What did Hiruzen mean, he never thought he could beat Hashirama?
At that moment, Madara genuinely wanted to rip Tobi off his body, reveal his true identity, and start the debate all over again.
Who understands me better?
Me, or you?
You've gone and understood everything!
Madara was clearly becoming exasperated.
He had never expected Hiruzen—the inheritor of his youthful ideals—to be this eloquent.
Madara even felt that if his younger self were standing here right now, he wouldn't be able to argue back as effectively as Hiruzen was doing.
After thinking for a moment, Madara's lips moved.
He chose to stop arguing about ideals and shifted the discussion to the area he understood best:
Power.
"Even if everything you've said has some truth to it..."
"The hatred of the shinobi world will never end."
"It doesn't matter if you alone understand their ideals!"
"With Konoha's feeble strength, it is impossible to preserve its original intentions in a world this cruel."
"Endless wars will inevitably push it further and further toward extremism."
"It will begin oppressing its own shinobi in order to gain military advantages."
After all the discussion, Madara had once again returned to the subject of power.
What if Kumogakure one day produced a shinobi on the level of himself or Hashirama?
Setting aside how unlikely it was, the possibility wasn't zero.
In Madara's view, if someone wanted to convince him, then the Konoha system would first have to develop to the point where it could stand against four great villages at once.
Only then would it barely meet the minimum standard required to earn a second glance from him.
And it would also need to withstand at least one shinobi on his level before it was worthy of serious discussion.
That would be truly convincing.
Otherwise, this so-called order and peace would ultimately collapse before absolute power.
It might seem beautiful in the short term, but in the long run it was far inferior to the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
"Arrogant!"
Fugaku and Hizashi moved almost simultaneously from either side.
"Excellent!"
Madara's eyes sharpened.
At last, he could demonstrate some of his strength.
He truly didn't want to keep talking anymore.
He simply couldn't win the argument...
The nature transformations of Lightning and Water merged together, condensing into a Storm Release bolt that gleamed with a chilling radiance.
There was no excessive spectacle.
Only a piercing power so extreme that it seemed to cut into the bones.
Hizashi's arms moved like a fully drawn greatbow releasing its string.
The bolt screamed through the air toward Madara's left side, so fast that only an afterimage remained behind.
Almost at the exact moment the Storm Release projectile was launched, Fugaku's Fire Release was already complete.
The Great Fire Annihilation swept forward like a tidal wave.
Even the surrounding air warped and boiled from the heat.
The two killing techniques arrived in an instant.
Yet Madara didn't move his feet even a fraction.
His cold gaze swept across the attacks converging upon him.
A mocking smile curled at his lips as he extended both hands and met the Storm Release and Fire Release barehanded.
The next moment, the anticipated explosion never came.
Madara caught the Storm Release bolt firmly in his palm.
It failed to create even the slightest ripple there.
The lightning desperately struggled to erupt, but an invisible force locked it in place.
Within moments, it became completely docile.
Fugaku's Fire Release was likewise seized by Madara's other hand.
The raging inferno was compressed into a single point.
Through a masterful application of the Preta Path, Madara froze both deadly techniques in place in an instant.
"Meaningless chakra..."
The repulsive force of Shinra Tensei exploded outward.
The bolt and flames were hurled back with several times their previous speed.
Straight toward Hiruzen.
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed.
When Madara activated the Preta Path—
The Fire Release was one thing.
But the "core" of the Storm Release, something Hiruzen normally could not perceive, had suddenly become completely exposed.
Every detail of its structure was perfectly visible to him.
In a sense, Madara had just helped Hiruzen dissect the framework of Storm Release.
Hiruzen raised his right hand.
The violent Storm Release and Fire Release suddenly halted before him.
They weren't reflected.
Nor were they absorbed.
Beginning from their most fundamental chakra nodes, they simply unraveled.
Like snow melting beneath the sun.
From top to bottom, the techniques completely disintegrated.
The lightning vanished instantly.
The flames dimmed in the next moment.
Before everyone's eyes, the Storm Release and Fire Release collapsed even faster than the Preta Path could absorb them.
They transformed into streams of gentle chakra and flowed into Hiruzen's body.
The entire process was eerily calm.
The contrast with the violent destruction from moments before was almost unsettling.
The battlefield fell into complete silence.
Fugaku and Hizashi froze where they stood.
They knew exactly how powerful their attacks had been.
They were already astonished that Madara had caught them so casually.
But Hokage-sama's effortless wave of the hand was just as incomprehensible.
It completely surpassed their understanding of ninjutsu.
They couldn't even begin to grasp the logic behind it.
No one spoke.
Madara and Hiruzen stared intently at one another.
The same thought echoed through both of their minds.
What kind of technique is that?!
Alarm bells rang within Hiruzen's mind.
'That isn't simple chakra absorption...'
'He dismantled the structure of the techniques while still retaining enough control to preserve them.'
'And that repulsive force is equally strange. No hand seals, yet it activates instantly and with tremendous power.'
'It suppresses both Fire Release and even Storm Release with overwhelming effectiveness...'
Hiruzen was known as the Professor of Ninjutsu.
Yet even he was deeply shocked by Madara's abilities.
He had never seen anything like them.
Not even in Tobirama-sensei's records.
Experts recognized one another the moment they exchanged blows.
And Madara felt exactly the same.
'What kind of technique was that?'
'There's actually a technique I haven't seen before...'
'It isn't chakra absorption. It resembles the dulling process that precedes the Preta Path's absorption, but it's far more vicious and far faster.'
'How can Hiruzen possess a high-level technique comparable to the Rinnegan?'
'Isn't he supposed to be an ordinary shinobi?'
Both men silently raised their evaluation of the other's strength by several levels.
Troublesome...
I originally wanted to exchange a few moves with Hiruzen, but a technique like that complicates things.
Ordinary Five Nature Transformations won't work if I want to keep my identity hidden.
The Rinnegan's existence shouldn't be exposed yet.
And activating the Sharingan would be even more troublesome. My ocular power is far too distinctive.
During combat, Tobi's disguise would inevitably fluctuate.
And both the Byakugan and Sharingan are watching...
Through his sensory abilities, Madara could already detect a large number of chakra signatures approaching from afar.
They belonged to Konoha shinobi rushing toward the battlefield.
'Even ants can occasionally become troublesome when they gather together...'
'It's time to leave.'
'I need to establish an organization.'
'I can't keep acting alone.'
'Controlling White Zetsu isn't enough. I need shinobi who can actually fight...'
Madara narrowed his eyes.
The first candidates that came to mind were the unfortunate deceased Second Mizukage and Second Tsuchikage...
Along with a few living shinobi who might prove useful.
"Right and wrong aren't things that can be decided through words alone."
"Hokage."
"Go back and think carefully about what I've told you."
"I won't act again for the time being."
"But the hatred of the shinobi world will tell you which of us is right."
Madara spoke calmly.
"Hokage-sama, he's trying to escape!"
Fugaku immediately shouted.
Hizashi's Byakugan remained fixed on Madara.
Minato and Seisui had already entered combat stances, each gripping a Flying Thunder God kunai.
"You're a textbook brainless Uchiha."
"The moment you open your mouth, stupidity spills out."
"The Hyūga can use Storm Release, while the Uchiha still only know Fire Release."
"What stagnant fools."
Madara glanced at Fugaku.
'So these are Madara's clansmen?'
'What a disappointment...'
Today, Madara had been left nearly speechless by Hiruzen's arguments.
Now that he had finally found a soft target...
He absolutely had to get a few insults in!
"Hokage, consider this a parting gift."
"The truth lies within it."
A pitch-black rod condensed in Madara's palm.
He tossed the black receiver toward Hiruzen.
Although it moved quickly, it was clearly not intended as an attack.
Hiruzen casually caught the rod forged from Yin-Yang Release.
"As for these eyes..."
Madara produced a pair of Rinnegan formed from transformed White Zetsu tissue and crushed them in his hand.
"So they truly were nothing more than the fantasies of the incompetent."
"I hope you've improved by the next time we meet."
Perhaps because he didn't want Hiruzen to refute him yet again, Madara's figure suddenly vanished.
He hadn't used the Mayfly Technique.
Instead, he had first sent a Limbo clone to a distant location and then used the Limbo dimension to perform a completely traceless space-time transfer.
"He's completely gone..."
"I can't sense him at all!"
"What kind of technique was that...?"
Whether it was Hizashi, Fugaku, Minato, or Tobirama, all of them wore expressions of shock and uncertainty.
Hiruzen, however, wasn't particularly surprised.
The fact that this mysterious man had summoned him here in the first place meant he undoubtedly possessed a means of escape.
Hiruzen slowly turned the black receiver Madara had left behind over in his hand.
Madara's intention had been simple.
Through this carefully crafted creation of Yin-Yang Release, he wanted the successor known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu" to understand that techniques could be perfected.
And if techniques could reach perfection, then peace naturally had a perfect solution as well.
In fact, Madara even had a feeling that with the talent Hiruzen had displayed, he might be able to comprehend part of Yin-Yang Release.
Perhaps he could even read the stone tablet left behind by the Sage of Six Paths without possessing ocular power.
And if that were combined with a great war that engulfed the entire shinobi world...
Then once Konoha could no longer endure the pressure, Hiruzen would inevitably begin to think:
That it was far from enough for Konoha alone to desire peace.
Everyone had to be forced to love peace all at once.
Only then could the shinobi world's problems truly be solved.
That was the theory, at least.
But after being lectured with his own ideals and convictions by Hiruzen, Madara still felt deeply irritated.
He had decided to go back and thoroughly review the debate.
If there was ever a next time, he absolutely would not lose!
'Not just the Second Mizukage and the Second Tsuchikage...'
'Those two fools, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, who killed Tobirama, still have some value.'
'The Second Kazekage might be useful as well.'
'I need to find their corpses and turn them into Six Paths puppets.'
'Ideally, their souls should remain intact...'
'I'll have Black Zetsu handle the search.'
Madara pondered silently.
Now that he had returned to the stage of the shinobi world, he intended to go all out.
That said, he had no intention of throwing all those puppets at Konoha at once.
That would be far too obvious.
If Hiruzen realized what was happening, Madara was certain his successor would not concern himself with minor details.
Although the current Impure World Reincarnation was still highly imperfect, there was always the possibility that Konoha could use some forbidden method to bring Hashirama back at something close to his original strength.
After all, the creator of that technique was Senju Tobirama.
That would be extremely troublesome.
At its core, all of this was simply a stress test for Konoha.
Madara didn't actually want to kill people.
He wanted Hiruzen and Konoha's shinobi to understand just how difficult it was to change the shinobi world.
In Madara's eyes, the challenges he was creating for Konoha weren't excessive.
They were all difficulties that could realistically appear in the future.
He was a responsible examiner!
After Madara disappeared in that bizarre fashion—
Hanzo finally let out a long breath.
From the moment Big Brother arrived, his heart had completely settled.
He had never worried that something might go wrong.
Meanwhile, Fugaku, Hizashi, and the others remained somewhat bewildered.
This was the first time they had encountered an enemy so strange and powerful.
Not only was he mysterious, but they possessed almost no effective means of countering him.
At the same time, however, Hiruzen's Spirit Release had given Konoha's shinobi tremendous reassurance.
Their Hokage was pretty "strange" too!
"Big Brother, what should we do now?"
Hanzo asked naturally.
Even though blood was still pouring from his left arm, his expression remained calm.
"That's right, Hokage-sama. What do we do now?"
Fugaku looked at Hiruzen with open admiration.
Hokage-sama had truly given the Uchiha plenty of face in front of an outsider!
Tobirama silently watched the scene, his emotions somewhat complicated.
He had to admit it.
His disciple had probably surpassed the prestige he himself once held within Konoha.
He had become Konoha's irreplaceable pillar.
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