Madara's Choice

"Shua!"

After a few seconds of silence, Uchiha Boss's flattened body swelled up like it was being inflated.

Boss came back to life on the spot, shock frozen in his eyes as he stared at the two strange men he had never seen before.

Even Madara was shaken, and not lightly.

It was precisely because he was who he was that he could see the true value of the ability Chen had just displayed.

Reversing time in a localized area and reversing time for a designated individual were two completely different things.

Imagine, if Chen designated himself as the individual for time reversal, then any damage he sustained in battle could be repaired as time flowed backward!

This meant... killing him for real in a fight was almost an impossible task!

For Uchiha Boss, it was a whole different experience.

He clearly remembered being killed, yet he had inexplicably come back to life.

The look in this long-haired young man's eyes told him, this place was not safe to linger! "Xiu!" So, his eye erupted with a fierce vortex, trying to slip away while the other was off guard!

Boss's thinking was completely correct, but unfortunately, the man before him was a monster who could reverse time...

At that moment, Chen, like a playful child, adjusted the time reversal rate of Omodaru to sync with the rotation rate of Boss's Space-Time Ninjutsu.

"Xiu!" The vortex outside his eye kept spinning for a full minute, yet Boss still couldn't manage to suck himself in!

Boss changed his mind midway, trying to stop the vortex, but he couldn't stop it at all!

Chen stared at him and asked, "Is it fun?"

Boss was drenched in sweat but could only force a dry smile and play along: "Heh, heheh... fun, real fun!"

Chen said seriously, "Tell me, what are you made of, and I'll consider giving you a quick end."

Boss said with lingering resentment, "I don't even know what I'm made of! I'm a failed clone of Shin Uchiha! Because I was contaminated with Senju Hashirama's cells, I managed to survive in this form! And only I can use the true power of this Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan!"

"This eye not only retains Shin's ability to manipulate marked objects, but it can also teleport objects between marks, including myself! It's a Space-Time Ninjutsu called—[Futo Daomei]!"

"Contaminated with Hashirama's cells? That's about what I thought... And this eye technique is called Futo Daomei, right. Fine, I'll give you a quick end!"

"Ca!" The moment Omodaru was interrupted, Chen's two fingers shot in like lightning, plucking out Boss's eyeball with blinding speed, and then... he stomped him flat again with one kick!

As for Hashirama's cells... Chen had dealt with them long ago in his nearly twenty years of activity and had a long-term plan in place.

So, he really didn't care about the scraps Boss had on him.

He looked at the eye pinched in his hand.

Chen's Omodaru, due to the existence of Otsutsuki Time Zone, already inherently carried Space-Time abilities.

There was no need for unnecessary additions.

He had no intention of keeping this eye for himself.

Impure World Reincarnation could also transplant Sharingan; Obito in the war had long ago verified this using the 'New Six Paths of Pain' made from Impure World Jinchuriki.

So, Chen solemnly handed the eye to Madara, "You probably don't care about the composition of this eye, but it's undeniably useful. Please accept it."

Uchiha Madara possessed overwhelmingly powerful eye techniques and combat abilities, but he lacked Space-Time capabilities.

This eye, which nurtured [Futo Daomei], happened to fill that one gap.

One does not accept a reward without merit; from Madara's current standpoint, accepting this eye meant 'joining forces,' becoming a 'like-minded comrade' in Chen's words.

If you think this book is good, to avoid not finding it next time, remember to add it to your bookshelf.

But he still had unresolved knots in his heart.

So, facing Chen's hand held in midair, he remained unmoved and countered, "Give me one reason to accept this eye."

Chen kept his hand in the air, motionless, and said with a smile, "Does the answer to your earlier question count?"

—"Then why choose me? You should know that I was the one who once tried to push the ninja world into the abyss, right?"

That was precisely Madara's knot, and after observing today's battle, having verified the 'truth of the future' Chen spoke of, he desperately wanted that answer!

Madara lowered his gaze: "Speak, then. Let me hear it!"

Chen said in a plain yet profound tone, "The lives we've lived so far have both tasted loss and regret. That's why we know better than those who never took a wrong turn what the right path is!"

"I fulfill you, letting you truly throw it to the other shore; and please fulfill me, letting me protect those people and things that are precious to me!"

Chen's words, like a morning breeze brushing his face, stirred waves in Madara's heart, letting him hear the sound of that stone skimming across the lake in his childhood.

So there was someone in this world who understood me even more than Hashirama, and that someone was a Uchiha junior I'd never met...

He knew I didn't start the Moon Eye Plan for selfish reasons.

He knew that never truly throwing it to the other shore in my life was my pain point, that he knew the regret in my heart that didn't fade with death was a life spent chasing an illusory dream!

He knew that before my death, I acknowledged Hashirama's path, but I never admitted defeat to the very end!

He knew that I, more than anyone, longed to truly end this ninja world's curse of war!

But it was only that he 'knew'... Knowing was a recognition, proving that the man standing before me, calling himself Uchiha Chen, had a pair of worldly eyes that could see through people's hearts.

Recognition did not mean 'candor,' let alone 'sincerity'!

This is what a lesson more bitter than blood has taught me!

Under Chen's astonished gaze, Madara suddenly stepped forward, grabbed him by the collar, his cracked and mottled face pressing close against that flesh-and-blood visage!

Those Rinnegan eyes seemed to pierce through the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, to see clearly the loyalty, treachery, good, and evil within that heart!

Madara's eyes were tangled with madness as his hoarse voice rang out: "Chen, I was deceived once before, and it wasted most of my life! I have no time left to squander! So, promise me—don't lie to me, alright?"

Chen was momentarily cowed by Madara's oppressive, storm-laden aura!

He had still underestimated the pain within Madara's heart, and... the resolve born from that pain!

"Fine! I promise you! On matters that decide the future fate of the ninja world, I will absolutely not deceive you!"

Madara said, word by word: "Good! Then I promise you this too! As long as you always walk the right path, I, Madara, will see you to the other shore, even if I have to shatter my bones and grind my body to dust!"

With that, he snatched the eye from Chen's hand with a sharp shua, lifted his robe, and pressed this eye—the one that had birthed 'Futo Daomei' Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan—into the 'right eye' of Hashirama's face on his chest!

"This should do it, right?"

Chen lowered his hand and said, "I hope you'll take good care of me."

Madara said, "Enough, stop with all the 'you' this and 'you' that—it sounds awkward. Just follow that one at your place and call me 'Uncle Madara'!"

"Uncle Madara, please guide me from now on!"

"Mm." Madara nodded in pleased approval, then glanced at the watch on Chen's wrist.

7:58 PM.

He remembered that Chen had come home at exactly 8:00 last night.

"Go back, Chen. Don't keep Hikari waiting at the door. Also, tell me your [plan] during dinner!"