Reviving Madara Uchiha

Akatsuki's new underground base is located deep underground at the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass. This place was once a secret refuge for a daimyo of a small country, abandoned during the Third Shinobi World War, and has now been chosen by Obito as his final stronghold.

The cave's interior, modified by Earth Release is a technique used in Chinese magic to create illusions), was spacious yet oppressive. The rock walls were covered with roots extending from the Outer Path Demonic Statue of the Outer Path —tentacles that grew naturally as they absorbed the life force of the nearby ley lines, pulsating like blood vessels and emitting a dark red glow. The air was filled with a cloying, putrid odor, a result of the excessive draining of life force.

Obito sat on a stone seat in the center of the cave, his right hand pressed against his abdomen. Although Neji's attack had been largely buffered by the Incomplete Ten-Tails' Chakra, the residual power was still raging within him, and each breath brought a dull pain as if his internal organs were being churned.

What's even more painful is the collapse of faith.

"Is the Eye of the Moon Plan... truly beyond completion?" he murmured to himself, his voice echoing weakly in the empty cave.

Just hours ago, he fled back here in a sorry state with only a third of the Chakra's Demonic Statue of the Outer Path remaining. It wasn't a strategic retreat, but a true rout—the Hyuga Branch Family boy who once seemed like an ant to him had now grown into a monster he had to look up to. Six Paths Tier, a realm that even Madara Uchiha had never truly set foot in.

Obito lowered his head, looking at his slightly trembling hand. This hand had once held Gunbai, controlled Tailed Beast, and fought against the Five Great Nations without being at a disadvantage. But now, he only felt powerless.

"Obito." A hoarse voice came from the shadows.

Zetsu slowly emerged from the rock wall, its black and white body appearing eerie in the dim light. The White Zetsu part retained its playful expression, while the Black Zetsu part remained silent, its yellow eyes gleaming with an unfathomable light.

"Nagato's aura... has disappeared," Zetsu said. "It seems Orochimaru has dispelled the Impure World Reincarnation. But that's fine, one less troublesome one."

Obito didn't look up. "When do you think Neji will come next?"

"Who knows?" Jue tilted his head. "For beings at that level, spatial distance is meaningless, isn't it? He can come anytime he wants. Just like..."

Just like Minato Namikaze back then.

He never said those words aloud, but Obito understood. His body stiffened for a moment, and his Sharingan in his right eye began to spin uncontrollably—an instinctive reaction to intense emotional turmoil.

On the night of the Nine-Tails' rampage, Minato appeared suddenly in the same way, striking him at a speed he couldn't comprehend at all, just when he was most confident.

History is repeating itself. Only this time, the opponent is even more formidable.

"What Black Zetsu said earlier..." Obito finally raised his head, his single eye fixed on Zetsu in the shadows, "About the backup plan, about... Madara Uchiha."

Zetsu's body trembled slightly, and the White Zetsu exaggeratedly covered his mouth. "Oh my, Obito is finally willing to consider it? I thought you were going to be stubborn to the end~"

Black Zetsu spoke coldly, "In your current state, you have no chance against Neji Hyuga. Six Paths Tier power transcends the realm of conventional Ninjutsu; it's a gap that can't be bridged by tactics or tricks. It's like an adult against an infant—no matter how much the infant struggles..."

"Enough," Obito interrupted him, his voice hoarse.

Of course he understood. On the battlefield, when he looked into Neji's eyes, which shimmered with a pale blue halo, the suffocating feeling of being completely seen through and suppressed still haunted his dreams. It wasn't a difference in strength, but a difference in dimensions.

But... if Madara is resurrected, what about all my perseverance over the past decade? What about Rin's death? What about the promise to create a world with her in it?

Obito clenched his fist, his nails digging into his palm, drawing blood.

Let me... think about it some more.

As Zetsu watched his struggle, Black Zetsu sneered inwardly. It was almost over. This puppet was on the verge of collapse; just a little more force was needed...

Just then--

Without warning, the space in the center of the cave twisted and rotated, forming an Uzumaki- like passage. There were no Chakra fluctuations, no Hand Seals, as if space itself had suddenly cracked open.

Neji emerged from the Uzumaki, his long white hair swaying gently in the windless cave, the pale blue light in his Tenseigan illuminating a three-meter radius around him. He wore a simple gray training uniform and was barefoot, as if he had simply stopped by for a stroll.

But that invisible pressure made the air in the entire cave freeze.

Obito abruptly stood up, the stone seat cracking open with the force of the impact. His Sharingan instantly transformed into Mangekyo Sharingan pattern, and he stared intently at Neji, his voice forced out through clenched teeth:

"Sake... no... Neji Hyuga-- "

His voice trembled with anger, and he even mispronounced a name. The "subordinate" who had been so respectful and obedient to him at the Sound Village Base, the Hyuga Branch Family he had never given a second glance, was now descending before him like a god.

"You despicable thief!" Obito finally roared out the complete words, "You stole the Ten-Tails 'Chakra, you stole power that didn't belong to you!"

Neji looked at him calmly, his expression unchanged, as if he were looking at a barking dog.

"Obito," he began, his voice chillingly calm, "Don't you understand such a simple principle as 'the victor is king, the loser is villain'? Since you've lost, you should learn—"

He paused, then uttered four words:

"Stand at attention and take the beating."

Before he could finish speaking, Neji moved.

It wasn't Body Flicker Technique, nor was it high-speed movement; rather, space itself seemed to shrink beneath his feet. With one step, he was already three meters in front of Obito; with another, they were practically touching.

Obito's fighting instincts saved his life at that moment. Almost the instant Neji moved, the Mangekyo Sharingan pattern in his right eye began to spin wildly—

"Kamui!"

Space distorted, his body became ethereal and transparent. Neji's outstretched hand passed through his chest as if passing through a phantom.

"Hahaha!" Obito laughed wildly, his body completely merging into the alternate dimension, leaving only his voice echoing in the cave. "Neji! Don't you know? In my Kamui Dimension, I am the god! Here, I control the rules of space, and I decide the flow of time! Stepping into this place is like walking into a trap!"

His voice came from all directions, filled with manic triumph.

Neji stood in the empty cave, his Tenseigan scanning his surroundings. He could feel that he had been pulled into an independent space-time—there was no concept of up, down, left, or right here, the space was folded and twisted like a maze, and the gray rock walls stretched infinitely in his line of sight, yet seemed within reach.

A typical creation of Space-Time Ninjutsu. For the vast majority of ninjas, this is indeed a desperate situation.

But Neji just smiled dismissively.

"Is that so?"

He raised his right hand and lightly tapped his index finger in the air.

There was no Chakra burst, no earth-shattering noise. But centered on his fingertips, the entire Kamui Dimension began to creak under the strain. The folds of space were forcibly smoothed out, and the distorted rules were violently corrected, like an invisible hand forcefully flattening a crumpled piece of paper.

"No... impossible!" Obito's exclamation came from a certain direction, this time filled with genuine fear.

Neji turned his head, Tenseigan precisely locked onto the source of the sound—not through hearing, but through his perception of spatial fluctuations. He could "see" a tiny "anomaly" in the folds of space, where Obito's true form was located.

"Found you."

Neji's figure disappeared from the spot.

It wasn't movement, it was a spatial jump. By the time Obito realized what was happening, the white figure was already standing in front of him, so close that he could clearly see every pale blue halo in Tenseigan.

"You—" Obito tried to become intangible again, attempting to manipulate space to teleport himself.

But Neji's hand had already reached out. The hand didn't seem fast, but it seemed to transcend the constraints of time, pressing down on Obito's right eye before Obito's consciousness could issue the command.

It feels cool to the touch.

"Ah--!!!"

A piercing scream echoed through the Kamui Dimension. Neji's fingers, like sharp blades, pierced into his eye sockets, gouging, twisting, and then violently ripped them apart—

"Pfft."

A sticky tearing sound. Obito's right eye, along with a portion of his nerve tissue, was forcibly ripped out, and blood gushed out like a fountain, scattering a glaring red against the gray background.

Neji, clutching the Sharingan that was still twitching slightly, didn't even glance at Obito, who was curled up on the ground in pain, before turning around and taking a step forward.

The space rippled like water. He returned to the cave in the real world, the Mangekyō Sharingan with a dark red light in the darkness, the pattern in the pupil still slowly rotating, as if unaware that it had left its master's body.

Zetsu stood not far away, his black and white body stiff, his yellow eyes fixed on the eye in Neji's hand, then looking behind him—the spatial passage was closing, and faint, suppressed groans of pain could be heard coming from within.

"Give my regards to Madara Uchiha," Neji said to Zetsu, his tone as calm as if he were saying, "The Tenten."

Then, his figure vanished in specks of light, as if he had never existed.

The cave fell into a deathly silence. The only sounds were the muffled throbbing of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's roots and the increasingly faint groans emanating from the closing spatial passage.

A few seconds later, the passage disappeared completely.

"Thump."

Obito fell from mid-air and crashed heavily onto the rocky ground. He curled up, his right hand tightly covering his face, blood gushing from between his fingers and quickly pooling beneath him.

"Cough... cough cough..." He coughed up blood and foam, his body convulsing from the excruciating pain.

Zetsu slowly walked to his side and squatted down. White Zetsu let out an exaggerated sigh, "Oh dear, how tragic~ One eye gone just like that~ But Obito, now you finally understand, right? You can't defeat that monster on your own~"

Black Zetsu remained silent, but inwardly he was overjoyed.

Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Neji Hyuga's move seemed to be perfectly in sync with his plan. Having lost his right eye and the intangibility ability of Kamui, Obito's greatest trump card was gone. Now, he had no other option but to revive Madara Uchiha.

Obito trembled as he moved his hand away. His right eye was now just a bloody, mangled hole, the muscles around it still twitching nervously. His left Rinnegan was dim and lifeless; something inside it had shattered—not the eye itself, but something deeper within.

Belief. Dignity. The last glimmer of hope.

"Heh... heh..." He suddenly chuckled, his laughter hoarse and strained, mixed with blood and foam. "Yes... I understand... I completely understand..."

In front of Neji, he was as weak as a lamb to the slaughter. No, he wasn't even as strong as a lamb; at least a lamb struggles and tries to escape before being killed. But he didn't even have the right to struggle.

The moment the white figure reached out, time seemed to freeze. He could see the hand slowly approaching, feel the icy touch of the fingertips on his eyeballs, and foresee the impending excruciating pain—but his body wouldn't obey him, his Chakra was frozen, and he couldn't even blink.

That was absolute suppression. It was a crushing defeat on a life level.

How could someone like me possibly complete the Eye of the Moon Plan? How could I possibly create a world with Rin?

Obito slowly sat up, looking at Zetsu with his left eye, which still allowed him to see. "The other Rinnegan... is with you, right?"

Zetsu's body stiffened. White Zetsu, with a grin, said, "Oops, we've been found out."

He "spit out" a glass container from his body. Inside, a purple Rinnegan floated slowly in the nutrient solution, the ripples in its pupils seeming to possess life.

Also retrieved was an ancient scroll. The scroll was made of a special material, and even after decades, the sealing runes on its surface remained clear.

"The Outer Path: Reincarnation Heavenly Life Technique," Black Zetsu slowly began. "It uses the caster's life as the price to completely resurrect the deceased from the Pure Land, restoring them to their full power. This is the only way to Neji Hyuga —because only one other Six Paths Tier being able to contend with Six Paths Tier level being."

Obito stared at the Rinnegan, then at the scroll. After a long while, he reached out his trembling hand and took it.

It felt cold to the touch, just like Neji's fingers from earlier.

"Lin..." he murmured softly, a tear mingled with blood sliding down his left eye, "I'm sorry... I was ultimately... too weak..."

He stood up and staggered to the center of the cave. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path seemed to sense something; its roots throbbed even more frantically, and the dark red light illuminated the entire cave as if it were hell.

Obito unfurled the scroll. The spells on it were so complex they were dazzling, each rune containing the weight of life itself.

Then, he raised the Rinnegan and pressed it into his empty right eye socket without hesitation.

"Ugh--!"

An even more intense pain struck. The moment the Rinnegan connected with his nerves, Obito formed hand Hand Seals. It was a long and complex sequence of seals, each movement draining life force from his body. As the Hand Seals were formed, his hair began to turn white, his skin began to dry out, and wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes.

"Heretical Paths - Rinne Rebirth-- "

With a final, resounding sound, a burst of green light erupted from his body, shooting skyward like a pillar of light, piercing through hundreds of meters of rock and piercing the night sky.

The light was so dazzling that it illuminated the entire cave as if it were daytime, even deep underground. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path roared with excitement, its roots thrashing wildly, as if welcoming its master's return.

As Zetsu retreated into the shadows, the part of his body in Black Zetsu trembled slightly—not from fear, but from excitement. A thousand-year plan had finally come to this.

At the center of the green light, a figure began to materialize.

From illusion to reality, from outline to detail. A tall figure, explosive long hair, red Warring States armor, and that arrogant face to the extreme.

The resurrected Madara Uchiha had his eyes closed. Zetsu immediately gouged out the Rinnegan from Obito's eyes and handed them to Madara Uchiha. Instantly, Dual Rinnegan slowly rotated in the green light, even deeper and more majestic than Obito's.

He landed on the ground, and the entire cave trembled the moment his feet touched the earth. He looked down at his hands, clenched his fists, then released them, feeling the blood rushing through his veins and the Chakra roaring within him.

"You're back." A smile played on Madara's lips, the smile of a conqueror. "Finally... back to this interesting world."

He looked up and gazed ahead.

Obito knelt on the ground, his body withered like an old man's, his hair sparse and white, his skin covered in wrinkles. The Reincarnation Heavenly Life Technique had drained all his remaining life force, and now he didn't even have the strength to stand up.

Even after losing his eyes, Obito still stared intently at Madara. His gaze held pleading, resentment, and a final, desperate urge.

"Madara... Lord..." Obito's voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, "The Eye of the Moon... Please... create a world with Rin..."

Ban walked up to him, looking down at his former pawn. After a long silence, he nodded. "Ah. I will complete the plan. You... can rest now."

Obito's lips curled into an ugly smile. Then, the light in his eyes went out. His body slumped forward, and he fell silent.

Jue knelt on one knee, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement:

"Welcome back Lord Madara!"

Madara didn't look at him. He walked to the edge of the cave, raised his hand to stroke the roots of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and felt the remaining one-third of the Ten-Tails Chakra within.

A dangerous glint flashed in his Rinnegan. "It seems that during the years I've been asleep, a remarkable figure has emerged in the Shinobi World."

He turned to Jue: "Tell me all the information. About this era, about the Five Great Nations, and everything else."

"Yes!" Jue replied respectfully.

At the other end of the cave, Obito's body lay silently.

At the same time, in Konoha, at the Uchiha Old Residence.

Sasuke sat cross-legged in the center of the training room, trying to explore the new abilities of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Suddenly, as if sensing something, he opened his eyes.

There was something new on the low table in the corner of the room.

It was a transparent glass bottle, about the size of a fist, filled with a pale green nutrient solution. In the liquid, a scarlet eye floated silently, the Mitsudomoe pattern in its pupil gleaming faintly in the dim light.

Underneath the glass bottle lay a piece of white paper. On it were only five words, written in a casual yet forceful hand:

"Obito's eyes."

Sasuke stood up and walked to the low table. He picked up the glass bottle and held it up to his eyes. The Sharingan in the nutrient solution seemed to sense something, Mitsudomoe began to slowly rotate, faintly resonating with the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes.

Obito's eyes... why are they here? Who sent them? What was their purpose?

Countless questions churned in his mind. But in the end, Sasuke simply gripped the glass bottle tightly, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"The gift... I'll accept it."

He placed the glass bottle at the innermost part of his ninja tool bag and turned to look out the window. The night was deep, and the lights of Konoha flickered in the distance, like scattered hopes, or like lurking crises.