" You have forced my hand Madara," Hashirama said as he looked at his best friend ruefully. "Did it have to come to- "

"Would you stop being so melodramatic? I've had enough of your jokes. It's been ages since we last sparred like this." Madara retorted hotly, rolling his eyes. "Can you not be serious just this once?"

Hashirama's face fell, and he soon started muttering to himself.

Madara facepalmed. This was the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. He wondered how Hashirama could act so immature at one moment and yet be a very different man the instant next.

They were currently in the outskirts of Konoha, far enough that they could wield their full powers without the risk of flattening the village. It was the place that had witnessed their last spar. And as Madara stood there, scanning his surrounding, he could see that it still bore the scars of the Uchiha and the Senju's last fight.

"Fine, fine. You don't need to be so prissy Madara, lighten up a little, would you? Have some fun," And with a teasing grin on his face, he continued. "You could even find a girl, you know."

Madara understood perfectly what Hashirama was insinuating. He knew that Madara had yet to find a woman to bride. With the pressures of being the clan head and building the village, he simply didn't have the time to pursue romance. And yet it was his duty, as the head of the Uchiha clan, to get married and produce heirs to further the clan's bloodline.

"I'll have you know that I am perfectly content with the way I am now. And refusing to act immature or joke around all day like you is not being stuck up, Hashirama. Now can we spar? It has been a long time since I have been able to truly stretch my legs." Madara remarked with a mad glint in his eyes. After all, he had been looking forward to this for a while.

"You are becoming old Madara, you no longer indulge me as you did." Hashirama sighed in fake sadness and wiped away imaginary tears before looking up with the same excited grin that Madara was sporting. "Very well then. It wasn't just you that was bored, I've not been able to go all out for a while. I have been looking forward to this just as much as you."

As he said so, Hashirama created four wood clones who flickered to four distant corners of the vast plain and erected a large red barrier. It was the Four Crimson Ray Formation, the most powerful barrier that took four Kage-class shinobi to make. It was a gift from the Uzumaki Clan in Uzushio for the wedding of Hashirama and Mito along with a few more sealing jutsu. Neither he nor Hashirama had been able to break the barrier no matter what they threw at it. Truly, they were a fearsome clan.

Not that he was afraid, of course, such a thing would be a folly to even think about. No, Uchiha Madara was merely cautious to the unknown. And the Uzumaki and their seals were an unknown like none.

Madara and Hashirama now faced each other inside the barrier, arms crossed, with the wind ruffling their hair. The air grew heavy, almost palpable. It pressed down; in a way only few would withstand.

"Let's dance."

Both expelled their chakra at the same time, creating small craters beneath their feet before Hashirama appeared in front of Madara, It was then that a shockwave sounded out from the clash of the two, remarking that the fight was on.

Madara's Sharingan would have given him an advantage over anyone, but today his adversary was Hashirama. The man had, after all, grown-up fighting Uchiha and had faced him numerous times on the battlefield. The battle quickly turned into high-speed evading and blocking. Everywhere they met, gusts of wind would fly off as the ground burst in explosions It wasn't long until Hashirama raised the stakes by pushing chakra into his arms. Madara responded to the gesture by bringing out his Gunbai and blocking the strike. It resulted in a huge shockwave of chakra that sent them in opposite directions.

Yes, this was what he had been craving for so long. He could feel his blood pumping, his chakra was riled up and above all, he was just getting started. Madara Uchiha was a battle maniac and a thrill seeker and he knew it.

Hashirama and Madara smirked at each other from opposite ends of the field before Hashirama brought his longsword out of the sealing scroll that he had strapped to his back. Madara responded by grabbing his Kama, wielding it with his signature Gunbai as he rushed to meet Hashirama's blade.

He lifted his kama high over his head and in one swift stroke, he cut down. His other hand, meanwhile, was still holding the Gunbai. Hashirama responded to the attack by blocking it with his longsword. When the blades met, sparks started to fly before Madara used his Gunbai to push the huge weapon away. They fell back, each only a mere step, pausing just for the barest of second before the fight resumed yet again. They responded to each other in a flurry of blows, Kama and Gunbai used in unison to combat the huge longsword. Again, and again their weapons met, with neither gaining a clear advantage. Madara was starting to get bored of the constant back and forth when Hashirama channelled chakra into his blade, making it chip into the Kama.

Madara responded by using his Gunbai to swat the sword away before leaping back. Hashirama had a look of mischief on his face and Madara scowled. He knew enough by now that the mischievous grin that Hashirama was sporting couldn't be a bearer of good news. Well, not for him, at least. He knew that he could not combat Hashirama in raw chakra. To his chagrin, the Senju really did have monstrous levels of chakra that even the most powerful of Uzumaki couldn't match.

Madara sighed and strapped his kama to his back, for it seemed like the time for games was over. And it was time to get serious. Hashirama seemed to have gotten the message perfectly well as he sealed his longsword away before starting to weave hand signs.

Madara himself weaved a horse sign and infused a massive amount of chakra into his lungs before expelling in a tidal wave of fire, the force of it made his hair and armour billow around.

'Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation

It expanded rapidly, covering most of the field in a continuous stream of scorching hot fire. The flame continued to pour out, seemingly endless as it flowed with burning rage.

Hashirama responded by forming the snake sign, raising a monstrous Wood Wall that could easily withstand the monstrous fire jutsu. Madara knew that his fire, however powerful was not strong enough to overpower Hashirama's Wood Style. And so,he used his Gunbai Fanned Wind jutsu to empower it. He observed Hashirama with his Sharingan and his excitement fell the littlest bit when he saw that it didn't seem to faze the Senju at all.

His eyes widened before he quickly brought his Gunbai up to block a second Hashirama hitting him with a chakra infused punch. He saw the wood clone end the jutsu as he was forced to let his own subside.

He smirked and engaged Hashirama in more Taijutsu. Their dance was a beautiful flurry of kicks and punches that were too fast for the naked eyes to see. It ended just as quickly as it started when Hashirama was trapped in a Sharingan genjutsu for a mere moment. The flicker of a moment was all that Madara needed to belt him with a flurry of kicks to the midriff and a final kick to the ribs that sent him tumbling across the plains before landing on his feet. Hashirama started going through seals which alarmed Madara as he could recognize it instantly, and he started weaving his own before ending in a tiger seal.

'Fire Style: Great Fire Destruction'

'Wood Style: Deep Forest Bloom'

Madara let loose a stream of fire at the veritable forest that had sprung up and rushed towards him. Madara continued his flamethrower technique to combat the never-ending swathe of trees until the jutsu subsided, however, he wasn't given a moment of respite as large flowers started sprouting from the ground.

Hashirama had used the Great Forest Bloom jutsu against him in their previous battles and it had reduced the effect the pollen had on him. But reduced effects they might have, Madara was not willing to gamble on the risk, knowing full well that his lifelong friend and rival was never one to underestimate. And so, he used his Gunbai to blast away the pollen.

He then saw that Hashirama was making seals which he recognized. And in reaction, He began channelling more chakra into his eyes as it evolved, iris of red spinning until they finally settled into the form of the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.

Hashirama made the snake seal and the ground cracked. A huge wood dragon emerged from the Earth, swiftly taking flight into the sky. Hashirama leapt on top of it as it rushed towards Madara who himself was grinning in earnest. He stood with his arms crossed as the Susanoo formed around him. The blue skeleton formed before it grabbed the wood dragon in midair and shrew it back, eerily reminiscent of their last fight.

Madara's Susanoo had reached its first stage, displaying a three-headed six-armed monstrosity. It was big, but it was nothing compared to the final stage. However, he pushed the thought of the Perfect Susanoo as he wanted to try something new before that.

He could see that Hashirama had reinforced the wood dragon, growing larger with every gush of wind that went past him. When it neared, the dragon was now the same size as his Susanoo.

Madara was not one to gamble, but it seemed that his hands had been forced for now. Well, he hadn't even had the chance to try this jutsu out before… and yet the present seemed to be a perfect time like never before. His left eye spun fiercely as he gathered Blaze Release chakra and formed the horse seal. He has never tried this before at this scale and would be the ultimate test. He formed a tiger seal as the six arms of the Susanoo formed three different seals, Bird, Horse and Ram.

'Blaze Release: Pheonix Flower'

Madara expelled small, black fireballs, at great speeds towards the massive wood dragon in bursts. Hashirama, knowledgeable of a myriad of secret techniques from across the Elemental Nations, was at lost at the sight of the blazing black flame coming at him, head scrambling as he tried to assess the strange jutsu. He could, however, sense that whatever this new jutsu was, it was very different from his friend's usual fire and knowing Madara, it would mean that it was much… much more destructive.

The fireballs collided with the maw of the dragon, disintegrating a large part of it and causing parts of it to explode. The debris that flew up from the collision of the first burst with the dragon had forced Hashirama to take cover under another jutsu. Madara wasn't fooled. He could see that his friend was hiding in what looked to be the Wood Expulsion jutsu. He smirked at being able to destroy the wood dragon, satisfaction coming to himself since regular fire had long been ineffective against Hashirama.

Madara's Susanoo was now made up of two entirely different sides that were conjoined along their spine, both of which had a distinct face; the front face had elongated canines in its lower jaw bracket and two tusks growing from said jaw, while the back face has similarly elongated canine teeth in its upper jaw bracket and a single horn protruding from its forehead. In its armoured form, the usual tengu-like armour splits from its forehead down, revealing Susanoo's eyes while obscuring the rest of its face. His armoured Susanoo appeared to always form the Tiger hand seal with its front hands, and it was the largest of its variation. In its Complete Body form, its head gains a long tengu nose and two lines running down from its mouth to its chin area, as well as hair which is tied up at the sides. It was truly the destruction incarnate. An absolute defence and offence of divine level. Power unparalleled by the meagre talents of the flies that called themselves shinobi from across the nations. Only Hashirama could challenge him, proven by the overflowing sense of excitement coursing up through the Uchiha's veins at the very moment.

Madara did not give Hashirama much time to think as his Perfect Susanoo settled down. In a split of a second, he drew his first Katana and brought it down. Hashirama saw it coming and countered immediately by weaving a couple of handsigns, succeeding as he managed to catch the ethereal blade with huge wooden arms.

'Laughing Buddha Jutsu'

"I can read your sword swings, Madara." Hashirama gloated, taunting him with his stupid smile. Madara noticed more wooden arms emerge from the ground, all of them rapidly moving towards him. He smirked as he drew his second blade. In one stroke, he cut them all in half.

Hashirama started to utilize the debris to move away and make distance between himself and Madara's Susanoo. A smile did come to Madara at the sight of the God of Shinobi running away. Running away from him.

"You're not getting away that easily," Madara exclaimed. He would not let Hashirama dictate this fight and so, he followed him with his Susanoo. It wasn't as mobile as Hashirama, however, mainly due to its large size. "Is running around all you have got up your sleeve Hashirama?" Madara taunted, hoping to bait his lifelong rival as he exploited the Senju's weakness at taunts.

Seeing no effect, he decided to try out another one of his new jutsu, Blaze Release: Yasaka Magatama which would send out orbs of black fire shaped like a magatama. Madara had deduced that it would theoretically incinerate anything in its path. And launched by a Perfect Susanoo, there should be no evading them.

"Now then, try blocking this."

Hashirama saw the orbs coming towards him at high speed and knew that he couldn't dodge them. The earlier clash against his wood dragon had seen his jutsu decimated into ashes, after all. And so, his usual wood walls would be terribly inadequate. He bit into his thumb as he slammed his hand into the ground, causing five huge Rashomon gates to rise.

'Summoning: Five Layer Rashomon'

The first three were melted seemingly so easily as the black monstrosity made its way through the gates. However, the last two were successful in stopping the hail of the incoming magatama.

"Hashirama, it has been a while since we have fought each other all out." Madara spoke proudly. His blood sang at the rush. Calling to the depth of the Uchiha's power as he was finally stretched in a battle worth to be called one. "You can see that I have changed, can you not?"

"A few new tricks don't change anything Madara, you still cannot beat me." Hashirama responded in kind, taunting his childhood friend, knowing full well that he hated it. "I will defeat you just as I have before."

It grated on Madara's nerves how Hashirama was always stronger than him. It was no different when they were brats. If he was younger and less mature, he might have been jealous and resentful. Fortunately, he had gone through enough losses and tragedies that he was no longer resentful of his only remaining friend, nay brother. He was however a little jealous of Hashirama's ever-increasing strength. It seemed whatever he did; his friend would find a way to one-up him. Perhaps one day he would make his peace with it. But that day was not today. Today was the day for Madara to finally prevail.

"It is time then." Hashirama said as he started weaving seals rapidly, slamming his hands together in a snake seal.

'Wood Style: Wood Golem Jutsu'

The earth cracked. And from it, came out a huge golem of wood emerged with a three-headed dragon wrapped around its head. The sight was eerily reminiscent of their last fight.

"We have done this before Madara." Hashirama began with a smirk on his face. "It ended with you on your back. Or have you forgotten so soon?"

"We shall see Hashirama. Or have you forgotten so soon that it isn't like we are the same as we were two years ago?"

Saying so Madara drew his two katanas, surprising Hashirama. The previously ethereal blades had been replaced by the black flames that so easily cut through the wooden jutsu. Hshirama smirked, fighting Madara had always brought him joy. But today was another level of it, it seemed.

The time for words was over for now, and it was time to get into the last stage of the fight. Both were exhausted and suffered wounds. However, Madara did not have godly healing that Hashirama possessed, leaving him in a worse state compared to the Senju, whose wounds healed rapidly, effects of his unique regeneration ability.

They rushed towards each other in unison, Hashirama's three-headed dragon striking first. Madara's katana of black flames decapitated them with ease, leaving only the body wrapped around the head of the golem. Madara smirked before wincing, noticing that his chakra was rapidly depleting. The extensive use of Blaze release had cost him a lot of his chakra. This being the first time he was using it in battle led to their own problems, for he was far from mastering the power. He felt that he could keep it up for a few more minutes before it became too much.

'No matter, I just have to finish this quickly.' Madara thought with gritted teeth.

Hashirama was getting worried now, the black flames seemed to be invincible. Fortunately, he had noticed the toll they took on his friend. Even though he wasn't as good a sensor as Tobirama he could tell that the black flames had a huge strain on his otherwise monstrous reserves and that he would not be able to keep using them for much longer. His inexperience with the black flames seemed to have cost him dearly. However, it would only matter if he could hold out for a few more minutes, which he knew, was enough time for Madara to defeat him.

As expected, Madara did not give him much respite, rushing towards the golem. Hashirama hastily formed the snake seal and numerous wood dragons rushed out at Madara making him stop in his charge. He had to cut them all down one after the other, the way in which they were sent out severely hindering his charge. Hashirama used that time to armour his golem even more. He covered it from head to toe in tengu like armour, almost mirroring Madara's Susanoo, only with woods instead of chakra constructs. His golem was now bigger than the Susanoo, added to that with a dragon that was bigger than any that came before, wrapping its form around the golem's head.

Madara finished cutting down the last of the annoying wood dragons and looked at the colossal monstrosity that the golem had turned into. He smirked. He knew that this would be the end of the fight. The victor and the loser would be decided in the coming moments. But for the life of his, he would not let Hashirama triumph over him once more.

They charged in unison, Madara with his Susanoo and twin flaming swords against Hashirama and his wooden monstrosity. It looked like the gods themselves were battling, heaven and hell clashing against each other. But then again, what were they if not gods? They met in a clash that sent shockwaves across the field, black flames cutting into the monstrous golem and the dragon sending out blasts of chakra, with the golem crashing into the Susanoo.

For a moment, the field was obscured in a mushroom cloud, debris spread with chakra permeating the field. When the dust cleared away, the Susanoo had lost its swords and half of its body had been stripped away. Madara stood, his armour stripped away, leaving him only wearing his battle kimono, with his Kama and Gunbai drawn looking over the battered golem. It was almost destroyed, and yet the monstrous wooden dragon was nowhere to be seen. He smiled at that. The feet of the golem and its arms were all that remained. Hashirama stood in between the debris, panting and visibly injured. He had lost his armour and was now dressed in his black inner clothes and was holding onto a much smaller katana.

The field was not faring much better either. Deep scars littered it. Growth covered parts of the field and others were occupied by inextinguishable black flames. It looked well and truly destroyed. As if God had punished mankind himself in his wrath.

They looked at each other, sharing a moment of peace and tranquillity before it all broke. They charged towards each other in what would be the last attack, the final attack. The decisive one. Madara gripping his Gunbai and Kama while Hashirama his sword. Both slashed at each other at the same time, cutting through the wind, but there was not a sound that was heard. When the clash of steels finally rang throughout the battlefield, it was Hashirama who fell to the ground, dripping blood, bleeding from his stomach. Madara smirked. He had won at last.

"It seems that I am the one standing today, the opposite of last time." Madara bragged. "What happened? No more quips? You look depressed Hashirama."

"Remember what you told me when we were children?" Hashirama started, his lips curving upward in a smirk. Madara stifled a gasp as he felt a sword probing his back. The cold of its tip breaking through the fabric of his kimono.

He looked at Hashirama who was talking to him and saw that it had turned to wood.

"A wood clone heh." Madara sighed in defeat, dropping his Gunbai and Kama. "I can't believe that my back was taken."

"That's another win for me then," the Senju grinned. "But you almost had me today, the black flames were something I did not expect." Hashirama consoled his friend, ever the gracious victor that he was.

Madara looked out at the destroyed field. The barrier still protected the outside from harm, held up by four of Hashirama's wood clones. The chakra that Hashirama possessed never ceased to amaze him. It was a truth he had accepted long before. To defeat Hashirama in a battle of chakra was not possible for him. At least not without some help.

"It seems you are still stronger than me," Madara stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "Do not think that I have given up, however. Today was proof that I could defeat you. If not for your trickery, I would have been victorious."

He knew that he didn't mean a single word of what he had just said. Using trickery to win was the shinobi way. Only fools wouldn't use every available method to win. Hashirama had been craftier than him today, he would seek to correct it the next time. Let it not be said that a Senju had bested an Uchiha in a battle of craftiness.

"I know when you are lying Madara." Hashirama retorted. "You would not hesitate in doing the same, we aren't samurai after all. You are right however, I was almost defeated. Your new jutsu vexes me. It seems that my Wood Style is no longer enough to defeat you."

"The only reason I lost today was inexperience. This was my first time using the black flames. I have yet to master it fully. Our next fight shall not end the same way, I promise you that."

Hashirama knew that he was serious, but Madara did not know all his tricks. He knew that he could have ended this fight a lot earlier if he had used the newest weapon in his arsenal, Senjutsu. He was, however, hesitant of showing his friend how big of a gap still existed between them.

"We shall see Madara. I for one will look forward to it. I haven't felt so alive in a while." Hashirama laughed before motioning forward, whispering in low murmurs, "Just don't tell Mito that. She might not take it very well."

Madara smirked before joining his friend in laughter. It was the hour of the setting sun. And behind them, the sky of Konoha was painted in blazing orange as yet another day ended. But for tomorrow, there would be another day dawning. As it had always been.


AN: Swamped with uni and other real-life responsibilities. The next chapter may take a while. In the meantime, enjoy!

Thanks a lot to conjuredseventyseven FanFiction for beta-ing. His stories are great and make sure to check them out.

Madara can use Blaze Release or Enton because both Sasuke and Indra could. before you claim Indra only used Amaterasu, Amaterasu is the parent jutsu from which Enton was formed. Since Madara is an Indra reincarnate, I believe he has the black flames which he used to make Enton.

I know it's not canon but this is fanfiction.

The jutsu names are in thought and not called out.

Feel free to leave a review.