"No! No! No! Why are only you old relics here? Where is Hashirama?" Even as an Edo Tensei body, even as Kage-class powerhouses from Hashirama's era, before Rinnegan-wielding Uchiha Madara the four villages' First Kage were like adults against grade-schoolers. They had no power to fight back and were suppressed on every front.
"Bring Hashirama Senju out to face me! I want to finish the battle we left unfinished! My patience is limited! Ten minutes—if that guy Hashirama doesn't show, I'll destroy everything here." Only Madara knew how obsessed he was with fighting Hashirama again.
So the moment he returned to this world, his first impulse was to battle Hashirama anew. But that hope would likely be dashed, because Hashirama—soul and all—had long since been devoured by Meruem's true body. Everything had become nourishment for Meruem's growth.
"Why can't even Edo Tensei summon him? Damn it! Where did Hashirama go?" Madara stared gloomily at his hands, his face dark. Edo Tensei was not a difficult technique for him to grasp.
Madara and Hashirama were both enemies and friends. Getting something of Hashirama's to perform Edo Tensei should have been easy.
But no matter how many times Madara tried, he could not summon Hashirama via Edo Tensei.
Fated foes and closest friends, Madara's feelings toward Hashirama were complicated. Rival and friend both—so as his plan neared its finale, he wanted Hashirama to see it.
Like two best friends arguing, with one laying the facts bare so the other would admit he was right.
Like a child who, upon getting something good, must show it off to his best friend.
A sense of accomplishment beyond words!
But if Hashirama could not see it, that sense of triumph would be cut in half. Madara hated that feeling.
I'm the one who's right, so peace between people is impossible. Hashirama's view is wrong. Only by plunging the world into endless illusion can happiness be found.
Much of Madara's obsession stemmed from Hashirama.
"As expected of Uchiha Madara… Even with all my strength, I can't defeat him," the First Tsuchikage sighed in a brief lull.
"No kidding. That's Uchiha Madara. In his day he stood equal to Hashirama Senju, who pacified the shinobi world single-handedly. We thought that even if we weren't on Hashirama's level, we weren't far off—but we never imagined just Madara alone would be enough that the four of us together still couldn't match him. The gap is… big," the inky First Raikage said, taking the thread.
"Time's up. I've waited long enough. You old men can die now! Hashirama, I'll finish everything and then let you see the world I've created! Limbo: Border Jail!!!"
"Heads up—he's coming!" the First Mizukage warned.
Without a single visible motion, in a mere instant the four First Kage were knocked flat.
"Vanish, Four Kage! Heaven and Earth Severance!"
At full tilt, Uchiha Madara was not something four First Kage could resist. After disposing of their Edo Tensei bodies, Madara shifted his attention to Obito.
But Obito still hadn't finished Kakashi.
"I can't wait. We don't need the other half of the Nine-Tails' chakra to proceed with the Ten-Tails jinchuriki plan anyway. Obito—your mission is complete."
"Who—? Damn it, Black Zetsu?! When—" At some point Black Zetsu had crawled onto Obito, covering half his face.
"Heh-heh. Obito, only one task remains for you," Black Zetsu said eerily, steering Obito's body.
"If only you'd revived Lord Madara earlier through Nagato. Too bad you killed him."
"Obito, use your life to revive Lord Madara! Rinne Rebirth!" Though Obito struggled, his resistance was far too weak before Black Zetsu.
In the original, Obito was at least the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki for a short while. Now he didn't even get a second.
"Hee-hee… Yes. This feeling. A living body of flesh and blood—that's what makes my blood boil." Bathed in white radiance, Madara's body shifted from clay-like to solid in moments.
Uchiha Madara revived!
"Now then, insects—prepare to receive a demon's judgment!" Taking a Rinnegan passed up from underground by a White Zetsu, Madara unleashed countless chains from his back—not at the Allied Forces,
but at the summoned Ten-Tails!
"Not good! Stop him!" The Alliance weren't idiots. Seeing this bizarre scene, they knew that if Madara succeeded, the shinobi world might truly cease to exist.
"Too late." No matter how fast the Alliance reacted, no one could stop Uchiha Madara now.
Not even Kurama Mode Naruto and Eternal Mangekyō Sasuke.
"And even if it weren't late, it wouldn't matter." Rows of tomoe fanned out behind him, his hair lengthened, and a strange horn-like adornment appeared on his brow.
Six Paths Madara—present!
"Heh-heh. There it is. Madara's finally become the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki." Unlike the tense Allied Forces, Meruem and Musashi on the peak wore looks of excitement.
"That guy thinks he's the mastermind, but he has no idea he's been used top to bottom. Heh-heh—his efforts will be another's fruit. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. And we… are the snake behind the oriole!"
Since Six Paths Madara had appeared, Black Zetsu would be moving on him soon.
Kaguya is the final boss—this was all her plan.
What Black Zetsu would never expect was that someone else awaited Kaguya's advent, someone who knew his entire plan.
He couldn't scout the water-encircled, isolated Land of Water. And though many Chimera Ants had infiltrated the villages, at such a critical juncture even if Black Zetsu discovered them, he wouldn't act.
Besides, as the so-called incarnation of the earth, he had no bandwidth to mind such things now.
Reviving his mother Kaguya was all that mattered.
"Hahahaha! This is the power I sought! Perfect power!" Now the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki, Six Paths Madara ignored Obito, left half-alive and cast aside as useless.
"Now—let's see who can stop me. I will forge a new order. But first, I'll cleanse those self-styled shinobi who bring calamity…"
After his domineering entrance, and with no one able to harm him, Madara, in rare good humor, deigned to explain Rin's death to Obito.
It had all been his scheme.
Then, alive, he dug the Rinnegan from Obito's right eye socket and set it in his own.
Six Paths Madara—complete!
With that, Madara was even more invincible. The Allied Shinobi Forces were ants to him.
"Infinite Tsukuyomi!" Deciding he'd had enough fun, Madara soared into the air and ripped off the adornment on his forehead—
revealing a third eye!
The Rinne Sharingan projected onto the moon, and in an instant almost everyone fell into a world of illusion.
The Rinnegan's whirlpool pattern spun in countless eyes. People and beasts alike sank into the dream.
"Heh-heh-heh. An impressive ability—casting every living thing into an endless dream," Meruem remarked, more scorn than praise.
A world of illusion? The coward's way of running from reality.
Meruem held nothing but disdain for Madara's wish.
"A pity for him—this kind of ability doesn't work on the Chimera Ants," Musashi added.
Over the years, the Chimera Ants had already developed counters to Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Yes, the overwhelmingly strong can resist it with sheer will. But what of the weak? Gather them—meld them into a whole!
The Chimera Ants' telepathy, which ignored all barriers, shone here.
When millions of soldiers' modest wills combined, never mind Infinite Tsukuyomi—Meruem himself would struggle before that tide.
"I've turned hell into heaven. I am this world's… savior!" Madara spread his arms and cried to the sky.
"Heh-heh. A savior? You're a pathetic frog at the bottom of a well."
With a mocking chuckle, two figures appeared before Uchiha Madara.
"Who are you?" Impossible. Under my Infinite Tsukuyomi—how can anyone remain awake?
"You're… Uchiha Musashi?! Impossible! You should be dead! I killed you with my own hands! And you—who are you?"
"Apologies. I am Meruem—King of the Chimera Ants!"
(End of Chapter)
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