— — — — — —

"What did you say, Hokage?! The Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Hokage, you've been holding out on us?!" The Raikage furrowed his brows, clearly irritated.

"Uh… not really?" Minato raised his hands innocently. "Come on, isn't it obvious? Why else would Madara go through all that trouble gathering the Tailed Beasts and reviving the Ten-Tails? Of course it's so he can become its jinchūriki—and reach the level of the Sage of Six Paths!"

He genuinely didn't think it needed explaining. Honestly, if the Raikage couldn't figure that out… well, that wasn't his fault.

"You—!"

The Raikage was speechless.

Was Minato wrong? No. And that was exactly the problem.

If he admitted Minato had a point, then he'd basically be admitting he was too dense to connect the dots himself.

"Tch." With an annoyed huff, the Raikage turned away, no longer in the mood to argue. Instead, he focused on the newly transformed Madara, his expression grim.

The danger radiating from Madara was on a whole other level now—beyond what they'd imagined.

"Hahahaha! Now this is what I've been waiting for! This is power! Come on—anyone else wanna try?!"

Madara casually blocked the Five Kage's combined attack with a single swing of his Truth-Seeking Orbs, looking smug as ever.

He could feel it. He was on a completely different level now. This had to be the realm the Sage of Six Paths once stood in.

"Hashirama! Are you watching this? I've left you so far behind now! Hmph!"

He sounded proud, but there was a hint of melancholy in his voice.

"It's a shame that the Edo Tensei didn't control you. I really wanted to bring you back, just so we could fight again. One more time."

Madara felt it—a strange emptiness.

Without Hashirama, the world just felt… dull. What was the point of being the strongest if there was no one worthy to stand beside—or against—you?

Still, he'd follow through with his plan. He'd bring peace to the shinobi world through overwhelming force. He'd prove, once and for all, that his path was the right one.

Hashirama had been wrong.

"Madaraaaa! I thought I heard you calling me! Long time no see!"

A booming voice rang out.

To everyone's shock, Senju Hashirama appeared not far from Madara—alive, solid, and grinning like it was a reunion between old friends.

His eyes were filled with excitement and nostalgia.

"What?! You—Hashirama?! You're actually alive?! Not Edo Tensei… fully revived?! How is that even possible?!"

Madara was absolutely stunned.

He knew firsthand just how hard it was to come back to life. The amount of planning, time, and sacrifice it took… and yet here was Hashirama, just casually there, like it was nothing?

How was that fair?!

"Big bro! What are you doing chatting with him of all people?! Don't forget he's public enemy number one right now!"

Tobirama suddenly appeared beside Hashirama, looking utterly fed up.

He stared at his older brother with the expression of someone who'd just watched their sibling do something unbelievably dumb for the millionth time.

Seriously. This guy…

"Ugh… I know, I know!"

And with that, Hashirama—under Tobirama's exasperated gaze and Madara's blank stare—squatted down on the ground and started drawing sad little circles with his finger like a kid in time-out.

The whole shinobi alliance was stunned.

"…Wait, that's the legendary God of Shinobi?"

"His personality is… way off."

"Is this for real? That's the First Hokage?! I feel like this is kinda embarrassing… but also kinda hilarious?"

"…Why does he seem like a total airhead?!"

A wave of incredulous murmurs swept through the alliance ranks. The image they'd had of the great Hashirama had just been completely shattered.

"Well then."

Madara finally cracked a grin as the shock faded. "Not sure how you managed to come back, but good. This means I get one more round with you. I'll prove to you who's stronger—and who was right."

Without another word, he lunged at Hashirama.

As he closed in, Madara quickly formed hand signs and unleashed one of Hashirama's own signature jutsu—

"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"

Giant trees erupted from the ground, surging toward Hashirama like nature itself was coming for him.

"...Huh?"

Hashirama blinked, caught completely off guard. "Wait—Madara! What's going on?! Why can you use Wood Style? Don't tell me you've got Senju blood too?"

"Oh! So that's it! We're the same clan?! Is that why your Sharingan turned into onions?"

Madara: "..."

Tobirama: "..."

Renzo: "..."

What the hell kind of logic was that?

...Then again, if you traced the bloodlines back far enough, the Senju and Uchiha were technically the same family—descendants of the Sage of Six Paths' two sons, Asura and Indra. They just split paths somewhere along the way… and then spent the next thousand years trying to kill each other.

Thanks, Sage.

---

"Grandpa really hasn't changed a bit," Tsunade said with a chuckle. "Still weird as ever—but in a fun way."

She turned and smiled sweetly at Renzo. "Thank you for this surprise. I love it."

"I'm glad," Renzo replied with a grin, wrapping his arm around her waist.

With his current control over the Pure Land and the authority of the underworld, reviving people like Hashirama was basically a snap. He didn't even need the Rinne Rebirth Jutsu. To save time, he just used the resurrection spell of Hero Renzo—and bam, Hashirama and the others were back.

---

Back on Madara's side of the battlefield…

Hearing Hashirama's nonsense, Madara nearly tripped. His jutsu fizzled out mid-cast as he shouted in exasperation, "I do not have the damn Senju blood!"

Was this guy trying to insult him?!

Like he'd ever want Senju blood in his veins. Hmph!

But Hashirama just laughed, hands on his hips. "Oh, come on, Madara! Don't be like that! Of course I know you aren't Senju —I was the clan leader, remember?"

He tilted his head, looking genuinely concerned. "You're not thinking straight, Madara. You sure you didn't mess something up during resurrection? Maybe you need a check-up? Want my grandson-in-law to take a look?"

Madara: "Get lost!!"

"Alrighty then—back to fighting!"

"Sage Art: True Several Thousand Hands - Shinsu Senju!"

In a flash, Hashirama activated Sage Mode and summoned his ultimate Wood Style technique.

A colossal wooden statue with thousands of arms surged forward, aiming to crush Madara.

"Hmph. That all you've got?" Madara scoffed. "That move doesn't work on me anymore."

He didn't even flinch. Instead, he reshaped his Truth-Seeking Orbs into a spherical barrier that completely surrounded and protected him.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The giant hands slammed down like an endless storm. The battlefield shook for minutes under the barrage. But finally, Hashirama stopped, frowning as he stared at the dust-covered spot where Madara had been.

"...No way. That didn't work? Has the gap between us really gotten that big?"

Even with the dust cloud still lingering, he could tell: Madara was totally unharmed.

Not a single one of those strikes had even cracked the Truth-Seeking Orbs.

"This is bad," Tobirama muttered.

His sensing abilities were sharper than his brother's, and he could feel it clearly—Madara's chakra hadn't dropped at all. Not even a sliver. His presence was still overpowering.

Which meant... Hashirama's strongest move had done nothing.

Tobirama's expression turned grim.

"Let's hope Renzo wasn't lying about how strong the Pokémon really are." Tobirama glanced down at the two Poké Balls Renzo had handed him, instructing him to release them during the battle.

Yup, the Cat and mouse duo.

It was time for Tom and Jerry to shine.

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. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the N0veI.Fiɾe.net

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