"Amaterasu!"
Black fire surged along the blade of Raizen's Susanoo, swelling like a dragon made of shadows. The world around him erupted as the incoming mass of living trees and vines ignited the moment the flames touched them. Heat warped the air. Burning sap hissed.
Raizen gritted his teeth, tightened his control, and drove Susanoo straight through the flaming mess.
Across the battlefield, Uchiha Madara answered with a sharp exhale. His own Susanoo lunged, armor clashing against armor. When the two giants collided, a shockwave blasted outward, shredding the grass and splitting the earth.
"Wood Style: Binding Burial!"
From afar, Senju Hashirama raised his hands. Forest-sized vines tore out of the soil and lashed toward Raizen like constricting serpents. Raizen cursed under his breath, diverting one of Susanoo's hands to swat the vines aside while still fending off Madara's assault.
"Don't get cocky, Raizen!"
Madara's shout came a heartbeat before he swung. His Susanoo's sword came down with brutal force. The impact drove Raizen backward several steps, cracking the earth with each retreating footfall. More vines surged in immediately, swallowing Susanoo's legs in a writhing net.
"So this is Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama together…"
Raizen's lips twisted into something almost like a smile.
"…figures they'd be monsters."
Susanoo roared, wrenching the massive vines apart with a violent twist of its arm. Black fire flared again, coating its blade. Raizen pushed forward, cleaving through the green tide and slashing straight at Madara.
Madara only laughed, eyes spinning with manic exhilaration. His Susanoo brightened, chakra thickening until its presence felt like a storm grinding the air itself.
The next collision sent a hurricane ripping across a hundred-meter radius.
"Madara!"
Raizen forced Susanoo forward, one hand grabbing Madara's Susanoo by the chestplate. Amaterasu flared and twisted, morphing into a giant flaming dragon that lunged for Madara's face.
"Raizen!"
Madara's snarl was sharp enough to cut stone. His Susanoo swelled with power again, armor thickening, muscles bulging unnaturally. With a single heave, he shoved Raizen back. The two colossal hands of Madara's Susanoo clasped together and hammered downward.
The ground under Raizen detonated. Cracks spiderwebbed outward.
His Susanoo's chest split open — a clean fracture glowing like molten steel.
"Hah! Don't forget me!"
Hashirama's voice boomed across the battlefield. His chakra surged, thick with natural energy.
"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence — World of Flowers and Trees!"
Silence fell.
Then the land ruptured.
Forests sprang up in an instant, tree upon tree upon tree clawing into the sky. Petals burst from colossal buds, releasing pale pollen that drifted like death-scented snow.
"Hashirama…"
Raizen steadied Susanoo. For the first time, his expression tightened.
Before he could decide what to do—
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
Madara's Susanoo landed atop a shattered boulder and unleashed a wave of hellfire. Flames devoured the forest in seconds. The air thickened with burning pollen.
Raizen inhaled.
Bad call.
Numbness crept into his limbs.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World!"
A pale white cone expanded from Raizen's Susanoo, humming with lethal intensity. The battlefield disintegrated under its light — trees, pollen, flames — everything dissolved into nothing.
Madara and Hashirama leapt back immediately, their eyes widening as the blast carved a crater into the world.
"Madara. Hashirama."
Raizen exhaled slowly.
"Come at me."
His hands blurred through a chain of seals.
"Summoning Technique!"
Smoke exploded.
A roar followed — deep, ancient, and furious.
When the smoke cleared, a massive form towered over the battlefield:
Three Tails (Isobu).
Its cold chakra rolled across the land like a tidal wave.
Two Raizen clones split off instantly. One vaulted onto the Three Tails' back, hands pressed to its shell. The other dropped beside Hashirama, eyes narrowing.
"Your move."
Madara clicked his tongue. "You really don't know how to shut up."
"Beast Armor!"
The clone atop Three Tails coated its shell in scarlet chakra plating.
"Tailed Beast Bomb!"
Three Tails roared. A sphere of compressed chakra spiraled into existence, growing denser and darker until it vibrated with lethal pressure.
Madara braced.
The blast fired.
The Tailed Beast Bomb tore across the battlefield like a meteor. Madara's Susanoo swung its massive blade, attempting to split the attack.
It didn't matter.
The two forces met in a blinding flash.
Everything within a wide radius turned to dust — rocks pulverized, earth scraped clean, forest erased. The explosion left nothing but emptiness.
"Madara!"
Hashirama shouted, anxiety showing for the first time. Yet even as he looked toward Madara, his instincts warned him — the second Raizen clone was already rushing in.
The clash was far from over.
...
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