Chapter 457: Madara Uchiha: Senju?

A slender stone pillar supported the massive ground, much like a mushroom cap.

Madara Uchiha followed the stone pillar stairs, ascending to the top of the mushroom cap.

Before his eyes, it suddenly went black.

His field of vision became dim and narrow; even with the Sharingan, he could not see through this darkness.

"So, is this called the Dark Corridor?"

Madara Uchiha was fearless and continued to dash forward, the clashing of his red Plate Armor making sound.

Something was wrong! He suddenly stopped his steps.

Madara Uchiha's eyes darted around, but he discovered nothing unusual.

Yet, the sound of some kind of armor clashing still echoed in his ears, and it had nothing to do with him.

In the darkness, a long-handled iron axe swung down.

Madara Uchiha dodged the axe blade and kicked toward the axe-wielder in the darkness; his instep struck the darkness as if kicking against a cold iron plate.

The enemy did not budge an inch.

"So hard, to actually withstand my kick?"

A look of surprise and suspicion appeared in Madara Uchiha's eyes, not arrogance.

But in the entire ninja world, the only ninjas who could rival his Taijutsu, besides Senju Hashirama, were the dark-faced man who later founded Kumogakure.

Although the armor helped offset the blow, being able to stand perfectly still was enough to demonstrate the opponent's superior Taijutsu.

"No, is it a monster?"

When he saw the ambusher clearly, Madara Uchiha's expression froze slightly.

A figure was fully armed in bronze-colored armor, gripping a heavy, long-handled Giant Axe, delivering a visual shock.

Not to mention the ninja world of the Sengoku era, even in the era of Hiruzen Sarutobi, armor like this—exuding a cold chill and crafted as exquisitely as tempered steel—was extremely rare.

The reason he called it a monster,

was because from the gaps in this armor, what was revealed was not flesh and blood, but a faint, eerie glow of energy.

The interior was empty.

Madara Uchiha had traversed the ninja world and had never encountered such peculiar armor; his first reaction was naturally that he had met a monster.

Even the First Kazekage, who was skilled in Puppetry, needed chakra threads to control a Puppet.

It was absolutely impossible to hide it from his Sharingan.

"Whoever you are, whether a ninja playing tricks or a monster, I, Madara Uchiha, fear no one."

Madara Uchiha formed hand seals.

"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Song Technique!"

A flash of orange-red flame gushed out; it was the pinnacle of chakra shape transformation, and the orange-red flame crashed into the monster.

Pfft, pfft, pfft...

It was like fireworks exploding; although brilliant, it did not cause much damage.

The steel bracers of the monster's armor turned slightly black, but other than that, its movements were not hindered in the slightest.

"Very hard steel; Fire Release Ninjutsu is like a tickle. Interesting!"

Madara Uchiha's expression remained as usual; he did not experience emotional fluctuations just because the ninjutsu he released failed to achieve the expected effect.

However, he was indeed amazed by the strength of this armor.

According to the level judged by the game, his Fire Release was at 【Fire Release Lv. 19】, the maximum level.

Even Senju Hashirama, whose physical body was unrivaled, would not dare to take it head-on and would need to use Wood Release to defend.

"Could it all be true? Samsara Game, hunting Pollution Monsters to become stronger?..."

A flash of bewilderment crossed Madara Uchiha's eyes, but his hands did not stop.

He quickly formed hand seals.

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"

The Uchiha were skilled in Fire Release, but with the copying advantage of the Sharingan, other elemental releases were also at his fingertips.

From the moment the Fire Release failed to take effect, he had already thought of the next offensive.

No matter how hard the armor was, it would be torn apart by water and fire releases.

A Water Release waterfall, like a rushing river, crashed into the monster's armor.

Sure enough, white mist rose from the axe-wielding armor; the high temperature from being scorched by the Fire Release was then doused by the Water Release, and cracks appeared on the surface of the armor.

Bang.

Madara Uchiha took the opportunity to throw a punch, smashing the monster's armored head to pieces.

"So weak!"

Looking at the monster that had lost its steel head, Madara Uchiha shook his head in disdain and was about to continue forward.

The monster armor, which had been standing there without falling, suddenly swung its Giant Axe, hacking toward Madara Uchiha's neck. "Watch out!"

A Magic missile struck the monster armor, interrupting its movement.

Immediately after, a young man with a brown scar on his forehead gripped a blade with both hands, spewing a stream of fire from his mouth, and slashed the remaining monster armor to pieces.

"Mister, the Dark Corridor is very dangerous. Monsters like these Exterminators won't die even if they lose their steel heads; you have to smash them completely."

The one speaking was the young man who had acted first, releasing the Magic missile to save Madara Uchiha.

He had an honest face and short, light-brown hair.

There was a kind of clear, naive stupidity in his eyes.

What caught Madara Uchiha's attention most was the swirl-shaped ninja headband worn on his forehead.

It was the symbol of Konohagakure that he had designed together with that bastard Senju Hashirama back in the day.

Madara Uchiha's gaze was calm, and he asked composedly, "Who are you?"

"My name is Tanjiro, Tanjiro Kamado."

Tanjiro, who had a brown scar on his forehead, introduced himself politely.

Then he pointed to his companion of similar age beside him and said, "His name is Senju Nawaki."

"Mister, the aura you're emitting is very strong; your level shouldn't be low, right?"

Senju Nawaki laughed with familiar ease: "However, it seems your equipment isn't very good, since you couldn't even beat the Armor."

Ever since he was resurrected by Tsunade, he had begun hunting Pollution Monsters.

Although it had been a short time, he had the Mobile Unit as his backing and was wearing a 【Purple Armor Set】.

Tanjiro was a partner he had met during his process of hunting Pollution Monsters; although he looked a bit foolish, Tanjiro was unexpectedly gentle and reliable.

The two of them had hunted all the way from the Grand Forest to the Sky Sea.

Their friendship was deep.

Just as they ran to the Dark Corridor, they discovered a strange man who was actually fighting the Armor with his bare hands.

And he had even defeated the monster?

Madara Uchiha was expressionless and asked tentatively: "The Ninjutsu and sword skills you released didn't they also easily kill the monster Armor? I am indeed very weak."

The two were not very old,

but the Magic missiles that had just shattered the armor and their sharp sword skills were both extremely formidable.

At the very least, during the Sengoku period, he himself at the same age could never have defeated the two of them.

Senju Nawaki shook his head and said: "Mister, are you truly ignorant, or are you just being modest?"

"The reason we two could defeat the Armor is because we are wearing equipment."

"Mister, you are empty-handed and wearing nothing, yet you crushed the Armor purely by relying on skills; how could you not be strong?"

Tanjiro also nodded repeatedly, feeling that this man was suspected of showing off on purpose.

Equipment could provide players with 【Attribute Enhancement】.

This enhancement had no threshold; as long as one had enough Reward Points, even someone who had just become a player could purchase equipment and enhance themselves after wearing it.

However,

skills truly required 【Soul Potential】.

For example, in the Ninja World, some players coveted Orochimaru's Necromancer class, but after going to great lengths to change classes, they discovered that their 【Undead】 talent was very poor, and their skill proficiency grew slowly.

Even when their life level reached the 【Tier 2】 degree, their skills were still stuck at a low level.

Take another example, the strongest Sword Master player in the Pirate World, Mihawk, could easily and continuously break through skill levels, keeping his skills and player level in lockstep.

But after some players imitated him, they still hadn't been able to condense a Sword Soul to this day.

The game merchant Fang Yi did not hide the gap in talent between players, so most players understood that choosing a 【Game Profession】 required caution, and one had to know whether they possessed the 【Soul Potential】 for that lineage.

A player like Madara Uchiha, who could raise his skills to this degree, was undoubtedly a powerhouse.

"Is that so?"

Madara Uchiha felt not the slightest shame in fishing for information from a brat.

In the Sengoku era, whoever was weak died, and whoever was stupid died; even a child who looked weak had to be taken seriously.

Of course,

what caught Madara Uchiha's attention most was his foolish appearance, which even vaguely resembled that idiot Senju Hashirama.

Senju Nawaki—if one calculated his age, he should be Senju Hashirama's grandson?

A sense of dark humor rose in Madara Uchiha's heart.

Just consider it interest for you ambushing me; I will play along with the grandson who possesses your bloodline.

Things are too busy today; there will be another chapter later, sorry, sorry. (End of this chapter)