Battle of the End Valley

Hashirama Senju rode the Wood Dragon through the air, facing Madara from a distance.

"Madara, stop this," Hashirama said, his voice thick with emotion. "Do you really want to destroy the village we built together?"

Madara Uchiha's expression was calm. "Hashirama, the peace you believe in is wrong. I don't accept it."

As he spoke, the Tailed Beast Ball condensing in the Nine-Tails' mouth suddenly shot out.

Hashirama Senju's pupils contracted. He hadn't expected Madara to actually go through with it!

He really wanted to destroy Konoha!

Hashirama clapped his hands together, and Wood Style Vines spread behind him into a massive barrier, blocking the full impact of the Tailed Beast Ball.

Even for Hashirama Senju, blocking a Tailed Beast Ball in such haste was exhausting.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as he stared at his former friend in disbelief. "Madara... why are you doing this..."

"Hashirama, you're still the same, always so one-sided," Madara Uchiha said, his gaze flat as still water.

He had come to this fight with the resolve to die, so naturally, Hashirama's talk-no-jutsu wouldn't work on him.

"If you're trying to persuade me, give it up!" Madara Uchiha sneered at Hashirama. "We stopped being people of the same world long ago."

"Elder Brother, stop being so indecisive!" Tobirama Senju said.

Madara was trying to destroy Konoha.

Why was his brother still wasting words on him?

"I understand..." Hashirama murmured softly.

Madara had already set foot on a path of no return. His persuasion was useless.

Hashirama's gaze hardened as he stared straight into Madara's crimson Sharingan, his voice low but each word carrying immense weight:

"I will never allow anyone to destroy the village—not even you."

Before his words faded, countless thick wooden pillars burst from the ground, surging toward Madara and the Nine-Tails.

"Hashirama!"

"Madara!"

A world-shaking battle was about to erupt.

Hashirama knew Konoha couldn't withstand the aftershocks of this fight.

He leaped up abruptly, Wood Style Chakra gathering beneath his feet into a massive lotus platform, using Wood Style to block the Nine-Tails' attack.

"Madara! If you've got the guts, follow me!"

Madara Uchiha saw through Hashirama's little scheme, but he didn't mind.

The two combatants gradually moved away from Konoha Village.

Renye watched the battle between Hashirama and Madara, too stunned to speak.

Was this really power that humans could possess?

He even felt that even if he awakened his Mangekyo in the future, he wouldn't be a match for Madara Uchiha.

Unless, decades later, he found the elderly Madara hooked up to oxygen tubes.

After all, by then Madara Uchiha could only barely survive on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, wobbling when he walked.

Just an old man—Renye figured he could handle him easily.

But that was just wishful thinking. Madara's hiding place wasn't so easy to find.

Renye sighed helplessly.

Maybe that was the only chance in his life to beat Madara...

The figures of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had already vanished.

But the earth-shaking sounds of battle still echoed from afar.

Renye knew this fight would end with Hashirama Senju victorious and Madara Uchiha faking his death to escape.

After this battle, the time left for him to develop wouldn't be much...

The sounds of battle from afar lasted the entire night.

By dawn, the noise gradually faded.

Everyone knew the fight between the two was over.

They began to worry—who was the final victor?

"Hokage-sama, you have to win!"

The villagers dared not imagine what they would do if Hashirama Senju lost.

Tobirama Senju led the Konoha Ninja to the battlefield.

He had originally wanted to help, but his elder brother had sternly refused.

Hashirama didn't want anyone to interfere in his battle with Madara.

Hearing the sounds of battle fade, Tobirama Senju finally led his men forward.

If you find this book enjoyable, to avoid losing it next time, please remember to add it to your bookshelf.

If Elder Brother won, all would be well.

If Madara won, they would step in and finish him off.

The Valley of the End.

Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju stood facing each other.

After a night of battle, both were utterly exhausted, their armor shattered and broken.

Madara Uchiha didn't even have the Chakra left to keep his Sharingan active.

They both charged at each other.

Their weapons clashed, and Hashirama fell to the ground.

Madara Uchiha turned, looking down at Hashirama on the ground, and said softly, "The one standing is me. The opposite of back then."

His thoughts drifted back to the time he had lost to Hashirama.

If he had won back then, Konoha Village would never have been founded.

It was precisely because of Madara's defeat that Hashirama had tricked him into an alliance, and together they built Konoha Village...

Hashirama Senju knelt on the ground, his voice low: "I want to protect the dream we just realized... I will never let you destroy the village."

Madara Uchiha sneered. "Hashirama, right now you're nothing but a loser. Once I—"

Before he could finish, Hashirama suddenly appeared behind Madara and ran a blade through his left chest.

Madara's face was one of disbelief. He looked down at the blade piercing his chest, unable to comprehend it.

Only then did he realize that the Hashirama before him had been a Wood Style Clone all along.

"To be struck from behind..." Madara murmured.

"I will protect our—no, my village!" Hashirama's expression was stern. "No matter what happens, protecting the village protects everything. I firmly believe that—whether friend, brother, or child, anyone who endangers the village will never be forgiven!"

"You've changed, Hashirama."

Madara's body went limp, and he collapsed to his knees. "At first, you built the village to protect your family and friends. But now, to protect the village, you can kill your friends and family... Isn't that putting the cart before the horse?"

With those words, Madara slowly fell to the ground.

Hashirama stared at Madara's body, falling silent.

If he could have, he truly didn't want to kill his former friend.

But there was no choice. Madara's actions had touched his deepest taboo.

In his eyes, the safety of the village was above all else.

He sat beside Madara's body and said softly, "Madara, I've been trying all along to ease the conflict between the Senju and the Uchiha."

A faint smile appeared on Hashirama's face. "I even had Tobirama adopt one of your Uchiha children."

"I wanted Tobirama, through his time with that child, to gradually let go of his prejudice against the Uchiha..."

He had originally thought Madara had just left in a huff and would return to the village before long.

He had even planned to tell Madara about this when he came back, to give him a surprise.

He never expected it to end like this...

"Madara... farewell..."

Just then, Tobirama Senju arrived with a large group of ninja.

When they saw that Hashirama had emerged victorious, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Elder Brother, are you alright?" Tobirama Senju asked with concern.

Hashirama shook his head and struggled to his feet.

"I'm fine, Tobirama."

Tobirama's gaze fell on Madara's corpse, his eyes filled with greed.

Madara possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan.

If he could unlock the secrets of the Mangekyo...

Hashirama seemed to read Tobirama's thoughts and said sternly, "Tobirama, I advise you not to meddle with Madara's body, or I will be angry!"

He would not allow anyone to desecrate his friend's remains.

"I understand, Elder Brother..."

In the end, Tobirama hid Madara's body deep in the mountains of Konoha.

Deep in the mountains.

Lying in his coffin, Madara Uchiha's eyes snapped open.