Uchiha Madara was no fool.
On the contrary, he had always been an extremely intelligent man. But intelligent people often shared one flaw: they were prone to arrogance.
They trusted their own intellect. Their own vision. Their own judgment.
Once they began to believe in something, they would decide that the path they had chosen was correct, then walk down it with absolute conviction.
But no matter how arrogant a clever man was, once he discovered that what he believed in might not match reality, he would begin to think. To question.
And the deeper he thought, the more details he would discover—details he had once overlooked.
That would drag him into an even deeper spiral of doubt.
Madara was in exactly that state now.
Hikaru's words had moved him slightly, but not because he trusted Hikaru.
He trusted Hashirama.
Hashirama would not joke about something like this.
And Madara had always been a man with his own mind. After hearing this explanation and factoring in Hashirama's character, he began to wonder whether what he had seen was truly real.
Of course, those words alone were not enough to make him completely doubt himself.
What truly pushed him into deep suspicion was the corpse Hikaru showed him.
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's corpse.
The moment Madara saw that body, he immediately realized how powerful its owner had been.
Even though the corpse had already been dissected with precise methods, even though it was dead beyond doubt, that terrifying aura and the chakra still active inside the body constantly told Madara one thing.
This man had been unimaginably powerful in life.
"Who is this man? Why does someone like this exist?"
Madara was shaken.
But he had already started believing Hikaru's claim.
This corpse belonged to someone from the same clan as the Sage of Six Paths.
Only someone from the Sage's clan could possess such terrifying pressure. Only such a being could have this unbelievable power.
But why was he dead?
And was this man truly not a life-form from the shinobi world?
Those two questions circled through Madara's mind.
Still, he was certain of one thing.
This man's strength did not need any complicated schemes. With his own power alone, he could probably plunge the entire shinobi world into ruin.
Not only that, in front of such a being, the tailed beasts were almost laughable.
Even Madara himself had never truly taken the tailed beasts seriously.
He did not know how terrifying the Ten-Tails was, but back then, when he and Hashirama had hunted down the tailed beasts, the difficulty had not been particularly high.
And when he chose to leave the village, the full strength Hashirama displayed—the power that casually knocked down the Nine-Tails—had already exceeded imagination.
Madara believed that even if the Ten-Tails was stronger, it should only be around that level.
Perhaps a little stronger, but not impossibly so.
But even if it was stronger, would it truly be effective against a being like this?
"Was I truly deceived?"
Madara's heart trembled.
He stared silently at the corpse for a long time, unable to speak.
Being tricked like a fool was always hard to accept.
Especially for someone who prided himself on being intelligent.
But who had deceived him?
Or rather, who had deceived the entire Uchiha Clan?
Madara slowly raised his head, his gaze moving toward Hikaru.
According to this brat, anyone who mastered Yin-Yang Release could alter the information on the stone tablet.
Madara could believe that.
The problem was that learning and mastering Yin-Yang Release was not easy.
Even he had only barely grasped it after obtaining Hashirama's power.
Besides that, there was another question he had wanted to ask all along.
Thinking of this, he spoke in a low voice.
"How did this man die?"
"I killed him."
Hikaru's answer was calm.
So calm that Madara found it almost unbelievable.
This brat killed someone from the same clan as the Sage of Six Paths?
Madara admitted that Hikaru's power was terrifying.
But it should not be terrifying enough to kill a being like this.
Did something else happen?
Something important that he did not know?
"His power was indeed terrifying. If Hashirama had not helped me protect Konoha during the battle, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
Hikaru saw Madara's doubts clearly.
But such doubts were only natural.
He walked slowly to Madara's side and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Madara frowned at the gesture.
However, considering that he currently had no ability to resist Hikaru, he did not move.
The next instant, space shifted.
Madara's vision blurred.
When it cleared again, he found himself standing above Konoha.
"Flying Thunder God Technique?"
Madara thought silently.
But soon, his attention was drawn to the scene around him.
This was the place where he and Hashirama had once talked about their dreams.
From here, one could overlook all of Konoha.
Later, this place had become the location of the Hokage Rock.
A symbol that the Hokage would always watch over Konoha, always guarding it.
Madara glanced down.
He was standing on Hashirama's stone head.
Beside it were four other faces.
The last one belonged to the young man standing next to him.
Soon, Hashirama and Tobirama also arrived.
The four of them stood together atop the huge Hokage monument.
Madara swept his gaze over Konoha.
Then he quickly lost interest.
Konoha was still Konoha.
The village he had once helped create, and later wanted to destroy.
A village that looked peaceful and quiet, yet bred darkness underneath.
But outside Konoha, peace and quiet seemed completely cut away from the village.
The horrifying, hell-like landscape made even Madara frown.
He knew these were traces of battle.
But what kind of battle could leave behind such devastation?
"That man was careless."
While Madara observed the surroundings, Hikaru spoke again, his voice calm and slow.
"He saw everyone in the shinobi world as insects, so he maintained his so-called superior attitude.
"His power was too strong. In the past, when he faced enemies, he probably never needed much effort. Because of that, he had very little real combat experience.
"But we do not know what kind of enemy will come next.
"Even if an enemy like him remains arrogant, his power alone is enough to crush the entire shinobi world.
"He was simply unlucky to meet us."
Hikaru paused slightly, then looked at Madara.
"Even if you do not believe me.
"Even if you do not believe the records we saw about the Sage of Six Paths.
"For the sake of your so-called dream, you should still do something.
"After all…"
Hikaru's gaze settled on Madara.
"If everyone in the shinobi world dies, will your Infinite Tsukuyomi plan still have any meaning?"
…
If everyone died, then there would indeed be no point in creating a peaceful world.
Hikaru did not know whether Madara believed him, or what Madara was thinking.
But he could force Madara with a very interesting method.
If Madara still refused to believe him, Hikaru was essentially giving him two terrible choices.
The only difference was that one of them still had a future, while the other had none at all.
Faced with such choices, Hikaru believed Madara would make a rational decision.
And reality proved him right.
Perhaps because he had not yet seen the records on the moon regarding the Sage of Six Paths with his own eyes, Madara still did not fully believe Hikaru's words.
But he did agree to cooperate.
Hikaru felt that if Madara truly believed them completely, he would probably reveal some of his arrangements.
Even if he did not tell Hikaru, he would at least tell Hashirama.
But that still required observation.
Madara had only just been awakened.
He needed to see more information before making his final decision.
"However, since you want me to cooperate, you should at least let me possess my true strength."
This issue troubled Madara now.
He discovered that neither the Fifth Hokage nor Hashirama intended to fully revive him.
Forget true resurrection.
Even his current strength was not enough for high-intensity battles.
He knew that with his current power, dealing with ordinary elite shinobi would not be a problem.
But against someone with the title of Kage, he was not so certain.
After all, no Kage was simple.
Especially since Hikaru and the others wanted to deal with opponents as terrifying as that corpse.
What use was this current level of strength?
Yes, this was Edo Tensei.
But Edo Tensei also had limits.
Against such enemies, he might not even have a chance to recover.
"Do not rush. First, adapt to the current situation. Besides, if we want you to regain your strength, we need a suitable vessel."
Hikaru remained calm in the face of Madara's question.
He was not wrong.
Restoring Madara's power was indeed not simple.
In the original story, Madara had been able to display such terrifying strength immediately after resurrection because Kabuto had specially prepared a body for him.
Without such a body, even Madara's strength would have been restricted.
Madara was not Hashirama.
Hikaru could use a White Zetsu body to bring Hashirama back to a state close to his peak.
But Madara had fused Hashirama's cells into himself in life and awakened the Rinnegan to bring his power to an unprecedented peak.
A pure White Zetsu body might raise his strength to a high level, but fundamentally, Madara was still an Uchiha.
If they wanted to create such a body, Hikaru would need to find a suitable Uchiha.
Fortunately, the entire Uchiha Clan now obeyed Hikaru.
Especially after Uchiha Fugaku bowed his head, certain people within the clan were still under surveillance.
As long as Hikaru found a reasonable excuse, Uchiha Itachi would likely attack them without hesitation.
Hikaru only needed to adjust the order slightly.
Change "kill" to "capture alive," and he could obtain what he wanted.
Of course, there were less troublesome methods.
After all, in the original story, Kabuto definitely had not used an Uchiha body.
At that time, the Uchiha Clan had already been almost wiped out. The few survivors were not easy to provoke.
If necessary, clever methods could also work.
Hikaru liked perfection when doing things, but that was only when he trusted the other party completely.
If someone had not yet earned his trust, he would never do things too completely.
Leaving a back door for himself was the correct choice.
"That may be true, but you have not taken any action. Are you sure you really intend to do this?"
Madara raised an eyebrow.
Although he was dissatisfied with the answer, he still controlled his emotions.
"Also, did you not say you found records of the Sage of Six Paths inside the moon?
"Do you not plan to take me there?"
"That is your real purpose, is it not?"
Hikaru chuckled when he heard Madara's words.
At this moment, only the two of them were in the underground laboratory.
Hashirama and Tobirama had gone to prepare the supplies needed for leaving Konoha temporarily.
After all, this trip to the moon would probably take quite some time.
They had to deal with and research Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's corpse there.
However, Hikaru would not necessarily stay on the moon for long.
As Hokage, he could not leave only a shadow clone in Konoha for too long.
This time, he was going up to see the beginning of the experiment and complete the evolution of his Jōgan.
Once his eyes evolved, he would return to Konoha.
Therefore, he did not need to prepare too much.
Given Konoha's current state, leaving a shadow clone behind would be enough to handle things for now.
Although support teams from outside were constantly arriving at Konoha, such matters could be handled by the Diplomatic Department.
Hikaru's control over Konoha had already reached an extreme level.
Especially after this incident.
"We will set off soon. But you are dead, and we are alive. We need the necessary preparations."
Hikaru smiled casually.
His words made Madara's expression change slightly again, but Madara still held back and did not argue.
"Enough. Do not worry about this.
"We are leaving soon.
"And…"
Hikaru looked at Madara.
"This trip may completely overturn your understanding of the world.
"Prepare yourself.
"You are about to understand a whole new world."
…
For Madara, this was indeed a whole new world.
In truth, it was not only Madara.
For Hashirama and Tobirama, this was also a whole new world.
After arriving on the moon, aside from setting up the experimental area they needed, the first thing they did was search for the relevant records.
Those records were extremely important to them.
Especially for Madara.
These records could almost determine whether he had been deceived.
In fact, the moment Madara first arrived on the moon, he had already begun to believe it.
After all, there were the battle scars outside Konoha.
There was also Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's corpse.
All of that was enough to prove many things.
Now, there was the transmission method used to reach the moon, and the incredible environment inside the moon itself.
Especially the golden eye placed within the temple, constantly releasing terrifying power.
At this point, even if Madara did not want to believe, he had to accept certain things.
No matter how he looked at it, this was not something human beings from the shinobi world could easily create.
This terrifying power.
This unbelievable world.
It could already be considered a result of creation itself.
Perhaps only beings from beyond the sky could do this.
Or someone on the level of the Sage of Six Paths.
"Looks like I really may have been deceived."
That thought appeared in Madara's mind again.
And it made him even angrier.
Even more miserable.
Being deceived was always something hateful.
Although he still did not know exactly how he had been tricked, that did not stop him from beginning to question the truth of everything.
Especially after their shadow clones found the hidden records stored in Hamura's temple, records about the past and about the Sage of Six Paths.
Madara finally began to believe completely.
He had indeed been deceived.
The records were basically consistent with what Hikaru had said.
There were some differences, of course.
After all, Hikaru himself had not actually read them.
He had even been vague about where exactly the records were stored.
His explanation was that he had not paid much attention to such matters. He was not an archaeologist.
Because of that explanation, the others did not care too much about the minor differences between Hikaru's words and the records.
In their eyes, this brat simply had not taken the details seriously.
It made them helpless, but there was nothing they could do about it.
However, for Madara, Hashirama, and Tobirama, these records held enormous value.
Especially for Madara.
He learned that what he had once read on the stone tablet was completely different.
He learned about the Sage of Six Paths' past.
He learned about Indra and Asura.
Especially after learning about the Sage's true power, Madara completely believed that he had been deceived.
Even though some parts were true, such as how to obtain the Sage's power, the essence of the matter was still a lie.
It had turned him into a fool who intended to destroy the world!
"Damn bastard. Do not let me find out who you are."
Inside the moon, Madara slammed his fist onto the table.
The anger on his face could not be hidden.
He had endured Tobirama and Hikaru the entire way and had never truly erupted.
But now, he could no longer suppress himself.
He felt like a puppet on strings, dancing a ridiculous clown show for the world.
He could not tolerate this.
Everyone had a limit to their patience.
This had clearly touched Madara's limit.
"Calm down. We will eventually find out who harmed you."
Hashirama smiled and comforted him.
Although smiling at Madara right now was not exactly appropriate, Hashirama was genuinely happy from the bottom of his heart.
"And I never expected that our bloodlines were once connected thousands of years ago.
"So we really were brothers."
"Hmph."
Tobirama snorted coldly.
Clearly, he was very unhappy with this talk of brotherhood.
From a historical perspective, they were indeed brothers.
But so many years had passed.
What brotherhood was there to speak of?
Besides, the two clans had fought for generations, with countless deaths between them.
How could that debt be settled?
And if his elder brother said he and Madara were brothers, then what was Tobirama, his actual younger brother?
"That was a thousand years ago. We separated long ago. What is the point of saying that now?"
Madara actually approved of the statement in his heart.
Because ever since childhood, he and Hashirama had shared a strange bond.
It was like brotherhood.
And also like friendship.
That bond had been an important reason their relationship kept intertwining.
Although many problems had appeared between them, their relationship had always been deep.
It was only because of their separate beliefs, and because of a hateful deception, that they had ended up where they were now.
Madara already knew that Senju Hikaru, the brat who seemed to combine all of Hashirama and Tobirama's strengths, also had criticisms toward Hashirama.
Especially since Hikaru strongly supported some of Madara's ideas and theories.
That gave Madara a fairly good impression of this brat who had once made him suffer.
And this brat had shown him the truth.
He had revealed that Madara had been tricked like a fool.
More or less, Madara did feel some gratitude.
But he would never admit his own thoughts.
Even if he did admit anything, he would only admit it to Hashirama.
He had not forgotten the losses suffered by the two clans across years of war.
And he would never forget that Tobirama Senju, that hateful bastard, had killed his last younger brother.
"If we calculate things that way, even the Hyūga are our brothers. I think it is better not to discuss this.
"By the way, where is Hikaru?
"Now that I know the truth, I should prepare to recover my strength."
At this point, Madara paused slightly.
His expression became extremely cold.
"Not only because of the shinobi world.
"I also need to find traces of the one who deceived me.
"I must find out who lied to me.
"Who lied to the Uchiha!"
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