Madara Uchiha's voice was low and hoarse, edged with the arrogance of a man judging an age that had come after his own. He reached down and brushed a hand over the cold steel chimney beneath his feet, a contemptuous smile curling his lips.
"No scent of trees. Just the stink of rust and machine oil. Hashirama, it seems the thing we fought so hard to protect has become a heap of scrap metal."
Below, the anti-air defenses finally reacted.
"Enemy attack! Target locked! Bearing 12-09, altitude 110!"
At the commander's hoarse shout, twelve automated defense towers around the First Arsenal swiveled at once.
Ratatatatat!
A dense storm of metal erupted. The 12.7-millimeter armor-piercing incendiary rounds fired at six thousand rounds per minute, enough to grind rock to powder and shred steel.
Streams of fire wove a net of death, swallowing the man atop the chimney in an instant.
"So these are the so-called... modern ninja tools?"
Madara's casual assessment came through the flames and smoke.
The smoke cleared.
A blue chakra skeleton, its ribs like those of a god, enclosed Madara completely. Bullets powerful enough to pierce tank armor struck Susanoo's bones and raised nothing but feeble sparks. They left not a single crack.
Madara had not even lowered his arms. He still stood with them folded across his chest, boredom in his eyes.
"Too weak. A physical attack without chakra behind it is like a baby waving its fists."
He raised his head slightly toward the two familiar faces on Hokage Rock, and the newer third, fourth, and fifth faces beside them.
"If that brat isn't here, I'll clean up this eyesore of a junkyard first."
Madara raised one hand, palm toward the sky.
At that moment, everyone in Konoha felt their heart seize.
The sky darkened.
It