"Madara, your idea is good, but we have a better way. We can achieve lasting peace without bloodshed or death."
"If we distribute the tailed beasts among the nations of the shinobi world, people in different countries will be wary of one another. Conflict and war will cease, and no one will have to lose their life!"
"Everyone will lay down their arms and live in peace. Once they taste the benefits of peace and begin to yearn for it, the lasting peace we hope for will come."
"We have no need to wage war or sacrifice anyone. The desire for peace in people's hearts will eventually bring that day about. It's only a matter of time."
Hashirama Senju opened his hands as he explained his ideas.
"It won't, Hashirama. I know you have great compassion, but not everyone is like you. Not everyone can sacrifice their own interests for peace."
Madara Uchiha picked up a leaf and rubbed its veins.
"Human greed knows no bounds. In some people's eyes, peace is worth nothing compared to profits within their reach. For money and power, they will brazenly wage unjust wars. We've seen plenty of examples, haven't we?"
"People with misguided beliefs who keep making war repeat itself have no reason to exist. Purge those who have no respect for peace, let those who yearn for peace live in the sunlight, and let Konoha's peace take root throughout the world. That is what we should be working toward."
"No, Madara. People can change. As long as we let them see the fruits of peace, they will come to understand one another."
"That will never happen, Hashirama."
An irreconcilable conflict had emerged between them.
Good.
The corners of Watanabe Ichiro's mouth lifted. It seemed all his efforts had paid off.
He had used a Wood Release clone disguised as [Black Zetsu] to lead Madara Uchiha all over the shinobi world, but this had been no aimless wandering. He had deliberately arranged for Madara Uchiha to visit all sorts of places, from lavish daimyo estates to the most chaotic slums, letting him see the real world beyond Konoha.
Watanabe Ichiro had not directly steered Madara Uchiha's thinking. He had simply shown him the facts that existed, and he had been eager to see how he would react after witnessing all these facets of human life.
And today, the vision of unification Madara Uchiha had voiced after careful consideration earned Watanabe Ichiro's wholehearted approval.
Konoha had Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, two mighty gods of war who could destroy a nation together, as well as Tobirama Senju, an outstanding supporter skilled in both politics and technology. Why bother bickering with the other four nations, let alone bowing their heads in thanks?
They could simply march right up to their doors. Today, either they changed their name to Konoha or became history. Taking five days to unify the shinobi world would already be slow.
Watanabe Ichiro could not understand Hashirama Senju's unwavering faith in love and understanding.
Looking further back, Watanabe Ichiro could not understand why the Sage of Six Paths had entrusted Ninshu to Asura, who believed in love and understanding, rather than the more capable Indra.
Sage, look at these descendants of yours. Doesn't your conscience hurt?
Was there peace in the thousands of years after Asura took over Ninshu?
Ninshu had splintered into shinobi clans that attacked one another and waged endless wars. The entire shinobi world had remained mired in the chaos of the Warring States era, with an average life expectancy of only thirty.
Individuals, clans, villages, and nations had never found peace through "love and understanding."
Even Konoha had only been founded through a fortuitous turn of events after countless battles between the Senju and Uchiha clans and the loss of untold lives.
Even in the modern world Watanabe Ichiro had lived in, peace was a precious thing found only in a handful of regions. Countless people in weaker nations struggled through war, poverty, and hunger...
Love and understanding were fine slogans in peacetime, but Watanabe Ichiro did not believe they had the power to bring peace about.
Besides, in the later stages of Naruto, the strongest fighters were all piloting Gundams, while the Allied Shinobi Forces had become a burden on the protagonists. That gap in strength was comparable to the divide between cultivators and mortals in cultivation novels. When one person could take on an entire nation, why bother with checks and balances? Wasn't that losing sight of what mattered?
Watanabe Ichiro disagreed, but he would not interfere. He wanted to show the two of them the real predicaments facing the shinobi world. Whatever choices they ultimately made and whatever beliefs they upheld, he would respect them and eagerly enjoy the spectacle as a fun-seeker.
[As long as it suits me, all is well.] His fun-seeker system ensured that he would never become a champion of justice. He would simply be a happy spectator looking for amusement, doing whatever he enjoyed most.
Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju argued atop the Hokage Rock for ages. Neither could convince the other, and they parted on bad terms, both simmering with anger.
Watanabe Ichiro noticed Black Zetsu moving rapidly toward the Uchiha Clan Compound and followed him.
Over the past few days, Black Zetsu had been busy following Watanabe Ichiro and sabotaging Tobirama Senju's experiment, leaving him no time to carry out his plan to alter the Uchiha Stone Tablet. Now, upon hearing that Madara Uchiha had returned, he suddenly remembered and immediately rushed over to make the changes.
His pitch-black body pressed against the tablet. A short while later, he left in satisfaction.
In his spirit form, Watanabe Ichiro could not see what had changed.
Still, he rested his incorporeal hand against the tablet and put it into his system inventory.
You old bastard, Black Zetsu. Have you been having fun screwing me over lately?
The Infinite Tsukuyomi plan, huh? Sorry, it's mine now.
When Madara Uchiha arrived after parting on bad terms with Hashirama Senju, Black Zetsu was shocked to find the place empty. He froze midway through trying to lure Madara Uchiha over.
Still fuming, Madara Uchiha strode past without so much as looking up, completely oblivious to what had happened there.
Black Zetsu circled the spot where the tablet had stood, smoothly spinning around several times before finally stopping and crying out inwardly in frustration:
Where's my tablet?
Where's the tablet I worked so hard to alter?
Holy shit, who the fuck took my tablet?!!
Watanabe Ichiro laughed gleefully at the sight of Black Zetsu spinning around on the ground. Time to get out of here.
Meanwhile, Tobirama Senju reviewed the experimental procedure and, just as Black Zetsu had hoped, discovered the missing portion of the technique formula.
He trusted that someone as consistently meticulous as he was would never make such an oversight. Had Uchiha Ichiro sabotaged the experiment?
What reason would he have? Was this technique harmful to him? Did he not want Izuna revived? Or was he opposed to resurrecting the dead?
Tobirama Senju pondered the possibilities, then ruled them out one by one.
It might not have been Uchiha Ichiro. The shinobi world had plenty of secret techniques. Someone else could have interfered.
If he did not want this technique to succeed, there were other, less noticeable methods available. Simply erasing part of the formula was far too easy to discover. Would he do something so foolish?
I wouldn't do it that way. If I wanted this experiment to fail, I'd either target the experimenter directly and kill him the moment he activated the technique, tamper with the experimental sacrifice, or have my brother Hashirama barge in and cause chaos with a large-scale destructive ninjutsu...
Tobirama Senju continued thinking, unable to shake the feeling that a thick fog shrouded the failure of this experiment, obscuring the truth.
He walked wearily out of the laboratory and was informed that Madara Uchiha had returned to the clan. It felt as though an electric current had shot down his spine, and he froze.
A peculiar idea sprang into his mind, instantly revitalizing him. Scattered clues flashed through his head one after another.
Uchiha Ichiro had learned the truth about his origins.
He had moved out of the Uchiha Clan Compound.
Madara Uchiha had returned to the clan.
Uchiha Ichiro did not want Uchiha Izuna revived.
He had left a gap that all but declared, "I'm the one who sabotaged the technique."
Could that be it? Was that really it?
Uchiha Ichiro, could you be trying to...
Before you continue