Naruto: I Confronted the Five Kage Before the System Arrived

Chapter 321: Uchiha Madara Returns, Senju Hashirama Makes His Move

Senju Hashirama suddenly clapped his hands together, and a massive number of tree roots and vines surged from the ground within a hundred-meter radius, as if dragons were emerging from the earth. They transformed into a fierce sea of trees, rushing towards Hagoromo Gengetsu.

Hagoromo Gengetsu, observing the scene, extended his hand, summoning a Truth-Seeking Ball that had been floating behind him. It transformed into a gigantic scythe, severing the incoming wood release technique.

"Ha!"

Upon seeing this, Hashirama tightened his fingers, intertwining them, and shouted. More vines and roots extended, aiming directly at the scythe formed by the Truth-Seeking Ball, wrapping around it layer by layer.

Although many of the roots were severed by the scythe, as time passed and more wood release techniques were employed without consideration for chakra consumption, the surface of the Truth-Seeking Ball gradually became covered in vines and roots, making it difficult for the scythe to move.

Hashirama's eyes suddenly lit up as he observed this.

At the same time, Senju Tobirama, who was using the Flying Thunder God Technique to dodge the attacks of two other Truth-Seeking Balls with his companions, also noticed this and reacted.

"Sage Art!"

The two brothers had discovered a way to deal with the Truth-Seeking Balls.

The wood release technique that Hashirama had just used did not disintegrate upon contact with the Truth-Seeking Balls like other ninjutsu or kekkei genkai. Instead, it entangled them.

This wasn't due to any special property of wood release.

Rather, it was because wood release, when infused with sage chakra, was classified as a sage technique, not ninjutsu.

Truth-Seeking Balls could not nullify sage techniques.

Realizing this, Tobirama immediately looked at Namikaze Minato, who was also in Sage Mode.

Minato was quick to catch on. Noticing the interaction between the wood release and the Truth-Seeking Balls, he quickly understood what was happening.

Minato nodded at Tobirama, acknowledging that he and the First Hokage would be the main attackers from this point on.

"Have they figured it out?"

Hagoromo Gengetsu glanced at Hashirama, whose face revealed nothing, then looked at the Truth-Seeking Ball entangled by roots and vines. His mind raced.

The scythe formed by the Truth-Seeking Ball rapidly retracted, transforming into a high-speed spinning Fūma Shuriken. It quickly sliced through the wood release technique wrapped around it, then spun back to Hagoromo Gengetsu's side, reverting to its original form as a Truth-Seeking Ball without any visible damage.

Although sage techniques were unaffected by the Truth-Seeking Ball's properties, that didn't mean they could overcome it.

Even the Great Toad Sage, who was highly skilled in sage techniques, had fallen to the Truth-Seeking Balls, let alone human practitioners of sage arts.

However, the wood release techniques strengthened by Hashirama's sage chakra were indeed troublesome due to their powerful binding capabilities.

"Are they trying to bind all the Truth-Seeking Balls with wood release and then attack me?"

As several wood dragons erupted from the ground, roaring towards him and the Truth-Seeking Balls that were dealing with the Reanimation warriors, Hagoromo Gengetsu immediately understood his old rival's strategy.

He wasn't about to give them the opportunity.

Hagoromo Gengetsu clapped his hands as well, and several massive acid dragons, no smaller than the wood dragons, formed from corrosive and sticky acid. With a thunderous roar, they charged forward to meet the wood dragons head-on.

During the ensuing battle, Hashirama tried various other strategies.

But even when facing Hagoromo Gengetsu, who had perfect control over the nature and form of chakra across seven different attributes, who was in perfect sync with his Sage Mode, and who had various other techniques at his disposal, the once-legendary wood release technique that had quelled the wars in the ninja world seemed almost insignificant.

During this time, Tobirama and Minato, who also possessed sage chakra, joined the battle, bringing with them warriors like Hatake Sakumo. Despite their numerous battle plans under the support of the Flying Thunder God Technique, their efforts were in vain.

Hagoromo Gengetsu's strength far surpassed all of them, and with a Truth-Seeking Ball protecting him, no matter what they tried, they couldn't land an effective hit.

In the end, Tobirama even attempted to touch a Truth-Seeking Ball directly and use the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport it away, but this too was easily countered by Hagoromo Gengetsu, who had anticipated such a move.

In the end, the difference in strength was too great.

In terms of power, Hagoromo Gengetsu was already the strongest person under the Six Paths.

The "Six Paths" here refers to beings like the Sage of Six Paths and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, individuals of that level.

Even figures like Ōtsutsuki Toneri, with his Tenseigan, and the Six Paths-level Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki and Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki as shown in the movies—when faced with Hagoromo Gengetsu, it's uncertain who would emerge victorious.

Though the Allied Shinobi Forces included many powerful reanimated warriors, the White Zetsu clones fused with Hashirama's cells could never fully restore their original strength.

Moreover, Hagoromo Gengetsu was intimately familiar with their techniques.

The situation was already becoming very clear.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As Hagoromo Gengetsu faced Hashirama and the others' desperate counterattacks, three of his Truth-Seeking Balls did not remain idle. They took advantage of the time to completely destroy one reanimated warrior after another.

When Hashirama, Tobirama, and the others managed to distance themselves from Hagoromo Gengetsu's attacks, they noticed that many of their comrades had already fallen.

"The combination of Truth-Seeking Balls and Hagoromo Gengetsu has almost no weaknesses. Even if there is one, it's incredibly difficult to exploit." Despite the dire situation, Tobirama's voice remained calm.

But no matter how calm he remained, it didn't change reality.

Tobirama had thought of many strategies, but they were all useless in the face of overwhelming power.

"I'm sorry. If only I were stronger," Minato said apologetically.

As one of the two people present who could use sage techniques, his performance had been less than impressive.

His only reliable technique, the Flying Thunder God, had become predictable after multiple encounters with Hagoromo Gengetsu. With the Truth-Seeking Balls protecting him, Minato's technique had lost its element of surprise.

As for his other techniques, such as the Rasengan, they were even less effective against Hagoromo Gengetsu.

"Fourth Hokage, no need to blame yourself—" Hashirama began, intending to console him, when a proud voice suddenly interrupted:

"You're right, you really are useless."

Hashirama's expression changed instantly. He reacted instinctively, saying:

"Madara!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Uchiha Madara appeared before Minato in an instant. He grabbed Minato by the throat, looking down on him and said:

"In that case, give your power to me!"

Chakra Devour!

Minato had no time to resist before he felt the sage chakra in his body rapidly being absorbed by Madara.

Hashirama, seeing this, wanted to intervene immediately.

But Tobirama stopped him.

The Uchiha Madara before them was no longer an enemy.

Soon after, on Madara's left chest—where the Hashirama cells had caused a face to grow—an intricate sage face appeared.

"So this is sage chakra? It's quite easy to control."

Madara released Minato, his hand letting go of the Fourth Hokage's throat.

After feeling the sage chakra flowing through him, he turned to Hashirama with a slight grin:

"Hashirama, it seems we'll have to team up once again."

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