Under the guidance of Tagorihime's Senjutsu, the stone pillars and stalactites in Ryūchi Cave seemed to become her limbs, transforming into thousands of stone snakes that attacked Ryou's Susanoo.
They were vast and overwhelming, as if the entire world had become Ryou's enemy.
Candy handed the Gunbai to Ryou.
Ryou held the Gunbai in his hand, and his Susanoo's giant hand also drew the Gunbai from its back.
The Gunbai of Ryou's Susanoo was a spiritual weapon, a product of his Yin Release thoughts and desires.
However, Candy's Gunbai was the true Gunbai; in terms of power, the original Gunbai was stronger.
This was a divine artifact capable of reflecting even a Biju Bomb.
However, the use of the Gunbai depended on the wielder; in Madara's hands, it could reflect Tailed Beast Balls.
In Candy's hands, it could not reflect such powerful Ninjutsu.
As Ryou gripped the Gunbai, he had a feeling that his spiritual weapon resonated with it.
The next second, the Gunbai in Ryou's hand turned into a beam of light and merged into the Susanoo.
The spiritual Gunbai of the Susanoo instantly materialized, becoming a giant fan about 30 meters in size.
This was a materialized Gunbai, not one formed by energy.
Moreover, the current Gunbai possessed life, much like a tree.
Because when the Gunbai transformed into a giant Gunbai, the Wood Release chakra within Ryou was absorbed by it; a large part of the reason it could transform like this was due to Wood Release.
Since the Gunbai was a divine artifact crafted by Indra using branches of the God Tree, the power of Wood Release and the power of the Gunbai shared the same origin.
After injecting Wood Release into the Gunbai, it gained life.
The current Gunbai was the true divine artifact, the Gunbai.
Ryou had a feeling that with this Gunbai, a single swing could summon a gale, create shockwaves that could tear the heavens and split the earth, and cause mountains to tremble.
Facing the countless stone snake attacks, Ryou took a deep breath, and a massive amount of chakra was injected into the Gunbai.
The Susanoo raised the Gunbai and then swung it down violently.
"Hurricane!"
With that swing, a gale capable of destroying mountains and splitting cliffs roared out. The stone snakes formed by Tagorihime's Inorganic Reincarnation shattered under this swing, turning into countless pebbles and broken pillars that were blown away.
Tagorihime was invisible, not intangible. With this massive amount of debris and flying pillars coming at her, she had absolutely no space to dodge.
She was struck by many stones and buried into a pile of rubble.
The Hurricane also swept through the place where Tobirama and Orochimaru were hiding.
Tobirama was shocked: "The Gunbai actually has such powerful destructive force? This isn't Ninjutsu!"
At this moment, the Hurricane that Ryou unleashed was more than ten times stronger than before; this power was equivalent to the powerful shockwave of an exploding Biju Bomb.
The powerful gale, mixed with stones, swept over. Orochimaru used Earth Release to enter the ground, thereby blocking the gale.
As for Tobirama, he just stood there with his arms crossed. Being an Edo Tensei, he had an immortal body, so this kind of physical damage was useless against him.
Deep within Ryūchi Cave, inside the White Snake Sage's temple.
The White Snake Sage, using the ability of Senjutsu, heard the power Ryou had unleashed.
The White Snake Sage took a puff of its pipe and said in surprise: "He truly is the Uchiha Clan member most suited for the Gunbai; the Gunbai crafted by Indra was designed specifically for him."
"What a pity, he is not the reincarnation of Indra! He lacks the blessing of fate! He cannot go with the flow of heaven and rise by borrowing its power."
The White Snake Sage speculated that if Madara had died at the Valley of the End back then, Indra's chakra would most likely have reincarnated into Ryou.
Ryou resembled Indra in many ways.
After the storm passed, the cave guarded by Tagorihime in Ryūchi Cave was in shambles. It had already been empty, but after the explosion of Ryou's Gunbai, it became even more of a mess.
Ryou jumped out of the Susanoo and walked toward the spot where Tagorihime had been struck by the rubble.
The mechanism of Tagorihime's Senjutsu invisibility was very strong; in any case, Ryou could not perceive it with his Sharingan and White Zetsu cells.
His battle against her was equivalent to a rehearsal for a battle against Madara. If Ryou were to fight Madara, how should he defend against the opponent's Limbo?
The previous fight was Ryou's method: arming himself like a tortoise shell.
He couldn't see Tagorihime, but Tagorihime couldn't easily sneak attack him either.
Unfortunately, this rehearsal had absolutely no reference value for fighting Madara.
Because Tagorihime was not like Madara.
Even though she was a millennia old sage, she was far inferior to Madara.
Even in a comparison of stats, Madara could crush Tagorihime's Senjutsu with Ninjutsu alone.
Madara's Limbo shadows possessed the same abilities as his main body; a single shadow had instantly defeated the Nine Tailed Beasts.
If such a shadow were to attack Ryou, I fear that even a Complete Body Susanoo would be instantly defeated by Madara on the spot.
The most effective way to deal with Madara was to hide the main body in the earth and send a clone to fight.
But if even the main body couldn't win, sending a clone up was just a suicide mission.
Clones could consume Madara's chakra, but Madara's Rinnegan could absorb chakra; to some extent, Madara's stamina was also terrifying.
Ryou walked into the pile of rubble, activated Shukaku's power to manipulate sand, turned the stones on the ground into sand, and then used the sand to pull Tagorihime out of the rubble.
Tagorihime had blood flowing from the corner of her mouth, but her injuries were not severe; she was just restrained by Ryou's sand.
Ryou looked at the disheveled Tagorihime and laughed: "I don't know what you sages have to be so proud of? You're just acting high and mighty because you think you've lived longer than us humans!"
"Your lower limit might be higher than humans, but when it comes to the upper limit, certain people can completely crush you or your Ryūchi Cave's ancestor!"
Although Tagorihime had a thousand years of Senjutsu mastery, Fukasaku and Shima from the neighboring Mount Myōboku also had eight hundred years.
Fukasaku and Shima focused on support; in terms of combat power, Deva Path Pain could easily kill them.
Tagorihime's display of power was not even as good as Kabuto, who learned Senjutsu in the original work. Kabuto, having activated Sage Mode, directly suppressed Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan Sasuke and Edo Tensei Itachi.
It wasn't that Kabuto became powerful because he learned Senjutsu, but rather that Kabuto made the Ryūchi Cave Senjutsu great.
There are some people who are born powerful.
Tagorihime looked at Ryou in distress: "Uchiha Ryou, I have lost. I didn't expect you to have such powerful strength."
"Since you already have such powerful strength, why do you still seek Senjutsu?"
Ryou's strength was far greater than Tagorihime's, who was a sage. Why would someone so powerful still seek Senjutsu?
Ryou grabbed Tagorihime's hair: "Foolish, after learning Senjutsu, I will be even stronger."
Senjutsu is a buff based on one's own template; it is a state, not a specific technique.
If Madara of the Warring States Period had a way, he would have gone to get Senjutsu long ago.
Part of the reason Hashirama could suppress Madara was also due to Senjutsu; Hashirama in Sage Mode would be several times stronger than before.
Seeing Tagorihime's pitiful and endearing appearance, Ryou couldn't help himself; he unbuckled his belt and prepared to go for it.
Tagorihime was furious: "You scoundrel, how dare you disrespect a Sage!"
Tagorihime roared at the surroundings: "Orochimaru, why haven't you come out to save your ancestor!"
Tagorihime was Orochimaru's ancestor; the aged snakes of Ryūchi Cave were all Orochimaru's ancestors.
Because Orochimaru's family carried snake genes; his ancestors had mated with snakes.
Hearing Tagorihime's cry for help, Orochimaru ran out to save his ancestor!
One of his hands emerged from the ground, holding the Kusanagi sword, and slashed toward Ryou's leg.
Ryou hurriedly jumped away. While in the air, he cursed at Orochimaru: "Orochimaru, you son of a bitch, you don't learn anything good but you learn how to attack the feet?"
With Orochimaru's distraction, Tagorihime had room to maneuver. She formed hand seals and cast Sage Invisibility.
"Orochimaru, let's cooperate. After we get this guy's body, we'll split it in half!"
Orochimaru replied from underground: "Very well, Lady Tagorihime, let us deal with him together!"
Orochimaru sneered in his heart. Split in half? How could only half possibly unleash the talent of Ryou's physical body?
It will all be mine.