Uchiha Izuna

This had happened long before the village was founded.

During the Warring States Period, Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama had once been friends.

The catalyst that drove them apart was the existence of their "younger brothers."

Back then, "Tajima Uchiha," who led the Uchiha Clan, and "Butsuma Senju," who led the Senju Clan, both cared deeply about their respective clans.

Even when their own children's lives hung in the balance, they remained resolute. They could seem cold and heartless at times, but they firmly believed that the clan's survival was what mattered most.

Thus, when facing enemies on the battlefield, both clans would kill even women and children—or be killed themselves.

In a sense, this was a kind of equality. Once they were on the battlefield, the deaths of Hashirama and Madara's younger brothers were simply the way of things during the Warring States Period.

Hashirama and Madara lost many younger brothers in that era.

Only one remained for each of them. The two former friends faced the cruel reality that their last remaining, most precious younger brothers were about to be killed before their eyes by the head of the other clan. In the end, they went their separate ways.

Not long afterward—

Hashirama came to believe that all young children, not just younger brothers, were meant to be protected, and he found a dream that could make that a reality.

Madara, meanwhile, swore with all his might that no matter what happened, he would protect the one younger brother he had left.

Madara wanted to protect his brother, even if it meant severing his bond with Hashirama, whom he deeply admired.

As the younger brother of Uchiha Madara, who would one day become one of the Shinobi World's mightiest figures, Uchiha Izuna grew up.

Izuna was grateful for the deep love his older brother showered upon him, and he held him in the highest regard.

Madara was a kind older brother, considerate of his clan and so devout that he even prayed for his younger brother Izuna's safety. To Izuna, he was the very embodiment of pride.

Love and respect—the bond between Madara and Izuna, who cherished each other, grew ever stronger with time.

The two became the Uchiha's proudest pillars, and their names resounded throughout the Warring States Period.

Standing in their way was the Senju Clan, with whom they shared a long history.

During one battle, their arch-enemy, Hashirama, the head of the Senju Clan, proposed a truce to the Uchiha Clan.

But Uchiha Madara—no, Uchiha Izuna—did not accept the offer.

"The Senju Clan can't be trusted," Izuna said.

Madara believed him.

Even though Madara had grown weary of fighting and begun to consider trusting his old friend again, he couldn't ignore Izuna's words.

Because Izuna's words did not come from hatred.

Izuna had a proud, haughty side, but in truth, he valued the clan more than anyone.

He loved his clan.

One could even say that, among the Uchiha brothers, he had inherited the strongest share of their father's blood.

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate for Madara that Izuna was his "last younger brother"—

There was a technique called "Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation."

It was a vile technique that summoned the dead from the underworld, bound them, and let the caster use them as they pleased.

The dead who were summoned were not allowed to resist. They could only be used as tools to kill their former family and comrades.

Even during the Warring States Period, this was a beastly act.

It was a Forbidden Jutsu that could not be forgiven.

Therefore, almost everyone who knew about the technique felt disgust, hatred, and fear toward its user, Senju Tobirama.

Even Izuna, once one of the strongest figures of the Warring States Period, was no exception.

Forcing dead enemies to kill their comrades, or using them as human bombs and discarding them once spent, was an inhumane act. To Izuna, who valued his comrades and clan, it was the work of an unforgivable demon.

Thus, Izuna declared that the technique's creator, Senju Tobirama, and even his own older brother's words were utterly untrustworthy.

He firmly believed it was a plot by the Senju Clan to bring down his pure-hearted, kind, and somewhat gullible older brother, Madara.

Izuna simply wanted to protect his kind older brother.

Then, on the fateful day, the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan finally clashed in a fierce battle.

This was no ordinary skirmish. It escalated into a large-scale battle in which even the clan heads clashed personally.

Of course, Izuna took part in the battle.

Using the power of his awakened Mangekyō Sharingan, Izuna raced across the battlefield, killing members of the Senju Clan.

The one who stopped his rampage was Senju Tobirama, who appeared like a gale, slicing through the wind.

Against the backdrop of the battlefield, where Hashirama's Wood Release roared and Madara's Explosive Flame thundered, the two clashed fiercely.

Their fight seemed tame beside the massive battle between Hashirama and Madara, but it was a deadly endgame in which every move was calculated to the utmost.

Their movements were so swift they seemed to surpass space and time, while their legendary Dojutsu unleashed a ferocity capable of twisting space.

Their skills, honed solely for killing, collided. One mistake meant death—and the outcome was decided when Izuna, too proud of his own strength, left an opening for just an instant.

Senju Tobirama's blade tore through Izuna's body. Blood spilled from Izuna's mouth as he collapsed.

Madara, his face twisted with agitation, abandoned his fight with Hashirama and rushed to Izuna's side.

Hashirama watched Madara run to Izuna, but did not pursue him.

What Hashirama saw was not an enemy, but simply the image of his old friend, worried about his younger brother.

"Let's end this war."

Hashirama's words reached deeper into Madara's heart than ever before.

Their shared anguish as older brothers resonated between them.

If this had been any other time, Madara would surely have taken Hashirama's hand without hesitation.

Madara was a man who didn't mind lowering his head for the sake of what he cherished.

He had ignored Hashirama's pleas time and again because he trusted his younger brother's words.

It wasn't as if Madara himself enjoyed this blood-for-blood fighting.

So Madara held on to a glimmer of hope and tried to take Hashirama's hand, but Izuna stopped him after all.

Even as he lay dying, Izuna refused to let go of the belief that the Senju Clan was dangerous.

If Madara had stayed calm, he would have comforted Izuna and taken Hashirama's hand.

If Hashirama really were the underhanded man Izuna claimed he was, then when Madara turned his back just now, Hashirama should have killed him—and would already be celebrating his victory.

But Madara couldn't stay calm.

The crisis facing his beloved younger brother threw his thoughts into disarray.

After a moment's hesitation, Madara rejected Hashirama's hand as he always had.

In the end, Uchiha Izuna died from the injuries he had sustained that day.

The Sharingan was a transcendent power that connected this world to the next.

Being killed by the Senju Clan gave rise to a profound hatred in Izuna, deeper than anything he had ever felt before.

After his death, Madara carefully laid Izuna's body to rest with his own hands. But his soul did not pass on to the next world. It slipped free of the cycle of reincarnation and wandered the living world, its very foundation steeped in hatred for the Senju Clan.

After losing Izuna, Madara fought the Senju Clan to fulfill Izuna's last words: "A world ruled by the Uchiha."

Leading an Uchiha Clan already crumbling as more and more members fled, Madara faced a desperate battle alongside a small number of supporters.

In the end, this battle, in which Madara wielded his full strength, concluded with his defeat.

But the battle became the turning point that allowed Madara to overcome his grief over Izuna's death.

Hashirama and Madara reconciled and joined hands, bringing the war between the two clans to an end. Before long, an organization called a "village" was born, bringing several clans together.

The Warring States Period came to a close, and everyone welcomed that moment with joy.

Then time passed, and the era moved forward.

Senju Hashirama became a "grandfather"—a direct descendant of the Senju Clan, who would shoulder the new era, was born.

Everyone eagerly awaited the birth of the child who would one day bear the next generation's burdens.

Senju Hashirama, Mito Uzumaki, Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Madara—everyone, yes, even the soul of Uchiha Izuna, wandering the living world, looked forward to the child's birth with a faint sense of joy.

It was all for the sake of destroying the hated Senju Clan from within.

Izuna hid himself within the soul of the baby sleeping in the womb, waiting for the day his Awakening would finally come.

The child was born and grew strong, but one day, darkness suddenly began to consume him.

The revulsion and fear of having his soul tainted.

A hatred for his grandfather and family surged up in fits, along with an inexplicable urge to destroy.

Memories and feelings that weren't his own slowly began to awaken.

Tormented by the loneliness and despair of feeling as though he had become something monstrous, the young child's heart began to crumble.

Through the cracks in his heart, a gray mist seeped in.

The chill of hatred penetrated to his very core, stirring a shuddering, visceral revulsion.

The child's soul gradually changed. Just as it was about to form an unwavering intent to kill, the embrace and smile of a great tree stopped it.

Later, the child lost the great tree, but beneath the gentle moonlight, he learned of the tenderness called tears.

The blazing lamp burned away the implanted "Wedge of Death," while the friendship between silver and beast forged the child from boy into young man.

And now, the time had come to face the fear he had pretended not to know all along.

Diejian quietly let out a breath.

His heart was as still as a windless sea, yet the magma burning deep within it blazed fiercely.

As though holding its temperature just before it boiled over, he kept the two incompatible forces of Senju and Uchiha in balance.

It was a feat that the Diejian of the past could never have managed.

Kakuzu, who had fled into a sea of tentacles, was tracked by Diejian with just a glance.

His vision changed, and various colors and "flows" came into view.

The Sharingan's mantra—read the colors of Chakra and discern its flow—described exactly what he could see now.

The sea of tentacles that had kept him in a desperate struggle until just moments ago, and the monsters swimming within it.

But for Diejian now, it was easy to pick out the objects whose colors were conspicuously different.

Diejian pushed off the ground, kicked forward, and ran.

As soon as Diejian began to run, the tentacles moved differently.

They had probably realized that he had spotted Kakuzu's true body.

The tentacles threw everything they had into blocking Diejian's path as he charged straight ahead.

Kakuzu was getting serious too, it seemed.

As expected, their quality and quantity were on another level from before.

But Diejian saw them all.

Against a fist swinging at him at incredible speed, he formed a wooden gauntlet with Wood Release.

The tentacle shattered and fell to the ground.

Diejian carried out each movement calmly, his expressionless face unchanged.

Only his eyes spun wildly in every direction.

The exchange of offense and defense was astonishing.

Diejian was certainly being held back, but he was still steadily pressing forward, step by step.

Recognizing the danger of Diejian's new power, Kakuzu tried to analyze the situation calmly.

As a result, he lost focus on the battle.

In a fight at this level, that was no different from a moment's hesitation or an opening.

Diejian seized that opening at blinding speed, aiming to destroy the heart of Senju Diejian, regenerated through Senju Hashirama's power.

If the plan worked, Kakuzu would lose Hashirama's power.

Then he would no longer be a match for the awakened Diejian.

Using his new power, Diejian would destroy the hearts one by one, carefully and completely.

Kakuzu's clones stood in Diejian's way.

He seemed to have poured a considerable amount of Chakra into them; their Chakra density was clearly different.

Unlike the remotely controlled tentacles, they would certainly be troublesome opponents.

But to Diejian now, they posed no threat at all.

—Wood Release: Bringers of Darkness.

The fists that appeared were those of a giant.

They beat and crushed the many clones.

Diejian quietly beat the sole remaining clone to death.

In a moment of silence, Diejian withdrew his fist and took a step forward.

One step, then another.

The scene was like walking across an empty plain.

"Senju Diejian—!!"

"..."

If Kakuzu had stopped toying with him and gone all out to kill, Diejian would probably have been killed in their very first clash.

Kakuzu's personality had stopped him from doing that, and Diejian had deliberately dragged out the fight to make him act that way.

Understanding this was precisely why Kakuzu was so furious.

One step, then another, Diejian drew closer.

The god of death named Diejian was closing in, ready to claim Kakuzu's life.

But Kakuzu's will to live surpassed Diejian's readiness to die.

At last, Kakuzu brought out his trump card.

"Gaaaahhhhhhh!!"

Kakuzu roared as if writhing in agony.

At the same time, Diejian's eyes noticed that something had changed in Kakuzu.

The four hearts gathered around Kakuzu.

Each heart housed a different color, and those colors were gradually fading.

The four colors of Chakra flowed toward Kakuzu's own heart, like water running downstream.

There was no doubt—it was the very thing that had once beaten inside Diejian's chest.

The heart that now housed Kakuzu's heart had a mixture of colors, gradually turning gray.

The swirling gray Chakra gradually grew larger, pulsing.

All the tendrils swelled and began to writhe.

The overlapping, entwined tendrils pulsed as they transformed into a massive block.

Diejian immediately attacked Kakuzu with Wood Release, but Kakuzu scattered all of it.

A Chakra halo enveloped Kakuzu.

The sheer amount of Chakra gave Diejian the illusion that space itself was twisting.

---A tremor.

The earth shook, a vibration that seemed to reverberate through his bones.

The source of that tremor was Kakuzu, appearing on the other side of the space warped like a mirage, his form unrecognizable.

"Monster..."

Diejian murmured.

Looking up, he saw the giant made of tendrils looking down at him.

Diejian had seen its size and shape before.

(Grandpa showed it to me once. His Wood Golem was just as big, or even bigger... So this guy really did—)

He had been right to think that Kakuzu had absorbed Senju Hashirama's power.

Hashirama had poured most of his power into the miracle called Monster Reborn, but even so, his power had overflowed the capacity of Diejian's body.

That surplus was what Kakuzu had absorbed.

It was probably only a fraction of Hashirama's original power, but even so, it was undoubtedly a threat.

"Is that your trump card, Kakuzu?"

"Because of you, I had to use up all the hearts I'd collected. You'll pay me back, Senju Diejian. With your heart."

Kakuzu had collected the four hearts from powerful opponents.

By gathering all their Chakra in one place, he gained several times his original strength. He had reached the pinnacle of the Forbidden Jutsu, Earth Grudge Fear.

Kakuzu was now a monster capable of matching the current Kage.

The Chakra he gave off was incomparable.

Diejian felt the pressure prickle his skin.

Though Kakuzu had entered this state for the first time, it felt perfectly natural to him.

He could control even the sensation at his fingertips with precision, as if this form were his true one.

Exhilarated, Kakuzu was certain of his victory, but he was no longer complacent.

He formed fists behind himself.

Countless fists all locked onto Diejian.

Filled with bitter hatred, Kakuzu had memorized the technique Hashirama had used to kill him.

"---Forbidden Jutsu: True Several Thousand Hands. Die, Senju Diejian!!"

"O-ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"

Kakuzu's army of fists.

They were no longer loose tendrils, but masses as dense as rock.

A meteor shower of fists rained down on Diejian with deadly accuracy.

Diejian roared and met them head-on.

The wooden shield he created was destroyed in an instant. Splinters flew off and embedded themselves in the ground far away.

The Wood Release shields he created one after another with a roar turned to rubble the moment they appeared.

Then came the direct hit—the earth was gouged out, trembling with a terrifying boom.

A cloud of dust rose, and Diejian disappeared from view.

"Impossible---"

Before he could be certain of victory, Kakuzu let out a dazed murmur.

When the dust cleared, an unbelievable sight appeared.

Kakuzu's lips trembled with shock, his eyes widening as if they might split open.

In his field of vision were the gouged earth, the shattered wooden shield, and—a giant of bones.

"Impossible---"

Kakuzu had seen that before on the battlefield.

When he was still young, one of the strongest clans that dominated the battlefield had wielded it—the purple god of death controlled by one of its two pillars.

Woven from immense Chakra, its purple armor could repel any attack. It was both shield and spear, sweeping away its enemies.

Kakuzu wasn't trembling at its overwhelming power. He was stunned that Diejian of the Senju Clan could use it.

"---Impossible... Who are you, really? You said you were Senju, but are you actually Uchiha?"

"I'm neither Uchiha nor Senju. I'm a shinobi of Konohagakure—Diejian."

"Still trying to bluff. But no one can surpass me now. I'll take your heart and reach an even higher plane."

"What's so lofty about playing with people's lives? Stop talking, Kakuzu."

Susanoo rose to its feet.

It was still only a skeleton, but a fierce aura swirled around it, as if reflecting Diejian's feelings.

Susanoo faced off against the giant.

The scene seemed to recreate Madara and Hashirama's battle of old, but Kakuzu was too insignificant to compare with Hashirama, while Diejian was too much like Madara.

"And besides... I believe I told you. I'm the one who'll kill you—"

Their fists collided.

Kakuzu prided himself on his strength and enjoyed proving it.

On one hand, he was considered calm and levelheaded, a strategist; on the other, he was a sadist who took pleasure in violence.

Having gained Hashirama's power and glimpsed a higher realm, Kakuzu believed he had "reached the summit." He began to feel a certain respect for Diejian, who dared challenge him head-on.

So Kakuzu calmly reassessed Diejian.

Senju Diejian.

Grandson of the First, Senju Hashirama.

Disciple and successor of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.

There was no room in his bloodline for the Uchiha Clan.

Kagami Uchiha and Uchiha Shuri were nearby, but they had no reason to give Diejian their eyes. Besides, neither of them had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.

In the first place, no Uchiha shinobi capable of manifesting Susanoo had appeared in the past few years.

The most recent one had been Uchiha Madara, killed by Senju Hashirama. Before him was Uchiha Izuna, killed by Senju Tobirama.

Rumor had it that Uchiha Madara had taken Uchiha Izuna's eyes.

That was a "fairy tale" passed down through later generations—a fabricated Madara, depicted as the absolute evil opposing the "hero" Hashirama.

Few people knew what Madara was really like, so everyone believed it was true.

Kakuzu was no exception.

Then there was only one answer he could reach.

"Those eyes of yours... Senju Hashirama must have taken them from Uchiha Madara..."

Diejian didn't answer.

Even though Kakuzu was wrong, Diejian could only marvel at his ability to deduce so much from the limited information available.

Every time Susanoo's fist collided with the giant's, shock waves burst out.

The roars of their blows rang through the sky.

Who was watching the two of them fight from afar?

A young man in a green outfit, breathing heavily.

An elderly couple, and their children.

Had they realized?

Would the day come when they understood?

Those crashing blows were the sounds a young man made as he fought to protect them.

To be honest—

If the battle continued like this, Senju Diejian would lose.

Diejian's Mangekyō Sharingan ability was useless against the gigantic Kakuzu.

Susanoo was draining Diejian, taking his strength as the price of its own power.

Even with the power of the Sharingan added to an equal share of Hashirama's power, Diejian still couldn't match Kakuzu.

That was because Kakuzu had a clear advantage: he had never stopped honing himself since his resurrection.

Tobirama's education had been extraordinary. Diejian, with his latent abilities unlocked, had no equal among his peers.

Even Sotan, known as the White Fang, might pale beside him at this stage.

That was how strong he was.

Even so, Kakuzu was several steps ahead.

It wasn't that Diejian was weak.

This battle—which could hardly even be called a fight against Hashirama—had changed Kakuzu's understanding of "strength."

If Kakuzu hadn't angered Hashirama, he probably would have been driven off with only moderate force.

Without realizing Hashirama had gone easy on him, Kakuzu had spent years living with the delusion that he was strong, basking in pointless pride.

But Kakuzu was no longer like that.

He pursued the "strength" engraved in him at that moment, constantly honing himself.

Using a Forbidden Jutsu, he had remade himself with maximum efficiency.

Diejian had no decisive way to finish him.

Against an ordinary shinobi, he only needed to swing Susanoo's fist.

The enemy would be reduced to mincemeat in an instant.

But Kakuzu was no ordinary opponent.

His hardened skin could deflect almost every attack except Lightning Release, and his fists could shatter bedrock.

Diejian only seemed capable of holding his own against Kakuzu because he was drawing on every technique Senju Tobirama had taught him.

Then, something changed.

A sudden, piercing pain in his eyes made Diejian clutch his head and writhe inside Susanoo.

(This is bad... This really means they've noticed, doesn't it...?)

A spiral-shaped mark appeared on Diejian's forehead—.

(Mito Uzumaki—Grandma's Sealing Jutsu...)

During his training, Senju Tobirama had sensed Uchiha Izuna's Chakra rising from Diejian's body and realized Diejian's true identity.

Then Mito Uzumaki, a sensor-type kunoichi even more gifted than Tobirama, who could even sense fluctuations of malice through her control of the Nine-Tails' power—there was no way she hadn't noticed the change in her beloved eldest grandson.

She had realized Diejian's true nature even before Senju Hashirama. To ensure she could restrain him by herself if the need arose, she had already made preparations.

Because Hashirama was kinder than anyone, sometimes it wasn't only his younger brother who had to be treated without mercy.

His wife Mito, too—no, perhaps precisely because she was his wife.

In case the worst happened—how much anguish had she endured before making that decision?

(So this is as far as I can go... Then I'll stake everything on the final step—)

If he kept using the Mangekyō, the Sealing Jutsu would bind him completely.

Then Diejian would have no chance of winning.

In that case—

The shape of Diejian's Mangekyō began to collapse, and Susanoo started to fall apart.

Diejian instantly used Wood Release to create a spherical shield around himself, but he didn't know how long it could hold.

The fight, which had been evenly matched, suddenly turned into Kakuzu's relentless assault.

The giant's palm, formed by the Bringers of Darkness, was destroyed. The giant face said to ward off calamity was smashed.

The rain of fists shattered the crumbling Susanoo completely, then struck the earth once more, ravaging the green land.

Not long after the tremors that had shaken heaven and earth subsided, the dust began to clear.

There lay Senju Diejian, covered in blood and unable to move.

The faint beat of a heart could be heard.

His shallow breaths, slipping through parted lips, were enough to make anyone listening feel as if they were suffocating.

"What a... tenacious... man—"

After confirming that Diejian had fallen, Kakuzu dropped to one knee.

A heavy tremor passed through the ground—Kakuzu's body gradually shrank.

They said every technique had a weakness.

Because of the stabbing pain and immense Chakra consumption, Diejian's Susanoo wasn't suited to prolonged battle.

The weakness of Kakuzu's Forbidden Jutsu was the strain on his body caused by using all his hearts and harnessing all five nature transformations.

Stripped of his tendrils, Kakuzu somehow carried the air of a true shinobi.

A moment relying on nothing but his own body, without any tricks—that might have been Kakuzu in his original form.

It wasn't unusual for the way someone survived to change over time, so there was nothing strange about that.

From now on, Kakuzu would take Diejian's heart and reach an even higher realm.

He would obtain the power of Wood Release and approach the strength of Senju Hashirama.

That was why Kakuzu couldn't simply beat Diejian into mincemeat.

Kakuzu approached Diejian and quietly reached out.

He gazed at the unconscious eyes, closed behind their lids.

The Sharingan was the strongest Dojutsu, the one every shinobi yearned to possess.

Well, I'll take that, too.

He could no longer control his tentacles.

Kakuzu paid respect in his heart to the former brat who had forced him to such lengths and grown so powerful.

You were born to become my sustenance, to die for me. Kakuzu felt grateful toward Diejian, just as one might thank a creature for becoming a meal.

"Eight Inner Gates—Third Gate, Gate of Life... open."

"You... you're still alive—"

Just before Kakuzu's hand touched Diejian's heart, Diejian opened his eyes.

Though the red had vanished from them, they reflected Kakuzu as if seeing through everything.

Diejian had realized that even if he was killed, his body would remain intact.

Kakuzu wanted Diejian's heart.

So, to avoid damaging it, he would either kill Diejian outright or leave him unable to move.

If Diejian couldn't win a head-on fight, his only option was to catch Kakuzu off guard.

Though the odds were slim, Diejian had made up his mind and put his plan into action.

He had feigned death to make Kakuzu lower his guard, then waited until Kakuzu came close to take his heart before striking with all his might—

If Kakuzu had taken Diejian's heart from a distance with his tentacles, his plan would have failed, and he truly would have been killed this time.

People said luck was part of strength, and Diejian's tenacity had drawn that luck to him.

Since the surprise attack in their first battle and his tenacity afterward were the essence of Diejian, this too was undoubtedly part of his strength.

It was a victory born of his resolve to seize a chance at life beyond the brink of death.

The Eight Inner Gates was a Forbidden Jutsu that removed the body's limiters.

It could invigorate the body, but opening the gates this time went beyond that.

Diejian's body had already reached its limit.

The bones in his limbs were shattered, and it would have been harder to find an unbroken rib than a broken one.

Even with the gates open, he couldn't move.

So what Diejian did was, in a sense, a feat more dangerous than invigorating his body.

It was the ultimate transformation: removing the limiters and turning his soul into Chakra.

A Forbidden Jutsu born from the Eight Inner Gates—a Forbidden Jutsu among Forbidden Jutsu.

The Eight Inner Gates could temporarily grant power beyond that of a Hokage, at the cost of one's life. This art stood alongside it. It was the ultimate form of bodily invigoration, completed by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, at the very end of his life—

—Chakra exploded.

At that moment, Diejian had stepped onto the same stage as Senju Hashirama.

Of course he had.

Most of Hashirama's power had been inherited by Senju Diejian.

And if Senju Tobirama's skill were added to Hashirama's power—then it looked like the strongest combination imaginable.

A gigantic Wood Dragon burst from the earth.

Even compared to the Wood Dragon Hashirama had controlled, its size was beyond all measure.

The Wood Dragon swallowed Diejian, taking his withered body inside it.

Within the dragon's womb, Diejian felt the warmth he had known as a child, embraced by a towering tree.

A drop of water ran down his cheek.

He sensed that this was the moment he truly parted with a certain bond, and so he performed a final farewell.

The Wood Dragon's expression, tender as if it cherished Diejian, changed. Now it turned toward Kakuzu with a furious visage.

The dragon rose into the sky, then twisted around in midair and plummeted toward Kakuzu with terrifying force.

"I... am strong—"

The dragon's jaws tore through the earth.

Kakuzu stared at the dragon's mouth rushing toward him at astonishing speed and spoke his final words.

And so Kakuzu vanished into the dragon's belly, along with a corner of the earth.

A man who had pursued strength to make his boast, I am strong, come true had his life brought to an end by a young man who had yet to finish climbing the ladder of strength.

—The Wood Dragon lay upon the earth, and the young man waited for the moment he would awaken.

That would be the moment he ascended to the heavens once more—

After this battle, Senju Diejian's strength would be whispered of under a certain nickname.

"Konoha Rising Dragon"

—And so on.

★

"Diejian—! Where are you—!?"

The tall young man calling out his friend's name as he cautiously walked across the desolate land wore a green leotard.

His thick eyebrows and long lower lashes were an awkward match, and the little mustache beneath his nose suited him even less.

He had left Konoha some time ago in the name of a warrior's training. His appearance here, brimming with aggression in both the good and bad senses, was pure coincidence.

He had been receiving food and lodging in exchange for his labor when a terrifying tremor and crash rang out. Looking over, he saw a Wood Dragon rise into the sky.

Now that Senju Hashirama had passed away, Senju Diejian was the only person alive who could use Wood Release.

The young man, who sensed something was terribly wrong, was named Might Duy.

He had felt that his friend was in danger and rushed out, but even a dead-last like him, who couldn't even use the Body Flicker Technique, was unable to invigorate his body. By the time he arrived, it was all over.

Now he was searching among the rubble for the friend who should have been there.

Huge pieces of wood created by Diejian and Kakuzu were scattered all around, making it difficult to walk.

Duy went "heave-ho" as he stepped around the rubble, sometimes turning it over as he searched for Diejian.

Even his optimism began to give way to anxiety as he remained unable to confirm whether his friend was safe.

"Hey—! Diejian—!! Come on—!!"

"—Hey, you."

"Wh—! Kak— No... Hah, hah..."

The sudden voice made Duy's shoulders twitch.

He wondered if this was the enemy who had fought Diejian earlier. As he focused his mind, ready to open the Eight Inner Gates at any moment, he felt despair.

Duy knew perfectly well that he was a dead last.

He didn't believe for a second that he could beat the powerful enemy who had pushed Diejian—probably—into a hard fight and devastated the land like this.

He would surely be killed in an instant.

Even so, Duy didn't run. Diejian might be here.

The shinobi way of "always protecting those dear to you" urged him on.

No matter how powerful the enemy, Duy wasn't the kind of man who would abandon his friend and flee.

And so—

Even though he could feel firsthand what a "monster" the man before him was,

Even though overwhelming fear had left a large stain on his bedsheet,

Even though fear had stiffened his legs and tears threatened to fall,

The word "retreat" did not exist in Duy's dictionary.

—The man had eyes that seemed to see through everything.

Black pupils, like a glimpse into the abyss.

His bangs covered one eye.

The brown armor he wore was old and covered in conspicuous scars.

"A shinobi from Konoha—? But you look... weak."

The man's low voice held a note of delight as he mocked Duy.

More than the insult itself, Duy feared the sound of that voice.

"On another level" was a cliché, but it was true.

The man could simply swing his arm, and Duy's body would crumple to the ground, blood spraying from his severed neck like a fountain.

Whether Duy lived or died depended entirely on the man's whim.

Duy realized his breathing had grown ragged, but even so, he refused to take a single step back.

"What's wrong, kid? Don't you recognize me?"

The man's voice was indeed tinged with delight.

Every sentence came with a mocking snicker.

Under normal circumstances, that would have irritated Duy. But with the man's absolute confidence and overwhelming presence, Duy saw it as the mark of a powerful person.

This was the kind of "strength" he never wanted to imitate.

That gave Duy another reason not to run.

Because the strength Duy believed in was the bond between hearts, forged by the ties between people.

It was nothing like this man's overwhelming individuality and violence.

Seeing that Duy didn't run, the man seemed to think he didn't recognize him.

But Duy knew who this man was.

Anyone who wanted to learn about the First he respected, Senju Hashirama, would inevitably learn of this man.

And if the man before him really was that person, Might Duy would die here.

Even so, even so, only his friend Diejian—Duy stood alone, trembling inside.