The Day the Three Gods Parted Ways

Early the next morning, Kyosuke received a summons from the clan head.

By the time he arrived and saw Madara's expressionless face and Izuna's furious one, he had roughly guessed what was going on.

So they found out after all.

It was hardly surprising. If Uchiha Tajma could not even uncover something like this, he would have been removed from his position long ago.

"Kyosuke!" Izuna immediately began questioning him. "My brother is being foolish, but why are you joining him in this nonsense?"

Hearing that, Kyosuke scratched his ear with his pinky, too lazy to answer a little brat's interrogation.

"Hey, you—"

"Enough!" The clan head stopped his youngest son. He understood that Kyosuke had nothing to fear now and would not take such a trivial matter seriously.

Accuse him of colluding with the enemy?

What a joke. He had only been on the front lines for a few days. How could he possibly have formed secret ties with the Senju Clan?

The clan members were not idiots. They would never believe such a claim.

Even if they produced evidence that the two had met, Kyosuke could simply say he had followed Madara there. Then things would become truly troublesome.

Tajma understood all this perfectly well. Last night, he had merely been trying to scare his son.

No one knew his own children better than he did. Madara was good in every way, except that whenever he cared too deeply about something, he lost his composure.

It had once been Izuna. Now, unexpectedly, Kyosuke had become another such concern.

But upon further thought, that might not be a bad thing. If his son could subdue Kyosuke, perhaps he would no longer need to keep targeting him.

"Kyosuke." Tajma made no mention of Kyosuke's involvement. Instead, he asked bluntly, "I discovered a member of the Senju Clan, a boy about Madara's age. Would you like to come with us?"

"What a boring test." Meeting everyone's gazes, Kyosuke nodded indifferently. "Of course. If we can capture him, we can force Senju Butsuma to withdraw his troops."

Looking at him now, Tajma wished more than ever that Kyosuke were his son.

Had he known the boy possessed such talent, he should have adopted him outright. Then every problem would have been solved.

"Exactly." Tajma clapped approvingly and praised him. "As expected of a commander who rules one side. Kyosuke, your reasoning is sound."

"Then it's settled. We'll capture him and use him as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Senju."

With that, the group immediately set off for the river where they had met last time.

It was near Konoha's Hokage Rock.

To protect his son's reputation, Tajma had not brought any subordinates. He had thought everything was foolproof, but regret came swiftly.

By the river, Madara and Hashirama gazed at each other from afar, exchanging their thoughts through their eyes.

"Madara, do you remember when we first met?"

His heart stirring, Madara smiled, picked up a pebble from the ground, and slowly carved it with fingers coated in Chakra. "Of course I remember. You lost to me at skipping stones."

"Come on, you were the one who lost."

Another silent pause followed. Suddenly, they both threw their pebbles and caught the stones flying over from the opposite bank.

"Run!"

"It's an ambush!"

From the forest behind them, Kyosuke sighed faintly. "What a deeply moving scene."

Tajma and his sons shot him a fierce glare before leaping from the grass. To their surprise, two figures also appeared on the opposite side.

On one side stood the three Uchiha men: Tajma, Izuna, and Madara.

On the other stood the three Senju men: Butsuma, Tobirama, and Hashirama.

As the only outsider, Kyosuke could not help feeling excluded.

By the time he strolled out, the two current clan heads had already begun hurling insults at each other's families from across the river.

Ignoring the two Clan Head Level loudmouths, Kyosuke looked toward the gray-haired figure.

"Senju Tobirama, the Naruto World's greatest theorist, creator of countless famous ninjutsu."

At the same time, he was one of the people Kyosuke disliked most.

In his view, even without Black Zetsu's covert schemes, Senju Tobirama would eventually have moved against the Uchiha Clan.

This man was the true hardliner. Even after founding a village, he had never let go of his hatred for the Uchiha Clan.

Of course, he was clever and knew how to make his case by exploiting the rhetoric of threats.

He ordered the Senju Clan to break apart and fully integrate into Konoha, successfully avoiding the possibility of being targeted in the future.

It was a bold idea. It preserved the few remaining clan members while directly turning the spearhead toward the Uchiha Clan, who refused to bow their heads.

It could be said that Daito and Danzo were merely executors. Tobirama was the true culprit behind the Uchiha Clan's destruction.

On the opposite bank, Senju Tobirama frowned slightly. He had the distinct feeling that that guy harbored deep hostility toward him.

People often said that when you vaguely felt someone did not like you, there was no need to doubt it. They probably found you utterly unbearable.

But Tobirama did not understand. This was clearly their first meeting, so where had such baseless hatred come from?

"Perhaps this is just the Uchiha Clan."

Soon, the two clan heads silently agreed to end their verbal battle.

Senju Butsuma was already considering retreat. The enemy had the numerical advantage. He himself was not worried, but he feared his two children might be hurt.

As for Tajma, he decisively chose to attack.

"Madara, Kyosuke, Izuna, capture those two brats!"

Fire Release: Great Fire Whirlwind!

Several flaming tornadoes came roaring forth. Their terrifying power made the entire river boil.

"Attack!"

Under his father's pressure, Madara gritted his teeth, drew his Short Sword, and charged forward.

Across from him, Hashirama could not help shouting, "Madara, don't abandon our promise!"

"Idiot." Kyosuke's lips twitched as he raised his hand and fired a specially made Kunai.

Its target was Senju Tobirama.

"Kyosuke!" Hashirama still had the mind to shout. He knew Kyosuke's strength well. To be honest, Tobirama was probably no match for him at present.

Yet he had not expected Tobirama's defeat to come so suddenly.

Tobirama tilted his head to evade the strangely shaped Kunai, sneering as he formed Hand Seals. A massive torrent of water suddenly gathered around him.

Water Release: Water Formation Wall! In his hands, the defensive Water Formation Wall could also be used offensively.

Standing on the far bank of the river, he possessed a natural advantage in terrain.

Bang! Before he could make a move, however, a heavy blow from behind nearly knocked him unconscious on the spot.

The water wall shattered. Kyosuke gripped Tobirama's neck with one hand, his posture brimming with wild arrogance.

"Tobirama!" The future First Hokage's heart lurched. His Chakra instantly surged, monstrous strength gathering as he kicked Uchiha Madara away.

"Let him go, Kyosuke." Hashirama used the Body Flicker Technique and appeared before him, throwing a punch.

Actually, Kyosuke could have taken Senju Tobirama and left the battlefield.

After a period of rigorous training, the Flying Thunder God could now initially teleport others along with him.

But after hesitating for a moment, he gave up on that tempting idea.

To deal with potential threats, Senju Hashirama had to exist.