The White Snake Sage's senjutsu chakra and sheer power were naturally not something Yakushi Kabuto could ever be compared to. After all, he was a being who had survived for over a thousand years, an existence from the same era as the Sage of Six Paths himself. More importantly, Ryūchi Cave was his absolute domain,his territory,where the surrounding natural energy was unimaginably dense and obedient to his will, responding to his commands as if it were an extension of his own body.
When he unleashed Senjutsu: Inorganic Reincarnation, the scale, range, and destructive force of the technique far surpassed Kabuto's version by dozens, even hundreds of times. The difference was not merely one of refinement, but of absolute magnitude.
And yet,
Even so, Chiba's Ice Age descended and suppressed it all completely.
Violent waves of extreme cold spread instantly throughout Ryūchi Cave, swallowing everything in their path. The earth that had been animated by senjutsu, the mountain rock, the cavern walls, and the countless spikes formed from living stone were all frozen solid without exception.
In the blink of an eye,
Crack!
Crack,crack!!!
The sound echoed through the cave, sharp and grating, like the anguished struggle of earth and stone that had been granted temporary life by natural energy and senjutsu chakra. They twisted and resisted, unwilling to submit.
But before Chiba's current, terrifying freezing power, all such resistance was meaningless.
They could not move.
They could not break free.
The White Snake Sage's expression changed drastically.
Of course, he knew of Chiba's strength. By relying on the boundless natural energy of Ryūchi Cave and his own senjutsu, he claimed to hear all things and know all things within the shinobi world. Yet even he had not anticipated that Chiba's power was advancing at such an astonishing pace.
The Ice Age Chiba unleashed now was more than ten or even a hundred times stronger than what he had displayed before.
And that, too, was only natural.
At present, Chiba had perfectly fused Hashirama's cells and wielded the combined ocular power of five Mangekyō Sharingan. Beyond that, he refined and strengthened his abilities every single day through constant deduction and evolution.
Anyone who chose to stand against Chiba needed to understand one simple truth,
Every day, he became more terrifying than the last.
The White Snake Sage had been too confident, too arrogant. He believed he understood Chiba's limits and that he could suppress him with ease. Yet in a single frontal clash of power, his strength was instead crushed and sealed by Chiba in return.
It was not only the earth and cavern animated by Inorganic Reincarnation. Chiba's Ice Age spread far beyond that, freezing the majority of Ryūchi Cave itself. Countless snakes were turned into ice sculptures in an instant.
Even Manda, arrogant and violent as he was, had long since been completely frozen, unable to move in the slightest.
Those who managed to evade or resist this single technique were extremely few. Aside from the White Snake Sage himself, only the three floating elders of Ryūchi Cave,Tagitsuhime, Ichikishimahime, and Tainoshin,were barely able to escape its reach.
In that moment, the power of the two beings collided violently once more.
The White Snake Sage manipulated senjutsu chakra, attempting to reanimate the frozen earth and cavern, forcing them to break free from Chiba's icy suppression. Chiba, meanwhile, continued to elevate the power of the Ice Fruit, sealing all vitality without mercy.
Within the clash of these two overwhelming forces, everyone present felt an indescribable pressure bearing down upon them, so heavy it made breathing itself feel difficult.
Of course, many of the snakes were already frozen solid,and not far from true suffocation.
Realizing that a single use of Inorganic Reincarnation was not enough to defeat Chiba, the White Snake Sage let out a furious roar and unleashed an even more terrifying surge of senjutsu chakra.
In an instant, an enormous amount of chakra erupted from his mouth, transforming into a colossal crimson dragon. Within the dragon's claws was a dazzling, radiant dragon pearl.
The chakra dragon and the pearl shot forward together, tearing through the air toward Chiba at blinding speed.
At that split second, the dragon's massive body coiled tightly around the pearl,and then detonated completely.
Boom!!!
Boom!!!
BOOM!!!!!
Ryūchi Cave was instantly flooded with an unimaginable burst of blinding light, accompanied by an ear-piercing, chaotic roar. The very air trembled violently, as if it were being torn apart by the explosion.
This technique was one of the ultimate arts of Ryūchi Cave's senjutsu.
Senpō: Hakugeki no Jutsu (Senjutsu: White Extreme Attack)!
In the original events, Yakushi Kabuto had used this technique to instantly suppress even Edo Tensei Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke, who had already awakened the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Both of their Susanoo were rendered impossible to maintain.
The terrifying might contained within this single technique was obvious.
And now, when used by the White Snake Sage himself, its power was naturally many times greater than Kabuto's.
In an instant, even the snakes that had previously been frozen were shaken free as the ice around them shattered under the violent vibrations, narrowly escaping death. The frozen earth and cavern walls around Chiba also began to crack and collapse as countless layers of ice broke apart.
Yet the most immediate horror was not the destruction,
It was the blinding white light, bright enough to scorch one's vision, and the deafening noise capable of rupturing eardrums.
Light.
Sound.
Vibration.
These were the three most terrifying aspects of the White Extreme Attack, capable of completely sealing an enemy's vision, hearing, and even sense of touch, leaving them utterly defenseless and unable to resist.
The reason Uchiha Itachi had been able to endure it back then was only because he possessed an Edo Tensei body, which could instantly regenerate even after being shattered by the vibrations. Otherwise, that single move alone would have been enough to fully suppress the Uchiha brothers.
In the blink of an eye, although the surrounding snakes were freed by the vibrations, they were terrified out of their minds and scattered in all directions. This time, even the three elders of Ryūchi Cave sensed the danger and fled without hesitation.
Mei Terumi was also completely overwhelmed by the blinding light, deafening roar, and violent vibrations. She could not open her eyes at all and tightly covered her ears, yet even so, she could not stop the horrifying sensation of her bones grinding against one another under the relentless tremors.
Chiba frowned slightly.
He understood the White Snake Sage's abilities well, but within Ryūchi Cave, with such abundant natural energy at his disposal, the power he unleashed still exceeded Chiba's expectations.
Even so,
Chiba felt no fear whatsoever.
He was, after all, a Logia-type Devil Fruit user. Once he entered elemental form, his physical body effectively ceased to exist. Blinding light and piercing noise held no meaning for him.
As for vibrations capable of shattering everything,
To a fully elementalized Chiba, they were utterly meaningless.
It was true that ice could be shattered.
But once broken, it could not truly harm Chiba.
Just like other elemental fruit users, his body instantly recovered, reforming as if nothing had happened at all. By maintaining full elemental transformation, Chiba had completely nullified the effects of Sage Art: White Extreme Attack. The drawback was obvious,while in this state, he could not use chakra or ninjutsu.
Yet that limitation meant nothing to him.
Because Chiba's greatest power had never been ninjutsu.
It was the Ice Fruit itself.
Even without chakra techniques, he was more than capable of crushing any enemy before him.
In the next instant, Chiba sharply raised his right hand,and clenched it down with overwhelming force.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
The ice that had once frozen the entirety of Ryūchi Cave had already been shattered by the violent vibrations. Yet instead of dispersing harmlessly, the fragments twisted midair, reshaping themselves under Chiba's will. Countless shards hardened and elongated, transforming into innumerable razor-sharp spikes, blades, and icy spears that screamed through the air as they shot straight toward the White Snake Sage.
This was power so absolute that it forcibly resisted the lingering vibrations of Sage Art: White Extreme Attack itself.
The White Snake Sage's pupils shrank violently.
Faced with a storm of blades that blotted out his vision, he immediately activated senjutsu, condensing vast amounts of natural energy into overlapping shields, walls, and barriers.
They were meaningless.
One after another, the defenses shattered under the relentless assault, exploding into fragments of dissipating energy. Ice blades pierced through without mercy, tearing into the White Snake Sage's massive body. Scales were punctured, flesh split open, and blood splattered across the frozen ground, leaving him in a state of rare and humiliating disarray.
More importantly,
Sage Art: White Extreme Attack was forcibly interrupted.
In truth, even if Chiba had chosen not to counterattack, the technique could never have been sustained for long. Otherwise, Yakushi Kabuto would have used it repeatedly against the Uchiha brothers long ago.
Nearby, Mei Terumi gasped heavily, her breathing uneven as she struggled to recover from the aftereffects. However, having fused with Hashirama's cells, her vitality far exceeded that of ordinary shinobi. Her condition stabilized quickly.
Chiba reached out and lightly patted her shoulder, sending a steady stream of chakra into her body. The lingering fatigue vanished almost instantly.
"I'm fine," Mei said softly, exhaling. "But that old monster… he really is terrifying."
Chiba chuckled. "He's lived for over a thousand years. It'd be strange if he wasn't."
Mei's gaze shifted back to the battlefield. "Still… he doesn't look nearly as arrogant as before."
Indeed.
The White Snake Sage's once-pristine white scales were now cracked and broken, his massive body riddled with wounds and soaked in blood. Rage burned in his eyes.
He was furious beyond words.
In over a millennium of existence, he had never suffered such humiliation.
To be driven to this state by a mere human brat,
His fury exploded.
The White Snake Sage unleashed every last trace of senjutsu chakra within his body. The entire Ryūchi Cave trembled violently as overwhelming natural energy surged forth, howling like a hurricane and spiraling above him like a devouring black hole. The pressure alone distorted the air, crushing down upon everything nearby.
Chiba's expression sharpened.
This was his final gambit.
A being of this level naturally possessed hidden trump cards,powers even Yakushi Kabuto had never grasped.
Then,
"Senpō: Ryūka no Jutsu (Sage Art! Dragon Transformation Technique)!!!"
In an instant, the White Snake Sage's body merged completely with the swirling natural energy above him. His form expanded violently, undergoing a drastic transformation.
Dragon horns erupted from his head. Massive claws formed beneath his body. His size multiplied as he roared skyward, his presence exploding to several times its previous level.
Mei's breath caught.
"This power…"
Chiba smiled faintly. "If he didn't have at least this much, coming to Ryūchi Cave wouldn't have been worth it."
In his dragon form, the White Snake Sage no longer merely fused with natural energy,he commanded it. Storms, lightning, clouds, and flames twisted and surged at his will, coiling around his colossal body.
Even Chiba noted that it rivaled the authority of the Azure Dragon Fruit.
With a deafening roar, the dragon charged.
Storms and thunder erupted as the White Snake Sage launched himself toward Chiba in a catastrophic assault.
This time,
Chiba responded in kind.
In a single breath, the Mangekyō Sharingan entered full resonance.
Buzz,!!!
A colossal chakra avatar descended into existence.
But the power did not stop at the Susanoo.
The chakra giant had barely taken shape when a second, far more absolute force imposed itself upon it.
The power of the Ice Fruit erupted.
A cold that did not belong to the natural world engulfed the Susanoo completely,not as a mere coating, but as total fusion. Chakra and ice became indistinguishable. The skeletal frame, the divine armor, and the massive weapons of the Susanoo were instantly encased in colossal layers of primordial ice,thick, translucent, and radiating an overwhelming pressure.
What emerged transcended the very concept of a complete Susanoo.
Its body expanded again.
And then again.
"Hyōten no Shusa: Susanoo (Sovereign of the Frozen Heavens: Susanoo)"
The frozen giant now towered far beyond any known Susanoo, its silhouette tearing through the ceiling of Ryūchi Cave as if space itself were insufficient to contain it. Every movement froze the air, distorted light, and caused the ground to groan beneath a pressure bordering on the divine.
The sight inevitably evoked the legendary Lightning Giant of Enel.
But the similarity ended there.
Where Enel's form was made of unstable energy, what stood before the White Snake Sage was a god of war,an entity of solidified chakra and absolute ice. The Susanoo's samurai armor, divine visage, and multiple colossal arms remained, but everything was amplified, refined, and brutalized by the Ice Fruit's authority.
Where lightning was chaos,
This was dominion.
Its eyes shone like stars trapped in eternal winter, and a freezing mist poured from its body, slowing even the flow of natural energy around it. This was not merely cold,it was the denial of movement, resistance, and will itself.
Even in dragon form, the White Snake Sage felt a chill crawl through his scales.
Not fear.
But instinct,recognizing something superior.
When Chiba moved the arm of the frozen colossus, there was no urgency. No need. The mere motion sent waves of freezing force across the battlefield, as though the world itself were being compelled to acknowledge a new ruler.
Then,
The attack was unleashed.
From the massive left arm erupted an oceanic surge of extreme cold.
Ice Fruit Ultimate Ice Age and fusion of Susanoo Power.
"Shukensha no Zettai Reido Fukoku (Sovereign's Absolute Zero Decree)"
From the right arm, eternal black flames ignited.
Fueled by the dual Mangekyō power of Itachi and Fugaku, refined through Kagutsuchi, the flames twisted into a catastrophic arrow of destruction.
"Susanoo , Kagutsuchi Arrow (Susanoo: Kagutsuchi no Ya)."
Ice and fire were released simultaneously.
They collided head-on with the White Snake Sage's Dragon Transformation.
BOOOOOOM,!!!
The Ryūchi Cave palace collapsed instantly, more than half of it reduced to rubble. The ground cracked and heaved as walls disintegrated and stone rained endlessly from above.
Every snake within Ryūchi Cave felt it,
The pressure of annihilation.
Mei fought with all her strength just to withstand the aftershock.
At last,
Ice Age overwhelmed the Dragon Transformation.
The cave froze once more.
The massive dragon body stiffened as frost spread rapidly across its form, movement grinding to a halt.
And then,
The Kagutsuchi Arrow pierced through.
"AAAAAAAH!!!"
The White Snake Sage screamed as his body was impaled, dual Amaterasu flames erupting violently. He crashed to the ground, writhing in agony.
The Dragon Transformation absorbed much of the damage,otherwise, that single strike would have obliterated his true body.
But it could not be sustained.
The White Snake Sage reverted to his original form.
One half of his massive body burned with black flames.
The other half was sealed in ice.
Ice and fire,two extremes of hell.
"Mercy!!!"
"Mizukage-sama, please forgive my sins! I...I am willing to submit!"
Chiba allowed the ice and flames to continue for a long while before finally hearing the plea he wanted.
A satisfied smile curved his lips.