"Uchiha Madara, your era has already ended. This era belongs to the Umbrella ideology! The world will finally know peace!"
A thunderous voice rang out from the crowd.
The speaker was a tall young man with resolute eyes. He wore no ninja headband, and his attire clearly marked him as a member of the Umbrella Organization.
His sudden declaration shocked everyone present.
Then, one voice after another echoed in agreement.
Even the Five Kage were caught off guard.
Madara turned his gaze toward the young man, a faint trace of amusement crossing his face.
"Are the youths of this era all this naïve?" he asked calmly.
"Tell me your name."
The young man straightened his back.
"My name is Hadō Genshin! Uchiha Madara, I know your reputation, and I know you are powerful. But no matter how strong an individual is, they will eventually be defeated by the masses! Peace will be protected by us!"
"People like you—ambitious remnants of a bygone era—should be buried in the earth!"
"Hahahahaha—!"
Madara suddenly burst into laughter.
His voice echoed across the battlefield as his expression slowly turned cold.
"Not everything in this world goes as one wishes. The longer you live, the more you understand—this reality is filled with helplessness, pain, and emptiness."
"Listen carefully. Wherever there is light, shadows will exist. If there is a victor, there must also be the defeated. The moment someone selfishly tries to maintain peace, war is born."
"To protect something… to love something… hatred will inevitably follow. Cause and effect are intertwined. They cannot be severed. This is reality."
He looked down at Hadō Genshin with disdain.
"You wish to be a peacemaker? Do you want to dance as well?"
"Then let me see how powerful your so-called collective strength truly is."
"Only the victor writes history."
Hadō Genshin clenched his fist tightly.
"I, Hadō Genshin, will carry on Naruto-sama's ideals—even if I am ground to dust! Let me witness the magnanimity of a predecessor!"
A wave of excited shouts erupted, most of them coming from the Umbrella Organization.
The shinobi, however, fell silent.
They understood better than anyone what the name Uchiha Madara truly represented.
"Hahahahaha—!"
"Since my battle with Hashirama, this is the first time I've felt such excitement!"
Madara's eyes burned with anticipation.
"Brat, let me see whether your conviction is worth my amusement!"
"Dance to your heart's content!"
In a flash, Madara leapt to higher ground.
Hadō Genshin charged without hesitation.
The Five Kage could only sigh. They could clearly sense the young man's formidable aura—and couldn't help but marvel at how terrifying the Umbrella Organization's talent pool truly was.
"Charge!!!"
Countless shinobi surged forward.
Shuriken rained down like a storm.
Madara's figure flickered.
An afterimage lingered—then vanished.
Hadō Genshin was the first to reach him.
Crimson energy condensed around his fist, forming the vague shape of a roaring tiger.
"Oh?" Madara's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Crimson energy? Not chakra… Taijutsu?"
"How interesting."
He sneered.
"Is that all?"
Madara threw a casual punch.
Boom!!!
The collision detonated like thunder.
Hadō Genshin was blasted backward dozens of meters, carving a deep trench into the ground. His expression turned grave.
Madara, however, hadn't moved an inch.
Only two shallow depressions marked the earth beneath his feet.
"Do you have anything else?" Madara asked lazily.
"Try harder. Entertain me a little."
Hadō Genshin gritted his teeth.
"Brothers—help me!"
Dozens of Umbrella members immediately formed ranks behind him.
Under the guidance of a mysterious technique, their power surged together, converging into Hadō Genshin's body.
A vast, majestic aura erupted.
Madara's eyes gleamed.
"Oh? A secret technique that gathers the strength of many and concentrates it into one?"
"Now you have my attention."
He straightened slightly.
"Then I'll get a little serious."
A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
A colossal fire dragon burst forth, its roar shaking the heavens.
The heat distorted the air itself, as if the world were about to be incinerated.
Its power far surpassed anything Madara had previously displayed.
Clearly, before this moment, he had merely been playing.
"Secret Technique: Four Symbols—Vermilion Bird Fire!"
Whoosh!!!
A piercing cry echoed through the sky.
A gigantic, hundred-meter-long flaming bird materialized, soaring upward to meet the fire dragon head-on.
This was a combined secret technique developed by the Umbrella Organization after extensive research—its power amplified dozens of times through coordination.
Boom——!!!!
The sky exploded in fire.
A terrifying force erupted outward.
The surrounding rocks shattered layer by layer, pulverized into fragments that were instantly swallowed by the shockwave.
Dust surged into the air like a raging tide.
Under the stunned gazes of Ōnoki and the other Kage, the dust slowly began to settle. The sheer power of that exchange made even them instinctively wary.
What horrified them most was not the scale of destruction—but its source.
This level of power had been unleashed by a group of individuals who were not particularly strong on their own. Yet together, their attack already rivaled an S-rank ninjutsu.
As the dust finally dispersed, a lone figure was revealed.
Uchiha Madara.
Completely unscathed.
Hadō Genshin stared in disbelief.
That secret technique placed enormous strain on him every time he used it. He had never imagined that an attack of such magnitude wouldn't even leave a scratch on Madara.
The expressions of the Five Kage darkened.
What truly unsettled them was not Madara's lack of injury—but the implication behind it.
Uchiha Madara had countered their combined force with what was effectively B-rank Fire Release, yet its output rivaled—no, subtly surpassed—S-rank ninjutsu.
The Umbrella members who had directly faced Madara's flames fared little better. Though they managed to block the attack, nearly all of them were severely injured.
"Is the gap… really this vast?"
They couldn't accept it.
Their strength—something they had once believed formidable—appeared laughably insignificant before this man.
"This… is Uchiha Madara."
Ōnoki stared at the god-like, demon-like figure before him. For a fleeting moment, his mind returned to the past—to the boy who had once been utterly crushed and humiliated by this very man.
"Keep dancing," Madara said coldly.
"Is that all you have?"
He surged into the crowd.
Every casual movement sent shinobi flying. Blood sprayed across the battlefield, and the atmosphere instantly turned lethal.
This was no sparring match.
Anyone struck by Madara was either killed on the spot or left grievously wounded.
This carnage was far more horrifying than anything depicted in historical records.
Blood and slaughter—this was the true face of war.
"It's time we act."
Gaara spoke calmly, sand spiraling violently around him.
A massive sand hand formed in the air and slammed down toward Madara.
At the same moment, the other Kage moved.
The Fourth Raikage burst forward, lightning crackling across his body as his chakra surged to its peak. Tsunade and Ōnoki followed without hesitation.
Boom!!
The sand hand descended—
Only for a colossal tree branch to erupt from the ground, piercing straight through it and scattering sand in all directions.
"Wood Release?!"
Tsunade's eyes widened in shock.
"How is this possible?!"
"Hashirama's power," Madara said indifferently,
"is still quite useful for clearing away pests."
At his words, the ground trembled.
Countless gnarled trees erupted from the earth, their branches lashing out in all directions, mercilessly impaling and crushing the surrounding shinobi.
The Five Kage reacted instantly.
They could not allow Madara to massacre them unchecked.
An ocean of sand surged upward, intercepting a large portion of the Wood Release attacks. Ai, Tsunade, and the others blocked what remained—but even so, some branches broke through.
Screams echoed across the battlefield.
Before Uchiha Madara, ordinary shinobi were no different from ants.