Madara strode through the firelit village, his Susanoo looming around him like a wrathful god.
"Hmm? This Rinnegan—Sasuke's eye—sees even more sharply than my own ever did…"
He pulled out a mirror, studying his reflection.
"So that's it. Six tomoe on top of the three ripple rings… Looks like the Rinnegan has levels. This one's a class above what I had before."
He slid the mirror away, murmuring, "Still, wielding it is as natural as breathing—no different from the original owner. Well, we are both Indra's reincarnations, after all…"
The invading ninja, hearing the commotion, rushed over—but stopped dead at a distance. Not one dared to approach.
Madara's eyes swept over them with icy disdain. "What's wrong? Before, you all strutted around like kings. Where's that swagger now?"
Panic rippled through the crowd. "Wh-who the hell are you?!"
"My name? You're not worthy of knowing it."
Slash!
With a single sweep of Susanoo's blade, the front ranks were cut in half—literally. The lower halves, bloody and twitching, remained standing.
"Monster… a monster…"
Two, who'd collapsed to the ground earlier, survived by sheer luck. One scrambled to his feet and bolted.
—Universal Pull!
Gravity yanked him back. Susanoo's skeletal hand snatched him up.
"Spare me, please—" The man's terror was so great, he wet himself.
"Disgusting…" Madara's lip curled. Susanoo's fingers squeezed—the man popped like an overripe fruit.
Thud, thud, thud!
The other survivor dropped to his knees, forehead thumping the ground as he begged for mercy.
Madara asked suddenly, "How many did you kill?"
"Eh?" The man shivered violently.
"Don't be afraid. Tell me—how many?" Madara smiled, crescent-eyed.
"S-six… six people…"
"Six, huh? Then I'll cut you into six pieces."
Slash, slash! Susanoo's blade flashed—when it was done, the man lay in eight bloody chunks.
Madara frowned, counting. "Two too many. You must've lied."
He moved on.
Elsewhere, a ninja was backing away, clutching a hostage. "Stay back! Or I'll kill him!"
The hostage sobbed, "Help… help me…"
Madara advanced, cold as death, seemingly indifferent to the hostage's fate—but his gaze flickered to a roadside Jizo statue.
The ninja, desperate, tried to kill his hostage—only to find, suddenly, that the body in his grip had turned to stone. The Jizo statue now stood in the hostage's place.
Madara covered his left eye, muttering, "So this is it. Amenotejikara—the power in this eye…"
Where the statue had stood, the freed hostage stared at Madara in shock. "A-a-are you… Madara?"
Madara recognized him—Daizou, a member of the Solan dance troupe. Lazy, but not a bad guy at heart.
"Straighten your tongue and tell me—how many survivors?"
Daizou used his hand to help his speech. "T-twenty-something… They heard the noise and hid in the fish-drying cellar…"
"Why didn't you hide too?"
"It was full… couldn't fit. And someone had to lead the killers away, so the rest wouldn't be found."
"Take Ari and hide. When I'm done, I'll lead the survivors away from here."
"W-what about you? Will you come back?"
Madara didn't answer. He walked past, cold and silent.
The man called "A-ban" was gone forever. He was now Uchiha Madara—the storm of the shinobi world. No fleeting bond could hold him.
Ahead, a ninja clutched the Jizo statue, shrieking, "Stay away, or I'll kill it—kill it, hah!"
Watching Madara's back, Daizou knew, in every sense, that the old Madara was never coming back.
He mustered his courage and shouted, "Sorry for before! I shouldn't have whistled behind you when you were peeing, just to watch you squirm!"
Crack!
Susanoo's greatsword pierced the Jizo statue—and the ninja holding it—straight through.
Madara glanced back at Daizou's fleeing figure, muttering, "Hmph, lucky brat. If it were the old days, I'd have sent you to dance Solan for the King of Hell…"
Whoosh!
He vanished, and the ruined village was swept by a storm of blood. The hunters had become prey, and were being slaughtered without mercy.
…
Outside the village, in the woods.
Nakafu frowned deeply. None of his men had returned.
"Could something have gone wrong…?"
He'd survived the Bloody Mist era of Kirigakure; after Yagura's fall, he'd left the village. Thanks to his connection with a Daimyo's advisor, he hadn't been branded a missing-nin. On the surface, he was a doctor, but in the shadows, he trafficked in human organs and hired rogue ninja from every village—men who'd kill for coin.
"That long-haired guy might be tough, but there's no way he could take out so many…"
Ten more minutes passed. Still, no one returned.
Unease gnawed at him. He pulled out the bottle containing the Byakugan. Now, it felt like it was burning his hand.
"Was he an elite jōnin before he lost his memory…? No, impossible. There were former jōnin in my crew. Even if he was an elite, he couldn't survive this. He can't be on par with the Mizukage… can he?"
He tried to reassure himself—but the village gate finally stirred.
Nakafu's heart leapt—until he saw the nightmare approaching.
The long-haired man walked forward, cloaked in an unknown chakra avatar. Behind him, a wooden dragon dragged a grisly train of corpses—his men. The ex-jōnin had only half a head left.
All those years of bloodshed in the Bloody Mist meant nothing. Terror paralyzed Nakafu—he couldn't even run.
He realized, too late, that he'd misjudged everything. His foe wasn't an elite jōnin, but a monster the Mizukage couldn't hope to match.
All his former pride turned to abject fear.
"I-I-I'll give you back the Byakugan! Just spare me…"
He placed the bottle on the ground, retreating in tiny steps—then tripped over a stone.
Madara shot a cold glance at the bottle, stepped on it, and crushed the priceless Byakugan underfoot.
Nakafu was completely broken. Desperation made him babble, "I—I have a powerful backer! My cousin, Nakafu Ōtsubaki, is a second-class advisor in the Water Daimyo's mansion! He's among the top twenty in the Land of Water's power structure! If he hears I'm dead, you'll be in big trouble!"
"The Daimyo's mansion, is it…" Madara murmured.
Thinking he'd finally scared his enemy, Nakafu grasped at hope. "I'll pay compensation for everyone who died—one million, no, ten million ryō per head! Just let me go, and you'll be rich beyond—"
Slash!
Madara used the sickle left by Ari's brother to lop off Nakafu's head.
Susanoo faded. Amaterasu's black flames ignited, consuming the ninja corpses.
Whoosh!
Madara spun the sickle, slinging it across his back. He looked back at the ruined village.
If he left now, Ari and the survivors would have nowhere to go. Good or evil, Madara always finished what he started.
He would eliminate every lingering threat—for Ari, and for the living.
—"Land of Water, Daimyo's mansion. I'll flatten it myself…"
With that, Madara set off for the main city of the Land of Water, sickle on his back.
—
An hour later, Hashirama finally arrived at the marked location.
He saw the devastation and was heartbroken, blaming himself for being late—and assuming Madara was responsible. But after hearing the truth from Daizou and the others, he hurried off in pursuit.
At dawn, he intercepted Madara on the road.
"Madara, your eyes!"
Though glad to see his old friend, Madara had business to attend to.
"Hashirama… your timing's terrible. Step aside. I've somewhere to be."
"Where?"
"Land of Water. The Daimyo's mansion. I'm going to raze it."
"I know what happened in that village, but you can't drag innocents into this!"
"Innocents? What do you know?"
"I don't know all the details, but the Daimyo is the ruler of a great nation. If he dies, the country will fall into chaos. Power struggles, bloodshed—every nation has an unwritten rule: if the Daimyo is killed, the current Kage must commit suicide in atonement! Don't you understand the consequences?"
"So what? I'm not a saint like you." Madara's gaze grew distant. "And don't think I forgot everything just because I lost my memory. We're still enemies, Hashirama…"
"Then I have no choice—I'll stop you here, Madara!"
Buzz! Hashirama's Sage Mode markings appeared as he flew through hand seals.
—Sage Art: Gracious Deity Gates!
Boom!
Red torii gates crashed down from the sky.
Hashirama figured: Madara was still recovering. He shouldn't be as fast as before—he can't dodge this.
But Madara just smirked. As the gates fell, his left Rinnegan locked onto Hashirama.
—Amenotejikara!
Whoosh!
Their positions swapped—Hashirama, utterly unprepared, was pinned under his own Gracious Deity Gates.
"How…? A dōjutsu?!" Hashirama gasped.
Sizzle! On Madara's chest, Hashirama's face appeared, marked with Sage Mode.
In the battle at the Immortal River, he'd once been drained by "Black Zetsu Tobirama," but Madara's sage power was self-cultivated—he could enter Sage Mode at will.
"Hashirama, this time, I really tossed you to the other side…"
Madara formed hand seals as he spoke.
—Sage Art: Gracious Deity Gates!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Gate after gate crashed down, stacking atop the first—completely pinning Hashirama.
"Madara, you…"
Madara glanced back. "Land of Water's Daimyo mansion—I'm going to destroy it. Tell Naruto for me!"
Without another word, Uchiha Madara strode on.
This man was determined to raze the Daimyo's mansion to the ground.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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