Mei Terumi hesitated.
Being able to spar with the First Hokage was indeed a rare opportunity.
But Makoto had told her about future events before—how the Five Kage were completely dominated by Uchiha Madara like children.
Among them, she had performed the worst, lacking in both combat will and experience.
Mei Terumi turned her gaze to Makoto, seeking his opinion.
"Go ahead and go wild, Don't worry about embarrassing yourself. If you break, I'll fix you."
Makoto gave Mei Terumi an affirmative nod.
Mei Terumi's issue was that in the original timeline, she was overconfident when facing Madara in her normal state.
But now, in her enhanced state facing Hashirama, she was being too cautious.
Of course, Mei Terumi's caution mainly stemmed from Makoto spoiling the plot about how she got wrecked by Madara.
Otherwise, she wouldn't know how absurdly powerful these two "gods" really were.
Throughout the ninja world, aside from a few ancient fossils like Onoki who knew their true strength, most others didn't know their full powers.
Otherwise, when Kakuzu claimed to have fought the First Hokage and survived, people's reactions wouldn't have been "Wow, amazing, such overwhelming achievement!"
It would have been: "Wow, idiot, are you bragging about surviving an assasination mission by throwing kunai from eight hundred miles?"
"Mm."
Encouraged by Makoto, Mei Terumi felt much more confident.
Just as she was about to move, Uchiha Hikari suddenly stood in front of her.
"What's wrong?" Mei Terumi was puzzled.
"Nothing, just checking your current form. Okay, you're good."
After examining Mei Terumi up and down, Hikari patted her arm and moved aside.
Actually, she had secretly placed an "Eight Thousand Spears" mark on Mei Terumi.
In case Mei Terumi couldn't handle the fight later, Hikari would secretly buff her or transfer chakra.
The unfortunate thing was that Hikari was too disgusted by Hashirama Senju to even want to place a mark on him.
Otherwise, at critical moments, she could directly drain Hashirama's chakra and give it to Mei Terumi—that would be true "match-fixing."
So you see, users of space-time techniques like Eight Thousand Spears and Flying Thunder God are truly terrifying.
Even during normal diplomatic occasions, as a Kage from another village, would you dare to shake hands with Minato Namikaze?
What if he leaves a Flying Thunder God mark on your palm and suddenly teleports into your bedroom at 3 AM?
Looking at the inherently kind-hearted Hikari now, under Makoto's influence, she's learned to pretend nothing's wrong while secretly rigging the game.
"First Hokage... please enlighten me!"
Mei Terumi landed on the lake surface and initiated an attack toward Hashirama Senju on the shore.
BOOM!
A high-speed water stream sprayed from Mei Terumi's mouth.
Unlike her earlier test, this water flow suddenly thickened in front of her, its diameter wider than Mei Terumi's entire height.
It was a pressurized cannon.
"Wow!"
Hashirama appeared quite excited upon seeing this.
His love for peace was genuine, but so was his love for a good brawl. He was a battle maniac at heart.
Hashirama clapped his hands together.
Clap.
A massive wooden hand emerged from the earth, blocking the water flow in front of him.
To Hashirama's surprise, the Wood Release hand couldn't completely block this Water Release—it was slowly being pushed back, with deep cracks appearing on the wooden surface from the pressure.
"Impressive Water Release! It feels even heavier than Tobirama's!"
Hashirama slapped his hand on the ground.
Rumble.
The hand blocking the water flow broke through the soil as a Wooden Golem emerged from underground, beginning to resist the water flow with both hands while stepping forward against the current.
Mei was startled upon seeing the Wooden Golem.
This wasn't a probing attack for her.
She didn't use Boil Release or Lava Release because during her earlier attempts, she realized that under the influence of the "Ocean Stone," her ordinary Water Release was actually stronger than her Kekkei Genkai.
Moreover, after entering this special mode, a heavy, continuous rain began falling from the sky.
This wasn't ordinary rain—it contained Natural Energy, boosting Water Release's power to another level!
Mei Terumi's sea-blue clothes began to flutter, with glowing red patterns matching her hair appearing on her skin.
Water Orbs began condensing around her.
They floated behind her back in a circle, like Truth-Seeking Balls.
Then...
Each water ball simultaneously shot high-pressure laser beams toward the Wooden Golem.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Wooden Golem nearly toppled over from this sudden increase in firepower.
Hashirama quickly stabilized the giant, then while blocking the water lasers with one hand, he launched the Wood Dragon from the Golem's shoulder toward Mei Terumi.
Blocking the enhanced water flow with one hand caused one of the Golem's arms to shatter, but it bought time for the Dragon.
Facing the Wood Dragon's attack that had already reached her, Mei Terumi urgently stopped her water spray and instinctively swung her arm.
ROAR!
The lake's water surged violently.
A massive "Fish" composed of glowing blue lake water leaped out, biting the Wood Dragon to pieces in one crunch.
"Eh? What's this? A variation of the Water Dragon Bullet? It looks like a giant fish!"
While surprised, Hashirama didn't stop his assault.
The Wooden Golem with its broken arm had already regenerated and began sprinting across the lake toward Mei Terumi.
Here is a fun fact: Uchiha Madara was actually a close-combat ninja.
His Susanoo wielded swords and he enjoyed charging into crowds for Taijutsu battles.
But only when facing Hashirama Senju did Madara become a long-range bombardment specialist.
There was simply no other choice—whether it was the Wooden Golem or Hashirama himself, their close-combat advantages were too overwhelming.
Let's talk about Hashirama himself—possessing monstrous strength, incredible passive regeneration, and Wood Release that drains chakra on contact.
How could anyone fight him in melee?
The moment Mei Terumi saw the Wooden Golem charging toward her face, she knew she was doomed.
"Leave this to me."
Makoto stopped Uchiha Hikari, who was about to step in and help.
He had anticipated Mei's defeat all along.
After all, who was Hashirama Senju?
It was said that Indra was the genius while Asura relied on others, but by Hashirama's generation, he completely overturned that dynamic.
Uchiha Madara pursued power relentlessly.
Every time he managed to level up and went to fight Hashirama, he would get thoroughly beaten by Hashirama, who had inexplicably leveled up even more.
There was never an exception.
Even at the Valley of the End, when Madara finally managed to control the Nine-Tails and combine it with Susanoo, he was still overwhelmed by the True Several Thousand Hands and beaten into the dirt.
But that wasn't the end of it.
During the Fourth Great Ninja War, when the Edo Tensei Madara (with Rinnegan and Wood Release) faced the Edo Tensei Hashirama... Hashirama still emerged victorious.
Madara was pinned down by the Sage Art: Gate of the Great God, and if he hadn't cheated by using Rinne Rebirth to come back to life, it would have been a complete defeat again.
Who could you even complain to about that?
Both were in a weakened state due to the Edo Tensei, and Madara had an eye upgrade, yet he still couldn't win.
Don't let Hashirama's honest and simple appearance fool you—he is the most unreasonable monster in history!