A year had passed since the seals were applied.
Ren now stood across from Tsunade near their hidden seaside safe house, the forest around them dense and humming with natural energy. The air itself felt heavy, saturated with chakra from constant high-level training.
His Six Eyes were active.
He saw everything.
---
Tsunade clapped her hands together, and a massive surge of chakra erupted from her body. The ground trembled as enormous trees burst from the earth, their trunks thick as towers, their roots tearing through stone.
The forest obeyed her will.
"Let's see how you handle this, brat!" Tsunade barked.
---
The trees rushed forward like a tidal wave of wood and roots.
Ren vanished.
Then vanished again.
Then again.
Flying Thunder God activated repeatedly as Black flashes streaked through the battlefield. He teleported from marker to marker, his movements too fast for ordinary perception.
---
He threw a special kunai high into the sky.
In the next instant, he appeared beside it midair, wind roaring around him. His right hand rose calmly, and chakra condensed violently into his palm.
A massive Rasenshuriken formed in seconds.
---
This Rasenshuriken was different from Naruto's.
It was denser.
More compressed.
More controlled.
Under the precision of his Six Eyes, every micro-blade rotated at calculated angles, reducing wasted chakra to near zero.
---
The sound of the spinning wind was deafening.
It shrieked like a thousand Chidori layered together, the air distorting around it.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed.
"That doesn't look friendly."
---
Ren hurled it downward.
The Rasenshuriken tore through the sky like a falling star and crashed toward her position. Tsunade clapped her hands again, and chakra surged violently.
A colossal Wood Golem rose to meet it.
A Wood Dragon spiraled upward beside it.
---
The three forces collided.
The Wood Dragon coiled around the Rasenshuriken, attempting to absorb its chakra. The Golem reinforced it, layers of wood hardening with senjutsu.
For a brief moment, it seemed stable.
Then the micro wind blades accelerated.
---
They sharpened.
They multiplied.
They sliced at a microscopic level, shredding the cellular structure of the wood constructs faster than regeneration could keep up.
The Wood Golem cracked.
The Dragon split apart in fragments.
---
Ren was already moving.
In his fingers formed something new.
A bullet-sized Rasengan infused with lightning chakra.
"Rasenbullet," he muttered.
---
Multiple tiny spiraling spheres appeared at his fingertips.
He flicked them forward.
They vanished mid-flight, similar to Boruto's Vanishing Rasengan—but far faster, far denser, far more lethal.
---
Tsunade felt the distortion in the air.
She reacted instantly.
Channeling Monster Strength into her leg, she stomped and detonated the ground beneath her feet, launching herself backward at extreme speed.
Invisible Rasenbullets pierced through where she had stood, drilling deep craters into the earth.
---
"You brat! Are you trying to kill me?!" Tsunade barked.
Even as she spoke, she launched a Water Dragon and another Wood Dragon simultaneously—without hand seals.
The dual dragons roared toward Ren.
---
He disappeared again.
"Hah. Can't touch me, can you?" Ren teased lightly, reappearing behind her.
Tsunade clicked her tongue in irritation.
"Tsk. It's not fun fighting you. That teleportation is a complete cheat."
---
She exhaled slowly and began walking back toward the safe house.
"With your reaction speed, even point-blank attacks are useless. You just blink away."
Ren chuckled.
"That's the point of Flying Thunder God."
---
As she walked, Ren observed her chakra carefully.
A year ago, she had not possessed Wood Release.
Now she wielded it naturally—just like Hashirama.
---
Through his Six Eyes, Ren saw the truth.
Her body carried extremely pure Yang energy.
The same kind he possessed.
---
He remembered the moment she had hugged him while he integrated his Sage Body.
She had absorbed traces of his purified Yang chakra.
Now that energy had fused with her own lineage.
---
The partial Sage Body she once had was evolving.
Her cells were vibrant.
Hungry.
Her physique had stabilized at her physical prime—mid twenties to early thirties—and it would remain there.
---
"In a few months," Ren thought, "she'll awaken a true Sage Body."
And when she did—
She might surpass Hashirama himself.
---
Just then, a soft but confident voice called out.
"My turn."
Hinata stepped forward, smiling gently.
---
Ren's expression shifted immediately.
Playful to serious.
He nodded once.
---
Hinata activated the seal on her wrist.
In an instant, six Flying Thunder God kunai appeared in both her hands.
She threw them simultaneously in precise arcs.
---
Ren activated his own wrist seal and summoned more marked kunai.
They both vanished.
And the battlefield exploded into Black flashes.
---
Teleportation.
Clash.
Disappear.
Reappear.
---
To Ino, Sakura, Shizune, and Tsunade, it was impossible to follow visually.
They could only sense distortions in chakra and bursts of air pressure.
Ren and Hinata clashed again and again mid-teleport.
---
Kunai sparked.
Fists collided.
Rasengan crashed against Gentle Fist strikes.
Kicks met spinning wind spheres.
---
Both predicted each other's teleportation points in fractions of a second.
Their Six Eyes and Byakugan synergy made the battle feel like a high-speed chess match.
After several intense minutes—
They separated.
---
Hinata's hands began glowing with lightning.
"Raikiri."
She dashed forward, lightning screaming around her arm.
---
Ren mirrored her.
"Raikiri."
He surged forward as well.
---
Lightning met lightning.
The impact split the air apart in a violent explosion of white-blue energy.
They both skidded backward.
---
Hinata teleported away and raised her hand toward the sky.
"Lightning Release: Dragon King Festival."
A tiny spark shot upward into the clouds.
---
The sky had already been gathering storm clouds during their fight.
Now those clouds glowed.
Thunder roared.
Lightning twisted and coiled.
---
Massive dragons formed from the heavens.
Western dragons with broad wings.
Eastern dragons with serpentine bodies.
They descended like divine punishment toward Ren.
---
Ren's mouth twitched.
"This again…"
This was an SSS-class jutsu he and Hinata had co-created.
It required preparation time.
But once activated—
Destruction followed.
---
The area of effect was massive.
The power was catastrophic.
Even Sage Art: True Several Thousand Hands wouldn't fully negate it.
---
Ren could only dodge using Flying Thunder God.
He teleported repeatedly as thunder dragons obliterated the forest below.
Explosions thundered for kilometers.
The earth cracked.
The sea waves surged violently.
---
When it finally ended—
Silence fell.
Smoke rose.
The forest was gone.
For several kilometers, nothing remained but scorched earth and burning wood.
---
Ren appeared beside Hinata and flicked her forehead.
"Did you really have to use that, Hina? Now Tsunade-nee and I have to recreate the forest again."
Hinata stuck out her tongue innocently.
"Oops."
---
Ren sighed and caught her as she swayed slightly.
Her chakra reserves were not yet large enough to sustain that technique after intense teleportation combat.
He lifted her gently.
---
They teleported back to the safe house and looked at the devastation.
Even Tsunade's eyes widened slightly.
"If that had full preparation time…" she muttered.
Shizune nodded slowly.
"Konoha would be gone."
---
Ren felt a chill.
"And if used in Kumo… where lightning clouds are constant…"
He looked at Hinata.
"Hina… you're not going to use that on a village, right?"
---
Hinata tilted her head and smiled innocently.
"Who knows?"
Ren immediately squished her cheeks.
"Who are you? Give me my innocent, shy Hina back."
---
She burst into laughter.
Ren began tickling her mercilessly.
Ino and Sakura crossed their arms, staring at the ruined forest.
"Monsters," Ino muttered.
"What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this?" Sakura added.
---
Even Tsunade shook her head.
"Monsters."
Shizune nodded weakly.
"Definitely monsters."
---
Ren and Hinata ignored them, laughing as he continued tickling her.
Ino and Sakura exchanged looks.
Then joined in.
---
Hinata was soon trapped between three attackers.
She was laughing so hard tears formed in her eyes.
"O-Okay! I'm sorry! I won't do that again! Please stop!"
---
They finally released her.
She collapsed onto the grass, breathing heavily but smiling brightly.
Ren extended a hand and helped her up.
---
"Next time," he said softly, "warn us before you summon the apocalypse."
Hinata nodded sheepishly.
"Yes, Ren-kun."
---
Tsunade cracked her knuckles.
"Enough playing around. We've got a forest to rebuild."
Ren grinned.
"Yes, ma'am."
---
Wood clones formed beside both Ren and Tsunade.
They spread out across the devastated land, channeling Wood Release and natural energy.
Green sprouts emerged.
Roots spread.
Life returned.
---
The monsters of this hidden shore rebuilt what they destroyed.
And the world remained blissfully unaware—
Of the storm growing in secret.