Madara, Stop Sleeping and Get Up!

"Uchiha Xuan?"

Madara Uchiha sat on the stone throne, his cloudy Rinnegan fixed intently on the brazen youth below the steps.

A chilling sneer appeared on his old face, wrinkled like dead tree bark.

"Replace me? Become a new god?"

Madara's hoarse voice echoed through the cavern, carrying the absolute arrogance of one long accustomed to standing above all others.

"Arrogant brat. After all these decades, is this all the Uchiha clan has left? Trash that only knows how to yap at its elders?"

Behind him, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path let out a dull rumble, as though answering its master's rage.

An even colder, more violent chakra surged toward Xuan once more like an invisible storm!

Yet Uchiha Xuan did not even furrow his brow.

His [Golden Flame Divine Eyes], etched with burning golden flames, calmly watched Madara. The chakra of his Sage Body formed an unbreakable wall of sighs within him, effortlessly keeping that oppressive force outside.

"Trash?"

Xuan withdrew the flames from his hand, and the smile on his face turned playful.

He walked forward step by step, mounting the stone steps that represented Madara's absolute authority.

"Lord Madara, you call me trash. Yet this very trash just wiped out your precious White Zetsu army in a single move."

"And besides..."

Xuan stopped less than five steps away from Madara.

"This very trash swaggered into your so-called secret underground rat hole and stood right in front of you."

He looked directly into Madara's Rinnegan. There was not a trace of reverence in his tone, only the air of an equal—perhaps even someone looking down on him.

"As for why I know Sage Jutsu, why I can use Wood Release, and why I know you're hiding down here, clinging to life..."

Xuan spread his hands, looking completely unconcerned.

"None of that matters."

Madara's brows drew tightly together.

The utter, bone-deep arrogance of this brat named Uchiha Xuan, his complete disregard for everything, even made Madara see a shadow of his younger self.

Yet at the same time, he sensed an unprecedented danger from the boy.

The purity of that Sage Jutsu chakra, those strangely mutated Sharingan.

This was absolutely not power an ordinary Uchiha descendant could possess!

"Then what did you come here for?" Madara asked coldly, his voice like a dull blade scraping over rock. "To flaunt that insignificant bit of strength before me? Or to kill a dying old man like me and collect a reward from Konoha?"

"Konoha?"

Xuan seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world and could not help snorting with laughter.

"Give me a break, Lord Madara. That garbage village drove even its own heroes to death. I tore things apart with them long ago."

"I came here for you."

He looked at Madara, and his gaze suddenly deepened.

"Or rather, for that thing you treat as sacred truth, the thing you even faked your death to pursue, spending decades barely surviving in this dark underground hole for..."

Xuan deliberately dragged out his words, his voice thick with mockery and teasing.

"The great 'Eye of the Moon' peace plan."

The moment he heard the words "Eye of the Moon," Madara Uchiha's withered, previously impassive face changed instantly!

His pupils contracted sharply, and even his breathing seemed to stop for a moment.

"You... how do you know about that?!"

For the first time, a trace of panic entered Madara's voice.

The Eye of the Moon Plan!

It was the only truth he had deciphered from that mysterious Uchiha Stone Tablet, the sole way to save this cursed Ninja World!

Other than himself and the incarnation of will he had created, Black Zetsu, there could absolutely be no third person in this world who knew about it!

Just who was this brat?!

Seeing Madara so shocked that he lost his composure, Uchiha Xuan felt utterly delighted.

The feeling of striking down the ceiling of the Ninja World from a god's-eye view was even more intoxicating than a breakthrough in strength!

"How do I know?"

Xuan smiled. Rather than answer directly, he began slowly pacing around Madara's stone throne.

"I don't just know about the Eye of the Moon. I also know that, for this plan, you bit off a piece of Hashirama's flesh at the Valley of the End and transplanted it into your own body."

"I also know that you only barely awakened these Rinnegan when you were on the verge of dying of old age."

With every sentence he spoke, Madara's face darkened further, and the killing intent in his eyes grew denser.

"Shut up!"

Madara roared, one hand suddenly gripping the throne's armrest so tightly that his nails gouged deep into the hard stone.

"What else do you know?!"

"I know far more than you can imagine."

Xuan stopped pacing and stood before Madara again.

As he looked at the old man who had once dominated an era, but now could only rely on tubes to siphon the statue's chakra and prolong his life, a trace of pity flashed through his eyes.

"I'm just curious, Lord Madara."

"Down here in this sunless underground pit, you're plotting that illusory 'peace' of yours..."

Xuan leaned down slightly, moving closer to Madara, his tone filled with undisguised sarcasm.

"How does it feel?"

"Do you feel like some lofty savior, standing above all others and saving the world?"

"Insolent!"

Madara was completely enraged by this string of taunts!

He was Madara Uchiha! Even if a tiger had fallen to the plains, it was not some wet-behind-the-ears brat's place to point fingers at him!

"Boom!"

The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path behind him suddenly swung a thick Wood Release arm, smashing fiercely toward Xuan with a shriek that tore through the air!

Though this strike lacked the power Madara possessed in his prime, it was still enough to flatten a small mountain!

However.

Uchiha Xuan did not even turn his head.

The golden flames in his [Golden Flame Divine Eyes] suddenly leaped!

"Sage Art: Time Stop!"

Buzz!

The space within the entire cavern seemed to have had its pause button pressed in an instant.

The massive wooden arm about to strike Xuan froze rigidly in midair, less than an inch from the top of his head.

The swirling dust solidified, and the roar of the waterfall vanished.

The entire world fell into absolute stillness.

Other than Uchiha Xuan, only Madara, whose Rinnegan possessed Six Paths power, could barely remain conscious.

"What... what kind of power is this?!"

A monstrous wave surged through Madara's heart!

This was definitely not an ordinary genjutsu!

This was... the power of time?!

Those eyes of this brat had actually evolved a dojutsu so heaven-defying!

"Smack!"

Xuan lightly snapped his fingers.

Time resumed its flow.

But the massive wooden arm seemed to have lost all strength, drooping limply before crashing to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Don't waste your effort, Lord Madara."

Xuan clapped his hands and looked at the horrified Madara, the smile at the corner of his lips growing brighter.

"In your half-dead state, you couldn't beat me even with one finger."

He straightened up and looked at Madara, his gaze becoming incomparably sharp.

"Brat..." Madara gritted his teeth and glared at him. "What exactly are you trying to say?!"

"What I'm saying is..."

Uchiha Xuan grinned, revealing a smile more cunning than a fox's and more unrestrained than a demon's.

"Stop sleeping, old Madara. Get up and have some fun."

He extended a finger and pointed it at Madara's nose.

"You've been played like a monkey, and you're still sitting here dreaming your grand dream of saving the world!"