Seeing Hashirama's solemn expression, Madara suddenly laughed.
"Madara? Don't tell me Yuto hit you so hard you've gone stupid?"
Hashirama gave him a strange look, asking cautiously.
Madara's face darkened. He swallowed his urge to beat Hashirama and spat a single word: "Shut up."
Hashirama scratched his head, then his eyes lit up as realization dawned.
"Hashirama, after that fight, didn't you notice something?"
Madara's eyes gleamed as he spoke softly.
Hashirama nodded seriously. "Yeah. From the start, Yuto targeted you almost exclusively. At first, I thought you two had some personal grudge."
"In battle, you usually eliminate the most dangerous opponent first. My Wood Release has some effect against him, yet he ignored me and went straight for you."
Madara's lips curved into a cold smile.
The two exchanged a glance, their eyes flashing. At the same time, they said: "Genjutsu!"
Hashirama's eyes burned brighter. They had gathered mountains of intel on Yuto, but never noticed how few times he'd fought true masters of illusion.
And when he did, those opponents were usually killed in a single strike.
It left the illusion he wasn't afraid of genjutsu at all.
On top of that, at their level, using illusions was rare—too risky. If countered, the backlash harmed the caster's spirit. On a battlefield like this, that kind of lapse meant death.
And right now, Madara hadn't even awakened the Rinnegan—far from his Six Paths form.
"Of course, it could just be he thinks I'm weaker than you, and so went for me first."
Madara gave a bitter laugh at himself.
Had Yuto overheard, he would've been dumbfounded. Who would've thought Lord Madara capable of self-deprecation?
But neither Madara nor Hashirama believed it. They knew Yuto's nature.
Whoever posed the greatest threat—he would strike them down first.
"If that's the case, then we've only got one shot!"
Hashirama's face grew grim.
Madara nodded, and Hashirama immediately understood.
Crash!
Yuto's massive energy blade split their wooden golem clean in two.
Rumble!
The ground tore open under the strike, leaving a gaping chasm.
Hashirama and Madara leapt back together.
"Hashiboy, Lil' Mad—where are you running to?"
Yuto sneered, swinging his massive sword again and again.
"Mokuton—Shin Jukai Kōtan (Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence)!"
Hashirama's hands flew through seals, pressing to the ground. Chakra surged like a flood.
In an instant, trees erupted across the land, spreading into a dense forest.
The trees twisted alive, branches lunging from every direction to engulf Yuto.
His face was cold. One sweep of his colossal sword, and the grasping branches shattered.
In just a few swings, Hashirama's forest was almost completely erased.
But then—
An overwhelming chakra burst forth ahead.
Yuto's eyes narrowed. Seeing Hashirama's form, his pupils shrank.
"Sage Mode, huh? Finally ready to get serious."
Roar!
A deafening cry shook the heavens. The chakra was violent, soaked in slaughter.
Madara's Mangekyō spun wildly as he stood upon the Nine-Tails' back.
"Now!"
Hashirama roared, his hands blurring faster than the eye could see.
"Sage Art—Mokuton—Shinsuusenju (True Several Thousand Hands)!!"
Rumble!
The world shook. From the earth rose a colossal Buddha with countless arms.
The wooden giant from before—hundreds of meters tall—wasn't even the size of its head.
"Armor of Susanoo!!"
Madara bellowed in turn.
His Susanoo wrapped around the Nine-Tails like an armored shell. With the beast's overwhelming power and Susanoo's perfect defense, it stood as a force equal to Hashirama's titanic Buddha.
Both unleashed their full might, the crushing pressure sweeping the battlefield.
Even Yuto felt it.
Boom!
The Buddha lunged. It was too massive—so vast Yuto had no room to dodge.
"Yuto! Take this—Top Transcendent Buddha!!"
Hashirama slammed his palms onto the Buddha's head.
Thousands of colossal hands shot forward like thunderbolts, hammering Yuto in unison.
His massive energy blade lasted only a moment before shattering to dust.
Even with absorption, Yuto was pounded from the sky to the earth by thousands of fists. The ground quaked under the impact.
Madara, astride his armored Nine-Tails, showed no mercy, unleashing a storm of attacks on Yuto's crash site.
//Check out my Patreon for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[[email protected]/Razeil0810](http://[email protected]/Razeil0810)