In an instant.
The Ice Age unleashed by Chiba erupted head-on into the combined assault of the Edo Tensei army and the toad forces of Mount Myōboku, whose torrents of blazing flames and boiling oil surged forward without restraint.
Boom-!!!
Boom-!!!
BOOM-!!!!!
Ice and fire collided in violent opposition, freezing cold crashing against searing heat!
The moment the battlefield erupted, it was instantly transformed into a hellish slaughterground.
Countless Edo Tensei soldiers were frozen solid in that very instant, turned into lifeless ice sculptures before shattering apart into fragments. Others were swallowed whole by the terrifying Fire Release flames of their own side, reduced to scorched earth, ash, and drifting dust.
And yet-
In the very next moment, those destroyed Edo Tensei soldiers began to reconstruct themselves once more, their bodies rapidly restoring to a complete state.
Orochimaru let out a low, hoarse chuckle.
"Mizukage-sama, your Ice Release truly is impressive," he said leisurely. "Unfortunately, it holds no real meaning against the dead summoned by Edo Tensei."
"They're already corpses. Even if they're frozen solid and crushed to pieces, they'll recover again soon enough."
Chiba smiled faintly. "Orochimaru, I don't need you to remind me of that."
"And besides… you seem far too confident in your Edo Tensei."
"Do you really believe that those frozen dead can still recover as before?"
The next instant-
Orochimaru's expression changed abruptly.
He suddenly realized that the ninjas who had been frozen earlier by Chiba's Ice Age were no longer capable of movement.
Let alone fighting.
"Th-This is…!"
"Your Ice Release… it's been fused with a sealing technique?!"
"H-How is that even possible?!"
Chiba's smile deepened slightly. "As expected of you, Orochimaru. You finally noticed."
Orochimaru knew better than anyone that the one true weakness of Edo Tensei lay in sealing techniques. Aside from that, any form of physical damage or ninjutsu attack was meaningless.
Even if the resurrected dead were torn apart piece by piece, they would still regenerate in short order.
But now, it was clear that Chiba had not only long understood this weakness-he had already devised a countermeasure specifically tailored to it.
He had fused the power of Ice Release with sealing techniques into a single art.
Once frozen, it no longer meant mere immobilization-
It meant true sealing.
In practical terms, the reality was brutally simple: the moment Chiba's Ice Release spread across the battlefield, Orochimaru's Edo Tensei army lost its very meaning. Numbers, immortality, even regeneration became irrelevant. Once touched by Chiba's freezing domain, those resurrected bodies could no longer function as weapons of war.
The realization struck Orochimaru like a blade pressed against his throat.
His pupils contracted sharply as he finally lost his composure.
"Don't let yourselves be caught within his freezing range," he shouted.
"Even an Edo Tensei body will be sealed instantly!"
For the first time since their summoning, tension appeared on Hashirama Senju's face. His brow furrowed as understanding settled in, heavy and unmistakable.
"So that's how it is…" he murmured.
"He didn't merely strengthen Ice Release. He fused it with fuinjutsu."
Tobirama's gaze sharpened, analytical as ever, yet there was no hiding the weight behind his words.
"To reach this level… this goes beyond raw power. This is true creation."
Hashirama let out a quiet sigh, one that carried both admiration and an unspoken sense of loss.
"He really is frightening, Tobirama. In a way… he feels like a fusion of you and me."
Admiration, however, could not halt the march of reality.
Even with Orochimaru's warning, the majority of the Edo Tensei shinobi-those lacking exceptional speed or battle instinct-had no hope of escaping Chiba's domain. Ice swallowed the battlefield like an advancing age, and under the combined pressure of Hyōton (Ice Release) and sealing techniques, the undead army collapsed at an alarming pace.
In mere moments, more than half of the Edo Tensei forces were rendered irrelevant-frozen solid, sealed completely, erased from the flow of battle.
What remained were the true monsters.
And Chiba gave them no time to adjust.
His chakra surged once more, deeper and colder than before. The air itself seemed to scream as the frozen domain expanded violently outward, devouring ground, enemies, and resolve alike. Dozens of Edo Tensei shinobi were caught mid-motion, their bodies locking into ice sculptures before danger could even register. Sealing patterns spread silently through the frost, leaving them unable to move, fight, or even regenerate.
Orochimaru's expression twisted in alarm.
Now he acted.
With sharp commands, he pushed forward his final pillars of combat power-Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, the strongest assets still under his control.
Hashirama stepped forward, and the battlefield itself seemed to respond to his presence. Drawing in natural energy, he entered Sage Mode, senjutsu chakra surging through his Edo Tensei body. Though far from his prime, the sheer pressure he released still dwarfed nearly all others.
"Senninpō: Myōjinmon (Sage Art: Deity Gates)."
The sky trembled as colossal crimson torii gates descended like divine judgment, crashing down toward Chiba with the intent to suppress, restrain, and seal. At his peak, this technique had once subdued Uchiha Madara and even restrained the Jyuubi.
But this was not his peak.
Chiba observed calmly, almost gently. A faint smile curved his lips as a different kind of senjutsu awakened within him-the ancient, savage power of Ryūchi Cave.
"Senninpō: Ka Ryū no Jutsu (Sage Art: Dragon Transformation)."
An overwhelming surge of senjutsu chakra erupted from Chiba, violent and untamed, forming a colossal azure dragon that roared into the sky. It collided head-on with the descending gates, shattering them utterly. The crimson torii exploded apart, fragments scattering like broken faith.
Hashirama's eyes widened. Even knowing his current state was incomplete, even aware of his limitations, that had still been Myōjinmon-and it had been destroyed in an instant.
Tobirama's expression darkened, his mind racing faster than the chaos around them.
"That's Ryūchi Cave senjutsu… refined to an absurd degree."
He turned sharply to his brother.
"Big Brother, lend me your power. When I struck him earlier with Hiraishin Giri (Flying Thunder God Slash), his body behaved like an elemental form-similar to the Hōzuki Clan's Suiton: Suika no Jutsu (Water Release: Hydrification Technique), but derived from Ice Release."
"Pure physical attacks are meaningless. Senjutsu can bypass that."
"Combine your sage chakra with my Flying Thunder God."
Hashirama nodded without hesitation.
"Do it."
Their movements synchronized flawlessly, as if the battlefield itself remembered their countless past wars. A seal flashed onto Hashirama's shoulder as Tobirama's hand settled firmly against his brother's back.
"Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)."
Space folded.
In an instant, the brothers vanished-and reappeared beside the flying kunai, now directly at Chiba's side. Not meters away. Not even steps.
A breath's distance.
This strike was faster, sharper, and layered with senjutsu. If it landed, even Chiba would bleed. Tobirama had seen through the mystery of Chiba's elemental immunity and grasped its weakness.
But Chiba understood his own limits better than anyone.
The moment they appeared, absolute cold erupted from his body. An apocalyptic wave of freezing energy surged outward, swallowing everything in its path. The battlefield, the sky, the earth-everything froze. Even Chiba himself became part of the ice, suspended in a moment of eternal stillness.
The brothers' perfect ambush collapsed into inevitability.
Hashirama and Tobirama were frozen mid-strike.
They struggled instinctively, power surging violently against the ice, but it was already too late. This freezing carried more than cold.
It carried sealing.
Fūinjutsu activated.
Even as legends, even as former Hokage, they were now only Edo Tensei bodies, far from their prime. In a single moment, both were completely sealed-immobile, silent, defeated.
Orochimaru stared in horror.
His greatest trump cards, his final aces, had fallen. Worse still, once their souls were sealed, he might never summon them again. The realization cut deeper than any blade.
Rage consumed him.
He commanded everything-every remaining shinobi, every Edo Tensei, every ounce of power-to charge Chiba at once. Jiraiya stepped forward as well, no longer retreating, as the toad army of Mount Myōboku surged into the fray.
Two hundred fighters.
Against one man.
The battlefield roared.
And Chiba smiled.
With a casual wave of his hand, he invoked another art.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)."
Explosions echoed as the serpents of Ryūchi Cave erupted onto the battlefield-Manda, Xinya, the Green Serpent, the Second Manda, the Snake Princesses, and even the White Snake Sage himself. Chaos swallowed the front lines as snakes and toads clashed violently.
Then Chiba raised his hand once more.
This time, he invoked a supreme art born from absolute mastery.
"Senninpō: Hyōsetsu Ryūkihei (Sage Art: Ice Dragon Cavalry)."
A hundred riders emerged.
Ice-forged warhorses.
Ice-forged knights.
Living weapons, advancing without fear, their bodies harder than steel, wielding fragments of Ice Release itself.
Against them, the world trembled.
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