The raging waterfall instantly threw the Uchiha Clan's plans into disarray. Even Madara could only barely remain standing beneath the crashing waves with Susanoo, protecting himself but unable to help anyone else. Water Release's strength lay in its seemingly weak but unending, persistent attacks. Add to that the massive amount of chakra Butsuma had suddenly unleashed, and Madara found himself in a bit of a predicament. He had yet to link up with and control the Nine-Tails, so he couldn't match Butsuma's chakra while the latter had the Eight Gates open.
"Big brother! Hurry and go!"
As everyone struggled to their feet, Tobirama suddenly appeared beside Hashirama and urged him on. Hashirama looked toward his clansmen and replied,
"You take them and get out of here first. I'll go help Father!"
Seeing Hashirama turn to leave, Tobirama hurriedly stepped in front of him and said,
"Father used a forbidden technique!"
"What? Tobirama, why did you let Father use a forbidden technique?"
Hearing Tobirama's words, Hashirama gripped his shoulders in shock and demanded an explanation. Tobirama lowered his head and answered in a heavy voice,
"Mingye's sword is poisoned. It's a poison I can't cure! Big brother, Mingye's poison seems specifically designed to counter our Senju Clan. We can't fight him head-on!"
Mingye again. Remembering the poison he himself had once suffered, Hashirama knew how difficult it would be for his injured father to purge it. And given the current situation, there was no way they could give their father even a moment to remove the poison.
"Damn it! What is he thinking? Why is he targeting us at every turn?"
Watching Hashirama's frustration, Tobirama retorted coldly,
"If you were in his place, wouldn't you target them?"
"This...!"
"Hurry up and go. If we don't leave now, it'll be too late! Father won't be able to hold out much longer!"
At a loss for words, Hashirama gazed at Mingye, who stood atop the giant white serpent in the distance, attacking his father. Suddenly, he felt an urge to kill him—a thought that had never before crossed Hashirama's mind. For just an instant, he felt a trace of jealousy. Then, with a self-deprecating smile, he said to Tobirama, utterly dejected,
"Let's go. All we can do now is get out of the Land of Fire as quickly as possible!"
"Aihara sent me to find you for the same reason!"
Without waiting to see whether Hashirama agreed, Tobirama took his hand and hurried away in the opposite direction from the battlefield. Mingye had noticed the brothers leading everyone away, but he simply couldn't spare the attention to stop them. Butsuma's goal was to hold everyone back. If Mingye and the others went after Hashirama, Butsuma would slaughter the Uchiha Clan's ninjas. Mingye could not allow that to happen. With no way to avoid the fight, Izuna and Mingye took up positions on either side of Butsuma, blocking his path.
Madara struck first. In his fury, he cleaved the entire lake in two with a single slash of Susanoo's sword, then charged straight at Butsuma. A stone giant rose from the ground and punched at Madara, but a giant serpent appeared behind it, its tail like steel as it smashed the statue to pieces. Five or six water dragons formed from the waves and roiled through the man-made lake, sending wave after wave crashing against the shore. Protected by Manda, Mingye took little damage. He clasped his hands in front of his chest as scales began to cover his body, gathering natural energy in preparation to attack Butsuma.
Nearby, Izuna's Three-Tomoe Sharingan opened. He fixed his gaze on Butsuma and moved swiftly, searching for an opening to get close. Madara repeatedly cut down water dragons amid the waves, but to no effect. Enraged, he made his Mangekyō Sharingan spin wildly once more. The earth shook and split open, and a colossal stone statue resembling Susanoo rose into view.
"Die!"
Standing atop the materialized Susanoo, Madara raised its enormous stone sword high and brought it crashing down. The powerful blow cleaved the mountain straight ahead in two. Butsuma was caught in the attack and hurled dozens of meters away. Mingye and Izuna had both been waiting for the slightest opening. The moment Madara's strike broke Butsuma's formation, they rushed toward him.
"Chaos Wind Spike!"
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
A Wind Spike and a fireball merged, the wind fanning the flames as they shot toward Butsuma. He pressed one hand to the ground, raising a wall of water around himself, but even that couldn't stop their combined wind-and-fire attack. The wall shattered, and the Fire Style technique struck his body. His red chakra formed what looked like a second layer of armor, barely blocking part of the attack, but Butsuma's body still gave off the faint smell of roasting flesh. His chest and both hands were badly burned.
Madara seized the moment and leaped down from the statue. An arm of Susanoo appeared behind him, carrying him forward as he charged at Butsuma. Like an arrow that never missed, it pierced straight through Butsuma's chest. Butsuma tried to continue his attack, but Izuna and Mingye swung their swords from either side, severing both his hands.
Susanoo's sword did not pause. Another arm appeared behind Madara, wielding a sword that severed Butsuma's legs. Mingye placed his hand on Butsuma's head, while Izuna, in perfect coordination, slashed across his neck and separated his head from his body.
"How did Butsuma have so much chakra? He was quite troublesome! Good thing not everyone can use this secret technique. Otherwise, it would've been difficult to wipe out the Senju Clan's ninjas so easily!"
Izuna looked at Butsuma's head in Mingye's hands and sighed. Madara watched Mingye and asked,
"Mingye! You didn't really give the order, did you?"
Mingye smiled and shrugged. He packed Butsuma's head into the burlap sack he had prepared at his waist, then turned to leave as he replied to Madara,
"Big brother, the Senju Clan is already no more. The Hatake Clan's blades are incredibly sharp!"
Deep in a lush green forest, the small village reeked of blood. Hashirama and Tobirama had rushed back to their clan as fast as they could, but the sight that greeted them was a heartbreaking one. The verdant surroundings looked full of life, yet not a trace of life remained. Bodies and blood littered the ground, telling the brothers everything about the cruel scene before them.
"Mingye is ruthless!"
Tobirama clenched his fists, gritting his teeth as he spoke bitterly. Hashirama showed no expression as he crouched on the ground, one hand pressed to it while he sensed everything in the village. He sighed, shook his head, and smiled bitterly. "There isn't a single survivor—not even among the attackers. They must have launched their assault with everything they had, then withdrawn immediately!"
"You bastard!"
Looking at the scene, Tobirama understood what Hashirama meant. Mingye knew the attackers could destroy the Senju Clan, but might not be able to defeat Hashirama and Tobirama. So he had withdrawn without hesitation, before they could even meet the attackers. The brothers had no one to vent their anger on.
"Enough. We have to leave as quickly as possible. We can't stay in the Land of Fire any longer. Who knows what might happen if we do? The dead are gone. All we can do now is survive—for ourselves, and for our fallen clansmen!"
Hashirama had already learned how ruthless Mingye could be when they faced off earlier, and he had understood the price their clan would pay. But when he saw the real scene, he was still overcome with grief. He forced down his pain and managed a faint smile as he comforted Tobirama, wanting to give his younger brother and the clansmen who had yet to return something to believe in.
"Big brother, where do we go now?"
Tobirama nodded solemnly, then asked again. Hashirama let out a long sigh and looked up at the clear sun, which seemed to gaze down on everything like a human eye. He answered, utterly dejected,
"Let's go to the Land of Whirlpools first. The surviving clansmen need time to recover. There are only twelve of us left. We can't afford to lose any more."
"The Senju of the Forest have repeatedly acted with arrogance and disrespect, speaking out of turn and offending the Daimyo's authority. They are hereby declared enemies of the nation. Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju are wanted throughout the land. Anyone who encounters them is to kill them without exception!"
Mingye listened as one of his clansmen read out the proclamation. He sneered and looked toward Shimizu, who sat nearby.
"That still isn't enough. To destroy the Senju Clan, the most important thing is to kill Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju. How many people do you think these orders will rally to serve the country?"
Shimizu didn't have Mingye's experience from his previous life. He had no idea how great a threat Hashirama and Tobirama posed, so he had stopped worrying about the Senju Clan, which Mingye had already thrown into chaos. Mingye was different. If Hashirama and Tobirama survived, who knew what they might become in the future? Even if they truly left the Land of Fire, given their ambition, they could become the future Kage of any of the other four countries. That was something Mingye absolutely did not want to see.
But there was no point trying to explain. Shimizu looked at Mingye's furrowed brow and advised him with a trace of mockery,
"You don't need to worry about Hashirama Senju and Tobirama. I really don't understand why you care so much about those two. They're living like stray dogs now. Do you still think they can turn the world upside down?"
Mingye had no idea how to explain it. How could he tell them the truth—that in the manga he'd read in his previous life, the Senju Clan eventually defeated the Uchiha Clan? What the hell was the point of that now? He'd already wiped out half the Senju Clan. No one would believe him if he said that. They'd probably think he was crazy. In this world, the victor had to carry himself with the authority and swagger of a victor. As for the fallen Senju Clan, none of the Uchiha wanted to wipe them out completely. It had to be said: that was one of the kinder aspects of this world. The strong would always give up on or ignore the weak—even if "weak" needed to be in quotation marks.
"Third Uncle, you really don't understand what I'm thinking. I can't be bothered to explain. I'll just tell you this: if the Senju Clan is completely wiped out, our clan is sure to become the greatest in the world. Listen carefully: I said the world, not the Land of Fire!"
Before you continue