章 90: Chapter 91

Since I mapped the underground by sensing the surrounding before, I easily found one of the entrances leading to the cave and carefully moved inside since there were a few traps settled down there, not dangerous for my life but still annoying enough as this would slow me down.

And as I was close to the end, I heard a voice declare "I don't remember Chikako having such footsteps." since I didn't come in stealthily

"And I didn't remember the legendary Madara Uchiha to look like a highly advanced cancer patient, and believe me, I know how it is." I retorted as I appeared in front of him, finally facing the legendary Uchiha that honestly looked like he would die just with just a fling on the forehead

"How did you get here?" Madara asked as he stayed surprisingly calm in such a delicate situation

"Really? Do you truly believe that I, the Hokage, would not try and catch the culprit of Konoha's destruction that should have happened yesterday?" I replied, making him frown as he surely caught on to my words

"Should have happened?" he wondered as he kept his ever-dangerous frown on his face while I began to chuckle just by thinking about what I was going to say

"The village has never been as safe and sound as today, trust me, what 'your' little Black Zetsu told you was but a grandiose illusion made by yours, truly." I declared as I elegantly bowed like a comedian thanking his public

"How do you kn-" Madara began to ask while losing his usual cold tone but I interrupted him by adding "Come on, I've known about you and your little scheme for ages now... To be more precise, I even know what would truly happen if you achieved your plan, unlike you." before quickly closing and opening my eyes to reveal my Rinne Sharingan since I hid them by keeping my eyes light blue most of the time

"Those eyes... How can you have them? No, they look different from what I expected- is it because you didn't get them the proper way?" Madara wondered without expressing much fear or surprise, instead, he was curious and slightly greedy

'Is he believing that I want to achieve the Eye of the Moon Plan just like him? Seems like he was misled by my previous words but that would explain why he's back to his calm and composed attitude' I thought as he might think of me as a fellow Uchiha who, after experiencing multiple wars, was seeking peace the same way as him

"You're right, I didn't get my Dōjutsu the 'proper way', however, it does not mean that my eyes are weaker, not in the slightest. Nevertheless, I didn't come here to help you with your plan, no, I came here to... Talk, and also bring you to my side, preferably." I first explained as I sighed because of the misunderstanding between us, my words making him more hostile to me now that I denied my willingness to help with his plan

"... But, since I know well enough that changing your opinion just with words is a lost cause, I have a suggestion for you." I added before he could retort since someone like him who was set on his plan for decades was not going to change with just a talk, after all, I didn't have the wonderful Talk-no-Jutsu

"A suggestion?" Madara asked as he didn't have anything to lose by accepting whatever I would suggest since he at least knew that I had the upper hand right now

Well, he doesn't know that Black Zetsu is already taken care of and that Chikako is no longer brainwashed, which means that no one will continue his plan if he died, which means that I have the upper hand forever.

"More like a bet." I said as I smiled before adding "Quite simple, we will have a fair fight, a good old one-on-one as fellow shinobi. If you win, then I will follow your plan and willingly give you the power of the Ten-Tails so that you can finish it. If I win, however, you will listen to everything I have to say and vow that you will protect Konoha with me while completely forgetting about your 'Eye of the Moon Plan'."

"Hmph, it isn't that fair now, is it? After all, I'm already on my death bed while you are at your peak." Madara complained but I only smirked and, since he kept on looking at me right in the eyes, I used Kunitokotachi and brought both of us into the same blank space as before

This time, Madara was a lot more surprised as he looked around and understood that I used a Genjutsu he didn't know about, after all, he only knew about Suijin for my Mangekyô ability which may be why he wasn't scared about looking at me in the eyes since all Genjutsu related to the Sharingan wouldn't affect him, or so he believed.

"What kind of illusion..?" Madara wondered as he tried to see past me if there was an exit or anything other than us but then realized that something happened with his body

"Ah, here, take a look at yourself." I said as I made a crystal mirror, making Madara dumbfounded as he saw that his body was back to its peak state, even more, he had the Rinnegan which made him even more shocked

"This... Genjutsu is more than a mere illusion, in fact, you would retain this appearance and everything that goes with it if I stop the technique, as long as I want to, of course. But that's only possible because I reverted your body to its most powerful state, and you're lucky that I 'found' you alive because I wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise." I explained as he clenched his hands and manifested some chakra to see if I was telling the truth

"Reverted? But I didn't have the Rinnegan at that time, you did something else didn't you?" Madara asked as he manifested one of the Rinnegan's power to see if they were the real deal, and yes they were

"You're a lot more curious and talkative than what I expected..." I mumbled before replying "To be more precise, I reverted every single 'part' of your body to their peak state, meaning that your eyes were at their peak as the Rinnegan, while, for example, your lungs were at their peak when you were 33 and your heart around 29." without being detailed enough to tell him that each cell composing his body might have reached their peak at a different time, even for the same organ

Yeah, it was actually a lot more complex than just 'revitalizing him to being thirty years old', but that was nothing to me since I know the human body better than anyone else in this world, and with even more details thanks to my eyes.

"Mh." Madara mumbled before cracking his neck as he turned to face me and added "So you said you wanted a duel?" with an obvious enthusiasm since he was a battle junkie

"Pft, that's at least one thing we have in common." I let out a small chuckle before snapping my fingers, which changed our surroundings to the Valley of the End so that we could have a real place to fight without damaging something in reality

"Still in your Genjutsu? How far does it go?" Madara asked but got his answer by checking himself when he saw that the area stopped a few miles away

"Large enough to fight each other, don't you think?" I said as I also stretched a little before taking off my cloak

Since he had the Rinnegan and so did I, using chakra-based Ninjutsu techniques was not going to work... Well, using the environment with Earth Release would still work to some extent.

As such, it was going to be more of a Taijutsu battle than anything else.

And in that regard, I truly want to spar against him.

"Now... Let's begin, shall we?" I said as both of us took a stance and smirked, our blood boiling from excitement

And not even a second later, we darted toward each other, Madara with his hand ready to stab my throat while mine was clenched and aimed at his guts.

To evade his blow, I had to turn my body sideways while keeping the arm I was using to punch him aimed at his guts, but he blocked my attack with his other hand before taking advantage of my loss of balance by tackling my legs with one of his own, using the strength I put in my arm to throw me down.

However, before he could successfully slam me to the ground, I used my free hand to keep some balance by pushing the ground with it before using the back of my foot to kick Madara's head.

Surprisingly, while I expected him to evade by leaning his head backward, he actually bent his upper body in a way that made my kick go above him before releasing my hand to use his own as footing to deliver a spinning kick aiming at my flank.

Getting pushed away by the blow, I spun my body before rooting my feet and one of my hands into the ground, preventing me from getting knocked back further.

"Oh? Not bad, kid." Madara let out as he pulled out the Kunai I stabbed him with the hand he allowed me to use again from his right leg

"I mean, I used the opportunity you gave me." I let out before forcing him to jump as I made the ground below him crumble

I then once again took advantage of the situation and teleported to his right as he kept the Kunai in his hand before sending a downward kick right on his head, sending him back down.

*CRASH*

Dust began to cover the area as his body met the ground, something that didn't matter since my eyes were capable of seeing through.

And thankfully they did because Madara began to raise his hand toward me and I knew what was coming as he muttered 'Banshō Ten'in' and my body suddenly got pulled to him while his other hand was ready to stab me with the Kunai I previously used.

I covered my upper body with Crystal Release the moment I was in range, preventing the Kunai from dealing any damage as he aimed for the side of my head while I had my arms in an X-shape in front of me to prevent his other hand from grabbing me by the neck after the pull.

'You want to use the Rinnegan? Alright' I quickly thought before opening my mouth as he was kind off stuck below me, revealing a mechanical canon that began to charge a Senjutsu-based beam from it while six mechanical arms sprouting from my back locked themselves into the ground

Madara sensed that what I prepared wasn't made of chakra and therefore would directly hurt him, but he couldn't move from where he was nor could he push me away- or so I expected but he suddenly said "Shinra Tensei" and propelled me far away back into the sky

While I was slightly surprised that he could use it not even three seconds after using Banshō Ten'in, Nagato being forced to wait five seconds, I now remembered that Nagato wasn't the original owner of his Rinnegan and was therefore nerfed, unlike Madara who had his own Dōjutsu instead.

'Mh, I don't even have such a long cooldown either so I should have expected that' I thought as I manifested my left wing made of chakra to lessen the repulsion while my Senjutsu Beam was still charging, and, the moment I was no longer pushed back, I launched the beam where Madara was, creating a giant explosion that destroyed everything around

"So you could use Senjutsu but didn't until now, are you making fun of me?! Did you really hold back?!" Madara exclaimed as he appeared floating in the sky but not completely unscathed since I noticed some blood dripping from his left arm

"That's one of my biggest flaws, why, do you want me to go at full power?" I let out as I unleashed my Sage-Mode, manifesting my real right-wing while black marking began to cover my face

"Of course, it wouldn't be fun otherwise." Madara then exclaimed before manifesting a giant entity made of dark blue chakra I recognized as his Complete Body Susanoo

While he did so, I decided to show him how one-sided it will be as I activated the Gate of Wonder by puncturing my body slightly under my stomach, creating a light blue aura from my sweat, before adding the Lightning Release Chakra Mode to increase my reaction time as well as boosting my speed even further with Swift Release.

I then manifested my own Complete Body Susanoo which was similar to his own but white colored and condensed it around me, making me wear the armor instead of having the whole massive body, before unsheathing Masamune which was also covered by my Susanoo's chakra and was far longer than usual.

I noticed a mix of curiosity, excitement, and slight concern on Madara's face when he saw me power-boost myself in an instant, but, as the shinobi he was, he did not falter and was eager to see how it will go.

'Just one strike' I thought before disappearing from where I stood, even faster than using the Flying Thunder God Technique but I simply dashed forward while holding my sword with my two hands to unleash a vertical strike that split his Susanoo in two right when I sheathed back my sword

But it didn't end there as it split the ground and the sky as well, all the way to the end of the area I made for our fight, creating a powerful gust of wind while Madara's Susanoo vanished and his now cut in half body was now falling along with a lot of blood.

'Damn, I'm glad I decided to fight in my Genjutsu because I would've created two countries from the Land of Rice Fields' I thought since I based our arena on the Valley of the End and my strike was aimed toward their side of the valley

Nevertheless, since our duel was over, I stopped every technique I was maintaining and started to sew Madara's body back to how he was since he didn't die from being cut in two, at least not in my Genjutsu.

"So I lost." Madara mumbled the moment he could talk again, not disgruntled by his defeat

"Indeed. Now, you will keep your end of the bet?" I replied as I hoped that there wouldn't be any need for me to brainwash him

"...Yes, I will hear what you have to say, it's not like I can do anything now, isn't that right?" Madara replied as he was still lying down and only looked at the sky and the subtle 'projection' of the moon I made along with the arena as a decoration

"You know what, instead of words, I believe showing you will be far more effective." I said as I got the idea to use my Genjutsu and our surrounding as a way to project some selected memories of mine

I will show him some parts of my conversation with Hagoromo but the most useful thing to show will be Black Zetsu's memories as well as my interrogation of him.

If Madara still believes that his plan is the only way then he's a lost cause... But I still have one trump card, after all, he did change a lot after someone's death...