"Hah!"
"So you actually regret it, Hashirama?"
Uchiha Madara suddenly burst into loud laughter.
"I told you long ago. Your choice back then was far too naïve."
"What you left behind for later generations was nothing but a mess."
Madara's mood was extremely good.
Regret?
That word had never existed in his dictionary.
The fact that Senju Hashirama now questioned his own decision was enough to satisfy him.
After all, the two of them had fought their entire lives.
Their bond was complicated—both friendship and rivalry intertwined.
In the entire ninja world, the only person who could truly stir Madara's heart was Senju Hashirama.
Because of their different beliefs, they had eventually walked separate paths.
Madara had always believed Hashirama chose the wrong road.
But he had never been able to defeat Hashirama in battle.
Now hearing Hashirama admit doubt for the first time—
Madara finally felt that he had won once.
And that victory brought him immense satisfaction.
---
"Madara…"
Hashirama spoke slowly.
"Yes, I have begun to doubt my original choice."
"But even now, I still believe your path was wrong."
"Peace built on fear and bloodshed can never last."
Madara sneered.
"That's exactly where your naïveté lies, Hashirama."
"The ninja world has always been a world where the strong devour the weak."
"The strong suppress the weak."
"The weak bow their heads and flatter the strong."
"They pretend to live peacefully together."
"But once the pressure disappears—"
Madara made an explosive gesture with his hands.
"Boom!"
"Everyone tears off their masks and reveals their true fangs."
He glanced around the arena with contempt.
"When you were alive, the ninja world appeared peaceful."
"But the moment you died…"
"The First Great Ninja War erupted."
"Is that example not clear enough?"
---
Madara continued coldly.
"Look at these people."
"They may belong to a different era, but they're exactly the same as those from ours."
"Interests."
"Hatred."
"Grudges."
"Every ten or twenty years, everything explodes into war again."
"Then they lick their wounds."
"They recover."
"And when the next generation grows up…"
"The cycle begins all over again."
Madara sighed in annoyance.
"I'm already tired of watching it."
"From beginning to end, nothing has changed."
---
Madara's words made the entire audience fall silent.
Many people felt complicated emotions.
Nagato's eyes even lit up slightly.
He looked at Madara with admiration.
As expected of the legendary Madara.
He described the truth perfectly.
---
Hashirama suddenly slapped his thigh.
"Wait a minute, Madara."
"You died before me, didn't you?"
"So how do you know what happened after I died?"
"You just came back through Impure World Reincarnation."
"That doesn't make sense."
Madara froze.
Then he turned his head away proudly.
"Hmph."
"It's easy to guess."
Hashirama nodded sincerely.
"I see."
"Madara, you're really smart!"
Naruto couldn't help chiming in.
"First Hokage-sama, believing everything people say like that…"
"You're very smart indeed."
"Hahaha!"
Hashirama laughed proudly.
"I've always thought I was pretty smart!"
Tsunade covered her face.
She really didn't want to watch anymore.
The God of Shinobi's reputation seemed to drop several levels instantly.
---
Naruto shrugged casually.
"Sorry, First Hokage."
"But I really can't keep lying to you."
"I should tell you the truth."
"Your good friend Madara didn't die at the Valley of the End."
"You've been dead for decades."
"But he lived on."
"He witnessed the Three Great Ninja Wars personally."
"He's had quite a long life."
Madara's eyes instantly turned cold.
"Shut up, brat!"
His killing intent surged forward.
The members of Akatsuki behind Naruto trembled.
Even Suigetsu quickly hid behind Jūgo in fear.
Naruto simply shrugged.
He didn't react at all.
---
"That's impossible."
Hashirama frowned.
"I saw Madara die with my own eyes."
Naruto smiled lightly.
"Have you never heard of the Uchiha clan's forbidden technique?"
"Izanagi."
"With that technique, a user can sacrifice a Sharingan to rewrite reality."
"Even death can be reversed."
"It's more than enough to fake one's death."
Hashirama froze.
He turned to look at Madara.
Madara crossed his arms proudly and refused to answer.
---
"Izanagi?"
Many ninja whispered in confusion.
"The Uchiha clan has a technique like that?"
"It's a forbidden technique."
"It's not surprising most people have never heard of it."
"Besides, only a few members of the Uchiha clan remain now."
"The technique may have already been lost."
The audience buzzed with discussion.
But the real leaders of the ninja world felt something else—
Fear.
Madara had hidden himself for decades.
Someone that powerful wouldn't remain silent without a reason.
There had to be a massive conspiracy behind it.
And the unknown was the most terrifying thing.
---
Madara stared coldly at Naruto.
"Brat."
"How do you know all this?"
He glanced suspiciously at Zetsu and Obito.
Naruto laughed.
"Madara's plan has already failed."
"Zetsu and Obito are now my subordinates."
"Even the Gedo Statue is in my hands."
"Do you really think your Infinite Tsukuyomi can still succeed?"
Madara's expression darkened.
---
Hashirama looked completely confused.
"Madara?"
"What is Infinite Tsukuyomi?"
"And what's the Gedo Statue?"
"I don't understand anything."
The rest of the audience was equally bewildered.
But the more perceptive people understood one thing—
Madara had spent decades planning something terrifying.
---
Naruto continued calmly.
"Everyone must be curious."
"What kind of plan could a legend like Uchiha Madara spend decades preparing?"
He paused.
"The story begins with the Battle of the Valley of the End."
"Madara lost to the First Hokage."
"But he survived by pretending to die."
"At the same time, he secretly took a piece of Hashirama's flesh."
"Years later, by combining that flesh with his own body…"
"Madara awakened the ultimate power of the Sharingan."
"The legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths."
"The Rinnegan."
The entire arena erupted in shock.
Everyone's eyes instantly turned toward Nagato.
Nagato himself looked stunned.
---
Naruto continued.
"Madara was truly ruthless."
"Not just toward others—but toward himself."
"After awakening the Rinnegan…"
"He dug out those eyes with his own hands."
"And implanted them into a young child."
"That child became the first pawn of his plan."
Nagato's face turned pale.
---
Naruto went on.
"Madara still didn't feel secure."
"So he found another young Uchiha boy severely injured during a war."
"He rescued the boy."
"And carefully arranged a tragedy that shattered the boy's world."
"That boy's personality completely changed."
"He fell into darkness."
"And became Madara's second pawn."
Obito suddenly raised his head.
His body trembled uncontrollably.
Across the arena, Kakashi's face turned pale.
His mind felt like it had been struck by lightning.
---
Naruto's voice continued calmly.
"These pawns were carefully arranged."
"The darkened Uchiha boy monitored the first pawn."
"The pawn with the Rinnegan continued forward along the path Madara planned."
"Finally, after arranging everything…"
"Madara allowed himself to die of old age."
Madara sneered but said nothing.
---
Naruto kept speaking.
"The boy with the Rinnegan never knew where his eyes came from."
"He believed they were a divine gift."
"Together with his companions, he formed a small organization."
"They wanted to bring peace to the ninja world."
"That organization was called…"
"Akatsuki."
---
The crowd fell silent.
"The Akatsuki were born in the Hidden Rain Village."
"They tried to stop wars."
"They wanted to bring peace."
"But the malice of the ninja world crushed them."
Naruto's voice grew colder.
"The darkened Uchiha boy…"
"Shimura Danzo of Konoha…"
"And Hanzo of the Salamander…"
"All conspired together."
"They destroyed this peace-seeking organization before it could grow."
---
Naruto continued.
"The Rinnegan boy watched his closest friend die."
"The Akatsuki members were slaughtered."
"He himself was crippled."
"Only one companion remained."
"At that moment…"
"He changed."
Naruto's voice echoed across the plains.
"The world gave me pain."
"So I will return pain to the world."
"From that day on, the Rinnegan boy devoted his life to making the world feel pain."
Nagato clenched his fists.
---
"The darkened Uchiha boy then approached him."
"The two joined forces."
"And rebuilt the Akatsuki organization."
"But this new Akatsuki abandoned the ideal of peace."
"They gathered rogue ninja and criminals."
"And became the infamous terrorist organization known throughout the ninja world."
---
Nagato suddenly turned toward Obito.
His eyes burned with anger.
He had always known Obito had his own motives.
But he never realized Obito had been involved from the very beginning.
Konan's fists clenched with killing intent.
Jiraiya lowered his head.
Now he finally understood why his former students had become monsters.
---
The audience felt conflicted.
Akatsuki—
Were they villains?
Or victims of tragedy?
No one knew how to answer.
---
Naruto continued calmly.
"The darkened Uchiha boy didn't stop there."
"He infiltrated the Hidden Mist Village."
"He placed the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, under his control."
"Under his manipulation…"
"The Mist Village became the infamous Bloody Mist."
"Clans were exterminated."
"Elite ninja died or defected."
"One of the Five Great Villages was nearly destroyed."
---
Naruto's voice grew colder.
"He also sneaked into Konoha."
"And released the Nine-Tails."
"The Nine-Tails Incident caused massive destruction."
"The Fourth Hokage and his wife died that night."
Uzumaki Naruto clenched his fists in anger.
His eyes scanned the Akatsuki members.
---
Naruto continued.
"Years later…"
"The Uchiha boy returned to Konoha again."
"This time his target was the Uchiha clan itself."
"That night…"
"Under the plans of multiple forces…"
"The Uchiha boy cooperated with others."
"And slaughtered the entire clan."
"The Uchiha Massacre."
---
Sasuke suddenly stood up.
His eyes locked onto Obito.
Killing intent burst from his body.
No one else understood Naruto's meaning.
But Sasuke did.
Among Akatsuki—
Only two people had Sharingan.
Itachi…
And Obito.
---
Sasuke's voice trembled with rage.
"Obito…"
"You destroyed the Uchiha clan?"
Even Uchiha Madara could not help asking the same question.
-------------------------
For advanced chapters, visit patreon.com/Varnok