[Watching Guy freeze in place, perhaps only Lee in the entire audience had the right to understand him—only he could say this: In front of a man who has already resolved himself, any tears or sorrow would be the greatest insult.]
[Fighting someone using the Eight Gates is a rare opportunity. The Guy in front of him displayed an astonishing level of power, which only made Six Paths Madara more interested.]
"Not only is he interested, but I'm also extremely interested."
In the Second Hokage Timeline, Madara paid no attention to the "friendly" exchange between Izuna and Tobirama.
He watched the light screen with excitement, watching his counterpart clash with Eight Gates Guy.
"Hashirama, next time I cross over, I'm going to the Third Hokage Timeline to fight Guy. Don't worry, I'll pay for it."
Seeing Madara so thrilled, Hashirama felt awkward trying to stop him.
After all, Madara did say he would pay.
Once the Eight Gates are opened, Guy will surely die. But with enough money, Orochimaru on that side could bring him back.
And since they needed to clone a good body for Little Lee, Guy would most likely agree.
That way, Madara gets to experience fighting the Eight Gates, and Guy can raise the funds needed for Lee's cloning.
A true win-win situation.
But even if it's a win-win, the smiling Tobirama—who had just pocketed five thousand ryō—had something to say.
"Madara, we're supposed to go to the Third Hokage Timeline for an actual mission next time."
"You think Hashirama can't handle a weakened Kaguya by himself?"
According to Tobirama's plan, their next trip to the Third Timeline was to release that version of Kaguya and then 'win her over with virtue' so she would join Konoha.
The Kaguya from the Fifth Timeline had already joined them, so there was no reason the one from the Third couldn't do the same, right?
"It takes time to get Black Zetsu out of the Shinigami's stomach. Performing the Infinite Tsukuyomi to resurrect Kaguya also takes time. And subduing her takes even more time. We only have an hour to stay here, and you still want to go fight Guy? That's way too tight."
"I get needing time to get Black Zetsu out—just think of it as doing Kaguya a favor. But who says we have to use Infinite Tsukuyomi to bring her back? She's sealed in the moon, right? So why not just destroy the moon and let her out?"
"Destroy the moon? Hm… I mean, it's not impossible. But how do we fix it afterward?"
"Why would I care? It's not even the moon of our timeline."
"You're seriously unreliable, you know that?"
Madara of the Six Paths shrugged and replied, "Fine, I'm not unreasonable. That version of me over there is about to recover anyway, right? Since we're the same person, I'll let him figure it out."
"."
Third Timeline.
The Uchiha Madara of this timeline was still in recovery.
But Izuna, who knew his brother's personality very well, was sure that if Madara found out how powerful the Eighth Gate–Released Might Guy was, he'd definitely challenge him to a fight.
Either Madara would kill him, or be killed himself.
But since resurrection techniques existed, so be it—let them fight.
The problem was, Izuna was flat broke.
And he definitely couldn't ask Konoha to cover the cost of resurrection.
He was someone who valued his pride—there was no way he could do something that shameful.
"So what should I do then?"
After thinking for a while, Izuna came up with a not-so-great idea.
Robbery.
Yeah—don't get it wrong. He wasn't going to rob anyone himself.
He'd send the fully recovered Madara to do it.
"Tsunade, Orochimaru, how long until my brother recovers?"
Tsunade and Orochimaru exchanged a glance. Then Tsunade answered, "Madara's recovery is going much better than expected. He should be fully healed before the next month's Light Screen Video begins."
"That's good to hear."
[Regarding this battle, I personally believe that a lot of people think Six Paths Madara was holding back a bit, maybe even enjoying himself. After all, his overwhelming pressure isn't something a goofball like Guy could ever match.]
[But the result proved that Madara went too far with the playing around.]
[From the very first kick, even though Madara blocked it, no one expected Guy's Evening Elephant to get faster and more painful with each strike.]
[Before the shockwave of the first kick had even faded, all the attacks had already landed.]
[It wasn't that Madara didn't want to dodge—he physically couldn't move at that moment.]
[By the time the fifth kick was charging up, Madara finally reacted. He defended while using his Truth-Seeking Balls to counter.]
[The power of the Truth-Seeking Balls is insane. They can destroy Edo Tensei bodies completely, ignoring their regeneration. If they had hit Guy, he would've been done for.]
[But Guy wasn't fighting alone. He had his comrades' support.]
[Lee threw a kunai for the Fourth Hokage to teleport to. Then Minato used Flying Thunder God to coordinate with Kakashi's Kamui, allowing Guy's fist to reach Madara's face at point-blank range.]
[As a result, not only did Madara cough up blood, even his supposedly invincible Six Paths shield was shattered by a mortal.]
[Honestly, if Madara didn't have the Six Paths Sage Body to rapidly recover, just the Evening Elephant alone would've been enough to finish him.]
[At that moment, even though Madara's words were mocking, his heart was already cursing. His laugh trembled. He had clearly underestimated this mortal.]
[In fact, ever since Madara's resurrection, the entire tone of Naruto had become extremely oppressive.]
[No matter who it is, no matter how they fight, they always lose instantly. There's basically no fun in it.]
"Feeling oppressed? Isn't that completely normal?"
It was still during the Second Hokage's timeline.
Madara nodded proudly.
With his overwhelming and unbeatable strength, wasn't it natural for the so-called heroes of the ninja world—those 'twisted melons and rotten dates'—to feel crushed in front of him?
If the protagonist side didn't feel oppressed, how else could it highlight how powerful the antagonist—himself—was?
"But despite being so powerful and unbeatable, you still got backstabbed by Black Zetsu in the end."
"Damn it."
Madara glared furiously at Tobirama, who had just stabbed him verbally, and said seriously, "I'll say this one last time: the one who got his heart gouged out by Black Zetsu wasn't me. That was the idiot from the Fifth Hokage Timeline."
"That's not right. You just said earlier that the version of you from the Third Timeline was also you. But now the one from the Fifth Timeline isn't you? Are you being a hypocrite?"
"."
Madara opened his mouth but didn't know how to respond.
Seeing his big brother trapped in an awkward situation, Izuna quietly tugged at Madara's sleeve and gave him a look.
Madara understood instantly. He immediately turned to Hashirama and said, "Hashirama, are you going to control your brother or not? If you won't, then I will."
You're doing this to help me manage him?
Looks to me like you're just trying to beat my little brother to death!
Hashirama pursed his lips and looked over at his younger brother. "Tobirama… you…"
"Okay, big brother, I won't say anything more."
At that moment, Tobirama decisively chose to back down.
Tobirama: Don't get me wrong. I'm not afraid of Madara. I just don't want to make things difficult for my big brother.
Izuna: Heh. You think I'd believe that?
Tobirama: Whether you believe it or not, I do.
︿(￣︶￣)︿
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