"What is this?"
Orochimaru fell into confusion.
Sage Fukusaku explained, "This is the ultimate ocular jutsu unlocked after the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyo Sharingan is awakened, the Susanoo, hailed as the 'Power of the Gods.'"
"It symbolizes destruction and ruin; rumors say that 'once you lay eyes on it once, death is inevitable.'"
Isn't this exploding just by looking at it one more time?
Orochimaru quickly looked away, starting to doubt his own Ninjutsu.
Uchiha, Mangekyo Sharingan, Susanoo, was this still the Ninja World he knew?
Orochimaru felt he was touching upon the cruelest truth of the Ninja World: hard work determines the floor, while bloodline determines the ceiling.
Sage Shima asked in confusion, "Father, doesn't Uchiha Madara lack the Mangekyo Sharingan?"
Right, Madara's eye sockets were hollow, without a single eye. How could he perform a Mangekyo ocular jutsu?
Sage Fukusaku shook his head, "I don't know!"
Ryou stared intently at Madara's Susanoo, his eyes turning red with envy; he was drooling!
He really wanted to sacrifice the parents to awaken the Susanoo, but he didn't even have it!
In the manga, Madara was covered by the combined sealing jutsu of Gaara and Shukaku, and it looked like he was about to be sealed, but who knew he would summon the Susanoo?
Madara's eyes were already the Rinnegan, which is above the Mangekyo Sharingan. At his level, Susanoo was a technique that could be performed using just Yin-Yang Release.
"Ryou, fake Uchiha!"
Ryou got angry, "Who, who dares to mock me? I'll slaughter your whole Village!"
Ryou looked back and saw an orange cat dressed as a Ninja Cats dash out of the bushes and jump onto Ryou's shoulder.
"Fish Ball! You bastard, who told you to run just now? You made me lose so much face in front of everyone."
Fish Ball retorted, "Did you have any face back when you were selling fake medicine? We're not done with the time you sent me to the battlefield. If there isn't half a kilo of dried fish, don't even think about summoning me again."
Ryou grabbed Fish Ball's head and rubbed it vigorously, "Useless cat, what else can you do besides hiss?"
Sage Fukusaku and Sage Shima called out to Jiraiya.
"Little Jiraiya, stop dazing off. Use Sage Mode now to deal with his Susanoo!"
"Right!"
Jiraiya refined the Sage Mode Chakra within his body, and Sage Fukusaku and Sage Shima formed hand signs together.
"Sage Jutsu: Goemon!"
Jiraiya spewed a large amount of toad oil from his mouth, Sage Fukusaku exhaled Sage Wind, and Sage Shima exhaled Sage Fire.
The combination Ninjutsu of wind, oil, and fire surged towards Madara's Susanoo like a rolling stream of lava.
In just an instant, the defenses of Madara's flesh-and-blood Susanoo were breached.
Madara became interested, "Besides Wind Release and Fire Release, did you also combine toad oil from Mount Myōboku? Interesting, interesting, this combination Sage Jutsu Fire Release..."
"I'm willing to call it the strongest Fire Release."
Amaterasu is known as the inextinguishable black flame that conventional Water Release cannot put out, but in terms of destructive power, Sage Jutsu: Goemon is a level higher.
Madara's Susanoo was burned away in the blink of an eye.
Madara escaped from it, looking at the burned armor on his right arm; the Sage Jutsu flames had also scorched his arm.
The flesh was charred, showing an unsightly scorched brown.
The Sannin's morale was instantly boosted.
Sage Fukusaku praised, "Little Jiraiya, well done, you hurt him!"
Madara was not invincible.
Ninjas still followed that core setting of glass cannons!
They possessed Ninjutsu that could destroy the world, but their physical defense was as fragile as paper.
In the original work, after Madara was resurrected and lost the advantage of the reanimated body, Shukaku's Sand Buckshot could break his flesh-and-blood defense.
As long as they bleed, they can be hurt; as long as they are hurt, they can die.
Even legendary figures like the Sage of Six Paths could not escape birth, aging, sickness, and death.
Madara was injured, but this only made him more excited.
"That's it, I haven't felt the sensation of bleeding in a long time!"
Madara laughed loudly, looking almost crazed.
What Madara wanted was the kind of fist-to-flesh combat that could make him bleed and sweat; only this could awaken the sleeping battle cells in his body.
Orochimaru watched Madara's madness and felt that Madara was even more perverted than himself. Who would feel that being injured was a blessing?
But this made the Sannin feel Madara's terror even more; he was enjoying the battle while the Sannin were on guard and uneasy.
Tsunade suddenly noticed steam rising from Madara's scorched arm, with granulation tissue surging within it. In an instant, Madara had recovered from the Sage Jutsu burns.
"This—!"
Tsunade was terrified; this level of recovery was already comparable to her own Creation Rebirth.
She had never heard of Madara being a Ninja with such incredible recovery power.
Ryou watched Madara's instant recovery; these were the Hashirama cells in Madara's body.
The Creation Rebirth that Tsunade spent so much effort developing was just a passive ability of Hashirama.
Hashirama cells possessed the strongest recovery power.
Madara was the person most compatible with Hashirama cells. In the original work, Yamato had to rely on Tobi's possession to perform forbidden jutsu-level Wood Release.
But Madara didn't need that; he perfectly adapted to the Hashirama cells.
If Madara and Hashirama fought again at the Valley of the End, Madara would definitely win completely.
Although the current Madara didn't have the Rinnegan, he had Hashirama cells in his body, which meant... Hashirama-level Wood Release!
Madara clapped his hands together, a mischievous smile appearing on his lips, "I think you must be very familiar with this."
Tsunade's pupils shrank. That was... the seal for Wood Release!
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
As Madara formed the seals, the ground where he stood instantly cracked, and countless thick tree trunks burst out from underground, rapidly growing and spreading. Those trees covered the Sannin and their Summoned Beasts.
Orochimaru's Summoned Beast was bound by a giant tree, and before the passive Reverse Summoning Jutsu could even trigger, its Chakra was instantly absorbed, turning it into a dried snake.
This wasn't some half-baked Wood Release like Yamato's; it was a domain-type Wood Release. As long as any branch or vine touched you, your Chakra would be drained.
"Damn it, Wood Release!!"
Orochimaru fled desperately within the Deep Forest Emergence, gripping his Kusanagi sword to hack at the closing vines.
He felt that Madara was constantly shattering his worldview.
First Susanoo, now Wood Release, was this still a conventional Ninja battle?
You throw a few shuriken, I spray some water, and we all just go through the motions!
What seals does Wood Release have? Wood Release has no seals.
You can't even be bothered to form seals for this Ninjutsu; you just clap your hands and call out whatever you want!
Isn't this a pure breakdown of the setting?
Orochimaru deeply experienced the absolute suppression of the power creep from the late-game version over the rigorous settings of the early-game version.
They weren't even Ninjas of the same art style anymore.
Fine, fine, fine, everyone's using cheats, right?
I'll use them too!
"Forbidden jutsu—"
Katsuyu relied on massive splitting to slippery-ly evade the control of the branches and vines.
The Three Toad Brothers—Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro—were so large that they couldn't dodge at all. They were the first to have their Chakra drained by Madara's Deep Forest Emergence.
Seeing this, Jiraiya quickly released the summoning of the Three Toad Brothers, sending them back to Mount Myōboku.
Sage Fukusaku reminded, "Little Jiraiya, burn it with oil!"
"Right!"
"Sage Jutsu: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"
The Sage Mode Chakra in Jiraiya's body transformed into toad oil and spewed out surgingly, while Sage Shima performed Sage Jutsu Fire Release to form the toad oil Flame Bullet.
Although this move was not as good as Goemon, it was still a combination Ninjutsu of the Sage Jutsu level.
As the blazing flames burned, the Deep Forest domain Madara had created was destroyed by the Sage Fire.
Madara stood atop a tall tree, arms crossed, and commented indifferently, "Not bad. Hashirama's Village isn't entirely useless."