"Earth Style: Earth Flow Great River!"
The Senju shinobi didn't waste breath on taunts. The moment he closed the distance, he slammed both palms into the ground. Chakra surged through the earth, turning solid soil into a rushing torrent of mud that surged straight toward Amamiya Raizen.
Raizen watched the mud roll under his feet, calm despite the mess roaring toward him. He snatched a three-pronged kunai from his pouch and flicked it upward in a clean arc.
A heartbeat later, his body vanished in a streak of black light.
"Flying Thunder God Technique."
The Senju's eyes twitched. Ever since Senju Tobirama used that very technique to nearly kill Uchiha Izuna, every veteran had learned to fear the gleam of a marked kunai.
A whistle cut through the air. The Senju barely registered the blur before a shadow appeared right in front of him, palm slicing toward his throat like a blade.
A puff of smoke—
Swap.
Raizen's strike split clean through a wooden log.
Substitution. Classic.
"Water Style: Hard Whirlpool Water Blade!"
The shout came from behind him. Water spiraled violently between the Senju's palms, compressing until it formed a long, spear-like javelin that hummed with lethal pressure. He hurled it without hesitation.
Raizen glanced back.
"Tobirama's signature S-rank move, huh? Lucky me."
His eyes bled scarlet. Space twisted.
The water javelin ripped out of existence.
A split-second later—
BOOM.
The displaced vortex reappeared in the middle of the battlefield, exploding into a raging spiral of water. Several Uchiha and Senju were torn apart before they even understood what happened.
Panic rippled through both sides.
"What kind of jutsu is that?! Mangekyō?!"
"Get back, get back!"
The Senju's face tightened as he looked into Raizen's Mangekyō.
The killing intent in Raizen's gaze sharpened.
A surge of chakra erupted from his body, crimson and violent. The air trembled.
A giant took shape around him—armor, sinew, skeletal ribs, and a towering blade held skyward.
Susanoo.
A hundred throats gasped at once. Even Uchiha veterans stumbled back.
"Impossible…! His Susanoo—!"
"It's larger than Madara-sama's!"
Raizen didn't give them time to think.
"Amaterasu."
"Flame Control."
Black fire flashed into existence like hungry fangs. Under Raizen's direction, the flames twisted into a writhing dragon that tore through both clans' ranks. Screams erupted as shinobi collapsed, their bodies devoured by fire that refused to die.
"Put it out! Water Style, now!"
"Douse it!"
A dozen Water Style jutsu hammered the flames—
Only for the black fire to burn hotter.
Raizen scoffed inside Susanoo's ribcage.
"You're shouting orders in the middle of this? Worry about surviving first."
Susanoo stepped forward. Raizen swung the massive blade down, the air howling from the force.
"Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"
The Senju slapped both hands to the ground. A colossal earth wall rose to intercept the strike.
It lasted less than a second.
Susanoo's blade sheared through it like wet paper.
The Senju's eyes widened with raw fear as the shockwave blasted him backward.
"This power… it's beyond Uchiha Madara's!"
He had fought Madara before. Madara's Susanoo was terrifying, yes—but this?
Raizen's Susanoo wasn't just bigger. It was denser, harsher, forged for brutality instead of intimidation.
"Die."
Raizen's voice echoed through the spectral titan as the blade descended again, carving the ground apart. Shinobi from all factions scrambled away; standing anywhere near Susanoo was a death wish.
"Damn it!"
The Senju slammed his palms to the floor again, cracking the ground under Susanoo's feet to break its posture before fleeing in retreat.
"You're not going anywhere."
Susanoo's sword dissolved, reforming into a massive longbow.
A black-flame arrow materialized on the string.
Raizen drew.
He fired.
BOOM.
The arrow ripped the earth apart as it flew. The Senju erected layer after layer of earth walls—dozens of them—each crashing into existence with desperate speed.
The arrow plowed through most of them before its flames finally sputtered out.
Dust settled.
The Senju stood behind the last shattered wall, drenched in sweat.
"Amamiya Raizen… you monster…"
He had fought beside Senju Hashirama. He had seen Uchiha Madara unleash hell upon a battlefield.
And yet—
Raizen was matching both of them.
No—at this moment, he might even be surpassing them.
The Warring States had birthed another monster.
...
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