Chapter 87: Battle of the End

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Title: Battle of the End

...

Years had passed since Madara left the village. Shinobi children got to know about learning and playing instead of battle and deaths. They started living long enough to even know the taste of alcohol.

Shinobi. A word coined together and wholly acknowledged as the term they were addressed by now.

People who protect. People who endure. People who don't give up on one's ideals.

That was the idea behind the name.

Prosperity was in sight and the dream Hashirama and Madara had envisioned became reality in its fullest.

But as if wanting to destroy his previous dreams, Madara came back to attack Konoha.

Miles away from the village, an eerie and oppressive Chakra could be felt moving at a gradual pace.

In the now Hokage's office, Hashirama sported a deep frown as he looked into the horizon. By his side were Tobirama and other clan heads.

"That's Madara's chakra I feel approaching." Hashirama said with a deep voice.

"It can't be, Madara wasn't this Strong and his Chakra didn't have this feeling to it in the past." Tobirama said denying the obvious.

"Exactly... In the past." Hashirama said and stood up.

"Are you trying to say there's a possibility he became this strong after a few years apart?" Tobirama asked.

"Or he got another source of chakra." Mito who was also in the room said with a small frown.

Everyone in the room looked at her for an explanation except for Tobirama and who had a slight inkling about what she was talking about. The others have heard tales of these masses of chakra but to them, these were just that... Tales.

"Do you mean...?" A random clan head asked.

"Hmm." Mito nodded. "The Bijuu. Creatures of chakra, in some tales, they're known as guardian beasts, and in some, walking disasters."

"I'm afraid Madara has gotten his hands on one such being." Mito concluded.

"That doesn't tell us much." Hashirama said. "Are they beatable? Or at the very least stoppable?"

"I'm afraid not... At least to the normal person, but you aren't normal, are you husband?" Mito said with a smile.

Hashirama blushed but noticing the tense atmosphere in the room, they both returned to their serious expression and Mito continued.

"They're beings of Chakra, hence they can't actually die, so even if you kill this one, it'll just respawn somewhere else. The best course of action would be to seal them." Mito said.

"And how possible is that?" Tobirama asked. He was quite versed in sealing but even he hasn't set foot in this domain. Sealing ones Chakra was one thing but sealing a being made entirely of chakra?... Now that was something else.

"In our clans archives, they're some seals that could work, unfortunately, there isn't any object that can contain that amount of chakra without being destroyed." Mito said as she hinted to the Chakra gradually approaching them.

"..."

The room turned silent as they all tried to process what was going on. The many clan head had various expression on their faces. From confusion, anxiety, shock, tired, and calm.

The calm one was the Inuzuka clan head had the most interesting expression for certain reasons that would be explained later.

"We actually have another alternative." Tobirama said.

"Which is?"

"To seal it in a human being." Tobirama said causing the room's temperature to drop even more.

To have a being with this much Chakra residing in you was an idea no one dared entertain.

"Come now, Tobirama, I believe you're going to far..." Hashirama said trying to wave this idea away, but...

"No... That's also possible." Mito agreed. "The problem is... Who can actually accommodate this amount of chakra in the body without dying?" Tobirama asked.

Before anyone could say anything, Mito said. "I believe I have the answer to that."

Saying that, multiple golden chain began sprouting from her back and floated around her. Wherever the chains went, it seemed as though the air gave way for it to pass.

"The Uzumaki clan's Kekkai Genkai. With this, I could restrain it in my body, but the repercussions could be..." Mito said but stopped at the end.

"Deadly." Tobirama said. "That Chakra approaching could corrupt yours if you're careless for even a moment."

"Yes..." Mito said with a smile. "Mikoto-chan would rain down hell on you two if she hears of this."

Mito chuckled to which Hashirama and Tobirama both shuddered imperceptibly.

"Are you sure?" Hashirama asked.

"You should be worried about yourself... Can you defeat Madara AND that beast?" Mito asked with a printed look.

Hashirama smiled. "Even I don't know that, Mito, I could very well die this time."

Shaking her head, she said. "You have finally fulfilled your dream, don't go and die before you can see it bear fruits."

"Yeah... I don't know the details of whatever you all are saying, but please don't die and leave this village defenceless. It'll be a pain." A pineapple haired man said lazily.

"Mm... My clan people are better now due to the peace, please don't go and die, Hokage-sama."

"..."

Hashirama looked shocked at the many clan head pleading with him not to die and come back to them. He was the Hokage and he had a duty to them. He had to protect them, he was merely doing what he had promised he'd do.

To protect the place they now see as home after the many years without any unnecessary death.

"You wouldn't want your grandchildren not to know their grandfather, now would you?" Mito added.

"I'll be back." Hashirama said in a rare moment of seriousness and giving them all a nod, he flashed away from the office.

Tobirama gave Mito a curt nod and followed after his brother.

Mito then looked at the other clan head and smiled. "I believe in my husband."

That simple statement did a lot to alleviate their worries, after all, Mito was just that influential.

...

In Hanagakure, Shun who now looks slightly older was sitting on one of his oldest possessions till date while bathing in the sun.

He had been in office for eight good years and and only two years to relinquish his duty to the next person. As the Village went through a shuffle in management, Shun still retained some rules, such as the tenure for government and rules on intermarriage.

Meanwhile, in his office, another Shun was dutifully doing his job as the Hanakage and going through all the documents lined up on his desk which were little due to Shun's management skills.

Suddenly, a mesmerising fragrance blew into the office with flowers being carried by the wind as they littered his office.

"I see you've gotten an even fancier method of announcing your presence, eh, Yuri-chan?" Shun said without lifting up his head to look at the mature woman seated in front of him like she owned the place.

"Fufufu, I couldn't possibly understand what you're talking about Ha-na-ka-ge-chan." Yuri said with a teasing smirk.

"You know I still prefer Sonchō right?" Shun looked up and said. "I'm just following the trend around the world right now."

"Yeah. Yeah. Whatever makes you get a shut eye at night." Yuri said.

"Sigh. So?... What brings you here?" Shun asked.

Yuri immediately turned serious. "Madara is enroute to Konoha-gakure and with him is the Kyuubi."

Shun squinted his eyes at that. He knew this day would come ever since he heard Madara had left the village. From the information he got, Madara had gone to all the other villages to fight with them and was given a good beating until he released his Susanno.

Even with that, he was still given a good fight, but as he was Uchiha Madara, he won albeit with a little injury.

As luck would have it, he didn't get to terrify the little Ohnoki who was but a little boy around now as he was confronted by the Tsuchikage before he could enter the Village.

Shun smiled as he remembered that. The four other Kages were practically unbeatable in their domains.

The Tsuchikage in his area filled with nothing but rocks.

The Kazekage in desert filled with nothing but sand.

The Mizukage with his ability to turn the ever present mist into ice and then water and then mist and then ice again.

And finally, the Raikage with his ability to summon a thunderstorm, given his advantage of building the Village in a place filled with electro-magnetic forces.

At least, that went to tune his arrogance down a notch but due to the fact that he won, he still retained a little bit of it.

He figured he should stop and not go for the kill in fear of evoking the wrath of the stronger people watching.

This little pride of his remained until he met two women, black haired and white haired. These two gave him a feeling of danger, and as the battle monger he was, he went on to test his might against them.

The result was that the black haired woman owned him in only Taijutsu despite him using all Ninjutsus in his arsenal.

Even his half body Susanno was shattered by a single punch from her. It wasn't until he went all full Susanno that he was able to get a breathing space.

But at that moment, the white haired woman interfered and made him see something.

Something he once saw as a child. When the old man that taught them in the last showed them a Genjutsu of him in his youth.

Despite his Majestic Susanno, the girl only had to raise her hand and bring it down and as if the world listened to her, the dark clouds that had formed due to their fight took the form of a massive hand coated with lightning bolts.

And as though smacking an insignificant bug, he was crushed underneath that palm. His only saving grace was that, she wasn't exactly targeting him for some reason and was only aiming to destroy his Susanno.

And as if something clicked in his brain as usual, he instinctively knew that this lady was from the same clan as that old geezer and someone he should detest with all his being.

The Tengoku Clan.

After that experience, he went into a retreat, retrained himself in both body and chakra and came out a new man.

...

"I wonder how strong he's gotten as compared to Madara." Shun muttered.

"Say something Aniki?" Yuri asked.

"No... I was just wondering how all this came down to this."

"Right? From what Ji-chan told us, those two were best of friends." Yuri lamented.

"Yup, that's what war does to people. Even the kindest of hearts cam be tainted black by the malevolence that goes with war." Shun said and stood up.

"Even I am interested in how this battle will go." Shun said and created a clone and released himself.

Shun who was sunbathing received the information from his clone and opened one eye. "It's a good thing Nami-chan isn't here. I fear for her reaction should she see Indra and Ashura kill eachother..."

Saying this, a massive crack appeared underneath him and sucked both he and his chair and he was back to Rōran.

In the mansion that was known as the home of the richest and influential man in the world, Ria and Kaguya were seated while surfing through some scrolls around them when suddenly, Shun and his chair appeared and said. "The Battle of the End is about to start."

"They're finally going at it, huh?" Kaguya said with an unrecognisable emotion.

"Yup... And our stay here is now 100 years shorter.... Aren't glad Hime-chan?" Shun asked Kaguya who suddenly brightened up at the thought.

This has been one of her deepest desires since she got to know Shun centuries ago.

Unlike the other girls who came from normal human homes, she had already seen the supposed peak of this world and that didn't offer her any entertainment, and neither did gathering her chakra back.

To her who had gotten her chakra back with Shun's help, her new body and chakra were better in quality and quantity. All that's left is to see what the universe outside had to offer.

"I don't see why leaving this place interests you Kaguya-nee, but I still have a lot to experience here you know...." Ria said.

Shun not wanting to stay too much on the topic interuppted. "Look, Hashirama is all geared up and ready to go."

Shun pointed at a large screen that had appeared out of nowhere. In it, Hashirama was being bid farewell by the people of his village as he ran toward Madara approaching on the Kyuubi.

"I still wonder how you're able to place your Calogram everywhere." Ria said in amazement.

"Come on Ria, that shouldn't be anything new, should it?" Shun said rather arrogantly.

Meanwhile, as shown in the screen, Hashirama had already reached the location that would soon be known as the Valley of the end.

In front of him was Madara standing on the Nine Tailed Fox. He had his Gunbai and Scythe on each of his hands.

Clasping his hands together, Hashirama asked. "Will you destroy everything we've accomplished until now, Madara? Nothing will come of us battling eachother like this. This fight will only hurt the village and Shinobi."

"It's an insult and disrespect towards our siblings and comrades." Hashirama said.

"You know nothing." Madara said with a deep voice while looking down on Hashirama from the Kyuubi.

"I don't want to kill you...!"

"Are you implying that you could kill me at any moment?" Madara asked.

"No! I'm saying we're friends." Hashirama defended.

"Humph." Madara snorted. "I've already... reached it" he declared.

The Kyuubi as if feeling the joy his master was feeling roared loudly. The roar generated a massive shockwave that tore even the earth apart.

"Then so be it." Hashirama said as wooden branches sprouted from his feet and swept towards the Kyuubi in a bid to hold it down.

This was clearly him trying to prioritize capturing the unknown element in the fight so as to face Madara. Unfortunately for him though, he had underestimated the might of the Bijuu.

Despite being under the control of the Sharingan, the Kyuubi have Hashirama a look of contempt as it roared once more. This time, louder than the previous time.

And as soon as the sound of his roar hit the branches, they were shattered to bits and fell all over the place.

Hashirama was shocked. This was the first time his Mokuton was so easily destroyed but he soon composed himself.

Madara had his Mangekyou Sharingan active as he fought, despite his prowess with the Sharingan, he still needed it's full might to put the Kyuubi under his control, so as he fought Hashirama, the Kyuubi also fought to support him.

Meanwhile Hashirama was also using all his mental energy to keep the Kyuubi under control with his Mokuton as he fought Madara in close combat.

No. Calling it close combat was putting it lightly. The concept of distance was only a breath away for these two.

A distance of nearly a kilometre could be covered in less than a second, so the time taken to release a Jutsu for one person and the time taken to defend by the other was being done instantly.

And as soon as their techniques clashed, as if they knew it would do no damage whatsoever, they ran towards eachother to clash again in whatever means they could.

While this was going on, the Kyuubi was being kept under control by Hashirama's woods and he wasn't able to join the fight.

Madara saw that this was getting nowhere so he flashed and appeared atop the Kyuubi's head and gave it an order.

The Kyuubi stood upright and began amassing chakra in it's mouth, forming a Bijudama in its mouth.

Before it could release it though, Hashirama had created a dome around him and as soon as the Bijudama hit the dome, it lasted for a few seconds before being deflected towards the Sky.

No... It wasn't the sky. Due to the intensity of their battle, they had created a massive hole that went down meters into the ground and this Bijudama merely hit one part of the now created pit.

Still inside the dome, Hashirama made some handsigns and from below the Kyuubi, massive wooden tendrils grew and entangled it within.

The Kyuubi roared and struggled with all its might but wasn't able to breakthrough. Seeing this, Madara decided to take this fight up a notch and covered the Kyuubi in his Majestic Susanno.

Hashirama frowned but followed suite and made his own.

[Senpo: Mokuton: Shinsu Senju Veritable 1000-Armed Buddha.]

A massive wooden colossus formed with numerous hands on its back. This figure was a Buddha with a dragon coiling around it, and in this gigantic Buddha was another sitting Buddha with his arms clasped together in prayer.

This was Hashirama's strongest form, he wasn't taking this fight lightly at all. Behind him were the people he swore to protect. His wife, children and family at large.

"Here I come Madara!" He said as the Buddha began talking large steps towards Madara.

"Come, Hashirama!" Madara said as the Kyuubi also walked forward to meet the incoming threat.

"Ooohhh!!"

"Aggghhhhh!!"

They both screamed, whether to motivate themselves or to intimidate their opponents, no one knew other than them.

As Hashirama and Madara neared eachother, Hashirama said:

[Chojo Kebutsu! Artifacts of the Buddha!]

From behind the massive Golem, the hundreds of arms shot forward in an attempt to pummel the Massive Susanno cum Kyuubi.

Madara wasn't idle either. From the tails and hands of the Kyuubi he released his new Yasaka Magatama which looked like Massive Rasen Shruiken.

These two attacks met and cancelled eachother but as always, when it came to a fight where the two party were of equal strength, the one with the greater numbers always tend to win.

Due to the massive cloud of dust generated by their collision, it was hard to make out the outcome of their collision.

On Madara's side, he looked at the destroyed Susanno and thought. 'He stripped off the Susanno, huh?'

The Kyuubi Majestic Susanno was now shattered with only half remaining. Of course he wasn't surprised. If the girl he had met earlier could shatter his half body Susanno, why couldn't Hashirama powered by Senjutsu do it to his full body Susanno?

On Hashirama's side, sensing the situation on Madara's side, he willed for the massive Buddha to separate itself from the amalgamation of hands behind it as he began walking towards Madara and the Kyuubi.

Seeing the Kyuubi's unresponsive state due it's massive chakra drainage, Madara had no other option but to jump out of the way as the Buddha stretched it's hand and captured the gigantic Kyuubi as though he was catching a puppy.

Yes. In front of this Senjutsu powered Wooden Buddha, The Kyuubi was akin to a puppy.

The little body atop the head of the Susanno stood up as Hashirama willed it and said. [Fuin:10th Edict of Enlightenment.]

This was the seal that Mito had given him before he left. According to her, it was the strongest seal the Uzumaki clan had ever created as a countermeasure for such a beast.

As he stretched his hand, so did the little Buddha and in next to no time, his palm was placed on the Kyuubi's head.

The red glow in the Kyuubi's eyes, signifying it's illusioned state disappeared as he regained clarity, which lasted for a brief second before darkness overtook him.

"Tch." Madara clicked his tongue as he felt his connection to the Kyuubi cut off. Be it the chakra sharing he got from it, or his Summoning seal, all were seemingly severed.

Immediately, he disappeared from the Kyuubi's head and appeared on rock nearby.

Madara watched silently as Hashirama brought out a pot from the massive scroll he had on him and seal the Kyuubi's chakra in it before also dispelling the wooden colossi.

...

"Damn, this reminds me of that time." Tobirama said as they could see the gigantic figures of both Hashirama's Golem and Madara's Susanno from the village.

"Yeah... That was after Izuna was killed right?" Mito asked. Despite not being on the battlefield that time, she could fill the hate filled chakra of Madara all the way from the Senju clan so she knew what was up.

Tobirama didn't reply and neither did his face betray any emotion. He knew from another perspective, he was the cause of all that was going on now, but to him, it was all a necessity.

It was either Izuna or him.

"Have you ever wondered how it would've all turned out if you were the one that died and not Izuna?" Mito asked.

Tobirama kept silent for some seconds. "Nii-san would've still moved forward regardless. He wouldn't give up just because of that."

"Hmm." Mito nodded in acknowledgment. She knew how overly optimistic Hashirama was even in the most direst of moments. "Madara is just ill guided, unfortunately..."

....

"This is epic. I don't even think anyone would ever reach the level of power again on this planet." Ria said with admiration.

"Hmm, the past reincarnations weren't this strong. However, Hagoromo and Hamura were plenty strong. Far stronger than these two combined." Kaguya said before proudly praising her children.

"But they still beat you..." Ria said with a smirk.

"Humph, I let them beat me... Which mother could bear hurting her children?" Kaguya said in embarrassment but covered it with a snort.

"Oi. Oi. The fight isn't finished you know." Shun said bringing their attention back to the screen.

....

Hashirama and Madara were both breathing heavily from the over consumption of chakra but their Will stood firm and they couldn't give up just yet.

They had a point to prove and being defeated meant that their dream was the wrong one. Madara couldn't accept that. Despite knowing he would lose in a protracted fight, he still didn't want to go down without a proper fight.

Also, he had something he needed from Hashirama. He needed to be in close proximity with him in order to get it.

Hashirama's Will was even stronger. He had people depending on him, that thought alone was enough for him not to lose. In his anger, he shouted.

"MADARA!"

"HASHIRAMA!"

They both ran and slashed against eachother with their weapons. For some reason, even knowing that this would be a life and death battle, Hashirama didn't bring out the Zanka no Taichi but instead, used his sword. The one that had fought with him for years.

Perhaps it was the nostalgia, perhaps it was the feeling that he would be cheating but he didn't want to bring out the most overpowered sword he had ever laid his hands on.

Their little close combat battle went on and on and hours passed. Unknowingly, it was already the dawn of the next day and they two were now breathing even deeper than before.

Hashirama's left hand was crippled as he couldn't use it anymore. On the side of this hand, burn marks covered it but his regenerative factor was playing its role and healing him rapidly.

He held his sword on his right hand ready to attack. He eyes trained on Madara.

Madara on the other hand, held both his weapon in both hand with a smile on his face.

He was winning. Hashirama was at the disadvantage. After so long, he was finally winning. He couldn't help but be happy as he said. "You're not going to reach the other side."

Saying this, he rushed at Hashirama who also, rush at him for the final clash.

...

"This should be the moment he'll get it." Shun said with squinted eyes as he watched the practically slowed down mode of the two running at eachother.

As both frenemies were about to clash, Madara, in one fluid movement, used his scythe to slash Hashirama at his left, which was wide open, but into his already burnt flash and tore out a mouthful of flesh from his hand.

"Interesting." Kaguya said, already understanding what this could possibly mean. Shun nodded to this leaving Ria confused at what was going on.

"Eh? Eh? What's interesting?" She asked.

"Didn't you see what Madara did?" Shun asked.

"Biting into Hashirama? Of course I saw it. What? Is that supposed to be something? Gasp! Does Madara aslo use poison to fight?" Ria asked in her confusion.

Shun shook his head at her, but understood that she didn't have the knowledge he possessed nor the insight Kaguya has on chakra.

"You know that Indra and Ashura both have Hagoromo's chakra right?" Shun asked.

"Mm," Ria nodded.

"Well, what do you think will happen if a reincarnation of Indra, has a child with the reincarnation of Ashura?" Shun asked.

"That's impossible. They're both boys." Ria answered in a matter of fact tone.

"Hahaha. I know, but what if? What if Madara here takes in Hashirama's genes into his body?" Shun asked again.

Ria's intelligent brain worked it's wonders and she connected the dots. "He'd be able to evolve his chakra into Pops chakra, thereby getting the old man's chakra and the Rinnegan."

Her eyes widened as she finished talking and then looked at Madara who was facing the fallen Hashirama with a smug expression as if he'd done nothing.

"Genius." Ria praised.

"Indeed." Kaguya nodded. "Now even I am interested in how his story will play out. I see why you want to stay here for this long now."

"Hehehe. This is nothing but the tip of the iceberg." Shun said in a mysterious tone.

....

"I just want to protect everyone..." Hashirama said as he raised himself from the river he was lying in. "The dream we've finally realised."

Moments from his childhood played out in his memories.

"Let's build our settlement here!" Little Hashirama had declared with so much zeal to the little Madara.

In another memory, a grown up Hashirama and Madara stood at the very spot they had sat years ago as they admired the growing village.

"That dream is now becoming a reality." Hashirama said to Madara standing beside him.

At this point they were both exhausted and neither has anything going for them anymore. Madara's Sharingan was not active and neither was Hashirama's Sage mode.

In that rare moment of distraction on Madara's part....

*Shingg*

The sound of metal piercing flesh rang out as a sword came out of Madara's chest.

'Nani...?'

He thought with wide eyes trying to make heads on what was going on. "A wood style clone.." he said as he saw a wooden clone where Hashirama had laid before.

"I will protect our- No, my village. No matter what. I will ot forgive anyone who threatens the village. Be they a friend.. siblings...or even my own child..." Hashirama said.

...

"Damn!"

"Damn!"

"Damn!"

"Damn!"

Shun and the girls all said in shock at the sight of Hashirama backstabbing Madara.

This was THE Hashirama, actually doing a literal Backstabbing.

...

Saying this, he let go of the blade and watched as Madara fell to his knees.

"Ha.. Ha..." Madara laughed with forced breaths. "This method of yours... Ultimately... Shall someday lead the village to the darkness."

Saying this, Madara breathed his last and fell face first.

Fatigue finally caught up with Hashirama as he too fell on his knees beside Madara, his eyes grew blurry as darkness ultimately took him.

And this... The battle that will go down in history ended with Hashirama's clichéd victory.

"Tch..." Shun clicked his tongue in annoyance but then said. "This is where it will begin."

He smiled as he watched, Tobirama and an entourage of other Shinobi came over and saw the fainted Hashirama and dead Madara.

Tobirama being Tobirama didn't follow the normal procedure of burning Madara's corpse, instead, he had it sealed for his future research.

*****

Damn.... Guys this chapter alone was 4.6k words. I'm really going a mile today guys...

Also, I hope you all will enjoy it.