In the Valley of the End, the sky was leaden gray, pressing heavily overhead as though it were about to collapse!
The wind howled through the space between the confronting colossi, sweeping up spray from the churning waterfall and flinging it against faces, wet and cold.
Two towering stone statues faced each other in silence, weathered and worn by wind and rain. On the left stood Madara Uchiha, his long hair flying, his gaze imperious. Even in stone, he seemed to radiate a bone-chilling aloofness and arrogance. On the right stood Hashirama Senju, his arms folded and his face serene, yet the grain of the stone conveyed a weight that embraced all things and remained indestructible.
And now, beneath the statues, the two men themselves faced each other across a bottomless gorge.
Madara Uchiha stood there in his familiar dark-blue layered armor with its red lining, his long hair whipping in the gale. He wore no forehead protector. Beneath the stray locks over his brow, his eyes were dark as two deep pools that swallowed all light, yet something like magma seemed to churn in their depths, burning with a fury that could incinerate everything.
Beneath his feet... was a... fox. No! This was no ordinary fox! It was a demon fox of inconceivable size, crimson all over, its chakra so immense and violent that the surrounding air twisted and groaned! Nine tails swayed unconsciously behind him, each movement stirring a heart-stopping chakra storm. The demon fox's eyes were closed, as though it had fallen asleep, but the malice and destructive aura it unconsciously emitted were enough to shatter the mind of any ninja whose resolve was weak.
The Nine-Tails! He had actually found and subdued the Nine-Tails!
Hashirama Senju stood across the gorge, still wearing his red layered armor and white Hokage robe. He stood straight as an old pine rooted in mountain rock, unmoving despite the wind and water. But his usual hearty smile was absent. There was only a deep weariness, as though he bore the entire world on his shoulders. He looked at Madara, at the Nine-Tails in Madara's arms, his gaze complicated with anguish, disappointment, and resolve, but not a trace of surprise.
"Hashirama-"
Madara Uchiha spoke. His voice was not loud, yet it pierced the raging wind and water like an icicle, striking Hashirama's ears with perfect clarity. It also seemed to strike the heart of every Konoha ninja watching this place from afar through ninjutsu and secret arts.
"As someone strong, you should act like it! The strong should have backbone!" He stared at Hashirama, every word seeming to squeeze through his teeth, carrying biting cold and towering fury. "You, Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, the First Hokage, actually knelt before an insect like Tsuchigumo, before those Uchiha fools?!"
He scoffed, his laugh full of undisguised contempt and a deeper anger, as though he had been betrayed.
"Were you begging their forgiveness? Trading those ridiculous knees of yours for a little of their false 'understanding' and 'peace'? Hashirama, where are your fists? Where is your Wood Release? Where is that grit you had when you fought me, when you would have shouldered the sky itself if it fell? Did you feed it all to the dogs?!"
He spoke faster and faster, his voice rising until he was almost shouting his questions:
"If I'd come back a little sooner, would you have knelt before me too?! Would you have knelt there, weeping and sobbing, begging me, Madara Uchiha, to stay in that hypocritical shithole you call 'Konoha,' held together by kneeling and compromise?!"
The gale swept up the waterfall's water, turning it into cold rain and mist that splashed between them. Stirred by its master's emotions, the Nine-Tails' chakra grew restless. A dark sheen spread over its crimson fur, and a low, threatening whine rose in its throat.
Hashirama Senju listened quietly to Madara's furious roars. His face showed no sign of anger; only his weariness deepened. Only when Madara finished did he slowly speak, his voice steady yet carrying an unquestionable strength that likewise pierced the wind and rain:
"Madara, you're wrong."
"I knelt not because I was weak, and certainly not because I had no backbone." He looked at Madara openly, with even a trace of pity. "Quite the opposite. It was because I know what it truly means to be 'strong.' The truly strong should not use their power to make others fear them and submit. They should use it to protect, to shoulder burdens, to... make amends."
"Yuanguang's death and the death of the Tsuchigumo clan leader, whatever the truth may be, both happened in Konoha, and neither can be separated from my responsibility as Hokage. I failed to manage the village, to discover the dangers in time, to prevent those tragedies. My 'strength' and my title of 'Hokage' are not excuses to stand above everyone and ignore those mistakes and that suffering. On the contrary, they require me to lower my head, to admit my mistakes, to do everything I can to make things right and heal those wounds-even if it means doing this."
He paused, his voice growing heavier. "As for kneeling before you and begging you to stay... Madara, if it had been back then, if you had been willing to believe in me and our shared dream, perhaps I truly would have. Not by kneeling, but by using all my sincerity and all my strength to persuade you to stay, the only rival I ever acknowledged, and my... friend."
"Friend?" Madara threw back his head and laughed as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world. His laughter echoed through the gorge, filled with endless mockery and desolation. "Hashirama! Spare me that sickening hypocrisy! Friend? Would you hide the secret of Wood Release cells from a friend? Would you let that bastard Tobirama Senju stir up trouble in the shadows and plot against the Uchiha if you cared about your friend? Would that wretched village you built for a friend use the so-called 'Will of Fire' as shackles, slowly grinding away the Uchiha's edge, causing my brother Izuna's death, and forcing me to leave?!"
He abruptly stopped laughing, his gaze turning incomparably sharp and cold. The Nine-Tails in his arms seemed to sense his killing intent, its eyelids trembling as though about to open.
"Tobirama Senju didn't kneel alongside you, did he? Hashirama! You can't even persuade your own brother, but you think you can persuade me! Just look at Konoha now! Look what it's become! Factions tearing at each other, schemes and plots-even a clan elder can die under mysterious circumstances, leaving you, the Hokage, to clean up the mess by kneeling! Is this the peace you wanted? Is this the village we dreamed of back then? A hypocritical quagmire that can only survive if the strong break their knees and the weak wag their tails and beg for pity?!"
"A place like that makes me, Madara Uchiha, sick to stay for even another moment!"
He raised one hand and gently stroked the Nine-Tails' sleek yet dangerous fur. His gaze settled on Hashirama, becoming unfathomably deep:
"Hashirama, when I left, I thought you would understand. Understand the true nature of this world, understand that people like us are destined never to be bound by that kind of false peace. But I was wrong. Not only do you not understand, you've sunk deeper and deeper, even... become the very sort of person we despised most back then. An utter coward wrapped in 'righteousness' and 'weakness'!"
"I am not a coward, Madara." Hashirama Senju shook his head. His voice remained steady, but now held an unequivocal firmness. "I merely chose another path. One that may be harder and less understood, but one that, in my eyes, can let more people survive and live better lives. If Konoha has problems, I'll address them. If there are mistakes, I'll correct them. If there is hatred, I'll do my best to resolve it. This isn't weakness. It's responsibility, the burden I must shoulder after choosing to become Hokage."
He looked at the Nine-Tails beneath Madara's feet, his gaze grave. "But you, Madara, chose another path. You treat tailed beasts, power like the Nine-Tails, as tools, as weapons to impose your own will. That will only bring more disasters and more hatred. Stop, Madara. There's still time to turn back. We can sit down and talk properly, just as we did back then."
"Talk?" An icy, cruel curve lifted the corner of Madara's mouth. "Hashirama, we have nothing left to discuss. Our ideals differ, and our paths have split. Back then, I lost to you. Today, I'll settle this."
He slowly set the Nine-Tails in his arms on the ground. When it landed, it did not grow larger, but its terrifying chakra and malice burst forth without restraint! Crimson chakra rose from its body like flames, forming a Chakra Cloak that enveloped Madara's entire body. At that moment, Madara's eyes changed as well. His scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan slowly spun, faintly resonating with the Nine-Tails' violent chakra, making him seem even more uncanny and terrifying.
"Use your Wood Release, use all your strength, and stop me, Hashirama." Madara's voice came through the cloak of Nine-Tails chakra with a cold, metallic echo. "Or be crushed by me and buried in this Valley of the End, along with that ridiculous dream of Konoha!"
"ROOOAR-!!!"
The Nine-Tails abruptly opened its eyes, revealing beastly pupils filled with brutality, hatred, and the desire to destroy everything! It threw back its head and roared into the sky. The sound waves mingled with a terrifying chakra shock wave, shaking the entire Valley of the End, sending the waterfall surging backward, and seemingly making even the two enormous stone statues tremble!
Above the Valley of the End, leaden clouds churned violently, with lightning flickering within them. A confrontation between gods that would determine the future course of the Shinobi World was on the verge of erupting.
Hashirama Senju watched Madara Uchiha, who was fully ready for battle and had begun combining with the Nine-Tails' power. The last trace of weariness and any intention to persuade him vanished from his face, replaced by a fighting spirit as tranquil as the sea and as firm as a mountain.
He slowly formed hand seals, his low but clear voice likewise ringing through the valley:
"In that case... Madara, I'll stop you my way."
"Wood Release-"
Vast chakra brimming with life erupted from Hashirama Senju like the awakening progenitor of the forest, matching the violent, evil Nine-Tails chakra opposite him and clashing fiercely with it!
In the Valley of the End, a storm was brewing. The true battle was about to begin.
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