At the third quarter of the night, the door to a side hall in the Daimyo’s Palace was kicked off its hinges.
Madara and Kaito flashed out of the room, while five ANBU immediately moved to protect them.
“Did you find anything unusual?”
Hyūga Kōban activated his Byakugan and replied, “Report: no abnormalities detected.
There isn’t a single person nearby.”
Inuzuka Tora and Aburame Shizan also reported no findings.
Sure enough, they hadn’t encountered any servants or guards along the way.
The entire Daimyo’s Palace radiated an unsettling atmosphere.
Boom!
The heavy doors to the main hall were smashed open, and the group rushed inside.
“No response from the surroundings.”
At that moment, the entire hall suddenly lit up.
Seated upon the luxurious throne, the Daimyo appeared before them in the form of an energy projection, looking down at them from above.
He roared angrily, “Uchiha Madara!
Senju Hashirama!
How dare you commit treason!”
Madara let out a cold laugh and shot back arrogantly.
“As long as you’re dead, that’s all that matters.”
“Good!
Very good!
Senju Hashirama, I trusted you so deeply, and yet this is what you really are!”
Kaito blinked.
“Not only did I allow someone like you to rise to power, but you even dared to rebel and extend your hands toward me!”
As the Daimyo finished speaking, a man stepped out from behind the throne.
His face was ordinary, but the pair of unusually thick eyebrows on his face made him unforgettable.
Could this person be—
Before Kaito could think further, the man tossed a mangled human body before them.
It was the Daimyo’s envoy.
Judging by his condition, he’d been tortured horribly before death.
He had gotten exactly what he deserved.
Kaito stepped forward and shouted,
“The world has suffered under the Daimyo for far too long!
You’re nothing more than parasites feeding on the people!
If you can’t govern properly—if you can’t bring peace or a future to the people—then step down!
“Treason?
“When dignity is trampled underfoot, rebellion becomes humanity’s final salvation!
It is the light that pierces the darkness and illuminates the road ahead!
“I will wield ideology as my blade to sever these rotten chains!
I will raise the banner of resistance with an unyielding spine!
I fight for peace in this world!
I fight for the future of all people!”
“Y-you—!”
The Daimyo was so furious he nearly choked.
His face turned purple.
The Konoha guards all nodded in agreement.
Even the thick-browed man looked at Kaito with a complicated expression.
“Hahaha!”
Madara burst into laughter.
“Well said, Hashirama!
I’ve long been sick of these insects looking down on us from above!”
As he spoke, he raised his right hand and clenched his fist toward the Daimyo.
“Now I can finally crush you with my own hands.
Come out!”
“You’ll never find me.”
Madara snorted.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
He turned toward a wall.
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!”
A massive fireball burst from his mouth and slammed directly toward the wall.
However, the attack was blocked by a transparent barrier.
Then, a figure slowly materialized before them.
“You can actually see me?
Uchiha Madara, you’re rather interesting.”
As the final word left his mouth, his appearance fully revealed itself.
He was gaunt yet handsome.
Beneath his tall ceremonial hat, crimson-painted brows accentuated his aloof temperament.
He wore a dark-blue hunting robe adorned with prominent trigrams and pentagram patterns.
In his hands, he held a bronze mirror and a ritual staff.
His presence was extraordinary.
“Be grateful for my mercy, for I shall allow you to hear my name.
“I am—
Abe Akiteru!”
Madara frowned.
“Hmph.
I don’t care who you are.
Anyone who stands against me dies.”
“Impudent!
Never has anyone shown me such disrespect.
You…
are unforgivable!”
Just as the two seemed ready to fight, one of Kaito ‘s guards, Sarutobi Sanshan, hurried over.
“Lord Hashirama!
Yamanaka Jinan, who was handling communications, has reported that Lord Tobirama’s group has been exposed.
There must be a sensor-type or barrier expert within the Daimyo’s Palace!”
“Hm?”
Kaito immediately thought of Abe Akiteru.
Judging by his attire, he was likely a traditional practitioner of the Land of Fire’s esoteric arts—a barrier specialist.
If he specialized in talismans and barrier techniques, Tobirama’s exposure made perfect sense.
“Damn it…”
He suddenly remembered a conversation from before he had transmigrated, back when he watched Naruto at home.
“These Japanese are hilarious.
They clearly possess immense military power, yet they still treat an ordinary person like the Daimyo with absolute reverence.”
His friend Ergou had replied:
“If it were me, I’d just wipe out the Daimyo, unite all of the Land of Fire’s strength, and launch an invasion of the Land of Earth.
Once you occupy it, you’ll gain massive manpower.”
“Exactly.
If I were the Third Hokage—or the First—I would’ve just gone for it!”
Boom!
The sound of Madara and Abe Akiteru clashing snapped Kaito back to reality.
“Damn you, Ergou,” he cursed inwardly.
“You never mentioned the Daimyo had monsters like this protecting him.”
He immediately ordered Sarutobi Sanshan:
“Pass on my orders.
Tell them to hold out as long as possible.
If the situation becomes hopeless, retreat immediately.
We have our own means of escape here.
The five of you go reinforce them.”
“But Lord Hashirama, what about you and Lord Madara—”
Kaito interrupted him.
“Forget about us.
The two of us can handle anything.
Follow orders.”
“Yes, sir!”
The five ANBU quickly retreated toward the entrance.
“Trying to escape?”
The man who had been standing beside the throne suddenly dashed forward, rapidly closing in on the Konoha shinobi.
But at that moment, five massive tree roots erupted from the ground and wrapped around him.
“If you want to attack my subordinates, you’ll have to get through me first.”
The man wasn’t angered at all.
As he evaded the roots, he asked:
“You people of Konoha are strange.
The guards abandon their leader and flee, yet the leader voluntarily stays behind to cover their retreat?”
Kaito replied without hesitation:
“The strong should do what the strong are meant to do.
Only then can the flame be passed down from generation to generation.
“Where the leaves dance, the fire also burns eternal.”
Without a trace of shame, he borrowed Hiruzen’s philosophy.
The man visibly trembled.
He repeated the words softly before looking at Kaito with admiration.
“To think that such a hero exists in this world.
Senju Hashirama, I will remember you.
Might Duy.
“To be honest, I truly do not wish to be your enemy.”
“What?!”
Kaito ‘s eyes widened.
“Might Duy—is he related to you?!”
“My son.”
Might Duy snapped back to reality and glared at him.
“How do you know him?”
“I…
learned of him through the Great Toad Sage.
His son, Might Guy, will become one of the world’s saviors.”
“What?!”
Might Duy desperately wanted to dismiss such nonsense.
But his son had always been kept hidden.
No third person should know of his existence—not even the Daimyo.
That made him hesitate.
“Hey!”
The Daimyo noticed his wavering.
“Have you forgotten that I saved your family’s lives?
You swore loyalty to me!”
“…Enough.”
Might Duy hardened his resolve.
“I’m sorry.
But I must stop you.”
He lowered into a peculiar stance.
Kaito ‘s heart sank immediately.
The Eight Gates.
He glanced to the side.
Madara was already dancing with Abe Akiteru.
Seas of fire crashed against barrier formations, sending ripples through the air.
With a wave of his hand, Abe transformed talismans into countless paper cranes that pecked toward Madara’s face.
Madara merely glanced at him with his Sharingan.
In an instant, Abe found himself trapped within another world.
Yet even under torture, he remained calm.
Energy surged around him, instantly dispelling the genjutsu.
In reality, a shikigami stood beside him—
A Nine-Tailed Fox woman.
Her kimono exposed large portions of her body, and a fox tail swayed behind her.
After breaking free, Abe wasted no words.
He summoned two more shikigami and directed them into battle.
The two sides continued probing one another, matching move for move.
Just as Kaito ‘s gaze was momentarily drawn toward the fox woman—
Might Duy completed his stance.
“The Gate of Life—OPEN!”
Blood-red chakra quickly spread across his body and face.
“As expected…
the Eight Gates Technique.”
Sweat trickled down Kaito ‘s temples.
He couldn’t help but think:
Night Guy was probably developed by Guy himself…
hopefully Duy doesn’t know it.
But there’s no turning back now.
I won’t retreat.
He immediately formed hand seals.
“Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!”
Countless tree roots erupted from the ground.
Four enormous trunks shot upward, blossoming into gigantic pink flowers that burst through the roof.
As the flowers bloomed, toxic pollen rapidly spread throughout the area.
“Not good!”
Might Duy, moving at high speed, accidentally inhaled some of the pollen.
He immediately felt dizzy.
“The pollen is poisonous!”
Without hesitation, he opened another gate.
“The Gate of Injury—OPEN!”
Then he charged directly toward the giant flowers at terrifying speed.