*Bang!*
With a thunderous crash, the heavy coffin lid slammed down.
The rising smoke and dust resembled a roaring beast, instantly filling the entire space.
Inside the coffin, the red-haired youth suddenly opened his eyes. The Rinnegan within their sockets was unmistakable.
Who else could it be but Nagato?
"This..."
Before Nagato could finish speaking, his body was seized by a mysterious and overwhelming force—the will of Madara.
"Hashirama, our battle is not over yet."
Through Nagato's body, Madara spoke with provocation and disdain.
With nothing more than a casual wave of his hand, an astonishing surge of chakra erupted forth like a raging torrent.
This force was like an invisible giant axe—before its might, the crimson torii gates were no sturdier than rotten wood.
They shattered instantly, debris flying in all directions.
Hashirama quickly turned his gaze toward the source, though he couldn't recognize who Madara was controlling.
First Raikage A had barely escaped the Torii Seal's restraint and staggered to his feet.
His eyes brimmed with despair, his mind in chaos.
The last thing he remembered was seeing Senju Hashirama—then his consciousness had plunged into endless darkness until now, when he finally regained awareness.
Judging from the pain in his body and the devastation around him, he had clearly been brutally beaten.
Nagato, however, treated it as if he had rescued nothing more than an ant, not even glancing at First Raikage A.
"It's Nagato!!!"
Mito and Hiruzen Sarutobi cried out in unison, their faces paling in shock.
Both had some inkling of Nagato's strength.
Now Hashirama and Tobirama realized who this red-haired youth possessed by Madara truly was.
[Super Shinra Tensei!!!]
Nagato gave them no time to react.
He bent his knees slightly and shot upward like a bolt of lightning, instantly soaring high into midair.
With both hands forcefully pressed downward, in an instant, a terrifying surge of chakra erupted like a volcanic eruption.
It was a repelling force akin to doomsday descending—an overwhelming pressure radiating outward from Nagato. The force carried earth-shattering intensity.
Rocks on the ground, once unyielding, crumbled like fragile grains of sand before this power.
Instantly reduced to fine powder, they were ruthlessly flung far into the sky, vanishing from sight.
Even the towering trees surrounding the area failed to survive this catastrophe.
Uprooted entirely, thick roots tore free from the soil as they flew into the air.
Halfway into the air, these trees were torn into countless fragments by the suffocating force.
Splinters rained outward like deadly shrapnel.
Each shard slashed through everything in its path, carving shocking gashes across the landscape.
The first ones hit were Hashirama and Retsuto, struck almost the moment the repelling force erupted.
This immense pressure left them no time for evasion or defense.
Like pebbles struck by cannonballs, they were hurled downward and crushed deep into the hardened earth.
The once-solid ground was shattered, leaving behind two massive craters.
Dust erupted like mushroom clouds, spiraling into the sky and instantly swallowing them in a dense haze.
All that remained was chaos, cloaked in a veil of dust.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was already gravely wounded to begin with. Now, under the impact of this overwhelming repelling force, he flew through the air, helpless as a falling leaf, mercilessly thrown away.
His body traced a tragic and desperate arc in the sky before crashing down like a sack of lead, landing with a heavy thud.
Even after hitting the ground, his hand still clutched the Adamantine Nyoi-bo tightly, yet he lay completely motionless, face down, his fate unknown.
Blood slowly seeped from beneath him, quickly staining the surrounding land red, starkly contrasting the scorched battlefield.
Mito and Byakuren were not spared from this calamity either; they too were blasted away by the force at the same time.
The golden chains Mito desperately unleashed, despite all her effort, were as fragile as silk threads in the face of this unimaginably powerful repelling energy.
They shattered instantly, bursting into golden sparks that scattered into the air.
Byakuren's already battered, wound-riddled body was like broken porcelain.
Under the shock of this force, she exploded into fragments, scattering outward in all directions.
The scene was too gruesome to witness—utterly horrifying!
Tobirama and Ishikawa, being the farthest from Nagato, suffered relatively less damage, but were still sent flying dozens of meters away.
They rolled painfully across the ground several times before finally managing to stabilize themselves, their faces filled with terror.
What kind of terrifying power was this?!?
"Hashirama, can you feel it?"
"This is the power of all creation."
"I have surpassed you completely now."
"Hahaha~"
Nagato looked down at the ruined, devastated battlefield below and laughed out loud, his laughter brimming with madness and arrogance.
But right now, he certainly had cause to be arrogant.
Controlled by Madara, reanimated Nagato wielded strength far more terrifying than in life—several times greater.
"What kind of monstrous power is this?!?"
The First Raikage A stared wide-eyed, muttering in disbelief.
He stood frozen, staring at Nagato, eyes filled with shock and incomprehension.
He couldn't comprehend why this red-haired youth stirred such profound helplessness in him.
"Madara, is this what you call happiness?"
"Kill him, and then control his soul as well?"
Hashirama emerged from beneath a pile of rubble, nonchalantly shaking off the debris with a flick of his body.
With a single careless step, he precisely stepped on Retsuto—a feat the noble and elegant First Wind Shadow hadn't managed even while forcing his way out from underground.
"He has always been my pawn."
"You should know, pawns are not worthy of possessing their own thoughts, wills, or even souls."
Nagato slowly descended, looking down upon Hashirama as if a god surveying him from above.
"You're wrong. Everyone has the right to shape their own fate."
Hashirama pointed a single finger directly at Nagato, fury blazing in his eyes, nearly erupting.
"Enough!!!"
"I didn't come here for your preaching."
[Fire Release: Grand Flame Obliteration]
Nagato opened his mouth wide, launching a meteor-sized fireball directly from his mouth.
The fireball roared forward with raging flames, like a blazing sun hurtling straight toward Hashirama.
Upon impact, the fireball erupted outward like a demonic force, morphing into an endless sea of fire that completely swallowed Hashirama whole.
The flames roared and crackled wildly, as though heralding the arrival of death.
At this moment, Mito and Tobirama had already stood shoulder to shoulder, standing defiantly against the three First Kages.
Without a word exchanged, the five shinobi clashed in an instant.
Outnumbered two to three, Mito and Tobirama were immediately overwhelmed by pressure.
Reanimated Nagato's arrival had already turned the tide of battle.
...
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