Ryou's Water Release had only just begun. No matter how good his Chakra control was, he still needed to form hand signs; it couldn't be achieved in a single step.
Ryou finally finished the hand signs, and immediately a massive amount of Chakra was poured into Magatsu Lake.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Over a dozen massive water dragons surged out of Magatsu Lake, thick as giant trees and dozens of meters in length.
Their heads were held high, overall in a posture of leaping and pouncing through the air.
"Roar, roar, roar—"
The water dragons pounced toward Madara, winding and spiraling with a rushing momentum.
Each water dragon was at the level of those cast by Kakashi or Zabuza; the power of the massive swirling vortexes could easily defeat a Jonin.
Facing such a grand and powerful attack, Madara only gave a cold snort: "Boring!"
Madara raised both hands, and a burst of Shinra Tensei erupted. Instantly, the water dragons summoned by Ryou were blasted into spray by the massive repulsive force.
Ryou cursed loudly: "Madara-chan, I spent so long forming hand signs and used so much Chakra, and you just destroyed it with one Shinra Tensei."
"You're making me look really bad like this. If you have the guts, put away the Rinnegan and fight me fair and square!"
Madara didn't respond, simply extending his palm: "Bansho Ten'in!"
Ryou's original body was instantly pulled out of the water by Madara, like an invisible giant hand reaching into the water to grab a fish.
"Just in time!"
The muscles on Ryou's arms bulged—the physical strength of Asura! Combined with the stacking of Monster Strength.
The current Ryou could blast a mountain apart with a single punch.
Although Madara's body was tough, being hit by such a heavy punch would still be very uncomfortable.
Susanoo: Initial Form!
Madara activated Susanoo, and immediately a deep blue Chakra hand formed a fist and struck toward Ryou's fist.
The two collided, and the fist of Madara's Susanoo actually began to crumble and retreat step by step.
Madara was somewhat surprised: "Hashirama's physical strength plus Tsunade's Monster Strength, the combination is this terrifying?"
The fist of Madara's Susanoo was shattered with a bang.
This was not surprising.
In the original work, Tsunade's Monster Strength at full power could shatter a Susanoo in its ribcage form.
Ryou was using Asura's physical strength to perform Monster Strength; this wasn't 10+10, but 10x10.
As long as it wasn't the Perfect Form, Ryou could shatter it.
Madara laughed, his fighting spirit rising slightly: "This is getting more and more interesting!"
Ryou's fist attacked, seemingly about to hit Madara's chest, but Madara suddenly used Body Flicker to appear behind Ryou, his palm striking Ryou's back.
Madara's eyes were the Rinnegan, possessing insight capabilities far beyond the Eternal Mangekyo.
Ryou's speed was slowed down in his eyes; Ryou's movements held no secrets from Madara.
As soon as he started his move, Madara knew where the opponent intended to strike.
Madara activated a Rinnegan ocular technique!
"Preta Path: Absorption!"
Madara activated the Preta Path's ability, instantly draining the Tailed Beast-like Chakra within Ryou's body.
Ryou was drained dry, unable to muster a shred of energy, and fell directly into Magatsu Lake.
Feeling the surging Chakra within his body, Madara's face even looked a few years younger.
"This kid, the Hashirama cells he fused are even more perfect than mine!"
One couldn't agree with Madara's method of fusing Hashirama cells; he relied purely on being tough-lived. Anyone else would have been killed by the riot of Hashirama cells long ago.
Ryou, however, used the S-rank Forbidden Jutsu, Chimera Technique, as a foundation to fuse the Hashirama cells, and since he had already integrated White Zetsu cells beforehand, his body was more compatible with the Hashirama cells.
There was also the consumption of Life Spores; these fusion conditions were much more advanced than Madara's crude and simple fusion.
Just as Madara prepared to use Bansho Ten'in to retrieve Ryou.
A loud shout came from below: "Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
After being drained of Chakra by Madara and losing his strength, Ryou immediately burned Life Spores to restore his Chakra.
At the same time, in the Hidden Rain Village, a spore clone that was studying the Wood Dragon Technique exploded, and the method of performing the Wood Dragon Technique was transmitted to Ryou's brain in the form of Chakra.
Ryou instantly learned the Wood Dragon Technique.
Are Wood Release techniques difficult?
Yes. Without Hashirama cells, you basically shouldn't hope to learn Wood Release; the threshold alone keeps 99% of Ninjas outside the door.
The second difficulty is the need for a massive amount of Chakra. Wood Release requires huge amounts of Chakra, and Yamato's Chakra is only at the level of a Jonin.
In the databooks, Yamato's Chakra is a 7, while Kakashi's is a 6; he only has slightly more than Kakashi.
Such Chakra is simply unable to perform high-level Wood Release.
The third is the devouring property of the Chakra, which is a characteristic of the Divine Tree, the origin of Chakra.
The most core point of Hashirama's Wood Release is the ability to absorb Chakra.
For example, in the original work, the Wood Dragon Hashirama used on the Nine-Tails not only bound the Nine-Tails but also absorbed its Chakra.
The more powerful the Nine-Tails's Chakra, the more powerful the Wood Dragon that absorbs its Chakra becomes.
Yamato's Wood Release does not have the property of absorbing Chakra. Only when Tobi merges into Yamato's body can Yamato exert the true power of Wood Release.
The Hashirama power Yamato obtained is incomplete.
It's as if the Hashirama cells were split into two parts; the part for absorbing Chakra and support was inherited by White Zetsu.
What Yamato inherited were the techniques or the offensive nature of the Hashirama cells, and even that was inherited incompletely. Without being properly buffed by Hashirama cells, his Chakra still couldn't support high-level Wood Release.
However, for Ryou, none of these were problems. He used the Chimera Technique to integrate complete Hashirama cells.
For him, the biggest difficulty in performing Wood Release was his proficiency in the techniques.
For instance, at this moment, the Wood Dragon summoned by Ryou didn't look much like a Wood Dragon; instead, it looked like a green python.
Its body was massive, thick as a giant pillar, but it had no dragon horns, nor the signature long hooked nose of a Wood Dragon.
Its eyes were even cross-eyed, looking full of 'wisdom'.
Madara wanted to laugh when he saw it.
But the original Wood Dragon didn't have much draconic majesty either; as long as the power met the standard, it was fine.
Ryou stood atop the Wood Dragon, controlling it to fly toward Madara.
"Madara-chan, taste my big dragon!"
...
Konoha.
A night had passed. No accidents occurred during Anko's fusion surgery; she had completely fused with the White Zetsu cells.
This fusion was a perfect one; not a single trace of the albinism seen on Obito could be found on Anko.
There were also some positive changes.
For example, Anko had grown a bit taller, she had more cells in her body than before, and her physical fitness had improved significantly.
Orochimaru recorded various indicators for Anko after the integration of the White Zetsu cells.
Her Chakra had exploded by tenfold; Anko's Chakra was now at the level of a Jonin.
Her physical fitness was also comparable to the elite members of the Senju Clan, and her recovery power was greatly enhanced; ordinary injuries couldn't harm her at all.
There were also some special abilities, such as being able to absorb others' Chakra, merging with the surrounding environment, and moving quickly underground.
After absorbing someone else's Chakra, she could transform into that person's appearance, making it difficult to distinguish.
At this moment, Orochimaru had Anko absorb his own Chakra and transform into his appearance.
Danzo, Sakumo, and Hiruko were all unable to identify her.
Anko changed back to her own appearance, looking a bit proud: "Orochimaru-sensei, can I become a Jonin now too?"
Anko was still brooding over the fact that Obito had become a Jonin yesterday. Once you became a Jonin, you were part of the Village's lower-upper management; Genin and Chunin had to stand at attention when they saw you.