Madara Uchiha vs. Hashirama Senju

Hearing Uchiha Ensei's answer, Madara Uchiha finally began to lower his guard.

Madara was no longer the man he had been when he was first revived.

No one knew better than Madara how quickly Uchiha Ensei—the one enemy in the entire Ninja World he wasn't confident he could defeat—had grown stronger.

Ever since Madara had failed to kill him at their first meeting, Ensei's power had grown at an uncanny rate, with no end in sight.

By now, Madara had long since abandoned the idea of making an enemy of Uchiha Ensei.

He had only set his plan to "sweep away" the daimyos of every nation in the Ninja World in motion after confirming that Ensei would not interfere.

If Ensei truly opposed it, Madara would probably change his plans at once.

For now, everything was proceeding as Madara had intended. As long as Ensei did not stop him, Madara was confident he could achieve his ideal world by another means.

But if Ensei did try to stop him...

Madara recalled the Tailed Beasts' locations he had uncovered, and confidence surged through him.

"Since you aren't getting involved, don't interfere with this fight."

Madara had realized what Ensei meant by life force, but it did not concern him much.

Compared with fighting Hashirama Senju once more, life force hardly mattered.

On the battlefield, without Madara sustaining his technique, the Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence on the other side had finally prevailed.

But Hashirama did not press his advantage. Instead, he frowned at Madara's strange behavior.

"Sorry. An annoying brat interrupted our fight."

Madara offered a brief explanation, emphasizing how Ensei had concealed himself without a sound or the slightest fluctuation of chakra.

If Madara had not actually heard Ensei's voice just now, he might still have had no idea Ensei