He had wanted to stop them, but the moment he saw Izuna fall, his movements slowed for half a beat.
By the time Madara arrived, Izuna had already almost lost consciousness.
The wound beneath his left ribs was deep enough to expose bone, and blood kept pouring out, staining the ground beneath him red.
The wound beside his left eye was not fatal, but it had also left his vision blurred.
"Nii-san..."
Izuna's voice was weak, but he was still trying to prop himself up.
Madara dropped to one knee and pressed both hands tightly against the wound, his Sharingan so red it seemed ready to bleed.
"Don't talk! Hang in there!"
He suddenly raised his head and looked at Tobirama in the distance, the killing intent in his eyes almost solidifying.
Tobirama did not pursue.
He stood where he was, blood dripping from the tip of his blade, looking at the fallen Izuna with a complicated expression. The man who had made him wary had finally fallen.
———
In the void, Arisu quietly watched this scene.
"It's about enough.", Arisu spoke in a low voice.
He had secretly interfered. Otherwise, with Izuna's current strength, Tobirama might not have been able to defeat him.
It was enough for Madara to see his younger brother on the verge of death, enough to completely ignite his hatred, but it would not make Izuna die on the spot, leaving no time for him to leave his eyes to Madara.
Next, he only needed to give him one more push.
———
The battlefield soon fell into a brief pause.
Madara carried Izuna back into the formation, and the Uchiha elites quickly formed a defensive formation.
Hashirama did not order a pursuit. He simply stood where he was in silence, watching Madara's retreating figure.
Tobirama walked over and said in a low voice, "Brother, now is the best opportunity."
Hashirama shook his head.
"Enough."
"If we keep fighting, only more people will die."
"And I still hope we can unite. We shouldn't keep creating hatred...", Hashirama said.
Tobirama frowned but did not try to persuade him again.
He knew his elder brother's personality.
Meanwhile, in the Uchiha formation, Izuna was urgently sent back to the temporary camp.
The clan doctors hurriedly stopped the bleeding and bandaged him, but they all knew clearly that this wound had already damaged his vital organs.
Even if he miraculously survived now, he would not last long.
Madara guarded the bedside without moving.
Izuna's consciousness repeatedly drifted in and out amid the intense pain and blood loss.
He vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
That instant of distraction, that slight stagnation, Tobirama's excessively precise Flying Thunder God...
'Could it... could it really be that fate could not be defied?!'
'Could this world really have some kind of power of correction...'
"System..."
Izuna weakly called out in his heart.
[Here.]
"Prestige... what else can I exchange for to save my life?"
[Current prestige: 4287. Among the available exchanges, there is currently no ability that can completely repair your current fatal injuries. Recommendation: forcibly awaken the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. (Requires a large amount of life force, success rate unknown.)]
Izuna gave a bitter smile.
There was no time.
He knew he would not last much longer...
Izuna felt pain in his heart. Three years, three years, and still nothing had changed...
———
[Three Days Later]
[Temporary Camp]
Izuna's injuries rapidly worsened.
High fever, coughing up blood, consciousness coming and going.
Madara had barely closed his eyes.
He sat beside the bed, holding his younger brother's gradually cold hand, his voice so low it was almost inaudible. "Hang in there... Izuna, hang in there... I'll take you back. The people in the clan will heal you..."
Izuna slowly opened his eyes.
Those eyes had already dimmed, but the instant he saw his elder brother, a trace of clarity flashed through them.
"Nii-san..."
"Stop fighting.", Izuna's voice was hoarse.
Madara froze.
"What?", Uchiha Madara asked in disbelief.
His younger brother had always opposed peace talks in the past, yet now he actually agreed?
"Have peace talks... let's do it."
"Hashirama... isn't a bad person. Hatred... can't solve... anything."
Izuna struggled to breathe.
Although he was a transmigrator, he also knew that Hashirama was not a bad person.
The reason Izuna had refused peace talks before was because he believed he could find a better path.
Now that he was going to die, continuing to fight would not lead to a good result.
Rather than keep struggling, they might as well choose Konoha.
As for whether the Uchiha would be wiped out in the future, there was nothing Izuna could do about that either.
Madara's pupils suddenly contracted.
This was completely opposite to Izuna's resolute refusal of peace talks three years ago.
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"You know better than anyone, don't you? Once we go in, we'll never be able to come back out!"
Madara asked, his voice trembling.
Izuna weakly shook his head.
"I... have thought it through. Father died... so many people died... If we keep fighting, there will only be more people... like me."
Izuna raised his hand, wanting to touch Madara's face, but he could only barely lift it halfway.
"Nii-san... take my eyes... away."
Madara felt as though he had been struck by lightning.
"No..."
"Take them."
"The Mangekyo... needs them. Your brother's eyes are almost blind. You have to become stronger... strong enough that no one can hurt you again... and no one can hurt the Uchiha again."
Izuna's voice suddenly became firm, carrying a kind of calm that was almost like relief.
He planned to do one last thing. After all those years, he had also truly taken on Izuna's identity.
And he had genuinely come to regard Madara as his elder brother.
"I don't need them!"
"You stay alive! What do I care about the eyes?! I want you to live!", Madara roared.
Izuna looked at him and suddenly smiled.
There was weariness and unwillingness in that smile, but there was also the genuine trust and dependence Izuna had for his elder brother.
"I'm sorry... Nii-san. I've left you... alone."
As his words fell, Izuna's hand dropped limply.
The light in his Sharingan completely went out.
Madara held his younger brother's gradually cooling body and wept bitterly.
———
In the void, Arisu quietly watched this scene.
Everything had returned to the track it should have followed in the original story.
Izuna was dead.
His eyes had been left to Madara.
After losing his only family member, Madara's state of mind had completely slid into the abyss of hatred and despair.
And that transmigrator, along with the system, prestige, and all his attempts to change his fate, completely dissipated with the death of this body.
"Finally... it's over.", Arisu spoke in a low voice, with a trace of relief in his voice, but also a trace of weariness that was difficult to describe.
"Next time, can you not take over a key character... What a hassle."
The monitoring barrier in the void slowly closed.
The script of the original story began running again.
Madara would carry those eyes and gradually move toward the Eternal Mangekyo.
He would fall out with Hashirama.
He would fall into Black Zetsu's trap.
He would become the man who would later be consumed by hatred.
And all of this had once again become "correct" because of Izuna's death.
Arisu closed his eyes and casually captured the transmigrator's soul and threw it into the Pure Land.
At the same time, Arisu sent Uchiha Katsu to secretly destroy the ninjutsu Izuna had left behind, intending to completely erase every trace of this transmigrator.
That night, Uchiha Katsu burned the ninjutsu scrolls left behind by Uchiha Izuna, including Raikiri, Rasengan, and so on.
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