c144: The Birth of the Wood Release: Advent of a World of Trees
"Fire Release: Storm Flame Dance!"
Obito's hands blurred through seals. A spiraling distortion of space erupted, and a torrent of searing orange flame roared outward. The blaze fused with the storm winds born from the warped vortex, spreading at blinding speed, swallowing both master and disciple in its wide arc.
But Orochimaru and Uchiha Gen, blades in hand, exchanged a single glance. In perfect unison they called forth their counter.
"Water Release: Flowing Current Palm!"
"Wind Release: Rasengan!"
From Orochimaru's left palm burst a transparent torrent of shifting water, while in Gen's hand a spinning sphere of blue chakra crackled, its surface laced with razor-sharp wind blades.
The Rasengan had once been the Fourth Hokage's personal masterpiece, but for Gen, whose chakra control was polished to perfection, shaping a Wind Release variant was no obstacle. Though not yet the devastating Rasen Shuriken, his Rasengan's cutting wind nature gave it formidable destructive power.
The two attacks were hurled skyward, colliding mid-air and merging.
"Combined Technique: Hurricane Water Vortex!"
A colossal, spiraling dragon of water and wind howled across the lake, sucking up sheets of ice and snow as it surged. Steam hissed where fire met water, and the whirlpool, though diminished, pressed relentlessly forward. Obito twisted mid-air, evading at the last moment as snow and mud exploded behind him.
Above, Zhu Rong ascended, his jaws yawning wide. A dense, dark-red fireball, the size of a washbasin and vibrating with violent heat, erupted toward Obito.
Obito raised the legendary Gunbai Uchiwa fan. Chakra flowed through it, and the incoming fireball halted, absorbed in an instant before being redirected as a blazing pillar of flame.
But Zhu Rong met the returning inferno head-on, swallowing the redirected flames whole.
In truth, Zhu Rong could only safely consume his own fire. Enemy flames carried alien chakra and resisted absorption. Directly devouring them would cause damage from clashing energies. His reserves came not from his own chakra, but from Uchiha Gen's Fire Release and the wild flames he himself had expelled.
"Zhu Rong," Gen commanded sharply, "use the true fire."
The dragon's eyes flared. He summoned not chakra-based flame but pure natural fire from within, condensing it into another dark-red sphere and hurling it toward Obito.
The Gunbai could deflect chakra-based attacks, but this was different. It could not reflect the raw concussive force of natural flame.
Obito landed on the slippery lakeside snow, his boots skidding. The impact came too swiftly he had no time for Kamui, no time for Wood Release. Forced, he braced with his fan and phased partially intangible.
Boom!
The blast detonated. Even with Kamui, the shockwave hurled him across the snow. His cloak smoldered, half his body scorched. Though Hashirama's cells knit the burns quickly, pain lingered, especially across the unmodified half of his flesh.
Already, the master and disciple pressed their advantage.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
With the Kusanagi clenched in his jaws, Orochimaru hurled a single shuriken, multiplying it with seals until the air darkened with steel rain.
Beside him, Gen raised his Kusanagi, chakra flaring.
"Wind–Flame Sword Slash!"
His strike unleashed golden-white arcs of fire-laced wind blades, a net of burning sword-energy descending alongside Orochimaru's storm.
But Obito's hands were already weaving seals.
"Wood Release: Spindle Wall!"
From the frozen ground rose thick pillars of wood, curving together into domed bulwarks. Shuriken clattered uselessly against them, though Gen's golden flames bit deep, igniting their surface. Still, the shelter held until it collapsed, and Obito's body had vanished.
"Escaped?" Orochimaru hissed.
Gen's eyes narrowed. "Not quite…"
Both turned as space twisted at their flank. From a vortex emerged Obito, Sharingan glinting, his hands weaving furiously.
"You've entertained me enough. Now taste true despair."
"Wood Release: Advent of a World of Trees!"
The snowy earth convulsed. Saplings split the frost, erupting upward into a colossal forest. Trunks thick as towers surged skyward, branches lashing from every direction front, rear, and flank entangling everything in reach.
Orochimaru's eyes widened with wonder, not fear. "Magnificent… to use Hashirama's very technique, even in this frozen land…" His voice trembled with hunger for knowledge.
Gen's tone was curt. "Admire later. Move now."
Together they darted upward, slipping through the writhing branches, bounding to the treetops. Above the canopy, Zhu Rong swooped in, wings beating gales, carrying them into the sky.
From below, Obito snarled. "Damn that beast!"
"Obito," Zetsu's voice slithered in his mind, "this is wasting time. Withdraw."
Obito clenched his teeth. "Not yet. If we retreat now, the Mokuton was for nothing."
But high above, Gen smirked. "Let's end this."
"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Man and dragon exhaled torrents of flame, Orochimaru's wind amplifying them. The inferno cascaded down like a burning storm.
The newborn forest ignited instantly. Branches crackled, leaves vaporized, and the sky blazed as if day had come. Red reflected off the frozen lake, the entire battlefield bathed in firelight.
Obito stood atop a lone maple, staring upward at the inferno consuming his Wood Release. Too high, too unreachable. His Sharingan glared, but his options dwindled.
"…It seems we must pull back," he admitted grudgingly.
"Not so fast," whispered Zetsu, emerging from the tree's bark. "I'm here now. With my aid… you can try again."
Obito's gaze sharpened. The battle was far from finished.
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