"I'll leave some of my shadows behind to look after you. The rest—you'll have to be careful on your own."
Link formed a seal and summoned the Earth Dragon once more. In the nearby clash of titans, shadows were practically useless. Aside from a few Eight Gates shadows that stayed by his side, most were dispatched to search for Black Zetsu, leaving only a handful behind for the kid.
"Don't worry."
Senju Tobirama nodded.
"Whoo!"
Riding on the Earth Dragon, Link lifted off into the sky. He wasn't there just to watch the show. If he allowed those two to keep fighting, Hashirama—who could only maintain Rashomon for five hours—would inevitably be dragged to his limit and forced to leave. An Edo Tensei body was just too broken (overpowered).
Fortunately, a true trainer would never let his Pokémon fight alone.
Once he rose high enough, his field of vision broadened, taking in the battle below. Senju Hashirama, after all, was the pinnacle of his era in his prime; his Wooden Golem held a clear advantage. But unfortunately, Uchiha Madara had already reached the point of unleashing twenty-five Susanoo to swarm his old friend, so there was no way to secure a quick win.
[No shadows…]
Link observed for a long while but never found a chance to use Shadow Clone. To cast that jutsu, the most important condition was first being able to see a shadow—he was limited by his own eyesight, plus the opponent or an object had to have an intact shadow. In the fierce and fast-paced struggle between the Susano'o and the Wooden Golem, the ground was a swirl of dust and shattered rocks, leaving no intact shadows.
He abandoned the plan of using Shadow Clones to weaken them and instead popped a soldier pill, lifted the Transformation Jutsu, then reapplied it to enter Super Link Mode: First Gear.
A continuous stream of chakra was refined, and Link felt the pressure in his meridians spike until a painful tingling swept through his body. Then he exhaled in one breath.
A giant chakra scalpel, large enough for the Wooden Golem to wield as a weapon, appeared around him. Five Eight Gates shadows took up positions, jointly hoisting the weapon's handle.
The sudden weight pressed the Earth Dragon downward for a moment, though it quickly recovered its altitude—its flight speed noticeably slower.
[Good thing my chakra can vanish all at once. If I had to release this normally, the pain alone might've killed me by now.]
Link felt a bit lucky. The principle of ninjutsu was always "the more chakra you release, the greater the power," whether it was the original or a variant. But it was critical to remember that because the meridian system serves as the pathway for chakra, it can't really be strengthened, and the organs it coils around can't be trained at all. Most people can only release large amounts of chakra through their hands, feet, and mouth, so even being able to output a huge amount is a talent in itself.
The same jutsu released by different people could vary in power depending on natural gifts. Even if you have enough chakra, your body can still bottleneck how much you can let out at a time.
After reaching a certain level, Link found that circulating huge amounts of chakra hurt just as badly as opening the first gate of the Eight Gates. Without his special gold-finger effect for variant ninjutsu, the pain of releasing chakra at that scale might well have killed him.
"Whoosh!"
While Link contemplated, the Earth Dragon glided closer to the battlefield. Acting in unison, the Eight Gates shadows hurled the massive chakra scalpel.
Noticing the Konoha brat drawing near, Madara split off two of his Susano'o to intercept.
Immediately, a small Wooden Dragon expanded rapidly to coil around the two charging Susano'o. The Wooden Golem tanked a blow, took a couple of steps to flatten a newly carved canyon in the ground, then opted to roll forward with a thunderous boom, reaching out to grip the chakra scalpel.
It was practically a natural disaster in action.
"Gift!"
Steel flashed, cleaving through the Susano'o caught by the Wooden Dragon—just as easily as a Perfect Susano'o could slice through mountain peaks—splitting it into several segments that crashed to the ground.
"!"
Link had nearly lost his head just moments earlier when the colossal Susano'o barreled straight toward him. For all its size, it was unbelievably fast. Before he could react, it was barely a hundred meters away. A single swing of its blade could have smashed the Earth Dragon again.
[I'm still way too weak compared to that level of power—] He gazed at the Perfect Susano'o casually reshaping the terrain and the Wooden Golem that was dismantling Susano'o forms like cutting vegetables. He couldn't pretend he didn't crave that strength.
Summoning and Shadow Clone had made him strong enough at eleven years old to alter the world's course, close to finishing off what the manga depicted as the penultimate big villain. But measured against these two, his true self felt insignificant. Even being within a few kilometers of their battlefield nearly got him killed.
Standing on the Earth Dragon's back, Link wasn't discouraged; he was young and had plenty of time to grow. Comparing himself to two monsters just shy of Six Paths-level was pointless.
Alright, better to focus on those solid pieces of chakra scattered on the ground.
[Hmm, looks like they're about to be destroyed too.]
He watched chunks of Susano'o fall, only to be shattered by the fight's shockwaves. Unable to bear it, he directed his Eight Gates shadows to the battlefield's edge to salvage as many solid chakra fragments as possible. Each group of shadows would sneak in, quickly heft a piece, dash out to a safe area, and then repeat the process.
Link decided not to remain in midair. The rest was up to Senju Hashirama.
Despite that earlier display, it was probably just the warm-up. Madara hadn't shown any Rinnegan abilities yet, and Hashirama hadn't entered Sage Mode. Once they ramped up the intensity, sticking around any closer would be suicidal.
[One piece, two pieces, three pieces—]
Cheerfully, Link sealed the chunks of condensed chakra into scrolls. With his sensory powers still active, he suddenly detected an unusual chakra wave nearby. Instantly, the Eight Gates shadows formed a defensive ring around him, and Crazy Diamond stood ready.
"We finally meet."
From out of nowhere, a mysterious masked man in a black robe with red clouds appeared, speaking in a low voice.
Uchiha Obito.
Link recognized him immediately, keeping his shadows in front and firing a signal flare into the sky without hesitation.
Damn, the big person had shown up in person.
Setting aside the headache of Kamui and Izanagi, the guy's ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu were all terrifying, absolutely above the Kage level. Plain ninjutsu and taijutsu were one thing, but his genjutsu was on another level altogether. He'd once controlled Yagura—both a Kage and a Jinchuriki—for years, and as a teen, he manipulated the Nine-Tails like a toy. He was even more troublesome than Uchiha Itachi.
~~~
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