Whoosh!
After several seconds of silence, Uchiha Boss's flattened body swelled up as if inflated.
Uchiha Boss came back to life on the spot, his eyes frozen in shock as he stared at the two unfamiliar men before him.
Even Madara was deeply stunned at this moment.
Precisely because it was him, he could see the true value of the ability Chen had just used.
Reversing time across an area and reversing time for a designated individual were completely different things.
Just imagine it: if Chen designated himself as the target of Time Reversal, then any injuries he suffered in battle could be repaired as time rewound!
That meant... truly killing him in battle was practically an impossible task!
For Uchiha Boss, however, it was an entirely different feeling.
He clearly remembered being killed, yet he had somehow come back to life without understanding why.
The gaze of the long-haired young man before him told him that this was no place to linger! Whoosh! His eyes erupted with violent spirals as he tried to flee while the other side was unprepared!
Uchiha Boss's thinking was completely correct. Unfortunately, he was facing a monster who could reverse time...
Like a playful child, Chen adjusted Omodaru's time-reversal rate to synchronize with the rotation speed of Uchiha Boss's Space-Time Ninjutsu.
Whoosh! The spiral outside his eye spun continuously for a full minute, yet Uchiha Boss still failed to suck himself in!
Uchiha Boss tried to change his mind midway and stop the spiral, but he simply could not stop it!
Chen stared at him and asked, "Is it fun?"
Drenched in sweat, Uchiha Boss could only force out a dry laugh. "Heh, hehehe... Y-yeah, it's fun. Really fun!"
Chen said seriously, "Tell me what you are, and I can consider giving you a quick death."
Full of lingering resentment, Uchiha Boss said, "Even I don't know exactly what I am! I'm the product of Shin Uchiha's failed cloning! Because I was contaminated by Senju Hashirama's cells, I tenaciously survived in this form! And only I can use this Mangekyō Sharingan's true ability!"
"This eye not only retained Shin's ability to control marked objects, but it can also transport objects back and forth between marks, including myself! It is a Space-Time Dojutsu called—[Futo Daomei]!"
"Contaminated by Hashirama Cells? That's about what I expected... And this Dojutsu is called Futo Daomei, right? Fine. I'll give you a quick death!"
Crack! The instant Omodaru was interrupted, Chen darted two fingers in with lightning speed, plucked out Uchiha Boss's eyeball, and then... stomped him flat again!
As for the Hashirama Cells... Chen had dealt with them long ago during his nearly twenty years of activity, and he had already made long-term plans involving them.
So he truly had no interest in the scraps on Uchiha Boss's body.
He looked at the eye in his hand.
Chen's Omodaru inherently possessed Space-Time abilities because of the Otsutsuki Time Zone.
There was no need to add something superfluous.
He had never intended to keep this eye for himself.
Even Impure World Reincarnation bodies could receive Sharingan transplants. During the ninja war, Obito had verified this long ago using the "New Six Paths of Pain" made from Impure World Reincarnation Jinchuriki.
Thus, Chen solemnly held the eye out to Madara. "You may not think much of what this eye is made of, but it really is useful. Please accept it."
Uchiha Madara possessed invincible Dojutsu and combat abilities, but he lacked Space-Time abilities.
This eye that harbored [Futo Daomei] happened to make up for his sole weakness.
One did not accept favors without merit. From Madara's current standpoint, accepting this eye meant "joining up" and becoming one of the like-minded comrades Chen spoke of.
But there was still a knot in his heart that had yet to be untied.
Therefore, he remained unmoved by Chen's outstretched hand and instead asked, "Give me a reason to accept this eye."
Chen's hand remained suspended in midair, utterly still. Smiling, he said, "Would the answer to your earlier question count?"
—"Then why did you choose me? You should know that I once intended to push the ninja world into the abyss, shouldn't you?"
That was precisely the knot in Madara's heart, and after witnessing today's battle and confirming the truth of the "future" Chen had spoken of, it was the answer he desperately wanted to know!
Madara lowered his gaze. "Go on. Let me hear it."
Chen spoke in a plain yet profound voice. "The lives we have lived so far have been filled with the taste of loss and regret. That is why, more than those who have never taken a wrong turn, we understand what the right path truly is!"
"I will fulfill you and let you truly reach the other shore; in return, please fulfill me and let me protect the people and things that are precious beyond measure to me!"
Chen's words were like a dawn breeze brushing over Madara's face, stirring ripples in his heart and making him hear the sound of a pebble skimming across a lake from his childhood.
So there was someone in this world who understood me even better than Hashirama did, and that person was an Uchiha junior I had never met...
He knew I had not launched the Moon Eye Plan for selfish desires.
He knew that never truly reaching the other shore was where my pain lay. He knew that the regret left unresolved in my heart even by death was the fact that I had spent most of my life chasing an illusory dream!
He knew that before my death, I acknowledged Hashirama's path, yet refused to admit defeat even unto death!
He knew that more than anyone, I longed to truly end the curse of war in this ninja world!
But all he did was "know"... Knowledge was a form of understanding. It proved that the man standing before him, calling himself Uchiha Chen, possessed a pair of worldly eyes that could see through people's hearts.
Understanding did not mean "candor," much less "sincerity"!
That was the lesson blood had taught him, a lesson more painful than blood itself!
To Chen's surprise, Madara suddenly stepped forward, grabbed his collar, and pressed his cracked, mottled face against Chen's flesh-and-blood face!
Those Rinnegan, the eyes of the Six Paths, seemed as though they wanted to see through Chen's heart-reflecting eyes and discern the loyalty, treachery, good, and evil within that heart!
Madara's eyes burned with suppressed madness as his hoarse voice rang out. "Chen, I was deceived once before and wasted most of my life! I have no time left to squander! So promise me—don't lie to me, all right?"
Even Chen was intimidated by the stormless yet oppressive aura Madara radiated at that moment!
He had still underestimated the pain in Madara's heart, and... the resolve born from that pain!
"Fine! I promise you! When it comes to matters that determine the future fate of the ninja world, I will absolutely never lie to you!"
Madara said word by word, "Good! Then I promise you as well! So long as you remain on the right path, I, Madara, will carry you to the other shore even if I am crushed to pieces!"
As his words fell, he snatched the eye from Chen's hand with a swish, lifted his robe, and pressed the Mangekyō Sharingan that harbored [Futo Daomei] into the "right eye" of the Hashirama face on his chest!
"That should do it, right?"
Chen lowered his hand. "I hope you'll look after me from now on."
Madara said, "Enough with all this 'you' business. It sounds awkward. Why don't you call me 'Uncle Madara,' like the one at your home does?"
"Uncle Madara, please guide me from now on!"
"Mhm." Madara nodded approvingly, then glanced at the watch on Chen's wrist.
7:58 p.m.
He remembered that Chen had gone home at exactly eight last night.
"Go home, Chen. Don't keep Hikari waiting at the door. And tell me about your [plan] over dinner!"
Before you continue