"Stop this madness, Madara! Dead men like us have no right to interfere with the living!" Hashirama shouted. "The world has moved on since our time! The last thing it needs is our old grudges miring it in the past!"
"Stop? While we're having this much fun?" Madara said, throwing back his head with a hearty laugh. "And besides, what part of me looks dead to you? We've both been restored to full life, so why shouldn't we enjoy the pleasures this world has to offer... at least, while it lasts?"
Standing atop a gigantic wooden carving of Asura, a menacing wooden dragon coiled around its neck, Senju Hashirama gazed upon his best friend and rival across the Valley of the End. The First Hokage's heart was filled with conflicting emotions, but just as it had been the last time they fought, his resolve was unwavering: old friend or not, Uchiha Madara was a danger to the Hidden Leaf and had to be put down like the mad dog he was.
The only problem was, Hashirama was no longer confident in his ability to win.
In their final battle, the First Hokage had handily defeated the Uchiha patriarch through brute force; systematically dismantling his opponent's Nine-Tails Susano'o setup by combining his versatile Wood Style with his oppressive Sage Mode to control the battlefield.
Although Madara possessed seemingly limitless chakra thanks to the Nine-Tails he had bent to his will with his eye power, Hashirama's Wood Style suppressed the Tailed Beast, stealing its Bijū chakra and making it his own... and from there, once the Nine-Tails had fallen, it had only been a matter of wearing Madara down until he ran out of chakra before delivering the killing blow.
Only now, Madara not only possessed the Rinnegan, the legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths, but also Hashirama's invincible regenerating physique and his Wood Style. They were no longer evenly matched... his old friend was merely toying with him, knowing that this was his last chance for an enjoyable dance before he overturned the entire world.
Indeed, Hashirama could definitely tell that Madara was going easy on him to prolong the fun, but despite this, his old friend had not reverted his Rinnegan back to the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, even though he was not using the Rinnegan dōjutsu powers in their duel… for some reason.
You sore loser, Hashirama thought to himself, if I'd known you'd take a piece of me and implant it in your chest, I wouldn't have followed you so far away... I thought I'd be back guarding the front lines within the day, but here we still are...
"You're thinking of something other than our battle, aren't you?" Madara said, his lip curling downwards in displeasure as he noticed the distracted look on Hashirama's face. "I wanted to enjoy our duel at my leisure, but it seems you won't be able to concentrate properly until I incinerate those people you were protecting back then..."
"Madara, you wouldn't dare…!" Hashirama said furiously. "I won't let you—"
Hashirama broke off.
Thousands of shinobi were entering the Valley of the End below them… Hidden Leaf comrades.
"Well, would you look at that," Madara said sardonically. "It appears some insects have invaded our little picnic… that's what happens when you take your sweet time, old friend."
Hashirama's heart sank.
He'd been away from HQ too long, so he hadn't heard of any operations taking place in this area… the only reason he'd accepted to follow Madara here for their nostalgic rematch was because it was in the middle of nowhere, where there were no innocents to trample underfoot.
As they arrived at the valley's end, where the statues of Hashirama and Madara stood beside the waterfall, the Leaf army finally noticed the titanic Susano'o and the towering wooden giant standing atop the cliffs on opposite sides of the valley. But the Hidden Stone was hot on their heels, driving them into the dead end that was meant to be the ambush site...
…
Meanwhile, Sakura had been following her men from a safe distance, making certain to stay outside the enemy's sensing range, even though there was now no chance of Ōnoki showing his face. Since the enemy had left their HQ's effective short-range radio reception area, she had allowed her Rasenchakram to dissipate, as she no longer needed to jam their comms.
She had to admit, even she hadn't expected the Stone army to follow them this far...
Perhaps this uncharacteristic temerity was the result of the drugged exhilaration the Stone-nin felt after drinking Taki's Hero Water, or perhaps it was the sense of impending doom driving them to press the pursuit at all costs, desperate to make their sacrificed lifespans count for something...
"What the—!?" Sakura suddenly blurted out. "I sense the First Hokage's chakra!"
"Lord First?" Inoichi's voice echoed in her head. "Whatever is he doing so far from the western front?"
Sakura opened her Byakugan, before quickly switching back to her Sharingan.
"He's duelling Uchiha Madara… the real one!" Sakura shouted in a panic. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
What were those two doing there!? Now, of all times to choose for their reunion, they had to pick the very spot Shikaku had chosen to spring his ambush on the Stone army! At this rate, they would get buried alive from the valley's collapse when those two monsters fought!
"I can't let him get his hands on Naruto! Sakura, out!" Sakura said breathlessly into her microphone, before stuffing the headset into one of her waist pouches. "Body Flicker Jutsu!"
…
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation Jutsu!"
"I won't let you!" shouted Hashirama, clapping his hands.
As Madara breathed out a majestic sea of flames into the valley below, great wooden pillars burst from the cliffside, seamlessly sliding into place to form a protective dome above the Hidden Leaf's army. To Hashirama's dismay, Madara's fire, which had never been able to do much more than singe or blacken the bark of his senjutsu chakra-enhanced wood, rapidly reduced the dome to cinders before falling upon the helpless Leaf-nin...
That's right, Hashirama thought to himself in horrified realisation. Madara stole my Sage Mode as well... There's no longer an unbridgeable gap between the levels of our techniques, which means my Wood Style might as well be tinder before his flames!
"Good, now we can go back to our duel," Madara said, nodding in satisfaction. "Now, where were we—"
Madara's voice trailed off as cheers rose from the valley. Frowning, he glanced down to see a furious-looking Sakura standing atop a large mud wall, her chest heaving and sparks flying between her two hands held aloft above her head.
"Lightning Style: Flame-Killing Electric Shield Jutsu!"