As Second Tsuchikage 33

Chapter 33: The Successors of the Kage (Part 4)

“Well done, Gengetsu Hozuki!!” the Second Raikage shouted, his voice brimming with excitement.

“It’s over! We won!” Sāmon’s expression reflected the same joy, his face bright with relief. But while the others cheered, Mū hovered above the battlefield, expression tightening. He didn’t speak, but alarm spread across his features.

No... something’s off. This chakra... it’s Sage chakra!

Mū had once trained with natural energy himself, and that experience made him especially sensitive to this kind of chakra. He knew its distinct presence well, and it was now spreading across the battlefield.

Boom!!

A deafening explosion erupted, and the force of the blast swept outward like a monstrous hurricane. The shockwave roared through the field, throwing up massive clouds of dust and debris. The sky above turned gray, sunlight choked out by a wall of smoke and rubble.

As the tremors faded and the smoke began to disperse, silence fell over the field. Every shinobi froze, eyes locked on the fading cloud, holding their breath as they waited for the truth to reveal itself. When the haze finally cleared, the full scene came into view, and every face fell.

Hashirama Senju was still standing. Upright. Steady. Unshaken. At his feet lay only the ruined, scattered remains of Gengetsu Hozuki’s steam clone.

His clothes were shredded, and his armor was shattered. A hole gaped in his abdomen, wide and grotesque, blood gushing from the wound and soaking the dirt below in a brutal splash of red. And yet, what stunned them more than the sight of the injury was what came after. The gaping crater in his gut was healing fast. Flesh and tissue knit back together with terrifying speed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!!!!” The Second Raikage’s face twisted in rage and disbelief. “Is this guy even human!?”

He clenched his fists, struggling to accept what he was seeing. He had seen Hashirama practically torn in half. There was no mistaking that damage. How was he still alive?

There had to be some hidden trick behind it. No one could survive something like that without cheating death.

“What the hell!!” Gengetsu stood frozen, his lips trembling.

His thoughts raced. That attack, he had given it everything. All his energy, all his precision, all his timing. It had landed, clean and devastating. That kind of injury should have ended the fight. But here Hashirama stood, wounds sealing like nothing had ever happened.

Was this a joke? Was reality itself bending around this man?

At this point, if someone claimed Hashirama had hacked the system and activated invincibility, Gengetsu might actually believe it. It was absurd. Why even bother blocking when you could just stand there and absorb everything?

“Damn it... and he still isn’t dead!” Sāmon’s voice trembled with frustration, his face pale with dread. What kind of nightmare were they in? How could anyone fight a monster like this?

Hashirama, seriously... when you pulled that move, were you smiling on the inside?

Up above, Mū gritted his teeth. Even from this distance, he was shaken. “Looks like I’ll have to use my Dust Release...” he muttered. Among the Second-generation Kage, only he had a technique that might end this.

Dust Release doesn’t wound. It erases. It reduces everything to atoms. If there was one thing that could kill Hashirama before his regeneration kicked in, it was that. And Mū knew it. During the fight, he had noticed something subtle but undeniable.

While Hashirama appeared to be engaged with all four of them, Mū could feel that Hashirama’s real focus had been on him the entire time. Every glance, every dodge, every step betrayed it. He was fighting all of them, but he was guarding against only one opponent.

To the others, Hashirama seemed to be fighting evenly. But Mū saw through it. The man’s true caution, his wariness, was directed at Mū alone.

“It’s just... Sage Mode is a serious problem...” Mū muttered, eyes fixed on the battlefield below.

Cough, cough...

In only a few moments, Hashirama’s body had returned to its original condition. The terrible wound was gone, and his breathing had steadied.

“I can’t keep this up... that guy is seriously dangerous...” Hashirama muttered, eyes still locked onto the sky above.

Though Hashirama had been fighting the other three Kage just moments ago, the truth was that none of their attacks had posed a genuine threat. They were powerful, yes, but not deadly.

The only true danger to his life was still looming ahead. It had always been one person, Mū, concealed in the shadows.

Hashirama wasn’t concerned about the fierce, straight-charging types like Gengetsu Hozuki, Sāmon, or the Second Raikage. The ones that unsettled him most were the kind that slithered through darkness, striking from places unseen. And Mū was the very definition of that kind of hidden predator.

If Mū managed to land even one hit, the best-case scenario would be a crippling injury. The worst? Total erasure.

That Dust Release, just brushing against it could damage him. A direct hit would mean death, instant and absolute. That was the exact reason why Hashirama had never summoned the Wood Golem until now.

It wasn’t fear or hesitation, it was strategy. The Wood Golem was a massive target. Against Mū’s Dust Release, it would become nothing more than a gigantic bullseye waiting to be vaporized.

Worse, summoning it consumed an enormous amount of chakra. And when facing someone as nimble and elusive as Mū, it would only drag him down, make his movements sluggish, and give the enemy all the freedom to strike at his weak spots.

Sure, the Wood Golem had proven invaluable in his battles with Madara’s Susanoo. But look at who stood before him now. Each one of these Kage specialized in high-mobility, evasive combat. None of them would hold still and trade blows.

If he summoned the Golem here, it would become a liability. It wouldn’t protect him, it would become a distraction, a perfect target, an excuse for them to converge. Fighting alone was far safer.

“I can’t let them divide my attention across all fronts…” Hashirama muttered as he moved his hands through a rapid series of seals. In the blink of an eye, sixteen wood clones sprang into existence around him, each radiating chakra and resolve.

Up in the air, Mū felt his body tense. A chill ran through him. He understood immediately what Hashirama was planning. The plan was too clean, too coordinated; it had to be aimed at them all individually.

Right after forming the clones, Hashirama designated four to each enemy. Four clones against one opponent. That was the setup. If they had loved teaming up on him before, enjoying the thrill of ganging up four against one, then this was poetic payback.

Now each of them would have their own team of Hashirama clones to face. One man multiplied into an army, four-on-one all over again, just with the sides flipped.

Four of those clones were already gazing upward, their eyes trained on the sky. Their focus was obvious: Mū.

“His sensory ability really did sharpen after entering Sage Mode…” Mū thought, a flicker of unease in his mind. Even though he was suppressing his presence, Hashirama could now roughly detect his location.

It wasn’t exact, more like an approximate read, but that was more than enough. To stay undetected now, Mū would have to remain completely motionless. That was the only method left to avoid being sensed by this enhanced version of Hashirama. But if he went completely still, wasn’t that the same as taking himself out of the fight?

Meanwhile, on the ground, the expressions of Gengetsu Hozuki, Sāmon, and the Second Raikage all darkened. One Hashirama had already been overwhelming. Now there were four? The odds were turning grim. They stared at the incoming clones with a growing sense of dread, their chances of victory shrinking with each step the copies took.

“The hell…?! How the hell are we supposed to deal with this?” Gengetsu muttered bitterly, his voice filled with frustration. His jutsu were most effective when executed in tandem with others. After using Steam Danger Tyranny, he’d enter a temporary weakened state.

Right now, that weakness had already set in, and they wanted him to handle four Hashiramas alone?

It was hopeless. He wasn’t sure what he was expected to fight with, his fists? His sharp tongue? His skull?

Mū’s situation wasn’t exactly good either. But then again, wasn’t there a saying about fate never sealing off every path?

Just then, a sudden thought crossed his mind. He remembered the story from the original timeline. Back then, the Five Kage had gone head-to-head with twenty-five Susanoo. What he was facing now wasn’t even close to that scale.

If Ōnoki could pull it off back then, so could he. That old fool had managed to obliterate fifteen Susanoo in one go. And Mū, who was not only his master but also a user of Sage Techniques, should be able to wipe out sixteen wood clones without hesitation.