Chapter 178: Three People, Each With Their Own Calculations
The silent atmosphere made the air itself feel frozen.
Hashirama gazed calmly at the two. Both Madara's resurrection and Yuto's escape from Katsuyu's stomach had surprised and frustrated him—developments had indeed strayed from his original plans.
However, the situation hadn't deteriorated completely.
Hashirama's peripheral vision first swept across the injured Madara, then glanced at Yuto beside him.
Though Yuto showed no obvious wounds, Hashirama could keenly sense that Yuto's aura had weakened.
Clearly, escaping Katsuyu's stomach hadn't been as simple as imagined.
Thinking this, Hashirama felt slightly relieved.
Madara's expression was somewhat ugly. He hadn't expected Yuto to have a solution even in that situation.
Now, the *tacit cooperative understanding* between him and Yuto had been destroyed. In this situation, even though Hashirama was currently the weakest party, Madara dared not act rashly.
Though there had been *tacit coordination* with Hashirama inside Katsuyu, that was merely because their interests had temporarily aligned.
Now it was different. While Hashirama usually appeared single-minded, he wasn't stupid.
Both he and Yuto had surpassed Hashirama in strength—meaning if either died, Hashirama couldn't resist the other.
The credibility between him and Yuto was now zero. As for teaming up with Hashirama against the other, Hashirama might not exert full effort then, making it even more dangerous.
This restriction frustrated Madara, yet left him helpless.
The plan cannot be delayed any longer—it must accelerate! Madara thought to himself.
Yuto, on the other hand, was currently furious!
He trusted neither Hashirama nor Madara.
Not only did Madara feel restricted, but Yuto felt the same.
Among the nine Tailed Beasts, excluding the Two-Tails (Matatabi) and Four-Tails (Son Goku), he had already gathered the chakra of seven.
As long as he absorbed the chakra of the remaining two beasts, he could fuse the power of all nine Tailed Beasts and master the Ten-Tails' chakra.
This power might not match a true Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, but mastering Six Paths-level strength would be no problem.
Yuto's greatest advantage was that neither Black Zetsu nor Madara knew he was collecting Tailed Beast chakra.
Yet he clearly knew what Madara planned to do. As long as Yuto possessed Tailed Beasts, Madara could never become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.
And by then, having mastered Six Paths-level strength, Yuto could easily eliminate both Madara and Hashirama.
Once these two were dead, no one in the entire shinobi world could stop him.
Yuto's eyes suddenly narrowed—perhaps there were two more.
Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto.
As the current reincarnations of Asura and Indra, these two weren't enough to make Yuto wary.
What truly concerned Yuto was the Six Paths Sage behind the Asura and Indra reincarnations.
This was also the most important reason Yuto hadn't killed Sasuke and Naruto. Before reaching Six Paths-level, Yuto didn't intend to provoke the Six Paths Sage.
However, Yuto naturally wasn't without preparations. Itachi Uchiha's eyes had already been transplanted into Nagato Uzumaki.
Unless Sasuke could reclaim his eyes, this so-called Indra reincarnation would be essentially crippled.
As for Naruto, the Asura reincarnation, he was somewhat troublesome to Yuto.
But only somewhat. After all, Yuto had been setting plans in motion on Naruto since the very beginning.
The three stood silently facing each other. Though their expressions remained unchanged, each plotted their own schemes.
As time passed, the atmosphere between them grew increasingly *subtle and charged*.
Hashirama reached up to scratch his hair, instantly attracting Yuto and Madara's attention.
"My resurrection time hasn't been as long as you two. If we're not fighting, I'll head back—I still have much to handle."
Hashirama looked at the two with a faint smile, speaking casually.
Hearing this, both Yuto and Madara's expressions darkened simultaneously, letting out cold snorts!
Though both knew the chances of continuing the battle were slim, Hashirama's casual tone displeased them both.
Especially Yuto. Clearly Konoha was the weakest party, yet the final beneficiary had become Hashirama.
Thinking this, Yuto turned his gaze to Madara, sneering coldly:
"Truly worthy of Konoha. Even as a missing-nin, you still care for the village."
"I heard that during the Valley of the End battle years ago, someone lost. Did you hold back? No, wait—I almost forgot. Someone who was beaten to death couldn't possibly have held back."
As Yuto's words rang out, Madara's face instantly darkened.
A terrifying aura suddenly erupted from Madara, crashing down toward Yuto.
Yuto maintained his faint smile, simultaneously erupting with an equally terrifying aura, crushing toward Madara.
Their auras collided continuously in the air, causing the atmosphere to hum with muffled vibrations.
Seeing this, Hashirama's casual expression vanished. His eyelid twitched slightly, his body tensing instinctively.
Yuto is provoking Madara!
It seemed Yuto wasn't satisfied with ending things here.
As for Madara, he likely harbored similar thoughts.
Thinking this, Hashirama began mobilizing his Senjutsu chakra.
For a moment, the originally suppressed atmosphere grew tense again.
Yuto's mouth held a cold sneer. Though his current condition wasn't optimal, the other two's conditions were likely similar.
Even if they fought again, there wasn't much downside for Yuto.
The worst-case scenario was Hashirama and Madara teaming up against him again, though this time Hashirama might not exert himself as fully as before.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh...!
At this moment, several breaking sounds suddenly reached the three's ears.
Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Might Guy, and other famous Konoha ninja appeared first in their sight.
Behind Tsunade and the others, numerous clan jounin and ANBU ninja rapidly approached from all directions of Konoha.
With several leaps, the Konoha forces landed behind Hashirama.
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