Will of Stone

Ōnoki hurls a massive rock golem at Madara, who shatters it with a wood technique that blossoms into a field of flowers. Tsunade knows the jutsu at once as one belonging to her grandfather. Gaara lifts the Kage clear of the assault with his sand while Ōnoki keeps A aloft, but the blossoms start venting a poisonous pollen. Kabuto reflects that those who only heard tales of Hashirama Senju dismiss his might as legend, much like the Sage of the Six Paths, and vows to prove it real, while Dodai, Genma, and Raidō pursue Mū.

Having lured the Kage toward the flowers, Madara uses his Susanoo to batter them from behind and fling them into the blooms, then engulfs the forest in flame. Mei attempts to douse the fire with water but buckles under the pollen, as do her fellow Kage. Ōnoki's mind drifts back to his youth and the First Tsuchikage's words about the iron will of Iwa's shinobi.

Rallying his strength, Ōnoki unleashes a dust technique that wipes out the flowers and wounds Madara. The recovering Kage look up in time to glimpse the face grown from the First Hokage's DNA within Madara's chest, and Kabuto marvels that Orochimaru's experiments pale beside this ultimate trump card. Far off, Sasuke senses a presence among the trees, draws his sword to investigate, and is stunned to find Itachi standing there.

Madara counters Ōnoki's golem with a flower-spawning wood jutsu recognized as Hashirama's. The blooms release toxic pollen that fells the Kage as Madara sets the forest ablaze. Ōnoki channels Iwa's will to destroy the flowers and injure Madara. The Kage glimpse the First Hokage's face in Madara's chest. Sasuke encounters the revived Itachi.

This chapter of the Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax arc, collected in volume 60, ties Ōnoki's resolve to Iwagakure's founding spirit. A noted continuity error has Madara drawn with the ordinary Mangekyō Sharingan while speaking to a young Ōnoki, though he should have possessed the Eternal form by then; the anime later corrected this.