"Whoa... fast."
Seeing Kaede easily dodge the Wood Golem's attack, Hashirama Senju let out a subtle breath of relief. Then, as he sensed the massive chakra surging within Kaede, no weaker than his own, his gaze flickered, and he smiled.
"This chakra... You're a shinobi who can fully control the power of the Nine-Tails, huh?"
"Then you should be able to stop me."
"In this Edo Tensei state, my chakra is infinite. Don't try to drag this out, go for my real body and seal me with a proper sealing jutsu. With your speed, you might just have a shot."
While speaking quickly, Hashirama once again raised the giant wooden hand of the Wood Golem and brought it down on Kaede like a mountain falling from the sky.
But Kaede just smiled faintly.
"No need to go through all that trouble."
Buzz!!
The massive hand of the Wood Golem came crashing down, howling through the air with terrifying force. It was strong enough to grab a Tailed Beast Bomb out of the sky and pin a tailed beast to the ground.
Yet as it descended, Kaede calmly raised the golden sword in his hand and, in a smooth motion, swung it upward.
"Golden Wheel Reincarnatione Explosion."
Shhhhk!
A beam of golden light shot upward in an instant, slicing through the Wood Golem's towering body and cutting straight through Hashirama himself before vanishing into the distant sky.
The massive wooden body froze in place.
The enormous hand, just inches from crushing Kaede, came to a dead halt mid-air.
Even Hashirama's expression was frozen at the moment of the strike.
And then—!
Under the stunned and trembling gazes of countless Konoha ninja, a crisp, clean crack appeared across the Wood Golem's hand. That crack extended with perfect symmetry all the way through its enormous frame.
Before Hatake Sakumo's wide, astonished eyes, the behemoth that had just been dominating the Nine-Tails... split cleanly in two.
"Ugh..."
Hashirama's own body followed suit, divided in half from top to bottom. Both halves still wore the same stunned expression. His hands, previously clasped together in a seal, fell perfectly apart to either side as he collapsed.
As the shattered halves of the Wood Golem crumbled, Hashirama caught a glimpse of the ground beneath him, a massive chasm had split the earth, spreading out from the Wood Golem's feet and stretching to the edge of the visible horizon. A yawning canyon, newly formed.
"That strike..."
Awe flashed in Hashirama's eyes.
As he'd sensed, Kaede's chakra far surpassed his own. This attack was leagues beyond even the full-powered strikes of Uchiha Madara's perfect Susanoo!
A shaft of sunlight broke through the sky and shone across Hashirama's falling body.
He turned his gaze upward, and was struck speechless.
Far above, in what had been a dense overcast sky, the clouds were now split cleanly in two. Just like the earth below, a perfectly straight rift cut through the heavens.
Sunlight poured down through that cleft, illuminating his face.
=============
Kaede extended his hand.
A gravitational pull surged forth, drawing Hashirama's divided body into the air.
"To prevent you from being resurrected again, I'll seal you now, Lord First."
Dark sealing script began to weave and wrap around Hashirama's body from Kaede's palm.
Truth-Seeking Orbs, imbued with the power of the Six Paths, could destroy the Edo Tensei technique, rendering the reincarnated body incapable of regenerating, but they didn't affect the soul itself. That much was clear from the way Edo Tensei targets showed no pain when struck by them.
A true soul wound would cause unbearable agony.
The orbs only dismantled the reanimation jutsu itself.
In other words, when an Edo Tensei body was utterly destroyed, the soul simply ascended. But if the summoner still had a piece of the original body's flesh, it was possible to resurrect them again.
This was demonstrated when Sage of Six Paths released Edo Tensei, and the spirits of Namikaze Minato and Tobirama Senju, despite their destroyed bodies, still passed on peacefully.
As far as Kaede knew, there was no method in existence that could completely destroy a soul. Not even Kaguya Otsutsuki's All-Killing Ash Bones, which could erase anything imbued with Six Paths power, could do that.
In fact,
That was good news for him.
His time-based abilities were fused with his soul. Which meant no one could kill him, not even Kaguya's Ash Bones.
Even if he were to face a fully powered Kaguya now, the worst-case scenario would be a draw. She feared sealing techniques, while Kaede didn't even fear being sealed.
=============
"To think…"
"That a future Hokage would surpass me so completely..."
"Fifth Hokage... you..."
As Hashirama's body became fully wrapped in the dark sealing script, he looked at Kaede, awe and peace mixing in his eyes.
"Then I can rest easy… The one who resurrected me… I leave to you..."
"Don't worry."
Kaede gave him a calm final reply. The script tightened around Hashirama's body, shrinking down into a thin black thread.
Kaede caught the black thread gently between his fingers, then flickered away and reappeared at the front lines of Konoha, standing before Tsunade. He held out his hand.
"Lord First has been sealed."
"I'll leave him in your care, Tsunade-sensei."
Tsunade was still staring blankly at the endless canyon that had split the land... and the sky itself.
Only when Kaede spoke did she snap out of her daze. She reached out and took the thread from his hand.
"I'll be heading to Sunagakure."
"I'll leave the rest to you for now."
Kaede gave her a small nod, then felt for the Flying Thunder God mark he had placed on Yuhi Kurenai. With a flicker of light, he vanished from the spot.
Only the silent, stunned faces of Konoha's ninja remained, their eyes still fixed upward.
=============
Tsunade took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Then she turned to Sakumo.
"Sakumo-senpai, it's time to seal you too."
Only now did Sakumo begin to come out of his daze. He withdrew his gaze from the torn heavens, but his eyes still held deep, turbulent emotion.
The sky had split.
The earth had split.
That attack just now, was it really unleashed by Kaede?
"With power like that... it's no wonder they call him the God of Shinobi, like Lord First."
"I need to know... what exactly happened after I died..."
Sakumo murmured, almost to himself, then turned toward Tsunade.
"Can you tell me a little about Kaede first?"