"Getting pretty bold, aren't you?" Madara turned his gaze toward Muzo. Honestly, this guy was already a pain when he was alive. Although Kai's death was partly due to friendly fire, but if the opponent hadn't been Muzo, he might not have died.
Before the Uchiha clan made peace with the Senju clan, they had devised many plans targeting this man, but all of them failed. Not only was he strong, on par with the likes of Tobirama and Sasuke, but he had this strange habit of underestimating his own strength. Add in the fact that he had a ton of enemies, and he was incredibly cautious. It was nearly impossible to trap him.
Eventually, Madara lost patience and decided to take him out himself. And still, he failed to kill him. After leaving Konoha, he was genuinely surprised to learn of Muzo's death. He had thrived in the chaos of wartime, only to fall during the era of the ninja village system.
In his view, Muzo wouldn't bare his fangs at someone he truly thought was stronger than him. If he did, it could only mean he had ulterior motives.
"Of all people, you should know whether I'm bold or not," Muzo chuckled. "We're all dead now. What's the point of being so persistent? Just go do whatever you're supposed to do."
"I could say the same to you," Madara replied, standing in the middle of the road, clearly with no intention of stepping aside.
There was no way he could let Obito get captured here.
What he planned to do with that pawn was one thing, even discarding him was an option, but he could not allow him to fall into Konoha's hands.
"You're really stubborn, huh…"
Muzo then glanced at Masashi. Though he was nearly certain this Uchiha was actually his own reincarnation, the will of Edo Tensei wasn't completely false either, that was the peculiar nature of chakra.
The true power source behind Edo Tensei was the Pure Land, but the will came from chakra. Now, with this rare opportunity in front of him, it was time to reclaim that power from the Pure Land.
Of course, if he hadn't been reincarnated as an Uchiha, that power wouldn't matter.
Let's not rush, wait for the right moment to confirm...
With that in mind, he stepped forward.
"That Uchiha, are you going after him or not?"
"He won't escape. The Hokage are all headed that way," said Masashi.
The appearance of "Muzo" before him confirmed that his hypothesis about developing a reincarnation jutsu was correct. The person before him was both himself and not himself.
But in this world of chakra, truth and illusion were hard to define. Shadow clones were technically false, but their wills were real. Their every action reflected the original's true intentions, just manifested through another chakra vessel.
Edo Tensei worked the same way, otherwise, the "Edo Shadow Clone" jutsu from his first life would be impossible.
Right now, Muzo was essentially Masashi's Edo Shadow Clone.
Whether or not people in the shinobi world had actual souls was debatable. But the fact that the Pure Land was not a naturally occurring world, but rather a jutsu created for the purpose of capturing chakra, was, according to him, undeniable.
Reclaiming the chakra he left in the Pure Land during his first life was now an essential goal. It was nearly impossible for one person alone, but if there are two versions of himself, then it was certainly possible.
Still, the person standing before him… was Madara.
The Six Paths Madara? Definitely out of his league.
But Edo Tensei Madara? Well, if they didn't fight, how would he know?
"You're right. After all that you've said, if I just went off to do something else first, that'd be pretty disrespectful," Masashi glanced around. "How about we take this elsewhere? Wrecking our own buildings just feels wrong."
"Fine," Madara agreed. "You pick the spot."
Without another word, Masashi turned and sped off.
"Nice technique," Madara nodded, then followed.
If Obito couldn't escape after all this delay, he would personally kill the kid.
Muzo, watching the two vanish, couldn't help but laugh.
Madara's flaw was his arrogance, same in life, same in death. But as the ultimate mastermind, if he ever found out that Muzo had been reincarnated as an Uchiha, he'd definitely go to great lengths to destroy him. That would be a problem.
He didn't follow them. Instead, he continued pursuing Obito. He had marked him with tracking jutsu long ago. No escape!
Back when he was alive, his Body Flicker had already reached the peak of the ninja world. Now, without fatigue to hinder him, he was even faster.
This body lacked sensations, so he couldn't enjoy the thrill of battle. All he could do now was rely on visual satisfaction.
Konoha had changed a lot, but the road layout near the Hokage Rock hadn't fundamentally changed. This area still had many old buildings, which made navigation possible for Muzo.
He dashed out of the village and entered the northern greenbelt, a buffer zone. This was once a primary battlefield between Konoha and Kumo.
But by the time he arrived, the fighting there had already ended. The traces of large-scale ninjutsu were everywhere, gigantic trees, massive blooming flowers.
From the remnants alone, he could picture the battle clearly.
Roughly, it went like this: The Kumo ninjas broke in. Konoha ninjas responded. Then Hashirama showed up and dropped his Wood Release.
Battle over.
He shook his head. Hashirama and Tobirama represented two completely different combat philosophies of the Senju clan.
Hashirama hoped to eliminate conflict and promote understanding, so his Wood Release techniques focused on restraining the enemy and taking away their ability to fight.
Tobirama, on the other hand, believed in defeating the enemy by eliminating their fighting force, crippling them so they could no longer pose a threat. Muzo aligned with Tobirama's philosophy.
Ah… Found it.
The feedback from his tracking jutsu reconnected again. Overjoyed, he picked up speed, rushing out of the area that had been suppressed by Wood Release, heading northeast.
---
At the same time, Masashi had found a place that suited him. Reaching his destination, he leapt gently and landed on the surface of a lake.
"Never thought you'd choose this place," Madara snorted as he followed, lightly tapping the ground with his foot and landing on the other side.
"Since you chose this place, you must know what happened here, right?" Madara looked at the face beneath Masashi's feet.
It was his own face.
The place Masashi had chosen was the very site of the final battle between Madara and Hashirama.
"Of course," Masashi spread his hands. "To realize your ideals in such a chaotic world, you had no choice but to use violence. The people of the village carved your likeness and that of the First Hokage here to commemorate that era."
"It was a foolish time," Madara said, glancing at the towering statues of himself and Hashirama. "The darkness of this village began here."
This was the Valley of the End.
In the original timeline, it was shaped by their, and later destroyed in the battle between Naruto and Sasuke.
"Perfectionism isn't sustainable," Masashi smiled. "But if you flip the table, everything's wasted."
"With your level of ocular power, I assume you've read the stone tablet to the very end?" Madara said. "If so, you should know that is the path to realizing our ideals."
"Clan leader Madara, we may have looked at the same stone tablet, but I think we came away with different interpretations," Masashi shook his head. "Didn't it say that if the powers of Uchiha and Senju are combined, you become invincible?"
Here I am talking about your peace ideals, and you're pulling this? Sorry, man. I'm not anti-war, I'm anti war-maniacs. And right now, you're the war maniac.
"Invincible, huh…" Madara fell silent for a moment. "Honestly, that doesn't mean much."
"…"
Seriously? Are you putting on a show right now?
But you weren't even invincible. Wasn't there always Hashirama who was just a little stronger than you?
"Actually, in that battle… you didn't die, did you?" Masashi suddenly asked.
"Oh?" Madara raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "And why do you think that?"
"If you read the stone tablet, you'd know the Uchiha's power is incomplete, it needs the Senju's strength. That battle, you tricked the First Hokage. You were just looking for a chance to take his power. And you succeeded, only then did you awaken the Rinnegan."
"Correct. Destroying the village meant nothing to me." Madara looked satisfied. This kid really spoke to him. "I obtained his power, and thus unlocked the true power of the Uchiha. I surpassed him."
"Then I have a question," Masashi held up a finger. "Why didn't you just ask him for a chunk of his flesh from the beginning? Would he have refused? Wouldn't that have been way more efficient than going through all this trouble?"
"... I take what I want myself."
No, you never even considered that. You're just stubborn!
"Enough chit-chat." Madara was growing impatient, the Rinnegan in his eyes gleaming coldly. "I suggest you use all your power, otherwise, you'll die here."
"All right." Masashi nodded.
The next moment, tangible chakra flared up from both of them, before it even fully formed, it had already lunged at the other. Before the blue and white chakra clashed, two massive hands had already taken shape.
Boom!
When fist met palm, the resulting shockwave first compressed the lake surface, then blew it apart. Floodwaters surged toward the shore, crashing through trees before surging back toward the center of the lake.
As the floodwaters pulled debris back toward the lake, neither Uchiha spared it a glance.
Their Susanoo techniques had now fully taken shape.
Madara's had formed faster, though not in its complete body form, it was definitely quicker.
But a chilling frost was already spreading with Masashi's hand seals. White blanketed the lake surface, and towering frost giants began rising from the ice.
In terms of how quickly Susanoo could be formed, he was definitely slower than Madara, but thanks to his time spent at the Uchiha Ice and Snow Festival, he had honed the skill of speed-sculpting ice.
Before Madara's deep blue Susanoo even threw a punch, seven or eight ice giants had already lined up in front of Masashi, charging across the frozen lake toward Madara.
"Interesting," Madara's eyes lit up.
In an instant, his uniquely streamlined version of Susanoo also summoned the same number of figures from the ice. Proud as ever, he had no desire to gain an advantage in numbers against Masashi.
Neither of them had activated the full-body version of Susanoo yet, so these massive entities used only their own strength as weapons.
As soon as they clashed, the ice giants revealed their greatest weakness, when matched against equal-tier strength, even Sage Mode couldn't make up for their flaws.
One ice giant landed a solid punch to its opponent's chest, but Susanoo, made purely of chakra, completely absorbed the impact, then immediately counterpunched, smashing its fist deep into the ice giant's chest cavity.
The ice giant instantly grabbed onto Susanoo. The next moment, it began to "melt." Heavy frost spread along Susanoo's punching arm and quickly froze it into a solid ice block.
At first, Madara didn't think much of it, but he soon realized, this layer of ice was imbued with sealing techniques. It actually managed to freeze his Susanoo in place.
Soon after, the other Susanoo constructs met the same fate. The lake, as a battleground for their level of jutsu, was tight and confined. There simply wasn't much maneuvering room between the Susanoo and the ice giants.
This was… truly interesting!
"Let me give you a piece of advice." Madara formed the hand seal. "There's a reason why Hashirama could fight me evenly with Wood Release. Ice Release from the Kiri, Magent Release from the Suna, all that stuff is useless."
BOOM!
With a loud roar, each massive chunk of frozen Susanoo was blown apart from within.
It was Wood Release.
Growing trees broke through the frozen seals, entangling with each other to form even larger giants. The chakra that made up Susanoo, bundles of raw energy, served as perfect fuel for executing Wood Release secret techniques.
From beneath his Susanoo, another deafening crack sounded. Behind him, a massive tree trunk, so thick it made even Susanoo look "petite," burst forth from the ice. As it grew, more ice shattered and was either flung away or broke off in chunks.
"When you've got the Rinnegan, it's time to upgrade your jutsu arsenal!" As if responding to Madara's declaration, a Wood Release secret technique that Masashi had become most familiar with in his past life fully unfolded.
Countless wooden branches and vines erupted across the icy battlefield.
Green overwhelmed white.
The waterfall flowing between the two colossal statues was cut in half. The lake vanished. Countless trees surged, and in an instant, the ice giants were annihilated.
Masashi's Susanoo was also entangled by the Wood Release, and he immediately sensed the oppressive force of its restraints.
He hadn't expected Madara to open with Wood Release. From his understanding, Madara typically wouldn't use Wood Release against opponents he genuinely respected. Although he had cracked all of Hashirama's Wood Release secrets, it wasn't his main specialty, and he was never quite at home with it.
In simpler terms, Masashi wasn't yet someone Madara considered a real threat.
Facing the ever-tightening grip of the Wood Release, Masashi didn't hold back. He activated Sage Mode. At the same time, he unleashed his curse mark.
His Perfect Susanoo had already formed earlier.
From within the writhing forest, a fierce wind suddenly stirred. In moments, it escalated into a full-blown hurricane.
Countless trees were sliced apart and hurled skyward.
Within the wind, his Perfect Susanoo emerged. Sage Mode markings glowed along its surface.
The flame blade, empowered by wind jutsu, burned hotter than ever, its brilliant fire was even beginning to turn white.
Masashi swung his sword toward the oncoming forest.
It was like a series of high-yield bombs had gone off.
With a thunderous roar, the forest was blown away in a massive clearing, revealing the ice below, ice that was then instantly vaporized by the sword's heat.
Before the forest could surge back in, the second and third sword strikes followed in quick succession. While one hand held the sword, the other hand of his Susanoo had already formed hand seals.
The arrow-shaped blaze pierced through everything in its path. Everything burned. The force was so intense it seemed ready to evaporate the entire lake, aimed directly at the Susanoo on the far side, Madara's.
But it was blocked.
His Susanoo had reached complete form even earlier. Though it wasn't his max output, it was still capable of using ninjutsu.
The Yata Mirror, clan leader like Fugaku knew it, so of course Madara did too.
Within Masashi's Susanoo, his eyes had now transformed, into the Rinnegan.
Through the blazing flames, Masashi's Susanoo reached out and slapped at Madara's Susanoo.