However, Meruem faced it all without a flicker of fear. Setting aside whether such ordinary weapons could harm him, at that level of speed he could dodge with ease. Even if it blanketed the sky, if the blanket moved at a snail's pace, do you really think he couldn't evade it?
"Hmph, not so easy." Seeing Meruem's figure appear within the vast storm of giant shuriken, Hiruzen Sarutobi showed a sly, triumphant smile.
"What is this?" As he turned and avoided one of the enormous shuriken, Meruem noticed several slips of paper with strange sigils pasted at their centers.
"Not good, explosive tags!" Meruem recognized the sigil paper—top-grade explosive tags!
"Got you! Ninja Art: Talisman Detonation!" Blinding white light flared from countless shuriken, followed by a tremendous blast.
It was like the detonation of a small meteor, illuminating the whole islet.
Though slightly weaker than Konan's God of Paper technique, the destructive power was still terrifying. Most importantly, once caught deep within the vast Shuriken Shadow Clone formation, there was no escape. The move was also extremely chakra-intensive; while the explosive tags could be cloned, the chakra cost was enormous.
The principle was similar to Konan's God of Paper technique, though Konan had nearly paid with her life.
Hiruzen hadn't intended a life-for-life trade, but after that chain of techniques, his chakra was nearly spent.
Fortunately, the opponent was dealt with. What a formidable foe—he'd forced every Hokage here, besides the First, to use their trump cards.
"Lord First." At that moment, Minato brought the badly wounded Tobirama over to them.
"Tobirama, now do you see there's always someone stronger? He's a remarkable one—frighteningly strong. Even under that level of attack, he's unscathed." Hashirama glanced toward the blast zone, then spoke to Tobirama.
"Hmph." Tobirama snorted, displeased, but—rarely—did not rebut his brother.
"What? Lord First, you mean he's unscathed after an attack like that?" Minato exclaimed. If it had been him, even with the Flying Thunder God, he would have been severely injured in a blast of that scale—unless he'd placed marks well outside the explosion zone in advance.
"As expected of Hashirama Senju—the man called the God of Ninjutsu. The man who subdued the nine Tailed Beasts by himself. You're truly something—far stronger than your incompetent little brother." Meruem's voice sounded again around the Hokage.
"You're not bad either, Third Hokage—the 'Professor.' You actually left me looking this ragged." Meruem's figure finally reappeared before them.
Aside from some blackening on his body, which made him look embarrassingly singed, there were surprisingly few visible injuries.
"My turn to take the field, I'd say." Hashirama flexed and spoke to the other three.
"I told you: it's best if all four of you come at once, or you'll lose for sure." Meruem didn't even bother to lift his eyes, keeping the same infuriating tone that set Tobirama's teeth on edge.
"No problem. I alone am enough!" Hashirama thumped his chest, confident.
"Very well, as you wish. I'll teach you a lesson—you'll change your mind."
"Wood Release: Wooden Hammer!" Hashirama struck first, a colossal wooden maul crashing toward Meruem.
"I told you—quit with the boring ninjutsu. That level of trick is useless on me!"
"Don't be so sure. Wood Release: Fei no Ki!" A hard wooden funnel clamped around Meruem in an instant, and then a massive rectangular block appeared above, plunging down, intent on smashing him to splinters.
"Your dull tricks end here!" The great block hadn't even fallen before Meruem burst out of the hardwood funnel.
"Out of my way!" He slammed a fist into the falling block, and the huge beam exploded into a storm of splinters.
In a blur of impossible speed, Meruem flashed to Hashirama's face and drove another heavy punch.
"Not good—at that level of taijutsu, even I can't take it head-on." Hashirama's body was stronger than that of almost anyone in the Naruto world—aside from a rare few, no one surpassed him.
But compared to Meruem's body, he still fell a bit short. In raw recovery, Hashirama was slightly better—Meruem needed tremendous energy to restore his body—yet in defense, Meruem left Hashirama far behind.
"Wood Release: Wood Human Technique!" A colossal wooden hand interposed, taking Meruem's punch head-on.
"Ho? A fine move. But you think you have summons and I don't? Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: Lord of Fiends and Phantoms!" A long-unused technique returned; a vast curtain of black night surged forth and toppled Hashirama's great wood man.
"That's no ninjutsu, but it's impressive. Looks like a single wood golem isn't its match. Then take this—Wood Release Secret Art: Deep Forest Emergence! And another—Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!" Seeing his golem outmatched by the black night, Hashirama unleashed two super-strong Wood Release secrets. The two sides clashed again in a furious melee.
"Lord Third… do you think Lord First can win?" Watching the monsters brawl not far away, Minato couldn't help asking Hiruzen.
"I don't know. Lord First still has secret arts he hasn't used. His strength is more than this."
"Ah—ahahaha, how exhilarating. It seems I must go all out." After another brief exchange with Meruem, strange markings spread across Hashirama's face, with an eye-shaped mark opening at the center like Erlang Shen's third eye.
Hashirama's Sage Mode—he was truly getting serious.
"Sage Art Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!" A titanic Kannon statue loomed, with innumerable arms fanning out behind it—the true Thousand-Armed Kannon.
"Top Transformed Buddha!" In an instant, the giant Kannon thrust forth countless massive arms, suppressing the vast darkness behind Meruem.
"You think only you can use a move like that? Behold—Hundred-Type Guanyin!" A colossal Kannon manifested behind Meruem as well, though with fewer arms than Hashirama's. Its destructive power, however, was greater!
"Hundred-Type Guanyin: Ninety-Ninth Form!"
"Sage Art: Myojinmon!"
They unleashed their strongest techniques, and the clash that followed was dead even—for the moment, a near perfect tie.
The others—Tobirama and company—were far less comfortable. They were very close to the battlefield, so they took the brunt of the aftershocks.
Even without being targeted, the collateral devastation was immense. If they hadn't been Hokage, they would have been blasted who knows where by now.
"Hahahaha, you're truly strong." Hashirama's personality was much like Asura's or Naruto's—guileless and friendly to a fault.
He was exceedingly forthright; if they weren't enemies, Meruem might, for once, have called him a friend.
Even so, Meruem acknowledged his strength. But recognition was one thing; what needed doing still needed doing.
He had to obtain the Otsutsuki bloodline power.
"You're not bad either. But playtime is over. All of you, come at me. I'll finish you together and make you the nourishment for my growth." Meruem's aura rose again, climbing to an unimaginable height.
This was his full power—his complete strength.
"Let me show you my complete form. Sage arts? I can use them too." Faint eye shadow and subtle markings appeared on Meruem's face.
Hashirama and Minato immediately recognized the aura—Sage Chakra.
"He's serious. We might really die here." Feeling Meruem's power, real sweat beaded on Hashirama's forehead.
He was too strong—this was the first time he'd felt such overwhelming force. Then fight him—worth it even in death. I am the First Hokage!
"Sage Mode doesn't suit me well—it's unstable, and I'm not used to it, since my combat time in it is short. I don't like fighting in this form. But it looks like without Sage Mode, I won't beat him. So I'll use it—Sage Mode!" The toad eyes of Mount Myoboku's Sage Mode appeared in Minato's gaze, with a wash of pale orange shadow at the corners. Minato Namikaze, Sage Mode—present.
"Looks like these old bones have to go all-out too. But my chakra's low, so… I'm counting on you! Enma—Summoning Technique!" Hiruzen panted as he pressed his palm to the ground, and a humanoid ape appeared before them.
"Cough… I didn't expect this. It's galling. I can only provide support from the side—but even so, I'll show you my power! Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness!" A shroud of black mist engulfed the islet. Though the Second Hokage was injured, his chakra remained, and as a Senju his vitality far exceeded the norm.
"Fellow Hokage, are you ready? Then—battle!"
(End of Chapter)
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