Chapter 532: Glasses Are the Real Body

Seeing no one respond, Madara Uchiha sat down in the main seat at the large round table in the conference room with a bold, imposing air, while Tobirama Senju plopped down into the seat beside him.

He had finally made something of himself; at the last meeting, he could only stand there like a lackey.

The F6, acting as guards, tacitly split into two groups and stood behind the two men, instantly elevating the aura of the ninja world's number one organization.

"I declare the meeting started."

With his hands crossed in front of him, Madara Uchiha swept his gaze over the tense-faced Onoki and the others, announcing in an unquestionable tone,

"My time is very precious. If you have something to say, say it quickly; I won't wait."

The three who had just been intimidated by Madara Uchiha's gaze exchanged glances, and ultimately, Onoki, who had the sharpest tongue, spoke first.

Slap!

"Don't put on an act here. Don't you know what kind of good deeds your Konoha has done?"

Onoki started at zero frames, slamming the table hard, his face full of indignation.

"Oh?"

Facing the aggressive Onoki, Madara Uchiha changed to a comfortable position, crossed his legs, and watched the little potato before him perform with great interest.

"We people of Konoha have always done good deeds without leaving our names."

Tobirama Senju, standing to the side, added at the opportune moment, the proud expression on his face making the others furious.

"Your Konoha really has no shame, daring to do it but not daring to admit it?"

Kinkaku stared fixedly at Tobirama Senju's fair face, gritting his teeth as he coldly questioned him.

"It is you who have been speaking in riddles. If you have something to say, say it directly; don't beat around the bush here."

Staring back without yielding, Tobirama Senju shook his head in disdain, signaling everyone to speak plainly, as being evasive only made them look inferior.

"Hmph! You really won't shed tears until you see the coffin."

Onoki snorted coldly, pulled a storage scroll from behind his back, and opened it in front of everyone.

Poof~

"You should know very well what this is, right?"

As the white smoke dissipated, a piece of grayish-brown wood appeared before everyone's eyes. Anyone with even a little skill in sensory perception could clearly sense the terrifying life force radiating from this branch.

"Ah! Is that the Wood Style of the Great Master?"

The F6 standing behind exclaimed in low voices. As those who had once received instruction from Hashirama Senju, their memories of the aura of Wood Style were particularly profound.

"And what does this prove?"

Looking at the familiar yet strange Wood Style product, Madara Uchiha's eyes flashed with an unreadable light. His expression remained calm, but a trace of unease surfaced in his heart.

Those clones really had perfectly replicated Hashirama's abilities.

"Prove what? Then I'll show you!"

Seeing that Madara Uchiha still maintained that light and breezy appearance, the exasperated Onoki took flight on the spot and, in front of everyone, violently lifted his short shirt, which looked like children's clothing.

"Ah!"

Seeing Onoki's hooligan-like behavior, Koharu Utatane hurriedly covered her eyes in fright, peeking curiously through her wide-spread fingers at the strangely shaped, naked little potato.

"This is the scar left on me by your former Hokage, and it is still throbbing with pain even now."

Gritting his teeth, Onoki pointed at the hideous wound on his body and loudly exposed him.

"What?"

"How could the Great Master?"

"Impossible, it absolutely wouldn't be the Great Master."

Hearing this explosive news for the first time, the F6 were all stunned into speechlessness. In their hearts, Hashirama Senju was a peace-loving moderate who would never commit the illegal act of attacking the leader of another village.

"And me!"

Seeing that the matter was already out in the open, Kinkaku simply tore off his own coat. His muscular upper body was covered in hideous scars identical to Onoki's.

After the two finished their display, they turned their gazes in unison toward their only remaining ally. Gui felt the urgency in their eyes and showed a look of embarrassment on his face.

"Cough, cough, cough... I have a non-scarring constitution."

When he faced Hashirama Senju's attack, he hadn't lasted many moves against the other party before being subdued, so he hadn't been left with any scars.

"Hmph! You have all seen it. Now we aren't asking for anything else, just justice!"

Onoki put on his clothes and sat back down, the expression on his face exceptionally resolute.

"Otherwise, we can only cite Konoha's unilateral tearing up of the peace agreement as a reason..."

As he spoke, he exchanged glances with the other two and braced himself to issue a warning.

"To start a war."

Boom—

As soon as the words fell, Madara Uchiha, sitting in the main seat, narrowed his eyes, and an extremely cold aura instantly erupted from his body, pressing down toward the three of them.

"Do you know what you are saying?"

Madara Uchiha, whose eyes had turned red at some point, spoke coldly.

"We have the right to defend our dignity."

Not knowing where the courage came from, Onoki actually withstood Madara Uchiha's aura and shouted in a resonant, powerful voice.

The assassination of a village's Shadow was a reason that could spark a great war anywhere.

This was a provocation to a village's authority and could absolutely not be turned over so simply; otherwise, how would they stand in the ninja world in the future?

"What if I said this matter has nothing to do with us?"

Staring coldly at the resolute Onoki for a moment, Madara Uchiha said.

"Impossible, we saw it with our own eyes; the attacker was your former Hokage, Hashirama Senju."

The three who had clashed head-on with the attacker had tasted the unique Wood Human of the ninja world, and even now, they felt a lingering fear just thinking about it.

"That's right, only Hashirama Senju could manifest such a large wooden person."

"The entire ninja world only has Hashirama Senju who can use Wood Style; don't even think about denying it."

Listening to the three of them explaining back and forth, Madara Uchiha curled his lip in disdain and said something that stung them deeply.

"If it really were Hashirama who attacked, would you still be able to sit here and talk to me now?"

That was correct; if the attacker had been Hashirama Senju himself, he would absolutely not have spared these three, and he could have easily wiped out their hometowns as well.

"There might be some misunderstanding in this; let's wait until it's investigated clearly before doing..."

Watching the sparks flying between them, Tobirama Senju stood up to act as a peacemaker, but before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Kinkaku.

"Don't pretend to be a good person here. Were those two Hashirama Senjus who attacked our brothers your creations?"

"Huh?"

Tobirama Senju was bewildered. He had just stood up to state his position; how had he been saddled with such a huge black pot for no reason?

"Although I have only met the current Hokage once, his noble character is still fresh in my memory. The attacker was definitely not him."

Onoki entered the fray amidst the chaos, changing from his previous aggressive stance to praising Hashirama Senju's character.

"The Hashirama Senju who attacked us is a weapon of war researched and created by you, an evil scientist."

Kinkaku pointed at Tobirama Senju with certainty, his eyes full of resentment.

"Me too!"

Gui raised his hand, echoing him concisely.

Not only these three, but even five of the F6 standing behind were stealing glances with suspicious eyes at Tobirama Senju, who was trembling with rage.

It seemed the Master was indeed the type of person who could do such a thing.

"I'm done with this."

Accused by everyone, Tobirama Senju could not defend himself and could only use four words to voice his frustration.

"He's flustered, he's flustered!"

"What, you, Tobirama Senju, dare to do it but don't dare to admit it? Are you even a man?"

Seeing Tobirama Senju not refute their accusations, Kinkaku felt quite triumphant and unconsciously struck a vital point of a certain white-haired man.

Hearing this, Tobirama Senju tightened his fists, turned his head expressionlessly, and said coldly to Madara Uchiha, who was trying to hold back a laugh,

"Forget it, kill them all and be done with it."

"..."

Of course, Madara Uchiha certainly couldn't do that; after all, it wasn't the 68th year of the Hokage era yet.

"I have already understood your demands, but this matter is of great importance. We in Konoha need to conduct a detailed investigation before we can give you an answer."

After much deliberation, Madara Uchiha looked at the incident from the perspective of the Hokage. Without acting on emotion, this answer was considered very pertinent and official.

"Now that both human and material evidence are present, what else is there to investigate?"

Seeing that Madara Uchiha's attitude had changed, Onoki decided to test the other party's bottom line. In this matter, their villages were in the right.

"Exactly, exactly. With such a large wooden person standing in front of us, you're telling me you still need to investigate?"

"The Tailed Beasts within us have already identified the other party as undoubtedly Hashirama Senju. What are you in Konoha still quibbling about?"

"Or are you saying that you intend to disregard the peace agreement and brazenly start a war?"

"Hmph!"

Seeing that this blame was about to be pinned on Konoha, Madara Uchiha snorted coldly. The aura radiating from his body was like a physical force, and his scarlet eyes swept over the three who were spouting nonsense, instantly silencing the entire room.

"I said it still needs investigation to give you a way out. Don't push your luck."

Once these words were spoken, the three who had just thought they had the upper hand felt as if they had fallen into an ice cellar. Only now did they recall the terrifying nature of the person before them.

Even if he took off the mantle of the strongest Tailed Beast knight, Madara Uchiha's own strength was already peerless in the ninja world, with no one to rival him.

The only reason he was able to sit at the same table with them in a calm and composed manner was entirely out of consideration for his identity as Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, what impressive official authority."

Kinkaku, unable to swallow his anger, spoke with a sarcastic, mocking tone toward the arrogant-looking Madara Uchiha.

"It's just that I don't know if Konoha will still be able to act this tough once the Hokage retires."

This was a veiled insult, implying that Konoha relied entirely on Madara Uchiha to hold it up; otherwise, it would be a weakling that anyone could bully.

"Our Konoha is full of talent; even if I were gone, there would be younger people more outstanding than me to take my place."

Sensing the subtext in Kinkaku's words, Madara Uchiha shook his head, his tone extremely firm, which made the F6 behind him feel their blood boil and their spines straighten involuntarily.

Wasn't he talking about them?

"Oh? Then I wonder if the Hokage would be interested in letting the young people have a friendly exchange."

Kinkaku's eyes lit up. He likely couldn't beat Madara Uchiha, but if his own subordinate could beat a Konoha rising star to a pulp, wouldn't that be a way to humiliate Konoha severely and vent his frustration?

"Why wouldn't I dare? Feel free to bring it on."

Soon, everyone in the conference room changed locations, arriving at a nearby training ground. Mifune dismissed the onlookers, leaving a bit of private space for both sides of the duel.

"Shi, go and exchange pointers with the geniuses of Konoha. Remember to hold back."

Looking at the spacious field, Kinkaku revealed a smile of a scheme fulfilled. He waved one hand behind him, and a sturdy, dark-skinned man who had been waiting for a long time walked over.

His black, shiny muscles were extremely striking under the light.

"He is a junior disciple I accepted on behalf of my master. Don't let his mature appearance fool you; he isn't actually that old."

Pointing at the dark-skinned man who looked like a melon peddler, Kinkaku introduced him with a smile. It was a specialty of the Hidden Cloud: rarely was a youth so mature-looking, and the women had large chests and slender waists.

"Hidden Cloud, Shi."

The brown-haired, dark-skinned man nodded toward the Konoha side and gave a simple self-introduction.

"Who among you is going?"

Tobirama Senju sized up Shi, who exuded a fierce aura, and analyzed that this person was definitely a taijutsu expert whose strength could not be underestimated. He then asked the disciples behind him.

The F6 were all eager to try, each wanting to win the first victory for Konoha. After some discussion, they decided to use a fair method to determine who would go up.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

"I won!"

Homura Mitokado looked excitedly at the rock he had extended, not expecting to stand out among the group.

"Homura, be careful. The opponent is a taijutsu ninja."

Watching Homura Mitokado head down to the field with enthusiasm, Tobirama Senju's brow furrowed slightly.

Among all the disciples, Homura's strength was not particularly outstanding; he often served the role of a mobile supply pack.

Dealing with this kind of taijutsu ninja might be a bit difficult. If the opponent seized the initiative, he feared there wouldn't even be a chance to use a substitution.

"Don't worry, Teacher. I am no longer the person I was before."

Homura Mitokado pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, and the eyes behind the lenses revealed a confident glow.

One minute later,

"Ugh, ugh, ugh, my glasses~"

Homura Mitokado, whose time on the field was less than a minute, was carried back. His exquisite glasses had been smashed into fragments by the opponent's punch, and his eyes were bruised with a color that wouldn't fade easily.

"Homura!"

The F6 witnessed their friend being defeated in seconds, each of them filled with unbearable indignation.

"We won't let you sacrifice yourself in vain."

They were seen surrounding the shattered glasses, mourning with heavy expressions.

"Huh?"

Homura Mitokado, his eyes swollen shut, lay to the side, ignored by everyone.

At this moment, his heart was colder than the snowy mountains of the Land of Iron.

"Let me go this time! I will definitely avenge Homura!"

After sending off the "mortal remains" of Homura Mitokado, Torifu Akimichi stood up, clenching his fists, his large, chubby face full of hatred.

"Torifu, don't be careless."

Tobirama Senju nodded secretly. The strength boost from the Multi-Size Technique was enough to instantly defeat a taijutsu ninja of the same level.

"Little fatty, I hope you're more durable than that bespectacled kid from just now."

The previous battle didn't even count as a warm-up.

The moment Homura Mitokado pulled out a scroll, Shi had already punched him in his large face, achieving a one-hit knockout.

"Homura has sacrificed himself; I will make you pay in blood!"

Thinking of his friend who had turned into fragments, Torifu Akimichi attacked with hatred. His entire body suddenly grew taller, and his fist, half the size of a person, smashed toward the bewildered Shi.

"Wait, isn't that bespectacled kid lying right there perfectly fine? Look, he hasn't even wiped his tears dry yet."