Hiruzen persuaded me to die

Inside the Kamui Dimension...

Obito stood in silence, the crimson glow of his Sharingan casting shadows across his masked face. Before him, through the warped veil of space, two Wood Golems clashed like titans. But it was clear—undeniably clear—which one held the upper hand.

"Why...?" he muttered, frowning."Why is there such a massive gap in power between these two golems?"

Both were born from the Wood Style.

Both stemmed from the Senju lineage.

One was controlled by Hyūga Naraku, calm and deliberate in his mastery.

The other—a pale imitation—was wielded by ALFY, a White Zetsu clone fused with Hashirama's reanimated corpse.

Yet ALFY's golem had been nearly annihilated by a Tailed Beast Bomb from the Three-Tails.

Naraku's had caught the same devastating chakra sphere as if it were nothing more than a toy.

"It's still just ALFY performing the jutsu,"Black Zetsu said after a long pause, as if trying to convince himself more than Obito."There's a big difference between him... and the real First Hokage."

Still, something about it gnawed at him.

Because Naraku's golem, with a single palm, had seized the same technique that nearly shattered ALFY's entire body.

He had seen this once before.

"The Valley of the End..."he murmured.

Black Zetsu remembered it like a scar.

Cloaked in the shadows, he had watched Hashirama Senju's wooden giant grip a Tailed Beast Bomb from the Nine-Tails and snuff it out like the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan—as if it were a firefly in his hand.

"Even that monster... couldn't resist."

He turned slightly, casting a glance at Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose aged face was taut with fury.

"Besides, no one revived by the Impure World Reincarnation can fully regain their original strength,"Black Zetsu said."Especially not with a user like you."

Hiruzen didn't answer. He didn't need to.

He had once studied the forbidden jutsu in secret while serving as the Third Hokage, but only recently had he applied it in earnest. Compared to Tobirama, the jutsu's inventor, Hiruzen's mastery was a shadow.

And the results showed.

The frown on his face deepened. His silence was broken only by the tremble in his clenched fists.

"Even controlling Hashirama's body... that bastard ALFY still can't defeat Hyūga Naraku?!"

His voice was low, bitter.

Naraku.

The name burned like acid.

The man who destroyed Konoha's legacy. Who killed his sons. Who brought ruin to the shinobi world.

"Even if I have to die with him... I'll make sure he burns with me."

Black Zetsu smirked, a cruel flicker in the darkness of his face.

"Don't worry," he whispered."ALFY has one last move. With that, Hyūga Naraku will fall."

His smile widened, twisted by centuries of malice.

"The one who thwarted my mother's return... will vanish today."

On the Battlefield...

Hyūga Naraku stood atop his towering Wood Golem, arms folded, wind tugging at his white cloak. His pale eyes watched ALFY below with dispassionate curiosity.

He already knew what was coming.

Hashirama's strongest Wood Style jutsu.

The True Several Thousand Hands.

The very same technique that, even in a degraded form, had once shattered entire battalions during the Fourth Great Ninja War—when White Zetsu controlled Yamato's body and used the stolen DNA of Hashirama.

But that version had been a hollow imitation.

Naraku wanted to see how close this ALFY—wielding Hashirama's actual reanimated corpse—could come to the real thing.

ALFY threw his head back and laughed.

"You fool! You should've killed me while you had the chance!"

He clasped his hands together, eyes wide with mania.

"Now it's too late!"

"Wood Style: True Several Thousand Hands!!"

BOOM!!!

The ruined landscape shook violently as the ground cracked open, and from its depths, an enormous Buddha statue rose.

Hundreds of meters tall, the giant wooden deity radiated an oppressive aura. It loomed like a mountain of divine judgment, five smaller Buddha heads surrounding its crown.

ALFY stood triumphantly atop the central head, arms raised like a preacher delivering the apocalypse.

"Is this not the ultimate form of the First Hokage's power?!"

He glanced down and sneered at Naraku, whose Wood Golem now looked like a child standing before a god.

"Tell me, how does it feel to be so... small?""Maybe I'll let you die painlessly—if you beg."

But Naraku remained unmoved.

He raised his head and calmly looked up at the towering construct.

"So this is your True Several Thousand Hands?"

A pause. His lips curled.

"The hand count seems a bit... short."

Even from afar, it was clear—the Buddha statue was enormous, but the arms were limited. Incomplete.

Because the true version of this jutsu required more than chakra. It required Sage Mode—the ability to draw in natural energy and channel it into living wood.

But ALFY... lacked Sage Art.

He was simply forcing Hashirama's corpse, reanimated through the Impure World Reincarnation, to vomit up raw chakra. The result?

A mockery of the original.

Naraku's eyes sharpened.

"Very well. Let's test its strength."

He pressed his hands together.

The Wood Golem beneath him began to shift—its form expanding, armor thickening.

From its spine, a massive Wood Dragon erupted, coiling tightly around its body, reinforcing it like chakra-infused plate armor.

Then—six new arms exploded outward, three on each side, each gripping a long Wood Style sword, humming with natural power.

Naraku's expression remained calm.

"Let's begin."

ALFY laughed, pure malice in his voice.

"Stupid insect! You think that'll save you?"

The Buddha statue took a thunderous step forward.

BOOM.

BOOM.

BOOM.

The ground quaked.

Trees shattered. Rocks split. The ocean surged. The entire primitive island trembled under the weight of gods.

Far away, hidden in the jungle, a small squad of Konoha shinobi watched with wide eyes.

"W-what kind of jutsu is this...?"one whispered.

The towering Buddha was visible even from kilometers away.

"Is that really... Lord Fifth?"

"Please... let him win..."another prayed, barely audible.

Inside the Mind of the Three-Tails...

In the sealed consciousness space, Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, stood beside Isobu, the Three-Tails. Both were helpless—bodies locked under Obito's Genjutsu—but their minds still watched.

Yagura frowned.

"If Konoha's Fifth Hokage wins... maybe Kirigakure will finally be free."

But Isobu only sighed.

"Don't get your hopes up."

"That statue... it's the True Several Thousand Hands. I remember it."

His voice turned bitter.

"Hashirama once bound me with a wooden dragon alone. I couldn't even move. And that was only one of his jutsu."

He narrowed his eye.

"This statue was the stuff of nightmares. Even Kurama couldn't escape it."

Back on the battlefield, the clash had begun.

Naraku's enhanced Wood Golem darted between the massive wooden fists, slashing with its six swords—each one severing an incoming arm.

But it couldn't last forever.

The sheer size of the statue was overwhelming.

Naraku's golem cracked and staggered backward.

Still, he kept smiling.

"Hah! What's wrong?"ALFY shouted, triumphant."Done already? I thought we were just getting started!"

Naraku closed his eyes.

Then... he let his chakra surge.

A wave of pure power exploded outward, warping the air around him.

"You think that was the full power of True Several Thousand Hands?"

"Then let me show you what it really looks like."

He clasped his hands.

"Wood Style: True Several Thousand Hands — Above the Buddha!"

BOOOOOM!!!

From the heart of the island, the ground ripped open.

An even larger Buddha statue emerged—towering over even ALFY's construct.

Arms—countless arms—spiraled around its halo, stretching into the heavens like the rays of the sun.

It was not just a statue.

It was a god.

The real Great Buddha of the Senju.

After decades lost to history... it had returned.

Naraku stood atop its head, his eyes cold and commanding.

He gazed down at ALFY, whose expression had finally begun to change.

"Come," Naraku said."Let's continue."