Madara did not answer right away.
A moment later, he understood why Hashirama had made that choice, and his face hardened.
Madara did want to lead the Uchiha and bring the ninja world into an age of peace. But he wanted to defeat Hashirama openly and make him accept that path.
Not like this.
Not because Jie had forced Hashirama's hand.
"Hashirama," Madara said coldly, "is that how you see me?"
Hashirama looked at him quietly.
"I will not accept this surrender," Madara continued. "If this war is not enough, then we will fight again."
"Next time, I will defeat you properly and make you accept my ideal willingly."
Hashirama smiled bitterly.
"Madara, why go that far?"
"The Senju lost this war. If the Uchiha lead the ninja world toward peace from now on, what is wrong with that?"
He looked at Madara seriously.
"Why must you cling to the result of one battle?"
Madara's answer came without hesitation.
"The ninja world has already been in chaos for so long. A few more days will not change anything."
"But neither I nor the Uchiha will accept this kind of victory. Take the Senju back and recover. The next time we fight, I will defeat you head-on."
His tone left no room for argument.
Above them, Jie stared at the two of them, speechless.
What was he even listening to?
Two enemy clans had fought a war. One side was willing to surrender, and the other refused because the surrender was not satisfying enough.
Hashirama's choice at least made sense. He was trying to protect the Senju and stop the situation from getting worse.
But Madara?
Had he forgotten that he was the leader of the Uchiha clan?
Did he ever think about whether his clan wanted to throw away a victory that was already in their hands?
If peace could be won today, how many Uchiha would willingly risk their lives in another war just so Madara could feel better about the result?
Jie had planned to stay out of it.
But looking at Madara's decision, he could no longer hold back.
For no other reason than the name Uchiha that Madara carried.
"Is there something wrong with your head?"
The battlefield fell quiet.
Jie looked down at Madara without holding back.
"Your clan fought this war with their lives, and now you want to throw away the result because it does not feel clean enough?"
"You are the clan leader, not some lone warrior chasing a personal duel. Put a dog in the clan leader's seat, and it might make a better decision than you just did."
Hashirama and Tobirama froze.
For a moment, even they forgot what to say.
Who exactly was this young man?
If he was truly an Uchiha, how could he point at Madara and scold him like this?
Madara's position in the Uchiha was no different from Hashirama's among the Senju.
Yet Jie had insulted him in front of both armies.
Even stranger, Madara did not attack.
Madara looked furious. If anyone else had spoken like this, he would have struck long ago.
But this was Jie.
Madara still did not know where Jie had come from, and he could not see through his strength. Jie's Sage Mode, his ability to hide his presence, and the faint pressure coming from him all made one thing clear.
Jie was not someone Madara could treat like an ordinary clansman.
More than that, Jie had taught him Sage Mode.
Madara did not like being scolded, but he also knew Jie was not wrong. From the clan's point of view, his decision was unreasonable.
So he endured it.
Hashirama and Tobirama were even more shocked when they saw that.
Could this young man be some hidden elder of the Uchiha clan, someone much older than he looked?
After scolding Madara, Jie let out a slow breath.
Scolding Madara was easy.
Cleaning up the mess was the real problem.
As the young leader of the Uchiha in his own era, Jie could not watch Madara keep dragging this Uchiha clan into trouble.
First, this war had to end today.
Jie had less than a month left in this era. If he did not settle things while he was still here, Madara might make another stubborn decision the moment Jie was gone.
And there was still Black Zetsu.
In this era, Black Zetsu was almost certainly watching Madara and Hashirama from the shadows, waiting for a chance to revive Kaguya.
Jie's own timeline had already proved that Madara was not prepared for someone like Black Zetsu. Given enough time, he would still be led step by step into someone else's plan.
Jie did not intend to stay here forever.
But while he was here, he could at least lay a foundation for this version of the Uchiha.
He looked at Madara, then at Hashirama.
"This war has reached this point. There is no need for the Uchiha and Senju to keep fighting."
His voice was flat, but no one ignored it.
"I do not care what either of you are thinking right now. For now, this war ends here."
Hashirama naturally had no objection. He had already planned to surrender. This was only another way to stop the fighting.
Madara frowned, but he did not argue.
If Jie wanted to end the war, then he must have some kind of plan. Madara wanted to hear it.
Ending the war was only the first step. The Uchiha and Senju needed a path forward, and the other clans in the Land of Fire would eventually need to be dealt with as well.
On this point, Jie already had an answer.
Konoha.
In Jie's own timeline, villages had not ended war completely. But the village system had still been a step forward. It gave ninja clans a stable structure instead of leaving them to bleed each other dry generation after generation.
The problem was never the village itself.
The problem was how it was led.
Hashirama's idea relied too much on understanding and forgiveness. He hoped people would let go of hatred on their own, but even Tobirama could not forget the deaths of his brothers. Expecting every clan to forget old grudges by goodwill alone was impossible.
Madara was not completely wrong either.
Overwhelming power could suppress chaos and force the world to stop fighting. If the other clans feared one authority enough, they would not dare start another war.
But fear alone could not build lasting peace.
Hatred would still remain.
The key was to use power to create a long enough peace, then use that peace to raise a new generation. Once children born into that peace grew up seeing stability as normal, they would not easily throw it away for the grudges of the old.
So Jie's answer was simple.
Combine Hashirama's village with Madara's power.
Build one village first.
Use the Uchiha and Senju as its core, then bring the rest of the Land of Fire's ninja clans under one order.
After that, expand that order outward.
The ninja world did not need several voices arguing with one another.
One voice was enough.
Of course, that one voice could not rely on ideals alone. It needed rules, strength, balance, and people capable of keeping the system from being ruined from within.
Jie explained the outline calmly, and both Madara and Hashirama listened in silence.
At first, neither of them spoke, but slowly, both began to understand.
Hashirama could see the village he wanted in it, but without the naive hope that hatred would disappear on its own.
Madara could see the authority he wanted, but placed inside a structure that could last beyond one person.
For the first time, both of them could see a path that carried parts of their own ideals without depending completely on either dream.
Jie looked between them.
"The ninja world does not lack strong people. It lacks order."
He turned to Madara.
"If you want peace, then stop treating war like a personal duel."
Then he looked at Hashirama.
"And if you want people to understand one another, first create a world where they can live long enough to try."
Neither Madara nor Hashirama spoke for a while.
The battlefield remained silent around them.
For the first time, the two of them seemed to be looking at the same road from different sides.
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