When the Moon Was Fullest

Hidden Leaf Village Entrance.

Shin'yu stood bathed in Black Mist, his two Mangekyo Sharingan blooming with eerie Red Light.

At a thought, Susanoo swept out a Big Hand, crushing the ninjas who had failed to retreat in time within its grasp.

"Die!"

The skeletal hand was huge and powerful like a machine. With only a slight squeeze, a spray of blood burst from between its fingers with a pop, leaving only bone fragments and chunks of flesh to patter down.

"Dammit!"

"Kill him!"

"You evil Uchiha brat! Die!"

The crowd flew into a rage. A second wave of Ninjutsu came flooding in, mixed with countless Exploding Tag Kunai.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Shin'yu ignored the overwhelming assault and retreated step by step. Susanoo shifted outward with him, its massive skeleton seeming to have been forged from divine iron, indestructible. Even under the relentless bombardment, it did not budge in the slightest.

When the thick smoke finally dispersed, the black skeleton was utterly unharmed. Not even its Black Qi had weakened, much less Shin'yu within it.

By comparison, the Hidden Leaf Village ninjas' attacks were soft and feeble, like a gentle drizzle incapable of stirring the slightest wave.

Shin'yu controlled Susanoo and drove out a punch. With a boom, the gates of the Hidden Leaf Village instantly fell apart, shattered wood and stone scattering everywhere.

"Try this!" He formed a hand sign within Susanoo. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Twin Style!"

The black skeleton opened its skeletal hand. Scorching currents of air rose as two enormous fireballs condensed in its palms, their heat blanketing the entire battlefield!

Using the fireballs as weapons, Susanoo swung and slammed them forward. Scarlet flames streaked across the sky, and screams from the crowd merged into one. No one could withstand such an attack.

Tobirama tried to extinguish the flames with the Great Waterfall Technique, but before his Water Release could even touch Susanoo, it collapsed on its own, leaving only splashing droplets as though it had encountered something inviolable.

"Completely immune to my Water Release?" He spat. "What a troublesome ability!"

With Susanoo, Shin'yu overwhelmed the crowd and quickly broke out of the Hidden Leaf Village, but the ninjas behind him still pursued him relentlessly.

His heart hardened. A vicious glint flashed through his bloodshot Pupils as the giant skeleton twisted and gathered strength. Like a crazed giant ape, it hurled the fireballs in its hands!

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The two fireballs flew one after another, trailing scorching paths as they shot straight toward the Hidden Leaf Village!

Empowered by Susanoo's enormous strength, no one could stop the fireballs' impact. Even the ground was plowed open into two straight, long trenches!

"You crafty brat!" Tobirama flared up and brought his Hands together, about to form the hand seals for Earth Release.

At that moment, a deep, powerful voice rang out from within the village.

"Summoning Technique: Fivefold Rashomon!"

"Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Five enormous gates of different colors burst from the earth in succession. Lifelike faces of demons and gods were carved upon them, symbolizing death and hell as dust and smoke billowed into the sky.

The first fireball crashed violently into the first gate, its impact sending flaming currents in every direction. The second fireball followed close behind!

"Rumble!"

The Rashomon gates shattered and collapsed. After smashing through the fourth gate, the fireballs finally lost their momentum and slowly dissipated into the air.

Amid the White Smoke soaring into the sky, a heroic figure in White Robe descended from above, smashing a massive crater into the ground before the Hidden Leaf Village. His presence was awe-inspiring and imposing!

"Lord Hokage!"

"Lord Hashirama!"

"Clan Head, you've finally arrived!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd. The moment they saw him, everyone finally let go of the anxiety hanging over their hearts.

Even Tobirama was no exception. "Big Brother, you're here."

"Mm."

Hashirama nodded, then looked at Shin'yu within Susanoo. His gaze suddenly sharpened. "This farce should end now."

Shin'yu let out a soft laugh. "Lord Hashirama, aren't you going to ask who I am?"

"I only know that you're a destroyer!" Hashirama said coldly. "Anyone who opposes the village, I will never forgive!"

"I wasn't the one who started killing... Tch." Shin'yu cut himself off, because Hashirama had already begun forming hand seals.

"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"

Earth and stone split apart as an enormous Wood Dragon came winding forward, its size not the least bit inferior to Shin'yu's first-stage Susanoo.

The ground shook violently. As the Wood Dragon's huge jaws came biting down, Shin'yu shook his head with a smile and actually dispelled Susanoo on his own.

The half-body skeleton dissolved into Black Qi. He closed his Eyes, seemingly resigned as he awaited death's arrival.

At that very moment, an even thicker blue arm struck in from the side, seizing the Wood Dragon by the neck. No matter how it twisted its body, it could not advance another inch.

The Wind Sound howled as another Big Hand gently grasped Shin'yu's body and pulled him behind someone.

Hashirama stared blankly at that figure. He silently lowered the Hands that had been forming hand seals, and the Wood Dragon immediately stopped struggling before crashing to the ground with a rumble.

The blue skeleton dissipated inch by inch. A man appeared amid the raging wind, his black hair fluttering as his arms folded across his chest.

Uchiha Madara!

Seeing Lord Madara arrive in time to save him, Shin'yu finally let out a quiet breath of relief. Taking the chance, he activated the ocular technique in his Right Eye and silently rewound himself to his peak condition once more.

At this point, only fifteen seconds remained before the timeline's limit. Beyond that point, he could only rewind himself to his battle-damaged state.

However, he had kept an ace up his sleeve. The rewind target was limited to his body's condition and did not include his clothing or Chakra reserves, so he still looked utterly bedraggled, as though he had just gone through a fierce battle.

In truth, he was brimming with stamina and completely uninjured.

After all, Lord Madara was here. He needed to keep up the act.

As Madara and Hashirama gradually faced off, Shin'yu swiftly deactivated his Sharingan, his eyes turning pitch-black.

Activating Susanoo just now had consumed Eye Power at a truly terrifying rate. Every cell in his body ached faintly. No wonder Sasuke from the Original Timeline had gone blind after using it for only a short time.

Fortunately, "Ame no Tokotachi" could avoid this problem to the greatest extent possible. But that also meant he could not fight others for long. Every battle had to be decided within five minutes, or he would not be able to clear it without injury!

"Madara, what exactly are you trying to do?" Hashirama asked solemnly.

Clearly, he had already linked Shin'yu's actions to Madara.

"I'm here to pick up my disciple." Madara flicked his sleeve and shielded Shin'yu behind him.

"What? He's your disciple?" Hashirama frowned. His gaze shifted to Shin'yu, displeasure on his face. "Do you know that he just killed many of my comrades?"

"Those are your comrades. So what if he killed them?" Madara said with disdain.

Hashirama took a step forward, his expression complicated and conflicted. "Madara, what exactly do you want? I clearly already agreed to give you the position of Second Hokage..." He stopped. In front of everyone, he could not bring himself to say anything too yielding, especially with his Younger Brother's piercing gaze behind him.

"Come back." After holding it in for a long while, he finally forced out those three words.

Madara remained cold and proud. "I should have told you already. I have begun to doubt your will. I left the Hidden Leaf Village to verify whether your path is correct. Must I say it all over again?!"

"Madara, sigh, you're still the same as before. No matter how anyone tries to persuade you..." Hashirama sighed helplessly. "At the very least, leave that child behind."

Madara raised his chin. "Impossible. Shin'yu is my clansman, my only acknowledged successor, and also my... dearest friend. Put away those empty delusions!"

"He killed many people!" Hashirama's gaze sharpened. "Your clansmen are all in the Hidden Leaf Village. Why defend a murderer!"

"Ha ha ha ha, murderer? Those words actually came from your mouth? How laughable!" Madara threw back his head and laughed. "Am I not a murderer? You, and Tobirama behind you! Aren't you murderers too?"

"Those people in the village are no longer worthy of calling themselves Uchiha. With clansmen as ignorant and foolish as them, I refuse to acknowledge them!" Madara looked behind Hashirama and coldly swept his gaze over the badly wounded and dead members of the Uchiha Clan.

"Madara, stop being so willful. You know I won't let that child go!"

"You already took away my dearest friend, and now you want to take another one from me?!" Madara's face twisted slightly.

Hashirama froze, and the killing intent around him faltered. "What?!"

"I'm taking him away today. Anyone who wants to stop me can try." With that, Madara turned around directly and left with Shin'yu.

Hashirama remained standing there in a daze, Madara's words echoing in his mind.

The crowd looked at one another. Even the Hokage had not made a move, so the remaining nobodies naturally did not dare make a sound.

Tobirama hurried to Hashirama's side, his face anxious. "Big Brother!"

Hashirama ignored him and shouted into the distance, "Madara! Are you still unable to let go of what happened to Izuna?!"

Madara stopped walking and gave a sorrowful smile. "Hashirama, the dearest friend I spoke of was you."

The Night Wind was slightly cool, dispersing the smoke of war, but Hashirama's heart could not calm down for a long time.

"Brother..." Uchiha Kagami lay weakly on the ground, his little face smeared with tears and dirt. As he watched his Brother's receding back, bitterness covered his youthful face.

Tobirama glanced over by chance, only to discover in shock that Uchiha Kagami's eyes had turned blood-red at some point, with two Tomoe clearly visible within them!

At that moment, the moon was at its fullest.