A shining example of a married woman.
Waiting outside the doorway was a woman with delicate features and a calm, elegant presence. A blue kunoichi dress traced the curves of her figure, and her long hair flowed like a waterfall down to her lower back.
Her hands were clasped behind her, her eyes soft with a gentle smile.
Madara studied her—the woman who had just called him "Uncle Madara."
"…You know me?"
She smiled warmly. "Yes. Chen already told me. He said you'd be coming tonight."
"I see." Madara kept his gaze fixed on her face, his expression faintly distant—as if something about her stirred a feeling he couldn't name.
Is it just because she recognizes me… and isn't afraid?
Before he could fully sort it out, a small head peeked out from behind the woman's long legs.
A little girl with a princess-cut hairstyle leaned out, staring at him with wide-eyed curiosity. A tiny fang showed when she spoke.
"Is this uncle Mom's relative? Why does he look so much like Mom?"
Madara froze for half a beat.
Then it hit him.
That "unspeakable feeling" finally had a shape.
She did resemble him.
Not just a little—her brows, her eyes, the quiet intensity in her expression… She looked like him even more than Chen did.
It was unsettling—like looking into a mirror.
Chen smiled, stepping forward with an easy calm.
"This is my wife, Hikari. And this is our daughter, Yue."
Madara forced his gaze away from Hikari's face and offered a stiff greeting.
"…Hello."
Hikari gently stroked Yue's short, soft hair and said in a light voice, "Yue, call him Grandpa Madara~"
Yue blinked, shocked.
"Huh? Uncle Madara is Grandpa? But he looks young! He doesn't look old at all!"
Madara's rigid expression actually loosened under her childish sincerity. He bent down until he was face-to-face with her round little cheeks.
"How old are you?"
Yue straightened proudly. "Grandpa Madara! I'm four!"
"Four…" Madara nodded gravely. "Not bad. That's the age to go to the battlefield."
Yue immediately pointed at his bare chest, eyes sparkling with questions.
"Grandpa Madara, why do you have a weird uncle face growing on your chest?"
"..."
Madara looked down at the exposed chest—and at the face of Hashirama Senju embedded there.
Back then, when he'd strutted around in front of the Five Kage and the Allied Shinobi Forces, wearing this "thing," he'd felt zero embarrassment.
But being asked so innocently by a child…
For the first time, he felt an almost mortal level of shame.
This Edo Tensei body is already absurdly overpowered. Would it kill anyone to give it a shirt?
Still, he wasn't about to lose face in front of a young Uchiha.
He lifted his chin.
"That's right. Grandpa Madara was born with a second face. Are you scared?"
Yue's eyes widened with excitement.
"Not scared! I think it's super cool! Can I touch it?!"
Madara burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Good! That's my kind of taste!"
He crouched down on purpose so she could reach more easily.
"Uchiha Yue, is it? I approve of your aesthetics. Go on—touch it as much as you want."
Chen stared at the scene, genuinely stunned.
…I never imagined Madara had this side.
Hikari chose that moment to step in gently.
"Yue, let Grandpa Madara come inside. The food's getting cold."
Once they entered, Hikari opened the entryway closet and took out Chen's black Hokage robe. She offered it with both hands.
"Sorry, Uncle Madara. I wasn't prepared. Please wear Chen's robe for now. You two are about the same height, so it should fit. Tomorrow, I'll buy you new clothes."
Madara accepted the robe and wrapped it around his body. He glanced down at the Edo Tensei boots and added, matter-of-factly:
"If possible… find me shoe covers as well."
As they passed through the living room, Madara swept his eyes over the furnishings.
Simple.
Warm.
On the TV cabinet stood a framed photo—a family portrait of four.
When the sliding door to the tatami room opened, a low table came into view, covered with a generous spread of food and sake.
Hikari took Yue's hand and turned to Chen.
"Yue and I already ate. We'll go for a walk. You two can talk, father and son~"
Chen smiled and nodded. "Alright. Go on."
The way they looked at each other—subtle, effortless—was unmistakably the quiet harmony of a married couple.
Hikari bowed politely to Madara, then led Yue out, closing the sliding door behind them.
The room fell silent.
For a moment, only the faint clink of dishes remained.
Then Madara broke the stillness.
"…Hikari. She's also an Uchiha survivor, isn't she?"
"You noticed?" Chen wasn't surprised. He lifted the sake bottle, poured for Madara first, then filled his own cup.
"Hikari has another name. One you won't find unfamiliar."
Madara's eyes sharpened. "What name?"
"Nanashi."
"Nanishi…" Madara murmured.
Lightning flashed through his mind.
As an Uchiha clan head from the Warring States era, there was only one place that name could lead.
"…Nanashi. You mean the girl from the mid-Warring States period. The one the Uchiha used as a weapon because of her rare ocular power—until the Senju and Sarutobi joined forces to seal her?"
Chen nodded once.
"That's right. Hikari is Nanashi's true name."
"She was active in an era even earlier than yours. Sealed at twelve."
"Two hundred thirteen years passed."
"I broke her seal sixteen years ago."
Madara took a sip of sake.
As expected—no taste.
But emotion still existed. The weight of the moment still landed.
"…Then she should hate this world," Madara said quietly. "Yet she doesn't look like it at all."
Chen raised his cup too. Warm sake slid down his throat, and memories surfaced—sharp, vivid.
Back then, she'd been a girl consumed by vengeance. She'd wanted to burn the shinobi world down and grind the descendants of Uchiha, Senju, and Sarutobi into dust.
Now—
She was gentle. Steady. Soft-spoken.
And in private… stubborn in a cute way.
A wife.
A mother of two.
Chen had spent sixteen years giving her what she'd been denied—what this world owed her.
And what no one else could replace.
Even now, the scar on his chest still ached sometimes.
But the memories were sweet.
"At first, she did hate it," Chen admitted. "But it took time."
"I gave back what her clan took from her… and what the world stole from her."
"And that's why she became my wife."
They had married on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony—she still honored the customs of her era.
By then, the Fourth Great Ninja War had been over for three years.
"I see," Madara said.
He didn't press further about Hikari. Instead, he picked up chopsticks and began eating—food he couldn't taste.
Chen refilled his cup.
Even Madara found it strange.
He'd been resurrected less than an hour ago, and he still didn't know Chen's true purpose.
Yet Hikari and Yue had brought something unexpected—something that quietly shortened the distance between them.
Madara weighed Chen in his mind.
He brought me straight into a home where his wife and child live…
That means his intent is likely open, not hidden.
And he's confident I won't harm them.
But does he truly understand who I am?
I am Madara Uchiha… the man who nearly destroyed this shinobi world with my own hands.
The cups emptied and refilled.
After a few rounds, Madara set his down and his tone turned crisp again.
"Enough. Let's talk business."
Chen looked at him, took a small sip, and spoke while calmly eating.
"Fine."
"The war is over… but Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's clan still exists. They're hiding on this land, waiting for the right moment to stir chaos."
"Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and the Five Kage have lost their sense of crisis. Their inaction is making the shinobi world's overall strength decline."
"When the next crisis comes, the current shinobi world won't be ready."
"And true upheaval is not far away."
"So someone has to step forward and change this."
Madara listened without interrupting.
When Chen finished, Madara asked bluntly, "So that 'someone' is you?"
"Yes," Chen said. "But my strength alone isn't enough."
"I need comrades who share the same will—people who can complete a plan with me."
His eyes held steady.
"That includes you."
Madara's brows drew together.
Chen's words were short, but the implications were enormous.
Madara picked out the key points and began firing questions like a battlefield commander.
"Kaguya's clan—who is acting? Where are they hiding?"
"How have Naruto and Sasuke been inactive? How are the Five Kage failing?"
"And how exactly is the shinobi world headed for chaos?"
Chen set his chopsticks down, wiped his hands with a cloth, and the Sharingan spun to life.
"Explaining with words is tedious," Chen said.
"Let's talk with our eyes."
Madara considered for a moment.
Then the Rinnegan in his sockets shifted back into Sharingan, meeting Chen's gaze directly.
Genjutsu: Sharingan.
Chen's voice was calm—almost cold—with certainty behind it.
"What you're about to see… is the future of the shinobi world."
"A future where I do not intervene."
And yes—
Chen was about to make Madara Uchiha watch the Boruto era with his own eyes.