Tobirama Senju's breathing, still ragged from the fierce battle, quickened again. Clutching his pierced chest, he staggered and fell.
His chakra, depleted in the duel, and his exhausted body could not carry him clear of this fatal blow. Having just won with a sudden surprise attack himself, he had fallen victim to another ambush layered on top of his own, making the battlefield all the more ironic.
Who was it?
I didn't see them, but it had to be those damned Uchiha!
What a shame. I finally broke the stalemate with the Flying Thunder God Technique, only for things to swing right back.
My idiot brother. Without me, those evil Uchiha brats will run circles around him.
What will happen to my brother when I'm dead? Can he handle everything alone...?
As his blood drained away, so did his ability to think. He stared at the long blade protruding from his chest, his thoughts faltering.
This blade... it's black. Its chakra fluctuations are strange. Something's wrong.
"Tobirama!"
Hashirama Senju unleashed his Wood Release in an instant, striking with overwhelming force.
Thick trunks burst from the ground, wrapping Tobirama Senju in layer after protective layer before thrusting viciously toward the attacker.
The attacker was clad entirely in black, with no clan crest on his clothes. A black veil concealed his face, and only his build revealed that he was a man.
Realizing the danger, he immediately retreated, fleeing into the dense woods at full speed without looking back.
Hashirama Senju was furious and wanted to pursue him, but his brother's safety mattered more than killing the attacker. Reluctantly, he sent several Wood Clones after the fleeing man, then returned to Tobirama Senju's side.
Under his control, the layers of Wood Release shielding his brother from another attack parted, revealing Tobirama Senju sprawled in a blood-soaked heap.
A sharp blade had pierced his chest. Blood streamed down his already saturated clothes, and the severe blood loss had left him barely conscious, his face frighteningly pale.
Damn it, I let my brother get hurt this badly. I failed him. Hashirama Senju's face twisted with fury, guilt, and sorrow. He immediately pressed his hands beside Tobirama Senju's wound, pouring his immense chakra into Medical Ninjutsu at full power.
The attacker had been vicious and ruthless. The stab was precise, steady, and brutal, aimed straight at the heart. He had even twisted the handle inside the wound, leaving it grotesquely torn and gaping.
Their only stroke of luck was that, despite how deeply the blade had plunged, Tobirama Senju's instinctive tensing and Hashirama Senju's timely intervention had prevented the attacker from pulling the weapon free.
The blade plugging the wound slowed the bleeding, leaving the grievously injured Tobirama Senju a chance of survival. Had it been pulled out, Hashirama Senju would likely have been holding nothing but a still-warm corpse.
Under Hashirama Senju's tireless treatment, Tobirama Senju's condition improved a little. His eyelids trembled, and he weakly opened his eyes, struggling to move his lips.
"Tobirama, what are you trying to say?" Seeing his brother respond, Hashirama Senju breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes immediately filling with tears. "Save your strength for now. Whatever it is, we can talk when we get home."
"...blade..."
"Later? Yes, we'll talk later, when we're home. I'll make you better."
"Blade, careful..."
"What did you say, Tobirama? I didn't catch that." Without stopping his Medical Ninjutsu, Hashirama Senju leaned down to listen-
"Watch out... the blade!"
"Hashirama, get back!"
The two overlapping warnings were drowned out by a rush of air. A slender, razor-sharp blur suddenly appeared beside the dagger embedded in Tobirama Senju's chest. The blade flashed through a vicious arc, aimed straight at Hashirama Senju's unprotected neck.
What? He disguised himself as a weapon? His concern for his brother had clouded his judgment, and Hashirama Senju, whose sensory abilities were not particularly strong, had let his guard down. Guided only by years of combat experience, he desperately leaned backward to evade the strike.
But it was too close!
Ninja possessed tremendous offensive power but little defense, and Hashirama Senju, who had yet to become the strongest in the Shinobi World, was no exception.
The dagger bit into the side of his neck, its deathly chill slicing through skin, tearing through muscle, severing blood vessels, and cutting into bone-but it did not pass through!
The razor-sharp blade caught in his neck bones!
The Senju Clan's extraordinary vitality, combined with his resilient sage body, slowed the dagger's passage through his neck. Hashirama Senju's exceptional combat instincts saved him as well. In the split second before he could be beheaded, his body automatically drove his chakra to its limit, reinforcing his neck bones and leaving him a slim chance of survival.
That exchange let him clearly sense the cold, sinister chakra in the attacker's eyes. Years of fighting had even taught him to recognize it as the ocular power of a two-tomoe Sharingan.
It was actually... the Uchiha Clan?!
His heart turned cold.
Can my dream of achieving peace through an alliance really come true?
A succession of Wood Release attacks forced the attacking "Uchiha" to dodge and weave. Hashirama Senju kept Tobirama Senju alive with one hand while pressing the other to his own neck to preserve his life.
He fixed the attacker with a murderous glare so intense it seemed almost tangible. His slightly cut vocal cords vibrated with rage as he growled, "U... chi... ha!"
"He isn't!" Madara's blood-red Sharingan shone as he shouted his rebuttal. "His chakra fluctuations are different from the Uchiha Clan's. His Sharingan may have been transplanted later... he took our clan's eyes."
Seemingly humiliated and angered at having his origins exposed, the attacker, driven steadily backward by Wood Release, abandoned his disguise. He tore away the black veil concealing his face, planted a foot on the edge of a wooden growth, and pushed off, turning to charge at Madara Uchiha, who was supporting Izuna.
As Madara Uchiha stared at his face, his vicious expression froze, and his immense killing intent subsided a little. It's... Watanabe Ichiro! So it was him. No wonder...
His will to fight diminished considerably. But I'm sorry. I have reasons I can't back down, too.
Three blood-red tomoe gleamed in his eyes, and his ocular technique activated an instant after their gazes met.
Having a Sharingan gives him strong resistance to genjutsu, but three tomoe can suppress two enough to make him lose focus for an instant. Besides, my eyes have long since...
Scorching Fire Release followed immediately. Apparently unable to resist, the attacker was engulfed in flames.
The next instant, his figure vanished, leaving only a kunai falling to the ground.
Did he use the Substitution Technique in that instant when I hesitated? He really knows how to seize an opening.
Madara Uchiha made that assessment inwardly, then swiftly reversed his grip on the long blade in his left hand, blocking the attacker's powerful strike from behind. "You sneaky little brat..."
"Heh, let's die together!"
With his attack blocked, the attacker advanced rather than retreating. A crazed grin spread across his face. His chest and the hem of his clothes were plastered with Explosive Tags.
Watanabe Ichiro, you've lost your mind! Madara Uchiha cursed inwardly. His left hand was pinned down blocking the sudden attack, while his right supported Izuna and could not defend. He could hardly withstand so many Explosive Tags detonating at point-blank range...
"BOOM!!!" An explosion thundered through the skies.
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