In a normal scenario, Susanoo was completely ineffective against Truth-Seeking Orbs. But Sasuke adapted quickly, he simply covered Susanoo's arms with Truth-Seeking Orbs, and with a single strike, sent Hashirama flying back hundreds of meters.
It had to be said, Susanoo was the nemesis of taijutsu users. Unless your name was Might Guy using the Eighth Gate, conventional hand-to-hand fighters didn't even have the right to get close.
Thanks to the Tendō Ōmiya domain, Hashirama couldn't use any ninjutsu or senjutsu. And pure taijutsu was basically useless against a 100-meter-tall Susanoo. In just a few rounds, he was already being pushed into a defensive scramble.
Watching from afar, Aoba saw more than the surface. While Hashirama looked flustered, his movements remained fluid, he hadn't taken any actual damage the entire fight.
In contrast, Sasuke looked dominant, but was burning through energy at ten times the rate.
With his current constitution, he could maintain Susanoo for a full day and night without issue. But coating Susanoo in Truth-Seeking Orbs? That was ludicrously inefficient. Covering a structure that size consumed chakra on a whole other level, hundreds or thousands of times more than usual. Even Sasuke couldn't sustain that for long.
After all, the Ten-Tails inside him was still in its juvenile stage and couldn't yet provide truly infinite energy.
Sasuke had everything going for him, but once again, he let his emotions get the better of him. He let Hashirama's casual response drag him into a disadvantage.
Susanoo, in the Boruto era, was hardly ever shown. That's because it was mostly good for crushing weaker enemies. Against opponents of equal or higher level, it was next to useless.
Back in the original story, Madara used Susanoo to absolutely wreck the Allied Shinobi Forces, but once he was up against Six Paths–level Naruto and Sasuke, he didn't use it even once. He knew it would only waste chakra and turn him into a big, shiny target.
Naruto had Truth-Seeking Orbs. A Susanoo couldn't stand up to that, he'd be torn apart instantly.
Sasuke's furious barrage leveled a good ten-mile radius around Konoha, but still couldn't land a decisive blow on Hashirama. Meanwhile, Sasuke himself started panting heavily. At last, he realized his tactical blunder.
He immediately dismissed Susanoo and switched to other techniques.
Hashirama couldn't use ninjutsu, but Sasuke could use whatever he wanted. And while regular ninjutsu couldn't pierce a Truth-Seeking Orb barrier, that didn't mean it was useless.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Domain."
Hashirama, in mid-movement, suddenly found himself gasping for air.
He instinctively opened his mouth to breathe. Though his body, crafted through White Zetsu modifications, had some plant-like characteristics, it was still fundamentally human. His body required oxygen, because plant-style respiration couldn't support his high-speed combat needs.
But now, there was no air left to breathe.
Sasuke's technique had completely evacuated the air in a thousand-meter radius.
And that wasn't all.
Having snapped back into combat focus, Sasuke's instincts surged.
"Fire Style: Scorching Ash Field!"
The vacuum wasn't empty anymore, it was filled with glowing, burning embers. This move was a modified version of Madara's Hidden Mist Jutsu: Scorching Ash, upgraded by Sasuke.
Hashirama, in his desperation to breathe, inhaled a huge mouthful of burning ash.
The pain made his whole body shudder.
To be fair, this kind of injury wasn't fatal to someone like him. He could hold his breath, and his Sage Body would self-heal in seconds. But that didn't mean he could fight Sasuke while holding his breath.
Hashirama's taijutsu and swordsmanship were superior, but not by a landslide. He could hold his breath for a few rounds. Any longer? It was just wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, Sasuke had crafted a filtered mask using Earth Style, with miniature whirlwinds around his head constantly providing him with fresh air. Then he charged straight into the ash cloud to continue his assault.
Hashirama tried to escape the domain, but Sasuke wouldn't let him go.
He attempted to use Truth-Seeking Orbs to protect his airway, but found he simply couldn't control them with the necessary precision.
To use a Truth-Seeking Orb to form a filter mask fine enough to block ash? That was something only the Sage of Six Paths might be able to pull off.
The fact that Hashirama could form full-body armor with the orbs already made him monstrous. Anything more precise than that, even the Sage himself would probably hesitate.
Technically, Hashirama could just encase himself entirely in the orbs and form an absolute defense.
But while that would block conventional attacks, it would just turn him into a stationary target for someone like Sasuke, who also had Truth-Seeking Orbs.
If he dared to stand still for more than three seconds, Sasuke could easily charge up an attack strong enough to pierce the orbs and deal a lethal blow.
After a few rounds, Hashirama had no choice but to continue trying to escape the domain. But that was easier said than done.
First, Sasuke was relentlessly on his heels. Second, the environment kept changing. Sasuke used ninjutsu to constantly alter the terrain, block line of sight, and create obstacles.
Sure, with his protective orbs, Hashirama could bulldoze through these tricks, but they slowed him down, giving Sasuke the edge.
And because Truth-Seeking Orbs could nullify regenerative abilities, Hashirama couldn't even trade blows. If he got hit, even a Sage Body couldn't recover.
In just under two minutes, a fully-focused Sasuke managed to genuinely suppress Hashirama.
And then, Hashirama suddenly opened his mouth and, almost like vomiting, expelled several white, sludge-like clumps.
Sasuke recognized those things, they were White Zetsu. Hashirama had released four White Zetsu from within his own body and sent them lunging toward Sasuke.
In his Rinnegan state, Sasuke could clearly see that inside each of these Zetsu was a highly condensed chakra sphere, almost identical to a Tailed Beast Bomb.
The God of Shinobi was no joke. Even under the suppression of the Tendō Ōmiya domain, Hashirama had found a way to weaponize chakra.
He had sealed the chakra inside the White Zetsu, then hurled them toward Sasuke to detonate, essentially turning them into walking bombs.
Moreover, the chakra he used was extremely compressed, nearing the density of a Truth-Seeking Orb. Each one packed the destructive power of a full-blown Tailed Beast Bomb.
While this level of attack couldn't injure Sasuke, who also had access to Tailed Beast–level chakra, it could force him to defend and disrupt his vacuum domain.
In that sense, it was an incredibly clever tactic. A bit costly on the Zetsu supply, perhaps, but highly effective.
The four Tailed Beast Bomb–scale explosions erupted like nuclear blasts. The Vacuum Domain was completely obliterated, and the surrounding embers and ash were wiped clean as well.
At that moment, Hashirama had fully realized, he wasn't going to destroy Konoha. In fact, he couldn't even defeat the young man standing before him.
Sasuke had a massive advantage in this fight. He had only been suppressed at the start due to Hashirama's experience. But once Sasuke adapted to the rhythm of the battle, it was clear, Hashirama had no chance of winning.
With that in mind, Hashirama was already preparing to retreat.
But just then, a cold voice rang out nearby, it was Sasuke.
"Bringer-of-Darkness Technique."
Suddenly, Hashirama's vision went completely black, his entire sense of direction vanished.
The worst part? While the Vacuum Domain had been destroyed, he was still within the range of the Tendō Ōmiya domain. He still couldn't use any ninjutsu.
Even the faint bioelectric signals within his body were blocked from reaching the outside world.
In other words, his sensory perception had been severely compressed.
It was as if he were just an ordinary shinobi now, completely blind and disoriented.
If you would like to read more...
The novel has be completed (Chp. 362) on the patreon -> SaintXI