Reviving Uchiha Madara was an extremely delicate matter for Hikaru.
It was challenging.
And it was taboo.
After all, in Hikaru's own view, Uchiha Madara was the strongest villain in the original story. There was no way Hikaru would not feel wary of him.
Strictly speaking, the true final villain had been that madwoman Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
But in reality, her role had been more about connecting the past and future, tracing everything back to its origin.
Her presence had been completely overshadowed by Uchiha Madara.
Madara's presence was unimaginable.
Although he was a villain, his popularity was ridiculously high.
At least among all the Uchiha characters, Hikaru personally believed Madara deserved first place without question.
Uchiha Obito had killed his own teacher.
Uchiha Itachi had slaughtered his entire clan with his own hands.
For Hikaru, who in his previous life had been raised with respect for teachers and a deep-rooted sense of filial duty, it was truly difficult to like either of them.
Obito was still somewhat better.
After all, he was a tragedy from beginning to end.
To a certain extent, he was like Sasuke. Both had been trapped inside a web woven from lies, wandering within it with no way out.
Obito's heart had already died.
Calling him a walking corpse would not be an exaggeration.
Besides, the world he wanted to create was still a world where "everyone" existed.
That proved that although his heart had been thoroughly dyed black, there was still light hidden in its deepest place.
Itachi, however, was different.
Some people said he had great capacity, that he could sacrifice his own family for the sake of the village.
But the problem was—did he truly have no ability to change anything?
He possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan.
In essence, his power had already surpassed the limits of his clan. The only person in the clan who could have opposed him was his father.
Even before awakening the Mangekyō, he had been praised by Hiruzen Sarutobi as someone who possessed "a Hokage's thinking" from a young age.
Yet from beginning to end, he had never displayed the true mode of thought that phrase implied.
In other words, he had never truly possessed that kind of thinking at all.
He did view problems from the village's perspective.
But a conflict was never caused by one side alone. Could one truly see the whole picture by standing on only one side?
Without sufficient vision or insight, he acted purely on his own thoughts and impulses.
As a child, he had always stood apart at school.
He had never made many friends, nor had he shown any desire or ability to communicate.
After growing up, when he encountered problems, he did not know how to communicate with his father either.
And while it seemed like he was protecting his younger brother, in reality, he was shaping Sasuke according to his own ideas.
Of course, these were only Hikaru's own views.
But because of them, Hikaru truly had no favorable impression of Uchiha Itachi.
In fact, in his heart, his opinion of Itachi was even worse than his opinion of Obito.
As for Uchiha Shisui, at least he had not openly betrayed anyone.
But Hikaru was still dismissive of Shisui's performance in the original story.
Put simply, that guy must have had his brain kicked by a donkey.
Otherwise, he would never have done something so stupid.
Uchiha Madara, however, was different.
He was an unbelievable person.
He was a villain through and through, but at his core, he had still acted for the sake of peace.
He was complicated to the extreme.
He would use any means necessary, yet even in his darkness, one could somehow still feel a strange kind of openness and grandeur.
His strength, mentality, and vision were all top-tier.
If not for Black Zetsu's arrangements, which deceived him completely and trapped him inside a spiderweb woven from endless lies, perhaps his achievements and ending would have been far better.
Of course, that was only a possibility.
No one knew what would truly have happened.
Hikaru did not deny that he liked Uchiha Madara.
But at the same time, he did not deny that he and Madara currently stood on opposing sides.
A dangerous yet fascinating man stood on the opposite side.
Anyone would be wary of that.
But there was also a problem.
Hikaru did not know how to refute Hashirama's proposal.
After all, if they truly wanted to deal with those invading Ōtsutsuki, Madara's power was absolutely worth expecting.
Hikaru had no doubt that Madara's power would be effective against certain Ōtsutsuki.
For example, against people like Urashiki or Momoshiki.
In fact, Madara might handle them even more cleanly than Hikaru had.
After all, that man's combat instincts were terrifyingly high.
"Revive him?"
Hearing those words, Hikaru frowned. At the same time, he turned his gaze toward Tobirama.
What depressed him was that Tobirama had no intention of speaking against it this time.
Instead, Tobirama seemed to be seriously considering whether this idea was feasible.
That left Hikaru helpless.
Where was the so-called vanguard against the Uchiha?
How had one Ōtsutsuki made you change your stance?
Hikaru complained inwardly, but he also knew Tobirama's behavior was not wrong.
After all, at present, their greatest and most dangerous enemies truly were those Ōtsutsuki.
If those Ōtsutsuki descended, they would likely come to destroy the entire world.
The Uchiha were dangerous, yes.
But compared with the Ōtsutsuki, that danger suddenly seemed insignificant.
Tobirama could clearly distinguish which threat was heavier.
And because he could distinguish it clearly, he had truly begun considering Madara's usefulness.
After thinking for a while, Hikaru shook his head helplessly and finally asked,
"Reviving him is indeed a possible option. But the problem is, after reviving him, are you sure you can make him listen?"
"Making Madara listen is not simple. We all have to understand that."
Hashirama shook his head powerlessly after hearing Hikaru's question.
"Madara is an extremely proud person. His pride means he will not easily listen to anyone.
"But Madara is also rational. Although he can be impulsive sometimes, if what you say makes sense, he will seriously consider it.
"I knew Madara for many years. We were friends for many years. I believe I understand him.
"I know I betrayed him back then, in a sense. But Madara is not a petty man.
"If he learns about the current situation, he will definitely help us."
At this point, Hashirama paused slightly, then revealed a confident smile.
"Because Madara is actually a gentle person too.
"Deep inside, he carries the people of the shinobi world in his heart.
"He also yearns desperately for peace.
"I believe in him.
"I have always believed in him."
…
After receiving Hashirama's words and guarantee, Hikaru did not know how to refute him for a moment.
After all, once things were said to this extent, Hashirama's resolve was already clear.
Hikaru truly wanted to say that reviving Uchiha Madara was no different from releasing the original story's super final boss.
But after thinking about it, Hikaru realized that only he, Obito, and Black Zetsu knew Madara was the true super boss.
No one else knew the truth of Madara's situation.
And Hikaru always felt that if this boss was revived early, then would the key future scenes simply disappear?
Whenever he thought of that, Hikaru felt a faint resistance.
But that resistance was not worth much.
The reason was simple.
The entire shinobi world had already been broken beyond recognition by him.
Look at Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, who was still alive and moving despite some limitations.
That change alone was terrifying enough.
Aside from him, Kumogakure had also been shattered by Hikaru.
The Fourth Raikage, who had seemed so domineering in the original story, was still missing.
Strictly speaking, he should already be dead.
After all, he had been missing for so long, and even his body had not been found.
It was only because the Fifth Raikage was unwilling to accept that reality that Kumogakure still publicly claimed he was missing and kept searching.
Obito's current situation had also become extremely complicated.
Because of Hikaru's forceful interference, Kirigakure was still trapped in its divided civil conflict.
Obito had no time to care about other matters, let alone the Uchiha situation.
If following the original timeline, the Uchiha clan should already have been exterminated by now.
There were also the changes to Nagato and Yahiko.
And the revivals of Hashirama, Tobirama, Sakumo Hatake, and Nohara Rin.
All these changes proved one thing.
The current shinobi world had already been twisted beyond recognition by Hikaru.
Any so-called original plot had become unreliable.
And Hikaru was also seriously considering another question.
Could Uchiha Madara truly be persuaded?
As a transmigrator, Hikaru knew very well how Madara had "fallen into darkness."
In a certain sense, his fate was somewhat similar to Sasuke's.
Both had been deceived completely.
And Madara was also extremely stubborn.
Once he chose a goal, he would not easily change course.
That was an excellent quality.
But sometimes, it was also a massive headache.
Although Hashirama said Madara was not unreasonable, the key was that with the Uchiha clan's nature, if you wanted to reason with them, you first had to beat them up.
Look at Naruto and Sasuke, the future reincarnations of Asura and Indra.
Look at the process of Hashirama and Madara's relationship.
When had anyone ever persuaded those Uchiha without beating them first?
Perhaps for those proud Uchiha, if you wanted to speak to them and make them listen, you first had to stand at the same height as them.
Only after standing at the same height would they look at you properly.
If you were not standing as high as they were, then what were you?
Of course, if you could stand even higher than them, they would absolutely listen carefully to every word you said.
Thinking of this, Hikaru silently shook his head.
The personalities of these Uchiha truly made people speechless.
But overall, it was not impossible to try.
After all, Hikaru really would not fear an Edo Tensei Madara.
"Still, even if we revive him, we absolutely cannot revive him with a White Zetsu body from the start.
"And we need a way to guide him, to make him understand that he was deceived."
Hikaru thought a great deal.
After all, the person he was considering reviving with Edo Tensei was Uchiha Madara.
He truly did not dare be careless.
As for the materials to revive Madara, Hikaru actually had them.
After all, one of his collaborators was Orochimaru.
And among his ANBU subordinates, there was Kabuto Yakushi.
With two experts at grave-digging working together, plus Hikaru having made some preparations in advance, he had obtained Madara's materials during these three years.
Although Hikaru had not verified them yet, the cold, destructive chakra contained in those materials made him feel certain he was not mistaken.
This was definitely Uchiha Madara.
Hikaru was certain of that.
"Forget it. It is only an ordinary Edo Tensei form. He probably won't even be able to display forty percent of his strength from when he was alive.
"Caution is necessary, but there must be a limit.
"If we can talk, then we'll talk.
"If we can't, then so be it.
"Besides, I really do want to meet the 'Uchiha Dance King.'"
As if he had convinced himself, Hikaru nodded lightly.
Then his figure vanished from where he stood.
When he appeared again, he was holding a male death-row prisoner.
Because Konoha needed to conduct various experiments, and because Hikaru had clearly forbidden experiments on citizens of the Land of Fire, those experiments naturally required death-row prisoners.
That had also created a large number of missions to capture heinous rogue shinobi, bandits, and similar criminals alive.
In truth, all Konoha shinobi probably knew what awaited those prisoners.
After all, Konoha did not hold public trials for them.
Once they were thrown into prison, they vanished without a trace, as if they had evaporated from the world.
But no one paid too much attention to those things.
Even fewer people protested.
On one hand, under Hikaru's requirements, every mission of this type clearly listed what those criminals had done.
On the other hand, after some of Hidan's "special achievements" were revealed, shinobi learned just how important certain necessary experiments were.
After that, almost no one objected.
After all, these shinobi were also beneficiaries. They had no interest in destroying something that could benefit them.
Over time, with the help of Hikaru's newspapers, all Konoha residents formed a shared understanding.
Those people were trash.
Rather than letting them die easily, it was better to make use of them and force them to repay their crimes.
The people captured this way were gathered together, and Konoha even specially funded a dedicated prison to hold them.
Unfortunately, both Konoha and Orochimaru had great demand for these death-row prisoners.
The supply Konoha captured was still rather tight.
"But no matter how tight it is, I'm still the Hokage. If I want to use one, my priority is naturally the highest. Everyone else can line up."
Hikaru muttered inwardly, then began forming the technique without hesitation.
When the dust-like paper fragments surged wildly and quickly wrapped around the prisoner before him, forming the silhouette of a long-haired shinobi, Hikaru knew—
Uchiha Madara was about to awaken.
…
Madara's figure quickly took shape.
He stood silently in place, as if asleep.
Hashirama and Tobirama silently watched this young-state Uchiha Madara, and the expressions on their faces were completely different.
Hashirama visibly showed joy.
He was truly happy to see his former friend appear before him again.
Tobirama, however, revealed a trace of disgust without changing his expression.
Clearly, he still remained vigilant toward Uchiha Madara.
And he truly hated this man.
Hikaru silently watched Madara.
Looking at this man whose strength was clearly not at its peak, yet whose presence remained undiminished, Hikaru could not help sighing.
What a pity.
The Uchiha clan's mental illness was truly terrifying.
Even such a brilliant man had still failed to escape the fate of becoming a lunatic.
After a long while, Madara suddenly opened his eyes.
Scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan slowly spun in his eyes, and his aura changed in that instant.
"Looks like that brat Nagato grew quite a bit. I finally returned to this world."
Madara looked at Hikaru and frowned slightly.
But soon, he still spoke slowly.
However, the moment he finished, he suddenly sensed something was wrong.
His current chakra quality was very weak.
His body also felt extremely heavy.
His eyes seemed unable to open a stronger power.
To put it bluntly, his current overall strength was probably not even half of his peak.
"What is going on?"
Madara's expression did not change, but his heart began to sink.
Clearly, this was not good.
It was completely different from his plan.
Especially since he had already noticed that his current form was actually Edo Tensei.
Edo Tensei was indeed a practical technique that allowed him to awaken from death.
But it was only awakening, not true resurrection.
What Madara needed was complete resurrection, not this terrible state between life and death.
And his current condition was simply laughable.
"So weak… Are they guarding against me? Has my plan been exposed?"
Madara instinctively began thinking in the worst direction.
At the same time, he carefully observed everything around him.
The first person who entered his eyes was naturally Hikaru, who was connected to him through chakra.
But after only one glance, Madara's heart sank further.
This young man looked very young.
But the feeling this young man gave Madara was extremely dangerous.
Although Madara no longer possessed his peak strength, his sharp senses still existed, just like Mito Uzumaki's.
He was stunned to discover that Hikaru carried the aura of his old friend, Hashirama Senju.
Moreover, this brat seemed even more terrifying than his old friend.
"Who is this brat? Why does he feel so dangerous? Was my plan ruined by him?"
Madara muttered inwardly.
At this moment, his heart was truly filled with dissatisfaction.
He had let Uchiha Obito replace him and act as his representative in the living world.
He had not done that so Obito could create enemies everywhere.
Madara was extremely confident.
He believed that if he returned to his peak, he would not fear anyone, even Hashirama.
But now, facing Hikaru, he suddenly felt that even at his peak, he might not be able to deal with this young man easily.
A person like this was someone even Madara would not provoke lightly unless necessary, even when he had still been alive.
That idiot Obito.
He had even been given the embodiment of Madara's own will.
Why would he still make such an unforgivable mistake?
Now, Obito had most likely run into trouble.
Otherwise, Madara would not have appeared here.
Madara's heart was full of anger, but he had to suppress his emotions.
He needed to understand more.
He needed more information before deciding what to do next.
His gaze shifted slightly, and at that moment, Madara's expression finally nearly slipped.
Because he saw Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju.
His lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to say something.
But in the end, he forced down his surging emotions.
After calming down in an extremely short time, he could not help thinking again.
"They were also awakened with Edo Tensei? Looks like this situation is truly troublesome!"
Hashirama and Tobirama being awakened by Edo Tensei was absolutely something Madara had not expected.
But this made him realize that the current situation was definitely not simple.
Could this person have other intentions?
Or some unknown secret that required them to act?
Edo Tensei could forcibly control the dead.
Madara naturally knew that clearly.
Although he knew how to undo the technique, if he was controlled, he would be unable to move freely.
Especially since his current strength was far too weak.
"But if there is a problem, awakening Hashirama alone should be enough. What can that gutter rat Tobirama do?"
Madara thought disdainfully.
Still, he had already understood.
The current situation was too complicated.
Rather than making blind guesses, it was better to take the initiative.
Besides, his mood was actually not bad.
After all, he had seen an old friend he had not met in a long time.
"Who are you?"
Madara crossed his arms and looked at Hikaru calmly and indifferently.
"Are you the one who awakened us? What is your purpose?"
At this point, Madara paused slightly, then turned his head toward Hashirama.
"Long time no see, Hashirama. I did not expect you to be awakened as well."
"Ah, long time no see, Madara."
Hashirama had originally looked quite happy, but now his expression became somewhat awkward.
After thinking for a moment, he finally spoke with embarrassment.
"Well… the person who awakened you was not him alone. It was us."
"Us? You mean…"
"Mm. We are on the same side."
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