Zabuza's killing intent had once been enough to freeze a genin-level Naruto and Sasuke in place.
Orochimaru's killing intent had done the same to Sasuke during the Chūnin Exams.
Meanwhile, Hashirama merely raised a finger—not even directing his pressure at Orochimaru, but at Tobirama—and Orochimaru immediately reacted as though facing a deadly threat.
That was the difference in level.
Hashirama had once patted Kurama on the head and said, "Your power is too great. You must be sealed."
That was not because the Nine-Tails was genuinely too powerful for him.
It was because Kurama was a Tailed Beast, and killing him would only result in his eventual resurrection.
Otherwise, Kurama might have gotten an early taste of Uchiha Madara's treatment.
Hashirama would have cut his head off, looked down at the corpse, and said:
"Sorry. For the sake of the village's peace, I had no other choice."
Then, for the sake of world peace, he might have captured the other eight Tailed Beasts as well.
No distribution between the villages.
Just gather them all together and kill them.
At first glance, that did not sound like something the outwardly kindhearted Hashirama would ever do.
But judging by how decisively he had killed Madara at the Valley of the End?
He absolutely could.
The situation now was the same.
Hashirama was willing to give this young man a chance to turn back.
But if Hōichi remained completely obsessed with his path until the very end…
Then Hashirama would simply have the Wood Golem hit him with an elbow and send him straight to the Pure Land.
Of course, only two people truly understood Hashirama that deeply.
Uchiha Madara, who had personally experienced it.
And Makoto, who had seen everything from a godlike outside perspective.
Everyone else—including Senju Tobirama—thought Hashirama was almost excessively kindhearted.
In Tobirama's eyes, Hashirama killing Madara had simply been an unavoidable tragedy.
Basically the same as Naruto being forced to kill Sasuke.
A pair of doomed lovers.
…
"Why?!"
Hōichi struggled under the terrifying killing intent of "Uchiha Madara," his composure beginning to collapse.
"You're Uchiha Madara!
The Uchiha Madara who fought Senju Hashirama, the God of Shinobi!
You possess divine power capable of crushing Tailed Beasts!
How can your dream possibly be peace in the shinobi world?!"
Most shinobi carried some kind of spiritual idol in their hearts.
For example, Merz, the villain from Uchiha Hikari's story, believed he had inherited Pain's will.
Shin Uchiha from the Scarlet Flower Moon incident believed he had inherited Itachi's will.
The villain from Mirai Sarutobi's story wanted to carry on Hidan's legacy.
And for people who lacked any particularly clear goal?
There was usually one famous figure they could always fall back on.
Uchiha Madara.
Only today did Hōichi discover that Uchiha Madara was apparently a peace-loving man.
And that he had shown up specifically to protect peace.
"Divine power?"
Hashirama spoke in Madara's voice.
"Precisely because I possess the power of a god, I came to understand something.
It is perfectly natural that ordinary people possess less strength and less capacity than I do.
I should not blame or despise them for that.
I should protect them.
That is the mindset a god should possess."
Hashirama nearly soared into the sky from sheer excitement as he delivered those lines in Madara's tone.
His acting was perfect!
That smooth, effortless arrogance managed to preserve Madara's overwhelming presence while simultaneously repairing his public image.
It was intoxicating.
"W-what…?"
Even Hōichi was stunned by "Uchiha Madara's" enormous magnanimity.
For the first time, he understood what people meant when they said someone's heart was as vast as the earth itself.
Hōichi completely gave up resisting.
Hashirama carefully sensed the Wood Release restraints and, after confirming that Hōichi had stopped struggling, released them.
Hōichi collapsed limply onto the ground.
Shukaku's chakra crawled out of his body like a lump of shit-yellow slime and slowly wriggled back toward Gaara.
The people witnessing the scene were not limited to the Konoha group and Sunagakure's Sage Mode trainees.
The training ground was very close to the village.
Hōichi had caused quite a commotion, and Sunagakure was surrounded by open desert with practically nothing to obstruct the view.
A gigantic Shukaku was impossible to miss.
Many people inside Sunagakure had noticed the incident.
Among them were several who, like Hōichi, secretly opposed Gaara's position as Kazekage.
What none of them expected was that Hōichi would succeed so quickly…
And fail even faster.
They had not even managed to reach the battlefield before everything was already over.
By the time they arrived, all they could do was stand at a distance and stare at the familiar figure looming over Hōichi.
"Is that… Uchiha Madara?"
"Uchiha Madara? Why would he be here?"
"Shh! Keep your voice down. Uchiha Madara secretly loves Chiyo from our village. He must have intervened because of her."
"Seriously?"
"Of course! You arrived too late, so you didn't hear what Madara said when he appeared."
"What did he say?"
"'While Granny Chiyo is away, I'll protect Sunagakure in her place!'"
All of that was a complete fabrication by the way.
…
"You only borrowed a Tailed Beast's power. You aren't actually a jinchūriki, so having Shukaku extracted won't kill you."
Hashirama walked over to Hōichi and spoke solemnly.
"Get up. Face the mistakes you've made. Don't make everyone look down on you."
Halfway through the speech, Hashirama hurriedly ordered his Wood Clone to switch off the speaker.
A mistake.
He had only recorded one song.
He really should have prepared several tracks.
For a scene like this—Hōichi kneeling on the ground in repentance like a criminal finally brought to justice—they needed a more appropriate background theme.
After a long silence, Hōichi slowly raised his head.
"If you truly care about peace, then you should get rid of Gaara."
"Why?"
Hashirama frowned.
The instant that word left his mouth, the surrounding temperature seemed to drop several degrees.
Hashirama assumed Hōichi was still stubbornly refusing to change.
He was already preparing to kill him.
"He's murdered countless people! Someone like that has no right to lead Sunagakure!"
A chill ran down Hōichi's spine, but he forced himself to continue.
'As expected of the Ghost of the Uchiha. Even when he's fighting for peace, his killing intent is terrifying.'
He had barely expressed disagreement and Madara already wanted him dead again.
"He has changed."
Hashirama glanced back at Gaara, who had finally stopped pretending to be unconscious and was walking toward them.
"That is precisely why he was able to become Kazekage."
"No!"
Hōichi became increasingly agitated.
"It's an act! He's still the same murderous lunatic!
"I even suspect the daimyo's death was connected to him!
"Gaara was the only person who benefited!"
His voice carried far enough that even the people arriving in the distance heard him.
Several conservatives among them immediately nodded in agreement.
Even in the original timeline, Gaara had faced opposition from the old guard when he became Kazekage.
Now he had not only become Kazekage but launched sweeping reforms and taken over much of the authority once held by the Land of Wind's daimyo.
He was practically becoming the "Emperor of the Desert."
Naturally, the conservatives opposed him even more fiercely.
Hashirama, however, visibly relaxed.
"Think carefully before you answer.
"When the Land of Wind's daimyo died, was Gaara truly the only one who benefited?
"Did you reach that conclusion after personally traveling across the entire Land of Wind and seeing how people live now?
"Or have you simply stayed in one place and listened to rumors?"
Hashirama finally felt relieved.
The man was merely stupid.
Not evil.
That meant there was still hope for him!