"GRAAAAH—!"
With Shukaku's shrill roar, the Tailed Beast chakra pouring from Hōichi condensed into a sludge-like replica of the One-Tail.
Gaara, meanwhile, "passed out."
From Hōichi's perspective, that meant he had successfully stolen Shukaku's power.
He looked down at Gaara, who had been pulled behind the others for protection, but made no move to finish him off.
Instead, Hōichi turned toward Naruto, who had just been sent flying twice by Temari.
"I should thank Konoha for delivering the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki straight to me as well! That damned Gaara let his personal friendships blind him to the blood feud between Sunagakure and Konoha! Today, I will—"
Hōichi controlled the malformed Shukaku and began advancing toward Naruto one step at a time.
Inside Gaara, Shukaku was currently complaining to his supposedly unconscious jinchūriki.
If Naruto had not been acting as a relay while Shukaku borrowed additional chakra from the other Tailed Beasts, the tiny portion Shukaku had cut off and handed to Hōichi would never have been enough to sustain something this close to a complete Tailed Beast transformation.
At best, Hōichi would have gotten a chakra cloak.
The bastard was currently enjoying a level of Shukaku transformation that even Gaara himself had never experienced.
"Today, I will shatter this false peace that has infected the shinobi world!"
Hōichi's chest swelled with passion as he declared his grand ambition.
"I'll make Sunagakure great again!"
His hands rapidly formed seals as he prepared to launch his chains at Naruto as well.
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!!"
An enraged shout suddenly came from behind him.
Hōichi sneered when he heard it.
He had already seized control of Shukaku.
Who could possibly stop him now?
Unfortunately, Hōichi overlooked one small detail.
The person had shouted "shut your mouth," not "stop."
Because he had absolutely no need for Hōichi to stop moving!
"Hm?"
Hōichi tried to take another step, only to discover that Shukaku's body would no longer move.
He looked down.
At some point, thick trees resembling enormous tentacles had wrapped themselves around the Tailed Beast chakra body, binding it completely.
At the same time, loud music began blasting from the direction of the earlier shout.
"Will we ever meet again? Before the Buddha, I begged for thousands of years~"
After watching movies in Amegakure and noticing that powerful characters always seemed to arrive with their own background music, Senju Hashirama had asked Makoto to help design an entrance theme for him.
From then on, whenever he made an appearance, he could have a Wood Clone carry a giant speaker nearby and play it.
That was how a truly cool entrance was supposed to work.
This time, however, Hashirama was not appearing as himself.
He had used a Wood Clone and the Transformation Technique to disguise himself as Uchiha Madara.
Hashirama's reasoning was simple.
If he wanted to change Madara's worldview, he first needed to give Madara a way out.
Otherwise, even if Madara eventually changed his mind, he could look behind him, realize there was nobody left on his side, and continue down the same doomed path anyway.
This method would also force Madara's hand.
Given Madara's pride, there was absolutely no chance he would bother explaining himself afterward.
He would simply accept whatever reputation developed around his name.
Thus, Hashirama had made a decision.
He would borrow Madara's identity…
And go around doing good deeds!
The inspiration came directly from Obito, who had used Madara's name while committing crimes and eventually saddled him with the glorious reputation of Uchiha Madara, God of Shit.
If Obito could ruin Madara's reputation, why couldn't Hashirama improve it?
And it would begin today!
He would personally stop a villain attempting to destroy world peace and capture the Tailed Beasts!
"I told you to shut your mouth!—For you, I'll put on my mighty Majestic Attire: Susanoo~"
The instant Hōichi turned around, a Wood Golem's fist came crashing into him!
Luckily, Shukaku's chakra was currently protecting him.
Otherwise, that single punch would have reduced him to paste.
The Wood Golem was a technique capable of going toe-to-toe with Susanoo, after all.
"Wood Release?! Who the hell are you?!"
Hōichi was battered senseless by the punch.
When he finally recovered and attempted to struggle free, he discovered that he still could not move.
His Tailed Beast power had not been sealed.
Shukaku's strength simply could not break the restraints.
"My name is Uchiha Madara."
The black-robed figure tore away his cloak and revealed himself.
He really did look exactly like Uchiha Madara.
"Uchiha Madara? Then why can you use the First Hokage's—"
Hōichi's question abruptly died halfway through.
His eyes had noticed something.
Hashirama's transformed Madara was not wearing the classic Warring States armor.
This was battle-damaged Madara!
Half of the armor covering his upper body had been deliberately shattered, exposing the chest beneath it.
And on that chest…
Was Hashirama's face.
"I transplanted Hashirama's cells." Hashirama spoke in Madara's tone with perfect confidence.
"His Wood Release is quite useful. When dealing with Tailed Beasts, I personally prefer overwhelming them through sheer strength rather than relying on something as boring as Mangekyō control."
As Madara's closest friend, Hashirama naturally knew exactly how the man would speak.
"Damn it! Why?!"
Hōichi struggled desperately.
"Why are Konoha's jinchūriki allowed to marry Hokage while Sunagakure's jinchūriki are locked away in prison until the day they die?!"
After trying and failing to break free several more times, Hōichi finally collapsed emotionally and began sobbing.
He remembered his master, Bunpuku, who had spent his entire life imprisoned.
Then he thought of Uzumaki Mito and Uzumaki Kushina in Konoha.
It was too unfair!
Why had his kindhearted master Bunpuku been imprisoned until death, while Gaara had been allowed to become Kazekage?
"Hey, hey, watch what you're saying!"
Naruto immediately shouted from the side.
"My goal is to become the man who becomes Hokage, not the Hokage's man!"
"Uchiha Madara!"
Hōichi looked back at the disguised Hashirama.
"Wasn't your goal supposed to be destroying Konoha and defeating the First Hokage?!
"Why?!
"Why are you helping them?!"
"Hmph."
Hashirama looked down at him with open disdain.
"This is exactly why I despise insignificant insects like you.
"You think far too little of Uchiha Madara.
You assume my goal is destruction.
You assume the Uchiha clan is nothing but madness given human form.
My goal has only ever been one thing—
To bring permanent peace to the shinobi world!"
Hashirama's voice thundered across the training ground.
"And now, at last, I can see signs that the shinobi world is moving toward peace.
"Yet a worthless fool like you dares crawl out and try to destroy it?
"If that isn't asking for death, what is?"
At those words, Hōichi suddenly felt an overwhelming killing intent descend upon him.
Cold sweat instantly covered his body.
That killing intent was not something Hashirama was pretending to produce.
Although Hashirama and Naruto were both reincarnations of Asura, there was a fundamental difference between them—and perhaps between Hashirama and every other reincarnation of Asura throughout history.
Power was only one part of it.
The crucial difference was personality.
Senju Hashirama possessed a darkness of his own.
For the sake of what he believed in, he was capable of doing things he personally hated—things he knew were cruel or wrong.
For example…
Killing his closest friend, Uchiha Madara.
Could Naruto truly bring himself to kill Sasuke?
Perhaps.
But judging from Naruto's heartfelt declaration, his plan had been to kill Sasuke and then immediately kill himself as well.
Then, in the next world—somewhere without jinchūriki, without Uchiha—they could finally be together.
In other words, Sasuke ranked first in Naruto's heart.
The village and everything else came afterward.
For Hashirama, the village came first.
Peace in the shinobi world came first.
That was why, after killing Uchiha Madara, he could continue living and protecting the village.
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