Madara, Madara, Madara!
What's so great about that
damn Uchiha Madara?!
Even now, my brother is still thinking about him?!
Inwardly,
Senju Tobirama cursed his brother's soft-heartedness.
But in front of the outsider,
Emiya Shigen,
he felt the need to preserve some dignity for Hashirama.
"Brother!"
Tobirama stepped forward and
placed a firm hand on Hashirama's shoulder,
trying to calm him down.
"Take a moment to compose yourself."
"Who's there?!"
Hashirama's eyes darted up defensively before softening.
"Oh... it's you, Tobirama."
Seeing his brother,
Hashirama's panicked expression slowly eased,
but the fear from his nightmare still lingered.
"Tobirama..."
Hashirama stared at his hands, trembling slightly.
"I dreamed... I dreamed that I killed Madara."
"Brother!"
Tobirama's expression
hardened.
"It wasn't a dream."
Hashirama's body suddenly
slumped.
His hands fell limply by his sides, and
his face twisted in visible pain.
"Tobirama..."
"I think... I really did kill him..."
Slowly, Hashirama
raised a trembling hand to his forehead.
Tears began to
stream down his cheeks.
"..."
Tobirama remained silent for a moment.
Though he personally believed that
killing Madara had been the right decision,
he knew how deeply the loss would hurt his brother.
Tobirama had witnessed firsthand
the bond between Hashirama and Madara
— a friendship born amidst the bitter feud between their clans.
It was a bond that
Hashirama had cherished,
even at the cost of his own life.
But in the end...
That bond had been severed.
And it was
Hashirama himself
who had cut it — by
killing Madara with his own hands.
"Brother."
Tobirama gently patted Hashirama's shoulder.
"Don't forget... Madara wanted to destroy Konoha with the Nine-Tails. You killed him to protect the village we all built together."
"To protect the village..."
Hashirama's eyes grew distant.
Yes.
It was that thought — the desire to protect Konoha — that had ultimately driven him to
kill his closest friend.
Konoha was
their shared dream,
something they had built together.
Madara had even come up with the name
Konoha.
But in their final battle...
Madara hadn't intended to kill him.
Madara still believed that, as always,
a single battle would be enough to settle their differences
— to force Hashirama to
bend to his will
and accept his vision for Konoha.
However...
Hashirama knew better.
His love for Konoha had grown
stronger than his friendship
with Madara.
And because of that...
He had made the decision to kill him.
But that choice left Hashirama with
unbearable sorrow.
He had sacrificed his
most cherished bond
to protect Konoha.
The pain was overwhelming.
Hashirama sat on the bed, his hands gripping the blanket,
his tears falling uncontrollably
as he recalled his memories of Madara.
"Let the patient rest for a while."
Emiya Shigen stood up and spoke gently to Tobirama.
"He's emotionally unstable. It's best to leave him alone for now."
"And..."
"Make sure he doesn't use chakra to heal himself. His rapid cell regeneration will only worsen his condition."
"Understood."
Tobirama carefully helped his brother lie down again.
Hashirama
lay motionless on the bed,
his tears still falling,
completely unaware of Shigen's presence.
"Brother."
"Get some more rest."
Tobirama
pulled the blanket over him
and continued his instructions.
"Don't use chakra to heal yourself. Control your self-healing ability."
"Wait..."
Hashirama suddenly
grabbed his brother's wrist.
"Tobirama... did you bring back Madara's body?"
"It has been... dealt with and buried."
Tobirama's gaze flickered slightly.
A lie.
He had hidden Madara's body.
After all, Madara was
the strongest Uchiha
and possessed
the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.
From a
research perspective,
Madara's body was
invaluable.
Tobirama wanted to
dissect Madara's corpse
to figure out how to
neutralize the Sharingan's power.
Naturally, he had no intention of
wasting this opportunity.
Besides...
Tobirama had
always hated Madara.
He couldn't care less about respecting Madara's remains.
But...
His brother must never know.
However,
Emiya Shigen had already noticed.
Shigen had been silently observing the Senju brothers' conversation.
He saw the flicker in Tobirama's eyes and instantly guessed
what Tobirama had done.
Shigen
smiled subtly.
Based on his knowledge of Konoha's history from his past life,
he knew exactly where Tobirama had hidden Madara's body.
"If my guess is right..."
"I think I know where my old ally is."
Shigen chuckled to himself.
"My pawn..."
"No, my ally..."
"And my ally's pawn is my pawn as well."
"I hope my dear ally,
Black Zetsu,
won't hold a grudge over my betrayal from back then..."
"In this era, I've come to see the error of my ways."
In the Hidden Mountains of Konoha
Deep within
a secret underground chamber,
a
pitch-black figure
emerged from the earth.
It was
Black Zetsu.
An ancient and enigmatic creature with
a mysterious, unnatural lifespan.
Zetsu stood silently, staring at the
sealed coffin in the center of the room.
His
expressionless face
twisted slightly in confusion.
"
Madara's dead?
"
What the hell?
Madara's dead?!
This made no sense.
Madara had been
the perfect pawn,
carefully groomed over centuries.
The last pawn that had been this promising was
Emiya Shigen himself,
over a thousand years ago.
Shigen's
brilliant mind
and
grand dreams
had made him
an even better candidate than Indra.
But in the end...
Shigen had been
too naïve.
He believed in
Asura's ideals
and was convinced that the ninja world could become a
utopia through peace and medical ninjutsu.
"Such a fool..."
Zetsu muttered bitterly.
Believing that chakra was a force of happiness...
Humans would always
fight over resources.
And any
powerful tool
would inevitably become
a more efficient weapon.
"What a waste."
Zetsu sighed.
"Shigen was so smart..."
"Too bad he was
too kind-hearted
to realize the truth."
Still...
If Shigen were alive now...
He'd regret trusting Asura.
Zetsu's eyes darkened with sorrow.
Shigen had been
his favorite pawn.
Compared to
Madara,
Shigen had been
far superior.
Madara, after all, was
too arrogant and stubborn.
And now...
With Madara dead, the plan seemed doomed.
"Madara's dead..."
"Should I wait for another millennium?"
"Or... maybe I should just take his eyes?"
As Zetsu pondered his next move,
the coffin suddenly creaked.
Startled, Zetsu quickly
sank back into the earth,
blending into the shadows.
The coffin began to stir.
Zetsu cautiously peeked out from
his hidden spot,
keeping a watchful eye on the
unexpected movement inside the sealed coffin.