Hikaru Uchiha smiled faintly when he saw Hashirama Senju getting serious about the fight, and gave a casual wave of his hand.
In an instant, Tsunade, Tobirama, Nonō Yakushi, and the others were teleported to a safe location by an invisible force.
Then, with a flicker in his gaze, Hikaru looked at the man before him—Hashirama Senju—with anticipation lighting up his face.
He had only just upgraded all his abilities to gold tier today and still didn't know exactly how powerful he had become.
Meanwhile, Hashirama watched all of this unfold, and something shifted in his heart.
He'd already experienced Hikaru snapping his fingers to transport them through space before and had even heard him claim this was a space he'd created.
But seeing it from the sidelines made him realize just how terrifying that ability truly was.
Without a matching space-time ability, you might not even get close to Hikaru.
Still, Hashirama wasn't the type to give up so easily.
Though he usually came across as a bit goofy, as the leader of his era, he still had his pride.
And now, Hikaru's casual display had ignited that fighting spirit even more.
Hashirama clapped his hands together, and Sage markings appeared on his face as vast Chakra surged forth.
The sheer amount of Chakra was enough to make even the Nine-Tails weep.
"Sage Art: Wood Style – True Several Thousand Hands!!"
Hashirama shouted, and as his voice fell, a massive rumble echoed through the land. A towering wooden statue, thousands of meters tall, appeared before the crowd.
Behind this gigantic wooden Kannon were over a thousand arms, densely packed and stretching across the sky, blotting out the sun. The sheer spectacle left everyone in awe.
The statue's expression was both serene and solemn, as if watching over the entire Shinobi World.
Hashirama's plan was simple: since he had no space-time abilities, he'd counter Hikaru with overwhelming firepower.
He believed that as long as he launched enough powerful attacks, he'd eventually land a hit on Hikaru.
Off in the distance, Tsunade gasped as she watched her great-grandfather unleash the technique.
"Is that really Wood Style? It's completely different from mine…"
Then her expression shifted to worry.
"Great-Grandpa is so strong… Will Hikaru be okay?"
Nonō Yakushi nodded beside her in agreement.
It was natural for them to worry—they hadn't seen Hikaru in action back when Uchiha Madara abducted them six years ago.
But Mito Uzumaki chuckled lightly and said,
"Don't worry. Little Hikaru will be just fine."
"He already surpassed Hashirama six years ago."
Tobirama, who had been silently spectating, finally couldn't hold back.
"He was only six or seven back then, wasn't he? Was he really that strong?"
Mito smiled again.
"Hikaru said he repelled Uchiha Madara, but that was him being modest. The truth is, Madara didn't dare fight him head-on. If he had, he wouldn't have even made it out alive."
Tobirama's pupils shrank at that, and he stared at the battlefield in disbelief.
Meanwhile, things on the battlefield had changed.
The massive hands of Hashirama's True Several Thousand Hands began a relentless assault, smashing down toward Hikaru as if intent on crushing him completely.
But at that moment, a tiny light appeared.
At first, it was just a small glowing dot, like a faint star.
But then—suddenly—it began to expand rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, the tiny point of light became a massive glowing sphere.
The giant wooden hands slammed into it, triggering a deafening explosion that shook the heavens.
The sphere contracted first, as if gathering immeasurable energy.
Then it expanded again, rapidly, seemingly ready to engulf the entire space.
Any of the statue's arms that touched the sphere vanished without a sound, as if devoured by the light.
Just as the light reached its maximum size, it suddenly fell silent, as if preparing something.
The next second, everyone felt their vision go white, as if swallowed by an overwhelming force.
A massive mushroom cloud rose into the sky. The explosion spanned dozens of kilometers, completely erasing the True Several Thousand Hands from existence.
It was as if it had never been there at all.
Everyone stood frozen, stunned by the sight before them, unable to believe their eyes.
And then, Hikaru appeared before them.
He raised his hand, casting a mysterious formation over them all.
Just as everyone was confused, the mushroom cloud began to expand like the earlier light sphere—
And then it crashed violently into Hikaru's barrier.
In the next moment, the barrier began to fracture.
Seeing this, Hikaru raised his other hand and layered on a second formation.
Only after a long moment did the chaos subside.
Hikaru let out a breath of relief in his heart.
'That was close. I didn't think Nuclear Release would be that strong. Good thing I reacted quickly.'
That's right—what they had just witnessed was the golden-tier Nuclear Release Hikaru had obtained from the Idle Training System.
He had even come up with the name himself.
Because its effects resembled nuclear weaponry, he named it accordingly.
The principle behind Nuclear Release was extreme combustion. The initial point of light was actually intense fire.
Once the fire accumulated past a certain point, it triggered a massive explosion.
Since Nuclear Release relies purely on physical effects—burning and blast force—Chakra-absorption defenses were useless against it.
Having just upgraded to gold tier, Hikaru wanted to fully test out Nuclear Release—and that's what had just unfolded.
Luckily, he realized something was off right after launching it and acted fast enough to prevent real disaster.
When all was calm again, everyone turned to look at the site of the explosion.
The True Several Thousand Hands had completely vanished. All that remained was a massive circular crater.
And in the air above, the figure of Hashirama slowly began to reappear—dim, illusory, and unstable.
It was clear that the previous blast had gravely wounded him—maybe even killed him outright.
Seeing this, Tobirama drew in a sharp breath and muttered to himself:
"So freaking strong? Sis-in-law really undersold it…"
Unbeknownst to him, said "sis-in-law" was just as dumbfounded—staring in disbelief.
Mito had known Hikaru was strong and had expected Hashirama to lose.
But she hadn't expected this—to be one-shot even after going all out.
Tsunade and Nonō Yakushi, meanwhile, stared at Hikaru with sparkling eyes, sending his ego into the stratosphere.
Just then, Hikaru noticed that Hashirama had nearly finished regenerating. With a wave, he brought him back to the group.
Facing Hashirama's complicated expression, Hikaru gave an awkward cough and said:
"I've made a bit of progress in training lately. Misjudged my strength. How about… we go for another round later?"