Chapter 385: Uchiha Madara's Shock
The damp, stagnant air of the subterranean cavern felt heavy in Obito's lungs. He exhaled slowly, his single visible eye locked onto the imposing figure standing before him. Uchiha Madara. Even with the ash-like cracks of the Edo Tensei marring his features and the dull sclera of a reanimated corpse, the ancient warlord radiated a suffocating, absolute arrogance.
The words Obito was about to speak would completely overturn this old fossil's entire understanding of the world.
"Madara." Obito's voice dropped low, echoing faintly against the jagged rock walls. "Uchiha Akira's ultimate goal is entirely different from what you and I originally imagined. Judging by his recent, aggressive style of action, he intends to completely unify the Ninja World."
Upon hearing this, the cracked lines on Madara's face shifted as a look of deep disdain twisted his features. He crossed his arms over his crimson armor, the metal plates clattering softly in the quiet cave, and let out a cold, dismissive snort.
"Unify the Ninja World?" Madara's gaze drifted upward, deepening as if peering through the solid stone ceiling. For a brief second, the ghost of a memory flickered in his eyes—that distant afternoon standing side-by-side with Senju Hashirama on the edge of a high cliff, looking out over an untouched forest.
"Establish a single village, eliminate the borders, unify the Ninja World," Madara mocked, his voice dripping with cynical amusement. "It sounds wonderful on paper. That naive ideology is exactly the same as my own initial delusions. That junior named Uchiha Akira, while possessing a certain degree of courage, is ultimately far too young."
Madara shook his head slowly, the gesture carrying the weight of a god pitying a mortal genius who had strayed onto a foolish path.
"This kind of fragile peace, achieved solely through overwhelming military conquest, is an illusion. The very moment he dies, or the second his absolute power wanes, everything he built will instantly collapse into blood and ash."
Having delivered his verdict, Madara's expression hardened. He clearly had no desire to waste another breath discussing the philosophical flaws of a child. He turned his piercing gaze back to Obito, cutting straight to the issue that actually mattered to him.
"More to the point," Madara's tone plummeted, the temperature in the cavern seemingly dropping with it. "What exactly happened with Nagato? How could someone wielding the Rinnegan lose to a mere Mangekyo Sharingan? And to lose so completely... that brat from the Uzumaki Clan has truly disgraced my legacy."
In Madara's absolute worldview, the Rinnegan was the ultimate Eye of the Sage. Defeat was a conceptual impossibility. Even if Nagato was merely a vessel holding eyes that did not belong to him, unable to unleash their true, unbridled power, the sheer baseline strength of the Rinnegan should have been more than enough to sweep across the entire Ninja World unopposed.
Obito leaned his shoulder against the cold rock wall. A complex array of emotions flashed through his visible eye—frustration, disbelief, and perhaps a deep, lingering sense of helplessness.
"Madara," Obito said quietly. "You have underestimated Uchiha Akira far too much."
Obito took another deep breath, forcing his racing heart to steady as he began to recount the catastrophic events from just a few days prior.
"Just a few days ago, Uchiha Akira launched a direct, unannounced assault on Amegakure." Obito's throat felt dry as the memories surfaced. "Nagato used the full power of the Six Paths of Pain. He even activated Chibaku Tensei at the very end to seal him away. But... they were all utterly crushed. Defeated head-on by Uchiha Akira."
Recalling the apocalyptic devastation he had witnessed from the shadows, Obito's muscles involuntarily coiled tight. He swallowed hard. He did not want to admit the reality of what he had seen, but the truth could not be buried.
"Madara." Obito pushed himself off the wall, standing straight. "What if I told you... that Uchiha Akira has also awakened the Rinnegan?"
Silence.
A deathly, suffocating stillness descended upon the cavern.
In the darkest corner of the room, the faint, rhythmic scraping of Orochimaru's scales against the stone abruptly ceased. The Sannin stopped his gruesome work entirely. His golden, slit-like pupils contracted into tiny needlepoints.
The Rinnegan? That Uchiha Akira?
Orochimaru's long, pale tongue darted out to lick his dry lips. The sheer, unadulterated greed radiating from his eyes practically overflowed into the dark space. This was truly... fantastic news. A specimen beyond his wildest, most depraved dreams.
Uchiha Madara's expression instantly morphed from arrogant dismissal to absolute, solemn gravity. The casual posture vanished.
"How is that possible!" Madara's voice cracked like a whip, echoing violently. "That Uchiha Akira could actually awaken the Rinnegan?"
No one in the history of the world knew better than Madara just how impossibly stringent the conditions for awakening those eyes were. It required the perfect fusion of the powers of Indra and Asura. Madara himself, in his twilight years, had been forced to bite off a chunk of Hashirama's flesh, graft it to his own wounds, and cling to a miserable, withered life for decades. Even then, he had only barely managed to awaken the eyes on the absolute brink of his natural death.
And now Obito was standing there, claiming that a junior who had seemingly appeared out of thin air had achieved the exact same miracle?
"Are you absolutely certain of what you saw?" Madara took a heavy step forward, staring intently at Obito.
"Purple, ripple-patterned eyes," Obito nodded, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "Not only that, but the sheer output of his ocular Jutsu is vastly superior to Nagato's. That suffocating sense of oppression... it definitely belongs to a genuine Rinnegan."
Madara froze in place. The muscles in his cracked face twitched, his expression volatile as his mind raced to process the impossible variables.
"You must assume Uchiha Akira used the power of that Rinnegan to defeat Nagato," Obito continued, his voice dropping to a grim whisper. "But he didn't. Even though he possessed the Rinnegan, he didn't use a single ocular technique. Instead, he opened the Eight Gates Formation. He used pure Taijutsu to physically shatter the Six Paths of Pain and utterly crush Nagato."
The air in the cavern solidified.
The Eight Gates.
Orochimaru, still lurking in the shadows, trembled slightly. As one of Konoha's legendary Three Sannin, he knew exactly what kind of horrific forbidden Jutsu that was. It was a sure-death technique, a desperate gamble that incinerated the user's life force in exchange for a fleeting, god-like moment of brilliance.
"The Eight Gates?" Madara narrowed his eyes, processing the term. "The suicidal move that Might Duy used?"
A dark sneer curled Madara's lips, his tone carrying a harsh edge of mockery. "That power is indeed formidable, but it comes at the ultimate cost. After opening the Gate of Death, the user's heart burns to ash. They are absolutely certain to die. Since he used that technique, he should be a rotting corpse right now. Or are you saying..."
Madara stopped. He stared at Obito, his dark eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. "You want to tell me he opened the Gate of Death and yet... didn't die?"
Obito nodded slowly. "That is the most terrifying part of all this. Madara... he opened the Gate of Death. But he didn't die. He was completely unharmed. He walked away as if he had merely gone for a stroll."
Madara stood motionless, his brilliant tactical mind churning through the impossible data. He paced a few steps, his armored boots grinding against the loose gravel.
"Based on this situation, there is only one logical explanation," Madara murmured, his voice tight. "This Uchiha Akira possesses regenerative abilities that far surpass even Hashirama's."
Madara paused, then immediately shook his head, rejecting his own hypothesis. "No. Hashirama's cells alone are not nearly enough to counteract the catastrophic speed at which the Gate of Death incinerates life force. That brat... perhaps he possesses the perfect Sage Body. Or even..."
Madara's eyes widened fractionally. "A physical constitution even more formidable than the Six Paths Sage himself! Otherwise, it would be physically impossible to open the Gate of Death and remain among the living!"
Obito remained silent. Although he desperately wanted to deny it, the brutal facts were laid bare right before him. Uchiha Akira's very existence was a monstrous anomaly that defied all established logic of the shinobi world.
"I take back what I said."
Madara stepped forward, closing the distance between himself and Obito. The terrifying, crushing pressure belonging to the legendary Asura of the Ninja World flared outward, making every single muscle in Obito's body tense in primal defense.
"I previously underestimated this junior," Madara declared, his voice ringing with a strange, dark thrill. "He possesses the Rinnegan. He opened the Gate of Death and survived. Very good! He is truly worthy of Uchiha Madara taking him seriously!"
It was an absolute acknowledgment. An acknowledgment from a man who viewed the rest of humanity as mere insects. In the entire history of this world, Uchiha Akira was the second person, right beside Senju Hashirama, to ever make Uchiha Madara utter the word 'seriously'.
"In that case." Madara crossed his arms again, his sharp gaze sweeping over Obito before snapping toward the dark corner where Orochimaru hid. "Since the opponent is a true powerhouse like Uchiha Akira, relying solely on you rats scurrying in the gutter certainly won't lead to victory. Speak. Obito. What is your plan?"
Although Madara was arrogant to a fault, he was not brainless. He was currently trapped in an Edo Tensei body, operating at a fraction of his living peak. Facing an anomaly like Uchiha Akira—a monster who possessed the Rinnegan and could survive the Gate of Death—a direct, mindless confrontation was tactical suicide.
Obito took a deep breath, the heavy pressure in the room finally easing slightly. He walked over to a worn, flat-topped stone table in the center of the cavern. Raising a gloved fingertip, he began to trace a rough, glowing map of the continent onto the dusty surface.
"The current geopolitical situation is very clear," Obito explained, his voice turning cold and calculating. "Uchiha Akira has violently annexed the Lands of Wind, Water, and Rain. Konoha's military and territorial influence has expanded to an unmatched scale. The remaining great powers—Kumogakure and Iwagakure—have become startled birds, terrified of the axe falling on their own necks."
Obito traced a line connecting the northern and north-western territories. "Previously, Raikage Ay and Tsuchikage Ōnoki formed a desperate alliance. They intend to gather all their remaining military forces to make a final stand against Uchiha Akira."
Madara raised a pale eyebrow. "Just a bunch of weaklings huddling together for warmth."
"Exactly. However," Obito's visible eye gleamed with malice, "they can be used. What we need to do is not help those two Villages survive. But rather..."
Obito lifted his gaze from the stone map and looked directly at the snake in the shadows. "Orochimaru. Is your Edo Tensei army ready?"
Orochimaru stepped out of the darkness, his pale skin illuminated by the flickering torchlight. He licked his lips, a chilling, sinister laugh vibrating in his throat.
"Hehehe... Of course. The legendary powerhouses of past generations, the elite shinobi possessing rare Bloodline Limits. I have gathered them all. Although they do not possess the god-like strength of Lord Madara, they are more than sufficient for creating widespread slaughter and absolute panic on the battlefield."
Obito nodded in satisfaction, his gaze returning to the map etched in the stone.
"The plan is simple."
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]