Chapter 172: The Power of the Sannin

Hashirama’s face twisted with anger as he spat out a low curse.

“Madara, you bastard—are you seriously trying to wipe Konoha off the map completely?!”

The reason Hashirama immediately pinned the jutsu in the sky on Madara was simple.

Yuto’s methods were too straightforward—almost pure in how single-minded they were.

…Had Madara gotten even stronger?

In the blink of an eye, the meteor plummeting from the heavens had already reached directly above Hashirama’s head.

Hashirama narrowed his eyes slightly. Both hands pressed down atop the giant’s head, and a thought flashed through his mind.

Boom! Boom!

The colossal wooden giant suddenly raised its thick arms, thrusting them upward.

And at the same moment, the meteor slammed down, colliding with the giant’s arms.

A muffled blast like a thunderclap detonated across the sky above Konoha.

At the instant of impact, a violent shockwave exploded outward, sweeping through the entire village.

Crack! Crack!

The moment they made contact, half of the wooden giant’s head was blown apart. Its entire body trembled, then dropped to one knee.

The thick arms bracing the meteor instantly filled with countless fractures.

Wood chips flew everywhere!

“Hold it up!”

Hashirama’s eyes widened as he entered Sennin Mōdo (Sage Mode). A vast torrent of chakra surged from his body, continuously reinforcing the wooden giant.

A grim look surfaced on his face—he had to pull the battlefield away from Konoha.

Otherwise, he couldn’t fight without restraint.

As senjutsu chakra poured in, the wooden giant’s cracked body began repairing itself at a visible speed.

In the next moment—under the stunned gaze of everyone in Konoha—the wooden giant actually lifted the meteor, which was even larger than its own body, and raised it above its head.

“So this is… the power the ‘Three Legends’ had back then…?”

Tsunade swallowed hard, her eyes unfocused as she stared toward the scene outside Konoha, her voice rough.

Jiraiya, Danzo, and the others beside her could only watch in numb silence.

For a brief moment, all of Konoha went eerily quiet. Everyone stood slack-jawed, staring at a sight that felt like it belonged in a myth.

This level of power had long since gone beyond anything they could comprehend—these people weren’t even fighting on the same plane of existence.

“Oh? He caught it. As expected of Hashirama.”

Madara spoke calmly, arms folded across his chest.

“In that case… let’s begin.”

Yuto lifted a finger and tapped the Sanbi—Isobu—resting on his shoulder.

Isobu immediately stretched its head out from its shell, flicked its tail slightly, and then an enormous mass of chakra rapidly gathered into Yuto’s body.

Yuto extended his other palm, aiming it toward Hashirama.

He spoke softly. “Bijūdama (Tailed Beast Bomb).”

Under Yuto’s control, Isobu’s chakra condensed rapidly in his palm, forming a massive Bijūdama (Tailed Beast Bomb).

Yuto flicked his finger.

The Bijūdama became a streak of red light, blasting straight toward Hashirama.

Hashirama—still controlling the wooden giant while holding the meteor overhead—saw the red streak suddenly roaring toward him, and his expression shifted.

“Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Gojū Rashōmon (Summoning Technique: Five Rashomon Gates)!”

His hands blurred through seals as he barked the technique.

Poof! Poof…!

Five gigantic iron gates with demon faces surged up from the ground, forming a wall in front of the wooden giant.

Under Hashirama’s deliberate control, the gates rising from the earth didn’t damage a single building in Konoha.

The Bijūdama easily punched through the first two gates. By the third, its power had begun to fade. By the time it reached the fifth, the Bijūdama’s force was completely spent.

“We can’t let those two attack however they want.”

Hashirama’s face hardened with solemn resolve as even more senjutsu chakra poured into the wooden giant.

The wooden giant moved.

It crouched slightly—then, like a spring, it leaned back and hurled the massive meteor in its hands straight toward where Yuto and Madara stood.

Hashirama jumped, launching himself off the wooden giant and landing on the meteor as it flew through the air.

Then he slammed both hands onto the meteor, veins bulging as he explosively shoved forward.

The meteor—already thrown—shot even faster with Hashirama’s sudden burst of strength.

Wherever it passed, the air screamed with a long, wailing roar.

Meanwhile, the colossal wooden giant left behind began shrinking and fading at a visible speed.

Clearly, Hashirama didn’t want to move it and cause more destruction inside Konoha.

With that massive body, the moment it started walking, countless buildings would be reduced to rubble just from collateral damage.

On the cliff, Yuto and Madara watched the gigantic meteor crashing toward them.

Both wore the same cold sneer.

Just as they were about to move—

The entire mountain suddenly thundered with a booming crack.

“Mokuton: Hotei no Jutsu (Wood Release: Hotei Technique)!”

Countless gigantic wooden hands erupted from the ground, instantly pinning Yuto and Madara beneath them.

More wooden hands piled on top one after another, stacking down with crushing weight.

Hashirama had clearly used this technique to bind their movements.

Rumble!!

Driven by Hashirama’s force, the meteor roared downward, smashing toward Yuto and Madara who were pinned beneath the wooden hands.

“Kanzentai Susanoo (Perfect Susanoo)!”
“Kongō Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains) — Kyōjin-ka (Giant Form)!”

Crack! Crack!

A rapid series of sounds like shattering glass rang out.

Two enormous figures blew apart several of the massive wooden hands pressing them down, bursting free in an instant.

Mokuton: Hotei no Jutsu (Wood Release: Hotei Technique) was shattered immediately.

Madara controlled the Kanzentai Susanoo (Perfect Susanoo), while Yuto controlled the giant-form Kongō Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains).

At the same time, both of them raised their fists and slammed forward, punching hard into the meteor crashing down at them.

In that instant, Hashirama’s hands—still pushing—suddenly released. His body curled slightly, then both feet kicked off the meteor with explosive force.

With that kick, the meteor’s speed surged again—

And Hashirama used the rebound to rocket backward, rapidly retreating.

Rumble! Rumble!

All three forces collided at once, and a heavy, suffocating boom shook the world around them.

The impact was so violent that even the mountain beneath Yuto and Madara began to crumble and collapse.

And the meteor—no longer reinforced by any additional power—was smashed apart under their combined strike, exploding into countless chunks of stone that sprayed in every direction.

Hashirama landed lightly on the ground and exhaled, easing his breath.

Good thing they were already outside Konoha’s range.

Otherwise, just the fragments from the meteor shattering and scattering would’ve been enough to cause catastrophic damage to the village.

“So they really did team up…”

Hashirama stared at the two towering figures across from him, his face filled with grim seriousness.