"This… this is the legendary Wood Release?!"
The moment the forest erupted from the ground, even Konoha's veterans felt their throats tighten. Roots tore through stone. Trunks rose like pillars. Leaves spread like a tidal wave—swallowing the battlefield and blotting out the sky.
Yet—
Ren didn't retreat.
He didn't even flinch.
He took a single step forward, shoulders loose, eyes calm—like he was walking into a breeze.
Then his fist moved.
A clean, simple punch.
The air in front of him fractured.
Not metaphorically.
It cracked like glass.
A pale ripple spread outward, silent for a heartbeat—
and then the entire advancing forest detonated.
BOOOOM!!
Tree after tree shattered into splinters. Massive trunks snapped and collapsed like toys. The "endless forest" that had dominated the battlefield a second earlier became a storm of debris, exploding outward in a violent ring.
At the edge of the battlefield, Konoha's shinobi froze.
"He… he blew it apart…"
"He actually blew apart the First Hokage's wood forest…"
"The Fifth Hokage's fists are still insane!"
On a cliff overlooking everything, Tobirama's eyes narrowed, pupils sharp and unreadable.
"So strong…" he muttered. "This isn't ninjutsu. This isn't chakra shaping."
His gaze dropped to Ren's arm.
"That force… it behaves like a phenomenon. Like a disaster."
On the battlefield, Hashirama looked at the shattered remains of his forest—and smiled.
Not offended.
Not angry.
Amused.
"Interesting."
Chakra surged around him like a rising sea. His hands moved smoothly—precise and confident.
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!"
From the shattered trunks, wood twisted as if it had been given life.
It writhed.
It coiled.
And in the span of a breath, five enormous wood dragons formed—roaring as they charged, their pressure so suffocating it made the air feel heavy.
Their jaws opened. Their bodies pulsed with a devouring hunger.
Konoha's spectators sucked in breath.
"Those are the wood dragons…!"
"They can restrain tailed beasts!"
"They absorb chakra—there's no way to fight them head-on!"
Ren's lips curved slightly, as if the warnings were entertainment.
"Good."
His body darkened as Armament Haki wrapped him like invisible armor.
Not flashy.
Not loud.
Just absolute.
Then—
he ran forward.
Not dodging.
Not retreating.
He ran straight into them.
The first wood dragon lunged down like a collapsing mountain.
Ren vanished.
A crack in the air—
and he reappeared in front of its head.
Hashirama spoke instinctively, confident and calm.
"It's useless. A wood dragon's defense is extremely—"
Ren punched.
CRACK.
A fracture line split across the dragon's skull.
The wood dragon's eyes widened, as if it didn't understand what had happened.
Then—
BOOM!!
It exploded into splinters.
The shockwave slapped the ground so hard it kicked up a wall of dust.
And Ren was already moving.
Second dragon—punched through.
Third dragon—its head snapped back, body ripped apart.
Fourth dragon—shattered mid-roar.
Fifth dragon—collapsed into debris before it could even coil.
Five wood dragons.
Five legends.
All destroyed in seconds.
No seals.
No chakra techniques.
No flashy eyes.
Just one man and his fists.
The battlefield went quiet in a way that felt unnatural.
Even the wind seemed to hesitate.
Someone in the crowd swallowed hard and whispered what everyone was thinking.
"How is this possible…?"
Hashirama's smile faded—just a fraction.
For the first time, his gaze sharpened—not as a Hokage addressing a successor, but as a warrior measuring another warrior.
"I refuse to believe it ends here."
His chakra surged again—deeper than before.
"Wood Release: Wood Golem Jutsu!"
The earth trembled.
A massive trunk rose from the ground—then expanded, thickened, condensed—until it became a giant wooden humanoid, towering high enough to block the horizon.
It was the kind of thing that made people feel small just by existing.
The wood golem raised a fist larger than a building.
Konoha's shinobi instinctively stepped back.
"That… that's the Wood Golem…!"
"It can wrestle a Susanoo!"
Ren stared up at it.
Then he laughed—low, thrilled.
"Now we're talking."
He rolled his shoulders like he was warming up.
"Finally… something worth hitting."
The wood golem's fist smashed downward.
Ren met it head-on.
He raised his own fist—tiny compared to the giant's, yet wrapped in tremor force and Armament like a blade hidden inside a glove.
Two fists collided.
The impact didn't sound like a punch.
It sounded like the world breaking.
BOOOOOOM!!!
A violent shockwave burst outward, shredding the dust cloud, ripping the air apart, making spectators stagger even from far away.
Some shinobi dropped to one knee.
Others felt their teeth rattle.
Yet Ren—
didn't move.
Not even a step.
Instead, the wood golem's arm began to crack.
Hairline fractures spread, spiderwebbing across its massive frame.
The tremor force invaded its structure like a curse.
CRACK—CRACK—CRACK!!
And then the entire wood golem collapsed, exploding into chunks so large they smashed craters where they landed.
Hashirama's eyes widened.
"…Again?"
On the cliff, Tobirama's breath caught.
"That power…" he whispered, and for once, his voice carried genuine disbelief. "Could it be—"
He stopped.
Because Hashirama's expression had already changed.
The playful edge vanished.
The air shifted.
Chakra thickened—then twisted, like something ancient had awakened.
Natural energy poured in.
Black markings spread across Hashirama's face.
Sage Mode.
Konoha's veterans felt a chill crawl down their spines.
"That face…!"
"He entered Sage Mode…!"
Hashirama brought his palms together.
"Sage Art: Wood Release—True Several Thousand Hands!"
The earth screamed.
The battlefield cracked open like it couldn't bear the weight of what was coming.
And then it rose—
A colossal Bodhisattva statue, dwarfing everything.
A divine giant with countless arms unfolding behind it like an endless forest of hands.
The pressure was suffocating.
The sky looked smaller.
The world looked fragile.
Even the most battle-hardened shinobi couldn't help it—
their legs shook.
Some stared blankly.
Some whispered prayers.
Some couldn't even breathe.
"This… is why they called him the God of Shinobi…"
"One hand could crush a tailed beast…"
Ren stood there, looking up.
Dust drifted past his face.
His eyes weren't fearful.
They were brighter than ever.
He inhaled slowly.
Then smiled.
"Finally."
He had been holding back.
Holding back the eyes.
Holding back the true shape of his power.
If he was going to unveil it—
this was the moment.
He lifted his head, gaze locked on the god statue.
"Let's see…"
"…what happens when Whitebeard climbs into a Susanoo."
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