Starting From Being Adopted by the Second Hokage!

Senju Hashirama stood atop a wooden dragon, gazing across the sky at Madara in the distance.

"Madara, please, stop this." Hashirama's voice was full of deep emotion. "Do you really want to destroy the village we built together?"

Uchiha Madara's expression remained calm.

"Hashirama, your idea of peace is flawed. I don't agree with it."

As he spoke, a Tailed Beast Bomb formed in the Nine-Tails' mouth and suddenly launched forward.

Hashirama's pupils contracted. He hadn't expected Madara to actually go through with it!

He really intended to destroy Konoha!

Hashirama clapped his hands together. Thick vines of Wood Release extended behind him, forming a massive barrier that completely blocked the impact of the Tailed Beast Bomb.

Even for someone like Senju Hashirama, defending against a Tailed Beast Bomb on such short notice was exhausting.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as he looked at his old friend in disbelief.

"Madara... why are you doing this...?"

"Hashirama, you've always been the same—always acting on wishful thinking." Uchiha Madara's gaze was as calm and deep as still water.

This time, he came with the resolve to die. Naturally, he wouldn't be swayed by Hashirama's words.

"If you're trying to talk me out of it, you might as well give up!" Madara's expression twisted into a mocking sneer.

"We've long since ceased to belong to the same world."

"Big Brother, stop wasting time!" Senju Tobirama shouted.

That guy Madara wants to destroy Konoha, and his brother is still chatting with him?

"I understand..." Hashirama murmured softly.

Madara had already stepped onto a path of no return. Persuasion was no longer an option.

Hashirama's gaze hardened as he stared straight into Madara's crimson Sharingan. His voice was low, but every word carried immense weight.

"I won't allow anyone to destroy this village. Not even you!"

Before his words finished, countless thick wooden stakes burst from the ground, surging toward Madara and the Nine-Tails.

"Hashirama!"

"Madara!"

A cataclysmic battle erupted in an instant.

Hashirama knew well that Konoha couldn't withstand the aftermath of this battle.

He leapt into the air, Wood Release chakra gathering beneath his feet to form a giant lotus platform. Using his Wood Release, he blocked the Nine-Tails' attack.

"Madara! If you've got the guts, then come after me!"

Uchiha Madara knew exactly what Hashirama was trying to do, but he didn't mind.

Their battle gradually drew farther and farther from Konoha.

Renya watched the clash between Hashirama and Madara in stunned silence.

Was this really power a human could possess?

He even felt that, even if he awakened the Mangekyō someday, he still wouldn't be a match for Uchiha Madara.

Unless maybe... thirty or forty years later, he found the elderly Madara plugged full of oxygen tubes.

After all, by that time, Uchiha Madara would be barely clinging to life, depending on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, wobbling even while walking.

Just an old man. Renya could probably take him down with ease.

But that was just wishful thinking. Madara's hiding place wouldn't be so easy to find.

Renya sighed in frustration.

Maybe that would be his only chance in this lifetime to defeat Madara...

The figures of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara had vanished from sight.

Yet the deafening sounds of battle could still be heard in the distance.

Renya knew the outcome of this fight—Senju Hashirama would emerge victorious, while Uchiha Madara would fake his death and escape.

After this battle, the time he had left to grow stronger would be short...

The distant sounds of battle raged on throughout the entire night.

By the time morning came, the sounds gradually faded.

Everyone knew—the fight was over.

They began to worry—who was the final victor?

"Hashirama-sama... please, you have to win!"

The villagers couldn't bear to imagine what they'd do if Senju Hashirama had lost.

Senju Tobirama led a team of Konoha shinobi toward the battlefield.

He had originally wanted to step in and help, but his elder brother had sternly refused.

Hashirama didn't want anyone interfering in his battle with Madara.

Once the sound of battle disappeared, Tobirama finally led the others to the site.

If Big Brother had won, all would be well.

If Madara had won, they would attack and eliminate him.

...

The Valley of the End.

Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama stood facing each other.

After a full night of battle, both men were utterly exhausted, their armor in tatters.

Madara didn't even have the chakra left to activate his Sharingan.

They both charged at each other.

Their weapons clashed, and Hashirama collapsed to the ground.

Madara turned and looked down at Hashirama.

"I'm the one still standing," he said softly. "How ironic, compared to last time."

His thoughts drifted back to the moment he had lost to Hashirama in the past.

If he had won back then, Konoha would never have been founded.

It was because of his defeat that he was swayed by Hashirama to form an alliance and build the village together...

Hashirama knelt on the ground, his voice low and heavy.

"I want to protect this dream we just realized... I won't let you destroy the village."

Madara sneered.

"Hashirama, you're nothing more than a loser now. Just wait until I—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Hashirama suddenly appeared behind him and drove a blade through his left chest.

Madara's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked down at the blade piercing his chest.

Only then did he realize that the previous Hashirama had merely been a Wood Clone.

"I can't believe I got taken... from behind..." Madara muttered.

"I must protect our... no, my village!" Hashirama's expression was solemn. "No matter what happens, as long as the village is protected, everything else will be too. I believe this—whether it's a friend, brother, or child—anyone who threatens the village will not be forgiven!"

"You've changed, Hashirama."

Madara's body weakened as he collapsed to his knees.

"At the start, you built the village to protect your family and friends. But now, to protect the village, you'd kill your friends and family..."

With those final words, Madara slowly fell to the ground.

Hashirama looked down at Madara's corpse, falling into silence.

If possible, he truly hadn't wanted to kill his old friend.

But there was no choice—Madara's actions had crossed his bottom line.

To him, the safety of the village was more important than anything else.

He sat beside Madara's body and spoke softly.

"Madara, I've always been working to ease the tension between the Senju and the Uchiha."

A faint smile crossed Hashirama's face.

"I even had Tobirama adopt one of your Uchiha children."

"I hoped that, through raising the child, Tobirama would slowly let go of his prejudice against the Uchiha..."

He had originally thought Madara just left in a fit of anger and would return to the village soon.

He'd even wanted to surprise Madara by telling him all of this upon his return.

But now, it had all ended like this...

"Madara... farewell."

At that moment, Senju Tobirama arrived with a group of shinobi.

When they saw that Hashirama had emerged as the victor, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Big Brother, are you alright?" Tobirama asked with concern.

Hashirama shook his head and struggled to his feet.

"I'm fine, Tobirama."

Tobirama's gaze landed on Madara's corpse, filled with greed.

After all, Madara possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan.

If he could decipher its secrets...

Hashirama seemed to catch onto Tobirama's thoughts and said sternly:

"Tobirama, I advise you not to mess with Madara's body, or I'll be angry!"

He wouldn't allow anyone to defile his friend's corpse.

"...I understand, Big Brother."

In the end, Tobirama hid Madara's body deep within Konoha's mountains.

...

Deep in the mountains.

Inside a coffin, Uchiha Madara's eyes suddenly snapped open.

----------------

Pls Drop some Power Stones

+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo