Chapter 313: Hashirama Senju's Choice, Susanoo Shattered
"Before Konoha itself comes to any real harm, that child needs to be stopped, now, while there's still time..."
Hashirama's words sent an icy chill straight through Hiruzen, down to his very bones.
"First Hokage... do you understand what you're saying?"
Hiruzen's dark eyes stayed fixed on the man before him.
"If you go stop Sakura right now, do you understand what that would do to her authority?"
"And do you genuinely believe the hidden village system, as it stands, was ever a good idea?"
"In barely a few decades, four Great Ninja Wars have broken out. Far more shinobi have died fighting them than ever died across the entire Warring States era combined!"
"Sakura's working right now to fix exactly that. As her elders, as those who trained her, we should be supporting her without reservation."
"First Hokage, you're wrong."
"Wrong. Completely, thoroughly wrong."
Hashirama's broad, dignified face stayed calm, watching Hiruzen's impassioned outburst.
"Monkey. That's on me — I didn't do a good enough job."
"I feel genuine shame over all of this."
"But that doesn't give that child the right to start a war."
"People should support one another, help each other — that way, when we run into hardship ourselves, someone else will extend a hand in return."
"That child reminds me too much of Madara, back then. Too radical in her thinking."
"Fighting violence with violence always ends in ruin."
"And regarding Konoha, regarding the hidden village system — I admit I didn't do enough there. For that, I owe you an apology."
"We should be working together to design a system everyone can genuinely be satisfied with."
Hashirama's tone stayed calm throughout — and then, before Orochimaru's stunned eyes, the man once hailed as the God of Shinobi slowly lowered himself to the ground before Hiruzen.
Full prostration.
His waterfall of black hair pooled against the dirt, and Hiruzen stood there, utterly at a loss for what to do.
"Monkey. I'm not kneeling to you."
"I'm kneeling for every shinobi who's ever been sacrificed under this village system."
"You lost your own son to Konoha. As a father myself, I understand that pain."
"You, too, are a victim of this system. All of this is my fault."
Hashirama's voice carried a faint tremor, heavy with something unspoken.
"Then why—"
Hiruzen moved to pull Hashirama back up, but before his hand even reached him, Hashirama's voice rose again.
"Which is exactly why Konoha can't be the one starting wars. That child has already gone astray."
"And beyond that — she assassinated a Daimyō, installed a puppet in his place, and used it to secure her own seat as Hokage."
"Her path has already gone wrong."
"I can't let her keep making the same mistake, over and over."
Hiruzen's hand froze in midair, and at that moment, with a faint clink of crimson armor, the towering man rose slowly back to his feet.
"Whatever the reasoning, using violence to end violence, disregarding everyone else's will in pursuit of ambitions to unify the entire shinobi world under herself — that, I cannot accept, under any circumstances."
Hashirama's tone stayed calm and utterly resolute — the exact same conviction that had carried him through his final battle with Madara at the Valley of the End. Nothing could shake it.
Impossible to reason with. Impossible. Impossible!
For the first time, Hiruzen found himself facing a stubbornness in this man he'd never expected.
The facts had already proven the hidden village system was flawed. Hashirama himself had admitted as much.
And yet, over nothing more than the nobility, the Daimyō system, and the dream of unifying the shinobi world, Hashirama was being naively, childishly idealistic.
Believing everyone could simply come to understand one another. Help one another.
Was that even possible?
If people could genuinely understand and support each other equally, the Land of Fire would forever be the one giving, and never receiving.
Expecting the people of the Land of Lightning, the Land of Earth, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Water to actually help the Land of Fire?
Hiruzen couldn't even bring himself to respect the barren land those four nations were built on.
Only the Land of Water came close to comparable — if only because it had the sea to fall back on.
"So — you intend to stop Sakura, then."
Hiruzen took a deep breath, his gaze hardening as he looked at Hashirama.
"Yes."
"Don't worry. I have no intention of taking that child's life."
"After all, she's your student — which makes her something like my own grand-student, in a sense."
"But the Hokage's seat should never have fallen to her."
Hashirama answered Hiruzen, calm.
"And after that? What do you intend to do?"
Hiruzen fixed his gaze on Hashirama, unrelenting.
"I'll end this war. Apologize to every hidden village involved. Then convene a summit, bringing together every village."
"We'll discuss how to properly distribute resources, and put an end to war for good."
"And if the nobility decide they want Sakura dead regardless?"
Hiruzen's words came out cold as ice.
"Then they'll have to go through me first."
Hashirama regarded the current Hokage's own teacher, calm.
"But you're already dead."
"I still have a soul."
Hiruzen felt his last remaining hope for the man before him crumble entirely.
So the gentle, warm-hearted man he remembered had this kind of stubborn naivety buried underneath it all, all along.
At that moment, two figures stepped into the cave, and Orochimaru's eyes flickered with something dark at the sight of them.
Itachi Uchiha, and—
Minato Namikaze.
Minato's eyes were clear now — evidently freed from Edo Tensei's control, clearly Itachi's doing, and that alone left Orochimaru genuinely wary of him.
A crow perched on Itachi's shoulder.
He'd successfully broken Edo Tensei's grip on Minato, using Kotoamatsukami — passed to him by Shisui just before his death — to pull Minato's will back from the void.
Though Minato's suppressed will made him immune to a mind-affecting technique like Tsukuyomi, Kotoamatsukami wasn't a mind-affecting technique in the same sense at all — it branded a directive directly onto someone's spirit itself.
An Edo Tensei Minato's will was, essentially, empty to begin with. But once Kotoamatsukami's directive took hold, it pulled his will back into focus, freeing him from Edo Tensei's control entirely.
"Lord Third. It's been a while."
"That's — Lord First?!"
Minato, who'd come here hoping to help Hiruzen deal with Orochimaru, stared, stunned, at Hashirama standing across from Hiruzen.
Can Orochimaru even control the First Hokage himself?
"Monkey. I'm leaving now."
"I hope you can understand my reasons."
Hashirama looked at Hiruzen and sighed.
"Sensei..."
"Forgive me for the disrespect, but I can't let you leave."
Hiruzen ignored Minato behind him entirely, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on Hashirama.
"Monkey. I don't want to fight you. And you couldn't stop me even if you tried."
Hashirama took a single step forward.
An overwhelming, indescribable chakra swept through the entire chamber instantly!
The already-confined cave seemed to whip into a violent storm — loose stones on the ground trembled, the rock overhead groaned under the pressure, and even the air itself seemed to freeze solid.
Kabuto, the weakest person present, went pale, cold sweat breaking out uncontrollably across his forehead.
Is this... the pressure of the legendary God of Shinobi himself?!
"Wait, wait—"
"Let's talk this through properly..."
"If there's something you two need, we should sit down and discuss it..."
Minato, thoroughly bewildered, had no idea why the First and Third Hokage had ended up at odds, but clearly this wasn't the moment for them to come to blows — especially not in front of Orochimaru.
"Right now, we should be dealing with Orochimaru. Not fighting each other."
Minato's focus stayed fixed squarely on Orochimaru.
Orochimaru watched all of this unfold with a cold smile.
"Minato. Still exactly the same as ever. Though right now, I'm not the one calling the shots here."
But clearly, neither Hiruzen nor Hashirama had any interest in dealing with Orochimaru right now.
"This body was specially prepared — infused with a fair amount of my own cells."
"And with Orochi Yaga, one of Ryūchi Cave's great serpents, offered as sacrifice, it's just barely enough to let me operate at ninety percent of my strength in life."
"Monkey. I'm not who I was three years ago."
Hashirama ignored Hiruzen entirely, striding forward — pausing only briefly as he passed Minato, looking at him.
"You're the Fourth, aren't you?"
"Good work."
With that, he continued on without another glance back, leaving Minato and Itachi staring at each other, baffled.
"Lord Third. What's going on here?"
Itachi asked, confused, looking at Hiruzen.
"No time to explain. We have to stop the First Hokage."
Hiruzen shook his head.
"And Edo Tensei..."
"Compared to the First Hokage, Edo Tensei doesn't matter at all right now. Even breaking the technique wouldn't remove him from this world — he'd still remain."
"Get to the battlefield now. Minato, I need your help."
"I'll explain on the way."
Hiruzen turned to the still-bewildered Minato.
"Not sure what's going on, but count me in."
Minato threw one last glance at Orochimaru, then placed both hands on Itachi and Hiruzen's shoulders, and all three vanished on the spot.
"Lord Orochimaru. What should we do now?"
Kabuto, watching them all disappear, wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
"We go join the fun."
"A scene like that — it's bound to be interesting."
Orochimaru ran his tongue across his lips, an unsettling, gleeful smile spreading across his face.
—
Somewhere over the endless open ocean
A four-armed Susanoo, hundreds of meters tall, head reaching the sky, feet planted on the ocean's surface, stood there in perfect stillness.
Madara, standing on the crystal at Susanoo's forehead, arms crossed, watched his opponent ahead with arrogant confidence.
Only sixteen years old.
A sixteen-year-old Hokage, capable of standing on equal footing with him — that alone was enough to demand Madara's full, undivided attention.
Which was exactly why, for an opponent this rare, Madara had decided to unleash his proudest technique: Susanoo.
"Susanoo..."
The Hokage hovered high above, watching the colossal figure before her, calm.
"Madara Uchiha. Carrying the Uchiha bloodline yourself, and still, in the end, your final trump card is just leaning on that same bloodline."
She raised a hand before her, sage chakra wrapped in blue-and-pink flame flickering across it — appearing tiny, insignificant, against the vast expanse of sky and sea.
Against the colossal figure before her, the Hokage looked like nothing more than an ant.
"Even inherited power still needs real cultivation to reach a level like this."
"If you want someone to blame, blame your own tragic fate for never having the Sharingan."
Madara answered.
"This isn't purely my own power, either."
Madara thought, briefly, of his own younger brother.
Izuna Uchiha.
Without his brother's eyes, this Susanoo could never have reached the level it stood at now.
But the Hokage simply shook her head, the flames wrapped around her body growing fiercer still.
"No. I just wanted to ask you something."
"Madara Uchiha — your Susanoo..."
"Is it sturdy enough?"
The words had barely left her mouth when Madara sensed a wave of danger, and immediately commanded Susanoo to draw the hundred-meter blade sheathed at its waist!
The instant that massive blade cleared its sheath, violent winds tore across its length, terrifying chakra surging alongside its edge — even before it struck anything at all, the whole world seemed to fall into a hush of dread.
Madara's mind sharpened, tense. This opponent before him was something he genuinely couldn't fully comprehend.
Only sixteen years old, and already commanding power at this level. If she'd carried some transcendent bloodline, Madara could have understood and accepted it.
But—
She didn't.
She was, entirely, an ordinary mortal.
No bloodline whatsoever.
And yet she'd reached this level of power regardless. How could such a person even exist in this world?
Which was exactly why Madara felt such overwhelming exhilaration.
Since he couldn't win her over — he'd simply destroy her instead.
Destroy this lethal, beautiful, and yet utterly ordinary cherry blossom.
Susanoo's movements looked deceptively slow, but its true speed was blinding — in the blink of an eye, that hundred-meter blade came down, seemingly about to cleave the Hokage clean in two!
The blade fell, and the shockwave of its edge tore the ocean itself apart!
The entire sea seemed to split in half beneath that single stroke!
And beyond that — the strike's momentum carried onward, all the way toward the distant Land of Frost!
A towering, snow-capped mountain in the Land of Frost had its peak sheared clean off by that single blow!
The strike triggered both a mountain collapse and an avalanche, simultaneously!
Something that should have required nature's own overwhelming force had been accomplished by nothing more than a single, casual stroke from Madara.
At that moment, Sakura had somehow already landed on the very tip of Susanoo's massive blade — and just as the ocean was closing back together, the pink-haired woman ran, feet planted on the blade itself, straight toward Susanoo.
Madara's expression tightened slightly at the sight, and a figure appeared instantly on Susanoo's shoulder, charging straight at Sakura.
That figure was — Killer Bee, still under Sharingan control.
Sakura regarded him coldly, making no move to dodge at all.
Sending the Eight-Tails jinchūriki to intercept me...
Underestimating me, are you...
The instant they clashed, Killer Bee's chest caved in instantly.
Sakura held nothing back — a single punch crushed his chest completely. Even his attempt to drive a blade straight through her heart only managed to pierce a single layer of fabric.
Through the tear in her clothing, faint traces of pale skin were visible beneath — and beneath that skin, chakra pathways glowing gold.
Sage Technique — Yang Release — Ward.
This was the gap in information Madara had been missing. Even having gathered intelligence on this war beforehand, all he'd truly grasped about the Hokage was her unmatched raw strength.
Her defense, too, ranked among the very best the shinobi world had ever produced.
Madara took note of all of this. Trading a single Eight-Tails jinchūriki for this piece of intelligence, in his eyes, was more than worth the cost.
Glancing once at the badly wounded Killer Bee, now falling toward the ocean below, Madara's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan spun rapidly.
In an instant, Killer Bee's badly injured body was engulfed in dense, ink-black chakra.
Clearly, to prevent the Eight-Tails from dying alongside its jinchūriki, Madara had decided to forcibly extract it from Killer Bee's body directly.
As for Killer Bee himself?
Madara had no interest in stopping for the sake of one insignificant life.
"Losing focus even against me."
"Where does that courage come from."
Meanwhile, the Hokage had already closed the remaining distance to Madara — separated now only by the crystal shell forming Susanoo's structure.
Madara shot her a cold glance and said nothing further, continuing his work.
Extracting the Eight-Tails.
He needed it ready for whatever came next. A shame it wasn't the Nine-Tails, but the Eight-Tails would have to do for now.
Watching Madara's actions, the Hokage let out a cold laugh, and the chakra flame wrapped around her body surged violently, like a massive bonfire catching fire all at once.
Sage Technique — Yang Release — Super Heavy Rock Technique!
Sage Technique — Yang Release — Mountain Lord!
Sage Technique — Yang Release — Superhuman Strength!
Three power-amplifying techniques converged simultaneously into her pale, clenched fist.
"ROOOAR!!!"
A tiger unleashed from its cage!
That terrifying blue-and-pink chakra, wrapped in the full weight of all three techniques, coalesced into a massive tiger, roaring skyward.
"Heh. A tiger?"
"Time to hunt it, then..."
Madara watched, cold, as Killer Bee finally landed in Susanoo's palm.
At that moment—
The Ox-Demon is born!
But at the very same instant—
The fist fell — and, before Madara's shocked eyes, the chakra crystal that had once withstood even Hashirama's full Thousand Hands of the Buddha technique unscathed shattered outright.
Madara stared at what had just happened, a wave of pure disbelief crashing through him.
Even when Hashirama's full-form Susanoo had struck the complete Susanoo with everything he had, the chakra crystal at its forehead had always held. That crystal had always been the single most durable part of Susanoo's entire structure.
That was precisely why Madara had felt safe ignoring the Hokage entirely to extract the Eight-Tails.
He'd never imagined that same, supposedly unbreakable crystal would shatter this easily against a single punch from her.
But there was no time left to process any of it.
Because right now, the Hokage stood barely a single step away from him.
No time left!
Madara's chest tightened, and at that exact same moment—
The Hokage and Madara both narrowed their eyes simultaneously.
Someone's coming...
A figure shot down from the sky at tremendous speed!
Green Uchiha clan robes, an Uchiha war-fan strapped to his back—
The newcomer was — Obito Uchiha.
Except now, alongside Kamui's swirling eye, his other socket held a pale-lavender, ripple-patterned eye.
The Rinnegan...
"This kid..."
Madara couldn't help a faint smile at the sight.
The Rinnegan still existed.
The Hokage regarded the newcomer, cold.
Perfect timing.
Everyone here dies today.
Last time, I let him get away. Not again.
Once this is settled, I'll personally lead Tobirama and Karin to hunt this damned vermin across the entire shinobi world if I have to.
Let's see exactly how many Izanagi that Sharingan of his has left.
Storm Release — Storm Dragon!
Obito plummeted from the sky, crimson lightning surging violently around him, charging straight at the Hokage.
The Hokage regarded it, cold. She didn't even find the technique worth a second glance.
She let the crimson lightning strike her without resistance.
At the same moment, a massive surge of chakra erupted from below.
The Ox-Demon is born.
A nearly hundred-meter-tall ox-headed octopus creature gathered endless chakra in its mouth, aiming it straight up at the Hokage.
She had no interest in that either — she simply reached out and grabbed straight for Madara.
Madara, naturally, had no intention of standing still for that. Shinra Tensei erupted instantly.
His goal was never to actually blast the Hokage backward — the earlier exchange had already proven Shinra Tensei alone couldn't push her back.
His real goal was to launch himself, and avoid falling into her grip entirely.
And exactly as Madara had calculated — Shinra Tensei had no chance of knocking the Hokage back, but his own body shot backward at tremendous speed instead.
"Heh..."
Madara looked at the Hokage, still standing exactly where she'd been, a smile crossing his face.
But at that moment, a figure appeared, unnoticed, directly behind him.
"Think you're leaving? You really think you can?"
"Get back here!"
?!
Madara's mind reeled with shock. He spun around instantly — and found another "Hokage" standing behind him, driving a kick straight into him, sending him hurtling back the other way!
At that same instant, the real Hokage moved with lightning speed, closing a hand around Madara's throat and hoisting him bodily into the air.
"I win."
The Hokage regarded Madara, cold, and in the same instant, both of them were swallowed entirely — by the Tailed Beast Ball rising from below, and the Storm Dragon descending from above.
A massive mushroom cloud erupted over the ocean's surface.
The Tailed Beast Ball's explosion sent a tsunami dozens of meters high rippling outward in every direction.
Falling through the air, Obito activated Kamui immediately, avoiding the blast entirely.
Mid-fall, in the brief instant amid that seemingly endless wall of annihilating white light, Obito's eyes met the Hokage's — still standing firm, weathering the Tailed Beast Ball's explosion head-on.
Something tightened in Obito's chest, every hair on his body standing on end.
His heart sank, slowly, all the way down.
Those green eyes held nothing but cold, unmistakable killing intent.
Even if he survived this battle, he understood — the Hokage's hunt for him would never end.
Not that it mattered anymore, in the end.
The tailed beasts remaining now were only the Two-Tails and the Nine-Tails.
If this battle succeeded in capturing both of them, what would the Hokage's pursuit even matter?
Damn it...
Madara ground his teeth, watching the golden light wrapped around his own body.
That wasn't his own power.
It belonged entirely to the Hokage in front of him.
If he hadn't been caught, using the Eight-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball to blow apart this Edo Tensei body would have been enough to escape her grip regardless. An Edo Tensei body was slow to recover, certainly, but with Obito and the Ox-Demon buying him time, he could have simply rejoined the fight once restored.
But the Hokage's move had shattered that entire plan completely.
If he was captured now, neither Obito nor the Ox-Demon alone stood any chance of defeating the Hokage — let alone rescuing him from her grip.
He had to find some way to break this deadlock!
(End of chapter.)
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