Chapter 405: Too Dark… Konoha
Uchiha Madara had never expected these little brats to be so inherently vicious.
It wasn't even a case of "one disagreement leading to conflict." He hadn't said a single word, and yet they pinned him to the ground and started beating him.
Don't underestimate ninja academy kids just because they're young. Their strength already surpasses that of ordinary people by quite a margin.
Even someone like Uzumaki Naruto, who couldn't beat anyone during his academy days and was considered dead last, could still run along rooftops to splash paint and even dump filth.
Earlier, when Madara wiped out those bandits' families with his frail body, those were just ordinary people.
And he had prepared in advance. Those people had weapons, and he had relied on experience and technique, using the sharpness of blades to eliminate them.
But these kids attacked without warning, and with their bare hands. It instantly triggered the classic scenario of "random punches beating down a master."
Madara tried to shut off the technique and disable his sense of pain, only to realize he couldn't mobilize his chakra at all.
The little chakra he had was barely enough to maintain basic bodily movement. He couldn't draw out even a bit more.
And his control was terrible.
His current chakra control was like that of an elderly person with Parkinson's trying to use chopsticks, shaking uncontrollably, as if being electrocuted.
If he wanted to turn the technique off, he would need someone else to help him.
"Thousand Years of Death!"
"Aruba!"
"Die!"
The kids grew more and more excited as they beat him.
They realized that no matter how much they hit this sickly outsider kid, he didn't seem to get injured or cry out in pain.
It was like having a punching bag.
"Stop!"
Suddenly, a grief-stricken shout came from afar.
At the end of the street stood a young-looking Senju Hashirama, holding bags of food. Seeing this scene, he was filled with anger and sorrow, the things in his hands dropping to the ground.
"Ma…"
He almost called out Madara's name, but suddenly remembered they were in disguise. He quickly changed his words.
"Ma-da ma-da dane!"
The kids froze for a moment. Ever since Uchiha Sasuke graduated, they hadn't seen another show-off like this.
"You mushroom-head country bumpkin, are you tired of living? You're ugly and loud! Want to taste our Konoha-style taijutsu like your friend?"
The kid who had taken the lead in beating Madara stepped forward, hands on hips, mocking Hashirama.
"What did you just say?"
Hashirama was stunned.
Were these really Konoha's children?
Beating up Madara was one thing, but now they were even insulting him, the righteous and handsome First Hokage?
Did Konoha have no law anymore? No rules at all?
He was furious.
Unlike Madara, Hashirama's chakra wasn't restricted. The only thing he needed to worry about now was controlling his strength, so he wouldn't accidentally kill the kids with one punch.
"Today, I'll teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents!"
With a leap, Hashirama charged toward them.
The kids weren't afraid at all.
Beating Madara had given them confidence.
"Ow!"
"Ah!"
"Help!"
Hashirama easily knocked them down one by one.
At one point, he even casually took a finished skewer and stuck it into one kid's armpit.
"Stop!"
A voice rang out from the rooftop.
"You've gone too far! You're from another village, older than them by a whole generation, and you're bullying academy kids in Konoha!"
An orange-haired girl jumped down from the roof.
"Kid, be reasonable! It was your Konoha brats who bullied my friend first! My friend is still lying over there!"
Hashirama grew more and more irritated.
Back when Konoha had just been founded, people were so simple and kind.
Even when Madara helped someone up after they fell, they would be scared by his presence.
But now?
He had long heard that bullying in Konoha had become severe, kids bullying others from the academy all the way through life, regardless of strength.
Just how far had their morals decayed?
"Huh?"
The newcomer was Moegi from Konohamaru's team. Though not much older, her strength was above that of ordinary academy students.
So when she appeared, the other kids immediately fell silent.
They were ready to let her take charge.
But even she hadn't expected that the troublemakers were… them.
"We didn't do anything! If you don't believe us, check him, he's not even injured!"
"Exactly! We're all hurt, but he's completely fine. He's just pretending!"
The kids spoke one after another, blatantly lying.
Hashirama was so angry he almost reverted to his true form just to slap each of them.
He had seen with his own eyes how they were tossing Madara around earlier.
And now they were denying it, even turning the blame around.
Even after reform, had Konoha only gained a layer of false prosperity?
Its roots were rotten, its trunk decayed, only the bark and leaves remained.
If Konoha fell and turned into nourishment just to sustain these kinds of people, then the future of the shinobi world would only become more chaotic.
Good people sacrificed themselves, becoming nutrients… to feed evil?
Madara, still lying on the ground, let out a cold laugh when he heard this.
"So this is the 'peace' you wanted me to see? Ha… Hakimi! Ask yourself this, do they deserve peace? Does Konoha deserve it?"
"Ma… da ma-da dane! You can't deny the whole of Konoha because of a large number of individual cases! If you think Konoha is flawed, then you should change it!"
Hashirama had actually begun to feel some doubt.
But when Madara escalated it to condemning Konoha as a whole, it triggered him instantly.
"What are your names anyway?"
Moegi looked back and forth between the two, confused.
One called the other "Hakimi", the other called "Ma-da ma-da dane"?
What kind of strange names were those?
"Hey, you two, stop arguing for a moment."
After regaining her composure, Moegi quickly stepped between them, then looked at Madara.
"So… you really don't have any injuries? Were you pretending?"
"..."
"Damn it, say something!"
Hashirama grew anxious seeing Madara remain silent.
"What is there to say? Explain myself to these lowly people?"
Madara glanced at him coldly.
Being beaten by children was already humiliating enough. Now he was supposed to admit it out loud?
"Then what do you think we should do?"
Hashirama, at a loss, threw the question back to him.
"There are only two options. Either uproot these tumors of Konoha and eliminate them completely, or let them continue as they are, close your eyes and pretend you saw nothing. This time, I'll just consider myself unlucky for following you."
Madara spoke calmly.
This incident had been unexpected, but he believed he could make use of it.
Hashirama would definitely feel guilty because of this.
And that would give him more room to maneuver in what came next.
"What?"
Hashirama hadn't expected Madara to say something like that.
To force him into a choice, he was even willing to ignore the humiliation he had just suffered?
(Madara: Ignore it? Once I'm revived, I'm dropping a meteor on Konoha first!)
(End of this chapter)