Chapter 439: The Masked Man's Complete Defeat
Senju Hashirama's Wood Golem held a bucket in its hand. After crushing the bucket, the thing stored inside spilled into the golem's palm.
The Wood Golem was neither Hashirama's real body nor a shadow clone capable of transmitting sensory feedback, so Hashirama had absolutely no reservations.
At that moment, something astonishing happened!
The substance in the Wood Golem's palm began to form into a sphere!
Was this an imitation of Naruto's Rasengan?
Not at all.
In fact, the Wood Golem forming a spinning sphere had already appeared in the Limited Tsukuyomi world.
It was the combined technique where Ashura and Hashirama's two Thousand-Armed Buddhas helped Naruto form a giant Rasengan together—the successive Ashura reincarnations' combo technique: [Six Paths: True Several Rasenshuriken].
Of course, the Limited Tsukuyomi was basically non-canon side history.
But in the official history, Ashura did possess a technique called [True Several Thousand Hands: Spiralling Praying Palms].
The technique involved summoning the True Several Thousand Hands, after which every hand of the giant Buddha would start forming spinning spheres before hurling them at the enemy.
Compared to Hashirama's Wood Release, which relied on pure physical force, this technique was even more destructive—but also easier for chakra-absorbing opponents to counter.
If the Sage of Six Paths hadn't played favorites back then and had awakened the Rinnegan for Indra too, one pull from the Rinnegan would have completely shut this technique down.
The current Hashirama had essentially undergone an "ancestral regression," successfully mastering Ashura's old method of using Wood Release to form spinning spheres.
There was no doubt that the Rasengan was a ninjutsu Namikaze Minato developed after studying the Tailed Beast Ball.
Ashura's version, however, was called the Gale Sphere, fundamentally different from the Rasengan.
Because at its core, all of Ashura's techniques were products of overwhelming brute force.
Ashura could transform into a giant golden chakra avatar, much like Naruto when linked with Kurama.
But Ashura wasn't the jinchūriki of any tailed beast. He simply relied on absurd raw power, his own strength combined with the Six Paths power granted by the Sage of Six Paths, to forcibly achieve that form.
The True Several Thousand Hands worked on the same principle.
Ashura had never actively studied Sage Arts, nor did he possess a Sage Mode with the distinctive eye markings. The True Several Thousand Hands was achieved purely through brute force.
Now, Hashirama had finally rediscovered the pride of being Ashura's reincarnation. He had learned to develop ninjutsu through sheer overwhelming power.
The yellow spiraling sphere rotated within the Wood Golem's palm before Hashirama mercilessly slammed it toward the masked man.
"No—!"
Watching the spinning sphere draw closer and closer, the masked man had nowhere left to retreat. He could only let out a cry of despair.
Without his "wheelchair-level" intangibility, he simply couldn't operate anymore.
----
Land of Fire, Konohagakure.
Everyone arrived in Konoha and found Kakashi, explaining the situation to him.
After learning that their target was the masked man, Kakashi immediately prepared to help despite having collapsed from overusing Kamui while saving Konoha not long ago.
"You can first try pulling the person out directly. If that doesn't work, I will personally go in and bring him out."
Senju Tobirama patted Kakashi on the shoulder, gradually calming the tense Kakashi down.
Accurately pulling a specific person out of the Kamui dimension was something Kakashi previously hadn't been able to do.
He had only just started practicing retrieving objects from the Kamui dimension before the masked man shamelessly unleashed a flood without restraint.
But with the experience from last time, Kakashi felt it was worth trying.
And even if he failed, the Second Hokage was there as backup.
The group found an open area and formed a circle around it, preventing the possibility that the masked man might still be capable of resisting and escaping or counterattacking after reappearing.
"Oh right. If possible, leave my older brother inside first."
Tobirama suddenly thought of something and added another reminder.
It was still a precautionary measure.
But when the actual results came, nothing unexpected happened.
Kakashi accurately transferred both the masked man and Senju Hashirama out, showing that his control over Kamui had become increasingly refined.
"So it is really you, Obito."
Kakashi looked somewhat exhausted as he stared at the unconscious man lying on the ground.
The masked man had already fallen unconscious, and his mask had shattered, revealing half of his ruined face.
Finally.
Kakashi had long known that the masked man was Obito, but only today did he truly see what Obito looked like now.
"Tobirama, hurry up and spray some Water Release on me!"
Hashirama froze briefly after coming out, then immediately ran over to his younger brother and waved both hands at himself.
"Uh…"
Tobirama had originally wanted to place another Flying Thunder God mark on Obito first, but after thinking about how much his brother had sacrificed this time, he stopped.
A stream of Water Release washed Hashirama clean.
It worked far better than the Wood Release cleaning method he'd used inside the Kamui dimension.
Once again proving that spray-cleaning toilets might seem weird, but they were undeniably practical.
"Let me take care of Obito. I'll keep watch over him."
Kakashi suddenly spoke up.
He and Obito shared too many bonds. He had a responsibility to stop Obito from continuing down the wrong path.
"No."
Tobirama immediately rejected the idea after finishing washing his brother clean.
"Kakashi, you are the least suitable person for this job! He's already close to complete despair and could break through his moral bottom line at any moment!"
"Think about why we ended up here in the first place. Faced with Izanami, this naturally disgusting Uchiha actually chose to drench himself in filth just to avoid being caught by it!"
"If he lowers his standards even further and catches you off guard, then digs out that Sharingan and takes it back for himself—based on my understanding of the Uchiha, his Mangekyō ability would become drastically stronger. Right now, he still has a five-minute limit, and his teleportation requires him to stay tangible for a certain period."
"But once he regains both eyes, everything changes. Not only would those weaknesses disappear, but obtaining both eyes would also mean he could activate Susanoo."
"At the moment, he only has intangibility, which gives him excellent defense but insufficient offense. If he gets your eye back and gains both the ultimate offense and ultimate defense at once, how many people in the ninja world do you think would be put at risk?"
"…Second Hokage-sama, you're right."
Tobirama's lecture finally snapped Kakashi awake. Sighing, he voluntarily stepped back and kept his distance from Obito.
Hearing Tobirama's words, Shiromo didn't agree with him, but he didn't argue either.
This was actually pretty good.
Because according to the next phase of the plan, it was time to continue putting pressure on the masked man and force him to make a choice.
The masked man would suffer and enjoy it at the same time.
If Kakashi got involved too, it would only turn a simple two-choice situation into an even bigger mess.
Even if the masked man regained Kakashi's eye and completed the dual Kamui set, he still wouldn't pose much of a threat to Shiromo.
Whether killing him or capturing him, both were easily achievable.
As long as he didn't splash filth on himself again.
Under stopped time, the passive intangibility that was unbeatable against everyone else simply wouldn't activate. At that point, whether slitting his throat or gouging out his eyes, it would all be effortless.
"Oh right, Kakashi, this should be returned to you."
Hashirama tossed a large scroll he had been carrying in his arms toward Kakashi.
"What's this?"
"This is the grandma the masked man sealed away."
"…How about we just let her rest in peace?"
Kakashi broke into a cold sweat. He really wanted to say that he genuinely did not have a thing for older women.
(End of this chapter)