Hashirama Senju stretched out his hands and tore open the Iron Sand Iron Coffin. He roared and flung it back towards the direction of the flames. Wounds appeared on his hands and feet where the skin was broken, but in a moment, the injuries recovered as if they had never been there.
The massive iron sand ball continued flying towards the flames, and after being thrown with the immense force of Hashirama's hands, its speed was incredibly fast.
Sasori frowned upon seeing this. He mobilized a large amount of chakra to have the Third Kazekage's puppet intercept it. In the end, he spat out a mouthful of blood. Damn it, the strength of the First Hokage was tremendous. The chakra he mobilized could barely even slow it down.
However, at the last moment, the iron sand ball stopped. Rin and the living human puppet successfully dodged. Sweat beaded on Rin's forehead as he looked at Hashirama Senju with shock, then nodded at his son in thanks.
Sasori smiled, then took Sunagakure's chakra recovery pills, consuming three directly. Immediately, his chakra rapidly refilled to a full state.
However, these pills had side effects, and they contained pill toxicity. They should not be taken excessively. If taken too much, one needed to undergo various trainings to expel the impurities.
But now, it had come to the point of whether Sunagakure could continue to exist. What did pill toxicity matter? Just fight!
Hashirama Senju watched this scene and slightly frowned. "Young man, that medicine of yours has side effects."
"Shut up," Sasori roared, then controlled over thirty puppets to attack Hashirama Senju from various angles. Hashirama Senju shook his head and remained silent, simply fighting everywhere.
One punch, and a puppet exploded. One kick, and a puppet fell apart. In just five seconds, seven puppets were destroyed. Yet Sasori remained unmoved, continuously manipulating the puppets, making them attack incessantly.
But in Hashirama Senju's eyes, this was all child's play, not worth mentioning. Rin controlled the living human puppet to launch long-range attacks from various tricky angles, yet Hashirama Senju seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, perfectly dodging every single time.
Seeing his son's puppets dwindling and his body trembling, a precursor to collapse, Rin roared, "Sasori, fall back. Your body can't withstand this consumption anymore."
"I won't fall back. Old man, stop nagging. I'm still waiting to go home and eat mom's fried ham and meat. You need to get serious." After saying this, Sasori of the Red Sand went berserk. His potential was once again unleashed.
He threw out dozens of scrolls in a row. Chakra threads spread wildly. Finally, a total of seventy puppets appeared, shocking Hashirama Senju, shocking Granny Chiyo, shocking all the puppet masters currently standing on the city gate, their eyes burning with fervor.
"Not enough. Who has puppets. Throw them down," Sasori of the Red Sand roared, the veins on his forehead bulging. His roar ignited the热血 of the Sunagakure shinobi.
Everyone shouted, "Now is the critical moment. Everyone, throw your puppets over." Someone shouted this, and the next moment everyone began throwing puppets down, about thirty or so.
"Red Secret Technique, Performance of a Hundred Puppets," Sasori of the Red Sand shouted loudly. A hundred chakra threads flew out, attaching to all the puppets. All the puppets came to life as if alive.
Sasori of the Red Sand's hair had turned half white at this moment, but his gaze remained clear, remained firm. Seeing this, Rin's pupils contracted. "Sasori, you."
"Old man, no more," Sasori of the Red Sand manipulated the hundred puppets to surge madly towards Hashirama Senju. He slowly let out a breath. "A very good jutsu. You are probably the most talented puppet master in the past hundred years. How about joining Konoha."
Hashirama Senju said amiably. These words seemed like provocation to Sasori of the Red Sand. "I'll join your damn..." After saying this, the Performance of a Hundred Puppets activated again.
Hashirama Senju shook his head. Since it was like this, seeing the junior working so hard, he should also show respect. He clapped his hands together, activating three jutsu in succession.
"Wood Release, Wood Dragon Technique."
"Wood Release, Wood Human Technique."
"Sage Art, True Several Thousand Hands."
What followed was the earth shaking violently. A wooden dragon flew out from underground, roaring as it charged towards the puppet swarm. A wooden human rose from the ground, attacking the puppet swarm together with the wooden dragon.
The puppet swarm immediately suffered heavy losses. About thirty puppets were directly smashed. This caused the overburdened Sasori to spit out a mouthful of blood.
"Damn it. I can still fight." He continued to control the seventy puppets charging towards Hashirama Senju. The next moment, the ground beneath Hashirama Senju's feet cracked. A four hundred meter tall Buddha rose. Even the originally powerful-looking wooden dragon and wooden human began to move aside.
The wooden great Buddha, with a thousand hands behind it. For a moment, everyone was stunned, including Hashirama Senju and Tsunade behind the wooden wall.
Saiken inside Tsunade couldn't help but tremble. "It's this move. The move that destroys heaven and earth. Back then, the Nine-Tails was grabbed by this move. Sealed on the spot."
Tsunade looked at the great Buddha, the corners of her mouth turning up. As expected of her great-grandfather.
Sunagakure was filled with despair.
Granny Chiyo even shouted, "We surrender. We surrender. First Hokage-sama, please retract your divine power. Sunagakure is willing to surrender."
At this moment, Rin's face was pale. Seeing this great Buddha, he knew he was no match for the First Hokage Hashirama Senju. The reason they had been fighting back and forth earlier was simply because Hashirama Senju was toying with them.
This was Hashirama Senju's full power state. Seeing this, Sasori's eyes nearly burst. "Ma, masaka." Then he looked at his puppets, then at the thousand-armed Avalokitesvara. Immediately his face turned pale.
The next moment, Hashirama Senju manipulated seventy hands to fall. In an instant, all the puppets controlled by Sasori's Performance of a Hundred Puppets were completely destroyed. Sasori also suffered a backlash, spitting out a mouthful of blood and fainting. A complex look flashed in the eyes of the Third Kazekage's puppet, but it still caught him.
Rin did not notice this scene. Granny Chiyo did not notice. However, Hashirama Senju noticed, but he saw no need to tell Sunagakure.
The Sunagakure shinobi were filled with despair, looking at the remaining nine hundred and thirty hands. If they pressed down, Sunagakure would probably be razed to the ground.
Due to Sasori's fainting, the two puppets holding Granny Chiyo also lost strength and fell down.
Granny Chiyo quickly jumped down from the city gate tower and knelt before Hashirama Senju. "Respected First Hokage Hashirama Senju-sama, Sunagakure is willing to surrender. Please do not harm my son and grandson, nor the villagers of Sunagakure. They are all innocent. If there is any sin, let this old woman bear it alone."
After saying this, she buried her head very low. This scene deeply pained the Sunagakure shinobi, but they all understood Granny Chiyo. After all, the name Hashirama Senju represented invincibility.
Hashirama Senju, seeing this, jumped down from the great Buddha and snapped his fingers. The thousand-handed great Buddha immediately vanished into thin air, leaving not a trace behind.
He smiled and helped Granny Chiyo up. "Chiyo, you have grown old. I vaguely remember during the Five Kage Summit, you were just a young woman in your twenties. And Retto."
Chiyo looked at Hashirama Senju, her eyes moist. "In reply to First Hokage-sama, time flies like a shuttle. Who can avoid growing old. But First Hokage-sama seems to be growing younger."
Hashirama Senju laughed heartily, but he did not tell them about Ryun's ocular jutsu. Even if Sunagakure surrendered, he would not be so loose-lipped, nor did he want to cause trouble for his grandson-in-law.
"From now on, Sunagakure is abolished, renamed the Konoha Sand Division. Are you willing," Hashirama Senju returned to business, speaking calmly.
"We are willing," Chiyo said, pulling her son along. Even though Kazekage Rin was filled with helplessness, he could only accept reality. Currently, no one could rival Hashirama Senju's strength. The loser could only accept all the victor's conditions.
Hashirama Senju nodded, then removed the wooden wall. The Konoha shinobi immediately rushed forward. Tsunade even checked her grandfather's wounds, finding that Hashirama Senju had no injuries on his body and his chakra was still in a full state.
She couldn't help but sigh. As expected of her great-grandfather. Just after using a jutsu like True Several Thousand Hands, his chakra was still full.
"Great-grandfather, they," Tsunade suddenly said.
Hashirama Senju smiled. "They agreed to submit. Since the goal of unification has been achieved, there is no need to increase casualties unnecessarily. It would be bad for everyone later."
Tsunade Senju nodded. "In that case, Konoha occupies Sunagakure and renames Sunagakure the Konoha Sand Division. Furthermore, Hashirama Senju will serve as the Sand Division Chief. You must all obey the Sand Division. At other times, you may act freely."
"Once Konoha issues a mission, it will notify the Sand Division Chief first. The words of the Sand Division Chief are the words of Konoha."
"And, we will leave two thousand elite shinobi in Sunagakure as the troops of Sand Division Chief Hashirama Senju. You have no objections." Tsunade's eyes swept over everyone like blades.
However, at this moment, Granny Chiyo nodded. "No objections." After saying this, she had the Sunagakure shinobi open the village gates to let the Konoha shinobi enter and rest.
Tsunade waved her hand. "Now that the Sunagakure matter is settled, I will lead troops to support my second grandfather in attacking Kirigakure." After saying this, she set off with the soldiers, heading towards Kirigakure to attack.
Before this, news of Iwagakure and Kumogakure being captured had already been relayed to her via telephone. Currently, only Kirigakure was still putting up stubborn resistance. This was also unavoidable. The other side had the sea as protection, so it couldn't be taken quickly.
In that case, she would lead troops to support her second grandfather. Now, Konoha's unification of the ninja world was just one step away. Merits or rewards were unimportant. The goal was unification.
Ryun was leading troops on the march when the system voice activated. "Ding. Detected that host's ninja world unification completion rate is 75%. Speed is fast. Reward: Ice Release Kekkei Genkai."
Ryun was stunned. Was this damn system doing it on purpose? Knowing he was about to attack Kirigakure, the biggest difficulty was that vast sea. Now giving him Ice Release, wasn't this helping him speed up?
However, it didn't matter. Whether intentional or not, what could be done? The Ōtsutsuki were about to attack. The sooner the ninja world was subjugated, the sooner a powerful shinobi army could be assembled to jointly resist the external enemy.