"Hashirama"
"Madara"
As the voices of two men shouting each other's names echoed from afar, Kagura furrowed her brows and began to complain inwardly.
"Jinta, stop watching anime during work hours, will you? If you must watch, at least use headphones. Be careful, or the manager will fine you."
No one responded. She struggled to open her eyes. The sky was somewhat dark, the kind of darkness just before dawn, where everything around was visible but not entirely clear.
Kagura stared blankly at this completely unfamiliar place—an endless expanse of forests and hills, with the glimmering sea in the distance behind her. She was sitting on a smooth, large rock at a high vantage point, offering a panoramic view of the surroundings.
But why was she here? Where was this place?
In the distance, two men were locked in a fierce battle. Kagura rubbed her eyes and looked closely, immediately stunned to the point of disbelief.
"Is this..."
A nine-tailed fox battling a wooden giant—was this the legendary battle between Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama at the Valley of the End?
"Am I in a movie theater? Has 3D VR become this realistic now?"
Looking around, apart from the two living figures and the fox in the distance, the only one breathing was herself. This was definitely not a movie theater.
Wait, no, Kagura remembered she had been working overtime for three consecutive days and was rushed to the emergency room. What the hell? So, had she died from overwork and then transmigrated?
But even so, why did others get to transmigrate to peaceful times and go on missions with Naruto and Kakashi, while she had to end up in this era? If she recalled correctly, the First Great Ninja War started shortly after this epic battle, didn't it?
That said, there wasn't much time for Kagura to ponder her current situation. The fight between these two god-tier figures was simply too spectacular. Back when she watched Naruto, she had watched the battle between Madara and Hashirama at the Valley of the End countless times.
Now, being here in person, how could she miss this visual feast? Everything else could wait until after she finished watching.
She reached into her pocket and found the half-pack of sunflower seeds she had stuffed in her jacket before being taken away by the ambulance.
Heaven truly favored her—she even had snacks to enjoy while watching the show.
Kagura sat cross-legged on the rock at the mountaintop, holding the half-pack of sunflower seeds, and watched the battle from a distance.
Uchiha Madara stood atop the nine-tailed fox, using his Sharingan to control it as it attacked Senju Hashirama.
Hashirama unleashed the Wood Dragon Technique, and the nine-tailed fox fired a Tailed Beast Bomb. Hashirama then summoned a Wooden Giant, which grabbed the Tailed Beast Bomb with one hand and shoved it back.
"Nice move!"
Madara immediately cloaked the nine-tailed fox with half of a Susanoo, blocking the Tailed Beast Bomb...
First, Kagura saw an eye-expanding orange-red fireball, followed by the ground and vegetation being engulfed by its blast. Then, everything was obscured by a massive cloud of smoke, hiding the center of the explosion. Kagura could only watch in anxious anticipation.
It took a full ten minutes for the towering smoke to dissipate enough for visibility to return. By then, Kurama was fully clad in Susanoo, the orange-red Nine-Tails enveloped by the blue-white armor of Susanoo.
Meanwhile, Hashirama, who had used the Wood Style: Wood Human Technique, remained completely unharmed.
In other words, after unleashing their ultimate techniques, both sides emerged unscathed...
Over there, Madara and Hashirama were engaged in conversation.
Kagura, who was munching on sunflower seeds while watching the spectacle, had no interest in listening to Madara and Hashirama idle chatter. She was practically itching to jump up and urge them to get on with it.
Being too far away, she couldn't make out the details of their conversation, but Kagura imagination ran wild, and she speculated that the dialogue probably went something like this
...
Hashirama: "Stop messing around, come back to Konoha with me. If we keep fighting, I might end up killing you!"
Madara: "What did you say? Who do you think you're looking down on? I'm incredibly strong now. I can even skip stones across the river! See this fan in my hand? It's a divine artifact. Be careful, or I might just take your life with a single swing!"
Hashirama: "Don't be so stubborn. If you come back to the village, I'll step down and let you be the Hokage, okay?"
Madara: Hmph, "As if I'd care about some lousy Hokage position!"
Hashirama: "Then what are you so upset about? Wouldn't it be nice to settle down and find a wife?"
Madara: "No, it wouldn't! In fact, I feel like smashing your head in!"
...
Ahem, all of the above was just Kagura wild imagination. She wasn't some kind of super-hearing ninja; how could she possibly hear their conversation?
"Wood Style: All-Encompassing Buddha Hands Technique!"
After using this move to trap the Nine-Tails, Hashirama fled to the outskirts. He ran ahead, with Madara chasing behind. This time, Madara once again controlled the Nine-Tails to fire a Tailed Beast Bomb, this one cloaked in Susanoo.
"If this thing hits, it'll reach Konoha," Kagura muttered to herself, spitting out a sunflower seed shell.
Just then, Hashirama bit his finger and with a shout of "Fivefold Rashomon Gate!", five massive, grotesque gates rose from the ground with a thunderous crash.
Using these gates, Hashirama forcefully altered the trajectory of the Tailed Beast Bomb.
It was only at this moment that Kagura belatedly realized something was wrong. The Tailed Beast Bomb, now redirected, was heading straight for her.
She forgot to spit out the seed shell and swallowed it instead, scratching her throat painfully. Tears welled up in her eyes as she coughed, watching the Tailed Beast Bomb grow closer and closer until her vision was filled with blue-white light.
Damn it, wasn't the spot she was sitting on directly above what would later become the Valley of the end?
This is it. I'm going to die. How can an ordinary person like me withstand a Tailed Beast Bomb?
"Someone, save me—!"
A Tailed Beast Bomb is probably equivalent to a modern-day atomic bomb—fast and devastating. Kagura didn't even have time to feel the pain before she was reduced to dust.
This must be the fastest death among all transmigrators, she thought.
What kind of fate is this? I died from overwork in the real world, finally got a chance to transmigrate, only to immediately run into a battle between gods, and end up being the one caught in the crossfire. From the moment I transmigrated to my death, it was barely half an hour. I'm even more unlucky than that guy in Detective Conan who's known as the most unfortunate man in the country.
...
Wait, that can't be right. Dead people shouldn't be able to think, should they?
As Kagura pondered this, she saw the scattered dust particles slowly gathering together—limbs, torso, head. Within minutes, a complete version of herself stood on the ground.
"What is this...?" She looked at her hands, touched her face—it felt real. She suddenly realized that in this Naruto world she had transmigrated into, she seemed to possess an extraordinary ability.
As if to confirm, Kagura quietly approached the battlefield of the two ninja gods once more. As expected, she was caught in the crossfire again, witnessing her own death and then resurrecting unharmed a few minutes later.
This time, Kagura was overjoyed. It was even more exciting than receiving praise from a client or getting a few hundred extra bucks from her boss. She finally confirmed that in this world, she possessed an immortal body. Did that mean she could do whatever she wanted, and no one could do anything about it?
Hmm, this was a great ability. With such a power, who would still care about the Byakugan, Sharingan, Mangekyō Sharingan, or Rinnegan? Who cares about the Six Paths power? With this ability, Kagura could strut across the ninja world, and no one could touch her.
The battle raged on for several more hours.
As the sun rose, Madara, who had always feared someone standing behind him, never expected Hashirama to pull off a surprise attack from behind. With Madara fall, an era of heroes was about to come to an end in a few years.
Hashirama stared at Madara corpse, looking as if he had lost the will to live. The term "heartbroken" wasn't exactly the right word, but it perfectly described Hashirama at that moment.
"Listen, you'd better cremate this guy body. Otherwise, your brother will definitely take it for research. And that guy isn't truly dead—he'll cause trouble later. Trust me, I never lie."
Hashirama was still drowning in the grief of losing his closest friend when he noticed a woman who had appeared out of nowhere. His brows furrowed.
"Where did you come from?" he asked, puzzled. He had been entirely focused on defeating Madara and hadn't noticed anyone else around. Who was this person, dressed so strangely, with no trace of chakra? And why would anyone stay around during a battle of this magnitude instead of fleeing for their lives?
"Well, it's a long story."
"Then make it short."
"Uh..." Kagura hesitated. The God of Shinobi wasn't quite what she had imagined.
"Alright, I'm a transmigrator."
Hashirama looked at her as if she were insane. "What's a transmigrator?"
"Well, transmigrator is..." How should she explain it? "It means I came from the real world into your anime world. Does that make sense?"
Hmm, clearly, he didn't get it.
"And what's cremation?"
Kagura rolled her eyes. People in this world really had no common sense.
"It means burning the body to ashes."
Hashirama was stunned, staring at her for a long time before finally blurting out, "That's outrageous!"
At that moment, a man with white hair, red eyes, and a fur collar descended from the sky, landing steadily behind Hashirama.
It was Tobirama Senju!
"Oh, your brother here too!" Kagura was a bit excited.
Young Tobirama was indeed dashing. Kagura had a thing for white hair—most of the cartoon characters she drew had white hair. Seeing a real-life version now, she couldn't contain her excitement.
Perhaps Kagura blatantly admiring gaze was too obvious, as Tobirama eyed her warily and asked Hashirama,
"Brother, who is this woman?"
Hashirama rubbed his forehead, still exhausted from the fight. He pointed to his head and said,
"I dont know, Maybe she got caught up in our battle that she start spouting nonsense suddenly"
Hearing this, Tobirama immediately gave Kagura a sympathetic look.
"Hey, my brain fine, thank you very much!"
"Then tell me, where are you from?"
"I'm from China!" Kagura proudly puffed out her chest, though there wasn't much to puff.
Tobirama glanced back at Hashirama. "Brother, do you know where China is?"
Hashirama didn't even want to speak, just waved a hand dismissively, his gesture utterly disinterested.
"Sigh," Tobirama sighed. "she doesn't even know where her own home is. It seems the injury is quite severe. No choice, we'll have to take her back to Konoha first. We can't just leave her here."
"Huh?"
So, just like that, she was being taken to Konoha?
Kagura was momentarily stunned. Wasn't this a bit too hasty? Weren't they afraid she might be a spy from another country?