An was still sneering beside him, but Madara could no longer make out what he was saying.
The whole world buzzed in his ears. Only Hashirama's smile lingered before his eyes, along with those words he had betrayed countless times: "Let's bring peace to the ninja world together."
Yet the peace he had staked everything on was a lie. Only the sins he had committed against Hashirama were real-so real they drove him to despair.
Endless remorse engulfed Madara like a tide. Suffocation closed in from every direction, more devastating than any physical attack, impossible to resist.
His life had not merely been invalidated. It had been reduced to a footnote in a farce.
The chakra around him surged and ebbed chaotically, like a raging torrent beyond control. At times, it swelled until it nearly tore space apart; at others, it dwindled like a candle in the wind. Every fluctuation carried an agonizing tremor.
His chakra had gone completely out of control. The ground around him began to crack, and loose stones rose and fell in the chaotic energy field, just like his shattered life.
An had already released his control over Madara, but at that moment, Madara had no thought of resisting or fighting.
The fighting spirit that had once driven him to conquer the ninja world had burned out, leaving only a barren wasteland.
He was consumed by the urge to destroy himself, but his Edo Tensei body would not even let him die.
He fell to his knees and hammered his fists against his chest, as though he could shatter that bone-deep remorse along with his heart
with those blows.
"Hashirama... I'm sorry..."
Madara's voice choked with sobs. At last, tears broke through his shinobi restraint and rolled down his cheeks, forming a tiny puddle on the