Chapter 40

The morning sun had yet to fully clear the horizon, its fiery glow painting half the sky and bringing light and warmth to the land. Two figures of Uchiha Madara weaved through the murderous flames, moving too fast for the naked eye to pinpoint their exact positions at any given moment.

In a top-tier ninja battle, even a slight pause meant death.

Discovering that the other's Mangekyo Sharingan could negate his own Eternal Mangekyo's level suppression and was completely unaffected by genjutsu, their fight devolved into a duel of chakra and taijutsu. Madara, aware of his taijutsu disadvantage, constantly used extreme speed to widen the distance between them. The destructive power of ninjutsu was immense, and Uchiha Madara, mindful of Konoha, controlled the pace of the battle, slowly shifting the battlefield outside the village. Madara, having a request for the First Hokage, naturally wouldn't go too far. He sidestepped two fire dragons that roared and lunged at him, following closely behind.

The destruction caused by their earlier rage had left houses collapsed and scorched black, but fortunately, there were no casualties. People just waking from their dreams were startled by the firelight and roars outside, rushing out in panic to seek protection from the ninjas. The area was thrown into chaos.

When the First Hokage arrived with a group of elite ninjas, this was the scene that greeted him.

Hashirama was helping to calm the civilians. Upon seeing the First Hokage, he nodded in greeting.

The elite ninjas accompanying the First Hokage froze upon seeing Hashirama.

"H-h-how can there be two Hokage-sama?! Am I still dreaming?... Yes! I must be dreaming! Dreaming that Konoha, which was fine yesterday, is under attack, and there are two Hokage-sama... More than one ninja tried to convince themselves this way.

The First Hokage ordered the ninjas, "You, go and evacuate the crowd, and assess the damage!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" the ninjas replied dazedly. Even in a dream, they had to obey the First Hokage's commands!

The First Hokage gazed towards the direction of the fiery sky... it was Madara's chakra signature. He said to Hashirama, "Who is Madara fighting?"

"Madara."

The First Hokage paused, then reacted, frowning, "Why aren't you stopping them?"

"Two Uchiha Madaras, can I stop them?" Hashirama chuckled helplessly. "It's fine, let them fight it out. As long as they're fighting under our watch, we can control the situation." Either Madara dying would be a great loss.

"Indeed, Madara's personality—" The First Hokage swallowed the rest of his sentence, knowing unspoken things were best left unsaid. If the Madara from another world was the same, it seemed truly... difficult for them to coexist peacefully.

So the First Hokage fell silent.

Hashirama also fell silent, looking at the First Hokage with a hint of pity. What do you mean, similar personalities? The Uchiha Madara of this world is merely arrogant and cold. Once you truly interact with the Madara from our world, you'll understand what it means to be sharp-tongued without limits, what it means to set a trap in every three sentences, what it means to be sold and help count the money, what it means to be a millennium-old monster...

"Is this all you've got?" Madara spat out a mouthful of blood, sneering. "The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan obtained by sacrificing Izuna is nothing more than this!"

The name Izuna struck a nerve with Uchiha Madara again. He blocked a projectile aimed at his heart with his left hand and raised his right, five fire dragons, imbued with immense power, once again sealing his escape route. "You still have the energy to talk nonsense, it seems you're not injured badly enough."

In this battle, both fought with deadly intent yet held back. Uchiha Madara didn't use Susanoo, and Madara didn't activate his mental domain suppression. It wasn't mercy, but disdain—disdain for winning against himself using cheating methods. This was the pride unique to Uchiha Madara.

After several exchanges, both looked at each other with newfound respect. Madara admired the opponent's nearly inexhaustible chakra, formidable taijutsu, and superb combat intuition. Uchiha Madara was secretly astonished by his meticulous energy control, mastery of the battlefield's rhythm, and endless combat techniques. Fighting Madara was not only exhausting but also mentally taxing.

This opponent was worthy of the name Uchiha Madara!

Overall, the Uchiha Madara of this world had a slight edge. After all, he was nearly twenty years older than the other, and some things couldn't be improved without the tempering of time.

Madara's current appearance was rather pathetic, bloodstains on his white clothes, the blood at the corner of his lips un-wiped. However, Uchiha Madara wasn't much better off: his yukata was tattered in many places...

"Just surrender obediently! You can't win against me!" Uchiha Madara said coldly from a high vantage point.

"Drawing conclusions too early is not a good habit." Madara licked the corner of his lips, the metallic taste of blood sharp on his tongue. "You're accustomed to viewing things superficially, indulging in self-deception through illusory emotions, revealing your thoughts too rashly, becoming arrogant due to your individual strength, and imposing your personal will on others without considering the established reality. Many strong individuals make this mistake."

Uchiha Madara remained unfazed, "Are you still pretending to be strong?"

Madara's lips curved slightly. He had spoken earnestly; whether the other understood the deeper meaning... was not his concern. "Have you forgotten something? My hidden weapons... weren't given for free."

As his voice fell, the chakra remaining on the hidden weapons planted throughout the area began to glow faintly. These lights instantly connected, forming a crisscrossing pattern that simultaneously trapped the two figures in the center. Viewed from above, this area was covered by a massive formation.

Most of these hidden weapons were ones he had "accidentally" missed, scattered to form a formation, orderly amidst chaos. Madara had managed to set up such a grand formation while alternating between life and death in the battle!

"You see, even if I can't kill you, I can take you down with me." The ground beneath them began to shake, Madara's faint smile unchanged. "So, the result of this duel should be... a draw!"

--BOOM!

With a deafening roar, a hillside disappeared from the northern part of Konoha village.

The two Uchiha Madaras returned, covered in dust and grime.

Not to mention the complicated and conflicted feelings of the Uchiha clansmen present facing two clan heads, the First Hokage's face showed rare anger: "Madara, causing such a commotion, you've gone too far!" He didn't address either Madara specifically, as both Uchiha Madaras deserved a lecture!

Uchiha Madara turned his head away. Madara calmly took out clothes and a handkerchief from Space Eater and tidied himself up. Seeing the two unyielding figures, the First Hokage rubbed his throbbing head helplessly. One Uchiha Madara was manageable, but two were a disaster!

Madara finished tidying himself, restoring his elegant demeanor. He nodded slightly to the First Hokage, "Senju-kun, I apologize for the inconvenience of disturbing you here."

The First Hokage involuntarily took a step back, slightly unaccustomed to this version of Uchiha Madara. "...It's fine, just be more careful next time."

"As long as someone doesn't intentionally provoke, I believe such a thing won't happen again." He continued to smile politely, while simultaneously planting a long-term seed of discord: from now on, if a fight broke out, it would absolutely be the other party's fault for provoking it!

Hashirama silently turned his head: So, you're directly shifting the blame onto someone else, right?

"This is compensation." Madara took out... no, poured out a pile of money from Space Eater. "A small token of my appreciation."

A pile of money! Not a few bills, not a stack! Everyone stared at the fluttering banknotes, their gazes shifting from curiosity to dark lines, and finally to envy, jealousy, and hatred!

"Madara-kun." Thinking that the other wasn't that familiar with him yet, and calling him "Uchiha" felt a bit inappropriate, he added the formal suffix "kun" to the name to distinguish them. "It's inconvenient to mix currencies from two worlds."

"Is that so..." Madara sighed, waved his hand, and put the money away, a hint of regret and apology on his face. "I accidentally damaged quite a few things during the fight, and compensation is only natural. It's a shame I can't make amends now. I feel very guilty."

Everyone present lowered their heads... Please don't make such a literary expression with our clan head's/Madara-sama's face! We can't handle it!

"How about this, if Senju-kun needs any help, I will do my best." Madara's gaze was very sincere, so sincere that Uchiha Madara beside him couldn't help but let out a scoff, but he quickly couldn't laugh anymore.

Madara smoothed things over with a few words and left with Hashirama. The First Hokage, who had maintained a gentle expression for half the day, turned his gaze back to Uchiha Madara, his tone turning cold again. "If you hadn't reminded me, I would have forgotten! Madara, now let's settle the compensation issue. Hmm? Of course, not just for this time..."

Having set two little traps for the Uchiha Madara here, Madara's mood improved considerably.

Ignoring the gazes of respect and disbelief he received along the way, Madara suddenly turned his head. "Hashirama, why are you staring at me like that?"

"You've sustained internal injuries," Hashirama stated with certainty.

"Just a minor wound." Madara instinctively touched his abdomen. How did he spot such a concealed injury?

"Don't be so reckless next time. The Uchiha Madara here possesses the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan." Hashirama said solemnly. He had only learned of this while chatting with the First, otherwise, he would have certainly stopped him.

As the long-time rivals of the Uchiha, the Senju were well-versed in the nature of the Sharingan. The suppression exerted by a high-level Sharingan alone could put Madara at a disadvantage, and the Uchiha Madara of this world was certainly not one to show mercy!

Madara narrowed his eyes slightly: "I knew that already. However, I wanted to test my own strength... ah, and his as well."

"Madara!" A nameless anger welled up in Hashirama's heart. Realizing his emotions were off, he paused, then lowered his voice: "Do not gamble with your life!"

"I wouldn't do this if I didn't have ten-tenths of certainty. Though we differ in many ways, there is one point where we are alike..." Madara rubbed the Jade Ring on his thumb, smiling with airy indifference. "How could an Uchiha Madara who has already lost his younger brother bear to let Izuna lose his older brother? Even if that Izuna is in another world."

Uchiha Madara would not kill him; he had understood that from the very beginning. This was the reason he remained fearless despite being at a disadvantage.

Within the illusion of Uchiha Madara's dream, he had gathered far too much intelligence. Thus, from the moment he spoke his first word to the Uchiha Madara of this world, he had already quietly laid his trap.

Regardless of martial prowess, anyone with a flaw in their heart could never defeat him. Even if they won a single battle, he could make them lose their entire life.