Chapter 401: Strolling Through Amegakure
Looking at Nohara Rin, clearly alive, Uchiha Madara felt a surge of emotion, his thoughts churning.
At that moment, he was genuinely worried that Obito, that reckless brat, might have used the Rinnegan to bring Rin back to life.
Before his death, Madara had already done everything he could to set things up for Obito, guiding him to witness the darkness of the shinobi world and understand that the Infinite Tsukuyomi was the only true salvation.
Even so, he couldn't fully rest easy.
Obito was the most suitable candidate he had found, but that didn't mean he was the best one.
The truth was, Madara had already prolonged his life for far too long.
And he had already entrusted the Rinnegan to Nagato.
That meant his plan had passed the point of no return.
Before Nagato could fully mature, he needed to find a proxy to act on his behalf.
Obito had appeared at just the right moment and caught his attention.
First of all, Obito had been a hot-blooded fool, exactly the kind of person who was easiest to manipulate.
That was both an advantage and a disadvantage.
One possibility Madara now considered was this: if Obito had been so easily manipulated by him, could he not just as easily be manipulated by someone else?
Especially now that Black Zetsu, supposedly the embodiment of his will, had completely vanished without a trace, making Madara even more suspicious.
After all, when a hot-blooded idiot turns dark, he only becomes a cold-blooded idiot. It doesn't raise his intelligence.
"Looks like Madara is still the same old Madara. Let's go."
Seeing the subtle change in Madara's expression, Senju Tobirama knew his goal had been achieved. He snorted in a way that fit his personality and turned to leave with the other two.
Madara remained silent and didn't call them back.
"Madara, you really haven't changed."
Senju Hashirama simply sighed, then smiled. "It's fine. We'll change things slowly."
To Hashirama, who understood Madara better than anyone, his behavior was perfectly normal.
Hashirama had once said that the masked man couldn't be Madara, because Madara wouldn't wear a mask.
Madara would display his dominance, but only when he had the strength to back it up.
If he lacked power and still acted arrogantly, that wouldn't be Madara, that would just be a brat.
The way Madara was now, neither continuing to act domineering nor backing down, but simply using silence to oppose Tobirama, already counted as significant progress in Hashirama's eyes.
If he changed any more than this, even Hashirama might start suspecting him of having another scheme.
"Hashirama, I want to learn more about this village. Take me around."
Madara spoke calmly.
"Alright. I've been wanting to show you the current Konoha for a long time. You have no idea, Madara…"
"Not Konoha. This village… it's called Amegakure, right?"
Madara cut him off mercilessly just as Hashirama was excitedly about to push the wheelchair.
Madara's real purpose in strolling through Amegakure was to gather intelligence.
And, if luck was on his side, perhaps catch sight of Nagato.
If Nagato was still around, he could relax a little, at least it would mean Obito hadn't gone insane and chosen to revive Rin.
That would make things interesting. Just how had Nohara Rin come back to life?
Could it be that after his death, someone had developed a new resurrection jutsu?
"Amegakure, huh? Sure."
Hashirama looked a bit disappointed that Madara didn't want to go to Konoha, but didn't dwell on it. He pushed Madara's wheelchair toward the village.
"Madara, you've got a good eye. The Land of Rain may be small, but Amegakure is the birthplace of the earliest reforms in the shinobi world. Its development is the best, there's plenty of fun and delicious things…"
"It's just a pity we're all dead now. No sense of taste, we can't enjoy the food. What a shame."
After entering Amegakure, Hashirama kept chatting nonstop as he pushed the wheelchair.
At first, Madara barely paid attention, letting the words go in one ear and out the other, only memorizing bits casually.
For real intelligence, he needed to see things with his own eyes.
But soon, he noticed something that contradicted what Hashirama had said.
It made him frown.
A woman who was clearly an Impure World Reincarnation, black eyes, cracked skin, was drinking something like a beverage. At the same time, several living girls were handing her grilled sausages, which she was eating.
What was going on?
It wasn't that Impure World Reincarnation couldn't eat. It was just that eating had no meaning, no nutrition, no taste, no sensation.
But the expression on that woman's face as she ate clearly showed that she could feel something.
---
"Sensei, try this! And this!"
The one speaking was Maki, one of the three from Sunagakure who had appeared earlier.
She was happily holding skewers and offering them to the Impure World Reincarnation woman, her Sensei, Pakura, who had long since died.
The trio, Maki, Matsuri, and Yukata, had come to Amegakure because they heard about the Impure World Reincarnation service offered here.
Although they didn't have contribution points, they were incredibly lucky to meet someone who had more points than they could use for the time being.
That person was Shigaraki Tanuki, who had submitted information about the Gozu Tennō project and used contribution points to subscribe to an artificial offspring service similar to Sarada's.
Shigaraki Tanuki had been planning to find an opportunity to trade contribution points with Kumogakure in exchange for money to improve his quality of life.
By chance, he encountered the three from Sunagakure, who were publicly looking to purchase contribution points in Amegakure.
Behind the three of them was actually Gaara.
After learning about Maki's idea, Gaara supported it.
Because Gaara had learned from Shiromo that it was his father, Rasa, who had betrayed Pakura, a hero, and caused her death.
No matter what, Rasa was still his father and the previous Kazekage.
As the Fifth Kazekage, Gaara had to make amends, both publicly and personally.
So he supported their actions.
If contribution points were needed, the now gradually recovering Sunagakure could afford it.
Of course, the trio hadn't brought cash. They had to let Matsuri, Gaara's disciple, put up a token as collateral.
Once they obtained the contribution points, they immediately subscribed to the Impure World Reincarnation service.
At that moment, a shadow clone of the Second Hokage learned about Sasori's situation. He instructed the clone to inform Orochimaru that he could add a new feature to their Impure World Reincarnation target for free.
A feature that allowed the five human senses to be freely toggled on and off.
Tobirama's original intention was to test it on an Impure World Reincarnation subject first.
After all, the technique had initially been used on human puppets, not Impure World Reincarnation bodies.
To ensure it would work properly on Madara, a confirmation test was necessary.
And so, the scene Madara now witnessed came to be.
Under the enthusiastic "assault" of the three girls, Pakura drank milk tea and ate grilled sausages. Her desire for revenge after being revived was, for the time being, completely suppressed.
(End of this chapter)