"You've lost."

Chiyu spoke the words lightly, almost care-lessly, as though he had just beaten an ordinary opponent.

Yet the man standing opposite him was the one universally acknowledged as the strongest shinobi who had ever lived—

—the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju.

For a moment the battlefield fell into utter silence.

No one uttered a sound.

Hashirama, too, said nothing.

"Sage Art · Wood Style: True Several-Thousand Hands – Top Transformed Buddha" was his ultimate secret technique.

Once he used it—even in an Edo-Tensei body—he could not keep fighting for long.

Edo Tensei chakra is called "infinite," but in truth its supply is not endless; it simply recovers extremely fast, and even that recovery has limits.

In the manga we saw Tobirama and Minato exhaust so much chakra that they could no longer use Flying Thunder God.

The shattered giant Buddha crashed to the ground like a collapsing mountain.

Hashirama alighted beside it, an aged, complicated look on his face—yet he admitted frankly:

"You are right… I have lost."

…

Chiyu understood that "True Several-Thousand Hands, Top Transformed Buddha" was unimaginably powerful, but not invincible.

In the original story it shattered Madara's armored Susanoo, yet the Nine-Tails inside was not destroyed or even badly wounded.

Just as Chiyu had said earlier: some techniques excel in destructive power, not in lethal power.

A Tailed-Beast Bomb, a Full Throttle Shinra Tensei, the Top Transformed Buddha—each can reshape the land, but none is the surest way to kill a single target.

Plenty of shinobi have survived Tailed-Beast Bomb; Tsunade's Katsuyu kept many alive under Pain's Shinra Tensei.

For pure lethality you look to Dust Release or Kamui.

Knowing this, Chiyu simply tanked the Buddha's final blow with the strongest Lightning Armor his body could muster. Other than Wind Release nothing can truly penetrate that armor—and even Wind-style Rasenshuriken could not fatally wound the Third Raikage, much less Chiyu, whose Lightning Armor was already above that level.

Thus Hashirama admitted defeat, and the outcome of this war was settled.

For a moment he was silent. In all his life (and afterlife) this was his first genuine loss. Finally he sighed:

"Uchiha Chiyu, I am beaten. I will no longer stand in your way.

Whether it is Konohagakure or this entire shinobi world—its future is now yours to decide."

Chiyu smiled faintly.

"Those words really aren't yours to say, Hashirama."

The First Hokage laughed at himself. "True enough—a defeated man making grand declarations is laughable… but Madara once sought to unify the world; when he lost, I shaped the present order. Now you have won—create whatever order you wish."

Chiyu's chuckle was scornful.

"Don't you see the irony? You preach love and peace, condemn Madara's violence—yet because he lost, your will prevailed. Now you've lost, and you readily accept that my will shall prevail.

Deep down you acknowledge only one truth: the strong rule, the weak obey.

You simply refuse to admit it."

Hashirama froze, forced to search his own heart.

"Perhaps… There is some truth in that.

To enact any policy, power is required. But power is not everything."

"Empty words," Chiyu sneered. "You decide everything by strength, then claim strength is not everything. Hypocrite."

Hashirama shook his head. "Power may open a road, but how that road is walked and maintained requires more than power. Both Madara's path and yours are violent extremes; they cannot endure. One man's will cannot stand above all others forever."

"Then why should your will ever have stood above everyone else's?" Chiyu shot back. "If you truly believed in the will of the many, you would not have pacified the world single-handedly. Your system ran for decades, and the wars only grew larger and bloodier.

Re-animated and seeing all this, you still refuse to rethink anything, refuse even the slightest attempt at a different path.

That makes you more foolish than Madara."

At least, Chiyu added inwardly, Madara realized his first road had failed and devised the Eye of the Moon Plan—whatever its merits, it was changed. Hashirama's face went pale.

"You may call me foolish. …I have not reflected enough," he admitted.

"Oh? After three great ninja wars became ever more tragic, what reflections and decisions did you make? What actions did you take?" Chiyu pressed.

Hashirama was silent.

"Stop lying to yourself," Chiyu said coldly. "All your thought and action went to preserving the order you created. When you learned I meant to chart a new course, you chose to stop me at any cost—even by siding with Orochimaru and Akatsuki.

What are you, Hashirama?

Nothing but a guardian of a decaying, degenerate system."

The accusation struck Hashirama like a hammer; he could not refute it. Why had he opposed Chiyu without hesitation, even joining forces with terrorists?

Was he truly just a stubborn, obsolete conservative cloaked in false benevolence?

The entire battlefield remained hushed as everyone listened to their philosophical duel.

Ōnoki and Orochimaru felt as though they were witnessing not only physical defeat but the destruction of a lifetime of ideals. And even they could not refute Chiyu's words—Ōnoki's own guiding thought had always been to protect his status and squeeze benefits for Iwagakure; as for Pain, though his road differed from Chiyu's, Hashirama's doctrine had never been his.

At length Hashirama sighed, lost and weary.

"Uchiha Chiyu… perhaps you are right.

The shinobi world deserves further experiments—painful though they may be—to break the endless spiral of war and hatred.

I am defeated—utterly.

You may seal me now."

Orochimaru's face changed. Hashirama's Edo-Tensei body was his trump card; if Chiyu sealed it, what would become of Orochimaru?

He hurried to release the summoning—but Hashirama smiled gently and broke Orochimaru's control.

Cold sweat trickled down Orochimaru's brow. Hashirama, exhausted though he was, could still shatter the Edo-Tensei binds.

Hashirama strode forward and bared his neck. Chiyu snorted.

"Spare me the noble martyr act, old man."

Hashirama simply laughed. Chiyu gave no further pause: the Chiibiki Zai-Bakusō Chain shot forth, wrapping body and soul alike; Hashirama offered no resistance. His soul was wrenched out and sealed in the realm named Domain of Sin.

The body crumbled, revealing the sacrificial corpse beneath—and the God of Shinobi was gone.

Heaven and earth were silent.

Then the Deva Path stepped forward.

"Uchiha Chiyu, I too am your defeated foe. Deal with me as you wish."

Chiyu sneered. "I have the Rinnegan as well; I know the Six Paths of Pain are just puppets and corpses. Your real body is elsewhere."

"True," said Deva. "Though beaten, I have not surrendered. My plan will continue, to prove a road different from yours or Hashirama's!"

Chiyu listened no more. One sword swing obliterated the Deva Path; thus the Six Paths of Pain were erased.

Orochimaru trembled.

"Well, well… even the Leader and the God of Shinobi fell, and you still stand victorious… I suppose none of us can escape."

"You have sinned beyond redemption, Orochimaru."

Susanoo's Ten-Taba Zaimetsu Ken Sword and the Chiibiki Zai-Bakusō Chains impaled and bound him. He did not resist—there was no point.

"Hah… a purgatorial judgment and an all-sealing power… terrifying. But I, Orochimaru, will not die so easily. No matter how long it takes, I'll revive and play this game again…"

Sharingan light flared. Orochimaru's body disintegrated into blood-soaked fragments, consumed by scarlet karmic fire; soul and flesh alike were dragged into the Domain of Sin.

He was, for now, erased.

[You successfully administered a "shock-therapy" defeat, you freed Hashirama's soul from its knot of obsession; he is reborn in fire. Great Mercy! +10,000 Virtue Points]

[You successfully liberated the Six Paths' corpses from control and laid them to rest. Great Mercy! +3,000 Virtue Points]

[You suxxt gave Orochimaru release in both body and soul. Great Mercy! +2,000 Virtue Points]

Fifteen thousand merit points in one sweep—added to the earlier bounty from Rasa, Yūgito Nii, Yagura, Han and others, the total was nearly thirty thousand.

Ōnoki and the Iwa army watched in numb silence.

Hashirama, the Six Paths, Orochimaru—world-shaking figures, all felled by one man.

The so-called Allied Kage coalition was little more than a rabble before him.

Chiyu turned toward them.

"Now… it's your turn."

His aura cut like a blade through flesh and spirit alike.

No one could muster the will to fight. Even the Third Raikage had been worn down in battle; this man, they sensed, was impossible to defeat.

Ōnoki knew it better than anyone. As Chiyu gathered chakra for another strike, the old Tsuchikage raised his hand.

"Uchiha Chiyu—no, Hokage-sama.

In the name of Iwagakure's Third Tsuchikage, I offer our surrender."

Behind him, Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi and the rest paled; the Iwa army stared in shock—then realized it was the only choice. None blamed the aging Ōnoki.

Chiyu halted.

"So you bend the knee only because you know you'll die otherwise."

Ōnoki gave a self-mocking smile. "True. But once I swear, I will not betray that oath. You have my word."

"If you had yielded sooner," Chiyu said coldly, "many lives need not have been lost."

Ōnoki looked over the ruined landscape—ravines and craters where a plain had once stretched.

Iwagakure had lost its Five-Tails jinchūriki Han and many soldiers—casualties suffered merely from the battle's aftershocks.

He could not let himself become the village's gravedigger.

He knelt.

"In the name of the Tsuchikage, I pledge my loyalty."

One by one the others followed, and a swath of shinobi dropped to their knees.

Strangely, none felt much shame; they were kneeling to the man who had defeated the God of Shinobi.

Chiyu dissolved Susanoo and glanced at Ōnoki.

"A wise old fox indeed—no wonder they call you the 'Fence-Sitter.'"

Ōnoki only laughed bitterly. "I chose the sole path left to me."

Chiyu turned away. This battlefield was pacified; he shifted his mind to the other fronts, where his shadow clones had slaughtered many village elites, forcing each village's leadership to capitulate from the top down.

At the same time he poured all the fresh merit into his ocular power.

Current Rinnegan power: 80,500 / ???

[Congratulations! Your Rinnegan has surpassed 80,000 points.]

[Your Rinnegan evolves to…]

[Three-Tomoe Rinnegan!]

[You have awakened an exclusive new Dojutsu: …]

[Takamagahara!]

~~~

Patreon(.)com/Bleam

— Currently You can Read 150+ Chapters Ahead of Others!