Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

...

Black Zetsu, who had been observing from the shadows, noticed Shen Er leaving.

It wondered who this random ninja was who had suddenly appeared.

Despite only exhibiting Chunin-level chakra fluctuations, he gave off a strange aura. Furthermore, he rushed into Madara's tomb the very next moment after the battle ended, as if he had come prepared…

Is he the reincarnation of Ashura... the younger brother of Hashirama Senju, and the clone of Tobirama Senju?

It's hard to say about Black Zetsu.

It did not rashly appear to intercept and expose its own existence.

So far, everything has been going according to plan, and nothing unexpected has happened.

Madara Uchiha, the reincarnation of Indra, unsurprisingly lost in the fateful battle. However, he also obtained the flesh and blood of Hashirama Senju, and successfully faked his death by activating Izanagi.

At this point, he should have been resurrected...

Black Zetsu burrowed underground and began to observe from the shadows.

...

Madara Uchiha has been resurrected.

He braced himself against the stone platform and violently spat out the flesh and blood of Hashirama from his body, then gasped for breath. After catching his breath, Madara raised his hand and pressed it to his right eye; as the price of his resurrection, he had lost the sight of his right eye.

Ban looked around and realized he was in an underground tomb.

Hahahaha!

A wild laugh echoed through the empty underground tomb: "The victor is me, Uchiha Madara!"

Even with the power of the Nine-Tails, he still couldn't defeat Hashirama. This was the man he considered his closest friend and his lifelong nemesis.

But he won because he obtained Hashirama's flesh and blood. At his level, the true victory or defeat was not determined by the outcome of a single battle, but by whose ideals could ultimately prevail in the world.

The debate over the way of ninja.

It's not a sprint, but a marathon that lasts a lifetime.

"When all things are united, all phenomena are attained... The power of immortals lies within this."

Ban stared at the flesh and blood between the pillars on the stone platform and let out a long sigh.

He had assumed that the inherently evil Tobirama would secretly follow Hashirama to the Valley of the End. If he were killed by Hashirama, Tobirama would surely take the opportunity to do something to his corpse.

It seems nothing has happened so far...

He's overthinking it.

"Ok?"

Just then, Madara noticed something was wrong.

He raised his hand and pressed it against his left eye, his brow furrowing.

His left eye possesses the kaleidoscope eye technique, Ten'yan Protector.

It symbolizes absolute defense.

This technique is bound to his soul, forever freezing it at its peak and maintaining abundant spiritual energy, which is the source of his confidence in fighting Hashirama.

At the same time, he can place an unbreakable seal on his eyes, which no one can forcibly remove unless he does so willingly. This is his contingency plan after his defeat.

Using Ten'yan Guard in conjunction with Izanagi guarantees a successful resurrection.

Madara Uchiha used a transcription seal beforehand to seal Izanagi and the physical clone technique into his right eye.

When Izanagi is activated, the dream and the physical clone will replace the body parts that were taken away, and his original state will be reversed.

Such a complicated operation was all for the purpose of faking death and escaping without attracting anyone's attention.

However, Madara Uchiha sensed that during the time he was waiting to be resurrected, Ten'an Go was being interfered with by some kind of sealing technique, and someone was trying to steal his eyes.

"Hashirama... is that you?"

A pang of sadness swept through Ban's heart. He never imagined that even his closest friend would covet his eyes after his death.

"Fine, after all, I did the same thing to you."

Sadness is fleeting.

Madara took out a kunai, cut his palm to squeeze out blood, and used this as a guide to form hand seals and perform a physical clone technique, creating a "corpse" of himself and leaving it on the stone platform to guide future generations to the fact that he was dead.

He then collected the piece of flesh and blood from between the pillars and left the underground tomb.

Before leaving.

He glanced back at the waterfall in the Valley of the End: "I hope that decades from now, we can fight again."

Then, Madara Uchiha disappeared into the torrential rain.

Chapter 61 The Heart of Madara: Powerful! Overbearing! Strong!

Hashirama Senju believed he had killed Madara with his own hands. While feeling guilty, he also protected the peace of Konoha. He had won.

Madara Uchiha faked his death to escape, fooled Hashirama, obtained his flesh and blood, and won.

Black Zetsu witnessed Indra's reincarnation acting according to a predetermined script under its own deception, and it won as well.

Even so, he won by taking Madara's heart in the battle at the Valley of the End and returning with a full load.

That night, in the rain of the Valley of the End, there was not a single loser!

...

After a day of frantic running, the parasite finally made it back to the Death Forest just before dawn.

The Earth Grudge Clone seamlessly took over, receiving the already cold heart of Uchiha Madara and sending it to the Zen Temple's laboratory.

Therefore, they have been waiting here for quite some time.

Judging by the time, Hashirama's injuries were severe, and it would take him another half day to return to Konoha. At that time, he would have to go and treat him as the Hokage's physician.

Before that, Shen Er planned to refine Ban's heart.

The spotted heart rested quietly on the lab table.

Looking at the gash pierced by Hashirama's ninja sword, Shen Er felt a slight pang of regret. This attack had at least 30% depleted the heart's power.

Just like with animal fur, if the quality is poor, the value will be greatly reduced.

The same applies to the heart.

Shen Er manipulated the Earth Grudge Threads, carefully sewing up Madara's heart. Then, his back split open, and the massive Earth Grudge Fear's tentacles emerged, spitting out the heart of a Wind Release Chunin.

He then grabbed Ban's heart and instantly refined it.

The heart, refined and tempered, began to beat again.

Pfft!Pfft!Pfft!

A strong, powerful heartbeat resounded within Shen'er's chest.

A young person's blush is more important than anything else.

Fire Release chakra instantly surged! It surged wildly! It surged dramatically!

At this moment, Shen'er's aura was stronger than ever before! His domineering spirit and wildness were unparalleled! With such terrifying fire jutsu, what in the ninja world could possibly withstand it?

Under the influence of Madara Uchiha's heart, Shen'er's face flushed red, and it took a while for her to calm down.

He closed his eyes, feeling the powerful pulse in his chest.

Some ninjas are born with all five chakra natures, but Earth Grudge Fear can only steal and integrate one of them. Madara possesses six natures, but at this moment, Shen only obtained Madara's Fire Release chakra.

Strong, very strong, extremely strong...

This is Shen'er's most direct feeling.

Madara's heart was far stronger than that of the other Uchiha Jonin inside him.

At least at the level of a film star.

But Shen Er also felt something was strange.

A Fire Release heart of this quality would be a huge boost for him, but it would be considered weak for Madara. An ordinary Kage-level Fire Release heart wouldn't be enough for Madara to suppress the Five Kage with Fire Release alone in the future, nor would it allow him to hold his own against Hashirama in a pure ninjutsu clash.

"Is Madara's other eye technique specifically designed to enhance Fire Release? Or is it that the chakra of Indra within him amplifies Fire Release?"

Since I couldn't figure out the reason, I simply stopped worrying about it.

Continue to experience the other characteristics of this heart.

Aside from the violent fire-style chakra, this heart of Madara Uchiha did not provide any additional life force boost. Generally, when replacing a heart with Earth Grudge Fear, the recipient inherits some of the host's life force, but this one did not.

It's likely that Madara exhausted his life force during his desperate battle with Hashirama. A heart that has been drained of its vitality naturally has no more life force left.

Hashirama Senju's heart is probably facing the same problem right now.

The two supreme beings fought to the very end of the Valley of the End, until even their life force was extinguished.

However, in the end, Madara Uchiha used Izanagi to restore his life force; while Hashirama Senju relied on his strong physique to last for a few more years.

Judging solely from the outcome of this battle, Hashirama won; but in the long run, Hashirama lost completely.

He stopped thinking about it and put away his lingering regrets.

From this moment on, he officially entered the ranks of Kage-level ninjas.

However, this level of Kage is more like a goalkeeper.

Firstly, he didn't possess Madara's devastating high-level fire techniques; secondly, he didn't have a large enough amount of chakra to support him in continuously unleashing advanced ninjutsu.

Madara's Fire Release technique is of extremely high quality, which correspondingly amplifies his chakra consumption.

Shen Er made a mental calculation.

If one were to unleash the full power of this heart regardless of the cost, the peak state could only be maintained for three minutes.

This is the limit of the time he can hold off breaking the Yin Seal.

"For these three minutes, I am the shadow."

"If the enemy is not defeated within three minutes, the Yin Seal must be broken."