Madara's move

Somewhere in the Shinobi World, the Nine-Tails lived in comfort. He had encountered humans recently and killed all those who coveted his chakra, but he had also heard a piece of news from them.

Apparently, Chōmei, the Seven-Tails, was actually mingling with humans. Clearly, he was still too weak and had been captured by shinobi. As far as the Nine-Tails was concerned, shinobi were still relatively weak creatures. A casual swipe of his claws could kill or injure them, never mind something like a Tailed Beast Bomb.

Today, he would find a different spot for a lovely nap, then patrol his territory. Life could hardly be more comfortable. But the next moment, he rose to his feet. He sensed intense malice, along with an enormous amount of chakra.

"Who's there?"

"So even a beast can talk. Become my Summoning Beast." Madara Uchiha leaped down in front of the Nine-Tails, cracking the ground beneath him.

"Get lost!" The Nine-Tails did not underestimate Madara Uchiha and opened with a Tailed Beast Bomb. Yet the very next moment, his eyes took on the Sharingan's pattern. Once again, a single move had ended the fight.

That was Madara Uchiha. In the future, other shinobi would band together, cower in fear, or sacrifice their lives when facing a tailed beast. As a member of the older generation, he used the most straightforward approach: a single genjutsu. Simple and brutal.

The Nine-Tails soon fell under the genjutsu, and Madara Uchiha immediately began questioning him about the Sage of Six Paths. The Nine Tailed Beasts had originally been one entity, which the Sage of Six Paths had then divided into nine parts.

As for what had happened before he developed consciousness, the Nine-Tails knew nothing. Madara Uchiha curled his lip. A beast was a beast, after all, but he would do as a mount.

Yet their combined form was something even the Sage of Six Paths feared, enough that he had extracted the tailed beasts in advance because of it. Why, then, would he leave behind the Stone Tablet detailing the Eye of the Moon Plan?

Doubts arose in Madara Uchiha's mind. The Nine-Tails' past contradicted the records on the Stone Tablet. Still, he had another way to determine whether the Stone Tablet was genuine: obtain Hashirama cells and use them to verify it.

Looking at his Summoning Beast, the Nine-Tails, Madara Uchiha wanted to head to Konoha to obtain Hashirama cells, but he stopped a moment later. What if he could not succeed in a short time? What if he could no longer take action when the time came? Who would be able to stand against Uchiha Mu?

He knew full well how much chakra Uchiha Mu possessed. But what if the plan's outcome fell short of his expectations? He recalled the information he had obtained through genjutsu: even at death's door, the Sage of Six Paths had insisted on separating the tailed beasts. As the saying went, a dying man's words were sincere.

"If I confirm that the Stone Tablet is genuine, I hope you won't stand in my way..." Madara Uchiha murmured, recalling everything he had seen in the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Village.

He then headed straight for Konoha with the Nine-Tails. He did not entirely agree with the different path Uchiha Mu had chosen, but given what Uchiha Mu had accomplished, he thought he had done better than Konoha.

Yet he had overlooked one issue: the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Village and Konoha had not started under the same circumstances. Konoha had been formed by an alliance of shinobi clans, whereas by the time the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Village founded its nation, shinobi clans large and small had already joined the various villages.

Uchiha Mu's core followers consisted of orphans he had taken from other kekkei genkai families or simply adopted, along with civilians and wandering shinobi who had joined him. That was very different from Konoha's tangled web of interests.

Just as in the original story, perhaps a little earlier, he was still the same man. He called Hashirama out, attacking Konoha and forcing Hashirama to stop him.

For the village's sake, Hashirama had already changed somewhat from the man he once was. The two immediately launched into a great battle: the Nine-Tails, the Wooden Man, the Nine-Tails clad in Susanoo, and the Thousand-Armed Kannon.

The two stood in a league of their own. Their battle lasted a long time, and Konoha briefly descended into panic. Fortunately, Tobirama Senju was there to stabilize the situation.

The Uchiha Clan could not understand why their clan leader had come to destroy Konoha. Their clan had helped establish Konoha, too. They simply could not understand.

Unfortunately, besides Madara Uchiha, there was now Uchiha Mu. Without exception, both had chosen to leave Konoha and their clan.

No one had followed Madara Uchiha when he left, while Uchiha Mu had departed without a sound. Aside from Hashirama, no one else had known.

At this point, the Hyuga Clan was also conflicted. As Konoha's third-largest clan, they found themselves in an awkward position. They lacked fighters on the level of the Senju and the Uchiha, especially now that the Uchiha had produced two of them.

Meanwhile, Hyuga Lingnai, who had left with Uchiha Mu, had become a renowned figure in the Shinobi World. It could hardly be otherwise. After summoning the Seven-Tails and obtaining his chakra, Hyuga Lingnai could fly, and she also had the Byakugan and a tailed beast's long-range striking power.

In this era-no, even in the future-she would rank among the strong, and among those particularly difficult to deal with. Some Hyuga women were deeply envious. While they were still learning their clan's etiquette, she had already made a name for herself.

The other shinobi clans focused on the battle. In the Nara Clan's view, Madara Uchiha probably had no intention of destroying Konoha. Otherwise, he would not have arrived and drawn Hashirama away for a one-on-one duel. Now they only needed to find out who would win.

The outcome differed little from the original story. Madara lost, stabbed this time. For the sake of the village, Hashirama could kill brothers, friends, or family.

Even so, he carefully preserved Madara Uchiha's body and refused to let Tobirama Senju study it. When Tobirama Senju proposed doing so, Hashirama's glare could have killed. No one in Konoha dared bring the matter up again.

The Uchiha Clan, however, was left with deeply mixed feelings. Madara, their pride, had lost and died at the hands of Hokage Hashirama Senju. Although Hashirama continued treating them as he always had, the other shinobi clans began to exclude them somewhat. Proud as they were, they remained unaware of it. At that moment, the Uchiha Clan was holding a clan meeting.

"Lord Madara is dead. He died attacking Konoha. Our clan can no longer produce a Hokage. We'll have to wait until Hashirama dies before fighting for power from within," one of the hardliners said.

They were rather resentful. As Uchiha and founders of Konoha, why did their clan wield so little power in the village?

"Even if Hashirama dies, would you have a chance? Which of you is a match for Tobirama Senju?" a dovish clan member asked. After all, even Izuna, their young clan leader who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, had died at his hands.

"We still have Uchiha Mu." He might not have stood out while he was in the clan, but once he displayed his strength, the Uchiha Clan, which revered power, began to acknowledge him.

"Does he still consider us his clansmen?" another clan member sneered. He had taken a Hyuga woman with him without even considering taking an Uchiha. They had heard that someone from the Uzumaki Clan had now joined him as well.

Everyone immediately fell silent. Little did they know that before Uchiha Mu became famous, taking clan members with him would have been even harder for him than for Madara Uchiha. That was why Uchiha Mu had never tried to run into that wall in the first place. Now, reasoning backward from the outcome, they had reached the wrong conclusion.

In short, Madara Uchiha's death caused not only an uproar in Konoha, but also considerable shock throughout the Shinobi World. The Land of Earth, which had received Madara's attention, was particularly delighted. The other great nations also breathed sighs of relief. They had heard that Hashirama had suffered severe injuries as well and hoped he would not live much longer.

After experiencing Madara's attack on Konoha with the Nine-Tails, and with Tobirama Senju's urging, Hashirama Senju began his journey to collect the tailed beasts. In his view, the Nine-Tails was far too powerful. It would be better to keep him restrained.