Tap. Tap. Tap.
The surrounding space was so vast and empty that every sound echoed louder than it should. The noise of Haseo's shoes against the dirt steps rang out like wooden geta tapping across a stone hallway.
Down these rough stairs he went, politely breaking through an entrance sealed with raw rock, then walking deep inside for quite some distance. At last, in the darkness, a tiny flicker of light appeared.
An emaciated old man sat on a round wooden stool, frail enough to shatter with a single touch. Before him stood a massive solid bluish rock, about two meters square, most of which was buried underground—essentially serving as a "table."
He was the only one here—the likes of Black Zetsu and White Zetsu had all vanished without a trace.
When Haseo saw this white-haired elder, he finally relaxed—it was Madara Uchiha.
Some people are like this: they were punk rockers in their youth; now, with white hair, they're still rocking that edgy look in old age.
Then, Haseo's gaze shifted past Madara to the figure behind him—a gaunt "giant" crouched half-lowered in the cavernous underground chamber.
A white root-like tube extended from that "giant"—the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path—and connected into Madara himself.
Even after being drained of nearly all its power, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path still gave off a crushing presence—especially at first glance.
If this thing gives off such pressure, the fully awakened Ten-Tails must be even scarier.
Thinking this way, the Demonic Statue is probably the "God Tree," or at least part of it.
So basically, it's just a puppet—wrinkled and dried up, not exactly the cute type.
"You seem curious. Indeed, it is something rather rare."
As Haseo stood gazing at the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, lost in thought, Madara suddenly spoke. His voice sounded as dry as his appearance, yet his words remained unusually clear… More importantly, his mind was sharp and coherent—no signs of losing it in his old age.
"Not particularly curious—it's nothing more than an unusual summon." Haseo replied somewhat vaguely, intentionally concealing his actual understanding of the Demonic Statue.
Still, what he said wasn't inaccurate; the Demonic Statue could indeed be considered a special kind of summon.
After speaking, he casually took a seat right across from Madara without waiting for an invitation, showing absolutely no hostility—even acted like he'd been here a hundred times before.
"Shall we play a game of chess?"
Madara removed his right hand from the cane he had been holding with both hands, extending a bony finger toward the bluish tabletop before him.
"Why not."
Etched onto the table surface was a checkerboard Haseo had never seen before, scattered with pieces he couldn't recognize at all. Madara seemed to have no intention of explaining the rules—likely this was some self-invented game born from long years of monotonous living.
Abiding by the principle that "real men never read instruction manuals," Haseo mimicked Madara Uchiha's placement of pieces, making each move in response to his opponent's—after all, he was just playing casually. Whether it was Gomoku or Checkers, as long as it wasn't playing Gwent, winning or losing didn't matter much to him.
"You should thank me. If I hadn't gone easy on you during the chase, these eyes would've been gone for good."
Those Rinnegan eyes were now embedded in Madara Uchiha's sockets. Even though they worked immediately after being installed, someone still needed the chance to install them in the first place.
"Young man, don't mistake things you failed to accomplish for things you deliberately chose not to do. That only makes you seem childish. Return the eyes to me? Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?" Madara Uchiha said, shaking his head slowly.
Judging solely from current appearances, Madara looked more like some hermit who'd given up the world to focus on his own path.
Haseo thought to himself: *I've already lived most of my life—how can I still be considered young?*
"If you think I'm boasting, then feel free to take it that way."
"So, the critical question is... how did you know these eyes originally belonged to me?"
If possible, Madara naturally wanted to find out where Haseo obtained his intelligence—such an unexpected variable shouldn't exist within Madara's grand plan.
Haseo had already caused tremendous disruption. Effectively, the entire long-term scheme involving Nagato was completely ruined, regardless of its earlier preparations or later ambitions.
"What if I told you everything was just a guess—you wouldn't believe me anyway.
But there's something you definitely understand. First, Mito Uzumaki, at the very least, stood at the same level as Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. She also had an exceptionally long lifespan, although nowhere near as long as yours.
A strong Uzumaki ninja could easily sense something unusual.
Secondly, didn't that stone tablet remain with the Uchiha clan, staying within Konoha?
So when the Konoha ninjas found the Rinnegan, we immediately recognized it as yours."
"The stone tablet? That was indeed my oversight, but that possibility was purely theoretical.
Only the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan could decipher the highest-level secrets inscribed upon it. I doubt the Uchiha currently have such an eye. Furthermore, whoever deciphers those hidden truths about the Uchiha... would never reveal them to Konoha."
While continuing the game, Madara observed Haseo's expressions carefully. He noticed that even though Haseo remained extremely confident the eyes originated from him, he appeared entirely unaware of the Tsukuyomi or Infinite Tsukuyomi. Therefore, Madara simply couldn't believe Haseo's information genuinely came from that tablet.
"There's always a way to decipher an encryption if one exists."
After hearing this sentence, Madara became absolutely certain Haseo had never actually viewed the tablet himself—only advanced Sharingan could perceive its contents, and nothing else.
Madara was fortunate he hadn't voiced this thought yet; otherwise, Haseo might have started arguing—for starters, could Black Zetsu even see it? And did Black Zetsu possess a Sharingan to begin with?
"So tell me, what exactly do you plan to do now that you've finally tracked me down? As you can see, I'm just an old man counting down the days. Even my eyes have been entrusted to someone else, hoping for a new hope for the world."
Haseo casually tossed away the piece he was holding and laughed.
"If that's truly the case, then why did you finally reclaim those eyes? Has the proud Madara Uchiha been so ravaged by time that he's lost his original heart and started telling lies he once scorned?"
That's absurd. Can a ninja calling it lying even be called lying? It's clearly "intelligence interference." Madara is a ninja too, so why shouldn't he be allowed to lie?
"You're carrying out some plan, and as Konoha's 'rogue ninja'—an enemy of the First Hokage—no matter what your plan is, destroying it is exactly what I should do."
"Does that mean you've chosen to oppose me?"
"I wouldn't put it like that. Personally, I think it's perfectly nice just playing chess and chatting like this. Even if your plan is to destroy the world, what does it have to do with me? At worst, I could always run to the moon.
But long ago, someone told me that eventually people must do great things and achieve greatness. She never told me how I should do it, but... she anticipated it so eagerly."
"People who lack strength love piling all kinds of expectations onto others."
"If you want to accuse me like that, I don't feel any need to argue back.
Putting aside the negative emotions you've expressed, I think my attitude really isn't much different from yours. That... truly is unnecessary expectation.
I'm basically quite a lazy person. A simple life is my ideal. However... I genuinely hate pretending not to realize when someone has done me a favor.
Other people's expectations are actually a burden to me.
Let me put it this way—if I owe someone five bucks, I'll make sure to pay it back. Otherwise, I'd keep feeling off-kilter. I'm simply unlike those who easily take debts lightly or even evade repayment."
Tsunade, in particular, has a notorious habit of owing money to the Casino—that was an indirect jab.
"Therefore, only after casting off such burdens can I return to my true self.
But there are just some things you gotta do.
Compared to lofty ideals, what I value more is returning to my genuine self after achieving the goal.
As for discussing 'meaning,' it probably lies right here.
And speaking of life achievements, no one in this world is more suitable than you—the once almighty, now barely alive legend... In the end, it's still just picking on elders. Punching seniors at Nanshan Retirement Home—that's basically my greatest life feat."
"So you're nothing more than someone brainwashed?
And someone like you is actually Konoha's Hokage? Truly, each generation is worse than the last."
Upon hearing these words, Haseo finally couldn't help himself and started clapping enthusiastically.
How could Madara Uchiha keep up that detached, noble-wiseman act forever?
Still... well, Madara Uchiha certainly had the qualification to make such comments.
Even though he tossed Konoha aside like yesterday's trash, it was he who came up with the name "Hidden Leaf Village."
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