet Madara's attention lay elsewhere.
Were those two more valuable than him?
The reconnaissance team, two ANBU squads, and the wounded Uchiha dragged behind Yako fled in chaos.
Blossom Deer supported White Ram and rushed to Yako's side, panic in his voice.
"Captain! White Ram's chest has been crushed by Wood Release!"