Chapter 212: The Fall of Yamato
Standing alone atop the Nine-Tails, Ren watched the wooden colossus with a cold, disdainful eye. "Hmph. The Wood Human Technique... what an insult to Hashirama Senju's legacy."
The Tailed Beast Bomb closed the distance, its sheer presence exerting a crushing pressure even before impact. Yamato, standing on the wooden giant's head, felt his heart clench. The Nine-Tails... a fully charged Tailed Beast Bomb is on this level... The pressure alone is suffocating. If I take this head-on... I'm finished. But... it can't be helped.
As the sphere of annihilation reached the wooden giant, Yamato gritted his teeth, his hands forming another seal. Countless thick vines erupted from the wooden man's body, lashing out to intercept the Tailed Beast Bomb. While it was a pale shadow of the First Hokage's true power, to the desperate Konoha shinobi, it was a beacon of hope. The First Hokage was a god in their legends.
But Yamato, facing the bomb directly, was suffering immensely. The vines that shot forth seemed to have momentum, visually halting the bomb's advance for a moment. But the moment they made contact, they were instantly vaporized by the bomb's overwhelming energy. The continuous stream of new vines was nothing more than a desperate, chakra-draining attempt to hold back the inevitable.
"It's holding! The Wood Human Jutsu is blocking it!"
"As expected of the First Hokage's ultimate technique! We're saved!"
The cheers of the Konoha shinobi were premature. The protective web of vines grew thinner and thinner. The Tailed Beast Bomb, momentarily stalled, began to advance again, its speed increasing rapidly.
Seeing the dire situation, Yamato broke his hand seal. The endless stream of vines ceased. He then joined his palms together again. The wooden giant mimicked his posture.
Senior Kakashi... I remember you once said... a ninja who doesn't follow the rules is trash... but a ninja who abandons his comrades is worse than trash. In my current state... I suppose I can be considered an excellent ninja.
"Yamato! You'll die! Fall back!" Kakashi's desperate shout came from behind.
Hearing it, the usually stoic Yamato allowed a faint, sad smile to touch his lips. Senior Kakashi... I leave Naruto to you.
Oh? Ren mused, a hint of mockery in his thoughts. Hashirama Senju could grab a Tailed Beast Bomb bare-handed with this technique. I wonder how far this imitation can go.
Following Yamato's will, the wooden giant suddenly lunged forward, its arms outstretched, using its entire body as a shield against the raging sphere. In the legendary battles of the past, Hashirama's wooden titan was colossal, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Nine-Tails, able to hold a Tailed Beast Bomb in its palm like a toy. But Yamato's creation was far smaller, barely larger than the bomb itself. It couldn't grasp the sphere; it could only throw its whole form against it in a desperate block.
The moment they made contact, a violent red light erupted. The wooden giant strained, its feet carving deep trenches in the earth as the bomb's immense force pushed it backward toward the village. But it was having an effect; the bomb's terrifying speed had been drastically reduced.
However, Yamato was reaching his limit. He could no longer sustain the colossal chakra required. The wooden giant, the Konoha shinobi's last hope, began to emit blue smoke, as if burning from the inside out. Cracks spider-webbed across its body.
With a final, guttural roar, Yamato poured every last drop of his chakra into the construct. The wooden man gave one last, monumental heave, managing to shift the Tailed Beast Bomb's trajectory by a few critical degrees. Having expended its last ounce of strength, the wooden giant could hold no longer. It disintegrated into a cloud of sawdust and splinters under the bomb's malevolent aura.
"Hmph! So this is your Wood Human Jutsu?" Ren taunted. "More like a disposable puppet. How pathet—" His words cut off as he sensed something. His form vanished from the Nine-Tails' head.
Cough! Yamato, who had suddenly appeared some distance away using a substitution technique at the last possible second, vomited a mouthful of blood. Before he could take another breath, a spear of crackling lightning chakra—the Chidori Sharp Spear—erupted from his chest.
"This... is the Chidori Sharp Spear...?"
He didn't even have time to turn and see his attacker before he collapsed to the ground, motionless.
"You used a substitution technique the moment the bomb breached the wooden man's head," Ren's voice stated coldly from behind him. He dismissed the lightning spear from his hand. "A clever trick to cheat death. But it's an insult to me, Uchiha Ren. Your Wood Style was always a potential threat. Since you chose to stand in my way, I had no choice but to eliminate you first."
BOOOOOOM!
A deafening explosion roared in the distance. Ren turned his head to look. The Tailed Beast Bomb, having cleared the wooden giant, had finally struck the earth on the far side of Konoha. After a moment of eerie silence, it erupted, a hemisphere of red energy expanding outward, scouring the land clean. The shockwave, even from this distance, washed over Ren, tugging at his clothes.
He felt the pressure of the wind, and for the first time, a sense of grim satisfaction sprouted in his heart. In this broken village, the weight of his clan's grudge was finally being repaid. Konoha was tasting the pain of absolute loss.
From a bird's-eye view, the ground where the bomb had landed had collapsed, forming a vast, smoldering crater.
Despite Yamato's final effort, the Tailed Beast Bomb's destructive power had still left Konoha in ruins.
Ren turned his gaze back to the remaining, shell-shocked defenders.
"Next..." his voice was a soft, deadly promise, "...it's your turn."
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