"Kehaha KEHAHAHAHAHA!"
When Tobirama Senju saw the blue Susanoo ribcage manifest around Nagato, he burst into a fit of unbridled, maniacal laughter.
Before today, who would have thought the Second Hokage—known for his cold rationality, stoicism, and political ruthless—could laugh like a supervillain?
This laughter was comparable to the "Three Masters of Uchiha Mad Laughter" (Madara, Obito, Sasuke).
The eeriness of this scene made Uchiha Hikari break out in goosebumps.
She quickly hugged Makoto's arm and hid behind him, using him as a human shield.
She was genuinely afraid that this "Natural Enemy of the Uchiha" might have finally lost his mind and was about to start biting people.
While Tobirama was laughing wildly, Makoto remained deaf to it and continued with the final steps.
Whoosh.
The Susanoo skeleton dissipated under Nagato's control.
But then, something strange happened.
The knocked-over tables, scattered surgical instruments, and debris suddenly floated in mid-air and returned to their original positions as if rewinding time.
Tobirama's laughter stopped abruptly.
Frowning, he stared at the repositioned tables.
He hadn't felt any chakra fluctuation, nor did he see any wind release.
"..."
Uchiha Hikari's goosebumps intensified.
'Laughing wildly one second and instantly calm the next second?'
'This is a classic symptom of bipolar disorder or psychopathy, right?'
They say the Uchiha clan has mental issues, but had this old Senju studied the Uchiha so much that he'd been corrupted by their madness too?
"This is the ability of Uchiha Madara's Rinnegan—Limbo: Border Jail. If even this can be used, it seems the Eye Theft is completely successful."
No one else present could see the Limbo clone.
Only Makoto could.
It was precisely because Makoto could see the appearance of the Limbo clone that he could confirm the Rinnegan had indeed been hijacked.
Because the Limbo clone's appearance wasn't Madara's form... it was Nagato's.
Although there was only one shadow (equivalent to Madara's single-eye state), the mere appearance of a Limbo clone was sufficient proof of admin access.
In the original timeline, neither Nagato himself nor Obito (who later wore one Rinnegan) showed any signs of unlocking this specific ability.
It was exclusive to the original owner... until now.
"Limbo: Border Jail?" Tobirama looked at Makoto for an explanation.
"It's a type of advanced Shadow Clone that projects a duplicate of the user into an invisible world called Limbo. The clone exists in a space that overlaps with the physical world but cannot be seen or sensed by ordinary people without Six Paths Senjutsu."
Makoto gave a vivid description.
Tobirama was the inventor of Shadow Clones, so he quickly grasped the general idea.
Just now, he couldn't sense the clone and thought Nagato had gained telekinesis.
"Ordinary people can't see them... which means the user can attack them unilaterally without fear of retaliation?"
Tobirama's face twisted into a sneer.
"Typical. Inherently evil Uchiha Madara... even his ultimate Rinnegan abilities are designed solely to bully the weak who can't fight back. It's truly disgusting."
Tobirama Senju scorned Madara with righteous indignation.
(Somewhere in the Pure Land, Madara sneezed.)
Now Makoto understood why Madara hated the Second Hokage so much.
Not only did Tobirama steal his eyes, but he was also roasting his technique.
No wonder Madara didn't bother stabbing Hashirama with his Black Receiver Rods in the war—he insisted on planting them all in Tobirama's head instead.
It was clearly personal.
With the test complete, Hikari returned the drained chakra to Nagato, and Makoto withdrew the Natural Energy support.
"How does it feel?" Orochimaru stepped forward to ask, his eyes gleaming with scientific curiosity.
"I can still use them... but it's somewhat difficult. Unless..."
Nagato picked up the Natural Energy Stone Makoto had handed him earlier.
He could still use Susanoo and Limbo without external assistance, but it was extremely strenuous.
It was like running a high-end game on a potato PC—it worked, but the lag was insane.
Kakashi could enjoy wielding the Complete Body Susanoo because Obito's ghost transferred his final chakra (enhanced with Six Paths Power). That was with the original owner's permission for "Remote Login."
Now, Nagato was performing a brute-force hack.
Managing this much was already impressive.
But when he held the Stone, the strain vanished.
"Wait. I have a question."
Tobirama suddenly thought of something and reached out to stop Makoto.
"How did the 'Original Madara' who defeated the Five Kage appear in your story of the future?"
Tobirama was referring to the reanimated Madara who dropped two meteors.
"Yakushi Kabuto used Impure World Reincarnation."
"...Yakushi Kabuto?" Tobirama looked at Orochimaru. "That glasses-wearing assistant of yours?"
Before Orochimaru could answer, Tobirama suddenly felt somewhat dejected.
"If Kabuto is our ally now... how could he possibly reanimate Uchiha Madara to fight us? If Madara doesn't appear, how can I show off that I stole his eyes?"
He couldn't possibly forcibly reanimate a major threat like Madara just for his own amusement, could he? That would be irresponsible!
'Eh?'
'Chotto matte?'
Tobirama suddenly realized a flaw in his thinking.
He was stuck in conventional logic.
The Impure World Reincarnation that Orochimaru performed on them (Hashirama, Tobirama) was near-perfect, preserving most of their combat power.
But what about the crappy version Orochimaru used during the "Konoha Crush" exams?
'What if... I deliberately create an inferior Impure World Reincarnation body?'
'What if I bring Madara back with.... stats lower than a Genin?'
'Even if Madara knows the hand seals to release the contract, it would just mean one more indestructible, free-willed weakling.'
'Wouldn't that make it even better for bullying him?'
'Besides, I could completely restrain Madara with sealing jutsu before he could take any action.'
'That way, not only could Madara see his eyes being stolen, but all those bizarre "blackmail materials" Makoto had threatened me with could be used on Madara instead!'
"Hell yeah!"
Tobirama drew a sharp breath of excitement.
The possibilities for torment are endless.
"The only problem now is—where to get Madara's DNA? Surely we can't keep using Turning Illusion into Reality to cheat it into existence?"
So, Tobirama decided to ask Makoto about it.
"Black Zetsu should know. I'll help you ask it later," Makoto replied.
In the original work, Kabuto likely found Madara's corpse because Black Zetsu planted the info, needing a backup plan.
Only Black Zetsu would definitely know where the real body was buried.
....
Outside the Laboratory.
Makoto went to find Kakuzu.
Coincidentally, Hanabi Hyuga and Fuu were lining up to receive their weekly living allowance.
"Kakuzu, do you know where Black Zetsu went?"
"He probably went to watch movies again. I don't know why that glob of goo likes cinema so much."
Kakuzu casually flipped through his thick account book twice before giving his reply.
As someone who counted every single ryo in person, Kakuzu naturally understood every transaction.
When Black Zetsu secretly took petty cash to buy movie tickets before, Kakuzu only needed to cross-check the accounts.
Combined with the fact that they held shares in both the cinema chain and the film production companies, he figured it out immediately.
Kakuzu didn't mind much; he just recorded it as "Business Expense: Zetsu Entertainment."
"Alright."
Makoto could only temporarily set aside the matter of Madara's corpse.
Let "Black Zetsu" (Kaguya) watch more movies.
This was essentially a passive opportunity to continuously increase favorability—Mother Kaguya learning about human emotion through cinema.
It shouldn't be interrupted!
"Um... Makoto-niisan?"
A small hand tugged at Makoto's sleeve as he was about to leave.
"Could you train me? I've recently developed a new technique..." Hanabi Hyuga looked up at him with expectant eyes.
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator