Team 7, however, had no time to think about any of that.
Naruto charged again and again, only to be sent flying back every time.
Sakura tried to pin them down with Kunai, but she couldn't even touch the hem of Hashirama's clothes.
Sasuke finally made his move.
He circled around to Madara's side, much faster than Naruto, and aimed the Kunai in his hand straight at the bell's knot.
But just as he drew close, a Shadow Clone suddenly appeared beside Madara.
The Shadow Clone raised a hand to block.
Clink!
The Kunai was caught between two fingers.
Sasuke's pupils contracted.
"So fast!"
The next second, a force sent him staggering backward, his feet carving two marks in the ground.
Madara said flatly, "Your reactions aren't bad."
Sasuke's expression grew colder.
To him, that assessment was an insult.
He was an Uchiha.
He wouldn't accept being judged in such a condescending tone.
Seeing Sasuke fail too, Naruto grew even more fired up.
"Sasuke, you can't do it either!"
Sasuke gave him a cold look.
"Shut up, dead last."
Naruto jumped up and down in anger.
"Who are you calling dead last?!"
Sakura cried in exasperation, "This isn't the time to argue!"
The three of them struggled all morning.
Shadow Clones, Shuriken, smoke bombs, feints, sneak attacks.
They tried every method they could think of.
In the end, forget stealing a bell-they couldn't even make one sway.
Hashirama and Madara hadn't even made a real move.
The gap was too wide.
Wide enough to drive them to despair.
By noon, Naruto lay sprawled on the ground, his stomach growling with hunger, but his face still showed defiance.
"I haven't lost yet!"
"I've still got my trump card!"
Hearing that, Kakashi paused over the book in his hand.
He had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, Naruto formed Hand Seals and shouted.
"Harem Jutsu!"
Bang, bang, bang!
White smoke burst out.
A crowd of exaggerated beauties appeared in an instant before Madara's Shadow Clone.
Hashirama nearly choked on a mouthful of beer.
Kakashi's Icha Icha Paradise tilted sideways.
Sakura's face turned red, and then she flew into a rage.
"Naruto! You idiot!"
Sasuke's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
"Pointless."
Madara's Shadow Clone also paused for half a beat.
Not because he was entranced.
The absurd Ninjutsu had left him speechless.
Naruto seized the chance and lunged out from behind the smoke.
"The bell is mine!"
His fingers were just short of the bell.
But the next instant, Madara's Shadow Clone raised his eyes to look at him.
"Nice trick."
"Too bad it's useless."
Bang!
Naruto went flying again, and the smoke from the Harem Jutsu was blasted away.
Madara's real body coldly took a sip of beer.
"Asura's reincarnation in this life has gone a little astray."
Hashirama scratched his head awkwardly.
"At least he's creative."
Madara looked at him.
"The Nine-Tails is inside him. No wonder he's so noisy."
Hashirama suddenly grew interested.
"Speaking of the Nine-Tails, which of us is it more afraid of?"
Madara set down his beer bottle.
"Me, of course."
Hashirama immediately shook his head.
"No."
"When it saw me yesterday, it clearly backed farther away."
Madara sneered.
"It kept roaring because it hates me."
"It's only afraid of you because it's good for nothing."
Hashirama said seriously, "So it is more afraid of me."
Madara's gaze turned cold.
"Hashirama, let's go to the tavern's courtyard tonight."
"We'll fight again."
Hashirama perked up too.
"All right."
"The Dispute Arena won't let us destroy anything, anyway."
Sitting some distance away, Kakashi heard them and felt his scalp tingle.
Those two were going to fight again tonight?
Konoha was peaceful now because they followed the rules at Zhang Yu's tavern.
If they ever stopped, the whole village wouldn't be enough for them to wreck.
Time passed bit by bit.
The three members of Team 7 were exhausted, their breathing heavy and their clothes covered in dust.
Naruto had been sent flying the most, but he got back up every time.
Sasuke had started out acting alone, but gradually began to match Naruto's rhythm.
Sakura no longer kept her eyes solely on Sasuke, instead alerting the two of them to openings however she could.
Hashirama watched it all, and his smile grew a little more serious.
"That's about enough."
Madara said flatly, "They're still a long way off."
"For their age, they've done enough."
Watching Naruto get up yet again, Hashirama said quietly, "At least they haven't given up."
Madara didn't argue.
He looked at Sasuke.
The Uchiha brat was so exhausted that his fingers were trembling, but his eyes were still bright.
He refused to admit defeat.
And he refused to submit to fate.
In that respect, he was like an Uchiha.
Madara snorted.
"Give them one chance."
That afternoon, the final attack began.
Naruto created several Shadow Clones and charged Hashirama head-on.
Sakura threw a Kunai from the side, forcing Hashirama to turn his head.
Using Naruto as cover, Sasuke sprang out of the earth and charged straight for the bell at Madara's waist.
Hashirama could clearly have dodged, but he was a moment too slow.
Naruto's real body seized the opportunity and yanked off the bell.
"I got it!"
Holding up the bell, he was so excited he nearly jumped.
At the same time, Madara's Shadow Clone also paused for half a beat in front of Sasuke.
In that half beat, the Kunai in Sasuke's hand cut through the bell's cord.
The bell fell into his palm with a clear ring.
Sasuke gripped the bell tightly, his chest heaving.
He knew perfectly well that his opponent had gone easy on him.
Even so, taking it had been incredibly difficult.
Kakashi closed his book and stood up.
"The test is over."
"Team 7, you pass."
Naruto stared blankly for a moment, then shouted.
"All right!"
Sakura also breathed a sigh of relief.
Sasuke, however, showed no joy at all.
His eyes remained fixed on Madara.
Hashirama brushed the dust off himself and said with a smile, "I suppose we've completed the boss's assignment."
Madara turned to leave.
"Let's go back and report."
Just then, Sasuke suddenly spoke.
"Wait."
Madara stopped.
Sasuke stared at his back, his voice cold.
"What's your name?"
Kakashi's heart tightened.
He instinctively wanted to stop him, but it was already too late.
Madara slowly turned his head.
"Madara Uchiha."
Sasuke froze for a moment.
"Madara... Uchiha?"
He frowned.
"Never heard of you."
Madara's expression turned cold at once.
"You're a member of the Uchiha Clan, and you don't even know my name?"
Hearing that, Sasuke's expression turned cold as well.
"The Uchiha Clan?"
He gripped the bell tightly, his voice like ice.
"The Uchiha Clan was wiped out long ago."
"What's the point of saying that now?"
The moment those words fell, the entire training ground fell silent.
Hashirama's expression changed.
Kakashi's expression changed too.
Madara stood where he was, his gaze darkening by degrees.
"What did you say?"
Sasuke gritted his teeth.
"I said the Uchiha Clan is gone."
"Aside from me, there are no Uchiha left in Konoha."
Boom!
A terrifying surge of Chakra erupted from Madara.
It wasn't Ninjutsu.
It was simply Chakra leaking out.
But in that instant, Naruto froze where he stood, Sakura's legs went weak, and Sasuke's breath caught for a beat.
Kakashi sprang in front of the three, the Sharingan beneath his Forehead Protector tensing on instinct.
In the distance, leaves shook wildly.
Tiny pebbles on the ground bounced from the tremors.
Madara's Chakra swept out like an invisible tide, washing over Training Ground 3, the streets of Konoha, the former site of the Uchiha Clan Compound, and the remaining buildings of the Konoha Military Police Force.
Empty.
It was all empty.
There were no familiar traces of his clansmen.
No Chakra from Uchiha gathered together.
There was only the child before him, and that faint trace of the Sharingan in Kakashi's left eye, which did not belong to Kakashi.