Chapter Thirty-Four: Uchiha Madara, the Master of the Counterstab!

“Madara… Grandpa…”
Tsunade hesitantly called out the familiar address.

“Little Tsunade, you’re such a good girl. Can you tell me what exactly is happening right now?”
Uchiha Madara showed not the slightest hint of hostility; instead, he appeared exceedingly amiable, just like a kindly old grandfather.

Onoki, A, Mei Terumi, Gaara, and the others exchanged glances. Onoki shook his head, signaling them to remain calm. As the longest-living Kage present, he understood better than anyone how terrifying Madara was.
Together with Hashirama Senju, he once held up the sky with a single hand and suppressed an entire era. How could such a force be defeated so easily?

“Hao Yun…”
Tsunade, somewhat at a loss, turned her gaze to Hao Yun.

Hao Yun stroked his chin. Unlike Obito, Hao Yun actually held Madara in high regard. Whether it was his creation of peace alongside Hashirama, or his attempt to initiate the Eye of the Moon Plan, Madara, in truth, only had one goal—peace!
He was unlike Obito, who sought only to destroy the world for personal desires… Madara genuinely wanted to save this world!
In essence, he was much like Nagato… In Hao Yun’s view, Madara was a good man deceived by others, just perhaps a bit too ruthless.

“Madara!~ What are you doing? Do you still want to carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan or not?”
Black Zetsu, watching Madara converse with the Allied Shinobi Forces, couldn’t help but jump out, trying to incite Madara to act.

“Noisy!”
With a casual flick of his hand, Madara unleashed his Rinnegan at full power. Under the force of Almighty Push, Black Zetsu’s body shot backwards like a cannonball, crashing violently into a hill and literally blasting out a giant entrance in the shape of a character!

On the scene, Sasuke, Itachi, and Nagato—the three who possessed the Rinnegan—all swallowed hard… As expected of a superpower who suppressed an era, Madara’s mastery of the Rinnegan was simply overwhelming!
Could they really stand against Madara?

Hao Yun furrowed his brow slightly. Even without fusing with the Ten-Tails and reaching his peak as in the story, Madara’s current display was undoubtedly at the Six Paths level.
Perhaps fusing with the Ten-Tails and the Rinnegan only granted him a few more ultimate forbidden techniques?

“Mr. Madara, perhaps you could listen to this.”

Bringing out his ultimate weapon—a tape recorder—Hao Yun played the true history of the ninja world.
Unlike the others, Uchiha Madara showed no surprise as he listened, as though he already knew.

“Grandpa Madara, did you already know all of this?”
Relying on her junior status before Madara, Tsunade took the initiative to ask.

As expected, Madara’s response was just what Hao Yun anticipated.

“I knew Black Zetsu was deceiving me. In fact, I was using him for my own resurrection, and then, with my overwhelming strength, I intended to suppress the Five Great Shinobi Villages into uniting, forcing them under the threat of a sword hanging above their heads… What I didn’t expect was that his true aim was to resurrect an otherworldly deity.”

So, from start to finish, Madara only ever wanted to be the ultimate villain, suppressing the shinobi world and forcing them to unite.
This was always the greatest point of contention between Madara and Hashirama.

“We’ve reformed the shinobi world. Here are the details of our reforms and recent changes in the Land of Fire.”
Hao Yun signaled behind him, and Tsunade quickly handed over the reports that had arrived recently.

Madara leafed through them, sighing as he read.
“This is truly impressive—a thousand pounds of grain per acre, ten times what we used to harvest… New chakra-powered vehicles? Three times faster than carriages—I’d love to try one… Handheld gaming consoles? We never had anything like that in my day…”

The more Madara read, the more excited he became—especially when he saw the statistics for newborns and the population census. He was utterly delighted.
With no more wars, the people cared for from childhood to old age—wasn’t this the world he and Hashirama once dreamed of?

“You’re not from our world, are you?”
Finishing the reports, Madara’s gaze fixed on Hao Yun. In the crowd, Hao Yun was the only one who hadn’t trained in chakra.
And with so many changes, a development driven by technology with ninjutsu as a supplement, along with the red ideology in the newspapers—these were ideas no native of this world could have conceived.
So, Madara immediately guessed Hao Yun’s identity.

“Mr. Madara, you truly are perceptive.” Hao Yun didn’t hide anything. “I am indeed from another world. But unlike Kaguya Otsutsuki, who pursued power, I simply enjoy traveling and seeing the landscapes of different worlds.”

“Then why do you wish to change our world? Don’t you have any desires of your own?”
Madara’s deep gaze fixed upon Hao Yun. He didn’t believe in windfalls—he believed in the exchange of interests.

“Uh… Well, I suppose I do have a small request.”

Hao Yun scratched his head and said, “I have an interest in chakra cultivation and ninjutsu, and I hope to acquire more ninjutsu in the future. But research by a single person is always limited. I hope the shinobi world can develop peacefully so that more diverse ninjutsu can be discovered and developed.”
“Trust me, I mean your world no harm. Besides, there’s a passage between your world and that of Kaguya Otsutsuki. If you don’t unite, the Otsutsuki clan will invade sooner or later, and your world will become a dead planet.”

For the first time, Hao Yun openly revealed the future of the Naruto world to everyone present.

Instantly, the pupils of all the powerful shinobi contracted. They knew the source of their abilities—apart from natural energy, most bloodline limits came from Kaguya Otsutsuki.
When the Otsutsuki clan invaded, could they really stop such power with their current strength?

“Is what you say true?”
Uchiha Madara’s brow furrowed tightly. An invasion from another world, the destruction of their own?
If Hao Yun spoke the truth, then even if Black Zetsu hadn’t deceived him—even if Madara succeeded in the Eye of the Moon Plan—the world would still be destroyed after the invasion.
At that point, he would truly become a sinner!

“Of course. If you don’t believe me, you can visit the moon. There, the purest bloodline of the Otsutsuki can be found!”
Hao Yun didn’t hesitate to reveal the existence of the Otsutsuki on the moon. After all, they weren’t exactly harmless—if Madara wiped them out, all the better!

Without delay, Madara used his repulsive force to send himself to the moon… Five hours later, he returned to Hao Yun and the Allied Forces.

“What you said is true. There is indeed Otsutsuki blood on the moon.”
Madara cast a deep glance at Hiashi Hyuga, then waved his hand and drew the gravely wounded Black Zetsu to him, channeling his Rinnegan at full power.

“Chibaku Tensei! Sealing!”
The earth surged, swirling around Black Zetsu and forming a massive sphere, which Madara then hurled out of the shinobi world.

And so, the shinobi world gained another moon…

As for Madara, the moment Black Zetsu was sealed, his body collapsed, turning to dust.

“Keep my cells. When the invaders come, remember to resurrect me so I can atone for the shinobi world…”

(P.S.: The next chapter will conclude the shinobi world arc, and it’s off to roam in Marvel!)