Chapter 418: Chibaku Tensei!
"Madara, stop this. Peace created through war can never last long," Hashirama continued trying to persuade his old friend.
"They might not even thank you for helping them, Hashirama."
Madara, sitting within Susanoo, rested his chin on his hand, still with that detached, observing demeanor.
As he finished speaking, the third meteor descended!
Hashirama summoned an even larger Great Buddha, its thousand arms trying to hold it up.
But then came the fourth meteor, and the fifth...
The meteors seemed endless, and Madara's power had yet to reach its limit.
But Hashirama was struggling.
The Thousand-Armed Buddha wobbled under the weight of six meteors, appearing as though it could collapse at any moment.
The ninjas below looked up at Hashirama with unfriendly gazes.
To them, they had no idea how many meteors were pressing down on him.
They only saw that Hashirama was failing to protect them.
Some even believed that Hashirama was pretending, not exerting his full strength, merely trying to win their sympathy!
Harsh curses and accusations began to spread across the battlefield, reaching Hashirama's ears.
The Fourth Raikage and Fourth Tsuchikage tried their best to explain on Hashirama's behalf, but who cared about the truth?
All they knew was they were about to die, and they needed someone to blame, to vent their frustrations.
Madara sneered, "I told you, Hashirama."
"They might not even thank you for helping them."
"If your efforts don't meet their expectations, they'll resent you instead."
"Give up, Hashirama."
"If they die here, the Konoha you care about won't have to face at least thirty thousand ninjas."
"Konoha won't be destroyed in this war, and you'll still be the respected First Hokage, the hero of Konoha."
Hashirama replied, "I could never bring myself to do that. I founded the village to better protect my family, and later, I wanted to protect my clan and the village."
"Eventually, I wished for peace across the ninja world, so future generations wouldn't suffer the same pain and disasters we endured!"
"Madara! It's you who has changed! What you're doing now goes against our ideals!"
Hashirama still hoped to bring back the old Madara he once knew.
But Madara wasn't interested. He had controlled his power to ensure not everyone would die.
He only intended to render most of them incapable of fighting, ensuring they wouldn't interfere with his plans to capture the Tailed Beasts.
Madara still wanted most of them alive to join him in enjoying the true peace he would create.
Madara's ideals hadn't changed, but he was much more radical than Hashirama.
He was willing to sacrifice some to create true peace.
That was the fundamental difference between Madara and Hashirama.
"That's why we'll never see eye to eye," Madara said with a tinge of regret.
As he prepared to deal with the Jinchuriki and end it all, a cold gleam flashed, and the six meteors were instantly sliced into countless fragments.
Another flash, and the fragments were shattered into fine dust, harmlessly falling to the ground.
A third party had saved the two hundred thousand ninjas of the anti-Konoha alliance.
"Interesting… hahaha… how interesting!"
"To think such a powerful individual exists in the ninja world…"
Madara, intrigued, stood up, his gaze fixed on a figure on a distant stone pillar.
Clad in a black robe and wearing a white mask, the figure exuded an air of mystery.
"Who are you?" Madara asked seriously, staring deeply at the cloaked figure.
The figure was none other than Uchiha Haneda, the only one in the ninja world capable of stopping this disaster, the only one who could confront Madara.
Haneda didn't reply. A space-time portal appeared behind him, and he vanished.
Madara immediately pursued, hoping to enter the portal before it closed.
But Haneda didn't give him the chance. The portal sealed, leaving behind only a single sentence.
"A true warrior wields his blade against stronger foes; only the weak wield it against those weaker."
Upon hearing this, Madara felt insulted.
He activated his Rinnegan, attempting to reopen the portal, but to no avail.
He stared deeply in the direction Haneda had vanished, before finally turning back to the terrified anti-Konoha alliance.
Madara had lost interest in these weaklings.
Relieved that Madara had stopped his assault, Hashirama breathed a sigh of relief.
He knew full well that with an Edo Tensei body, Madara was virtually invincible, with infinite chakra.
If Madara wanted to continue the slaughter, no one could stop him, and no one would survive.
But just because Madara wasn't interested in killing these weaklings didn't mean he wouldn't carry out his plan.
Leaping into the air, Madara summoned his Susanoo, the Perfect Susanoo reappearing once again.
He drew his sword and slashed at Killer B and Han.
With one swing, Killer B and Han were split in two, their Perfect Jinchuriki forms collapsing as they fell unconscious.
Noticing Hashirama approaching, Madara unleashed a Shinra Tensei, halting Hashirama's advance.
As he prepared to capture Killer B and Han, the space-time continuum rippled again. A man in an Akatsuki robe, wearing a white mask, appeared before Han and Killer B.
Once more, the space-time rippled, and the two were sucked into another dimension.
Madara instantly recognized the newcomer—it was his pawn, Uchiha Obito. He halted his actions, not bothering to stop him.
"Obito, where's Nagato?"
Obito glanced at Madara. Seeing that Madara wasn't trying to snatch the Jinchuriki, he replied,
"In the Land of Rain, he's organizing the Akatsuki and Amegakure to counter the anti-Konoha alliance's assault teams."
Madara didn't bother asking why Nagato hadn't resurrected him and instead inquired,
"Is the Gedo Statue with you?"
Obito replied, "It's with Nagato. If you're willing to help me retrieve it, you can."
As he spoke, Obito began to phase out, wary of Madara's sudden attack or ready to leave.
Hearing that the Gedo Statue was still with Nagato, Madara was genuinely frustrated.
This wasn't how his plan was supposed to go!
Even if Nagato hadn't used the Rinne Tensei to resurrect him, what about the Gedo Statue?
The Gedo Statue was central to the Eye of the Moon Plan, central to Madara's lifelong ambition.
Especially now, with another space-time ninja appearing, Madara felt a sense of crisis, fearing unforeseen complications.
However, Madara's expression remained unchanged, calm as ever.
"Who was that man?"
He asked one last question.
He surmised Obito must know and that Obito had been lurking here all along, just like that man.
Obito chuckled,
"The Fifth Hokage, the leader of the Land of Fire, a best-selling author of the year, the God of Shinobi of the new era, Uchiha Haneda."
...