Untitled Draft

Just as Madara's Chakra erupted with a roar and his scarlet Mangekyo nearly reached Izuna's face—

Izuna was scared out of his wits by the sudden, terrifying pressure and the almost palpable despair and madness in Madara's eyes.

Instinct overwhelmed all thought. The moment Madara reached out and snatched the eyeball, Izuna's body reacted before his mind did—he gathered his strength, twisted at the waist, and punched!

Thud! The dull impact was enough to set one's teeth on edge.

The punch, thrown with all his strength on instinct, landed squarely between Madara's chest and abdomen while he was completely defenseless.

Time seemed to freeze for an instant.

The pained expression on Madara's face, a mixture of madness and vulnerability, froze, giving way to a moment of bewilderment and disbelief.

Then a powerful surge of Chakra burst from Izuna's fist!

Madara flew backward like a boulder launched from a catapult!

Shrubs were plowed flat in his path, and his body snapped several trees as thick as a bowl across in half. They broke with a tremendous cracking and splintering, sending wood chips flying.

Only when he struck a thicker tree trunk in the distance with a dull thump did he finally stop.

He slid down from the hollow, dropped to one knee, clutched the spot where he had been hit, and coughed up a mouthful of bloody froth.

Silence fell over the banks of the Naka River. Only the lingering creak of broken trees falling and the mournful sound of flowing water remained.

Madara slowly raised his head. His Sharingan had faded, leaving only shock and bewilderment. He stared fixedly at Izuna, who stood dozens of meters away, still holding his punching stance, his face blank.

Senju Style Monster Strength?!

That distinctive technique, which compressed Chakra to its utmost in an instant before releasing it explosively, producing destructive power far beyond ordinary Taijutsu... he could never mistake it!

This was one of the secret Taijutsu techniques of the Senju Clan, particularly Hashirama and his clansmen! How did Uchiha Izuna know it?! How could he possibly know it?!

Izuna was stunned too. He looked at his still-clenched fist, then at Madara in the distance, coughing blood with horror in his eyes. His mind went blank.

The feel of that punch just now... that sensation of Chakra surging and power exploding...

Ah!

A setting he had completely forgotten suddenly came crashing back into his mind.

In the parallel world he had fantasized about, four people had met for the first time at the Naka River, so Izuna had spent more time with Hashirama when they were young.

Uchiha Izuna was naturally twice as strong as other children. Wielding a sword in one hand, he could block Tobirama's downward strike with both hands.

When Hashirama discovered this, he was astonished and enthusiastically offered to teach him the techniques of Senju Style Chakra bursts and Monster Strength, calling it "letting talent shine."

Holy shit! Izuna screamed inwardly. This body really inherited that setting?! And it's this powerful?!

Tsunade could use this move to put Jiraiya in the hospital, so Madara... he'll be okay, right?!

"M-Madara!" Izuna was so panicked his tongue tangled. He sprinted toward the spot dozens of meters away, where the dust had yet to settle. "I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to! It was a reflex! I couldn't control my strength!"

When he reached him, he saw Madara kneeling on one knee at the edge of the shallow crater he had made. One hand clutched his chest and abdomen, while the other held the eyeball. He had protected it well; not a speck of dirt had gotten on it.

Madara raised his head. His face was a little pale from pain and blood loss, and cold sweat beaded at his temples, but the look in his eyes was too complicated to read.

He looked at Izuna rushing toward him, at his panicked expression, and at... the immensely powerful Monster Strength blow from a moment ago.

Izuna... is so strong.

That sensation of power erupting in an instant, full of vitality... even though he was the one who had been hit, a strange sense of reassurance welled up.

If Izuna is like this... at least he'll have no trouble protecting himself.

That's good.

"Your... eye..." Madara spoke with difficulty, his voice hoarse, and held out the hand gripping the eyeball. The movement pulled at his injury, making him grunt and knit his brows tightly.

"Forget the eye for now!" Izuna's eyes turned red with anxiety as he took in Madara's pain and the blood left at the corner of his mouth. "How badly are you hurt? Can you move? I-I'll go get Hashirama right now!"

He didn't dare move Madara recklessly, afraid of causing further injury.

Madara seemed to want to say something more, but the dizziness brought on by severe pain and blood loss struck him, and his vision began to blur.

His vision went black, and he passed out.

"Madara!!!" Scared out of his wits, Izuna caught him as he fell and carefully laid him flat.

He checked his breathing and pulse. Thankfully, though weak, they were reasonably stable.

He carefully took the eyeball from Madara's tightly clenched hand and hurriedly stuffed it inside his clothes. Then he checked the injury to Madara's chest and abdomen. There were no open wounds, but something seemed wrong with his breastbone. He had to find a medical-nin immediately!

"Hashirama... right, I need to find Hashirama!" Izuna sprang to his feet and used the Body Flicker Technique at full speed, heading for the Hokage Building in the center of Konoha!

At the Hokage Building, Hashirama was sighing over yet another pile of dispute documents when he suddenly sensed a familiar Chakra signature approaching at great speed.

Izuna? Why is he in such a hurry?

The next second, the office door burst open with a bang, and Izuna appeared in the doorway, panting, his hair disheveled and his right eye red. His left eye... was empty! There was only a smooth membrane of flesh!

Hashirama sprang out of his chair, his long, smooth hair nearly standing on end from the sudden fluctuation of Chakra.

"Izuna?! Your eye?!"

"Hashirama! Come with me, quick!" Izuna had no time to explain about his eye. His voice cracked, thick with tears. "I didn't control myself just now! I knocked my brother out! He's over by the Naka River! He coughed up blood! Go check on him, quick!"

Hashirama: "...???"

Who? Knocked who? Unconscious? Madara? By Izuna? Knocked unconscious? And he coughed up blood?

There was so much to take in that even the usually thick-skinned Hashirama froze for a moment.

But when he saw Izuna's frantic expression and his empty left eye socket, he immediately realized how serious the situation was.

"Let's go!" Without another word, Hashirama flashed after Izuna.

The two figures swept across Konoha's rooftops and streets like gusts of wind, racing toward the Naka River as fast as they could.

After a few leaps, they reached the scene.

Seeing the devastation—the broken trees, the flattened shrubs, the traces of Madara's blood on the ground, and his dear friend lying motionless and unconscious—Hashirama's expression darkened completely.

He appeared beside Madara in an instant and crouched down, a gentle green Chakra glow spreading over his hands.

He carefully examined Madara's injuries, his frown deepening.

Three broken ribs, trauma to his internal organs, and minor internal bleeding... The injuries were serious. Given Madara's constitution and vitality, they weren't life-threatening, but he did need treatment immediately.

"What happened?" Hashirama asked without looking back as he stabilized Madara's injuries, his voice unusually serious.

He had noticed the signs of destruction around them. They didn't look like the work of Ninjutsu or ordinary Taijutsu, but rather... the traces of some tremendous force sweeping through in an instant.

What kind of technique could produce this effect?

Izuna crouched beside him, watching Hashirama treat Madara with anxious eyes. "I-I don't know either... My eye was bothering me again, so I took it out. Madara had a huge reaction when he saw it, and his Chakra went out of control. He came over to grab my eye... I was terrified, and without thinking, I-I punched him... Then he went flying..."

His incoherent account left Hashirama stunned. He turned to Izuna, his eyes full of disbelief and confusion. "You... punched him? And then... Madara flew backward and crashed through several trees? And coughed up blood?"

This description... the marks at the scene... Why does it sound more and more like our Senju Clan's Monster Strength? But Izuna is an Uchiha!

What was more, Hashirama knew Madara's strength better than anyone. For a single punch to injure him like this, it must have been so explosively fast that even Madara had no time to react, defend himself, or brace for impact.

Could Izuna do that?

"Yeah..." Izuna looked miserable, still full of regret. "It's all my fault. I didn't hold back... Hashirama, Madara's going to be okay, right?"

Hashirama didn't answer immediately. Instead, he carefully sensed the Chakra traces left at the scene once more, then looked at Izuna's remorseful, bewildered expression. An even more absurd question rose in his mind.

Tentatively, utterly baffled, he asked, "Izuna... what you used just now... could it have been... the Senju Style Monster Strength technique? How do you know it?"

At that, Izuna jerked his head up and stared at Hashirama, his right eye wide. His expression was even more bewildered than Hashirama's, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Huh? Hashirama, didn't you teach me?"

Hashirama: "..."

Hashirama: "...???"

I taught him???

When???

Why don't I remember???

Hashirama looked at Izuna's utterly natural, sincere face, which seemed to say, "How could you forget?" Then he looked at his unconscious friend on the ground. For the first time in his life, he felt his mind wasn't quite up to the task.

Taught him? When did I ever teach Uchiha Izuna Senju Style Monster Strength?!

Countless shocked questions and retorts churned and roared in his mind, nearly bursting from his throat.

But just as he was about to blurt them out, Madara's low, suppressed warning from the previous day in the Hokage Building suddenly echoed in his ears:

["...Play the 'brother' and 'comrade' he believes us to be."]

["Don't let him find out this isn't his home."]

Hashirama's open mouth froze. His facial muscles twitched a few times as he forcibly swallowed the "When did I ever teach you?!" on the tip of his tongue and squeezed out a dry laugh instead.

"Ah... haha... I-I did... did I... I taught you..." His voice was unsteady and his eyes darted about. He didn't dare look Izuna in the eye. "My memory's terrible... haha..."

To Hashirama's relief, Izuna didn't seem to notice his constipated-looking expression or his extremely guilty tone.

He simply assumed Hashirama was embarrassed about "forgetting" that he had once taught him, and considerately patted his own shoulder as he reassured him:

"It's okay, it's okay. That was over ten years ago, so it's normal to forget. I was only this little back then." He gestured at a height. "When you taught me, you even said I was as strong as a little Tailed Beast. Remember?"

Hashirama: "..." No, I don't remember! I don't want to remember something that never even happened!

He felt cold sweat about to break out on his forehead. All he could do was keep laughing it off, his voice dry. "Y-yeah... I think... I sort of remember... haha..."

Izuna sighed, his attention returning to the unconscious Madara, though he continued to grumble.

"Honestly, Madara too. How many times has this happened now? Why does he still react so strongly? My eye just fell out, that's all. It looks scary, but it doesn't hurt or bleed. I just have to put it back in. And that Tobirama too, going on about it being a 'half-finished product' and the 'interface being unstable.' Why is my right eye fine? It's just the left one that pops out whenever it feels like it, as if it has a spring in it. Next time I see him, I'm definitely making him treat me to the most expensive dessert. This quality control is terrible! And he calls himself a research fanatic. How embarrassing!"

Listening to Izuna's familiar grumbling, Hashirama felt his worldview being ground down again and again.

Uchiha Izuna... complaining about Madara Uchiha and Tobirama Senju in that tone?

"My eye just fell out," "I just have to put it back in"? And "make Tobirama treat him"?

There was far too much to take in. Hashirama felt as though his brain had overheated and was about to start smoking.

Madara! So this is what you have to deal with?!

What on earth is going on with this Izuna? How can he talk about things like that so casually?! They're serious in every possible way, okay?!

What on earth is going on in that other world? How can Izuna think this is a small matter?!

Hashirama was roaring inside, but all he could do was stammer in agreement. "Uh... yeah... it is a little unstable... Tobirama... sometimes does have a few... um... little problems with his experiments... It's normal, normal..."

"Right?!" Izuna nodded vigorously, as though he had found someone who understood him. "That's what I said! But Madara's reaction really was... He wasn't like this before, was he? Has he been under too much pressure lately? Because of the Hokage election?"

He frowned, looking worried. "Hashirama, you two haven't been arguing lately, have you? My brother has a lot on his mind and likes to keep things to himself, so please be understanding with him."

Hashirama: "..."

Help! Somebody save me! Why is Izuna even saying considerate things like this to help us make up?! Just how close does he think we are?! Does he think I'm someone he can confide in about family conflicts and ask to help smooth things over between brothers?!

Although... deep down, Hashirama was a tiny bit happy about Izuna's trust and closeness. But happy as he was, he couldn't keep up this act!

He had no idea how to speak normally with this "Uchiha Izuna," who didn't snap at him or look at him coldly, but instead patted his shoulder, complained to him, and even cared about his relationship with Madara!

This was scarier than fighting Madara in a rage! At least in a fight, he knew what Ninjutsu to use!

"N-no, we haven't argued! Things are fine! Madara and I... have always gotten along fine!"

Except for our recent differences over our visions for the village, the undercurrents surrounding the Hokage Position, and Madara Uchiha's resentment at being increasingly isolated... But can I say any of that? Absolutely not!

"That's good." Izuna seemed relieved. He looked down at Madara again. "Hashirama, my brother's going to be okay, right? When will he wake up?"

"His injuries are stable, and his life isn't in danger. He should wake up in a little while." Hashirama forced himself to focus on the treatment and finally said something of substance.

"Thank goodness..." It seemed much of the weight had lifted from Izuna's heart. Only then did he belatedly touch his empty left eye socket and pull the long-forgotten eyeball from inside his clothes, his expression turning troubled again.

"Uh... this... still needs to go back in. Otherwise, Madara will be upset again when he wakes up. Can you help me put it back?"

Hashirama looked at the eyeball turning slightly in Izuna's palm, and his stomach spasmed.