It didn't take long for the fight to end—both Raijin and Madara knew when to stop.
Madara mainly wanted to test how much Raijin had grown.
So after a brief exchange, the two of them returned to Konohagakure.
When Senju Tobirama saw Raijin's relaxed smile and Madara's unreadable expression, he let out a satisfied grin.
Without saying a word, Senju Tobirama simply vanished from their sight.
He knew that Uchiha Madara wouldn't hold a grudge over his sudden departure.
If anything… saying something now might just make Madara want to kill him even more.
"I won't see you off. I'll bring Tatsu's disciple ceremony gift to you tomorrow."
As Senju Tobirama left, the others also said their goodbyes to Raijin and Madara before heading off.
Soon, only Tsunade and Raijin remained in the courtyard.
Madara gave a slight nod without saying anything and silently walked away from Raijin's house.
Honestly, Raijin hadn't improved all that much.
All he had really done was unlock the Rinnegan, which helped ease some of the strain from the Tenseigan, making him a bit more agile.
Compared to his previous strength, Raijin's overall improvement wasn't more than twenty percent.
But…
At this level, even a one percent increase—let alone twenty percent—was an incredible leap.
I hope that Senjutsu really pays off.
As he walked, Uchiha Madara thought to himself.
But deep down, he knew the truth.
Senjutsu required practice. It took time to master.
In the short term, there was no way his strength would increase by twenty percent.
So… the road ahead is going to be tough.
—
"Did you win?"
Tsunade asked as she walked into the room, looking at Raijin.
"There was no winner."
Raijin shook his head. Seeing Tsunade's puzzled expression, he explained,
"Madara and I don't need to decide a winner right now, so we stopped before it came to that."
This fight was more of an exchange than a real battle.
Madara didn't use Heaven's Decree, and inside that space, Raijin couldn't use Futsunomitama to create the ideal conditions for himself.
So even if they had fought to the end, it wouldn't have meant much.
"That makes sense."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow and nodded in agreement.
"Besides, you can't really stop Madara anyway. If you two truly became enemies, he could just drop a few meteors on Konohagakure whenever he felt like it. That'd be a real headache."
She sighed, feeling a little helpless.
"Why are you sighing?"
Raijin glanced at her, then walked into the kitchen to start preparing food.
"No matter what Madara's stance is now, just having him living in the same village makes me uneasy."
Tsunade pulled out an apron, tied it around Raijin, and then put one on herself.
"Then figure out a way to deal with it."
Raijin chuckled and said casually.
"Shouldn't we be asking our master of forbidden jutsu to develop a technique that disables space-time jutsu?"
"Easier said than done. He's too busy trying to bring my grandfather back. If he actually focused on new jutsu, he would've made progress by now."
Tsunade scoffed, rolling her eyes. She took the ingredients Raijin had prepared, and at some point, a kunai appeared in her hand.
With a quick spin, the kunai sliced everything into thin pieces.
"Bringing back the First Hokage, huh? Does he really want to do that?"
Raijin chuckled, shaking his head. He didn't say anything more.
—
Konohagakure Research Center.
"This time, it will definitely succeed."
Orochimaru's eyes burned with excitement as he stared at Hashirama Senju, who was floating in a tank of nutrient fluid, unconscious.
"Pause it. Stop the experiment for now."
Senju Tobirama spoke, nodding slightly. His lips pressed together as he looked at Orochimaru.
"Why?"
Orochimaru asked in disbelief.
Shouldn't Tobirama be the one who wants Hashirama back the most?
"As long as we can be sure the experiment will work, that's enough."
Tobirama looked at Orochimaru and said,
"My brother… He no longer has the power to control the ninja world."
His voice carried a hint of disappointment.
"But… the reason you wanted to bring back the First Hokage wasn't just to help Konohagakure, was it?"
Orochimaru asked, confused.
"That's right. Even if my brother couldn't use a single jutsu, I would still want to bring him back—to let him see the world I helped shape, to see Tsunade and Nawaki all grown up, and to witness the Uchiha fully becoming a part of Konohagakure."
Tobirama blinked slowly, lowered his head, and spoke softly.
"But I can't. Because of Uchiha Madara. Because of the Battle of the Final Valley, an unbreakable grudge now exists between him and my brother."
He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. This time, his gaze was sharp and clear.
"No matter how much I miss him, there is no place for my brother in today's Konohagakure. If he returns, it will only make the tension between Madara and the village worse, and everything we've built will collapse."
"Is… that so?"
Orochimaru opened his mouth slightly but didn't know what to say.
Looking at Tobirama, he suddenly felt like he had just learned something.
Something that might be more important than power itself.
"From now on, let's focus on Senjutsu instead."
Tobirama smiled faintly, pushing down the pain in his heart as he walked toward the blackboard.
When you're so close to achieving something you've always dreamed of, yet external factors stop you from doing it, it's truly frustrating.
But Senju Tobirama had no choice.
He didn't deny that Uchiha Madara and his brother had a deep bond.
And he couldn't say for sure that if Hashirama returned to Konoha, Madara wouldn't eventually turn against the village.
If something had the potential to cause chaos, Tobirama would rather prevent it from happening in the first place—at least until he had complete control over the situation.
"Wait for me. That day isn't far away..."
After taking one last look at Hashirama, Tobirama turned to the blackboard and wrote down three large characters:
**Space-Time.**
"From now on, our research on Senjutsu will focus on space-time Ninjutsu. We need a way to neutralize space-time techniques."
Tobirama spoke to Orochimaru and Hiruko.
Then he added, "I've studied space-time Ninjutsu before. I'll share what I know."
With that, he began explaining the principles of space-time Ninjutsu.
Orochimaru and Hiruko listened carefully.
Orochimaru had already guessed what Tobirama was thinking.
The Konoha Research Center would provide the ideas, Uchiha Raijin would test them in real combat, and in the end, they would develop a technique strong enough to suppress Uchiha Madara completely.
That idea interested Orochimaru.
No one liked the feeling of having an unshakable force looming over them.
Even though Madara never made demands of Konoha, having someone with no desires was even more terrifying.
Nobody wanted to live in a village where a single person could decide their fate, unchecked by any rules or order.
For Orochimaru, Konoha without Madara was much better than Konoha with him.
Without Madara, as long as he didn't betray the village, he could do whatever he wanted.
After all, his connection with the leader of the Hokage Guard was just that strong.
So right now, the priority was to increase Konoha's bargaining power—to strengthen Uchiha Raijin.
Yes, the plan was to give Madara permanent Senjutsu.
But so what?
Did Madara even understand the true nature of Senjutsu?
No, he didn't.
He could only explore it on his own, fumbling his way through by mixing natural energy with chakra to use Senjutsu like an advanced form of Ninjutsu.
That was the common understanding of Senjutsu in Konoha.
But Orochimaru believed this was the most basic way to use it.
Senjutsu's true potential was far beyond that.
And this was where numbers made a difference.
Sure, neither Tobirama nor Tsunade could match Madara in raw power.
But becoming strong wasn't just about talent and hard work—luck played a part too.
Madara had been lucky. Otherwise, he'd have died long ago.
But intelligence, talent in Ninjutsu, and the ability to create new techniques didn't scale with power.
When Konoha was first founded, Madara and Hashirama stood at the top of the ninja world.
And yet, was there a single technique in the Scroll of Seals created by them?
No.
When it came to developing Ninjutsu—especially forbidden jutsu—that was Tobirama's specialty.
...
"Do you trust me?"
In a quiet courtyard, Raijin sat across from Madara, looking him in the eye.
Passing Senjutsu to Madara meant that at any moment during the process, Raijin could easily take his life.
After all, he would be guiding natural energy through Madara's entire body.
"I trust you."
Madara smiled and nodded without hesitation.
Whether he actually trusted Raijin didn't matter.
What mattered was that Madara trusted himself.
Uchiha Madara had a clear idea of what was about to happen.
It was just natural energy flowing through his body, nothing more.
Madara was completely confident that if Raijin ever tried to kill him, he could escape.
At worst, he might lose a few organs.
But with the healing ability he gained as the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, he wasn't too worried.
If he really did run, it would be Konoha that suffered.
So Madara believed Raijin would make the right choice.
A small smile appeared at the corner of Madara's lips as he looked at Raijin.
"After all, we're both Uchiha, aren't we?"
"I never thought I'd hear you say something like that."
Raijin burst out laughing.
"You're starting to seem less and less like Uchiha Madara."
"Oh? And what do you think Uchiha Madara should be like?"
Madara asked, a little curious.
Even though the permanent Sage Mode he had always wanted was right in front of him, he didn't seem eager at all.
Because Madara knew—what was meant to be his would eventually be his.
There was no need to be anxious about it.
"In my mind, you should be the type who looks down on everyone."
Raijin thought seriously for a moment before answering.
"Is that so?"
Madara stood up, crossed his arms, and looked at Raijin with obvious disdain.
"Do you also wish to dance?"
His tone was calm, but it carried an indescribable pressure.
"Yes! That's exactly the feeling!"
"Hmph, still just a kid who hasn't grown up."
Madara uncrossed his arms and glanced at Raijin dismissively.
If he had been acting just now, this time, his disdain was real.
"I treat different people differently."
Madara shook his head and spoke casually.
How could his attitude toward Senju Hashirama be the same as his attitude toward Senju Tobirama?
"Hmm."
Raijin didn't bother arguing because he knew it was true.
It was impossible to treat everyone the same way.
"Let's begin."
Raijin reached out his hand toward Madara.
"Alright."
Madara nodded and placed his hand on Raijin's.
The next moment, a faint glow appeared on Raijin's palm.
Under his control, traces of natural energy flowed into Madara's body.
For Raijin, this process was far too simple.
In no time, the cycle was complete.
"Got it?"
Raijin asked Madara.
For him, learning Sage Mode on his own wasn't difficult.
The only problem was that he didn't know how the energy should flow inside his body.
If he had to figure it out himself, it would be a huge hassle.
Experimenting wasn't something Madara had much experience with.
"Yeah."
Madara didn't open his eyes but focused on the sensation of natural energy moving through him.
Surprisingly, it felt great...
His body was incredibly comfortable, like a drought-stricken land finally receiving a long-awaited rainfall.
There was a deep sense of satisfaction.
"Take care of Tatsu."
Standing up, Raijin said to Uchiha Madara one last time.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of that mark within six months."
Madara opened his eyes and spoke seriously to Raijin.
"Then I'll leave it to you. Thanks."
Raijin nodded, and in an instant, he vanished from Madara's sight.
(End of Chapter)
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