The air before him stirred.
A strange sense of something drawing closer was right within reach.
Then Madara Uchiha said softly, "Over the years, I've come to realize just how proud and aloof I am at heart. The more aloof I am, the lonelier I feel inside. That's why I have no resistance to someone as accepting and powerful as you."
Yanbai smiled without a word.
That smile made Madara Uchiha realize Yanbai hadn't taken his words seriously, but even if Yanbai only pretended to believe him, he thought that would be fine too.
"I know you keep rejecting me, but I just can't bring myself to hate you." Madara Uchiha sighed. "Even if you're only toying with me, I still want to be with you..."
At that last sentence, Yanbai couldn't help raising his eyebrows. Sensing the conversation was about to veer out of control, he immediately spoke up. "Madara..."
But Madara Uchiha pressed his index finger against Yanbai's lips. He briefly closed his eyes, as though suppressing his anger as he had so often before, and said in as calm a voice as he could manage, "Don't speak yet."
Yanbai looked at Madara Uchiha helplessly.
Silence settled over them.
Madara Uchiha seemed to be thinking about something-or rather, wrestling with something.
Perhaps it was his advanced age, or perhaps it was his unease, but Madara Uchiha's face was pale, and his fingers gradually began to tremble.
"I don't know how to walk the road ahead, or how much farther I need to go..." Madara Uchiha's voice remained very quiet.
How much farther did he have to go before he reached his destination?
Perhaps he would never manage it...
No... he absolutely couldn't think that way.
Just one more step, Madara firmly believed.
*If one step wasn't enough, he