The clash between the Perfect Susanoo and the colossal Wood Golem shook the heavens and split the earth.
If Yuki Yoru hadn't already blanketed Amegakure in a barrier, this sorrowful land of endless rain might have crumbled into ruin under the sheer force of their battle.
The ferocity of their duel was in no way inferior to the Sand Gold Fortress incident. In fact, because of the terrain, the fight between Nagato and Shisui looked even more intense than Yoru's own battle—like the sky collapsing and the earth shattering. The wind howled, shockwaves tore through the rain, and the aftermath spread for dozens of kilometers.
After trading over a hundred blows, the deep-green perfect Susanoo leapt into the air, unleashing a rain of Yasaka Magatama down upon the Wood Golem.
Shisui's eyes blazed, Mangekyō power surging. The spiral spear in his Susanoo's hands erupted with dazzling light, then swept sideways toward the Wood Golem that had just barely blocked the magatama barrage.
"Susanoo – Crescent Slash!"
The sweeping strike carried immense momentum, forcing the Wood Golem back several steps. In that instant, Shisui's eyes flared again, and the spiral spear shifted from a sweep to a thrust—aimed straight at the Wood Golem's chest.
"Susanoo – Spiral Pierce!"
Locked onto its target, the spear roared forward like a dragon, wrapped in crushing wind and thunder, threatening to pierce the Wood Golem's body clean through.
"Wood Release – Wood Golem, Wooden Dragon: Shield Formation!"
Nagato, who was standing on the Wood Golem's head, and the Wood Golem both extended their arms at the same time.
The Wood Golem's two arms grew dense trees, forming two massive wooden dragons that met the spiraling, attacking spiral spear.
Although the wooden dragons were easily destroyed by the spiral spear, a wooden shield in the shape of a fanged demon appeared on the Wood Golem, blocking the unstoppable strike
In an instant, the energy aftermath stirred up a violent wind, and wood splinters flew everywhere in the rainy mist. The two were once again locked in a stalemate, with both their offense and defense being equally matched!!
"If you'd had this much power back then, Yahiko might still be alive."
Above, Susanoo spread its wings, and Uchiha Shisui looked down at the red-haired man below.
"No. He would have died all the same. Naïve people are destined to hit walls. Even without Hanzō, you would have eventually encountered even greater setbacks and hardships. With this level of power, the outcome would not have changed at all."
"Shut up!"
Nagato's expression twisted. He knew exactly why Shisui was saying these things—and he knew they'd already had the intended effect.
Anger flared in his chest, and his chakra spiked to its true peak.
"If you want to see my real power, then feel it for yourself!"
"Sage Art!"
Nagato's hands suddenly clapped together, and a vast, indescribable amount of chakra exploded outward. Sage markings appeared on his face, and the ground beneath him began to rumble and split.
In the blink of an eye, cracks spread, and countless plants burst forth from the earth.
Shisui's Susanoo swung the spiral spear, shredding the first wave of growth—but with Nagato's sage chakra feeding them, these plants defied all logic. They didn't grow like normal Wood Release; they twisted and surged with unnatural vitality.
In just a single breath, these plants grew to an incredible height, spiraling and intertwining in the air, forming a canopy that covered the sky.
Shisui's eyes moved slightly from side to side. He didn't choose to retreat. With the eruption of his spiritual pressure, the spiral spear of the Susanoo once again burst with light, blasting towards the sea of trees that was blotting out the sky.
His attack was incredibly powerful, but the trees' durability was far beyond his expectations. The moment they were destroyed, more, larger, and tougher trees filled the gaps.
Far off, Nagato poured more sage chakra into them. The forest thickened, compressed, trapping Shisui in the center. Flowers bloomed on every branch, releasing clouds of pale-yellow pollen into the air.
Deep Forest Bloom!
"So this is your full strength in Sage Mode…"
Inside Susanoo's crystal, Shisui felt Nagato's surging aura, and the spiritual power within him was no longer concealed.
While using his spiritual power to shield against the pollen, he placed one hand on the Zanpakutō at his waist.
"Then I'll show you mine as well, Nagato."
"Bankai!"
A shockwave of power blasted outward from within Susanoo's crystal chamber.
Nagato's next attack froze mid-motion under the pressure. Cracks spread through the earth beneath Susanoo's feet as if the very land feared this heavenly might.
The pillar of spiritual energy shot into the sky, tearing the clouds apart in an instant—threatening to break the heavens themselves.
Even far from the battlefield, every shinobi turned to look, eyes wide with disbelief at the direction of the surge.
"Bankai, huh…"
Orochimaru's golden slit pupils narrowed slightly in surprise. He knew Shisui's strength well—among the Shinigami captains, Shisui was undisputedly the strongest. Even Miroku and the others under Yuki Yoru might be weaker than him.
He had assumed Shisui would quickly overpower Nagato. After all, Shisui possessed everything Nagato did—Wood Release, Rinnegan—and more: the Mangekyō Sharingan and Shinigami powers.
But he hadn't expected the fight to reach the point where Shisui was forced to release Bankai. Was Nagato truly this strong?
The weight of his spiritual pressure pressed upon the entire battlefield.
"Shisui..."
Feeling this familiar aura, Fugaku Uchiha's expression was complex.
Although he was now one of Yuki Yoru's subordinates and had some contact with many of the Shinigami captains.
But ever since their last meeting during the Third Great Shinobi War, he had never seen Shisui again, nor had he ever communicated with him.
He never expected that Shisui had grown to this extent.
"Shisui? Uchiha Shisui? Wasn't he supposed to be dead?"
Fugaku's words drew astonishment from the Fourth Raikage and Rasa. Both turned their eyes toward the origin of the overwhelming power.
Even though they were countless miles away, under this aura, they even had an urge to kneel.
This was the difference in the level of their power!
The two Kage looked at each other, and their eyes were filled with burning ambition.
Shisui had once been famous in the ninja world, even spoken of alongside the Yellow Flash—someone you avoided at all costs. Yet in their minds, he had always been a junior.
And now… after gaining spiritual power from Yuki Yoru, he had become this.
Yes—spiritual power truly was the grand highway to the summit.
"Bankai!"
Shisui's voice rolled out like a god's whisper beneath the heavens.
"Clear Mirror, Calm Water — Moonlight, Gentle Wind!"
The ripples of a water drop entering a lake spread from the tip of the Zanpakutō in Shisui's hand, merging into his body, and also into the Perfect Susanoo under his command.
In an instant, the area around the Susanoo seemed to be paused, turning into black and white.
The world lost its color, filled with a sense of the passage of time.
In the next moment, Shisui controlled the Perfect Susanoo, swinging the spiral spear towards Nagato.
The spear's glow shot forth like an arrow, making space itself tremble; the hundred meters between them felt endlessly stretched, a strange distortion that clung to the mind.
In just an instant, the wooden dragons beneath Nagato collapsed into a sky full of wood splinters. Even Nagato's own body, in that same instant, was like a kite with a broken string, falling from the sky with a thud and landing on the ground, splashing rain and mud.
Splat...
Susanoo's wings flapped, pursuing him.
Looking at Nagato lying in the mud, Shisui's expression remained calm.
"It's over."
Nagato's strength was among the pinnacle of ninjas he had ever seen, yet before him, as a Shinigami, he still felt weak.
This was the difference in levels of power; perhaps sage chakra could rival spiritual power, but compared to the power he wielded, Nagato still fell short.
Shisui's gaze flicked toward Yoru in the distance. By Yoru's earlier terms, Nagato had failed the test—and failure meant…
"Don't make me laugh, Uchiha Shisui."
Rain pattered on Nagato's body as he pushed himself up, trembling. His pale purple eyes burned with fierce light.
Moments ago, Shisui's strike had crushed him. But now… his fighting spirit only blazed hotter.
"Yahiko… Konan…"
"What I carry on my shoulders is never just myself. Even if the path I walk is as dark and dreary as this country, where the sun never shines, the words 'end' and 'give up' will never appear in my life!"
"Yahiko's dream. Konan's hope."
Nagato stood up, his body appearing to sway as if barely holding itself upright, yet an incredibly unique and terrifying sage chakra began to emanate from within him.
With this chakra's support, his Akatsuki robe, soaked by the rain, began to billow, and his red hair flew wildly, as if an impassioned war song was resonating at this moment.
The tables have turned!
"What..." Shisui Uchiha stared blankly at Nagato. He had originally thought that the other person was exactly like him, a person who had been subdued by the cruel and bloody reality and could only accept his fate.
But now…
"Bearing the name of Akatsuki…"
Facing Shisui Uchiha, who was standing in the sky, using his Bankai while in his Perfect Susanoo, and looking down on the world like a demon-god, Nagato suddenly clapped his hands together. All the chakra and all the power in his body erupted at that moment.
"I will absolutely not lose!"
"Sage Art — Wood Release — True Thousand Hands!"
"Top Transformed Buddha!"
What a sight it was!
Before the astonished gaze of Shisui, and the stunned eyes of Mizunotsuki Yoru in the distance, the ground quaked violently.
From it rose a colossal Buddha that towered into the clouds, standing tall over the world itself.
Its thousand arms fanned out behind it in countless layers, enough to make the scalp tingle with dread at a single glance. Anything compared to it seemed utterly insignificant.
Even the Perfect Susanoo, a mountain of green crystal armor, looked like nothing more than a child's toy in its shadow.
The clouds above were torn open completely, and a blazing sun emerged. Its radiance formed a halo behind the Buddha's head, as though the deity itself had come to witness the sorrows of the Rain Country, shedding light to bless all below.
"This is really…"
Yoru clicked her tongue. Judging purely by numbers, Nagato was now infinitely close to Senju Hashirama's level—perhaps even beyond. He had never expected him to truly reach such a state.
This was surely the brightest, most powerful moment of Nagato's life—one that could even be described as burning himself out.
"What I bear upon my back… my belief and my determination!"
From atop the Thousand-Armed Buddha, Nagato looked down at Shisui, his voice booming like thunder. "They will never end—and I will never abandon them!"
"…To shoulder the dreams and hopes of one's comrades?"
Shisui gazed up at the towering Buddha, clearly shaken. To think that a heart filled with conviction and burdened with others' hopes could produce such strength…
With Sage Chakra erupting in full, the Buddha's countless arms swung down together. The endless rain of wooden fists fell like the collapse of the very heavens.
Facing such overwhelming might and the imposing aura Nagato displayed, Shisui's startled expression slowly shifted into a smile.
"Come, then."
He said nothing else. Raising his spiritual power to its peak, he chose the truest show of respect—to meet Nagato with his full strength.
The Perfect Susanoo under Bankai spread its wings and charged forward. The spiral spear in its hands erupted with the strongest force Shisui had ever unleashed.
The clash came in an instant. The foremost of the Buddha's wooden arms shattered into splinters, woodchips scattering like a storm.
But for every arm broken, ten more followed; for every ten destroyed, a hundred more descended.
Endless. Inexhaustible. Without end.
The Perfect Susanoo's attack was unparalleled, cutting through the storm like a blade through silk. Under the boost of Bankai, its power multiplied many times over.
Shisui tried to focus all that might into a single point, to pierce through and destroy the Thousand-Hands Buddha in one decisive blow.
But the arms were too many—beyond counting, beyond resistance.
After the spiral spear of the Perfect Susanoo shattered an unknown number of wooden arms, the spiritual light on its surface finally began to slowly dissipate. And the dissipation of this little bit of spiritual power light was like the beginning of a mountain range collapsing.
Yhe massive Perfect Susanoo was covered by an even more unknown number of wooden arms, and under the surging sage chakra, it was shattered with a boom.
Countless fists, like falling meteors and crashing asteroids, slammed into Shisui's body.
The entire ground trembled under the Thousand-Armed Buddha, and cracks continued to spread in all directions, as if the Buddha was enraged and wanted to remake the world!