Chapter 373: Sasuke's Stylish "Acting" Moment
Faced with the sudden swap that brought Uchiha Sasuke in his place, Uchiha Madara was both shocked and stunned.
The first thing that caught Madara's eye was, naturally, the spot he had been staring at all along.
Back in the day, Madara had once clad the Nine-Tails in Susanoo, creating a more powerful form known as Majestic Attire Susanoo, which Senju Hashirama had praised, saying "Madara really has some interesting ideas."
But now, Madara felt ashamed.
He finally understood what it meant for the new generation to replace the old, for the rising wave to push aside the previous one.
Even if he shoved his head into a latrine and thought for days, he would never have imagined using Susanoo on… that part.
After recovering from the shock of this "Majestic Attire Susanoo", Madara lifted his gaze and met Sasuke's eyes.
The Rinnegan!
This descendant of the Uchiha clan, a young man like him who carried Indra's reincarnated chakra, had awakened the Rinnegan at such a young age!
Envy, jealousy, greed, admiration…
Countless emotions surged through Madara all at once, leaving him overwhelmed.
Young people these days really had it too good.
If back then he could have had a daily dose of Hashirama's cells, would he have needed to wait until he was nearly dead to awaken the Rinnegan?
Moreover, if he wasn't mistaken, Sasuke's awakening process was different from his own.
Madara had lived a long, steady life and only awakened the Rinnegan on his deathbed.
But Sasuke's Rinnegan was clearly triggered like the evolution of the Sharingan, stimulated by circumstances, forced into awakening for Naruto's sake.
At the same time, Madara sharply noticed that Sasuke's Rinnegan was different from his own.
Sasuke's Rinnegan had tomoe?
Did this tomoe-patterned Rinnegan possess stronger ocular abilities, or did it retain the Sharingan's powers?
Since Madara hadn't managed to extract information from Hashirama about Sasuke's Mangekyō abilities, he didn't know whether the earlier swap between Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto was due to the Rinnegan or the Mangekyō.
In the end, Madara gave up thinking altogether.
If his Impure World Reincarnation body retained even part of his former strength, he might have considered stealing Sasuke's Rinnegan.
But now?
He needed slingshots, pulleys, and levers just to break a window.
He was weaker than he had been on the brink of death.
With his current strength, unless Sasuke stood still and let him gouge out his eyes, even a casual shove from Sasuke, without chakra, would completely ruin any plan he had.
Hmm?
Just as Madara was about to close his eyes and accept his fate, he suddenly noticed something.
He opened his eyes again and examined Sasuke carefully.
"Are you… a descendant of Izuna?"
Izuna?
Sasuke froze for a moment.
That name felt familiar…
Wait.
No.
"Don't mention… that name!"
Sasuke's expression suddenly darkened.
He remembered, Izuna was the name used in that bizarre story Sai had drawn earlier, where it had somehow been tied to his mother, Mikoto.
The thought immediately brought back unpleasant memories.
Combined with Madara's earlier attempt to harm Naruto, Sasuke's gaze turned icy.
"I am an ancestor of the Uchiha clan. Since you have also awakened the Rinnegan, you should fulfill your responsibility and bring peace to this world."
"Help me. Help me cast off this weak body, and together we will create a new shinobi world."
Madara made one last attempt to recruit Sasuke.
Unfortunately, just as Hashirama didn't understand how to win over an Uchiha, neither did Madara himself.
"Ancestor of the Uchiha clan? In the end, you're nothing more than a stray dog abandoned by everyone."
Sasuke activated his long-unused "acting style", rejecting Madara's offer without hesitation.
Understanding the mechanics of Impure World Reincarnation, Sasuke didn't launch any direct attack. Instead, he clasped his hands together.
Madara's body suddenly began to float.
"This… this is?"
Watching everything unfold, Senju Tobirama was momentarily stunned before realizing what it was.
Wasn't this one of the Rinnegan's abilities, the sealing technique Chibaku Tensei?
"Wait, Sasuke!"
Tobirama hurriedly called out.
"Second Hokage, are you trying to plead for him? He almost ruined Naruto just now."
Sasuke frowned as he looked at Tobirama on the ground.
He found it strange. According to both reputation and what he had observed earlier, the Second Hokage and Madara had deep conflicts.
So why was he stepping in to stop him now?
"I'm not trying to stop you. I just want you to control yourself. You've only just awakened your eyes, you're not proficient yet. Don't waste your ocular power."
"Madara right now is nothing but useless trash. There's no need for you to use the Rinnegan against him."
"If you just want to restrain him, an ordinary iron cage would be more than enough. There's no need for Chibaku Tensei."
Still lying on the ground, Tobirama met Sasuke's eyes and spoke seriously.
Ever since Sasuke appeared, Tobirama had been carefully observing him. When Sasuke used Chibaku Tensei, Tobirama noticed that some of the tomoe in his Rinnegan disappeared.
If he hadn't been watching the entire time, he might have thought he misremembered or misread it.
But the fact was clear.
This suggested that Sasuke's Rinnegan not only retained Mangekyō abilities, but might also degrade with ocular power consumption.
Similar to that future version of Sasuke, who only had a single Rinnegan, that had already disappeared.
However, based on the stories told by Shiromo, Tobirama had originally speculated that the tomoe Rinnegan of that future Sasuke came from the Six Paths Sage forcibly granting him the Rinnegan and Yin power.
But now, Sasuke also possessed a tomoe Rinnegan.
Not just one, but a pair.
There were still many things that didn't add up.
Could it be that the lingering spirit of the Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo had secretly intervened?
It was unclear.
But in Tobirama's view, a Rinnegan awakened through forced stimulation might have the flaws of being "premature", so Sasuke needed to be cautious.
"Understood. Thank you."
Sasuke nodded, accepting the advice and calming down.
He had indeed been overwhelmed by Madara's reputation and his anger over Naruto.
But since he had already used Chibaku Tensei, even if it hadn't consumed much ocular power, it would be a waste not to follow through.
The surrounding buildings began to crumble and break apart, converging toward Madara.
Unlike the usual version that launched a black sphere, Sasuke's Chibaku Tensei worked like the Six Paths version, directly generating gravitational force with the target as the core.
"Can you control it so that Madara's backside is left exposed?"
Tobirama suddenly added another comment.
"Tobirama, you despicable bastard, I…"
Madara, who had already prepared himself to be sealed, immediately flew into a rage upon hearing this and began shouting insults.
But before he could say more than a couple of words, his head was buried under stone, and his voice was completely silenced.
(End of this chapter)