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The colossal wooden figure stood as the anchor, and from its base, a towering Buddha with a thousand hands rose to the heavens.
The blue armor of Susanoo quickly spread, layering itself over the massive statue.
Now fully encased, the Buddha's height exceeded a thousand meters—rising to a staggering twelve hundred.
Each of its countless hands shimmered faintly with a blue, scaly glow. What had once been a simple wooden construct now looked utterly divine.
"Huuh... huhuhu..."
Madara Uchiha's breaths came heavy. His face was lined with age, and his hair had turned silver-white, yet none of it could mask the overwhelming battle lust burning in his eyes.
"Take this!"
His raspy voice erupted in a roar.
"True Thousand Hands — Buddha on the Peak!"
The giant wooden man began to move, carrying the enormous Buddha upon its back.
The ground quaked violently beneath it, trembling as if the earth itself were afraid.
They closed the distance to Rose step by step.
"Susanoo wrapped around a wood construct... not bad. Quite the show," Rose said, rare amusement flashing across her face.
"Well then... let's play with that a bit."
Her eyes slowly closed, and an ethereal, mysterious aura began to emanate from her.
Inside the protective mirror of Susanoo, Madara caught sight of her movements.
"Facing me and Hashirama, and she dares close her eyes... what arrogance! Cough, cough!"
Madara's laughter twisted into a hacking cough; his failing body nearly gave out on him mid-sentence. After a few painful breaths, he forced his lungs back under control.
"Hmph. Fine. Then I'll take the title of group leader myself!"
The thousand-meter Buddha flared with terrifying chakra.
The ring of arms surrounding it gleamed as Susanoo's blue armor covered them, each hand looking like a weapon forged by a god.
One arm, then two, then three—
At the ends, each palm clenched into a fist, and they began to strike out one after another.
An endless storm of punches fell like bullets from heaven—
—all directed at one target.
Rose.
The first punches crashed into the earth with deafening booms.
Boom.Boom.BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The True Thousand Hands rained down blows without pause, pulverizing the landscape.
Madara's Rinnegan spun, tracking her movements with godlike precision.
Yet sweat began to bead on his aged face.
"This... is that even something a human can do?"
His pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Even with the Rinnegan, he could barely catch afterimages of Rose as she moved.
A massive fist came down toward her head—
—but she simply tilted her body, letting it brush past her by inches.
Another came from the side, yet she evaded it with a light, graceful leap.
Even attacks from behind missed her as if she had eyes in the back of her head.
Despite the relentless barrage—so dense that even Susanoo's reinforced fists smashed into each other, breaking apart under the strain—none of them could so much as graze her.
Shattered wooden arms littered the battlefield, fragments flying in every direction.
Still, no matter how fast, sharp, or unrelenting the attacks became, Rose remained untouched.
Eyes closed, she moved as if she already knew where every blow would land.
"Even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't dodge like this..." Madara muttered in disbelief.
If she had simply crushed his Buddha outright, he would've understood. But she wasn't even fighting back—just evading. Every dodge, every step, was impossibly precise. Not even the shockwaves touched her.
The assault lasted nearly twenty minutes.
Eventually, the wooden arms began to snap one after another, unable to handle the strain.
Madara still held the form of his Susanoo-clad wood golem, but the once-mighty Buddha now stood with nothing but broken stumps for arms.
For dozens of kilometers, the earth was devastated—torn apart by the rampage of the True Thousand Hands.
Madara's face was pale and grim, his breath ragged.
"Not a single scratch..."
The technique that once overpowered even the Nine Tails now hadn't managed to ruffle her clothes.
"Mr. Madara," came a calm voice, "you shouldn't say that. You did hurt me."
Madara blinked, confused.
Exhausted, he looked toward Rose—at the open palm she raised toward him.
"You..."
"No need to be so dramatic. For what it's worth, your strength isn't bad," Rose interrupted him before he could finish.
Lying quietly in her palm were two strands of snow-white hair.
Madara's expression darkened like soot. For a long moment, he was silent.
"Are you mocking me?" he finally spat, teeth grinding.
You're saying you hurt her?
All that power—just to give her a haircut?
"I'm just stating the facts. I didn't mean to insult you," Rose replied evenly, then glanced up at him. "But... you do seem angry."
She had actually let those two hairs fall on purpose, just to give him some dignity. He was one of the earliest members of the group, after all—no need to humiliate him completely.
But clearly, he didn't appreciate the gesture.
"In that case," she said softly, "how about I show you the difference between us... a little more clearly?"
Madara's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"I'll beat you in a way you can recognize."
His Rinnegan contracted sharply, but his voice remained cold. "If you can do it... then try."
Even if defeat was certain, his pride wouldn't let him back down.
"Don't worry," Rose said with a faint smile. "It'll be over soon."
The two white strands in her palm drifted away on the wind.
Her raised hand slowly lowered. She took a deep breath.
"Come to think of it," she murmured, "it's been ages since I used this form... I might be a little rusty."
Her white hair stirred, lifting lightly in the breeze.
Then—
A subtle pressure spread outward from her body, rippling across the land.
"Wh-what is this...?"
Even within Susanoo, Madara could feel it—the sheer, terrifying energy radiating from Rose.
Waves of raw power rolled outward, turning into a storm that devoured everything in its path.
The Susanoo-armored Buddha began to tremble, its chakra armor flickering under the crushing force of her aura.
The entire construct was pushed back, step by step, until it finally stopped—tens of meters away.
Golden flames erupted around Rose, and the scarred, broken ground shimmered with radiant light, forming rings of glowing gold.
Her waterfall-like hair, white as snow, began to turn brilliant gold from the tips upward.
With that beautiful face framed by her newly golden hair and those calm, violet eyes—
Rose stood at the center of the storm, and an overwhelming power burst forth from her like the fury of a god.
"....."