"Dad!"
"Guy!"
"Dad!!"
"Guy!!"
A large figure and a smaller one, both sporting thick eyebrows, dashed toward each other with shouts and collided in a hug. Tears sprang forth like two fountains—literal twin sprays of tears.
Uchiha Izuna, who had just been summoned into the scene, gave a twitch of the face and quietly stepped a half-pace backward. Not far away, Uchiha Shisui—newly reincarnated—wore a reminiscent expression. These two, once the oddballs of the village, were reuniting, and it brought back memories of the old days.
"Lord Hashirama." Link noted that everyone who needed reincarnating had been dealt with. He respectfully called out, prompting the 'first' Hashirama to give a nod. He gathered and channeled chakra into the Net Jutsu, trying to contact Tobirama in the other world.
A gust of wind flapped at their clothes. In the cleared-out laboratory, there was nothing for the wind to carry away; the steel-plated floor started deforming with a nails-on-chalkboard screech. Soon, a doorway-like portal appeared.
The reincarnated shinobi stepped through the portal into the second world. Might Guy lagged by a half step, hesitating. "Kakashi…"
"I'll figure something out," Link replied. As the reincarnates and their accompanying family members headed across, he turned to the nearby Uchiha Izuna—who, being a spiritual body, cast no shadow—saying, "Aren't you going to see the Uchiha Clan?"
Over on the far side, Tobirama was standing stiffly, face to face with those he had once killed.
Izuna glanced toward them, speaking in a cold voice, "They are not my clan."
He already knew how much the Uchiha had changed over the decades—that clan which betrayed his older brother and sided with the Senju no longer qualified, in Izuna's mind, as family needing his brother's protection. Decades had passed. Nothing mattered now.
Even meeting those Uchiha who had died in the massacre and gotten themselves reincarnated—what would be the point? They had thoroughly become Senju's dogs, so there was no reason to see them.
Izuna's gaze met that of Uchiha Sasuke, who stood by the portal, greeting arriving members of his Uchiha kin.
[He's a bit like me.] ×2
[But I really can't stand him.] ×2
In mere moments, everyone else had crossed over. Even the sealed Uchiha Madara was tossed through as though he were trash, and then the portal vanished.
Standing in front of Hashirama and Link, Izuna spoke with a slightly subdued tone—barely containing anger. "I'll persuade my brother."
Whether they called it reincarnation or traveling between worlds, it was obvious that Konoha—i.e., the Senju—was the stronger side. For these two dead men, there was no space to resist.
Most important was that his brother was sealed away. If Izuna didn't think of something, there was no chance to fight back. Perhaps if he leveraged their ability to reincarnate people, maybe one day he could resurrect Father and the rest, and restore Uchiha's glory—
[Sure enough, he's not someone to be trusted…]
Link would never underestimate a Mangekyō Sharingan user. Still, the plan to be up front with Izuna was something the "first" Hashirama asked for. So long as they watched him closely, even if Madara escaped, it wouldn't matter. They'd already sealed him twice, and Link had no intention of reincarnating Izuna.
The standard Edo Tensei no longer existed in this world—nobody here knew it. Obito sure wasn't about to kill himself and use Rinne Tensei to bring them back. So the brothers posed little real threat.
He lifted the "Net Jutsu" ban on Madara and Izuna, placing them in a private chat that both he and the "first" Hashirama could monitor.
[What do you want now?]
Madara's low voice came through the mental link, followed by the momentary sign that he'd noticed a familiar code phrase: [Izuna?!]
He listened silently while his brother used the old Warring States–era Uchiha code language, spouting a bunch of nonsense about laying low, aiming one day to restore the clan's honor.
Their reunion joy shattered in an instant.
Humans often romanticize the past, including departed loved ones. But Izuna was still the cornerstone of the old Uchiha clan who, together with their father, had once tried to use Madara as bait to kill Hashirama. He'd been mired in hatred, refusing any peace even as war turned against them, and in his dying breath entrusted the clan to Madara.
But Madara was no longer the man who lived for slaughter and revenge.
[Izuna, times have changed,] Madara said, no code. His voice carried a rare undertone of loneliness at being misunderstood.
In that final confrontation with Hashirama, Madara had recognized how his friend was willing to risk his own life for peace, pulling him out of the downward spiral of hatred.
A fool, indeed, that guy. Yet thanks to that "fool," Madara saw through the endless cycle of hatred, birthing his own dream of ending it all. Unlike Hashirama, though, he didn't like standing behind others. And trusting the next generation was out of the question.
Even his own brother, or himself, could change. How could anyone remain constant?
He had wanted to hold that peace in his own hands. To gain the power of everything that grows [the "power of all creation"] by taking Hashirama's flesh, capturing the Nine-Tails, launching the fateful battle at the Valley of the End… Even when Hashirama chose to kill him in that final duel, Madara did not begrudge him. He understood: Hashirama was defending the village. Defending their shared dream.
[Brother, you—] Izuna sensed something amiss in Madara's complicated tone.
Madara didn't respond to him, but spoke calmly: [You're listening, right, Hashirama?]
"I am," the 'first' Hashirama replied.
"You even managed to dig up Izuna…" Madara's voice remained eerily neutral. "But it's too bad."
He paused. "Reincarnation, other worlds, and another 'me,' huh?"
"Heh, that brat Link's really changed the world," he murmured. So the Eye of the Moon Plan was presumably a total failure. Obito had betrayed him, Black Zetsu had betrayed him, and Madara himself was sealed. A complete defeat.
Ever since connecting to the Net Jutsu, Madara had been thinking: Reincarnation is too dangerous. Crossing to alternate worlds can't be trusted. So as soon as the seal was broken, he'd chosen to fight. He wanted to see how strong a reincarnated Hashirama was, and whether there really was another Hashirama—and another Madara. Defeated once again, he felt surprisingly calm. Chakra doesn't lie, and the flow of combat had revealed the truth.
Whether or not there truly were multiple worlds, if in fact there was, that added more possibilities. The old plan for the Eye of the Moon might not even keep pace with these new changes. The future was no longer the spiral of hatred he once foresaw. It was murky and uncertain. Achieving peace, ironically, might be harder than ever.
Seeing his brother again brought an unexpected pang of nostalgia.
[Hashirama, my dream ended in failure, but your dream… you still have a chance…] Madara said dully. [I keep thinking of that brat Link's appearance… Maybe you really were right all along.]
[Brother, no—!] Izuna, noticing Madara wavering like in old times, cried out.
Hashirama grinned broadly. "Hahaha, welcome back, Madara." He might be clumsy, but in some way, he was good at changing others.
"Let's have a drink together later."
[We shinobi never know when we'll die.]
[If there were a way for us all not to die, it would be by dropping our guard, drinking together, and becoming like brothers…]
Memories of Hashirama's words swirled in Madara's mind:
[Have a drink, huh? …Well, I guess that's fine.]
~~~
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