"This is what you wanted to know." The Great Toad Sage moved the Memory Stone away from Neji and spoke slowly as he looked at Neji, who kept his head down.
"What do you want to do?"
After thinking for a long time, the Great Toad Sage decided to ask for Neji's opinion. Having lived for a thousand years, he knew better than anyone how terrifying Neji could be. Frankly speaking, Neji's choice would completely determine the outcome of this war.
"I'm a father who's not good enough, but I'll try my best to make up for my mistakes. That's my choice," Neji said without hesitation.
"Is that so? Then you should go back and end this war."
After the Great Toad Sage finished speaking, he went back to dozing. Neji opened Yomotsu Hirasaka and returned to Konoha.
"Neji, you're back."
"Where are they?"
When Neji returned to the Hokage's office, he found that all the Kage were gone. Fortunately, Mabui was still there, so Neji asked her.
Upon hearing this, Mabui's face grew serious. She said, "We received news from the front. All the enemy leaders have appeared. Even the identity of the masked man we always thought was Uchiha Madara is now being questioned. Not long ago, the Fourth Squad, where Kazekage-sama and Tsuchikage-sama were, encountered Uchiha Madara, who had been revived by the Edo Tensei..."
After Neji listened to Mabui's explanation of the battle situation in one go, he didn't dare to delay and immediately rushed to the battlefield.
"Hashirama? This feeling… have you been revived?"
On a battlefield, Madara looked at Hashirama, who undoubtedly had a physical body, and was slightly stunned. Even he, a schemer who had spent most of his life planning, didn't know what was going on.
"Never mind. Since you've appeared before me, let's have another good fight, Hashirama!" Madara stomped on a large rock, his eyes wide with rage, and roared.
"Wait a moment!" Senju Hashirama casually waved his hand and pointed at the wounded around them. "There are too many people here. I need to transfer them out first."
Madara's restless heart didn't know what to say when he encountered someone as eccentric as Hashirama. He could only watch with a dejected look as Hashirama transferred away the people who had just been knocked down by his Heaven's Celestial Calamity from the sky.
Madara had never regretted so much in his life. He wished he hadn't held back earlier and had just killed Onoki and the others. That would have avoided so much trouble.
"Fourth Hokage, Tobirama, take these two and stop those people. Leave this place to me." After settling all the wounded, Hashirama saw Madara's face contorting with suppressed anger and quickly said to them.
"Uh, okay."
Several people said reluctantly. Rather than stopping Obito and the evil gods, they now wanted to see what a fight between the two strongest ninjas would look like.
But that was just wishful thinking. They remembered that when they fought in the Valley of the End, they had changed the terrain. If they weren't careful and died, it would be bad.
"Well, First Hokage, good luck..."
Minato, who was awkward and didn't know what to say, scratched his head and smiled, then immediately left with them.
"Come on, Hashirama, fight me!"
"Edo Tensei, release!"
Madara performed a few strange hand seals, and his strength increased further after being released from the Edo Tensei control. His Mangekyo Sharingan appeared, and blue bones gradually covered his body. Soon, a complete Susano'o appeared between heaven and earth.
Two long swords suddenly appeared in the hands of the giant Susano'o, and they swung towards Hashirama. Hashirama did not dare to be careless. He slapped his hands together, and branches burst from the ground, intertwining to form a wooden figure.
"Wood Release: Wood Golem Jutsu!"
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!"
Facing the two Susano'o blades slashing towards him, Hashirama's hands changed, and two wooden dragons quickly climbed onto the shoulders of the wooden golem. The two dragons opened their mouths and bit onto the Susano'o blades, firmly locking them.
"Madara!!!"
Hashirama roared, controlling the wooden golem and punching the Susano'o in the face. Two thuds made the Susano'o retreat step by step.
"That's it! Make me more excited, Hashirama!!!"
"Madara!!!"
Boom!
The two giants collided, and the earth shook violently, trembling three times.
"Heaven's Celestial Calamity!"
Madara's eyes turned into Rinnegan, and huge meteorites began to fall from the sky, heading towards them.
Susano'o was originally a technique meant for mutual destruction. The value of such a technique lay in this, so Madara naturally wanted to bring this immortal ability to its fullest.
"Wood Release: Storage Hand!"
Senju Hashirama calmly clasped his hands together. Wooden hands rose from the ground, firmly catching the meteorites just before they landed, tearing them apart and crushing them.
"Hahaha, Madara, your strength in Edo Tensei is not as good as before." Hashirama laughed heartily. This was natural. No matter how skilled one was in Edo Tensei, it was impossible to make the resurrected person exert their full peak strength from their lifetime.
However, since Madara had the Rinnegan to back him up, the outcome of their battle was still uncertain.
"There's no other way, Madara. Let's decide this in one go." Hashirama looked at the pitted ground around them. Red patterns suddenly appeared around his eyes, and a red symbol appeared on his forehead.
Sage Mode!
Whoosh~~
Hashirama, unleashing his full power, erupted with terrifying chakra, far more potent than the Nine-Tails. The strong wind surged with his aura, blowing his hair upright.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
Instantly, a giant Buddha far larger than Susano'o rose from the ground, with countless arms behind it. In comparison, Susano'o appeared as small as a child. Not even one of its arms was as big as one of the Buddha's.
"Come on! Hashirama!"
Madara faced this Ninjutsu that had defeated him without a hint of fear. He raised the long blade in Susano'o's hand and swung it. Hashirama let out a roar, and then the countless long arms behind the Buddha statue began to smash into Susano'o one after another.
The result was inevitable. With the arms smashing down, Susano'o was instantly submerged in a sea of fists. The Susano'o armor on Madara's body slowly shattered, and finally, he and his body turned into dust and disappeared.
"Hashirama, it seems I've won this battle again." Hashirama jumped down from the Buddha statue and knelt on the ground. Although he had used a lot of energy, Madara had indeed turned into dust.
"Hmph, Hashirama, you're still so naive."
At this moment, Madara reappeared not far away.