"Wood Human, huh?"
Madara stood inside his Susanoo, staring at the gigantic wooden construct before him.
His eyes were blazing with excitement.
"Now this finally feels right. You really do carry some of his shadow!"
The Uchiha had always been the most battle-hungry of clans.
Their longing for combat ran deeper than anyone else's.
And among them, Madara Uchiha was the worst of all.
There was also one more very obvious flaw in their nature—
Trying to reason with them often got you nowhere.
But if you beat them down hard enough, smashed them flat, and made them accept reality, only then would they finally start listening.
In Ren's understanding?
Born contrarians.
Madara was truly fired up now.
And as his excitement rose, so did his fighting spirit.
Even if Ren wasn't Hashirama himself, he was still his successor in Madara's eyes.
He had even defeated the reanimated Hashirama.
If Madara beat him—
Then that meant he had, in effect, beaten Hashirama too.
"Since that's the case…"
Madara let out a roar.
The Susanoo around him erupted, instantly transforming from its Third Form into the Fourth Form.
A blade over a hundred meters long came slashing down, and the pressure alone stirred up a massive storm of sand and dust that plunged the battlefield into chaos once more.
"Tch…"
Ren shook his head slightly.
For some reason, that line—Since that's the case, I won't hold back anymore—felt weirdly familiar.
Still, this wasn't the time to dwell on that.
He held one hand up in a seal.
The Wood Human suddenly moved with a thunderous roar.
A dragon of wood burst from its body, carrying a suffocating wave of violent chakra as it rushed straight at Madara's Susanoo.
Boom!
The wooden dragon crashed into the giant blade.
And in that same instant, Ren's Wood Human tore through the smoke itself and appeared in front of Madara.
"So fast."
Madara raised a brow, instantly making Susanoo throw a punch.
But Ren's control over Wood Release was every bit as refined.
After all, he had effectively inherited Hashirama Senju's Wood Release experience, and his own Wood Release had already been pushed to a far higher level.
In other words—
Bang!
The Wood Human's fist smashed forward with unstoppable force, slamming directly into Susanoo's chest.
Madara's Fourth Form Susanoo didn't yet have armor, but its defense was still monstrously high.
Even so, Ren's Wood Human punched straight through it.
In a single blow, it shattered the construct's center of balance and sent it staggering backward.
The force was so great that even the ground shook violently beneath it.
"That strength…"
Madara's face remained cold, but he couldn't help letting out a low snort.
That kind of damage wasn't impossible for him to endure, of course.
The chakra in his Susanoo surged frantically.
Under the violent output of his chakra, his eyes shifted into the state of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, and the damaged section of Susanoo began restoring itself.
"Heh!"
Madara roared.
A second arm of Susanoo moved instantly, chakra condensing into another giant blade.
That blade slashed down toward the Wood Human.
"That's all?"
Ren only lifted a brow.
One hand remained raised in a seal.
"Not sure if you remember this one—"
"Wood Release: Flowering Tree World!"
At once, the earth shook violently again.
Countless thick vines erupted upward from the ground, rushing to wrap around Madara's Susanoo.
And the most dangerous part was this—
The instant those vines touched Susanoo, they began devouring its chakra.
At the same time, one of Susanoo's arms was still locked down by the wooden dragon.
With Susanoo's chakra being drained and Ren continuing to pour his own chakra into the technique, the vines expanded explosively.
In the blink of an eye, they grew into a vast ancient forest.
Countless flower buds swelled from the branches.
At that moment, Madara could clearly feel it—
His Susanoo was starting to collapse.
"Tch. This move…"
Madara shook his head.
After spending so many years fighting Wood Release, he understood it all too well.
As far as he was concerned, Ren's execution absolutely passed the standard.
But by the same logic, Madara also had years of experience battling Hashirama.
And he himself possessed Wood Release now.
He already knew exactly how to respond.
Whoosh!
Madara completely ignored the weakening Susanoo.
He leaped upward and stepped right out of it.
"Did you forget something? I'm a dead man!"
Midair, he stomped down on the vines surging up beneath him, using them as footholds to propel himself even higher. At the same time, chakra exploded from his body.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
A second terrifying inferno flooded the battlefield.
Under that overwhelming fire, vast stretches of the Wood Release construct were instantly set ablaze.
"You're using Flowering Tree World on a corpse. Do you really think poison works on the dead?"
"Oh? So you do remember you're dead?"
Ren's voice suddenly came from directly behind him.
Madara froze for the briefest fraction of a second.
But in the next instant, he reacted immediately and drove a punch toward Ren without hesitation.
Ren met it head-on.
Boom!
Their fists collided at blinding speed, a deep thunderous impact shaking the air itself.
The shockwave from that one clash split apart the fire beneath them, forming a strange vacuum zone in the flames.
Even nearby trees snapped apart under the force.
"That's quite a hit…"
Madara muttered inwardly.
As the two of them dropped through the air, he kept exchanging blows with Ren while his eyes constantly swept the surroundings.
Clearly, he was still wary of Ren's Flying Thunder God.
"No need to be so tense," Ren said with a smile, as if he had seen through his thoughts. "I wasn't planning to use it this time."
That attitude irritated Madara immediately.
"You're the one asking to die!"
Madara snorted coldly.
But at the same time, he realized something unexpected.
Ren's taijutsu was stronger than he'd imagined.
Or rather—
His physical body might actually be even more terrifying than Hashirama's.
The moment he realized that, Madara became even more exhilarated.
His attacks grew fiercer and fiercer.
Madara's taijutsu was the kind that had allowed him to carve through entire armies without a speck of dust touching him.
His strength and speed were enough to leave anyone dumbfounded.
Now that he was fully excited, that threat became even more monstrous.
Even the air explosions from ordinary blows were enough to whip up violent gusts.
There were even faint sonic booms.
And Ren didn't retreat a step.
He met Madara head-on.
Boom boom boom!
In an instant, their clash produced over a dozen afterimages.
The battlefield filled with piercing detonations.
Within the scorching heat, the burning trees, and the sandstorm-choked air, the two of them became a blur of violent combat.
The sounds of sonic booms, shockwaves, splintering earth, burning wood, and collapsing trunks all merged together into a single chaotic symphony.
"This—!?"
"What is that?"
In the distance, Team Guy, who had been rushing toward the area, had come to a dead stop.
Neji, with his Byakugan activated, was staring into the distance, cold sweat already covering his face.
"Neji, what's going on over there?" Guy asked loudly. "What happened?"
Guy himself couldn't see that far.
With the shockwaves blasting through the region, none of them dared move closer.
But he was desperate to know what was happening ahead.
Thankfully, Neji could see.
But Neji's face was so pale it looked like he'd just seen a nightmare.
"It's Lord Ren," Neji said, voice tight. "Lord Ren is fighting someone. Everything over there… all of it is from the aftermath of their battle."
"Lord Ren is here?"
Lee and Tenten were instantly thrilled.
Ren was a living legend in Konoha.
Normally, seeing the Hokage's aide in person was practically impossible.
Who would have thought they'd run into him here?
"Ren…-sama?"
But Guy's expression turned serious.
He knew exactly what it meant if even Ren had to appear personally.
He had never expected this mission to be this dangerous.
And at the same time…
His blood was pumping.
As someone who had trained taijutsu all his life, how could he not feel excited at the thought of such a terrifying opponent?
Still, after glancing at Neji and the other two, he forcibly suppressed his excitement and asked in a low voice,
"Then where's Kakashi?"
"Over there, sensei."
Neji pointed in a direction.
"And the Sand shinobi are there too. Besides that…"
"Besides what?"
"It looks like… the lady who fought alongside Lord Ren during the Chūnin Exams three years ago. She's there as well."
The moment they heard that, Guy, Lee, and Tenten all remembered the world-shaking battle from three years ago.
Was something on that level happening again today?
Boom!
Just as they fell silent, another thunderous blast echoed in the distance.
Then they saw a black figure slam into the earth.
The ground exploded.
Dust burst skyward.
The earth sank violently.
But almost immediately, from within that cloud of smoke, a wild and arrogant voice rang out.
"Excellent! Excellent! This is the feeling!"
That voice was loud enough to carry over the entire battlefield.
And along with it came a wave of suffocating chakra that made everyone's chest tighten.
"Since that's the case…"
A destructive torrent of chakra surged upward.
From within the dust, a blue Susanoo rose once more.
This time it grew higher and higher until it became a giant more than a hundred meters tall.
Madara's figure appeared within it.
"Manifest!"
With Madara's furious roar, he clenched one fist tightly.
The terrifying chakra around Susanoo solidified.
The final changes took shape.
Wings unfurled from its back.
At the tips of those wings, extra hands emerged, each gripping a massive chakra blade.
Armor like that of a war god covered its entire body.
Its face became that of a savage tengu, hideous and demonic, like an oni or a true asura.
Madara himself stood with arms crossed inside the crystal at its head, laughing loudly without restraint.
"I can't disappoint you either. You Senju brat really do delight me!"
"…"
Hearing that, Ren suddenly felt like his fist was itching.
What, are you going to say next that you kept thinking about me all this time?
You want to be the monkey and make me the three-eyed monk?
Then again…
Looking at Madara, Ren tilted his head slightly.
Three eyes… yeah, actually, that would fit him just fine.
The chakra in Ren's body surged outward.
Fighting Madara really was more entertaining than he'd expected.
His combat instincts and sheer battle experience truly were top tier.
The only annoying part was that the man's mouth was way too busy.
"Still, now that he's finally serious…"
Ren slowly smiled.
"I should get serious too."
With that thought, Ren copied Madara's posture and folded his arms over his chest.
Then he looked calmly at Madara and smiled.
"Not bad. It's been a long time since I've run into someone who actually got my blood up. The last one was the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju."
Ren sighed lightly.
"Sadly, he lost a little too quickly. So I'm curious whether you'll manage to excite me any longer."
Then his smile sharpened.
"After all, I still haven't gone all out."
"Oh?"
Madara's brow lifted.
Then he let out a cold laugh.
"Brat, I admit you're good. But…"
Buzz!
Madara's Perfect Susanoo shot skyward.
Its wings spread wide, sending out wave after wave of violent air pressure that whipped the battlefield into a sandstorm.
Within the flying dust, Madara charged.
His voice came through the storm, almost unreal.
"You know nothing of this world's true secrets. You're just another fool trapped inside it."
His tone grew colder.
"And you know even less of the limits of my power."
Boom!
It sounded like thunder tearing through the heavens.
The massive blade in Susanoo's hand slashed down.
"Is that so?"
Ren's voice remained utterly calm.
Under his control, the Wood Human brought its hands together and blocked the strike head-on.
"You mean because you followed the Uchiha stone tablet and obtained the power of all creation, don't you?"
Madara froze slightly.
Then he laughed and nodded.
"So you do know something. Though this body can't fully manifest it, I'd still be happy to show you."
He stared at Ren with growing intensity.
"Because you really do have Hashirama's shadow about you. You Senju brat truly delight me."
As he spoke, his eyes transformed into the Rinnegan.
His aura rose once again.
The booming chakra around him crashed down in waves, and the attacks of Perfect Susanoo grew even more violent.
Another slash came down.
Even that single direct swing carried enough force to shake the mountains and split the earth.
But Ren's response was simple.
His whole body suddenly erupted with terrifying chakra.
A white-gold radiance instantly spread across him.
That chakra also spread onto the Wood Human, making it seem to gain an even more monstrous level of strength.
"Sage Mode?"
Madara noticed the change immediately.
That power made him think at once of Hashirama's greatest trump card.
And yet, at the same time, he was confused.
Ren's condition was clearly very different from Hashirama's.
The aura around him felt completely wrong.
"Close, but not quite," Ren said. "Why don't you try it and see?"
He gave no proper explanation.
Instead, he directly made the Wood Human counterattack.
At that moment, the intensity of the fight changed again.
The two giant figures launched themselves at each other without pause, their terrifying power spilling out in all directions.
"Kakashi!"
Outside the battlefield, Guy had finally reached Kakashi's group.
At that moment, everyone there still had their eyes fixed on the clash in the distance.
"Who's the enemy?" Guy asked. "Who could force Lord Ren to fight like this?"
"You're here," Kakashi said helplessly.
The battle before them was enough to leave anyone numb.
He truly didn't feel like explaining much.
"It's Madara Uchiha."
"Madara Uchiha?"
"Madara Uchiha?"
Guy repeated the name blankly.
For a moment, he genuinely couldn't place who that was.
And looking at Kakashi and the others, he understood immediately that now wasn't the time to ask.
Because right now, no one wanted to answer.
Everyone was staring ahead with wide eyes, desperate to see more.
But the battlefield was drowned in dust and layer upon layer of sandstorms.
Their vision was almost entirely blocked.
They could only make out the vague forms of those towering giants in the haze.
And judge the state of battle from the endless explosions, the quaking beneath their feet, and the pressure in the air.
Even so, none of them could look away.
"Damn it… this is going to kill us…"
Not far from the battlefield, inside an underground cavern, Kakuzu and Sasori wore equally terrible expressions.
Puppets were spread all around them.
If not for those puppets desperately holding everything in place, this place would have collapsed already.
Sasori glared furiously at Orochimaru's projection and hissed,
"Just what the hell did you summon? Why is Ren here?"
There was no doubt about it.
He had already sensed Ren's chakra.
And even without that, only Ren could possibly cause destruction on this scale.
The only thing Sasori still found hard to understand was—
Who exactly was fighting Ren?
"Someone very interesting," Orochimaru's projection said, licking his lips. "And someone who will exceed everyone's expectations."
He sounded entirely unconcerned by Sasori's anger.
"Damn it! Do you realize what's happening? This place is about to collapse!"
Sasori's fury only grew.
Even Kakuzu said nothing now, merely staring coldly at Orochimaru.
"Enough. Stop arguing and finish gathering the chakra," Nagato said through Pain, his gaze also fixed on Orochimaru. He too was deeply dissatisfied, since he had been told very little.
Still, this could be considered an opportunity—
An opportunity to avoid killing the jinchūriki.
He had no intention of causing his "ally" too much trouble.
"There's no need to collect everything," Nagato continued. "As long as we get enough, that's fine. I'll buy you enough time to retreat."
Rumble rumble rumble—
The roaring outside continued endlessly.
In Sunagakure, Pakura stood at the top of the Kazekage building in disbelief.
Feeling the quake that seemed ready to overturn the sky and earth, and the chakra still battering against the village barrier from far away, she found herself completely lost.
"Just who is fighting out there? How can anyone cause destruction like this?"
"Kazekage-sama!"
At that moment, a Sand shinobi rushed over, snapping her out of her daze.
"What is it?"
"Kazekage-sama, everyone has been evacuated to safety."
The shinobi answered in a low voice, but his face too was full of fear and confusion.
"The battle out there is still spreading. The area covered by the fighting has already reached the border of the Land of Rivers. What should we do?"
No one had ever experienced a battle like this before.
No one had any idea how to deal with it.
"Wait," Pakura said bitterly.
There was nothing else she could say.
Because she herself was utterly at a loss.
Perhaps only heaven itself knew the answer.
Because how could mortals ever resist the power of gods?
And yes—
Ordinary people truly could not.
Ren and Madara's battle still raged on.
The giant Wood Human and Susanoo were like two deities trampling all things beneath their feet.
From the deserts of the Land of Wind all the way to the border of the Land of Rivers, everything in their path was erased.
Rocks.
Forests.
Mountains.
Rivers.
Everything was flattened.
Everything was destroyed.
Madara had already brought out every ounce of strength this body could display.
And Ren still remained in his Yin–Yang Release Chakra Mode.
Boom!
With another world-shaking detonation, Madara's Susanoo—now missing nearly half its body—crashed heavily onto the ground.
Yet the next moment, it rose again.
Madara himself looked somewhat battered now.
But the excitement on his face had only grown fiercer.
"Excellent! This is it! This is the battle I've always craved!"
He stopped and threw his head back in laughter.
As he watched Ren's Wood Human approach again, he didn't show the slightest concern.
At the same time, the chakra in his body began condensing wildly.
The broken Susanoo rapidly solidified once more.
"Fighting you really does feel like fighting Hashirama," Madara said. "That's what I've always longed for."
Then his eyes sharpened.
"But there's one thing I'm curious about. I heard you can use True Several Thousand Hands. So why haven't you used it until now?"
"True Several Thousand Hands?"
Ren raised a brow, then shook his head lightly.
"I can use it. But sorry—"
He smiled.
"I just don't think the current you is worth forcing me to."
"What a shame. Being looked down on like this."
Madara shook his head, but there was no anger on his face.
"You have the right to say those words. But I told you—you know nothing of this world's truth."
His voice grew deeper.
"Even if you've read the tablet, you still understand nothing."
He formed a seal.
A giant roar shook the battlefield as another Wood Human appeared.
Its size did not lose to Ren's at all.
Madara leaped onto its head, and Susanoo's chakra instantly spread across its body.
"The power of all creation is not as simple as you imagine. That power is everything. It is the essence of this world."
As he spoke, countless wooden clones split off from his body.
One after another they landed on the ground, all becoming Madara.
And each one of them began manifesting Susanoo chakra.
"Armored Susanoo!"
Madara roared again.
His Susanoo fused completely with the Wood Human, forming a monstrous armored war god.
At the same time, the sky dimmed.
When one looked up, an enormous meteor had already appeared overhead, vast enough to cover the battlefield itself.
At that moment, Madara had truly brought out everything he could use.
Floating above that demonic giant, arms crossed proudly over his chest, his voice rang out like a bell over heaven and earth.
"Sadly, this is all I can do. I haven't truly revived yet, after all. And this is only one part of the power of all creation."
His gaze locked onto Ren.
"Use True Several Thousand Hands. Otherwise, I doubt you'll ever get the chance."
"Is that so?"
Ren nodded.
And then his smile widened further.
"So that's everything, huh? In that case, I have to admit this fight really has given me a different kind of enjoyment."
He looked at Madara steadily.
"But there's one thing you got wrong."
"I'm not ignorant of this world's truth."
His voice became strangely calm.
"If anything, I know you've misunderstood quite a lot."
Madara's brow furrowed.
And then, abruptly, his face changed.
Because Ren's aura had shifted.
A white-gold radiance circled around Ren's body.
At that moment, his entire appearance changed.
His clothing and hair, washed over by that chakra, turned pure white.
His body rose into the air, as though freed from gravity itself.
Six black Truth-Seeking Orbs slowly appeared behind him.
His aura, in that instant, seemed to pierce through the very world.
"Strictly speaking, I possess the power of all creation too."
Ren looked at Madara's stunned face, smiling brighter than ever.
"And unlike you, I seem to understand it a little more deeply."
As he spoke, he raised one hand.
A black Truth-Seeking Orb dropped into his palm and transformed into a pitch-black blade.
"I've read your Uchiha tablet. That was a gift left to you by the Sage of Six Paths."
Then Ren smiled.
"But did you know? The Senju clan has a gift from him as well."
Madara's eyes widened.
"What…?"
The Senju clan…
Also had a gift from the Sage of Six Paths?
"And what I saw," Ren continued, "was completely different from what's written on the Uchiha tablet."
Then he lifted the black blade.
In the next second, white-gold chakra wrapped around it.
A beam of unimaginable chakra burst from the sword, piercing straight into the heavens like a pillar connecting earth and sky.
"And one more thing—sorry for not giving you the battle you wanted."
Ren's smile remained.
"Because the truth is…"
"I'm not actually best at Wood Release."
His gaze sharpened.
"But you Uchiha really do delight me."
"So I'll use the power I'm best at."
Then—
"Yin–Yang Release: Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
The golden sword fell.
And in that instant—
heaven tipped, and earth split.
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon → [email protected]/lucarioTL (replace @ with a)