"Is this it?"
"Is this it?"
"Is this all the Wood Release, known as the greatest Kekkei Genkai in the ninja world?"
In the forest, the Third Raikage struck fiercely, smashing the trees around him to pieces.
These fragile trees posed no threat to him at all.
He couldn't imagine how such weak Wood Release techniques could have helped Senju Hashirama pacify the Land of Fire.
Could it be that the other ninja in the Land of Fire were all useless?
The Third Raikage, while undoubtedly a brute, sometimes used his head.
Thinking back to what Senju Hashirama had said to Senju Tobirama about only using thirty percent of his strength, and then looking at the shattered wood scattered around, he suddenly had a thought.
"It seems that the Reanimated version of Senju Hashirama has lost too much of his strength. These broken trees can't even slow me down."
The Third Raikage moved quickly, smashing the wood while running toward Senju Hashirama.
"First Hokage, if this is the best you can do, don't blame me for going after your brother, the Second Hokage."
Senju Hashirama, not far away, heard the Third Raikage's words and showed a helpless expression.
With only thirty percent of his strength, the Wood Release technique Deep Forest Bloom was at this level. What could he do? He was just a helpless, weakened Reanimated version.
However, just because the Deep Forest Bloom was weak didn't mean his other Wood Release techniques were.
"Wood Release: Wood Clone Technique!"
With a clap of his hands, Senju Hashirama created ten Wood Clones.
The clones immediately charged toward the Third Raikage.
Let's not forget, his Taijutsu were also very strong.
"Good, come at me!"
The Third Raikage was attacking the weak trees in the forest, preparing to use his Hell Stab to break through Hashirama's Reanimated body and chase after Senju Tobirama.
That's when he saw ten versions of Senju Hashirama, all holding kunai and charging at him.
Seeing this, he felt both excited and amused.
With his current physical strength, he didn't even need to defend against a mere kunai.
With the strongest spear in hand, he also had the strongest shield.
That shield was his body.
Zzz~
As he expected, the kunai thrown by the Wood Release clone didn't even manage to break through his defenses. It only left a few white marks on his skin.
Relying on his powerful body, the Third Raikage didn't bother defending against the ten Wood Release clones.
When one of the Wood Release clones poked him, he seized the opportunity to destroy one of them.
Seeing that this strategy wouldn't work, after losing six Wood Release clones, the remaining four clones did something different. Three of them worked together to restrain the Third Raikage, while the fourth one found the right moment to use Wood Release jutsu.
"Wood Release: Seedling Jutsu"
In an instant, sharp wooden spikes began to grow from the arms of this Wood Release clone, aiming at the Third Raikage, who had just destroyed two more clones.
Ding~
The good news: the Seedling Jutsu hit the Third Raikage.
The bad news: this Wood Release technique still couldn't break the Third Raikage's defenses.
"Such a pity. I can't fight you at your peak. At only thirty percent of your strength, I'm no longer interested."
With that, the Third Raikage swiftly destroyed the remaining two Wood Release clones, turning them into tree stumps.
Then, he extended his index and middle fingers toward the reanimated body of Senju Hashirama.
"Hell Stab: Two-Finger Nukite"
In the forest, Senju Hashirama's sensory abilities were greatly enhanced.
When he saw the Third Raikage using the Hell Stab again, he clapped his hands together.
"Summoning: Quintuple Rashōmon"
Immediately, two large wooden shields with sharp, fang-like faces appeared on either side of Senju Hashirama.
Before the Third Raikage could arrive, they enveloped him.
This move is the absolute defense of Senju Hashirama.
It was this technique that he used in the past to block Uchiha Madara's Susanoo attack, and the surface of his shield remained completely undamaged.
Now, facing the Third Raikage's Two-Finger Nukite, there was no surprise as it was also blocked.
However, since Senju Hashirama is only using 30% of his strength, while he successfully blocked the attack, the shield's surface also developed numerous cracks.
If the Third Raikage were to strike again, he could easily break the shield.
And that's exactly what he did. After a powerful punch, the shield was shattered, revealing the Reanimation body of Senju Hashirama inside.
Bang~
The lightning chakra exploded, and Senju Hashirama's Reanimation body was shattered once again.
"Only 30% of your strength in Wood Release can block my Two-Finger Nukite?"
The Third Raikage stood in front of the recovering Senju Hashirama, frowning as he looked at his right hand.
Clearly, he was not very satisfied with his performance.
Two-Finger Nukite is the strongest attack after One-Finger Nukite.
An attack of this strength couldn't even break the Quintuple Rashomon shield.
And this was with Senju Hashirama using only 30% of his strength in Wood Release.
He couldn't imagine how powerful Hashirama's full strength would be.
Could his One-Finger Nukite break the Quintuple Rashōmon at full strength?
The Third Raikage thought it seemed a bit difficult.
"What are you thinking about?"
As Senju Hashirama recovered, he noticed the Third Raikage deep in thought and not attacking. Instead, he walked up to the Third Raikage and looked at his right hand.
The Third Raikage glanced at the serious and focused Senju Hashirama, sighed, and said, "If you were at your peak, I'm afraid I wouldn't be your match."
"Hahaha, so that's what you're thinking about."
Senju Hashirama casually patted the Third Raikage's shoulder a few times and said nonchalantly, "You're overthinking it. Even if I was stronger when I was alive, I'm still dead now."
"You're really open-minded about it."
"What does it matter if I'm not? I'm already a dead man."
Casually stepping away a few paces to avoid the lecherous hand of Senju Hashirama, the Third Raikage said with a bored expression, "Forget it, I'm going back to the village."
"Huh?"
Seeing the sudden loss of interest from the Third Raikage, Senju Hashirama tilted his head and asked, "Aren't we fighting anymore?"
"What's the point of fighting?" The Third Raikage became agitated. "I can't break your Reanimated immortal body, so I can't kill you, damn it."
He stomped his foot in frustration, then added, "With the speed of your brother, he's probably already at the border by now. The ninjas I sent to chase him haven't come back, and I doubt they ever will. Continuing to fight now is just wasting time, isn't it?"
"Haha, I think you're right."
Senju Hashirama laughed heartily and continued, "Since we're not fighting anymore, I'll head back to the Pure Land. See you!"
"God damn, no more goodbyes. I don't ever want to see you again."
"Haha, as long as you're happy."
Senju Hashirama quickly made the hand signs to reverse the Reanimated technique, and soon his soul began to detach from his body and ascend.
As his soul left, the Reanimated body gradually turned into a pile of paper-like debris.
Watching in the direction where Senju Tobirama had fled, the Third Raikage gritted his teeth and said angrily, "Despicable, shameless bastard. We'll see about this."
Third Raikage: Hmph, having your older brother do your dirty work for you, what kind of skill is that?
Senju Tobirama: You could do it too. Oh wait, I forgot, you don't have an older brother. Hahaha.
Third Raikage: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
*********
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