Chapter 363: Madara: Unbelievable
"Tobirama, your Impure World Reincarnation seems to have failed."
After a brief silence, Senju Hashirama pointed at the completely motionless coffin and spoke to his younger brother.
Failed?
The surrounding onlookers exchanged glances. From the looks in their eyes, it was clear everyone understood what was really going on.
This wasn't a failure.
The Second Hokage had simply gone too far.
"Uchiha Madara tried to kick the coffin lid open, but with that one kick, his leg snapped. He's recovering right now."
Hanabi, using her Byakugan to see through the coffin, quietly explained the situation inside to Shiromo and the other girls nearby.
And indeed, that was the case.
If you listened carefully, the coffin wasn't completely silent.
You could hear faint rustling sounds, like paper fluttering.
That was the sound of Impure World Reincarnation regeneration.
This coffin wasn't some defensive Wood Release construct from the First Hokage. It was just ordinary wood. For a single kick to break his leg… just how fragile was this body?
Inside the coffin, Madara had only just regained consciousness, and his movement had been instinctive.
Because Impure World Reincarnation bodies lack sensation, he didn't even realize immediately that he had broken his own leg.
Only when his mind cleared from confusion to awareness did he finally understand.
And when he did, he was shocked, utterly unable to believe it.
With his eyes closed, lying in the coffin, Madara's mind raced as he tried to piece together what had happened.
First, one thing was certain: he had been revived through Impure World Reincarnation.
Not Rinne Rebirth, but Impure World Reincarnation.
Whoever had revived him must have heard of his reputation and intended to use his power.
However, shinobi revived through Impure World Reincarnation were weaker than they had been in life, especially for someone as powerful as him.
So, this situation… should be normal.
From Madara's perspective, Impure World Reincarnation was still the forbidden technique invented by the Second Hokage, used for gathering intelligence, mutual destruction, and disgusting the enemy.
But…
Was this really normal?
His strength was so diminished that he couldn't even sense what was happening outside the coffin. He had no idea how many people were outside, or who had revived him.
He couldn't even sense the chakra of the person he knew best, "Hashirama."
Even if Impure World Reincarnation bodies were weaker, this was far too weak.
Madara felt that even in his final moments, old, frail, and relying on the Gedo Statue to stay alive, he had been healthier than this.
Worse still, his sensory abilities were so poor that he couldn't even determine the condition of his own body, or whether anything had been inserted into it.
In the end, Madara could only conclude that the one who had revived him was too weak, and had done an inadequate job in preparation.
Otherwise, how could things have turned out like this?
If he hadn't been absolutely certain that Tobirama had already died before he himself passed away, he would have suspected that man was behind all this.
As for now…
Madara decided to imitate his past self, when he had feigned death at the Valley of the End.
He would play dead.
Well, even though Impure World Reincarnation already meant he was technically dead.
But that made it all the easier to pretend.
As long as he didn't move or use chakra, he would be indistinguishable from an actual corpse, a failed reanimation.
So, Madara decided to disguise himself.
First, he needed to confirm who had revived him.
If it was an incompetent junior, he could guide them, then contact Black Zetsu and White Zetsu to deliver a suitable body, and have himself reanimated again properly.
Creak!
Seeing that there had been no movement inside the coffin for a long time, Senju Tobirama also began to suspect that he might have gone too far, perhaps he had made Madara so fragile that he couldn't even break the coffin lid.
So he simply stepped forward and opened the coffin himself.
At last.
Clad in Warring States-era armor, the legendary shinobi Uchiha Madara appeared before everyone.
That's right, Tobirama had thoughtfully restored Madara's appearance to his youthful, familiar form, rather than his elderly state.
However…
While the appearance was imposing, the chakra and presence simply didn't match.
Looking at Madara now felt like looking at King from "One Punch Man".
Your memory and knowledge told you he was incredibly powerful.
But reality and your senses told you he was completely useless.
Madara kept his eyes closed. The moment the coffin opened, he slightly parted them, and when he saw Tobirama, his heart immediately sank.
But when he noticed that Tobirama's eyes were also those of an Impure World Reincarnation body, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.
So Tobirama wasn't the one who had revived him. He, too, had been brought back by Impure World Reincarnation.
Madara felt reassured.
Because at the instant he saw Tobirama, his first thought had been to break free from the Impure World Reincarnation binding, let his soul ascend, and return to the Pure Land, anything to avoid being humiliated by Tobirama.
But he had failed.
With a body this weak, he couldn't even determine why.
Was it because his current body was too feeble to break free?
Or had the caster deliberately embedded something within him to prevent escape?
Once a "stat monster", now stripped of all his stats and without any special advantages, Madara felt immense frustration.
Watching Madara lie there pretending to be dead, Shiromo couldn't help but sigh.
Madara's current actions put no less pressure on his pride than when he had faked death at the Valley of the End.
This was already a tremendous blow to his self-esteem.
If it had been Obito instead, if he had died and been reanimated, he would still be useful even with reduced power.
No wonder Obito had been reduced to ashes after countless battles.
Even if Kamui's power were weakened, its offensive form still dealt real damage, and its defensive form remained absolute defense.
Just like how a Ten-Tails jinchūriki could be immune to all ninjutsu damage, yet still couldn't resist Kamui.
Because Kamui wasn't ninjutsu damage, it was spatial damage.
To resist Kamui, one would have to resist space itself.
"Big brother, I'll leave Madara to you. This is the key to a residence I got from Orochimaru. It's yours."
After opening the coffin, Tobirama didn't do anything strange. He glanced at Madara, then turned and tossed a set of keys to Hashirama before stepping aside.
This action made Madara even more relieved.
It seemed that whoever was behind the scenes had not only revived him, but had also revived Hashirama beforehand.
Tobirama was merely a subordinate helping with the dirty work.
After opening the coffin, he didn't dare do anything further and simply left.
Perfectly normal. Perfectly reasonable.
"Leave it to me? So it didn't fail? Then what's going on with Madara now?"
Hashirama looked confused as he accepted the keys.
"…No idea."
Tobirama shook his head.
From his perspective, Madara was clearly just playing dead.
But there was no need to expose him.
After all, he had fulfilled his promise, once Madara was revived, he handed him over to his elder brother. He hadn't toyed with Madara; it was Madara himself who chose to play dead for everyone to "toy with."
In fact, from beginning to end, Tobirama hadn't even used his authority as the caster of Impure World Reincarnation to control Madara's actions.
As for whether Madara might break the Impure World Reincarnation contract by using the hand seals he knew?
There was no need to worry about that.
If Madara had been revived at full strength, then breaking the contract would grant him an immortal body with infinite chakra, enough to sweep across the entire shinobi world.
But now?
If Madara broke the contract, he would be stuck forever in this frail body, unable even to return to the Pure Land.
Wouldn't that just be asking for suffering?
(End of this chapter)