Madara had imagined many ways Jie might teach him Sage Mode.
He had not imagined getting no warning, no explanation, and no time to prepare before a mass of senjutsu chakra was forced directly into his body. If he had not sensed how unusual that chakra was, he would have thought Jie was trying to kill him.
The senjutsu chakra spread through Madara's pathways, heavy and invasive. It pushed against his own chakra and forced its way deeper, changing everything it touched.
Madara let out a low groan.
Thin scales began forming across parts of his skin.
He understood at once that if this continued, he would not be learning Sage Mode. He would become something else entirely.
Jie watched from the side and gave him a calm reminder. "Control the senjutsu chakra and sense natural energy. Fail, and it will transform you."
He smiled faintly... "So work hard. Your life depends on it."
Madara wanted to curse him, but he no longer had the spare strength. He clenched his teeth and focused on the chakra rampaging through his body.
At first, Madara tried to suppress it by force. That failed almost immediately. Ryūchi Cave's senjutsu chakra was too aggressive, and the harder he pushed against it, the more fiercely it resisted.
Jie activated his Tenseigan and observed the changes inside Madara's body.
As expected, Madara's talent was terrifying.
Even Kabuto, who later mastered Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode, had shown clear signs of transformation. Madara had no foundation in senjutsu at all, yet after some failed attempts, he began changing his approach.
Instead of forcing the senjutsu chakra to obey, he split his own chakra into countless smaller streams and mixed them into it. Little by little, those streams began influencing the senjutsu chakra's movement.
It was crude, but it worked.
The transformation spreading across his body slowed.
Madara's breathing gradually steadied. His chakra no longer fought the senjutsu chakra head-on. It guided it, borrowed from it, and slowly adapted to it.
After half an hour, he finally sensed the natural energy around him.
That meant he had touched the threshold of Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode.
Jie was impressed, but this was only the beginning. If Hashirama had mastered a perfect Sage Mode, then Madara would never allow himself to remain behind.
He continued training through the night.
Madara tested the senjutsu chakra again and again, adjusting his own chakra each time. The scales that had started to form gradually disappeared, replaced by black markings around his eyes and across his face.
When dawn approached, his chakra finally settled into a stable balance.
Madara opened his eyes.
His chakra felt heavier than before.
"This is Sage Mode?"
There was excitement in his voice.
At his level, even a small increase in strength was difficult to obtain, and Sage Mode strengthened far more than his chakra alone. His body, chakra, perception, and techniques had all been strengthened.
For the first time in a long while, Madara felt that the gap between him and Hashirama had truly narrowed.
"Jie," he said, turning toward him, "this time, I owe you."
Jie did not bother being modest. Sage Mode was no ordinary technique. Teaching it to Madara was already a great enough favour.
Madara clenched his fist, still feeling the change in his body.
"With this, I will defeat Hashirama and make the Senju submit."
Jie looked at him calmly. Madara had learned Sage Mode, but he had not yet learned the strongest technique that came with Ryūchi Cave's senjutsu.
Jie spent another day teaching him Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation.
Compared with the initial test of senjutsu chakra, learning the technique itself was much smoother. Once Madara understood the principle, his talent did the rest.
By the end of the second day, he could already influence the surrounding terrain through senjutsu chakra, though his control was still far from Jie's.
That was enough for now. How much power Madara could draw from Sage Mode in battle would depend on him.
Jie had done his part.
Not long after Madara finished learning Inorganic Reincarnation, the war broke out. The trigger was almost absurd.
The leader of a small clan under the Senju died at the hands of another small clan with ties to the Uchiha. In quieter times, the matter might have ended with negotiation, compensation, or another round of threats.
But both sides had already been waiting for a reason to fight.
The old hatred between the Uchiha and Senju was too deep, and Madara's sudden rise in strength had pushed the Uchiha clan's morale to a new peak.
A small spark was enough.
The fighting spread quickly.
Clans attached to both sides moved first, but the Uchiha and Senju soon entered the battlefield themselves. The two strongest clans in the Land of Fire had no intention of staying behind while others fought in their name.
When Jie arrived near the battlefield, the two armies were already facing each other.
The Uchiha stood on one side, their dark clothing and red fan crests sharp against the trees. Opposite them, the Senju line looked steadier and more heavily built... filled with shinobi who had clearly lived through years of war.
At the centre of the field stood Madara and Hashirama.
Hashirama's chakra was vast and full of life. Even without Sage Mode, the life force in his body was far beyond that of ordinary ninja.
No wonder Madara treated him as the only opponent worth acknowledging.
Before the battle began, Hashirama faced Madara. "Madara, this war has no meaning."
Tobirama stood behind him, listening to his brother.
"No matter which clan wins, the hatred will only deepen. The dead will not return, and the living will only carry more resentment."
"Let us end this here. The Uchiha and Senju should stop fighting and build something together. A village where our clans, and eventually the other clans of the Land of Fire, can live together instead of killing each other."
Tobirama stiffened.
"Brother, have you lost your mind?"
He looked toward the Uchiha.
"How can we trust them? Have you forgotten how many of our brothers died at their hands?"
Three of Hashirama and Tobirama's brothers had died before they could even make their names in the ninja world. That hatred was not something a few sincere words could erase.
Madara gave a cold snort.
A few days ago, he might have listened.
But after speaking with Jie and seeing the state of his own clan, he no longer believed that understanding alone could end generations of hatred.
Madara looked at Hashirama.
"After all this time, you are still saying such naive things."
Hashirama's expression tightened.
"Madara..."
"A village? Understanding?" Madara said calmly. "Those are only words. As long as the clans still hate each other and want more power, the fighting will never end."
The tomoe in his Sharingan turned slowly.
"If the Land of Fire is to know peace, then someone must be strong enough to force the fighting to stop."
Madara's chakra began to rise.
"And that someone will be the Uchiha."
He looked at Hashirama, and for a moment, it seemed he still hoped he would understand. "Stand aside, Hashirama. Your method will not work. Mine will."
Above the battlefield, Jie sat quietly in the air and watched the two of them argue.
For a battlefield moments from bloodshed, both sides still had plenty to say.
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