For a moment, the air on the battlefield fell strangely quiet. Senju Tobirama, Hashirama Senju, and Madara Uchiha had never expected to hear such words from Li Ke.
Hashirama Senju in particular found Li Ke's call to deliberately start a war hard to reconcile with the yearning for peace he had sensed when they crossed fists just moments ago.
But Madara Uchiha couldn't help bursting into wild laughter.
"Hahahahahaha! Hashirama! Did you hear that?! Your so-called heir inherited my will! Hahaha!"
Madara Uchiha felt there was nothing in the world more amusing.
Li Ke, however, disagreed.
He watched Madara Uchiha's eyes spin, ready for him to replace his Sharingan and unleash Izanagi.
In truth, Li Ke was discussing all this with Madara here to buy time for Madara Uchiha's Izanagi to run its course.
It wasn't that he feared facing Madara Uchiha head-on. It was simply that if he could deal with Madara easily, there was no need to invite complications.
His main goal had never been to fight Madara Uchiha.
But most importantly, he couldn't agree with Madara Uchiha's words.
"Actually, Lord Madara, I inherited the First's will."
Li Ke's voice stunned Hashirama Senju once again.
"Huh?"
Hashirama Senju scratched his head in the Mind Space. Beside him, Senju Tobirama remained silent, because he understood Li Ke's meaning better than anyone.
"What do you mean, kid? Didn't you see how false and fragile the Ninja System is? Didn't you realize the ninja world was a sham, and that's why you came to think this way?!"
Madara Uchiha knew who Li Ke was; he just hadn't paid him any attention at first. But now, Li Ke demanded his attention.
"That's right, Lord Madara. When I learned I'd have to go to war and fight at eleven, and that even my younger brother would have to fight a year later, I understood the helplessness of being a ninja and felt how twisted the hidden village system was."
Madara Uchiha felt he couldn't quite understand what Li Ke was getting at. But Li Ke was also setting a trap for him.
"So I'm going to end this system. Lord Madara, I imagine you've worked so hard all this time because you, too, wanted to end the Ninja System. So there's no need for us to fight, is there?"
Li Ke knew perfectly well that Madara Uchiha would never abandon the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Because—
"Ridiculous."
Madara Uchiha's expression turned cold.
"I thought you could see the truth of the Ninja World. I never imagined you were just as foolish as Hashirama!"
He looked at Li Ke, but seemed to be looking at Hashirama Senju instead.
"Hatred can never be cut away. Everyone has their own demands of the world and of other people, their own ideas, their own goals! Peace and mutual trust are nothing but lies! As long as even one person's desires go unfulfilled, true peace will never exist!"
Madara Uchiha angrily swung his arm. After his falling-out with Hashirama Senju, he had wondered whether his desire to unite the Ninja World had gone too far.
But the conclusion he'd reached was that he was right!
He and Hashirama should have swept across the entire world. Hashirama had been the one to stop him!
Hashirama had settled for this relative peace, but Madara hadn't!
He couldn't settle for a future in which battles were certain to break out again!
But Hashirama already had!
"Even two people who share the same ideals can betray each other for a common goal, because everyone has different aims and desires! How much more so for those who share no ideals at all! Unless we cut this off, this world will never know peace! The peace you seek is nothing but a sham!"
Madara Uchiha spread his hands, wild chakra surging from his body. Li Ke began to wonder whether buying time for Madara Uchiha's Izanagi to run out had any meaning at all.
With chakra of this magnitude and such unusual ocular power, would Madara Uchiha really be subject to Izanagi's time limit?
Li Ke didn't know. By now, with Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha's chakra meeting, far too many things had gone beyond a ninja's understanding.
At this moment, what applied here was the logic of myth!
"Lord Madara, as long as people have self-awareness, they'll never be satisfied."
Li Ke looked at Madara Uchiha gravely.
"Is your plan to use some powerful genjutsu formation, or the power of the Sharingan, to force people to set aside their personal desires?"
He had practically named the Eye of the Moon Plan outright: using the moon as a mirror to cast a genjutsu over the entire world, immersing everyone in a world of illusion where all their wishes came true.
Madara Uchiha froze again. He hadn't expected this kid to guess his intentions. But when he saw the Four-pointed Star Sharingan turning in Li Ke's eyes, he couldn't help bursting into laughter again.
"Hahahaha! Hahahahaha! Was it the power of the Sharingan that let you understand all this?! Have you seen the same view I have?! What an interesting kid! What a shame you weren't born in the same era as Hashirama and me!"
Madara Uchiha suddenly widened his eyes, and Susanoo appeared once more.
"Then what will you choose?"
Li Ke could feel the chakra of Hashirama Senju inside him becoming more active than ever. When he spoke, his voice strangely rang with an echo.
"If that's your plan, Lord Madara, I'll kill you here, because what you're doing means killing humanity and its potential to progress."
Yes, Hashirama Senju had once again developed a powerful urge to kill.
"Ha... Just as I thought. No one in this world can understand me. Not even you, that polite kid who's always addressing me so respectfully!"
Madara Uchiha was deeply disappointed. He'd thought Li Ke could understand him and inherit his will. But even after awakening the power of the Sharingan, Li Ke could still see no more than an ordinary person.
Could false eyes see only a false world, after all?
Madara Uchiha closed his eyes, then opened them again.
"Then let's keep fighting! We'll convince each other with our strength!"
Wild chakra surged forth once more, this time displaying an even more overwhelming power.
The Perfect Susanoo now towered over the land in all its glory!
The towering red-eyed war god stared down at the humans below, as if it were a deity preparing to punish those who had defied its will!
At the same time, Li Ke clearly sensed the strange chakra inside Hashirama Senju. Under these circumstances, it had grown wildly active, and the power within him surged without pause.
At that moment, he felt as if he could do anything. Though Hashirama Senju and Senju Tobirama said nothing, Li Ke could feel their intentions had become completely aligned with his own!
His Heroic Spirit Summoning had undergone a qualitative change!
His chakra had been unleashed! He no longer needed to maintain Hashirama Senju and Senju Tobirama's presence!
So Li Ke poured out Senjutsu Chakra, making the Wood Golem grow larger and larger, while using the power of his Dojutsu to rapidly clad it in chakra armor. All the while, he continued to explain his point of view.
Since this was a matter of ideals, there were things he had to make clear!
Madara Uchiha didn't attack right away either, giving him time to speak.
"The First and you set aside your clans' hatred and chose the hidden village system for the greater good—that is, peace. You changed the ninjas from a collection of clans into villages, the actual leaders of their respective countries. The Second Hokage then ensured the system's mechanisms worked, and the Third Hokage carried it forward, embedding the hidden village system in people's hearts..."
Li Ke pressed his hands together. With that strange power aiding him, Hashirama Senju and Senju Tobirama were supplying him with chakra!
"Infinite" chakra!
"The First and you made sure children didn't have to go to war at five or six years old, didn't have to become 'adults' at five or six. So even though you two didn't rule the whole world, and that was a shame, you still moved the history of the Ninja World forward by a great deal. In my era, overthrowing the Ninja System and the existing system of nations is the next step toward peace!"
As he spoke, Li Ke's expression turned solemn. A huge flower bud made of wood unfurled beneath him. When it reached the height of Susanoo, its petals opened to reveal a transformed Wood Golem, resembling the terracotta warriors of the Qin dynasty. Its purple armor looked more like that of a guardian deity protecting the gates of heaven!
King of Martial Formation: Qin!
This was Li Ke's Wood Golem Technique!
At this very moment, a scene from myth had truly appeared in this world!
"So the world is always moving forward, Lord Madara. Lord Hashirama worked hard all his life, then passed his achievements on to those who came after him, watching with hope as they carried on his dream. That's what makes us human! But Lord Madara, the world you hope for isn't impossible to achieve in the future! That's why your plan is meaningless! It can't bring humanity true peace! Your plan is the false one, blind to the future! It offers only temporary satisfaction, and is proof that you've given up on the world and your ideals!"
Facing Madara Uchiha, Li Ke didn't hesitate. He launched his attack!
"That's why I'll defeat you!"
"Well said, but it's meaningless!"
The Sharingan in Madara Uchiha's eyes grew increasingly eerie. He knew Li Ke was right. Li Ke's ideas were correct.
But—
He couldn't accept it!
When he was young, he'd already been capable of doing what Li Ke could only accomplish in the future! So now that he had seen the world for what it truly was, why couldn't he go even further?
Why had he given everything for this world, only to be repaid with his brothers' deaths and his closest friend's betrayal?
This world was a sham! If he didn't step forward, how many more tragedies born of this falsehood would the future have to endure?
If humanity was doomed to repeat these tragedies, then under his mercy, they would achieve absolute peace!
There would be no need to think or worry. They could simply live out their lives, satisfied, within an illusion!
He would sever this false, sorrowful world once and for all!
If this world was false, then he would use something even falser to let everyone live happily for the rest of their lives!
That was the greatest love Madara Uchiha could offer!
Under the stimulation of Li Ke and Hashirama Senju's chakra, faint purple patterns even appeared in Madara Uchiha's eyes. But unfortunately, his youth was an illusion. Though he kept burning his will and pushing his chakra to its limit, he still couldn't reach that level!
"Let our strength decide who's right! Murata Qingtan!"
The two blades clashed again. This time, the ninjas finally understood what was happening. They stared in shock as two colossal beings battled between heaven and earth. The violent gusts produced when their blades collided swept over the ninjas dozens of kilometers away, leaving them unable to open their eyes!
"What is that... thing? Is it a god? Is that really chakra?"
The young ninjas voiced their doubts. The ninja named Ōnoki, meanwhile, began to tremble uncontrollably.
He couldn't be mistaken. Absolutely not!
That figure!
Even from dozens of kilometers away, even though he couldn't make out the giant's shape, the moment he saw the blue-purple demon god, he knew who it was.
Madara Uchiha!
The Asura!
The one who wasn't the God of Shinobi, but had nearly destroyed the other hidden villages!
"Damn it! Wasn't he dead?! Then who's fighting him? Who is that?! Is that Wood Release? Why does the Wood Release have Susanoo too?!"
He stared at the scene in shock, completely unable to understand what was happening.
But he wasn't the only one in shock.
Ninjas from Konoha, Kirigakure, and Kumogakure—countless ninjas—turned their eyes toward this place, watching the two deities battle on the land below!
But these were merely mortal gazes. Far more eyes were watching from the age of myth!
"That's... Mother's scent!"
Black Zetsu stared in astonishment at Li Ke, who was controlling the Wood Golem and trading blows with Madara Uchiha, changing the landscape around them with every attack. He could smell his mother's essence on Li Ke!
Li Ke's eyes glowed white as he controlled the enormous Wood Golem and fought Madara Uchiha. The sight made Black Zetsu think of the way Kaguya Otsutsuki had controlled the Ten-Tails!
"How is this possible? He isn't a direct descendant of the Sage of Six Paths, and he has neither Asura's nor Indra's chakra. How can he... keep tracing his own bloodline back to its source...?"
Black Zetsu didn't understand. But he was even more excited!
Li Ke could awaken the Rinnegan on his own! And if he obtained the Rinnegan, he could almost immediately revive his mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki—the source of all chakra!
What Black Zetsu didn't know was that, in the gap between life and death, a man sat cross-legged in the void. He had horns, purple eyes, and a red eye in the middle of his forehead. As he watched Li Ke fight Madara Uchiha, he couldn't help shaking his head with a sigh.
"Indra, Asura... Neither of you sees as clearly as a twelve-year-old child. Are you two still going to keep fighting?"
He was pleased with Li Ke's understanding of humanity, but displeased by his children's stubbornness!
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