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Madara Uchiha finally lost his composure, throwing his head back and laughing uproariously.
"Hashirama, oh, Hashirama! Never thought you'd see the day, did you?"
"You're always putting me through the wringer. Now it's your turn to get tripped up!"
"That kid's crafty as hell. I saw it ages ago!"
"Even Tobirama Senju got dumped in the Research Department, stuck in the lab day in, day out. And you think you can get away?"
"Dream on!"
As he spoke, he paid no heed to Hashirama's aggrieved expression and gave Xunjing a thumbs-up.
"Nice work, kid! That's exactly how you should handle him!"
"Madara!"
Hashirama exploded, roaring at Madara Uchiha and making as if to lunge at him and beat him up.
I'll teach you to laugh at me!
"Hahaha! All right, all right! I'll stop, okay? Why are you getting so worked up?"
Madara Uchiha hurriedly reached out to hold Hashirama back, hastily soothing him. "It's for Konoha's sake, after all. I think you're actually enjoying it."
Fortunately, Hashirama didn't actually hit him.
Otherwise, with most of Madara Uchiha's strength sealed and only Chunin-level power left, the First Hokage would have pinned him down and wiped the floor with him in seconds.
"Huh?"
Something suddenly occurred to Hashirama. His eyes lit up, and he turned to Xunjing.
"Hey, Xunjing! I'm not the only one who can expand and renovate Konoha!"
"Can't Madara do it too?"
"He's integrated my flesh and blood into his body and mastered Wood Release."
"With his proficiency in Earth Release on top of that, I think he'd make a perfectly good assistant. What do you say?"
"Huh?"
Madara Uchiha froze on the spot.
He glared at Hashirama and roared furiously, "Hashirama, what are you getting at?"
Inside, however, he began considering the possibilities.
*Hmm? Could this