Chapter 402: Trying to "Win Over" Granny Chiyo?
"Hashirama, look."
After snapping back to his senses, Uchiha Madara pretended he had just noticed something. With a slightly surprised expression, he pointed toward Pakura and the others.
"Look at what?"
Senju Hashirama followed the direction Madara pointed. At first glance, nothing seemed strange. If anything stood out, it was just a woman and a few young girls…
Could it be that Madara was suppressing something?
"Madara, Impure World Reincarnation bodies don't feel anything. Even if you… well… it wouldn't work."
Hashirama tried, as tactfully as possible, to dispel what he thought was Madara's "suppressed urge."
"It's precisely because Impure World Reincarnation bodies don't feel anything that this is important."
"Hashirama, go say something to them?"
Madara tentatively urged Hashirama to go ask, hoping to gather some information.
First, he had seen someone who should have been dead fully revived. Now, he was seeing an Impure World Reincarnation individual experiencing physical sensations.
This forced him to suspect that new or improved jutsu had appeared in the current shinobi world.
"Me? What am I supposed to say?"
Hashirama pointed at himself, completely baffled.
It was one thing for Madara to suppress himself, but after failing to persuade him otherwise, now he was being told to strike up a conversation?
He was an honest man!
And what kind of logic was that? What did "because there's no sensation, that's the key" even mean?
"Forget it. Hashirama, why don't you just lock me up? After all, you don't want me to understand the current shinobi world anyway."
Seeing Hashirama still hesitating, Madara sighed and spoke in a tone so pitiful it disgusted even himself.
Sure enough, the moment he heard that, Hashirama couldn't hold out anymore. He braced himself and walked toward Pakura and the three girls.
But what exactly should he say?
As he thought it over, Hashirama approached them slowly, almost like a turtle.
His movement immediately caught Pakura's attention.
Having just been brought back through Impure World Reincarnation, Pakura was already on high alert. She had only relaxed slightly because of her disciple, Maki.
Now, seeing a strangely dressed man, also clearly an Impure World Reincarnation, approaching with an odd expression, she instantly became vigilant.
Pakura quickly finished the grilled sausage in her right hand, casually tossed the skewer aside, and freed her hand, preparing to use her Scorch Release.
"Huh?"
Hashirama also noticed that she had spotted him.
Only at that moment did he realize that she, too, was an Impure World Reincarnation.
Now he finally understood, Madara wasn't suppressing anything. He was simply curious why an Impure World Reincarnation body was eating.
That was a relief.
Hashirama let out a breath. As if Madara would suddenly become interested in women for no reason, that would have been far too bizarre.
For a moment, he had even wondered if Senju Tobirama had done something to Madara, or if Madara had mentally collapsed after everything that had happened.
Now he could finally relax.
"Um, excuse me. You're an Impure World Reincarnation shinobi, right? Why are you eating and drinking?"
Since he'd already been noticed, Hashirama didn't bother beating around the bush and asked directly.
"Hm? He doesn't know?"
Pakura was briefly stunned by the question, then looked toward the three girls.
She had only just been revived and knew very little about the current shinobi world.
So far, the three girls had only managed to give her a rough explanation about Amegakure, Impure World Reincarnation, contribution points, and the Kazekage Gaara.
"Oh, that's a new feature. It was developed by Sasori. It allows Impure World Reincarnation shinobi to have sensory perception just like living people."
"If you want it, you can apply for it too. Um… that's what Orochimaru said."
Maki answered Hashirama.
"There's actually something that good?"
Hashirama was overjoyed. Without asking for further details, he immediately turned around and went back to tell Madara everything he had learned.
"That's amazing! I've been wanting to properly enjoy a meal for ages, and hot springs too… sob… this is what being alive feels like~"
As he spoke, Hashirama suddenly started crying like a child, leaving Madara utterly exasperated.
Still, what Hashirama said aligned perfectly with Madara's next objective, so he went along with it.
"Hashirama, you're right. Being a walking corpse without any sensation is eternal torment."
"Madara, let's go find Orochimaru and get this done too!"
Hashirama wiped away nonexistent tears and excitedly grabbed Madara by the shoulders.
"Mm, that works."
Madara nodded calmly.
This was exactly what he wanted.
For him, gaining sensory perception, even with his current fragile body, would allow him to increase his strength, even if only slightly.
At the very least, it would improve his margin for error and give him more room to act.
And going to find Orochimaru under this pretext would also give him the chance to investigate how Nohara Rin had been mysteriously revived.
Was it due to the Rinnegan, or some other method?
"Let's go, Hashirama. Let's find Orochimaru."
While calculating his plan internally, Madara kept a composed expression.
"No rush. Let me buy some things first so we can test it right away."
Hashirama shook his head excitedly, pushing Madara's wheelchair toward a street food stall.
"I've been wanting to eat these for so long!"
"I'll take one of this, and this…"
Hashirama ordered a huge pile of food, then stacked some onto Madara and hung the rest on the wheelchair, turning it into a shopping cart.
"..."
Endure!
Madara closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
For the sake of his goal, he endured it.
"Madara, I'll go buy a bit more over there. Stay here and don't move."
After piling everything onto Madara, Hashirama ran off again.
At the same time, Pakura and the three girls from earlier arrived at the same stall and began buying food.
The girls were explaining some things about Sunagakure to Pakura.
Fortunately, they were close enough, otherwise, in Madara's current condition, he might not have been able to hear them.
"Granny Chiyo developed a forbidden technique called 'One's Own Life Reincarnation' because her son and daughter-in-law were killed by the White Fang, and her grandson Sasori became withdrawn and left the village."
"This jutsu consumes her own life and requires a huge amount of chakra."
"Honestly, I was thinking, if the goal is just to keep her grandson from being lonely, wouldn't using Impure World Reincarnation be enough? There's no need for her to sacrifice herself."
"I think you should warn Granny Chiyo to be careful."
Pakura spoke up.
"Careful? Sensei, careful of what?"
The three girls were puzzled.
"More and more shinobi are being brought back through Impure World Reincarnation, but they're not truly alive."
"What if someone actually wants to be fully revived?"
"What if some inherently wicked scoundrel tries to 'win over' Granny Chiyo, pretending to start a late-life romance with her, just to get her to revive him?"
"Like that old guy who came up to talk earlier. He looked shifty at a glance."
The "old guy" Pakura was referring to… was Hashirama.
Hearing someone insult Hashirama made Madara angry.
But Pakura's words hit him like a sudden revelation, leaving him both shocked and delighted.
So there really is a way to achieve true resurrection?
(End of this chapter)