"Last time we fought, I wasn't at my best. Boy, keep your eyes wide open and witness the Wood Style secret technique the God of Shinobi used to suppress the entire ninja world!"
Madara Uchiha's roar echoed across the battlefield, his Sharingan blazing with intensity.
He had been brooding over his brief battle with Makiya in the Land of Grass. The more he replayed it, the more frustrated he felt. His Wood Style had been easily suppressed by Makiya's Fire Style—not because Wood Style was inferior, but because his body had been too old. Time had taken its toll, and even with top-tier bloodline limits, he couldn't unleash their true power.
But now, briefly restored to his youth and surrounded by the vast ocean where the abundant moisture severely hindered Fire Style, Madara was determined to show Makiya the true might of Wood Style.
"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"
As Madara crossed his hands to form the final seal, a change rippled through the ocean. The waves kicked up by the battle's aftermath suddenly stilled, as if something gargantuan were rising from the seabed.
The earth unleashed its killing intent as dragons and snakes rose from the depths! The seabed vibrated violently, and white foam churned on the surface. In the next second, countless tender green sprouts burst through the sand, piercing through the seawater and surging upward in mere moments.
Massive trees, thick enough to require dozens of men to encircle them, rose from the floor. A vast, ancient aura surged forward as torrents of seawater cascaded off the leaves like countless waterfalls.
In the blink of an eye, the wide stretch of ocean was transformed into a lush, ancient forest. Massive, gnarled roots grew wildly in all directions, their stems, branches, and trunks acting like countless flexible arms reaching out to seize Makiya's Susanoo.
This Deep Forest Emergence was entirely different from before. Violent chakra fueled the plants' growth with raw vitality. Under Madara's unbridled power, the tallest trees even reached the waist of Makiya's Susanoo.
Considering his Perfect Susanoo stood eight hundred meters tall, these towering trees were like the mythical trees that connected heaven and earth. The distant mountains seemed small in comparison.
Massive roots clung to Makiya's Susanoo like parasites. He swung his arms in an attempt to break free, snapping a great number of them.
The nature of Wood Style was to be relentless and ever-growing. For every ten roots Makiya snapped, fifty or a hundred more branches would seize the opportunity to wrap around him.
"Hmm? This is..." Makiya frowned, suddenly noticing the armor of his Susanoo was slowly dissipating, as if being corroded by an unknown force.
No, it wasn't corrosion. The Wood Style was absorbing the Susanoo's chakra. Madara's Wood Style possessed the same parasitic nature as Hashirama's.
It made sense upon reflection. Among all ninjas who awakened Wood Style artificially, Madara's method was the most primal. He had literally bitten off a piece of Hashirama's flesh and grafted it onto his own chest. With their bloodlines intertwined, it wasn't surprising for his Wood Style to possess similar traits.
"How is it, kid? Can you feel that pressure? Once you're ensnared by Wood Style, escape is nearly impossible." Madara stood atop a massive branch, looking at the entangled Makiya with satisfaction. "This is the true power of Wood Style. What you saw last time was nothing but an appetizer."
Makiya looked speechless. "And you still say you're not Tobirama Senju? If you were really Madara Uchiha, would you be the kind of person to grin while seeing Wood Style suppress a Susanoo?"
The smile on Madara's face froze. Thinking carefully about Makiya's words, he realized they actually made sense. If Wood Style was suppressing the Sharingan, why was he feeling so good about it?
Makiya's current state was just like his own back then. Seeing this scene should have made him reminiscent and perhaps angry, not joyful!
Madara scratched his head, but using Wood Style to bully a Susanoo really did feel great.
The cheerful prankster personality naturally countered the brooding edgelord. Hashirama had Madara completely figured out, from strength to personality, and Madara simply hadn't realized it yet.
"You're celebrating too early." Makiya gave a cold laugh, his hands moving into a blur of seals from within the diamond-shaped crystal.
"Susanoo: Vestment of the Dying Sun!"
Golden liquid flowed down the Susanoo's pitch-black spine, spreading from the skeleton to cover the entire body. A brilliant light radiated from within, dyeing the black giant with a hint of divinity.
A spark appeared on the surface of the Susanoo, followed by a roar of golden flames that ignited into a massive inferno, draping a cloak of golden fire over the black armor.
Visible heatwaves surged around the Susanoo as a golden storm reached toward the sky. The branches and roots wrapped around the giant turned to ash instantly, crumbling into fragments with a single struggle.
Makiya controlled the Susanoo to move its body. Large amounts of charred, gray debris fell from the heights. Looking down from above, one could clearly see that within the green forest, everywhere the golden flames touched was turned into a blackened ruin.
Clad in the golden fire vestment, the Susanoo gripped its blade with both hands. With a simple horizontal sweep, the blade unleashed a sea of fire that ignited all the surrounding trees.
The golden flames released immense thermal radiation, setting every approaching trunk ablaze. The thriving roots refused to back down, still surging up from the seabed in a futile attempt to absorb the fire's chakra as nourishment.
Makiya's flames were no ordinary ninjutsu; they carried a scorching fighting spirit that sought to crush everything. The Wood Style, which thrived on absorbing chakra, met its first real setback. Destruction was far easier than creation, and the blazing golden fire annihilated all vitality, preventing the roots from regenerating.
"What a troublesome fire, and that swordsmanship... all this brat's techniques are applied to his Susanoo. Could this be his Mangekyo ability?" Madara pondered. Gathering intelligence on the battlefield was a fundamental skill for any ninja, a behavior ingrained into his very soul.
Madara looked into the distance, seeing Makiya within the diamond crystal at the Susanoo's forehead. The silhouette gradually overlapped with a certain man in red armor—his younger self.
"Similar, so similar... Just like I was in my youth... foolish!" Madara laughed loudly, the branch beneath his feet shattering as he turned into a blur and charged into the sky. "Then I'll just have to use my own hands to wake you up!"
"Wood Style: Wood Dragon Technique!"
And... "Wood Style: Wood Golem Technique!"
The battle-hungry genes latent in his blood were finally ignited. Having not fought to his heart's content in a long time, Madara felt a fire burning in his chest. His infinite energy demanded release; only a soul-stirring battle could calm his spirit.
A colossal Wood Golem and a Wood Dragon rose from the depths. Compared to the ones he had summoned before, these were far larger. As they surged upward, the Wood Golem reached out with both hands, accurately catching the blade Makiya swung at it.
He caught the blade with his bare hands!
Clang!
Though the Golem's palms were made of compressed roots and wood, they sparked like metal when they collided with Makiya's blade.
The Wood Golem and Wood Dragon continued to grow taller. In just a few seconds, they had become towering giants. Their limbs were corded with muscle-like wood, resembling a fierce deity. A Wood Dragon nearly a thousand meters long coiled around the Golem, its scales as hard as iron and its tips glinting with a cold light.
It was hard to say whether the design of this form had taken inspiration from the legends of the Dragon-Subduing Arhat.
"Now for the second round!" Madara stood proudly atop the Wood Golem's head, hands clasped together with an exhilarating smile. "Come! Let's bet everything and fight to our heart's content! Hahahaha!"
His joyous laughter was infectious, carrying across the entire battlefield. The unbridled smile across his face was the classic, trademark grin passed down through the Uchiha generations.
Though Madara was acting like a total lunatic, Makiya found his own battle lust ignited. The Susanoo swung its long blade, wanting nothing more than to hack the Wood Golem and Dragon in front of him to splinters.
The love for battle was something carved into the very marrow of the Uchiha; it couldn't be changed.
The black giant surged with its golden fire cloak, igniting the blade in its hand. The sea crashed against the giant's legs, the waves shattering against the hard armor into spray that was instantly turned to steam by the heat.
Ssshh!
Massive clouds of steam billowed from beneath Makiya. The Susanoo took a slow step forward, its blade held at its waist, ready to strike.
Every time it raised and lowered a leg, it was the equivalent of a tidal wave for the ocean, as if a hurricane were driving the water to destroy everything.
The Mist ninjas began to flee in every direction. At this level of combat, even being a spectator was a luxury. One moment of carelessness could mean being crushed by a falling boulder from the sky, dying without even knowing why.
...
A massive wave crashed in, its force instantly knocking out several unsuspecting Mist ninjas. No one stopped for the unlucky souls; everyone wished they had more legs to run faster.
"Come, let's dance!" Madara laughed, controlling the Wood Golem to cock its fist and stride toward Makiya.
The golden fire blade swept out instantly, carving a perfect arc through the air. In a flash, it struck the Wood Golem's waist. Wood chips flew and sparks cascaded as Makiya's blade of fire drove deep, nearly severing the Golem in half.
Makiya tried to pull the blade back, but while it was easy to cut in, it was hard to pull out. The relentless nature of Wood Style was displayed to its fullest; the horrifying wound on the Golem's waist pulsed as roots from the top and bottom reached for each other, entwining and pulling until the wound was healed in an instant.
The Wood Golem swung a heavy iron fist at the black giant, the resulting gale letting out a terrifying howl. Overwhelming power exploded forward like a mountain collapsing.
Makiya immediately let go of the hilt, crossing the Susanoo's arms in front of its chest to take the heavy blow head-on.
Rumble!
The Wood Golem's movements were exceptionally fluid. It threw punch after punch at the Susanoo's arms, the wind pressure from the strikes blowing away the golden fire attached to the surface. Despite being made of wood, its density was comparable to refined steel, enough to even resist high temperatures.
Thud!
The Susanoo ducked under a punch, then its right hand gathered strength. Massive amounts of chakra poured into the near-solid muscles as the giant threw a terrifying punch of its own.
The Wood Golem refused to back down, its fist falling like a meteor. The simple, unadorned strike broke the sound barrier, creating a white halo of vapor around the fist.
One black, one green. Two mountain-like fists collided high in the air as if two planets were crashing. Time seemed to hit a pause button in that moment; the fleeing Mist ninjas felt their hair stand on end, their hearts skipping a beat.
In the next second, world-shattering power erupted from the point of impact. The heavens and earth paled as the center of the clash exploded with a pure, brilliant white light.
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