Chapter 278

And another person didn't even need to lift a finger,

merely by using a pair of Sharingan to control them with genjutsu,

this feeling was simply unbearable!!

So even though Madara Uchiha's words made the Nine-Tails extremely displeased,

he dared not say a word!!

The entire Land of Fire,

had long been covered in arrays deployed by Hashirama Senju across the nation!!

Thus, the instant the two appeared in the Land of Fire,

Hashirama Senju immediately sensed their presence!!

Especially the appearance of one of them,

filled him with profound astonishment.

He never expected that in today's ninja world,

besides the four ninja from the Land of Lightning,

there still existed a ninja this powerful!!!

And that man gave him a feeling extremely similar to Madara Uchiha beside him!!

The aura emanating from both men was very similar,

yet there seemed to be some differences.

【Jiraiya: It seems that skinny kid's strength must be immense, otherwise Madara Uchiha wouldn't feel like fighting him.】

【Orochimaru: Heh… don't you all feel that man bears some resemblance to Madara Uchiha?】

【Tobirama Senju: Hmph! That face looks utterly repulsive!! It really does resemble Madara Uchiha's foul expression.】

【Hashirama Senju: Hmm… now that you mention it, I do feel he's very much like Madara—both have nearly identical hairstyles and cover their eyes.】

【Raikage: I never imagined our nation's four founding Kage would be called worse than trash in Madara Uchiha's mouth… Hearing that is infuriating, yet there's nothing we can do!!】

【Orochimaru: Indeed, there's nothing we can do—Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha have surpassed the limits of anyone's imagination. No one knows why these two are so strong.】

【Terumi Mei: Before Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, no one dares claim they aren't trash.】

【Minato Namikaze: The Nine-Tails, which left Konoha helpless, is no different from an ordinary pet cat before these two… That's perhaps the gap.】

…

"Master… just how strong are you now?"

"Between you and my father, who's stronger?"

Glancing at the one-armed Sasuke Uchiha,

Naruto Uzumaki raised the topic he was curious about.

He tossed his clothes onto the chair,

and Sasuke sat down on the edge of the bed.

The room was extremely cramped,

and even the smell was unpleasant.

But Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki had no choice,

not even Sasuke Uchiha had expected,

that identity checks in this era were so strict,

that the two of them couldn't prove their origins at all!!

So they couldn't find even a decent inn in the Land of Fire.

Helpless, they had to find a private inn without a business license.

This room was rented out by the landlord from his extra property.

Rubbing his throbbing temples,

Sasuke Uchiha gave Naruto Uzumaki a helpless look.

This son of Naruto's was extremely curious,

he'd question everything until he got the full answer,

and his most curious question was which of them—himself or Naruto—was stronger!

Naruto Uzumaki was obsessed with defeating his father!!

He constantly wanted to learn something here to prove himself.

"I'm evenly matched with your father."

"There's no such thing as who's stronger or weaker."

"We just specialize in different things, so our fighting styles differ."

Sasuke didn't directly answer Boruto's question.

But in his eyes, the truth was indeed this.

Unless they fought to the death,

it would be impossible to tell who was stronger or weaker,

they knew each other too well!!

Yet the two did share one striking similarity!

As they grew older and gained more experience,

their strength had become inferior to what they had as teenagers.

Sometimes even Sasuke Uchiha wondered,

Why have the two of them become like this?

Only finally did Sasuke realize one thing,

Perhaps because both had lost the original drive to grow stronger!!

In their youth, each had a reason they must become stronger.

It was this drive that constantly pushed them forward,

so they never dared to slack off, only striving desperately to train.

But after the Fourth Shinobi World War,

after saving the world,

they had lost that inner drive!!

He had once been determined to kill Itachi Uchiha, to avenge his clan!!

So he used every possible method to grow stronger,

even abandoning Konoha and becoming a missing-nin!!

And Naruto Uzumaki sought the recognition of everyone,

and wished to bring himself back to Konoha!!

Yet after defeating Madara Uchiha,

both may have developed an arrogance they never noticed,

because their strength had become immense,

so over the years they had neglected training,

causing their power to weaken further!!

"Impossible!! Master!"

"Your strength must be greater than Father's!"

"He spends his days only handling official duties— I've never seen him train!"

"He doesn't even have time to spend with me and Mother…"

"How could someone so indifferent to his own family be strong?"

As he said this, Naruto Uzumaki's face twisted in displeasure!!

Sasuke fell silent,

and at that moment he noticed another shared trait between himself and Naruto,

that they were both terrible parents!!

He never communicated with his daughter, Uchiha Sarada,