Chapter 13

Thanks to Xiao Fan for the bonus review and the extra points. I just saw it and got quite a scare, thinking someone's jj had gone wonky again...

A deep-blue pillar of light enveloped them, and the next second, the two of them were standing on the deck.

The trembling beneath their feet grew stronger. A gigantic dragon-shaped chain of fire shot into the sky, and waves of scorching heat sent vast clouds of mist billowing up. The Three-Tails beneath the water cried out in pain and abruptly turned to flee, its enormous tail sweeping up **!

"Wood Style: Tree Binding Eternal Burial!"

Countless vines bound the Three-Tails, their sharp thorns piercing its flesh. The Three-Tails roared and struggled repeatedly, sending waves mixed with scorching heat and icy cold crashing toward them. The water instantly turned to mist and vanished, leaving Hashirama's vision white. As the steam gradually thinned, Uchiha Madara turned his head. His blood-red Sharingan looked especially beautiful amid the white mist and cold blue light. "Senju, my boat wasn't cheap."

Hashirama's Tree Binding Eternal Burial had not only restrained the Three-Tails; it had also scraped the paint off the boat.

Hashirama gave a wry smile and was just about to say something when—splash! A wall of water rose before them. Isobu had snapped half the vines, and its tail slapped the sea, firing a dense barrage of water arrows. Hashirama's gaze sharpened. The enormous chakra swirling around him formed a funnel-shaped wind barrier, and the water arrows veered off in every direction as soon as they touched it. Madara leaped onto the railing, then raced along the vines, using them as footholds until he was almost in front of the Three-Tails. Forming hand seals with one hand, he used Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame. A twenty-meter-long spear of fire instantly vaporized the entire wall of water. The redirected water arrows arrived right behind it. Madara leaned aside, and with a muffled hiss, the blast of air made his eyes narrow. At the same time, he felt his clothes grow damp.

The mist hid the Three-Tails and Uchiha Madara. Hashirama's heart tightened, and the Tree Binding thickened abruptly. The Three-Tails' pained roar was like thunder, making their eardrums shudder violently. Madara waved a hand and sent three more Majestic Destroyer Flames into the center of the blast, then flipped backward onto the deck.

The cabin's walls were in tatters, and man-eating fish were flopping about on the deck. Madara pressed his lips together and furrowed his brow. He was soaked from head to toe in cold, briny seawater, his fine cotton outer robe clinging to his body. His hair tie had slipped off during the fight, and seawater dripped from his long hair, which fell to his waist.

The Three-Tails plunged into the depths. Hashirama's face was grim as he kept shifting positions to dodge the currents while forming hand seals with his left hand to control the Wood Release binding.

A layer of dead fish floated on the sea, and wisps of red blood swirled through the water. Madara spread out his senses to pinpoint the Three-Tails. But he saw a large school of fish gathering in the area, nearly all of them carnivores, persistently gnawing at the tough vines.

"Do you think you'll be safe just because you escaped into the sea?" Madara sneered from his high perch. "Go ahead and see whether I can vaporize this whole stretch of ocean!"

Roar—! A low, muffled growl came from the deep sea. Chakra surged wildly, sweeping along several enormous waves that crashed down with such force it was hard to breathe. Madara clasped his hands and formed seals. More than a dozen fire dragons twisted through the air and plunged into the sea. In an instant, vast clouds of mist rose skyward, their blinding whiteness nearly blotting out the sky. The growls from beneath the sea echoed without end, drowning out every other sound as the boat rocked violently.

The Three-Tails wasn't especially powerful against the two of them. But its natural advantage at sea greatly weakened the effects of Fire Release and Wood Release.

"Madara! Don't drag this out!" Hashirama shouted.

"Drag it out of the sea!"

Hashirama's right arm transformed into the toughest thorns and stabbed toward the seabed—an A-rank jutsu, Wood Style: Thorn Kill! Madara immediately formed hand seals with both hands, and a ball of crackling light plunged into the water.

Suddenly, the seabed fell silent.

Matatabi, watching from nearby, covered her face with her paws. Lightning Release in seawater! Awoo! Boss! Do you have to be so brutal?!

Hashirama and Madara didn't let their guard down for a moment. They stared fixedly at one spot on the sea. In less than twenty seconds, after a long, shrill cry, the gigantic Three-Tails, Isobu, finally appeared beneath the clear sky above the blue sea. It looked miserable, wrapped in vines and charred black all over. Hashirama had snapped one of its three tails, Madara had burned another, and only one was more or less intact.

Matatabi curled her two big, fluffy tails around herself, still shaken.

Madara's Mangekyō Sharingan turned slowly. The Three-Tails was rigid and unable to move, its body trembling involuntarily as if it were enduring immense pain. Hashirama trapped it with the Four Pillar Prison Technique, took out a scroll, and began the sealing process.

At last, the Three-Tails turned into light and disappeared into the scroll.

It was true what they said about men growing closer through a fight. After the battle, the tension between the two had eased considerably.

Madara took the sealing scroll and looked it over. "I remember that sealing a Tailed Beast requires a person as its vessel."

Hashirama shook his head and smiled. "The kind you're talking about is the Uzumaki Clan's Six Paths Sealing Formula. This is my own jutsu; it can only seal one temporarily."

Madara had already memorized the patterns on the scroll's seal. There was plenty of time, so he didn't press the matter. The two looked at each other: one soaked to the skin, the other in torn clothes—a pair of fellow sufferers. Someone else was just as unlucky as he was, and Madara's mood improved a little (...). "Go change. There are clothes in the cabin."

Hashirama's smile froze. "Madara... no, Uchiha."

"Just call me Madara. You'll be meeting plenty of other 'Uchiha' in the future."

Coming from the head of a clan, those words were an unmistakable hint of an alliance. Senju Hashirama was delighted. Still, there was something he had to say. "I'm 185 centimeters tall. Your clothes won't fit me."

"..." Uchiha Madara, who stood 175 centimeters tall, stopped short.

"Also... isn't this a fishing ground? Is it really all right that every fish within a dozen miles is dead?"

"It's fine. It belongs to the Uchiha Clan." Uchiha Madara finally turned around, the faint smile on his face looking dangerous no matter how you looked at it.

"..."

"The Uchiha will compensate the local fishermen. You'd better think about how you're going to pay for this boat, Sen-ju Ha-shi-ra-ma!"

"..."

Land of Lightning, Uchiha residence.

Uchiha Zhi's expression could no longer be described as admiration. He looked at his clan leader as if he were gazing up at... a god.

"So, my lord, you really extorted a huge sum from Senju Hashirama, the man hailed as the strongest in the Ninja World?!" The moment he received the compensation money sent by the Senju Clan, along with a handwritten letter of apology from Senju Hashirama, Uchiha Zhi had thought he was under a genjutsu.

That was Senju Hashirama! Senju Hashirama, hailed as the pinnacle of the Ninja World, the man closest to the Sage of Six Paths, and the head of the Senju Clan, our enemy!

"The strongest in the Ninja World?" Madara glanced at Uchiha Zhi with a smile, his tone growing gentler. "And where does that leave your clan leader?"

I was wrong. You're the strongest, my lord... Uchiha Zhi silently retreated and sat down.

The Third through Seventh Elders all sat up straight and stared forward, showing they wanted nothing to do with a certain someone.

"Powerful, steadfast, upright, generous, and ambitious—Senju Hashirama is someone worth working with. Second Elder, proceed with the first plan." Madara settled on their basic stance toward the Senju.

Uchiha Tai bowed. "As you command."

"As for the Land of Fire, we've already made a lot of headway. Keep applying some pressure to the upper ranks. In the Land of Wind, develop our influence through the Senju for now. Be careful not to provoke a strong backlash from them. It won't hurt to take a loss now and then." Besides, there wasn't much worth developing there.

The Land of Wind was mostly sandy, dry, and short on rain. Apart from sand, it had few products worth mentioning. The Senju Clan, famous for Wood Release, had settled there. To gain the greatest political influence in the country, though, they had to keep the entire nation fed! Unlike the Uchiha Clan, which had to rack its brains to destabilize the situation, expand its influence, stage a coup, and eliminate its rivals before it could take control of a country, the Senju could easily win both fame and fortune simply because "people put food first." They were a ninja clan, too.

"The public announcement of our alliance with the Senju will come out in two months. Second Elder, draft it and send it to me for review."

"If there's any internal opposition, First Elder, please deal with it. Send the diehards back to the clan academy for remedial lessons. There's no need to waste time on them."

"Anything else?"

Uchiha Tai coughed and gestured toward Uchiha Masahiko.

Madara took the paper Masahiko handed him. "New research?"

"A paper by an upperclassman at the clan academy. The elders and I discussed it and agreed that this child is worth cultivating."

Madara flipped through it: Using the Uchiha and Senju as Examples, Discussing the Influence of Geography on Temperament, Ideology, and Development. It was signed by Uchiha Teng.

Ever since learning about the so-called Eye of the Moon Plan, Uchiha Madara had felt keenly that it was urgent to improve ordinary education and instill sound values. How could the Uchiha have been convinced, generation after generation, by such a naïve idea as "plunge the entire world into an illusion and rule it"? You're adults! Don't you have any critical thinking skills? The Uchiha Clan Academy now taught academic subjects in the morning and martial arts in the afternoon. Combat strength was important, but students also had to pass their policy essays. They could choose any one of the four arts—music, chess, calligraphy, or painting—and master it, or they'd grow old in the academy, boys and girls! A library had also been built beside the academy for clan members to borrow books freely, and Uchiha Madara had personally reviewed every book.

As for the ninjutsu scrolls, they were all kept in the clan's secret vault. Sixth Elder Min Yue was responsible for reviewing them, while Fourth Elder Uchiha Zhi guarded them and handed them out to individuals.

As it turned out, the Uchiha Clan, famous for producing geniuses, had not disappointed itself.

Madara smiled and considered it for a moment. "Third Elder, once this child graduates, take him on as your student."