“The killer is…”
Luckily, this was the Yang Clone, not a normal person.
As long as his heart remained perfectly intact, shattered bones throughout his body couldn’t fully stop him.
While using the topic of the real killer to draw Hashirama’s immediate attention, Yang seized Hashirama’s arm, heavily piercing his skin with his claws.
But as the claws drove deeply into the muscle, the contracting flesh clamped down tight, halting them dead.
“…”
“It’s useless.”
Hashirama pulled the sharp claws out barehanded.
A few drops of blood spilled, the physical injury was entirely insignificant.
Thanks to his powerful regeneration, the wounds healed at a highly visible rate, restoring his skin to its original flawless state.
That recovery speed even surpassed that of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki.
Yang smiled.
“My claws are poisonous.”
The Yang Clone’s claws were indeed highly poisonous.
The venom inside was a potent anesthetic, a single drop could leave a tiger completely paralyzed.
But in this world of chakra, elite shinobi were far more terrifying than wild tigers, and Hashirama was the greatest among them.
Even an anesthetic capable of instantly subduing a tiger might not do much to Hashirama.
However, “not much” did not strictly mean “nothing.”
At least in the short term, Hashirama’s movements noticeably slowed, especially his right hand.
The exact instant Yang succeeded, Madara struck from the shadows.
Though he greatly disliked ambushing Hashirama, for the greater good, for humanity, he chose to attack.
Appearing quickly before Hashirama in a Body Flicker, he slashed with his heavy scythe under Hashirama’s astonished gaze, cleanly slicing a chunk of flesh right from his shoulder.
Blood heavily splattered.
Hashirama’s eyes widened.
Due to the fast-acting anesthetic, his shoulder didn’t physically hurt much, but his heart ached.
He asked in a daze, “Madara, why?”
It was just like Naruto would ask Sasuke why he left Konoha in the distant future.
Madara cleanly caught the bloody chunk of flesh on the broad blade of his scythe.
He answered without hesitation, “For…
peace.”
His cold, unyielding expression perfectly mirrored Sasuke’s future rejection of Naruto.
“Peace…”
Hashirama froze in place as a nameless, overwhelming anger surged within his chest.
His potent Wood Release chakra rapidly neutralized the lingering anesthetic in his bloodstream.
Madara gave Hashirama no time to recover.
He snatched Yang swiftly off the ground and turned to immediately leave.
The current Hashirama was simply no match for Madara and couldn’t effectively stop him.
He could only watch helplessly as Madara rapidly walked away.
“Your son wasn’t killed by me.”
Yang spoke up just before they departed.
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Their deaths definitely reeked of foul play.
Caught perfectly between Madara and Hashirama, the culprit behind it was highly likely to be that shadowy hand constantly meddling in the shinobi world.
After leaving Konoha’s borders, Madara casually tossed Yang onto the ground.
Yang stood up and calmly brushed the dust off his body.
Madara looked genuinely surprised.
“You actually survived a direct punch from Hashirama and can still stand.”
‘There it was!
The Number One Hashirama Fanboy in the ninja world, Madara Uchiha.’
Yang rolled his eyes.
“Don’t overestimate that punch.”
Tsunade’s monstrous strength punches were largely useless against Orochimaru, who had undergone extensive soft-body modifications.
Hashirama’s punches were equally ineffective against him.
After all, he was a resilient Earth Grudge Fear clone, not a normal living person.
Fortunately, Hashirama hadn’t used Wood Release, and that punch hadn’t squarely struck his heart.
Madara nodded, asking casually, “About Hashirama’s son…”
“I told you, someone was hiding in the shadows.
I figure they actively wanted to stir up hatred between you and Hashirama, make you aggressively kill each other.
To resort to such a poisonous scheme, it has to be a hidden spy from the Otsutsuki clan.”
Yang couldn’t say with absolute certainty that it was Black Zetsu, but since he didn’t do it, he needed a convenient scapegoat, making Black Zetsu the prime candidate.
“Is that so…” Madara narrowed his eyes.
He slowly raised his scythe, deeply inspecting a piece of flesh on the blade.
“I’ve obtained Hashirama’s flesh and blood.
What’s the exact next step?”
Yang answered without hesitation.
“Simple.
Transplant it directly into yourself.”
In canon, Madara transplanted the Hashirama cells onto his chest.
That spot had just been heavily stabbed, and the wound hadn’t healed, making it the perfect site for the transplant.
To be highly cautious, Yang first divided the Hashirama cells into several portions, storing them safely in prepared normal saline.
Given the sheer vitality of Hashirama’s cells, even crude storage equipment wouldn’t be an issue.
Madara used his scythe to deliberately slice open a deep wound on his left arm.
He didn’t show a single hint of hesitation, truly a ruthless warrior.
Madara was a genuine tough guy of the Warring States era, being utterly ruthless to his own body was entirely natural to him.
Marveling at this, Yang placed a portion of the Hashirama cells deep into the wound and used dark tentacles transformed by Earth Grudge Fear to stitch it shut.
These tentacles served as an excellent biological transitional medium.
In canon, cell transplants from others naturally triggered various severe rejection reactions.
But for Kakuzu, who possessed Earth Grudge Fear, rejection was practically nonexistent.
He successfully used five completely different people’s hearts and lived perfectly fine.
At the very least, it would significantly minimize the rejection between Madara and the Hashirama cells.
Several days later, relying completely on the innate vitality of the Hashirama cells and the transitional effect of the tentacles, the foreign flesh successfully bonded with Madara.
The powerful chakra it produced quickly merged into his body.
Madara sensed a distinct trace of Wood Release chakra.
“Is this the power of the Rinnegan?” He covered his right eye, smirking.
He could actually feel the massive improvement in his ocular power.
“No, it’s still Sharingan.” Yang shook his head.
Even with the Hashirama cells, evolving into the Rinnegan wasn’t that easy.
In canon, Madara waited long decades, from the First Shinobi World War all the way to the Second Shinobi World War.
He waited until his hair turned completely white before finally awakening the Rinnegan.
It was precisely for this reason that he later arranged complex schemes involving Obito and the likes of Nagato.
His aged, failing body simply couldn’t draw out the Rinnegan’s power at all.
If unlocking the Rinnegan were as simple as quickly obtaining Hashirama cells, Madara would likely have completely ruled the ninja world during the First Shinobi World War.
Comparison only breeds misery.
After obtaining Hashirama’s cells, Sasuke had unlocked the Six Tomoe Rinne-Sharingan in under a single hour.
Perhaps the pure Yin Power granted directly by the Sage of Six Paths had played a significant part in that miracle.
“How long will it exactly take to unlock the Rinnegan?”
Madara was highly patient, waiting a few years, even a decade, meant absolutely nothing.
After ten years, he would definitely still be in his prime.
Yang answered, “Normally, it takes a very long while.
I have two proven methods to significantly accelerate the process.
First, study Yin-Yang Release to speed up the fusion of Sharingan and Wood Release chakra.
Second, gather the massive chakra of the nine Tailed Beasts and try to summon the Sage of Six Paths.”
To the ninja world, the Sage of Six Paths was a legendary figure from a millennium ago, the very progenitor of shinobi.
Yet Yang casually mentioned a method to easily summon him.
Madara felt uneasy about that.
On second thought, it actually made sense if the speaker came from the distant future.
Madara quickly chose the former: practicing Yin-Yang Release.
Gathering the chakra of the nine Tailed Beasts posed no major difficulty for him.
But the Sage of Six Paths remained a completely unpredictable factor, who knew whether the Sage would actually help him unlock the Rinnegan.
So, he began heavily studying Yin-Yang Release.
Yang kept a clone tailing Madara, eagerly acquiring a wealth of Yin-Yang Release data in the process.
His cooperative relationship with Madara ran far deeper than with Tobirama.
Therefore, he obtained much more data, especially concerning Yin Release.
The Uchiha clan’s Sharingan, also known as the jutsu that reflects the heart, was itself a potent form of Yin Release.
Kakuzu was living very comfortably lately.
The new Cup Noodle business steadily brought in substantial, sustainable daily profits.
Watching the digits in his bank savings grow longer, he was genuinely overjoyed.
Counting money until his fingers physically cramped, a lifelong dream from his past life had finally come true in this ninja world.
Beyond that, what made him even happier were the critical events unfolding smoothly around his clones.
The Wind and Earth Release clones need no mention, they were exactly the same as always, lying low within the Daimyo’s residence in the Land of Fire.
Their status was relatively stable, and they constantly monitored the Daimyo’s every movement.
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