enjoyebooks Chapter 629 The Shadow of the God of Ninjas
Chapter 629 The Shadow of the God of Ninjas
"Wow, there's quite a commotion over there with Madara..."
Hashirama Senju, shading his eyes with his hand, gazed at the blue, fully-formed Susanoo soaring into the sky in the distance, his tone as if watching a fireworks display that had little to do with him, "It seems that Konoha in this world will probably have to be completely rebuilt. Fortunately, Tsuna has already arranged for the villagers to take refuge, otherwise, we really wouldn't be able to handle this."
"Brother, don't be careless."
Tobirama Senju stood beside Hashirama, arms crossed, his cold gaze sweeping over the three figures in black robes with red cloud patterns. His tone lacked Hashirama's casualness, displaying only his usual calm and heightened vigilance. "These guys' chakra is very strange. The quality and quantity of chakra in each of them are abnormal. Even in the Warring States period, they wouldn't be unknown figures. This is not the same as warming up with those trash in the Pure Land."
"Okay, I understand."
Hashirama nodded, his cheerful expression slightly lessening, but not disappearing.
His gaze swept over the three people opposite him in turn: the white-haired boy carrying a three-bladed scythe, the blond boy riding on a clay giant bird and excitedly rubbing his hands together, and the big green-eyed guy with his face covered who had been staring at him silently since earlier.
He carefully observed the coordination and cooperation between the three individuals, then glanced at the area of destruction behind them, deliberately contained within the core of the battlefield. He thoughtfully stroked his chin. "But Tobirama, did you notice? Although the area of destruction is indeed vast, the enemy seems to be intentionally avoiding further casualties. During their attacks, they kept the battlefield converging towards the center of the village, not spreading outwards, and they didn't pursue the evacuating villagers. And let's not forget about their leader's identity."
"What do you want to say?" Tobirama turned his head, his eyelids already twitching.
"Let's try communicating with them first!"
Completely ignoring Tobirama's annoyance, Hashirama Senju shouted at the three opposite him, "Gentlemen over there! I am the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju! We have no grudge against each other, so how about we call it quits? Give me some face, and if you're willing to help rebuild Konoha, I'll have Tsunade propose that Konoha and your organization formally form an alliance! What do you say, consider it?"
The battlefield fell silent for a full beat. Tobirama Senju raised his hand and covered his face.
"Huh? Kakuzu, did you hear that?!" Hidan broke the silence first, pointing in Hashirama's direction and laughing so hard he almost fell over. "What did this idiot say? Give up? Rebuild Konoha? Allies? Hahaha—what a joke! The First Hokage was a complete moron! But at least he was a person with a name, so offering someone like that to Lord Jashin is perfect! I can't wait, I can't wait to feel the thrill of this excruciating pain!"
He licked his lips as he laughed, his fingers gripping the scythe tightening and loosening repeatedly with excitement.
"The First Hokage, huh?" Deidara, riding a giant clay bird, clutched a lump of exploding clay in each hand, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "The man who created the concept of a ninja village, the legendary God of Shinobi, certainly deserves to be blown up! Hmm!"
"This is so exciting! Turning something like this into art material would definitely be one of my proudest works! Hmm! Just thinking about it gets my blood pumping!"
As Hashirama listened to their mockery, the expectant expression on his face slowly faded, and his shoulders slumped slightly. It wasn't that he felt wronged by the insults, but rather that he genuinely felt it was a pity. Couldn't they have talked things out? Why did they have to fight?
But his momentarily dejected expression rekindled with anticipation upon seeing the third figure. Because the guy named Kakuzu didn't utter a word of mockery.
Hashirama wondered if the masked man was reasonable, but then his gaze fell on Kakuzu. After seeing the man's current state, he was completely confused.
Kakuzu was staring intently at him. His pupils were wider than ever before, peeking through the gaps in his mask, and his shoulders were trembling. His fingers were trembling. He was trembling all over.
That wasn't the tremor of pre-war adrenaline surge; that was fear.
Kakuzu looked at Hashirama Senju, and what he saw was not the glorious image of the legendary God of Shinobi, but the most terrifying, invincible, and utterly unfit thing in the world that should never appear before him again.
Hashirama Senju stared at Kakuzu's eyes, which seemed to look like they'd seen a ghost, scratched the back of his head in confusion, and looked down at himself. His Sengoku-era armor, his Konoha headband—nothing had changed.
He even went so far as to flash what he thought was a very friendly smile, unaware that this smile was more terrifying than a demon in Kakuzu's eyes. "Am I really that scary?" Hashirama wondered to himself.
The deepest nightmares in a person's heart do not fade or disappear with the passage of time. On the contrary, it is precisely because time goes by day by day that the nightmare grows larger and more invincible with repeated chewing of memories.
Just like some people need a lifetime to heal from their childhood trauma. That was Kakuzu's first and only battle like that.
This was also the only time in Kakuzu's life that he felt his life was not entirely his own. Like a flying insect whose wings were casually pinched in a downpour, the other person even had to carefully control their strength to avoid accidentally crushing him to death.
That insurmountable, crushing feeling, where one couldn't even look up to see the opponent's feet, never appeared again in Kakuzu's long, immortal life.
But he never forgot. Kakuzu, who had assassinated the First Hokage, understood the true strength of the seemingly harmless, long-haired man with a gentle smile.
"What's wrong, Kakuzu? Say something!"
Deidara's voice came down from the sky, interrupting Kakuzu's thoughts.
"That's the First Hokage! Hashirama Senju! Sell his cells on the black market—no, you don't even need to sell them. Just putting his name on a bounty list would be enough to make the Five Great Nations fight tooth and nail! This is a huge opportunity to make a fortune! What's wrong with you? Standing there like a block of wood, are you scared?"
Based on Deidara's understanding of Kakuzu, Kakuzu should have said, "The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. On the black market's bounty list, his head is priceless, and I'm determined to have his heart."
Instead of standing there like a wooden stake, his shoulders trembling slightly.
Tobirama Senju snorted coldly. Although Hashirama Senju himself didn't care at all about the humiliation his elder brother had suffered at the hands of these two juniors, a slight look of anger had already appeared on Tobirama's face.
"They really are a bunch of incomprehensible lunatics. Boss, negotiations have failed; let's finish this quickly."
"Never mind! I'm going first!"
Deidara couldn't contain himself any longer and swung his hands downwards. Standing on the back of the clay giant bird, he grabbed two large handfuls of explosive clay from the clay bag at his waist. With a few quick flicks of his fingers, he had already molded dozens of palm-sized explosive spiders, scattering a dense cloud of white dots towards Hashirama and Tobirama.
Countless small, explosive spiders descended from the sky like a tide, locking onto their targets and then accelerating their dive, densely covering the entire area where the two stood.
Hashirama clasped his hands together, "Wood Release: Wood Wall!"
A row of arched wooden shields burst forth from the ground in an instant, forming a thick, arc-shaped barrier before the exploding spiders even landed, completely protecting Hashirama and Tobirama beneath them.
"Boom! Boom! Boom—!"
The detonating spiders all exploded the moment they hit the wooden shield, creating a dense, continuous roar. A large fan-shaped crater was blasted into the ruins surrounding the wooden shield. But after the smoke cleared, the arched wooden shields only had a few shallow scorch marks on their surface; the wood grain remained clear and intact, and not a single piece of wood was blown away.
"Completely unscathed?" Deidara's eyes widened, he was stunned for a moment, then a more excited smile spread across his face. "This defense! Now that's enough to make me unleash true artistry!"
Just as Deidara was excitedly rubbing his hands together, preparing to pull out the next lump of explosive clay, no one on the battlefield noticed that Tobirama Senju, who was next to Hashirama Senju, was no longer in the same spot.
"Where are you looking?"
Tobirama Senju's voice appeared out of nowhere beside Hidan, causing Hidan's pupils to contract sharply. "So fast!"
He swept his three-bladed scythe horizontally toward the source of the sound with a whooshing sound, but Tobirama Senju simply raised his left hand, and the ordinary kunai in his hand steadily blocked the blade of the scythe.
Then, Tobirama's right hand moved even faster as he pulled a string of explosive tags from his ninja tool pouch. With a flick of his wrist, the entire string of explosive tags wrapped around Hidan's chest and shoulders like a white chain.
When Hidan looked down and saw the string of explosive tags on his chest, Tobirama had already withdrawn his hand. Then, he raised his foot and cleanly kicked Hidan in the stomach, sending Hidan and his scythe flying into the air.
Seeing this, Kakuzu, his fists coated with the hardened black rock layer created by Earth Release, lunged towards Tobirama!
But Tobirama didn't even glance at him.
"Whoosh!"
"Disappeared?"
Tobirama Senju's figure vanished into thin air before Kakuzu's fist could strike, leaving not even a trace.
Tobirama had returned to Hashirama Senju's side, holding a completed hand seal in his hand.
"boom!!!"
Hidan, who was kicked into the air, had all the explosive tags on his body detonate at the same moment. The explosion burst into an orange-red firework in the sky, and smoke and pieces of cloth tumbled and scattered in the shockwave.