Part 1: Recruiting the Pawns
The air in the U.A. stadium was heavy, charged with a nervous energy that almost choked the breath. The number "10,000,000" printed in bold red on the headband Madara Uchiha held wasn't just a number; it was a blinding beacon attracting every ounce of greed and ambition in the arena. In this Cavalry Battle, whoever held this number automatically became public enemy number one. Hundreds of eyes turned into gun barrels aimed straight at his chest, waiting for the starting whistle to fire.
In standard scenarios, smart students would distance themselves from the top ranker in the opening minutes, fearing their brute strength or planning long-term strategies in the shadows, hoping others would wear them down. But Madara wasn't waiting for anyone, and there wasn't a shred of fear in his steps.
While others scrambled in panic to form teams with close friends, Madara walked with steady, measured strides through the tense crowd. His black eyes scanned his classmates with cold military evaluation, stripping them of their humanity and reducing them to statistics and abilities. He wasn't looking for "friends" or "allies" for small talk. He was a general looking for specific tools for a specific purpose.
He stopped in front of Momo Yaoyorozu. The brilliant girl looked anxious, her eyes darting around as she tried to calculate probabilities in her head, looking for a team that would accept her complex strategies without argument.
"Yaoyorozu," Madara said in a calm voice that nonetheless carried an undeniable tone of command, cutting through her chaotic thoughts. "Your creation ability and tactical intellect... I require them."
Momo blinked in astonishment, adjusting her ponytail nervously, staring at the ten-million-point headband in his hand as if it were a nuclear bomb. "Me? But Madara-san... think logically! Everyone will target you! The probability states that staying with you is a 99% risk! We'll be besieged from the very first second."
"And that is precisely why we will win," he interrupted coldly, as if statistics were meaningless trivial numbers to him. "Danger is where true warriors thrive. Do you want to play it safe and hide, or do you want the summit?"
She hesitated for a moment, looking into his deep eyes. She had seen his power in the race and knew that betting on him, despite the danger, might be the only winning card. She nodded seriously. "Understood. I will follow your plan."
Madara then turned to his side, where Eijiro Kirishima was looking for a partner with a somewhat confused expression.
"Kirishima. Your hardness will be my front shield. I need someone to take direct impacts without flinching, a horse that won't fall no matter the weight."
Kirishima grinned broadly, revealing his sharp teeth, and slammed his fists together enthusiastically, making his spiky red hair tremble. "That sounds totally manly! I'm with you, man! No one's getting through me even if I have to become a wall of steel!"
Finally, Madara's eyes fell on Denki Kaminari, who was trying to join any team that would accept him, clearly anxious about ending up alone.
"Kaminari. Your electricity will be my sword."
Kaminari gulped nervously, looking at the forming team. "But, Madara... you know my Quirk. If I release my full power, I'll hit everyone around me, including you guys! And I'll end up... completely stupid, and become a burden to you."
Madara looked at him with glacial coldness, taking a step closer that made Kaminari shrink back. "Do not worry about us; Yaoyorozu will handle the insulation. As for your brain... just unleash everything you have in the first strike. After that, we will carry you as baggage. Your role is to be the nuclear bomb that wipes the field, not to be the thinker. Is that clear?"
Kaminari nodded quickly, terrified and excited at the same time.
A few minutes later, Madara mounted the "human throne" formed by the three. He tied the ten-million headband around his forehead and looked at the crowds staring at him with hunger and predation, like wolves surrounding a wounded lion.
"I am not asking you to try," he said in a voice audible only to his team as the starting whistle approached. "Follow my instructions to the letter, and I guarantee your ascent to the top. There is no democracy here. There is only a commander, and executors."
Part 2: The Siege and Shock
"START!"
The moment Midnight's whistle blew, the stadium turned into a bloody battlefield. There were no complex plans or cautious maneuvers anymore. The primal instinct of greed took over everyone.
"Kill him!"
"Take the ten million!"
Teams ignored small points and surged as one raging human wave toward Madara's team stationed in the center. Tetsutetsu's team from Class B with his steel skin, Hagakure's invisible team, everyone without exception. The ground shook beneath the feet of dozens of students charging toward a single point.
"They're coming from every side! Oh my god, they're like zombies!" Kirishima shouted, hardening his skin to the maximum, his eyes widening at the horrifying sight. "Right, left, rear... we are completely surrounded!"
Madara sat atop the throne in perfect calm, arms crossed, like a statue carved from rock unaffected by the surrounding chaos. He didn't move a hair despite the hysterical approaching cries.
"Yaoyorozu, Ground Insulator... Now!"
"Yes!"
With quick reflexes, Momo created a massive, super-thick insulating sheet of industrial rubber from her body, covering the team and completely isolating their feet from the ground, encasing them in a protective gray cocoon.
"Kaminari..." Madara whispered, his eyes glinting cruelly as the hands of attacking students were centimeters from touching them. "Discharge."
Kaminari closed his eyes, gathered every ounce of electricity in his body, and let out an enthusiastic scream mixed with terror:
"Indiscriminate Shock... 1.3 MILLION VOLTS!"
BZzzzzzzzt! CRAAACK!
An enormous yellow electrical dome exploded in all directions. The scene was terrifying and beautiful simultaneously. Savage yellow lightning struck the ground and the air, electrocuting everyone within a ten-meter radius. Students who approached out of greed for points convulsed instantly, stopping dead with blank eyes and hair standing on end, while the rubber cover protected Madara's team from the lethal shock. The smell of ozone and burnt clothing filled the air.
"INCREDIBLE! UNBELIEVABLE!" Present Mic shouted with manic enthusiasm, his voice trembling with excitement as he nearly fell off his chair. "Team Uchiha uses a massive suicide attack to defend their position! They wiped the field in a single second! They aren't defending; they are exterminating the competition!"
The dust and blue smoke cleared. Half the attacking teams were temporarily paralyzed on the ground, wisps of smoke rising from their gym uniforms, groaning in pain.
And in the center of the team, Kaminari had both thumbs up with a completely idiotic face, eyes rolling blankly in their sockets, mouth open in a stupid grin, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. "Wheee... wheeee..."
Madara looked at him indifferently, then kicked him lightly in the shoulder. "He has performed his role. Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, carry him and continue moving. The field is open to harvest more points from the fallen bodies."
Part 3: Chaos on Other Fronts (Bakugo vs. The Copycat)
While Madara dominated the center coldly, side battles were raging with no less ferocity.
On the other side of the arena, Katsuki Bakugo was boiling with rage. The fact that Madara had stolen all the spotlight in the first race was eating at his nerves, and now everyone was ignoring him and running toward the Uchiha.
"Stop ignoring me, you idiots!" Bakugo screamed, setting off small explosions from his hands in frustration.
Suddenly, he felt a hand touch his shoulder lightly from behind.
"Oh? Is this the ace student everyone praises? You're so tense."
Bakugo turned to see a blonde student from Class 1-B, Neito Monoma, smiling a provocative smile.
Before Bakugo could react, Monoma raised his hand, and... BOOM!
Monoma released an explosion perfectly identical to Bakugo's from his palm.
Bakugo's eyes widened in shock. "HAH?!"
Monoma laughed maniacally, enjoying the look on his opponent's face. "Great Quirk, isn't it? Thanks for lending it to me! It seems Class A is full of savages who rely only on brute strength!"
"You dirty copycat bastard!" A vein popped in Bakugo's forehead. He forgot the points, forgot Madara, forgot everything. All he wanted now was to crush this smiling, provocative face. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
Bakugo leaped off his horse, soaring through the air thanks to his explosions, chasing Monoma who fled laughing, leaving his team behind in utter chaos.
Part 4: Desperation of Team Green
Back in the center, Izuku Midoriya's team was living a true nightmare.
With his team consisting of Uraraka, Hatsume Mei, and Tokoyami Fumikage, Midoriya was desperately trying to find a gap in Madara's iron defenses.
"We don't have enough points!" Midoriya cried, sweat pouring from his forehead. "Everyone is chasing Madara, and we're almost in last place! We have to gamble!"
Midoriya decided on a final, desperate gamble. Target: Madara Uchiha.
"Tokoyami-kun! Dark Shadow... Aerial Blitz!" Midoriya shouted, steering his team toward the "King".
The dark entity erupted from Tokoyami's chest, extending like a massive black serpent toward Madara's forehead. The plan was clever: use Dark Shadow's speed and the team's light weight to ambush Madara from a difficult angle.
"They're fast! Coming from above!" Kirishima warned, raising his hardened arms.
Madara turned to see the "Green Boy" coming at him. The Sharingan spun slowly, analyzing the situation.
(Bold...) Madara thought. (But sending a shadow to fight the sun is a fatal tactical error.)
While the sharp claw of Dark Shadow was centimeters from the ten-million headband, Madara didn't dodge.
He wove hand signs with blinding speed in front of his mouth.
"Katon: Flashbang Jutsu!"
Madara exhaled a small sphere from his mouth. It wasn't normal fire. The sphere exploded directly in Dark Shadow's face, releasing a brilliant white light like a military flashbang, or a small sun born and killed in a second.
"GYAAAAAAH!" Dark Shadow shrieked horribly, shrinking in on itself from the pain, retreating rapidly to hide inside Tokoyami's cape, trembling. "BRIGHT! IT BURNS MY EYES! THE LIGHT HURTS!"
"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami shouted in panic. Due to the shadow's sudden retreat, Midoriya's entire team lost their balance in the air, forced to retreat immediately to avoid falling.
Madara looked at the shocked Midoriya and said coldly as his team moved away:
"Good strategy, Midoriya. But you chose the wrong opponent."
Part 5: The Climax (Gear Shift)
"ONE MINUTE REMAINING! THE HELL IS NEARING ITS END!"
Now came the real threat. The threat Madara had been waiting for.
Todoroki Shoto's team arrived finally, carving a path through the ice and chaos. Todoroki as the rider, Tenya Iida in the front as the main engine, and a solid support team surrounding them.
"I'll freeze their movement!" Todoroki shouted, his heterochromatic eyes focused on Madara with deadly intensity. He waved his right hand, and dense, creeping ice launched toward Madara's team to freeze their feet and fix them to the ground like statues. The ice approached with terrifying speed, threatening to engulf them.
"Yaoyorozu!" Madara shouted a sharp, sudden command. "Spray nozzle! Highly flammable substance! Fill the air in front of us NOW!"
Momo understood his intent immediately. She didn't ask. She created a massive nozzle resembling a fire hose from her arm, but instead of water, she unleashed a thick cloud of concentrated ethanol spray toward the approaching ice. The air filled with the pungent smell of fuel.
"Ice has no place here!"
Madara took a deep breath, his chest expanding noticeably. He gathered chakra in his lungs and converted it into searing fire.
"Katon... Gokakyu no Jutsu (Great Fireball Technique)!"
Madara exhaled a torrent of dense flames from his mouth.
When his fire met the fuel spray Momo had created, a devastating chemical reaction occurred.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The fire magnified tenfold. The fireball transformed into a hellish wall of red and orange flames, consuming the oxygen in the area. Todoroki's ice evaporated instantly before touching them, turning into a hot steam cloud that vanished amidst the blaze. Madara stood behind the massive wall of fire, his eyes glinting through the flames like an ancient demon.
Todoroki gritted his teeth, his face illuminated by the glow of the searing fire that had melted his attack in a second. His left hand was trembling. Fire was the only solution to face this hell, but he had sworn never to use his father's power. His stubbornness held him back.
"Iida, NOW!" Todoroki screamed desperately over the roar of the fire. "Punch through the flames! We have no other choice!"
Here came the decisive moment.
Tenya Iida, who had been idling his engines all match, shifted the gears to the maximum limit. Dense blue smoke began pouring from his leg exhausts, the sound of pipes whistling like a runaway train.
"Maximum Torque... Recipro Burst!"
VROOOOM!
Iida vanished from existence to the naked eye.
It wasn't a normal run. It was speed beyond human comprehension. Todoroki's team propelled forward like a human missile, piercing through the wall of fire and smoke toward Madara. The plan was simple and insane: Speed beats reaction time. Iida extended his hand to snatch the ten-million headband in a fraction of a second.
The crowd held its breath. The announcer found no words. No one saw the movement. To them, it was as if Todoroki's team teleported through the fire.
Except for one person.
In Madara's eyes, the world slowed down.
The Sharingan (3 Tomoe) spun slowly, tracking Iida's movement. He saw the muscles tense, the engines pumping pressurized air, and the hand extending agonizingly slowly toward his forehead through the dancing flames.
(Fast for them...) Madara thought, watching the hand approach at a snail's pace in his vision. (But for these eyes? You are moving in water.)
Madara didn't make a large movement. He didn't shout.
With minimal effort, and surgical precision, he tilted his head to the left by just five centimeters.
Iida's hand passed beside Madara's ear, grasping empty air and smoke.
And as Iida passed him with the rocket propulsion force, Madara raised his hand and lightly slapped Iida's wrist with the back of his hand (Parry).
Pawk!
It was a light tap, but with Iida's immense speed, the effect was catastrophic. Todoroki's entire team lost their balance. They reeled and nearly fell to the ground, trying to regain their footing skillfully as they veered away from Madara and almost crashed into the barrier.
Part 6: The King
"TIME'S UUUUUP!"
The whistle blew, announcing the end of the massacre. Everyone stopped where they were; some collapsed from exhaustion, others screamed in frustration.
The results appeared on the giant screen.
1st Place: Team Madara (Over 10 million points).
2nd Place: Team Todoroki.
3rd Place: Team Bakugo (Who returned after a mad chase after Monoma).
4th Place: Team Midoriya.
Kirishima and Momo sighed in relief, collapsing to their knees from fatigue and tension, while Kaminari was still smiling idiotically, his mind slowly returning. "Did... did we win?"
But Madara dismounted lightly from his "horse". He didn't look tired. He hadn't even sweated. He looked as if he had just come from a stroll, not a grueling war against the strongest first-year students.
He walked a few steps and looked at Todoroki, who was staring at him with a burning gaze filled with frustration and repressed anger, and at Midoriya, who was crying tears of joy (waterfalls of tears) because he barely qualified.
Madara passed by Todoroki, stopping for a moment without looking at him, hands in his pockets.
"Holding onto half your power is an insult to me and to yourself, Shoto," Madara whispered in a cold voice like a blade, audible only to Todoroki. "Next time, do not come with only your ice... or I will burn you completely and turn you to ash. Do not force me to teach you the lesson the hard way."
Then he continued walking toward the exit tunnel, his black hair trailing behind him, while the giant screen displayed Madara's face with cold, unreadable features, announcing his absolute dominance over the second round.
In his eyes, this hadn't been a competition... it was merely a coronation ceremony for a king sitting alone at the peak.