As Kagami shouted, a torrent of powerful chakra gushed from his mouth, instantly transforming into a crystal clear, majestic hundred-meter-long water dragon. It roared, a sound like crashing waves, as it tumbled through the air and rushed towards the blazing fireball with the force of a tidal wave.

The moment the two elemental forces met, it was a clash of ice and fire. The water dragon and the fireball collided violently in mid-air, erupting in a deafening roar and a dazzling, blinding light. Steam and mist billowed outwards, obscuring the battlefield as the two forces of nature annihilated each other.

"You are worthy" Madara commented, the corners of his mouth lifting in a slight, rare smile of approval as the mist cleared. But then, his arrogant smirk returned. "However, compared to me, it's still a little bit lacking."

At that moment, Hashirama stepped forward, his expression a mask of pained anger as he stared at Kagami. "Kagami, why?" he demanded, his voice booming across the rooftops. "Sarutobi and Danzo have already paid the price! Why must you continue to massacre the other innocent people of Konoha?" He was furious. The culprits had been dealt with. Why couldn't Kagami let go of his hatred? He could understand the desire for revenge, but he could not tolerate the weakening of Konoha's strength for its sake.

Kagami couldn't help but let out a cold, derisive sneer. "Innocent? You call the dogs of Root and Anbu innocent? Are you trying to make me laugh?" The people he had killed were anything but innocent. If they truly were, they wouldn't have dared to attack him after he had already won.

"But they were just following orders!" Hashirama countered, his face now flushed with righteous fury. "Their crimes did not deserve death! How could you kill them without reason?"

Looking at Hashirama's expression, Kagami felt a wave of disgust. It could only be said that he was worthy of being Ashura's reincarnation. His particular brand of sanctimonious stupidity was all too familiar.

"I'm too lazy to reason with you," Kagami snorted coldly, his voice dripping with contempt. "You don't deserve to be listened."

"Listen" Hashirama was baffled, but before he could say another word, Madara interrupted him.

"Enough, Hashirama. It is the natural order of things for the strong to dominate the weak. They died at Kagami's hands because they were too weak. What's more," he added, a cruel glint in his eye, "they were in the wrong in the first place."

He didn't think Kagami had done anything wrong. In fact, if it had been him, his actions would have been far more ruthless. Kagami had only killed the culprits and those who had directly attacked him. Madara would have destroyed the entire village. In his eyes, Kagami's actions were almost merciful.

"Madara, how can you say that?" Hashirama asked, his voice filled with a pained confusion. "Aren't comrades supposed to understand each other?"

Companions? Madara sneered internally. After the betrayal of his clan, after Hashirama himself had decided to kill him, he had lost all faith in such naive concepts. His friend was a true fool. He possessed such immense power, yet he was always babbling about mutual understanding. The strong do not bother to understand the weak, and the weak are incapable of understanding the strong. There was no possibility of true mutual understanding in this world.

"Sure enough," he thought, his resolve hardening, "only by immersing the world in the eternal illusion of the Infinite Tsukuyomi can true peace be achieved." But before that... he glanced at the Sage of Six Paths out of the corner of his eye and began to formulate a plan. This "ancestor" was completely untrustworthy.

He turned his gaze back to Kagami, his chin raised in a gesture of pure pride. "Boy, I recognize your strength. Now, let me see what you are truly capable of." He planned to unleash a massive, large-scale attack, one that would draw the Sage's full attention, allowing him to slip away unnoticed. And to do that, he would need the help of his good friend, Hashirama. The first step was to get away from the Sage.

On the other side, Kagami noticed the subtle shift in Madara's posture, the slight glance towards the Sage. "Interesting," he thought, a barely perceptible smile touching his lips. "It seems there is no trust between the resurrected Uchiha Madara and the Sage of Six Paths." He felt he might be able to leverage this discord, to turn Madara into an unwitting source of intelligence.

He had been wary of the Sage before because the man was a complete unknown. If he could get some information from Madara, his chances of winning their inevitable confrontation would be much greater. He had already mastered the basics of his Soul Slash. With more information, he might be able to eliminate the Sage completely.

Kagami looked at the boy possessed by the Sage, a hint of pity in his eyes. By sensing the soul's outline, he could tell this was not the Sage's true body. The soul fluctuations were far too weak for a being that had existed for a thousand years. This was also why he hadn't immediately used his Soul Slash. A trump card was most effective when it was unexpected.

Hearing Madara's challenge, Kagami's lips curled into an arrogant smirk. "If you wish to see my full strength, then you'll have to use all of your own to force my hand."

"Haha, you arrogant brat!" Madara threw his head back and laughed wildly. "But I suppose you have earned the right to say such things to me, Uchiha Madara!" Kagami was powerful, and his personality was refreshingly similar to his own. Otherwise, he would have dropped a Tengai Shinsei on him long ago.

"Then, let's see how you handle this!" Madara slammed his hands on the ground and shouted, "Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"

Instantly, the entire ground seemed to be torn apart by an irresistible force of nature. Countless green vines and giant trees erupted from the earth, twisting and entangling, quickly covering everything in sight, transforming the surrounding steel city into a dense, primeval forest.

"This... this is... my Wood Release!" Hashirama stared, his eyes wide with astonishment, as he looked at his old friend. He was shocked. His good friend, Uchiha Madara, now possessed his own legendary technique.