KONOHA

“Orochimaru,” the boy drawled as he pulled a tanto free from the scabbard tucked into his obi. In response, his partner shot him a cool side-eye. “Go find Danzo. I believe I can handle this lot on my lonesome.”

There was a pause, a beat of hesitation before the one referred to as Orochimaru ran his long serpentine tongue over his lips.

“...Very well.”

Hashirama watched, befuddled, as the young Uchiha’s partner sunk into the stone floor, leaving him behind.

Alone.

Surrounded by a full quarter of Konoha’s entire ANBU force.

Hashirama sighed. Truly, the line between confidence and arrogance is very fine, and the line between arrogance and stupidity even finer indeed.

“If you ever paid attention in your history classes,” The First Hokage said to the boy, “then you should be well aware that possessing the Nine-tails chakra means nothing right now. I will admit, it is impressive in and of itself that you managed to convince the Kyuubi to lend you some of its chakra, but, child, you must at least be aware…

“Nothing will come from this foolishness.”

The Uchiha said nothing, silent as he twirled the short blade in his hand with a fancy flourish. Relaxed. A stiff breeze blew past, ruffling his loose silken mane and the voluminous sleeves of his Kimono. It was only at that moment, that Hashirama truly registered the boy’s attire. Dark blue and high-collared in the manner the Uchiha were so fond of; a pair of Getas on his feet. The boy was very obviously a traditionalist.

“I don’t want to hurt you, child,” Hashirama tried again, pleading; desperate to dissuade the child from this path of self-destruction.

“It’s pointless, brother,” Tobirama interjected from his side as he unsheathed his weapon. “This one is beyond saving.”

A despairing sigh escaped Hashirama’s chest. Where had they gone wrong? He wondered to himself as he called upon his chakra. To lose such a promising seed to the darkness? Words alone could not describe his pain.

“Sage Art!”

Dark markings appeared around Hashirama’s face as Senjutsu chakra suffused his being. Opposite him, the flickering coat of fiery chakra that radiated from Sasuke’s core stilled for a moment.

That was the only warning either of them got before the boy moved.

Hashirama sensed the potent chakra to his right before he ever saw the telltale flicker of the boy’s lithe form travelling at transonic speed. He sensed it before he felt the sudden pressure of displaced air rushing out of the way; before the thunderclap of the resultant sonic boom reached his ears.

Instinctively, Hashirama leaned out of the way of a slash aimed at beheading him, his eyes—for a split moment—meeting the young Uchiha’s crimson ones. His chakra pulsed as he shrugged off an otherwise lethal barrage of Genjutsu.

“Wood Release: Great Forest Technique!”

Still off balance, Hashirama punched forward, his chakra stimulating the tissues in his fist to grow rapidly and lengthen at high speed before forking out into many branches. The tips of these branches transformed into sharp stakes that stabbed towards the young Uchiha. In response, the boy slammed his foot into the floor, a small wall of earth rising to intercept the stakes. The barrier detonated explosively upon contact to create a billowing plume of dust that blocked Hashirama’s line of sight for a moment. A figure emerged from his right, only for the Hokage to dispel it and suddenly realise it was merely a shadow clone.

Nearly blindsided, Hashirama leaned out of the way of another slash aimed at severing his head from his body before blocking a kick that propelled him a few dozen feet backwards with his forearms—his feet digging furrows into the concrete beneath him. Arresting his momentum, Hashirama charged back into the fray, his hands a blur as he weaved hand signs.

“Wood Clone Technique!”

Four clones peeled off his back as he caught up to Sasuke propelling himself off Tobirama’s back with a kick before clothlining Hiruzen. The two were able to disengage only slightly bruised but the same could not be said for the ANBU operatives that tried to intervene. Already Hashirama could count five corpses.

The fight was only three seconds in.

Gritting his teeth, The First Hokage attempted to corral the boy away from the weaker combatants, his clones vectoring to force him on the defensive while his main body flanked from the right. Sensing his intent his fellow Kages flickered forth in search of an opening with which they might exploit.

Drawing on his chakra, Hashirama weaved a seal before punching into the floor in the direction of the Uchiha. A bulge of earth travelled forth from his fist to explode as a deadly mass of roots seeking to skewer his opponent. A powerful torrent shot out of Tobirama's mouth at the Uchiha. A bolt of lightning shot out of Hiruzen's palm to travel along the torrent of water launched at the boy as it synergized seamlessly with the other Kage's technique.

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Sasuke vanished just before the lethal combination could connect, reappearing a few meters to the left.

Was that—

Before the thought could fully take hold in Hashirama’s mind, Sasuke’s crimson gaze swivelled to meet his. The expected barrage of genjutsu did not arrive. Instead, the boy’s good hand formed a single one-handed ram seal as clones began to peel from his form, poised to race forward and engage his fellow Kages close up, possibly in a bid to prevent any further use of collaborative jutsu—

Hashirama felt reality slow to a halt.

Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

Milliseconds tick along as the Kage's eyes flickered about the battlefield in search of what made his heckles rise. Connected to nature as he was, he felt things most shinobi didn’t. He knew at that moment something was not adding up.

His gaze flickered to the clones still peeling off the Uchiha’s form. Then to the embers igniting in the boy’s mouth. Then to the single hand sign poised in front of the boy’s chest. There was nothing inherently special about the sign. It was a simple, albeit non-standard, one-handed Ram Seal. The type used by experts as a shortcut to executing a Shadow Clone Jutsu or a Fireball Jutsu. But definitely not both at the same time.

Yet for some odd reason, Sasuke’s maw lit up like a live furnace as chakra kindled at the back of his throat.

“Wood Release: World of Trees Wall!”

Hashirama slammed his palm on the floor as he summoned a net-like wall of interlocking branches to block the sea of ignited chakra that spewed out of the boy’s maw like Dragonfire. Then as if in mockery of his efforts, one of the boy’s clones, still in the process of separating from its creator, reached up with chakra-coated digits to press on the Uchiha’s abdomen.

Then as if switching a dial, it turned.

The sea of flames pouring out of the boy’s mouth suddenly condensed, narrowing into a white-hot beam the thickness of a finger. As the beam took shape, there was a high-pitched, whining noise that grew in intensity, followed by an ominous crackling sound—akin to radio static—and an echoing reverb.

Hashirama’s eyes widened as the focused stream of volatile chakra chewed through his barrier in milliseconds.

Oh—

***

Tobirama’s eyes narrowed as Hashirama’s torso was vapourised by the sudden beam that continued on to destroy a cluster of buildings in the distance. With that insidious play, Konoha’s most potent combatant had just been put on a forced cool-down for at least two minutes. It might have seemed like a short period of time but at the pace at which this battle was going, two minutes was very long indeed.

The boy had to die.

Now.

Tobirama slid under a slash that would have cut him in two before mostly tanking a flying kick from another clone to the shoulder as he raced for the Uchiha’s real body. His hands blurred through hand signs before he spat out a high-pressure stream of water at his opponent. To his right, Hiruzen telekinetically hurled pressurised, chakra-infused roof tiles that exploded on impact at the boy.

Tobirama’s Water Severing Wave is countered by the boy’s bastardised Fire Release variant while Hiruzen’s barrage of high-explosive projectiles is intercepted by an Earth Wall erected by one shadow clone. A cloud of dust and steam obfuscates the battlefield but that did little to dissuade Tobirama who charges into the screen. Picking out the Uchiha via sound and chakra sensing alone he swings down in a bid to cleave the Uchiha in twine.

In response, the Uchiha raises his bone-white prosthetic to catch the blade in its palm.

“Tobirama,” the boy drawled, a mocking lilt in his tone. “You never learn do you?”

The Second Hokage tried to pull away, only to realise he had been caught again by the boy’s pilfered Shadow Possession technique. Tobirama’s gaze narrowed in suspicion. Wasn’t he worried about being rendered immobile in a battle like this? It was then his ears picked up the sound of combat just outside the screen of steam and dust. The answer to his question came quickly to him.

Clones.

Another shadow clone stepped into view from behind the Uchiha’s real—No!

“I owe you a favour for last time,” the second clone said. “I am sorry your current state won’t let you enjoy it as much as I did.”

“Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags!”