Chapter 472: Izuna
"...Mm? What exactly is this...?"
Consciousness struggled to break through layers of darkness and void's obstruction, finally surfacing with difficulty. Uchiha Izuna, carrying the confusion and wariness of first awakening, opened his eyes.
The first thing that entered his vision was a... extremely familiar, yet as if separated by endless years before seeing again, face.
That countenance was more mature, weathered, angular than in memory, written full of a strong person's dignity. But those eyes gazing at him now churned with emotions Izuna had never seen—uncontrolled excitement and wild joy.
"Bro... Brother?"
Izuna's voice carried the hoarseness and uncertainty of just awakening, weakly uttering this address.
"Izuna?!"
Confirming his brother had truly opened his eyes, Uchiha Madara's constantly taut nerves instantly relaxed, then were submerged by even more surging emotions.
He could no longer control himself. Both hands suddenly grasped Izuna's shoulders, which had solidified considerably more than just now. The force was so great, as if wanting to press this recovered younger brother back to his side, never to be separated again.
His gaze locked unblinkingly on Izuna's face, as if wanting to carve this face belonging to his most important person, along with this unbelievable reunion at this moment, fiercely and permanently into the deepest part of his soul, never daring to forget again.
Not a genjutsu, nor a disguise. Madara not only clearly sensed Izuna's Uchiha chakra sharing the same origin as his own, but more so at the soul level, sensed that indistinct, blood-relative-originated, uncuttable invisible connection becoming warm again.
This was his brother! The brother he thought he had parted from forever, could only make amends for in the Infinite Tsukuyomi's illusion—Uchiha Izuna!
"Brother... your eyes?"
Izuna adapted to the feeling of wakefulness. The first thing he noticed was Madara's eyes that differed from memory. Immediately after, he rapidly looked around.
"Where is this? I... I should already be... dead. Damn it, what exactly is happening? Could it be... that bastard Senju Tobirama did this?!"
As an old enemy who had crossed hands with Senju Tobirama multiple times, Izuna deeply knew the danger and utter lack of bottom line in the other party's forbidden technique research.
Able to awaken the already dead in this state—aside from that white-haired Senju who could desecrate even the deceased to develop forbidden techniques, he really couldn't think of a second candidate.
"...I'm also not very clear about the current situation."
Uchiha Madara loosened some force, but his hands still rested on his brother's shoulders. "However, Izuna... actually, I've also long since died."
"What?!" Izuna abruptly raised his head to look at Madara. Brother... had also died? However, an even more pressing question weighed on Izuna's heart. He gripped Madara's arm in return, his gaze becoming anxious, asking rapid-fire.
"Then, Brother! How did the war go?! Did we win?! You weren't deceived by that guy Senju Hashirama, right?! The war... was it the Uchiha clan's victory?!"
This was the attachment he couldn't let go of at life's end. He willingly offered his own eyes for the clan's future, hoping brother could obtain stronger power, lead the Uchiha clan toward final victory, thoroughly defeat the Senju, become the chaotic era's supreme power!
"..."
Facing his brother's eyes full of expectation, trust, and urgency, Uchiha Madara fell silent.
Time's weight, ideals' destruction, that deeply hidden guilt and defeat when facing close kin's questioning, instantly crushed his usually proud and unyielding spine.
The man praised as "Shura of the Ninja World," who made an entire era tremble, at this moment was like a child who had done wrong and had no face to meet family... lowering his always-raised head.
"...I see."
Watching brother assume this unprecedented posture, the last trace of hopeful light in Uchiha Izuna's eyes abruptly extinguished.
He tightly clenched his fists. Unwillingness and deep sorrow drowned his just-awakened soul.
In the end... Brother still couldn't defeat that bastard Senju Hashirama?
That opponent he had cursed until his life's last moment, tried to help brother surpass... ultimately still stood before brother? The Uchiha clan... in the end still didn't achieve final victory?
Wordless heaviness spread between the two brothers. The joy of reunion, before being fully savored, was doused with a bone-chilling cold by cruel reality.
"...Brother, we should first figure out the situation."
Finally, the one who broke this suffocating silence was Uchiha Izuna. He forcibly suppressed that enormous unwillingness and loss about the war's failure in his heart.
Blame brother? He had never thought of it. In his heart, Madara was forever that elder brother he was willing to give everything for, to follow forever.
The war's outcome might not have gone as wished, but brother's safety and current condition were the most important matters at this moment.
Since they had both originally confirmed death, yet now for some unknown reason recovered consciousness and possessed form, this itself meant enormous variables.
"Although I don't know why, we now... seem to both possess extra time. Since fate gave us a second chance, then things... might not necessarily be without hope."
Izuna's voice recovered its usual calm, black eyes flashing with analytical light. He didn't wallow in past regrets, but rapidly cast his gaze toward the present and future.
"Extra time..." Madara slowly raised his head. The dejection and evasion in his eyes rapidly faded, once again replaced by that belonging to Uchiha Madara's never-surrender pride and inquiry.
His brother's words awakened him. Yes, he still hadn't figured out what went wrong with his "Moon's Eye Plan," why he was in this place, why Izuna also appeared. Blindly immersing in regret about past failures was meaningless.
"Mm, you're right, Izuna."
He straightened his body. The Rinnegan became deep and sharp again. He looked at his brother, his tone carrying an elder brother's long-missed trust and expectation like fighting shoulder-to-shoulder.
"Then, Izuna, use those 'eyes' of yours that are always good at perceiving details and discovering keys, and together with me properly look at what secrets this damned place... is hiding, and where it's leading us."
The two brothers exchanged glances. Tacit understanding was instantly achieved. They simultaneously closed their eyes, raising their perception power to the extreme, toward this boundless grassland's depths, carefully spreading and investigating.
The Uchiha clan wasn't renowned for wide-area sensing abilities. What they excelled at more was acute capture of chakra nature, especially of "ocular power" and "powerful existences."
This perception might not be as comprehensive as the Uzumaki clan's consciousness map-like coverage, but for identifying noteworthy, especially those "familiar" or "threatening" chakra fluctuations, it was already sufficient.
Perception swept past motionless or blurred soul shadows one by one, brushing grass blade tips, touching that small sun's strange warm energy scattered in the air. They patiently screened, analyzing every trace of abnormal fluctuation.
Finally—
When Uchiha Madara's perception power touched a certain area of the grassland, an incomparably familiar chakra fluctuation, like a lighthouse in the dark night, clearly entered his perception vision.
That chakra was so massive, like a vast forest full of life, containing vigorous vitality capable of nourishing all things, simultaneously carrying upright, indestructible willpower.
This was precisely what made his blood boil countless times during life, desiring to defeat, and also... like poison making him unable to stop!
As for that equally extremely disgusting chakra fluctuation beside this chakra, Madara directly chose to ignore it.
At this moment, his entire attention was attracted by that most core, most distinct power.
Absolutely wouldn't be wrong... This feeling was...
Uchiha Madara abruptly opened his eyes! The Rinnegan instantly burst with astonishing brilliance. The ripples in his pupils rapidly rotated. Due to excitement, veins at his temples faintly bulged. The corners of his mouth uncontrollably pulled upward into an arc mixing wild joy and battle intent.
It's Hashirama!!
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