Chapter 148: Points Skyrocket
Boom! Boom! Boom…
The earth-shattering sounds continued as the Wood Human Arhat, wielding the dragon-slaying sword, charged towards the hundred-armed Buddha statue once more.
Under Izayoi's seal-less control and with his golden-grade chakra manipulation, the Wood Human Arhat moved like a Gundam, its agility in no way inferior to a Complete Body Susanoo or a fully transformed Tailed Beast.
Conversely, the hundred-armed Buddha statue opposite it, due to its appearance as a Buddha seated on a lotus pedestal, couldn't move by running like the Wood Human Arhat. It could only move slowly, as if pushing a cart.
In terms of speed and agility, it was no match for the Wood Human Arhat.
However, the hundred-armed Buddha statue, with its numerous arms, was even more powerful in attack than the Wood Human Arhat. Coupled with being made of Sage Art chakra, it was essentially a super-weakened version of Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands.
Watching the approaching Wood Human Arhat, Tobi once again controlled the hundred giant arms behind it, transforming them into a torrential downpour of attacks.
The Wood Human Arhat held the dragon-slaying sword, which had transformed from the Wood Dragon, in both hands. The sword was immediately enveloped in a layer of white chakra flames and swiftly swung out.
Rumbling and piercing sounds echoed continuously. Fists landed on the Wood Human Arhat's body one after another. Each blow could shatter the earth and blast away a small mountain's worth of power, yet they failed to break through the Wood Human Arhat's body, only leaving behind numerous fist imprints and cracks, and didn't even manage to push it back.
On the other hand, the dragon-slaying sword in the Wood Human Arhat's hand, covered in Wind Release nature transformation, severed one wooden arm after another, preparing to withstand the hundred-armed Buddha statue's attacks and charge forward.
Seeing this, Nagato created a giant homing missile, streaking through the afterimages created by the hundred arms, its target the Wood Human Arhat's right eye, which was glowing with golden light.
His Rinnegan's penetrating vision had seen a massive mass of chakra there.
If there were no surprises, Izayoi was hiding in the right eye.
However, Nagato still underestimated the combination of the Wood Human Arhat and the Wood Dragon.
The Wood Human Arhat, holding the dragon-slaying sword, slashed at the incoming homing missile. The latter dodged very nimbly, brushing past the blade covered in Wind Release nature transformation. Just as it was about to continue flying towards the Wood Human Arhat's eye,
The originally hard and sharp blade suddenly transformed back into the Wood Dragon's body, sweeping towards the homing missile like a long whip.
So fast and so large, the homing missile had no time to dodge and was blown up.
Dazzling flames bloomed, and the shockwave roared.
The smoke failed to form a mushroom cloud and was split in two. The Wood Human Arhat, its body riddled with injuries except for its head, held the dragon-slaying sword and brought it down with the force of splitting a mountain, fiercely striking towards Nagato on top of the hundred-armed Buddha statue's head.
Just then, several arms extended out and caught the dragon-slaying sword with their bare hands.
No scene of a power struggle appeared. The Wood Human Arhat very decisively abandoned the dragon-slaying sword and threw a punch.
Seeing this, the hundred-armed Buddha statue seemed to come alive. Its giant hands, which had been clasped together, finally opened and clenched into fists, colliding with the Wood Human Arhat's fist.
The dragon-slaying sword, which had been caught bare-handed, also transformed back into the Wood Dragon. After breaking free from the arms that were smaller than itself, it soared into the sky and slammed its tail down.
So fast, the arms that needed to be controlled had no time to defend.
Nagato also didn't expend chakra to transform it into a repulsive force storm to defend but instead teleported away.
The Wood Dragon's tail heavily struck the hundred-armed Buddha statue's head, directly smashing a large chunk off, and cracks spread.
The Wood Human Arhat and the hundred-armed Buddha statue, whose fists had collided, were also blown back by the terrifying Sage Art chakra.
The Wood Human Arhat retreated several steps.
The hundred-armed Buddha statue, which had lost control during this time, retreated more than ten steps.
The Wood Dragon flew back and coiled around the Wood Human Arhat again. The fist imprints and cracks that had been blasted out by the hundred-armed Buddha statue all recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Nagato also returned to the hundred-armed Buddha statue's head, which had a large chunk missing. Then, the severed arms and shattered head all recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Immediately, the Wood Human Arhat and the hundred-armed Buddha statue continued to attack each other.
Various methods were used, the target being the opponent's main body.
If they couldn't injure the opponent's main body, they tried every possible way to consume the opponent's chakra, making the opponent consume more chakra than themselves and deplete it faster.
This battle lasted for a full day and night.
During this day and night, the super news of the final battle in Amegakure and the battle between the Akatsuki leader and Konoha's Wood Release ninja had spread to every corner of the ninja continent.
Even the Land of Water and the inhabited islands relatively close to the ninja continent knew about this news.
Outside the already ruined Amegakure, the ninjas most skilled in sensing from various countries were taking turns sensing, collecting the latest battle situation, and then using summoning beasts to transmit it back to their superiors in real time.
Not only Amegakure, but even the forest area in the Land of Fire, which was the battlefield of Nagato and Izayoi, was full of spies from various countries.
Watching the close-quarters combat between those two behemoths, whether they had seen the confrontation of the Sage Eyes at the beginning of the year or were witnessing a super-standard combat power confrontation for the first time, the ninjas from various countries were all dumbfounded, feeling the dimensional gap.
The high-level officials of the Five Great Ninja Villages, who received this information, had solemn expressions, with mixed feelings of joy and worry.
"This era has changed so much that even this old man doesn't recognize it anymore."
In Iwagakure, Onoki looked at the intelligence in his hand and the photos taken, staring at the two Wood Humans that were even larger than those at the beginning of the year. A rare feeling of helplessness welled up in his heart as he murmured, "Lord Hashirama and Uchiha Madara both became leaders of their respective clans and only showed super-standard combat power after adulthood. These three young people look like teenagers, and one of them only graduated last year. How did they possess such strength at this age?"
"Compared to them, even Lord Hashirama and Uchiha Madara were nothing more than that?!"
Even Onoki, the pinnacle of the Five Kage, felt powerless.
The feelings of the other Kage were even more complicated.
The Fourth Raikage had an unwilling expression, still somewhat unconvinced.
People like Chiyo and Ebizo were filled with worry.
Two super-standard combatants had ended the Warring States Period that had lasted for a thousand years and created the ninja village system with one country and one village.
This era was originally supposed to be a battle between the ninja world's overlord and the moon visitor, but the theme had suddenly become a three-way standoff.
If this round of war didn't result in any casualties, the future ninja world would probably be even more chaotic than the three Great Ninja Wars.
A slight misstep, and their major ninja villages might become the targets of the three super-standard combatants, completely disappearing from history.
Among the current five Kage, only Tsunade felt joy.
"When did that brat grow to this extent?"
Looking at the intelligence transmitted back in real time by Hinata and Karin, Tsunade felt disbelief, but at the same time, she was filled with excitement.
She was born relatively late and hadn't seen the battles of her grandfather and Uchiha Madara. She had only seen the Wood Human Technique through photos at the beginning of the year, as well as the meteor rain and Heavenly Obstacle Meteor summoned by 'Otsutsuki Toneri'.
In her eyes, that was super-standard combat power, a power that the five Kage and the ninja army couldn't resist.
Therefore, Tsunade had high expectations for Izayoi, hoping that he could grow up smoothly and one day also be able to use the Wood Human Technique.
In that case, Konoha would have its own super-standard combat power.
However, Tsunade also knew that creating a Wood Human of that size was not as simple as using the Advent of a World of Flowering Trees to create a forest.
Creating a sea of trees only required releasing chakra.
But the Wood Human Technique tested not only chakra volume but also chakra control, nature transformation, and form manipulation, among other skills…
She had thought that Izayoi would need to be at least twenty years old, when his body reached its peak, to use Wood Release ninjutsu like the Wood Human Technique.
As a result, she hadn't expected Izayoi to give her such a big surprise.
To be precise, it was that Izayoi had hidden himself so deeply.
Thinking that the other party had awakened Wood Release long ago but had hidden it until the deaths of the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzo, Tsunade couldn't help but laugh and scold, "Isn't this brat's personality a bit too cautious?"
…
"Leader, can you still hold on?"
After a day and night of fighting, the movements of the Wood Human Arhat and the hundred-armed Buddha statue had become very sluggish. Whether it was agility, strength, or the speed of arm regeneration and injury recovery, they had all greatly decreased.
Minor injuries that didn't affect movement and attack were not even being repaired with Wood Release chakra anymore.
Standing on top of the hundred-armed Buddha statue's head, Nagato's breathing had become very erratic, his forehead was covered in sweat, and his clothes had been wet and dry, dry and wet repeatedly. Tobi's worried voice entered his ears, and Nagato laughed, "I'm fine, Tobi, can you still hold on?"
"My chakra has long been drained. Fortunately, you, leader, have been providing me with chakra, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to hold on," Tobi's voice was full of weakness and fatigue.
"His situation shouldn't be much better than ours."
Nagato looked at the Wood Human Arhat, whose golden light in its eyes had dimmed and the red eye shadow had long disappeared. Through the Rinnegan's penetrating chakra vision, he could see that the mass of chakra hidden inside was in a slightly better condition than his own.
During this day and night of fighting, Nagato hadn't used even one Ultra Almighty Push.
Although the Ultra Almighty Push could shatter the Wood Human Arhat, it would be difficult to kill Izayoi. Exchanging such a large amount of chakra consumption for such a result was very unworthy.
The Six Paths Techniques were only occasionally used to activate the Asura Path's abilities, trying to attack the Wood Human Arhat's eyes to expose Izayoi's main body, and then using Universal Pull to drag him out. Unfortunately, every attempt had failed.
Therefore, Nagato had been using the Wood Human Technique to fight Izayoi the entire time, mutually consuming each other's chakra.
If it weren't for Tobi, who had come to support him fully prepared, Nagato's chakra would have been exhausted long ago even if he could use the Wood Human Technique.
But with Tobi's assistance and without using the Ultra Almighty Push, Nagato had managed to fight Izayoi until now.
A hundred arms against two arms had no advantage at the beginning.
But gradually, as the Wood Human Arhat continuously consumed chakra to repair injuries and its Sage Art chakra was depleted, Izayoi's chakra volume was no longer sufficient to suppress the massive natural energy and refine it all into Sage Art chakra.
Thus, Sage Art: Wood Release: Wood Human Technique had become ordinary Wood Release: Wood Human Technique.
Nagato was in the same situation as Izayoi.
In fact, Nagato's Sage Mode had been deactivated two hours earlier than Izayoi's.
Those two hours were the most difficult time for Nagato and Tobi.
Originally, a hundred arms against two arms had no advantage, and now their own defense had plummeted. The Wood Human Arhat almost blew up the hundred-armed Buddha statue with one punch.
But fortunately, Tobi wasn't fighting alone; there was Nagato.
Under the repulsive force barrier of the Almighty Push, the hundred-armed Buddha statue still survived the most difficult two hours, and then the offense and defense switched.
Without the amplification of Sage Art chakra, the Wood Human Arhat's defense and strength plummeted. Facing the torrential bombardment of a hundred giant arms, although it wasn't blown up, it was riddled with injuries.
The chakra consumption for repairing injuries suddenly surpassed the hundred-armed Buddha statue's consumption.
The great advantage gained over two hours had turned into a small advantage.
Izayoi was already very satisfied with this.
If he hadn't upgraded his Sage Body to a red entry, causing his Wood Release to sublimate to a golden grade, allowing him to use the Wood Human Technique, Izayoi would have used the Flying Thunder God Technique to escape the moment Tobi arrived and appeared wearing 'Otsutsuki Toneri's' jacket.
Golden-grade Wood Release countered the Rinnegan, which was also golden-grade and could only use the Six Paths Techniques.
However, golden-grade Wood Release could only draw with golden-grade Wood Release.
With the assistance of the opponent's golden Rinnegan, they were already at a golden+ grade.
Izayoi was still able to gain a small advantage entirely due to the seal-less casting brought by his Otsutsuki bloodline and the super-endurance of Sage Mode provided by his Sage Body.
Red entries were ultimately red entries. Even if their potential hadn't been fully realized, they were still existences above golden entries.
What made Izayoi even more delighted was that the experiment results from the puppet human army in Amegakure had also come in.
Defeating the Impure World Reincarnation powerhouses could also earn him entries.
Even if the enemy only had a soul left, defeating them could trigger the equipment drop mechanism.
However, this defeat had to be a seal; otherwise, the enemy would be an immortal existence.
After a day and night of fighting, Izayoi's puppet human army and Nagato's Impure World Reincarnation army had both suffered heavy losses.
Once the puppet humans were defeated, they would be smashed into pieces and couldn't be recovered.
And after the Impure World Reincarnation powerhouses were sealed, they would be sent away on the spot by the puppet humans using the Heavenly Transfer Technique, and Nagato couldn't retrieve them.
Nagato's losses were real losses, while Izayoi's losses would be exchanged for a significant return.
Izayoi's current point savings had skyrocketed from [799999] to [856109].
At this rate, once the final battle ended, or if he dropped one or two golden entries from Nagato, Izayoi would be able to save up 990,000 points.
Thus, Izayoi's eyes, peering through a small window, looked at Nagato on top of the hundred-armed Buddha statue, his gaze filled with fervor.
This battle would definitely not end in a draw.
He was bound to win!
The next second, Izayoi's figure, riding the platform, rose back to the top of the Wood Human Arhat's head.
"Leader, why did he come out?" Tobi's voice carried a hint of unease. "I have a bad feeling."
Nagato also frowned slightly but still asked, "It's alright, don't forget, we still have trump cards."
"But aren't those trump cards meant to deal with Otsutsuki Toneri?" Tobi asked, as if just realizing something. "Right, our chakra has been depleted to this extent, why hasn't that guy appeared yet?"
"Your actions should have been discovered, but the battle situation in the village has already developed to this point. My final showdown with him is unavoidable," Nagato said. "Focus, let's deal with the immediate threat first."
"Yes!"
Just as Tobi was about to control the hundred-armed Buddha statue and move towards the Wood Human Arhat, preparing to exchange injuries again to make Izayoi consume more chakra,
Nagato's pupils suddenly widened, his expression drastically changing.
"This is…"
A figure appeared beside Izayoi without any warning. It was Izayoi's Wood Clone.
"Flying Thunder God Technique, how can he also know the Flying Thunder God Technique?" Tobi exclaimed, revealing the truth in one sentence, "Could he be Otsutsuki Toneri?!"
"With his talent in ninjutsu, it's not surprising that he learned the Flying Thunder God Technique, but… this is bad."
Nagato looked at Izayoi, who had already absorbed the Wood Clone back into his body, and murmured with a tightly furrowed brow, "Nine-Tails Jinchuriki? Miscalculated, I forgot he also has a very excellent mind!"
In the Rinnegan's view, Izayoi's chakra, which was only slightly better than his own, suddenly became vigorous, as if it had returned to its peak state.
"Sage Mode—Activate!"
Izayoi clapped his hands together, activating Sage Mode again.
Immediately, he didn't ride the platform back into the Wood Human Arhat's head but instead input a large amount of Sage Art chakra into the Wood Human Arhat, controlling it to run towards the hundred-armed Buddha statue.
…
"Ten… Izayoi, you bastard, I… I'm going to be drained dry!"
In Konoha, Naruto Uzumaki lay on the ground, his voice weak.
Beside him was Team Seven, who had been urgently summoned and were waiting for the results.
Sasuke Uchiha sneered "Anyway, your chakra is useless, so you might as well help Izayoi."
Kakashi Hatake crouched down and patted Naruto Uzumaki's head, smiling, "If Izayoi wins, Naruto, you'll be Konoha's hero."
"That level of battle is truly terrifying."
Sakura Haruno looked at the village, which had become very deserted as most of the villagers, except for a few ninjas, had moved to shelters, and couldn't help but sigh.
Even though the battle was taking place countless kilometers away, their once strongest ninja village had to go into a state of alert.
For the first time, Sakura Haruno felt the terror of super-standard combat power.
(End of this chapter)
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