"I lost..."
Hearing Madara's admission, Naruto withdrew his kunai, got off Madara, and sat down on the ground.
Supporting himself with his remaining arm, Madara sat up. After a moment's thought, he finally voiced the question that had been gnawing at him: "Naruto, you're not just some ordinary brat, are you?"
Naruto smirked. "Oh? What makes you say that?"
Madara replied with conviction, "Your actions and your experience—there's no way they belong to a seventeen-year-old kid."
"I thought, at first, that old toad from Mount Myōboku was guiding you."
"But the more I thought about it, even with a great mentor, your style would still be limited by your age and experience!"
"Actually…" Naruto started to say something.
But Madara cut him off: "Don't say it yet. Let me guess."
Naruto nodded. "Alright, go ahead."
After a brief silence, Madara said, "You… came from the future, didn't you?"
The air went still.
Naruto's expression was unreadable. "Uh… that's not really possible, is it?"
Madara's gaze darkened. "By common sense, no, it isn't."
"But when I saw my best friend killed, I didn't know about the existence of the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"If my brother hadn't died, I never would have unlocked the secret of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."
"If not for the Uchiha Stone Tablet, I wouldn't know about the Rinnegan, the God Tree, Kaguya, or the Infinite Tsukuyomi."
"People always try to understand the world within the limits of what they know. Instinctively, they dismiss anything that doesn't fit their framework as impossible."
"And even knowing this, we're still trapped by those same frameworks, always denying possibilities that lie outside them…"
"So, when you told me there were two levels above Complete Body Susanoo, that's when I was almost certain. Tell me—what era of the future did you come from? Are you really Uzumaki Naruto, or someone else?"
Naruto answered honestly, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, from Konoha, Year 128."
Madara stroked his chin, eyes lowered. "So… more than sixty years from now. Not that far off, really. The years you've lived, added to mine, are about the same. But your combat experience… it surpasses even mine from the Warring States era, when battles were constant. That means the gap between us isn't about the number of fights—it's about the level of our enemies."
He looked up at Naruto. "So, you've fought those so-called Ōtsutsuki many times, haven't you?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, more than once."
"No wonder." Madara released his chin and asked, "So what kind of people are they?"
Naruto was deliberately vague. "They don't play by the rules."
Madara's face remained calm. "If even you say that, they must be real bastards."
Naruto offered, "Want to see for yourself? I can project my battles with them into your mind with the Rinnegan."
Madara asked, "Did Hashirama and Tobirama see them?"
Naruto nodded. "They did."
"I see." Madara replied coolly, "Then I won't."
Naruto was curious. "Why not?"
Madara said, "Black Zetsu's tampering with the Stone Tablet taught me one thing: never live within someone else's framework."
Naruto replied, "But I'm not Black Zetsu. I'd never twist the truth."
Madara smiled faintly and shook his head. "It's not about the truth. It's about the root of things."
"For decades, I treated that stone tablet as absolute, living by the Sage of Six Paths' guidance. That blind pursuit is what let Black Zetsu manipulate me. Whether the Infinite Tsukuyomi is real or fake doesn't matter anymore. I just don't want to live for someone else's will—nothing more."
"So, I won't watch those memories."
Naruto said seriously, "I think you're overcomplicating things. Watching them, extracting useful intel, doesn't mean you're serving someone else."
"Uncle Madara, I get that you don't want to be trapped in someone else's framework. But that idea itself… is just another framework—a framework called 'self-awareness.'"
"Maybe so…" Madara's gaze deepened. "But if you know too much about your enemy in advance, it takes all the fun out of the fight. And if victory can be decided by intel alone, what's the point?"
"Fine…" Naruto didn't press further. He stood up and, without thinking, extended a hand to Madara. "You really are a battle maniac…"
Madara let Naruto pull him up and said, "That's just the Uchiha instinct. You're not an Uchiha—even if you've surpassed us in power, you'll never get how we think."
Naruto grinned. "Wrong. I'm just like you—I crave battle too. Can we spar again sometime?"
Madara glanced around at the ruined land. Chunks of earth were still floating in the sky as part of the Chibaku Tensei fusion.
"Hmph. If you don't mind how little we have left to destroy, I wouldn't mind."
Naruto laughed. "We can always pick a new spot. How about Obito's Kamui dimension?"
"Obito…" Madara murmured. "That brat's making a name for himself too, huh."
Naruto picked up his severed right arm, pressed it to the stump, and healed it without weaving hand signs. He flexed his fingers, getting the blood and chakra flowing again.
Then, he cleaned up every drop of blood he'd left behind.
Madara found his own severed left arm among the rubble, reattached it the same way, and cleaned up his blood as well.
Naruto dispelled the Chibaku Tensei fusion. For a whole hour, stones rained from the sky.
Then he and Madara worked together, using ninjutsu to rebuild the Valley of the End. That took another hour.
By the time they finished, dusk was falling.
Standing beneath the waterfall, gazing at the restored statues, Madara nodded in satisfaction.
Turning, he saw Naruto offering his hand.
"..." Madara understood.
They'd already exchanged the Seal of Confrontation. As fellow shinobi who now recognized each other, it was only proper to complete the ritual with the Seal of Reconciliation.
So, Madara and Naruto clasped hands in the seal of peace.
After laying everything bare, Naruto beamed, "Let's head back to Amegakure and plan our next move together!"
But Madara poured cold water on his excitement. "You're misunderstanding something. I never planned to go back to Amegakure with you."
Naruto protested, "Didn't we agree—the winner gets to call the shots?"
Madara replied, "I can stop being your enemy, and even lend you a hand in major affairs. But that doesn't mean I'll be your subordinate. I'm not going to Amegakure. I'll get stronger in my own way, and walk my own path!"
"If that's all, I'm leaving. I've got things to do."
With that, Madara turned and walked away.
"Sigh…"
Naruto let out a long breath, then called after him, "Uncle Madara, whether you stay or go is your choice. But—there's something you should know…"
Madara stopped and glanced back. "What is it?"
Naruto said quietly, "Ari… she's pregnant."
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