Uchiha Hikari

A married woman's radiance sets the tone.

Standing at the door to welcome them was a woman of exquisite features. A blue kunoichi dress hugged her curvaceous figure, and her long, flowing hair cascaded like a waterfall down to her lower back. Her hands were clasped behind her, and her eyes carried a gentle smile.

"Do you know me?" Madara scrutinized the woman who had addressed him as 'Uncle Madara.'

The woman smiled warmly. "Mm. Chen already told me he'd be bringing you over tonight as a guest."

"Oh." Madara stared at her intently, somewhat dazed. There was something about this woman's face that gave him an indescribable feeling. Was it just because she knew who he was, yet showed no fear of him at all?

Just then, a small head with a princess-cut hairstyle peeked out from behind the woman's long legs, staring at him with pure curiosity. The little girl bared her sharp little fangs and asked, "Is this uncle a relative of Mom's? Why does he look so much like Mom?"

"Ah." The girl's words struck a chord in Madara. He finally understood what that indescribable feeling was. This woman looked very much like him—especially the expression and temperament in her eyes and brows. Even more than Chen, she resembled him so closely it was like looking at himself in a mirror.

Chen smiled and introduced her to Madara. "This is my wife, 'Hikari,' and our daughter, 'Tsuki.'"

Madara shifted his gaze away from Hikari's face and offered a somewhat stiff greeting. "You... hello."

Hikari stroked Tsuki's fuzzy short hair and said, "Tsuki, call him Grandpa Madara~"

Tsuki was surprised. "Eh? Uncle Madara is a grandpa? But he looks so young! Not old at all!"

Madara's stern face softened at the girl's childish, milky voice. He bent down to get a closer look at her round little face and asked, "How old are you?"

"Grandpa Madara! Tsuki is four years old this year!"

"Four years old... Not bad. Just the right age to go to war!"

"Grandpa Madara, why is there a weird uncle's face growing on your chest?"

"..." Madara looked down at his exposed chest—at that face of Hashirama's. Back then, when he'd flaunted that face before the Five Kage and the Shinobi Alliance, he hadn't felt the slightest bit embarrassed. But now, faced with this innocent little girl's question, he actually felt a sense of social death. This Impure World Reincarnation body was already overpowered enough—couldn't it have come with clothes?

But in front of a young Uchiha junior, he couldn't lose face.

"That's right. Your Grandpa Madara was born with a second face. Scared?"

"Not scared! I think it's kakkoii (cool)! Can I touch it?" Tsuki's little eyes sparkled with excitement!

Madara couldn't help but laugh heartily. "Hahaha, good! You've got my spirit! Uchiha Tsuki, is it? Your taste—I, Madara, acknowledge it! Go ahead, touch all you want. Special permission!"

With that, he even crouched down on his own so Tsuki could reach Hashirama's face without stretching.

Chen watched this unexpected scene, stunned. Well, I really didn't see this coming... Grandpa Madara has this side to him too!

Hikari chose the right moment to say, "Tsuki, hurry up and let your Grandpa Madara inside. The food's going to get cold."

Once inside, Hikari took out a black God Robe of Chen's from the entryway closet and presented it to Madara with both hands. "Sorry, Uncle Madara, the preparations were a bit lacking. Please wear Chen's clothes for now. You two are about the same size, so they should fit. Tomorrow I'll go buy you new ones."

Madara took the robe, wrapped it around himself, glanced down at his Impure World Reincarnation boots, and said, "If it's convenient, find me some shoe covers too."

As he passed through the living room, Madara swept his gaze over the furnishings. It was simple but cozy. On the TV cabinet sat a photo frame—a family portrait of four.

When he slid open the door to the Japanese-style room, a table on the tatami was laden with a feast of food and drink.

Hikari took the initiative to hold Tsuki's hand and said to Chen, "Tsuki and I have already eaten. We'll go out for a walk first. You two men talk business~"

Chen smiled and nodded. "Mm. Go ahead~"

The look that passed between their eyes was nothing but the tacit understanding of a married couple.

Hikari bowed to Madara in farewell, then took Tsuki's hand and walked out of the room, sliding the door shut behind her.

The room fell silent.

Soon, Madara broke the quiet.

"Hikari is also a survivor of the Uchiha Clan, isn't she?"

"You noticed?" Chen smiled, unsurprised. He picked up the sake flask and poured into the cup in front of Madara, then filled his own.

"Hikari has another name. You definitely won't find it unfamiliar."

"What name?"

"Nameless."

"Nameless..." Madara repeated the two syllables. A flash of lightning struck his mind. As the clan head of the Uchiha Clan in the late Warring States period, he naturally thought of the legend within the clan!

"Nameless—you mean the girl from the mid-Warring States period who awakened the rare dōjutsu [Yachihoko], was treated as a weapon by the Uchiha Clan, and was eventually sealed by the combined forces of the Senju Clan and the Sarutobi Clan?"

"That's right. Hikari is Nameless's real name. She was active in a Warring States period earlier than yours. At the age of twelve, she was sealed. After two hundred and thirteen years, I unsealed her sixteen years ago."

Madara took a sip of the sake.

As expected, he had no sense of taste.

But the emotions were still there.

"Then she should be filled with hatred for this world. I can't see that at all..."

Chen also picked up his wine cup. The warm wine slid down his throat, and memories surfaced one after another.

From the vengeful girl who once sought to destroy the ninja world and grind the bones of the Uchiha, Sarutobi, and Senju descendants to ash, to the gentle, lovable woman who could still act tsundere in private, the wife of his present, the mother of his two children...

In sixteen years, Chen had given Hikari a redemption no less than the one Naruto gave Boruto in the original timeline, and a companionship Boruto could never provide.

Though the scar on his chest still ached faintly from time to time, the memories were sweet.

Chen reminisced: "That was how it started, yes. But I spent a long time giving her back everything she lacked from her former clan and everything this world owed her... so now, she's my wife."

Their wedding was held on the day of Hikari's coming-of-age ceremony at sixteen. Hikari was a person from the early Warring States period, and she followed that era's traditions for coming of age.

By then, three years had passed since the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War.

"I see."

Madara didn't press further on Hikari's matter. He picked up his chopsticks and began eating the dishes he couldn't taste.

Chen refilled his cup.

In truth, Madara was somewhat surprised... that he could sit here so naturally and eat.

Barely half an hour had passed since he was summoned by Impure World Reincarnation, and he still wasn't certain what purpose Chen had in resurrecting him.

Objectively speaking, the pleasant surprises Hikari and Tsuki had brought him had indeed, invisibly, greatly narrowed the distance between him and Chen.

Madara pondered Chen's intentions:

Speaking of which, with his wife and children still at home, he dared to bring me here directly. At the very least, his motives should be aboveboard. Also, he's confident I won't do anything to harm his family.

But I just don't get it. I'm Uchiha Madara. Doesn't he know I once nearly destroyed this ninja world with my own hands?

After several rounds of drinks.

Madara set down his cup and resumed his dignified air. "Let's get down to business."

Chen glanced at Madara, took a sip of wine, and spoke while eating his food.

"Alright. Now, though the war is over, Kaguya Otsutsuki's kin still lie dormant in this land, waiting for a chance to stir up trouble."

"Naruto and Sasuke, along with the Five Kage, have lost their sense of crisis over the years. Their inaction is causing the overall combat strength of the ninja world to regress, making it insufficient to face the coming crisis. The ninja world is not far from true chaos."

"So someone must step up and change this situation."

Madara listened to Chen finish. "So, that someone is you?"

Chen said, "Correct. But my strength alone isn't enough. I need like-minded comrades to carry out the 'plan' together."

He added, "And that like-minded comrade includes you, right here."

Madara's brow furrowed. Chen's words were brief, but the amount of information was astonishingly vast.

He extracted key terms from Chen's speech, quickly pieced together a thread, and then began questioning.

"Kaguya's kin—who is stirring up trouble, and where are they dormant? How are Naruto and Sasuke, along with the Five Kage, being inactive? And how is the ninja world about to fall into chaos?"

Chen set down his chopsticks, wiped his hands with a napkin, and—Zing!—his Sharingan spun into view. "Words are too troublesome. Let's just talk with our 'eyes' instead."

Madara thought for a moment, then his Rinnegan receded into a Sharingan state, meeting Chen's gaze.

—Genjutsu: Sharingan!

"What you will see in this genjutsu is the future of the ninja world as it would unfold without my involvement!"

Indeed, Chen intended to show Madara the "Boruto" timeline right here.

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