"Mm."
Looking at the swirling green ocean below, Naruto nodded in affirmation, "As practice has proven, the First Hokage's Wood Style is indeed powerful enough!"
This battle was not just Orochimaru's testing ground, but also his—Naruto's—evaluation ground.
He was evaluating the strength of the resurrected First and Second Hokages.
The results of the test: quite satisfactory.
He had already seen the effects of Fire, Water, and Lightning Release.
Ice Release was very effective. As for the other elemental releases, there was no need for further testing; Naruto had a good idea of their capabilities.
The Edo Tensei First Hokage was still strong enough to dominate many of the ninja world's powerhouses.
The Second Hokage, though a "lightweight," was also powerful enough to be considered a Kage-level shinobi.
The money was well spent!
Two Kage-level sacrifices? A massive profit, no loss!
While these two were ostensibly Orochimaru's cards, by extension, they were also his—Naruto's—cards!
That old hag Orochimaru still owed him 40 million in high-interest loans!
These two "henchmen" would serve as an advance on the interest.
Any potential "mischief" in the future could be carried out under her name!
Once the newspapers got hold of it, it would be undeniably the old hag's doing!
"Alright! The quality inspection report is a pass!"
Naruto extended his right palm, and a faint, ethereal flame burned in the depths of his blue pupils, "Warm-up's over... time for the main course!"
He hung in the air, his palm facing upward.
"Black Hole · Rasenshuriken!"
A walnut-sized, pitch-black orb of light quietly appeared!
Light seemed to be devoured by its surface, leaving only a few wisps of errant pale chakra threads, silently swirling like a dying star's halo.
This miniature black sphere was simple and unadorned, far less flashy than other techniques.
However—
The moment it appeared, even from several kilometers away, the hearts of all the perceptive shinobi were pierced as if by an invisible javelin!
The primal, overwhelming fear of death screamed wildly within them!
"Kakashi!!"
Might Guy's roar even held a slight tremor!
His muscle memory warned him faster than his mind could process!
Kakashi instinctively tightened his grip on a kunai, thinking about Naruto's plight. But the moment he saw the tri-pronged kunai, he instantly made a decision.
"Retreat!! Everyone! Retreat to the absolute limit!" For the first time, his voice shattered its usual lazy tone!
"Get out of here!!!"
In an instant, countless shinobi were shouting.
Hundreds of Leaf shinobi abandoned all tactical formations, relying purely on their survival instincts to flee desperately in the opposite direction!
At this moment, they only wished their parents had given them two extra legs.
At the center of the battle...
"Big Brother!"
The fully restored Tobirama instantly appeared next to Hashirama!
Facing such a situation, it was the first time in his life that his tactical mind had no optimal solution.
They didn't need to speak; their horrified gazes were like sharp thorns, piercing the sky!
Hashirama's usually confident brows were now tightly furrowed, and his eyes, reflected with that small black sphere, felt a premonition of annihilation that made even his Edo Tensei body tremble!
"We can't escape, Tobirama!"
Tobirama's crimson snake eyes contracted violently, his mind racing. The only conclusion: the range of this technique was immense, and they had nowhere to hide!
However, this was a good thing.
His gaze was locked on Naruto in the sky:
In his sensory network, the pitch-black sphere, condensed to a form that defied all common sense, was like the eye of an unending abyss, devouring all light and heat. Just the overflowing chaotic chakra was as prickly as needles.
As for the sphere itself, looking at it for even a second too long felt like it would explode!
Inside his consciousness, alarms blared frantically.
This kid... even at only twelve or thirteen, if he had been in the Warring States period, he would have been a War God on par with his Big Brother!
At the same time, the black spot silently began to fall. Its descent suddenly accelerated!
Until—it merged with the scorched earth without a sound.
BOOM—
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a gentle hum of space being annihilated.
The next moment!
A point of devouring azure deathlight erupted from the impact site.
In a flash, it expanded into a domain of silence that consumed everything!
The azure light membrane expanded rapidly. In its wake, matter was completely broken down into a torrent of particles!
The domain of death greedily "wiped" everything clean, ultimately turning it into absolute nothingness!
Finally, a ten-kilometer-diameter vacuum of polished glass replaced the entire Forest of Death.
It was not an explosion, but a much purer, systematic erasure!
Naruto looked down at his "creation" from the sky, a slight smile on his lips, "Field test... the results are up to par!"
The power of this technique was hundreds of times greater than a Tailed Beast Ball!
The quality and density of the condensed chakra were at his current peak.
With his current chakra, he could only use this level of Black Hole · Rasengan 200 times, which was enough to destroy the Leaf Village 200 times over.
This was thanks to his masterful chakra control, which consumed less than a tenth of the chakra a normal user would!
"Warm-up's over..."
His blue eyes swept over the Edo Tensei remains that were beginning to reform below, "Time for the main course to be served!"
"Big Brother!"
Just as Tobirama finished repairing, a sharp, air-shredding wheel of light cut into his chest like a ghost!
BOOM!
He was blasted back into his component parts before he could even summon his ninja sword.
And then he began playing dead again.
"This kid!"
Inside the Edo Tensei dust, Tobirama, with only his head remaining, was inwardly stunned. Am I really that fragile? I couldn't even withstand a single blow?
But the good thing was, when he was "playing dead," that kid wouldn't attack him.
What shocked the "playing dead" Tobirama even more was this:
In the moments he was forced to "stand by," the kid's attacks were a torrential downpour!
He used the five basic elemental releases of Wind, Fire, Earth, Water, and Lightning, plus the deceptive Ice Release—all six systems were complete!
Every time he was "forced to repair," he witnessed dozens of completely different techniques.
Wind blades as sharp as razors, fire seas that scorched the sky, earth and stone that churned the earth, water dragons that devoured souls, all mixed with sudden freezes from an icy hell.
The variety was complex, the attributes were pure, and the power was ferocious, yet none of them were a repeat! None were mediocre!
In just four rounds of "standby," he had witnessed hundreds of different variations of ninjutsu!
"This kid is like a master of a hundred schools... How absurd! And how terrifying!"
Being blasted into "repair mode" again, Tobirama's heart was a tsunami of emotions!
He looked up at the sky—
The golden-haired boy looked relaxed, his breathing long and steady, as if the baptism of hundreds of high-explosive ninjutsu moments ago was nothing more than a flick of the wrist.
His chakra reserves were an endless sea of stars, cycling without end!
As an enemy, a profound sense of despair he had never felt before tightened its grip on his Edo Tensei soul core. Even his cold, hardened heart, tempered by war, felt a chill.
But then, a thought—this little monster, after all, carries the Uzumaki bloodline of the Leaf!
This sea of chakra, enough to subvert all common sense in the ninja world, strangely ignited a long-sealed, frenzied joy within him!
That mouth, which had been tightly pursed for a hundred years, actually lifted into a rare, slight smile!
This kid... is quite something!
Buzz—
A tens-of-meters-long lightning sword flashed, slicing a wooden dragon that had borrowed momentum to fly into the sky in half!
Hashirama's eyes narrowed, "Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
The moment his hands came together, countless gigantic, towering trees that had already reached a hundred meters, as if injected with a mad hormone, broke through their limits once more! Their main trunks split, and their leaves grew frantically!
In an instant, they shot up into the sky, becoming colossal, several-hundred-meter-tall trees that blotted out the sun!
The forest became a giant, conscious devouring net. Countless gigantic trees grew and climbed again, constantly closing in on that white speck in the air from below.
The golden-haired figure was a mere speck of dust before this towering wooden rage!
The countless colossal vines, twisting and strangling, were now within arm's reach!
In the next second, they were about to completely shred him and the space around him!
But.
Swoosh—
A columnar white space, instantly cast, once again enveloped the Forest of Death, covering the entire green sea of death.
Naruto's eyes turned cold, and he extended his right hand downward.
"Dust Release: Annihilation!"
Buzz—
A pure white cube of light, condensed to the extreme, instantly shot up from the void!
It precisely enveloped the entire rampaging sea of Wood Release, covering the entire Forest of Death!
Its boundary... was the absolute line between life and death!
The next second,
A blinding, stark white swallowed everything!
Within the domain of light,
Whether it was the towering trees, the gnarled vines, or the scattered dust...
All were completely and utterly... formatted and zeroed by that annihilating white!
Not a single trace was left!
It was as if it had "never existed in the world" at all!
As the white light dissipated, only a desolate, atomic-level vacuum remained!
I wanted to end it with a two-in-one chapter, but I don't have enough time to finish writing it. I'll stop here for now.
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