There's no time left!
The Shinobi Allied Forces is about to finish forming, and the great war between Madara and the entire Ninja World is on the verge of erupting.
Ryou simply didn't have the time to wait until he reached Toneri's age.
At this stage, Ryou was counting on the Shinobi Allied Forces to be a bit more effective; never mind defeating Madara, just being able to stall him would be good enough.
"Let's go, back we go! Prepare for your grand wedding with Hashirama's granddaughter!"
Madara activated Bansho Ten'in to pull Ryou toward him, then carried him off toward Amegakure.
Ryou looked at Madara's back; at this stage, he couldn't obtain the Tenseigan to counter Madara with absolute power.
But he could still strengthen himself.
For example, Senjutsu.
Ryou had originally planned to head to Ryūchi Cave to train in Senjutsu after Madara reclaimed the Rinnegan, but he was held back by the fusion of the madara-hashirama cells.
There was also the mission Madara gave him to capture the Tailed Beasts.
Each of these matters prevented Ryou from going to Ryūchi Cave to train in Senjutsu.
He could only wait until after he returned from capturing Shukaku in Sunagakure.
After training in Senjutsu, Ryou would become even stronger, and then he could summon the Thousand-Armed Kannon.
Such an extraordinary Ninjutsu would be difficult even for Madara with his Rinnegan to counter.
Moreover, Ryou also planned to use Senjutsu to deal with the Cursed Seal Madara used to control him.
Ryou was busy thinking about how to backstab Madara and didn't notice that Madara had brought him to Amegakure in the blink of an eye.
Madara threw Ryou down toward an open space in Amegakure, and from the air, Ryou saw a scene of chaos.
The Ninja Cats were fighting Konan and Nagato.
Fish Ball had summoned the Salamander Ibuse, which was currently releasing poison gas at Nagato.
The Ninjas of Amegakure and Kusagakure all put on gas masks and attacked Nagato.
On the other side, Candy was dealing with Konan.
Konan performed the Dance of the Shikigami, wings made of white paper sprouting from her back, looking like an angel of peace.
She could turn into paper, making conventional physical attacks useless against her.
But Candy had the Gunbai, which could reflect all Ninjutsu attacks, so Konan's Ninjutsu was useless against it.
They were taught by the same master, so neither could break the other's moves!
Furthermore, Konan had to protect Tsunade, so she couldn't defeat Candy for the time being.
Fried Rice, holding a spatula, shouted at Konan, Candy, and the others, "Stop! Stop fighting!"
Ryou landed beside Fried Rice and asked, "What's going on? Why are they fighting?"
"Master!"
Fried Rice was pleasantly surprised to see Ryou and immediately explained, "Tsunade doesn't want to marry Master, so Candy tried to capture her, and Konan and Nagato jumped in to stop her!"
"Master, hurry and stop them!"
"You've all gone rogue!"
Ryou shouted upon hearing this, but instead of stopping them, he helped Fish Ball and Candy take advantage of Nagato and Konan.
Ryou appeared on Ibuse's head, looking at the besieged Nagato.
Without the Rinnegan, Nagato had indeed lost his greatest trump card.
But that didn't mean he was useless.
Nagato had six Chakra natures and could perform Ninjutsu of all six.
Wind Release, Water Release, Fire Release... he was proficient in all of them.
Most importantly, he was a member of the Uzumaki Clan, specifically chosen by Madara to be the host to nurture the Rinnegan.
Now, without the suppression of the Rinnegan, Nagato's massive Chakra was evident even in ordinary techniques.
The twelve Jonin of Kusagakure were each using Ninjutsu to besiege Nagato, but Nagato was able to defend himself with ease.
Even the poisonous mist released by Ibuse could be blown back by his large-scale Wind Release.
How excessive was Nagato's Chakra?
At least around 30 Kakashis.
Fish Ball was delighted to see Ryou: "Ryou, hurry and deal with Nagato. We really need to teach this kid a lesson today."
Ryou nodded and clapped his hands together: "Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique!"
Nagato used a Water Release to send a Kusagakure Jonin flying, and then wooden beams burst out from the ground where he stood.
These wooden beams were as resilient as vines and bound Nagato in an instant.
"This is..."
Nagato's eyes slowly widened.
In just an instant, the Chakra within Nagato's body was rapidly drained by the wood.
The bare wood sprouted leaves and bloomed with fragrant, elegant flowers.
Before long, Nagato was so exhausted he couldn't even speak.
"Wood Release! It's Hashirama's Wood Release!"
Kusagakure Leader's eyes widened in shock, and the elders of Kusagakure were all stunned.
During the Warring States Period, Hashirama pacified the Ninja World with his Wood Release Ninjutsu.
There was no way they wouldn't recognize it.
Even if they hadn't seen it, they had heard rumors of the Wood Release.
So many of their Jonin couldn't take down Nagato, yet Wood Release had restrained him as soon as it was used.
This was... the power of the Wood Release!
Kusagakure Leader and the elders all looked toward the head of the Salamander Ibuse and saw it was Ryou, who had punished them by making them clean toilets for several days.
Immediately, they all put away their petty thoughts and respectfully called out, "Ryou-sama."
The Chunin and Genin of Amegakure also stood straight at attention.
The impression Ryou gave the Amegakure Ninjas was one of powerful Medical Ninjutsu; over the past few days, he had used his formidable Medical Ninjutsu to win over their hearts.
But none of them had seen his true strength.
Now, seeing how powerful Ryou was, even possessing the Wood Release of the God of Shinobi, everyone felt that things were secure, everything was stable.
Under Ryou's leadership, Amegakure would become the sixth great Ninja village, and the Land of Rain would become a great nation, no longer at the mercy of the Three Great Nations.
"Grandfather's Wood Release!!"
Among those present, Tsunade was the most shocked, her delicate eyes widening behind Konan as she stared at the wood on Nagato's body.
She had speculated before that Ryou's seclusion might have been to fuse her grandfather's cells.
As for where Ryou's Hashirama cells came from?
Madara could use Wood Release, proving that he had Hashirama cells in his body.
Then Ryou's Hashirama cells must have been given to him by Madara.
Tsunade hadn't expected that the Uchiha Clan, their sworn enemies, could actually harness her grandfather's power.
Even Tsunade and Nawaki hadn't inherited a fraction of Hashirama's power; not a single direct descendant of Hashirama had inherited the Wood Release.
Hashirama's Wood Release was merely a fluke for the Senju Clan.
Before Hashirama, the impression people had of the Senju Clan was like Tobirama—possessing powerful techniques and extraordinary physical fitness.
In terms of Chakra, the Senju Clan didn't have as much as the Uchiha.
Because Indra inherited the Sage of Six Paths's Chakra and dōjutsu power.
Whereas Asura inherited powerful vitality and physical energy.
And Asura's descendants further split into the Uzumaki Clan and the Senju Clan.
In terms of lineage, it seemed the Uzumaki Clan was more orthodox, possessing powerful vitality and massive amounts of Chakra.
The Senju Clan had always been famous for their endless stream of Secret Techniques and superior physical fitness.
During the Warring States Period, it wasn't a one-on-one between the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan.
The Senju Clan had a large number of allies; Ninja Clans like the Sarutobi, Shimura, and Ino-Shika-Chō were all allies of the Senju Clan.
And there was also a distant relative like the Uzumaki Clan.
The situation back then was the Senju Clan joining forces with the Uzumaki Clan, leading a large group of followers to gang up on the Uchiha Clan.
Thus, the Senju grew stronger as they fought, while the Uchiha declined, leading the Uchiha to be directly defeated by the Senju Clan at the end of the Warring States Period.
Even Madara, the clan head, was nearly executed by Tobirama.