The confrontation between Mū and Madara had already drawn the attention of the Uchiha clan.
With such a commotion, it was impossible not to notice.
"Incredible, someone actually dares to challenge Lord Madara!"
"He's really going to fight that bandaged man?!"
"Should we inform Lord Hashirama?"
"Huh? Do we really need to call Lord Hashirama? Would Madara need his help just to deal with some bandaged guy?"
"No, I'm just worried the bandaged man might get killed by Lord Madara…"
The Uchiha spectators laughed, their eyes full of mockery as they gathered to watch.
Boom! Crash!
The battle between Mū and Madara had begun.
Madara dismissed Susanoo, intending to fight with pure taijutsu, fists and feet clashing directly.
"Whoosh!"
Madara launched forward in a blur.
Mū rose into the air, meeting him head-on with his own flight technique.
Bang! Bang!
The two collided!
Mū was immediately blown backward by the sheer force of Madara's strike.
"As expected of the man who can match Hashirama in hand-to-hand combat…"
"Earth Style: Added-Weight Rock Technique!"
Numbness shot through Mū's arm, but he quickly increased his body's weight to halt his momentum.
"Weak!"
From the first exchange, Madara judged that his opponent's taijutsu was lacking.
But though Madara despised his enemies strategically, he never underestimated them tactically.
Without hesitation, he pressed his assault.
In the next instant, Madara's figure flickered to Mū's side, a horizontal kick swung toward his torso. Mū sensed the attack the moment Madara appeared.
"Earth Style: Ultra Added-Weight Rock Technique!"
He hastily increased his body's mass to its maximum. Stone armor formed across his body.
Crash!
Madara's kick smashed against the rock plating.
Instantly, the stone turned to mud, trapping Madara's leg like a snare.
Before Madara could break free, Mū's single hand formed a seal.
"Earth Style: Fist Rock Technique!"
His stone armor shifted and morphed, forming a massive hand that clamped tightly around Madara.
The next moment, Mū's fist transformed into a boulder-sized weapon.
"Earth Style: Super Added-Weight Rock Fist Technique!"
He hurled the colossal fist down at Madara with crushing force!
"Susanoo."
Madara's expression remained calm as skeletal armor erupted around him.
BOOM!
The stone fist slammed into the Susanoo skeleton, creating an earth-shattering explosion of sound!
The ground quaked violently, the entire battlefield trembling as the clash of chakra burst outward like a storm.
BOOOOOOM!
---
Meanwhile, Hashirama was… in a gambling hall.
"Hahaha! Excellent, excellent!"
Hashirama laughed heartily, shaking a pair of dice in his hand.
He had just finished his meeting with the envoy from Iwagakure, securing a friendly alliance. His spirits were soaring.
Hashirama truly believed in a future where villages could coexist in peace.
"Ah! Clan leader, you lost again! Hahaha!"
A Senju clansman laughed as the dice rolled out.
Hashirama's face twitched darkly.
Then he erupted in laughter again.
"Hah! Today I succeed in diplomacy but fail in gambling!"
"Bwahahahahaha!"
The hall filled with laughter.
But then, a deafening crash rang out.
"...!"
Hashirama froze, his smile vanishing. His gaze snapped to the window, eyes narrowing.
The others exchanged confused looks, but before they could ask, Hashirama suddenly stood, his face grim.
"Not good!"
In the blink of an eye, he vanished.
---
Elsewhere, Tobirama was working inside Konoha's administrative building.
At this time, the village was still young.
The so-called Konoha headquarters was nothing more than a tall wooden structure reinforced with stone. Tobirama sat at his desk, brush in hand, carefully drafting plans for the village's future layout, construction, trade, and infrastructure.
"These are peaceful days indeed…"
He glanced out at the tranquil night. Once, in the Warring States era, he would be awakened in the dead of night by battle cries. Now, such fears no longer plagued him.
"Report, Lord Tobirama. One of the village hounds is pregnant."
A Senju shinobi knelt before him.
Tobirama's brow twitched, his lips muttering under his breath.
"The Uchiha… evil and treacherous from birth…"
Even as he continued grumbling, a familiar, ominous chakra surged into his senses.
His expression hardened instantly.
"Damn it! Madara's at it again!"
Tobirama shot to his feet, disappearing in a flash.
---
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Mū and Madara exchanged furious blows in midair, their speed blinding.
"Don't underestimate the experience I forged in the Warring States era!"
Madara's fists blurred as he struck.
"You crawled out of that era alive? So did I."
Mū's reply was cold, resolute.
"Hmph."
Madara's eyes narrowed. From their brief clash, he had already begun to realize that this bandaged man called Mū was no joke.
His sensory skills, his reflexes… they weren't any weaker than Tobirama's. In fact, he might even surpass Izuna.
"Take this!"
Madara's Susanoo flared, advancing to its second stage.
A massive arm wielding a gigantic blade came crashing down!
Mū reacted instantly.
"Earth Style: Golem Technique!"
BOOM!
A colossal stone giant burst from the earth, bracing itself to block Madara's strike head-on.
"You stopped it? Then how about… the third stage!"
Susanoo swelled again, sprouting legs, its size tripling in an instant. Four arms formed, each gripping a massive sword.
With a roar, all four blades swung down at once!
CRAAAAASH!
The battlefield shook violently, dust clouds erupting everywhere.
"Sensei!!"
Ōnoki, watching from afar, clenched his fists in panic.
Fear for his master's life twisted his expression.
As the smoke cleared, the stone golem still stood, both arms raised, gripping all four blades in a desperate struggle.
The ground beneath Mū and his creation had sunk deep into the earth under the crushing force.
"…Interesting."
Madara's eyes gleamed with surprise.
This stone giant, so similar to Hashirama's Wood Human Technique. He hadn't expected Mū to hold out even against his third-stage Susanoo.
"Hah… hahh…"
Mū panted heavily.
In the original story, Ōnoki's golem had been strong enough to force Madara to defend with Wood Release itself.
Naturally, it wasn't inferior to Susanoo's third form.
Just as Madara considered pushing to the fourth stage, Mū's eyes sharpened, spotting the opening he'd been waiting for.
'Now!'
The figure clashing against Madara had never been his true body.
From the very beginning, Mū had played cautiously. To avoid instant defeat, he had hidden his real body with the Camouflage Jutsu, leaving only a clone to stall Madara.
That was why he hadn't used Dust Release until now.
Moreover, the clone couldn't wield Dust Release.
And Mū wanted to conceal it until the perfect chance arrived, to strike with a single, fatal blow.
If the clone were destroyed, his true body could retreat unharmed. If the clone held on, it would create the opportunity his real body needed.
And now, that chance had come.
"You might want to check behind you."
A chill crept down Madara's spine.
Behind him, another Mū had appeared out of nowhere.
Hands clapped together, forming a deadly seal.
A pillar of pure white light erupted, descending on Madara like divine punishment!
"It's here, Master's strongest technique! A jutsu powerful enough to erase even stone!"
Ōnoki cried out in awe, eyes wide.
Sadly, his master had never passed this technique down to him.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
FWOOOOOSH!
The white light roared downward, like heaven's wrath itself.
Madara's eyes widened, a rare shiver racing down his spine.
'If this hits me… I'll die.'
This wasn't mere fear. It was the instinctive certainty of a ninja. Even with Izanagi hidden up his sleeve, a secret Hashirama himself didn't know, there was no time to activate it.
Izanagi required preparation.
Would he really sacrifice an Eternal Mangekyō just to survive a single strike?
"Susanoo!!!"
With no choice, Madara unleashed everything.
Susanoo roared into its fourth stage, towering in full glory.
VROOOOM!
Mū's real body poured all his power into the Dust Release.
Victory was at hand, but a violent shockwave surged from Madara's Susanoo, blasting Mū backward and disrupting his technique.
"Damn it!"
Mū cursed under his breath. Dust Release was devastatingly strong.
But its drawback was just as fatal.
An aftercast delay longer than his life.
If it fired instantly and ended instantly, he could've killed Madara outright.
"Camouflage Jutsu!"
Mū vanished again, cloaking his true body in the void, leaving only the clone to face Madara head-on once more.
---
When the light faded, Madara staggered out from the aftermath, his face pale with shock.
"My Susanoo… it was erased in a single blow?!"
His gaze fell on the empty space where the battlefield had once been.
It was simply gone.
Even Hashirama had only smashed his Susanoo apart. But this jutsu had erased it as though it never existed. If he hadn't abandoned his Susanoo at the last moment, he might have truly died.
A chill ran down his spine as he replayed it in his mind.
'So this world holds a technique this terrifying…'
That jutsu was unlike anything else in the shinobi world.
"What kind of ninjutsu is that?!"
Madara's eyes locked on Mū, sharp and burning.
Mū's bandaged face tilted slightly.
"You think I'm stupid enough to hand over intel about myself?"
Madara's expression darkened.
Of course. He'd asked a foolish question. Enemies never revealed their trump cards.