Chapter 205: Battle of the Titans
"Roooaaar—!"
Deidara looked half-insane. At the same time, so too did the Eight-Tails—but in a completely different way.
Deidara’s frenzy was excitement. The Eight-Tails’ was fear.
“Wood Release? It’s actually Wood Release?!”
“Don’t worry—it’s fine, y’know!”
Killer B could feel the Eight-Tails’ fear and quickly spoke words of reassurance.
“I’ll fight with you—don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry? You really don’t understand how terrifying Wood Release is!”
The Eight-Tails was not like Killer B. He had truly suffered under Wood Release before. Seeing the endless spread of trees now, even he was panicking.
“Who the hell is this kid? Why does he give me such an overwhelming sense of dread? What exactly is going on with him?”
The Eight-Tails couldn’t figure it out. This feeling was even stronger than what he had once felt before Senju Hashirama himself!
Most of all, this boy’s Wood Release carried with it an inexplicable fear that reached into his very soul—as if he might be swallowed whole at any moment.
“B, use a Tailed Beast Bomb! This guy is way too dangerous!”
“No way. If I use a Tailed Beast Bomb here, the fallout would be catastrophic!”
At the beast’s cry, Killer B immediately shook his head. He didn’t even dare to imagine how many would die if such an attack went off here.
“Are you two finished talking?”
Right then, Kitagawa Gen’s voice suddenly rang out.
He stood on a thick branch rising up beneath him, smiling as he looked straight at the massive Eight-Tails.
“Since you’re done chatting, I guess it’s my turn. Though, apologies—my Wood Release isn’t exactly refined.”
Raising one hand upright, chakra surged wildly from within him.
“But I can still make use of it, at least a little.”
Under the torrent of chakra, the trees beneath his feet began to writhe and entwine, weaving into one another as they expanded in a frenzy.
In moments, a colossal wooden giant rose from the earth, its towering body and overwhelming chakra aura enough to chill the Eight-Tails to the bone.
“Wh–what is that?!”
It wasn’t only him. The other Kumogakure shinobi stared wide-eyed at the massive figure that had appeared, a being no less imposing than the Eight-Tails itself.
From afar, both the ferocious Eight-Tails and the towering wooden giant loomed like mountains against the horizon.
Yet it was the wooden giant’s appearance that froze their hearts. For all at once, they couldn’t help but recall a legend.
“They say the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, brought peace to the Sengoku era through his Wood Release.”
“Could it… could it be true?”
Their reactions were only natural. After all, history was always romanticized, the past greater than the present.
None of them had lived through that age. To them, those tales of Konoha were no more than myths.
But now—
[Boom—]
There was no time left to ponder. The wooden giant had already moved!
With a thunderous crash, it hurled a fist straight at the Eight-Tails, unleashing a shockwave of colliding chakra.
The ground shook violently. Under the might of both titans, great cracks tore through the earth, racing outward in every direction.
The Eight-Tails, caught off guard, took the first strike head-on—but his counterattack came swiftly.
One massive tail swept across the battlefield, instantly reducing countless houses to rubble.
But in the very next moment, his assault was snared by the grip of Wood Release.
The Eight-Tails was no fool, however—his other tails lashed out ferociously at Kitagawa Gen’s position.
“Tch.”
Seeing this, Kitagawa Gen could only shake his head. The difference between the Wooden Giant and Susanoo lay in one simple fact—protection.
Unlike Susanoo, which at least had a crystalline core, the Wooden Human had no such defense at all.
Fortunately, Gen didn’t mind. Raising one hand again, chakra surged violently within him.
As the chakra roared forth, countless branches burst out from the Wooden Human’s body.
They twisted and interwove in an instant, forming into a towering Wood Dragon that reared upward with a sharp, piercing roar. The screech reverberated so harshly that it made every listener’s heart tremble.
The dragon coiled around the Wooden Human, then surged forward, slamming straight toward the Eight-Tails’ writhing tails.
[Boom—]
The impact was like mountains collapsing and seas crashing, the deafening thunderclap shaking the world.
The collision unleashed overwhelming force, throwing up a storm of dust that spread in all directions.
Countless houses collapsed instantly under the shock, while tremors like an earthquake sent shattered stone and debris flying in deadly arcs.
“Run!”
Even this brief clash of raw power was unbearable. The shinobi scattered, their faces blackened with dust as they scrambled to retreat.
But the shockwave was far greater than they imagined. Many were thrown to the ground outright.
Some unlucky ones were struck through by flying rubble, or crushed beneath massive debris, dying without even understanding how.
"Roar—"
The Wood Dragon had taken a hit from the Eight-Tails, yet it suffered little damage. Fueled by Kitagawa Gen’s chakra, it regenerated in an instant.
The next moment, its massive body coiled tightly around the Eight-Tails, constricting until even that giant beast could barely move.
“Damn it—my chakra…!”
The instant the Wood Dragon bound him, the Eight-Tails realized something was terribly wrong. His chakra was being drained at a terrifying speed.
What shook him most was that the absorption was even more extreme than what he had once endured from Senju Hashirama!
“Not bad at all.”
Kitagawa Gen had no idea what the Eight-Tails was thinking. His Wood Release existed only thanks to the Divine Tree’s source within him.
Though he still felt unfamiliar with its use, he had at least “seen” Senju Hashirama wield it.
As for matching the original—he couldn’t say. But copying the man’s techniques? That was no problem at all.
“Well then… right now.”
With the Eight-Tails locked down by his Wood Dragon, Gen didn’t hesitate. He raised his hand.
In an instant, countless wooden spikes erupted from his palm, while at the same time the Wooden Human drew back its colossal fist. With a thunderous roar, it smashed the punch straight toward the Eight-Tails’ head!
The Eight-Tails thrashed desperately, but Gen’s wooden spikes had already pierced into his flesh, wrenching a howl of agony from the beast.
The gale-force fist closed in fast. The Eight-Tails could already imagine the disastrous outcome if it landed.
[Buzz—]
But at the very instant the fist was about to strike, an immense surge of chakra exploded forth.
Turning his head, Gen saw it—a deep purple sphere streaked with blue chakra spots hurtling toward them.
In the blink of an eye, it was already nearly upon the Wooden Human!
“Tch.”
Gen raised an eyebrow slightly, but the Wooden Human’s assault did not falter. Just as its fist crashed down toward the Eight-Tails, a massive wooden wall burst upward from the ground.
[Boom—]
The colossal fist slammed hard into the Eight-Tails, nearly knocking his head askew.
Under the sheer force of the blow, not even the Wood Dragon could continue restraining him. The Eight-Tails’ massive body was hurled away like a fired cannonball.
The mountains along his path shattered on impact, erupting in clouds of dust that carried endless shockwaves reverberating through the air.
On the other side, the massive wooden wall had risen quietly like a shield, standing before Kitagawa Gen.
[Boom—]
A violent explosion roared instantly. From afar, one could see a mushroom cloud rising into the sky.
The shockwave, visible to the naked eye, spread madly outward. Entire clusters of houses—those few still intact—were flattened at once.
Cracks tore through the earth, racing outward. Even the mountains that bore the weight of Kumogakure began to shake and totter as though they might collapse at any moment.
Clearly, this battle had pushed even these towering peaks to their limits.
“Damn bastard! Die!”
As the aftershock of the Tailed Beast Bomb faded, a furious roar suddenly rang in Kitagawa Gen’s ears.
A massive cat-beast wreathed in blue chakra flames leapt high into the air, its front claws slashing straight toward the Wooden Human.
Gen arched a brow, immediately commanding the Wooden Human to throw a punch at the Two-Tails.
But the beast was far more agile than he had expected. With a roar, her mountain-sized body moved like a gale.
In an instant, she slipped past the giant’s fist, then reappeared like a phantom, charging straight at the Wooden Human.
“Oh? Not bad.”
Gen gave a slight nod of approval, but in that same instant the Wooden Human twisted, swinging another massive punch directly at the Two-Tails.
[Boom—]
This time, the Two-Tails didn’t dodge. Her claws and the Wooden Human’s fist collided head-on.
A muffled thunderclap shook the battlefield. Though the giant seemed stiff and lumbering, its overwhelming strength was something even a tailed beast might not withstand.
After all, this was a power capable of matching Susanoo blow for blow!
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