Chapter 436: Breaking the Deadlock Under Mental Collapse
"That's right. I'll wait until your personality is 'corrected' by Izanami, until you kneel before me, crying and begging for forgiveness. And when that happens, I'll refuse you."
Konan began applying psychological pressure.
She painted a vivid picture of his possible future.
Hearing this, the masked man immediately understood.
So that was another possible outcome.
Of course, if he were truly caught in Izanami, and his personality was "fixed" before he escaped, then wouldn't he have to atone for all his past "sins"?
The masked man's face turned pale.
"Hmph. You and Itachi wiped out the Uchiha clan I cherished most. To atone, I'll have Orochimaru transplant organs into you so that you and Itachi can personally rebuild the Uchiha clan."
Senju Tobirama joined in, piling on the pressure.
"…"
Could someone explain why rebuilding the Uchiha clan required organ transplants?
It couldn't be what he was thinking, could it?
Cold sweat began forming on the masked man's forehead.
"Tobirama, don't pressure this Uchiha child so much. Though what you said isn't wrong, his original method won't work anymore anyway."
Senju Hashirama arrived as well.
He had gotten bored waiting on the shore, so he summoned a Wood Dragon, rode it over, and landed beside Tobirama.
"Big brother, what do you mean?"
Tobirama asked curiously.
"Tobirama, I can sense a large amount of my cells in his body. It doesn't seem like a voluntary transplant, more like he suffered severe injuries…"
"Like that arm Danzo got after losing his own?"
"…Yes."
Hashirama nodded.
That arm had technically belonged to one of Orochimaru's experimental subjects, Shin, but in essence, it was just a substitute for White Zetsu, since Orochimaru didn't have access to White Zetsu at the time and used someone compatible with multiple cell transplants instead.
"I'm extremely sensitive to my own cells. When I first encountered this child, I could clearly sense…"
Under the masked man's increasingly uneasy gaze, Hashirama looked him over, and then his eyes slowly drifted downward.
"Half of his body, including a significant portion down there, is made of my cells. That side is very… uniform, like White Zetsu…"
"..."
Everyone fell silent.
They had all once suspected that the reason the masked man refused to revive Rin wasn't just his strange logic, but possibly because when he was crushed by rocks back then, it wasn't just half his body that was destroyed. Even the "important parts" might have been obliterated.
After all, even in the best-case scenario, if his body had truly been split cleanly in half, that central area would still have been cut apart.
Half ruined… meant completely ruined.
Today, that suspicion was finally confirmed.
It was really gone.
No wonder he refused to revive her. In this state, bringing Rin back would just be handing her over to Kakashi.
Even if Kakashi liked his grandmother, Chiyo, unless Rin chose to remain alone forever, she'd still end up with someone else.
The masked man's face beneath the mask had turned completely dark.
His past wounds and physical defects had been ruthlessly exposed.
And worst of all, it was in front of several female ninja.
Utter despair.
This shinobi world truly was hell.
If he could, the masked man wished he had something like Danzo's Reverse Four Symbols Seal, a suicidal explosion technique. He genuinely wanted to take everyone here down with him.
"Child, don't worry. Technology is advanced now. If half your body can be restored, I can have Orochimaru use my cells to grow you a new one and transplant it."
Hashirama spoke with a "kind" expression, trying to comfort him.
Hashirama's thinking was simple: based on the future described by Shiromo, the Seventh Hokage Uzumaki Naruto lost an arm but could regrow one using Hashirama's cells, and it worked perfectly fine.
So wouldn't the same apply here?
The logic wasn't wrong.
But an arm was an arm, could "that part" really be replaced with someone else's cells?
And if he had children afterward… whose would they be?
What if the child awakened Wood Release?
Hashirama's well-meaning words somehow felt even more devastating, like hidden malice behind innocence.
It struck straight at the heart.
Imagine this scene:
The masked man stands outside the delivery room, waiting anxiously. Then he hears a baby cry and shouts in joy, "I'm a father! I'm a father!"
Meanwhile, Impure World Reincarnation Hashirama beside him beams with excitement: "I'm a father! I'm a father again!"
Too dark. Too hopeless.
Shiromo remained silent the entire time.
He honestly couldn't tell which direction the Senju brothers were trying to push the masked man.
Revealing Izanami seemed like an attempt to bring him back.
But now, these words sounded like they were driving him into despair.
And Shiromo swore, none of what the brothers just said had anything to do with him.
Yes, Shiromo might be the root of all evil, but as the saying goes, "the student can surpass the master."
The Senju brothers' psychological assault was truly masterful.
The masked man was completely overwhelmed.
The remaining one minute felt longer than a lifetime.
With Izanami looming, he would rather die than be caught in it.
He couldn't imagine how pathetic a "redeemed" version of himself would be.
…But then again, refusing to use Izanagi meant actual death.
And death meant nothingness.
He wasn't like Madara, he had no one to revive him.
Thinking of this, the masked man felt a surge of regret.
If only he had followed Madara's example and trained a successor. At least then someone could revive him if something went wrong.
In that sense, the First Hokage's philosophy was correct.
One needed people willing to stand behind them. Alone, one's power was too limited.
The intangibility timer began counting down.
The masked man hung alone in midair, like a roasted duck.
Perhaps driven by pressure, Uchiha "genius" suddenly squeezed out every ounce of intellect from past and future, and in the final ten seconds, he found a sliver of hope!
"The second Sage of Six Paths will still be me, without a doubt!"
He suddenly declared, his fighting spirit surging.
This sudden shift stunned everyone.
"Hmph. If I'm not mistaken, Izanami requires physical contact to activate, right? Don't tell me you only refrained because it was a last resort. You simply can't use it right now!"
The masked man sneered.
"So what? Your intangibility is about to end."
Konan replied calmly.
(End of this chapter)