Madara's Blood Boils: "Good Kid, I'm with You!"

Earthly Divine Kingdom.

A divine kingdom forged by the Uchiha clan's own hands, ruled by their own hands.

These four words were like a thunderbolt that pierced heaven and earth, striking fiercely upon the scorched wasteland of Madara Uchiha's heart, which had long since become ruins!

He looked at this Uchiha descendant before him, even more arrogant and domineering than he had been in his youth.

He looked at those golden eyes, burning with boundless ambition and confidence.

He looked at the hand he had extended, as though it were holding up a brand-new world.

Within Madara Uchiha's cloudy Rinnegan, the tiny spark called "unwillingness," which had only just been ignited, was doused with a barrel of the most volatile gasoline!

Boom!

The flames shot into the sky!

Compared to the illusory Eye of the Moon Plan, which required deceiving the entire world and turning everyone into living corpses—

The Earthly Divine Kingdom Plan proposed by this brat before him was so direct! So domineering! So... perfectly suited to Madara Uchiha's nature!

What bullshit illusionary peace!

True peace had never been won through charity or deception!

It was forged through the blood and bones of enemies, through absolute power and an iron fist!

It was making the whole world tremble beneath your feet, not daring to entertain the slightest thought of resistance!

This was the path Madara Uchiha truly ought to walk!

"Ha ha..."

"Ha ha ha ha... Hahahahahaha!"

A burst of hoarse, crazed laughter suddenly erupted within the silent cavern!

Madara Uchiha was laughing!

His withered body trembled violently from overwhelming excitement.

With his head thrown back, he let out the most uninhibited, exhilarating laughter he had had in decades, since the battle at the Valley of the End!

The laughter made the entire cavern hum as gravel rained down in showers.

That laughter was filled with endless self-mockery, endless regret, but even more than that, an overwhelming sense of pride and fighting spirit, as though he had been reborn!

"Good!"

The laughter came to an abrupt stop.

Madara Uchiha suddenly lowered his head. At that moment, his Rinnegan burst forth with an unprecedented, dazzling radiance!

He stared fixedly at Uchiha Xuan, each word seeming to be roared straight from his chest!

"What an Earthly Divine Kingdom!"

"What an Uchiha Xuan!"

For the first time, his wrinkled old face revealed a savage smile filled with appreciation and approval!

"You brat..."

"You're ten thousand times more interesting than Hashirama was!"

Yes, interesting!

That naive fool Hashirama had been obsessed with things like "mutual understanding" and the "Will of Fire."

But this brat before him was just like Madara Uchiha. Deep in his bones, he believed in the purest law of the jungle: the strong devoured the weak!

His ambition, suppressed for decades by that damned Eye of the Moon Plan.

That heart of Asura, which he had thought was completely dead—his heart that yearned for battle and conquest.

At this moment, Uchiha Xuan had utterly set it ablaze in the wildest possible way!

"Brat, do you know what you're saying?"

Madara's voice was still hoarse, but it was filled with strength.

"Betraying Konoha, becoming enemies with the entire Ninja World, and establishing a new nation. This isn't children playing house. It will be a bloody road a hundred times harder than when we founded Konoha!"

"I know."

Xuan's expression did not change in the slightest. He still looked calm and composed, yet confident to his very bones.

"But so what?"

He looked at Madara, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

"When has the Uchiha clan ever feared battle?"

"Besides..."

His gaze became incomparably sharp.

"Now I have you, don't I?"

Those words were like a heavy hammer, smashing viciously into Madara's heart.

That's right.

He had me.

A prodigy with a Sage Body, comparable to Hashirama in his prime.

And himself, who also possessed the Rinnegan and had regained his ambition!

With such a combination, who in the entire Ninja World could stand against them?!

Senju Tobirama?

The Five Great Ninja Villages?

They were nothing but a pack of worthless rabble!

"Hahahaha! Well said!"

Madara Uchiha burst into laughter once more.

He no longer had any hesitation.

His withered hand suddenly rose and fiercely grabbed the hand Uchiha Xuan had extended!

Two hands, one large and one small, one withered and one fair.

At this moment, they clasped tightly together.

This signified that the Uchiha clan's legend of the old era and the king of the new era had officially formed an alliance!

"Good!"

Madara Uchiha's gaze turned incomparably sharp, filled with an aura capable of destroying heaven and earth!

He looked at Uchiha Xuan as though he were issuing a declaration of war to the entire world!

"This old man will go mad one more time with you, brat!"

"Konoha?!"

"The Senju clan?!"

"This rotten, revolting world!"

His voice rolled through the entire cavern like thunder!

"Let us Uchiha... overthrow it with our own hands!"

Black Zetsu, pinned beneath Xuan's foot, heard Madara's battle-filled declaration, and the whole lump of "coal" was so frightened it nearly melted.

It's over...

Completely over...

How had that old madman been talked into this by just a few words from that brat?!

What happened to the Eye of the Moon Plan?

What happened to reviving Mother?

My thousand-year plan!

"Oh, right, Lord Madara."

At that moment, Uchiha Xuan suddenly spoke, interrupting Madara's lofty ambitions.

"Before we overthrow the world, I think there's something we need to deal with first."

"What is it?" Madara raised a brow.

Xuan slowly lowered his head and cast a glance at the trembling black mass beneath his foot, as though looking at trash.

"This 'pet' of yours."

A cruel curve rose on his lips.

"It seems... a little disobedient."