Back when Hiruzen was being killed by Orochimaru, he had begged for help from Makoto, who had already arrived.
Makoto's response was, "This is the best possible death for you, Sensei."
At the time, Hiruzen had died with intense resentment and hatred.
But looking at it now, Makoto was actually right.
Because if Makoto chose to go all out against his teacher and make public the things Hiruzen had done in the past, even if it didn't make him infamous for ten thousand years, he would at least lose his good name in his final years.
But dying at the hands of Orochimaru, a Missing-Nin and invader, meant Hiruzen died as a hero who protected Konoha.
This definitely left him with a good reputation, which was Makoto's final mercy towards him.
After all, while Makoto had also approached Hiruzen for his own purposes, and Hiruzen had nurtured him for his own reasons as well…
Even though both sides had hidden agendas, regardless of the reasons, people judge actions, not intentions.
Without his connection to Hiruzen, Makoto truly wouldn't have been able to obtain high-level Ninjutsu like the Flying Thunder God Technique, as well as various resources from Konoha.
For this reason, Makoto preserved that last shred of dignity for him.
Unlike that waste Danzo, who even in death was nailed by Makoto to Konoha's pillar of shame.
But if Hiruzen didn't know what was good for him now and wanted to drag him down in a suicide attack, Makoto would absolutely show him what he was capable of.
And to be honest, Makoto wasn't afraid of Hiruzen exposing the things he had done in the past.
At the end of the day, in this Ninja World, the fist is what matters most.
Even if the world knew that Supreme Commander Nishikawa had used some disgraceful methods in the past to pursue power, so what?
Everyone would just find him inspiring.
It's really true that once you're successful, everything you say smells like roses.
Besides, the person he targeted, Hiruzen, wasn't a good person himself. There were plenty of people to whitewash him.
After a moment of silence, Hiruzen said: "This is my final request... take good care of Konohamaru."
Konohamaru stood in the distance, fighting White Zetsu while constantly glancing over.
Makoto gave Hiruzen an OK gesture and said with a smile: "Don't worry, not just your grandson, I've been taking great care of your daughter-in-law too."
Hiruzen was shocked.
'What did 'taking great care of your daughter-in-law too' mean?'
An ominous association flashed through Hiruzen's mind, and his grey-white face twitched.
Before Hiruzen could process it, the Susanoo controlled by Makoto cut his body in half again.
Meanwhile, Obito, watching from atop the Ten-Tails, thought to himself with disgust: 'What a waste, that Third Hokage.'
However, seeing his carefully prepared Six Paths of Konoha successfully occupying Makoto, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he felt that Makoto didn't seem to be fighting for his life, it didn't matter as long as it bought him time.
Now, the only things left to do were to find a way to remove the Cursed Seal Madara had placed on his heart and become the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki.
Obito withdrew his gaze and glanced at Madara beside him.
After a moment of thought, Obito spoke: "That is the Jinchuriki who has the other half of the Nine-Tails sealed inside him… Uzumaki Naruto."
Hearing Obito's words, Madara followed his gaze to Naruto, who was fighting Sasuke for the second time.
Naruto was locked in combat with Sasuke, having once again activated Sage Mode.
"Uzumaki? Mito's clansman?"
Hearing Naruto's surname, Madara raised an eyebrow and looked at the boy with some interest.
"Go and retrieve the other half of the Nine-Tails from that boy." Obito said again, completely unceremoniously.
"Are you giving me an order?"
Madara turned his head, the reanimated Rinnegan in his eye sockets meeting the genuine Rinnegan in Obito's eyes.
Those eyes were originally Madara's own, transplanted into Nagato after the Valley of the End battle.
"So what if I am?"
Obito glared back without flinching.
He had to find a way to send Madara away now, otherwise, there would be no chance to remove the cursed seal.
The atmosphere between them immediately became tense.
The four Rinnegan faced off in mid-air, purple light swirling in their pupils.
After the two stared at each other for a while, Madara suddenly smiled. "That brat from back then who could only cry 'Rin, Rin, Rin' has gotten quite arrogant now, hasn't he?"
Having said that, ignoring Obito's dark expression, Madara leapt down from the Ten-Tails' head.
His body arced through the air, deep blue Chakra surging from him, condensing into a giant skeletal outline in mid-air.
The deep blue Susanoo raised its arm, condensing a short Chakra Spike in its palm, and threw it at Naruto.
"Naruto! Look out!"
Sakura and the others below shouted a warning.
Naruto and Sasuke, who were fighting, whipped their heads around to see the short Susanoo spike flying rapidly towards them.
Sasuke instinctively moved to help block the attack with his Kusanagi Sword.
But after taking just one step, he froze, 'What am I doing?'
At that critical moment—
A golden crescent-shaped sword light flew in from the side, instantly knocking away Madara's Susanoo spike.
It deflected its trajectory by ninety degrees, embedding it into the ground beside Naruto, leaving a deep crater with a 'boom'.
Madara turned his head to look.
Saeko, posed in her sword-drawing stance, was just sheathing the Shodai Kitetsu in her hand. Clearly, that sword aura had come from her.
"Oh~"
Madara said with interest, "In our era, the power of the samurai was on par with that of the Ninja, but it changed after the era of Ninja Villages began. I thought these people had declined, but I didn't expect there would still be such a master swordsman."
Just then, Reze walked up from behind, hands in her pockets, tilting her head to look at Madara and then at Saeko, asking: "Saeko-chan, want to fight him?"
Saeko sheathed her sword and nodded. The blade of the Shodai Kitetsu slid into its scabbard with a crisp click.
"Makoto's plan is to make him the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki. But before that, we need the King of Scum, Obito, to revive him."
Saeko's voice was very low, her gaze falling on Madara.
"Let's hold him off first."
Hearing this, Reze nodded, then exchanged glances with Chika, Hiyori, Alice, and the others.
The women surrounded Madara.
Madara saw that these delicate young girls dared to approach him and couldn't help but show an interested expression.