Madara must be stopped!

Konoha, Uchiha Clan Compound.

Early one morning a few days later, dawn had only just broken.

Madara walked out through the gate alone, without a single clansman accompanying him.

He wore a black, high-collared robe with the red-and-white fan crest of his clan embroidered on the back, and the Great Gunbai slung diagonally across his back.

His arms were folded across his chest, his long, unruly black hair hanging behind his shoulders, and his face was as dark as a storm cloud.

He walked slowly, each step landing heavily. As he passed through the compound gate, he did not even glance at the clansmen guarding it.

Over the past few days, the more he thought about it, the harder it became to swallow the insult.

He and Hashirama had gone in person to extend the invitation, showing the Hyuga every courtesy.

The Hyuga Clan Leader had told them to their faces that he needed to discuss it, then sent someone the next day to accept. Yet he had turned around and made a sixteen-year-old branch family boy the clan leader, who had said right in front of Hashirama that they would not come.

They were making a fool of him.

That day, he had stayed out of respect for Hashirama.

But showing Hashirama respect did not mean that he, Madara Uchiha, could be humiliated for nothing.

What was more, that Hyuga boy had shown no regard for even Konoha in front of Hashirama.

Madara raised his head, his eyes turning cold.

He quickened his pace and headed straight toward the village gate.

As he neared the village entrance, hurried footsteps came from behind him.

An Uchiha clansman jogged up to him, head lowered, and cautiously asked, "Clan Leader, where are you going so early? Would you like to take a few people along?"

Madara did not even slow his steps or turn his head, as though he had not heard a word.

The clansman froze in place and opened his mouth, but ultimately did not dare take another half step forward.

After leaving Konoha through its main gate, Madara followed the main road straight north.

Several li down the road, he leaped into the air and landed directly on a large tree branch beside him.

He bounded swiftly through the treetops, leaving branches shaking wildly underfoot as he sped alone toward the Hyuga Clan Compound.

Konoha, Hokage Building.

That morning, Tobirama Senju sat alone at a desk, brush in hand, checking the rosters submitted by the various clans.

Hashirama had not arrived yet.

The brush in Tobirama's hand suddenly stopped.

He sensed a familiar chakra moving toward the outskirts of the village, passing through the gate and heading straight north.

That chakra was cold and heavy, oppressive enough to tighten one's chest even from more than half a village away.

It was Madara.

Tobirama put down his brush, rose, and walked to the window to glance north.

North was the direction of the Hyuga Clan Compound.

With Madara heading north at a time like this, there was only one possible destination: the Hyuga Clan Compound.

That day in the Hokage's Office, Madara had personally said that he would wipe out the Hyuga Clan.

Tobirama did not move, nor did he intend to intercept him.

The Hyuga absolutely could not establish a separate village in the Land of Fire. Madara going over now to put them in their place and suppress them suited him perfectly.

Ideally, both sides would suffer heavy losses: once the Hyuga suffered a major setback, they would naturally understand who truly had the final say in the Land of Fire; if Madara suffered a little at their hands as well, he would no longer be so overbearing in Konoha.

Even if something really went wrong, it would be Madara Uchiha acting on his own, with no connection whatsoever to Konoha.

Without a trace of expression on his face, Tobirama slowly withdrew his gaze from the window.

He sat back down at the desk, picked up his brush again, and continued marking the names on the roster.

My elder brother must not find out about this.

If he finds out, he will definitely rush off to stop Madara.

About half an hour later, the door was pushed open.

Hashirama Senju walked in yawning, a smile on his face. "Tobirama, how is the roster checking coming along?"

Tobirama did not look up as he replied coldly, "Almost finished."

Hashirama pulled out a chair, sat down, and stretched. "I slept so deeply last night that I nearly couldn't get up this morning."

Tobirama took the next document without responding, saying not a word about Madara leaving the village.

Not suspecting a thing, Hashirama casually opened a scroll on the desk and began reading.

Konoha, Uchiha Clan Compound.

The following morning, Hashirama Senju stepped into the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Madara had not shown his face in the Hokage Building all day yesterday, so Hashirama had simply come over himself.

He was all smiles along the way, taking the initiative to greet the Uchiha clansmen he encountered.

When he reached Madara's house, Hashirama stepped forward and knocked. Inside, everything was deathly silent, and no one answered.

An Uchiha clansman hurried over and said with his head lowered, "Lord Hokage, the clan leader left at first light yesterday."

Hashirama paused in surprise. "Where did he go?"

"He left alone and said nothing. All we saw was him leaving through the village entrance and heading north."

Hashirama stood at the door, the smile slowly fading from his face.

Hashirama turned and strode toward the Hokage Building, then pushed open the office door.

Tobirama Senju was writing with his head lowered. At the sound, he looked up at his elder brother entering.

"Where did Madara go?" Hashirama asked without preamble.

Tobirama lowered his head again and continued drawing lines on the roster with his brush, his tone calm. "I don't know."

Hashirama walked up to his desk and stopped, staring down at him.

"Madara left the village, and you didn't sense it?" Hashirama's voice grew stern.

The brush in Tobirama's hand paused slightly, hovering above the paper.

He slowly set the brush down and sat in silence at the desk for a moment.

"He went north." Tobirama raised his head to look at Hashirama and told him the truth. "Most likely to the Hyuga Clan."

Hashirama's expression abruptly darkened when he heard that.

Madara had personally said in the office that day that he would wipe out the Hyuga. Given his temper, he would absolutely make good on his words.

Once Madara attacked, he never knew the meaning of mercy.

If Madara really wiped out the Hyuga, what would the other shinobi clans think of this village when Konoha had only just been established?

Exterminating an entire clan because they refused an invitation-wouldn't that make Konoha a den of man-eating monsters?

The village he had painstakingly built so that children would no longer have to go to war would come crashing down before it was even fully completed.

The boy named Shinichi Hyuga surfaced in Hashirama's mind, along with those eyes glowing faintly with pale blue light.

If Madara fought his way into the Hyuga Clan Compound, that boy would never back down or give way.

If those two unyielding people clashed, the consequences were simply unimaginable.

"Madara must be stopped!"

Hashirama flung the scroll in his hand onto the desk, turned, and headed out.

Without leaving Tobirama so much as a word of instruction, he pushed open the office door and rushed out.

After leaving Konoha through its main gate, Hashirama stepped onto the treetops, his figure turning into a blur as he raced north at tremendous speed.

The branches trembled violently beneath his feet, letting out a series of creaks under the strain as he hurtled forward with the urgency of an arrow loosed from its bow.

Madara had left a full day before him.

At Madara's pace, he was probably already nearing the Hyuga Clan Compound by now.

Hashirama gritted his teeth and picked up even more speed.

"Madara, whatever you do, don't strike to kill..."

Inside the Hokage's Office.

Tobirama Senju slowly rose, walked to the window, and silently gazed into the distance to the north.

The roster still lay open on the desk, turned to the page that had originally been reserved for the Hyuga.

He watched for a long time before turning around, returning to the desk, and sitting down again.