Fire, lava, blizzards, frost, and hurricanes. Hashirama Senju found himself staring down what felt like an endless, apocalyptic natural disaster.
Across the battlefield, Metroplex unleashed a relentless barrage. The massive machine hurled every conceivable element of destructive ninjutsu at the World Tree construct in a dizzying storm of light and heat.
Overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the devastation, Hashirama had no room to counterattack. He poured his chakra into maintaining the colossal wooden titan, relying on its immense regenerative abilities to weather the terrifying onslaught.
"Hmph. Hashirama, do you regret your choices yet?"
A familiar voice echoed from behind him. It carried that same lofty, unbending arrogance it always had.
Hashirama smiled faintly, not taking his eyes off the explosive barrage. "Madara. I didn't expect you to show up."
Madara landed smoothly on the trembling branches next to him. His Sharingan darted toward Hashirama, who was sweating as he kept his hands locked in a desperate hand seal.
"You know," Madara drawled, his tone lethal, "I could easily kill you right now."
Hashirama let out a breathless chuckle. "Haha, you really could. I can't afford to be distracted right now, so it's a perfect opportunity."
He glanced over his shoulder, a bright spark of trust shining in his dark eyes. "But I know you. You know how to separate personal grievances from the real threat."
With that, Hashirama turned his back completely to Madara. He focused every ounce of his will on keeping the World Tree intact.
Madara felt his teeth grind together. 'You killed me back then...' he thought bitterly, even if it had only been a tactical feint on his part.
"We were in a duel to the death," Hashirama continued softly over the roar of explosions. "I would have had no complaints if I died by your hand. And I believe you felt the same way."
Madara's eyes flashed with a fierce, dangerous light. He raised his massive gunbai war fan, pointing it dangerously close to the back of Hashirama's head.
Suddenly, he whipped the fan to the side. A massive shockwave blasted an incoming meteor into harmless dust.
Hashirama let out a warm laugh. "Haha, Madara! I feel like we're back in the old days, fighting side by side!"
Madara scowled, his pride stung. He had originally come up here just to see the great God of Shinobi looking pathetic and utterly embarrassed.
And Hashirama did look pathetic. But seeing him pushed to the brink, Madara just couldn't stop himself from stepping in.
'Is this our bond?' Madara thought, disgusted with his own sentimentality.
"I am absolutely going to kill you later," Madara spat. He deflected another volley of plasma blasts with his kama, delivering the most ruthless threat he could muster.
"Hahaha!" Hashirama just laughed, the crushing pressure on him finally easing. He visibly relaxed, letting Madara take the brunt of the incoming fire.
Madara flickered back and forth across the massive canopy like a vengeful ghost. He swatted away energy beams and shrapnel, shielding Hashirama from the endless bombardment.
Faced with the absurd, overwhelming firepower of Sunagakure, Madara couldn't help but complain. "This is all your fault, Hashirama!"
Hashirama blinked, genuinely confused. "What did I do?"
"If we had just joined forces and unified the shinobi world like I wanted, the Land of Wind and Sunagakure wouldn't even exist as a threat right now!" Madara yelled over an explosion.
"Look at them! They've amassed too much power. If it weren't for us being revived by the Edo Tensei, I bet this entire world would fall to Sunagakure."
Hearing his old friend's rant, Hashirama smiled warmly.
"You know why I couldn't do that. Unifying the world by force would have meant rivers of blood."
"Clansmen, families, friends... I would never pay that price," Hashirama said softly. "I believed that back then, and I still believe it now."
Hashirama's resolute face was illuminated by the chaotic glow of the battlefield. The red glare of flames, the blinding white of frost, and the toxic green of acid rain flashed across his features.
'Hmph. If you were so afraid of death, you should have just embraced the Infinite Tsukuyomi,' Madara thought. 'You truly are an idiot.'
'But I suppose the smart ones always end up doing the heavy lifting for the fools,' he added mentally.
Down below, inside the cockpit of Metroplex, Mufasa watched the monitors. He tracked Madara darting across the canopy like a blur of crimson and black.
"Oh? Uchiha Madara has entered the chat," Mufasa muttered, a wicked smirk crossing his face.
Things were getting incredibly interesting. 'Who's next?' Mufasa wondered sarcastically. 'Is an Otsutsuki going to drop out of the sky too?'
Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha were the two men who once stood at the absolute pinnacle of the shinobi world. Either one of them had the power to found an entire hidden village single-handedly.
Together, they were considered invincible. They had literally shaped the geography and history of the world.
The two towering statues at the Valley of the End were a testament to their god-like status. They were the legendary Twins of the Shinobi World.
"So what?" Mufasa chuckled dryly. "Madara being here isn't going to save you."
He slammed his hand onto the comms panel. "Overload the output! I want this battle ended right now!"
War was expensive, and every second Metroplex fired, massive amounts of energy and resources were burned. Mufasa wasn't about to waste his budget on a prolonged light show.
Acknowledging the order, the Sunagakure engineering corps pushed the machine's reactors into overdrive. The bombardment intensified to a terrifying degree.
In an instant, a localized apocalypse swallowed the World Tree construct whole. Dozens of overlapping mushroom clouds erupted violently across its massive wooden frame.
CRACK!
The sickening sound of the giant tree breaking apart echoed like a collapsing mountain. The noise pierced right through the deafening explosions, ringing across the wasteland.
The faces of the Allied Shinobi Forces drained of color. Despair set in as it looked like even the First Hokage couldn't hold the line anymore.
Inside the cockpit, Mufasa grinned triumphantly. 'Your era is over, old men! Stop getting in my way.'
Just as he was reveling in his absolute victory, the seemingly dead titan suddenly retaliated.
A colossal, glowing blue chakra sword tore violently out of the thick black smoke. It thrust straight toward Metroplex, piercing deep into its heavily armored abdomen with a sickening crunch.
A massive secondary explosion ripped through the machine's torso. Inside the cockpit, red emergency lights flared as klaxons began to scream.
"Warning! Outer hull breached!" the automated system blared. "Internal explosion detected. Essential equipment damaged. Calculating casualties. Initiating emergency repairs!"
Mufasa ignored the blaring alarms, his eyes glued to the main monitors. The hurricane winds generated by the blast finally cleared the dense smoke, revealing a brand-new, terrifying silhouette standing in the ruins.
Majestic Attire: Susanoo.
The ethereal, glowing blue armor of Madara's Perfect Susanoo had completely enveloped the colossal World Tree. It encased the wooden frame in impenetrable chakra plating.
Wielding a massive chakra blade and adorned with giant glowing magatama, the armored World Tree stood between heaven and earth. It was a terrifying, majestic sight—a true god of destruction.