Betting

"I don't know..." Nagato answered honestly.

He wasn't sure which Madara would win in the end. After all, all three of these monsters were far stronger than he was.

"Then just take a guess. If you guess right, I'll give you a present."

In a good mood, Natsu Yuu casually egged him on. They were only watching, after all.

"May I ask, sir—is that the Madara I encountered last time?"

Nagato hesitated for a moment, then pointed toward Founding Madara 1 in the distance and asked.

"That's right."

"I think he'll be the one who wins."

"Oh? What makes you think that?" Natsu Yuu asked with growing interest, curious about how Nagato had reached that conclusion.

"Instinct..."

"Just instinct?"

"Mm..."

Nagato didn't know how to explain it, but if he had to guess, he really did feel that Madara 1 had the best chance of winning.

Or rather, among the three Madaras,

only that one still carried a special Chakra presence—pure, clean, powerful, and seemingly without the slightest impurity.

It was as pure as Naruto's convictions...

It sounded mysterious, but in reality, it was simply the effect that one's spirit and convictions had on Chakra.

After all, Chakra was the product of physical and spiritual energy combined.

Earlier, Karin had sensed how Sasuke's Chakra had changed time and again as he descended into a frenzy of vengeance, growing ever more sinister and cold...

And as for Madara,

after he defected from Konoha and broke with Hashirama, his spirit and convictions had already begun to quietly change, little by little...

It was a long process, and one that was very difficult to reverse.

Just as Founding Madara couldn't imagine that his future self would become so despicable as to target children...

Just as Founding Hashirama couldn't imagine that his future self