At the entrance of Konoha Vilge.

  Kamihane was immersed in bck mist, with two Mangekyō Sharingan eyes emitting an eerie red light.

  With a simple thought, Susanoo's massive hand swung forth, grabbing a ninja who had no time to retreat.

  "Die!"

  The bony hand, as massive and powerful as a mae, ched slightly, and blood mist burst from between its fingers with a "puff," leaving only bone fragments and minced flesh falling like rain.

  "Dammit!"

  "Kill him!"

  "That evil Uchiha brat! Die!"

  The crowd was furious, and the sed wave of ninjutsu attacks came p in, mixed with tless explosive tags and kunai.

  "Boom! Boom! Boom—"

  Kamihane ighe overwhelming barrage of attacks, stepping bae step at a time. Susanoo followed him, moving outward. The giant skeleton, as if cast from divine iron, remained immovable even uhe relentless bombardment.

  When the smoke cleared, the bck skeleton was pletely unscathed, not even a hint of its bck aura diminished, let alone Kamihane inside.

  In trast, the attacks from the Konoha ninjas seemed feeble, like a gentle drizzle, uo stir even a ripple.

  Kamihane trolled Susanoo to throunch, and with a "boom," the gate of Konoha Vilge instantly disied, shattered wood and stones scattering everywhere.

  "Try this!" He formed hand seals within Susanoo, "Fire Release: Great Fireball Twin Style!"

  The bck skeleton opes bony hands, and scorg air rose, as two massive fireballs formed in its palms, engulfing the entire area in high heat!

  Susanoo wielded the fireballs as ons, swinging and pressing them forward. Crimson fmes filled the sky, and screams from the erged into one. No one could withstand su attack.

  Tobirama attempted to extinguish the fmes with his Grand Waterfall Teique, but his water release disied before it even reached Susanoo, leaving only spshing droplets—as if it had entered something "invioble."

  "pletely immuo my water release, huh?" He spat, "What a troublesome ability!"

  With Susanoo, Kamihane overpowered everyone and quickly broke out of Konoha Vilge, but the ninjas behind him tio chase relentlessly.

  Gritting his teeth, Kamihane's bloodshot eyes fshed with ruthlessness. The giant skeleton twisted its body, building momentum like a crazed ape, and hurled the fireballs in its hands!

  "Whoosh! Whoosh!"

  The two fireballs, oer the other, trailed scorg paths as they shot straight toward Konoha Vilge!

  Enhanced by Susanoo's immerength, no one could stop the fireballs' impact. The ground lowed open, f twht, long lines!

  "ing brat!" Tobirama, enraged, csped his hands, ready to form the Earth Release hand seal.

  At that moment, a deep, powerful voice resonated from within the vilge.

  "Summoning Teique: Quintuple Rashōmon!"

  "Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!"

  Five massive gates of different colors burst forth from the ground oer ahe gates were carved with vivid demon faces, symbolizih and hell, stirring up a cloud of dust.

  The fireballs smmed into the first gate, the impad fmes spreading in all dires, followed by the sed fireball!

  "Boom! Crash!"

  The Rashōmon gates shattered and colpsed. After smashing through the fate, the fireballs finally lost their momentum, dissipating slowly in the air.

  Amid the rising white smoke, a tall, white-cd figure desded from the sky, nding with a thunderous crash in front of Konoha Vilge, exuding an aura of majesty and authority!

  "Hokage-sama!"

  "Lord Hashirama!"

  " leader, you've finally arrived!"

  Cheers erupted from the crowd. At the sight of this figure, everyo a sense of relief.

  Even Tobirama was no exception, "Brother, you're here."

  "Yes."

  Hashirama nodded, his gaze sharpening as he looked at Kamihahin Susanoo. "This farce must end."

  Kamiha out a light chuckle, "Lord Hashirama, aren't you even going to ask who I am?"

  "All I know is that you are a destroyer!" Hashirama said coldly, "I will never five anyone who opposes the vilge!"

  "I wasn't the one who started the killing... tch." Kamihane's words were cut short as Hashirama began f hand seals.

  "Wood Release: Woon Teique!"

  The earth cracked, and a massive wooden dragon coiled forth, its size no less imposing than Kamihane's initial form of Susanoo.

  The ground shook violently as the wooden dragon's massive maw luoward Kamihane. Surprisingly, Kamihane shook his head and smiled, voluntarily dispelling Susanoo.

  The skeletal half-body dissipated into bck mist, and he closed his eyes, seemingly resigo his fate, waiting for death.

  At that very moment, ahicker blue arm emerged from the side, grabbing the wooden dragon's ned preventing it from advang, no matter how it writhed.

  The wind howled as another massive haly grasped Kamihane's body, pulling him back to stand behind someone.

  Hashirama stared bnkly at the figure, silently l his hands, and the wooden dragon ceased its struggle, crashing to the ground.

  The blue skeleton vanished bit by bit, revealing a man with arms crossed, bck hair fluttering in the wind, standing tall amidst the chaos.

  Uchiha Madara!

  Seeing Madara's timely rescue, Kamihane finally let out a quiet sigh of relief, seizing the moment to activate the power of his right eye, silently rest himself to his peak dition.

  At this point, only 15 seds remained before the timeline limit. Beyond this, he could only revert to his iate.

  However, he had been cautious, limiting the restoration to his physical dition alo including his clothing or chakra reserves—so he still appeared battered, as if he had just emerged from a fierce battle.

  Iy, however, he was fully energized and unharmed.

  After all, with Madara present, he o maintain the facade.

  As Madara and Hashirama began to front each other, Kamihane quickly deactivated his Sharingan, his eyes turning pitch bck.

  Activating Susanoo had drained his ocur power at an arming rate, causing his entire body's cells to ache faintly. No wonder Sasuke from the inal timeline had gone blind after using it for a short time.

  Fortunately, "Ama no Tokotachi" allowed him to avoid this issue to the greatest extent, but it also meant that he couldn't engage in prolonged battles. The fight had to be cluded within five minutes, or else he wouldn't be able to emerge unscathed!

  "Madara, what exactly are y to do?" Hashirama asked solemnly.

  Clearly, he had linked Kamihane's as directly to Madara.

  "I'm here to retrieve my disciple," Madara said, flig his sleeve as he shielded Kamihane behind him.

  "What? He's your disciple?" Hashirama frowned, his gaze shifting to Kamihane. With a displeased expression, he said, "Do you have any idea how many of our rades he just killed?"

  "Your rades? If they're dead, then they're dead," Madara said with a look of disdain.

  Hashirama took a step forward, his expression both flicted and pained. "Madara, what exactly are y to achieve? I already agreed to let you take the position of the Sed Hokage..." He paused, not wanting to appear weak in front of everyone, especially with his sharp-eyed younger brother behind him.

  "e back," he finally mao say after a long pause.

  Madara maintained his cold arrogance. "I've already told you before, I've begun to doubt your path. I left Konoha to verify whether your way is correct. Must I repeat myself?"

  "Madara, sigh, you're still the same as always, impossible to persuade..." Hashirama sighed helplessly. "At the very least, leave the child here."

  Madara lifted his . "Out of the question. Kamihane is my sman, my only aowledged successor, and also my... true friend. Let go of your delusions!"

  "He's killed many people!" Hashirama's gaze turned sharp. "Your smen are all in Konoha. Why are you defending a murderer?"

  "Hahaha, a murderer? How ughable that those words would e from your mouth!" Madara ughed heartily. "Am I not a murderer? You, and Tobirama behind you—aren't you both murderers?"

  "The fools in the vilge no longer deserve the Uchiha name. I refuse to aowledge such ignorant smen!" Madara gred coldly at the heavily injured Uchiha smen behind Hashirama.

  "Madara, stop being unreasonable. You know I won't let that child go!"

  "You've already taken my closest friend from me. Now you want to take another?" Madara's face twisted slightly.

  Hashirama froze, his killing i faltering. "What?"

  "I'm taking him with me today. Anyone who dares to stop me try," Madara said, turning and walking away with Kamihane in tow.

  Hashirama remained rooted in pce, Madara's words eg in his mind.

  The crowd exged uneasy gnces. With the Hokage not making a move, the lesser ninjas dared not speak up.

  Tobirama stepped to Hashirama's side, looking anxious. "Brother!"

  Hashirama ignored him, calling out into the distance, "Madara! you still not let go of Izuna?"

  Madara paused, a sorrowful smile on his face. "Hashirama, the closest friend I spoke of... is you."

  The cool night breeze scattered the smoke, but Hashirama's heart remained uled for a long time.

  "Brother..." Uchiha Kagami y weakly on the ground, his small face dirty with tears. He watched his brother's back as it grew farther away, his young face filled with bitterness.

  Tobirama happeo g Kagami and was startled to find that the boy's eyes had turned a blood-red color, with two tomoe clearly visible.

  At that moment, the moon was at its fullest.