Uchiha Kagami sat down beside Madara, looking at his uncle. More than twenty years had passed, and he still looked exactly as Kagami remembered him: his face cold, his expression severe, as if he were constantly on the battlefield.
"Why haven't you left this place?" Uchiha Kagami asked. He knew this was the seam between life and death, a place only those about to die or already deceased could come to, before journeying to the unknown Pure Land.
Madara didn't answer his question. Instead, he scrutinized Kagami and said, "You've grown up, and you seem to have been through a lot. Tell me, what happened after I died?"
"Alright." Uchiha Kagami nodded, setting aside his previous question and beginning to recount the events that unfolded after the Battle of the Valley of the End.
Madara listened silently, gaining a clear understanding of the ninja world's landscape after his death. When he learned that Hashirama's tailed beast balance plan had not prevented war, a hint of mockery appeared on his face, as if to say, 'I knew it.' But upon hearing about the Hidden Leaf Village's performance in the war and the systems designed afterward, he fell into deep thought.
After an unknown period, Uchiha Kagami finished recounting the story up to his own death. At this point, Madara's expression was pensive, as if he were contemplating something. Kagami then asked again, "Why haven't you left this place yet?"
"Kagami, you've always been clever. Think about it, why haven't I chosen to ascend?" Madara still didn't answer directly, instead prompting Uchiha Kagami to guess.
"After being here for a while, I seem to understand the rules of this place. Those with lingering attachments in their hearts can choose not to leave. You must be staying here because of an attachment too. The question is, what kind of attachment is it? Can you tell me, Uncle Madara?" Uchiha Kagami asked.
"Don't you think it's because I was defeated by Hashirama and couldn't accept it, which is why I haven't chosen to ascend?" Madara asked curiously.
"You're not that kind of person. If you lost fair and square, you wouldn't hold a grudge like a rogue. You would simply accept your defeat. You must be here for another reason." Uchiha Kagami replied.
"As expected of the child I raised; you understand me well." Madara smiled faintly and said, "I certainly didn't stay for such a ridiculous reason."
Madara then began to speak of his arrangements during his lifetime. Because he believed he could be resurrected later, he had not chosen to ascend, trusting that a forbidden jutsu could pull his soul back. However, as time passed and he saw more and more people pass through this world, he realized his arrangements hadn't worked. He wanted to know what had happened, so he remained until now.
Uchiha Kagami hadn't realized that Madara had sealed Izanagi within his Mangekyo Sharingan back then. Of course, he knew of this forbidden jutsu, which, at the cost of one Sharingan, allowed the user to record their own state. Any unfavorable situation, even death, could be turned into a dream. It was the ultimate genjutsu that could avert anything.
Thinking about it this way, his actions back then had inadvertently caused Madara's true death, which gave Uchiha Kagami a strange expression. Then again, letting Madara live might not have been a good thing, considering Madara had seemed intent on destroying the Hidden Leaf Village back then.
"Didn't you meet Lord Hashirama?" Uchiha Kagami asked. The matter of cremating the body should have been known from the deceased Hashirama.
"That fellow ascended contentedly, without even a lingering thought." Madara snorted softly. "He left so readily, of course he wouldn't notice me still lingering here."
"Is that how it is?" Uchiha Kagami felt he still didn't fully understand this world.
"That's right. Only those who are unwilling to leave can remain in this place, and you can only meet people with whom you have a deep connection." Madara said.
Uchiha Kagami nodded in understanding.
"Speaking of which, I didn't expect you to cremate my body. The Izanagi sealed in my Mangekyo Sharingan vanished before it could even take effect."
Madara sighed softly. "However, I was gambling a bit. One was betting I wouldn't lose to Hashirama, and the other was betting Tobirama wouldn't dispose of my body. But, I lost both bets, truly—"
"Your luck was a bit bad." Uchiha Kagami paused here. He remembered that it was he who had suggested cremating Madara's body, the reason being that he didn't want anyone to exploit Madara's Mangekyo Sharingan. This idea had come from a conversation with Fumori masaki.
"Hmph, that Fumori masaki is truly a remarkable person." Madara also brought up Fumori masaki's name at this point. "My contingency plan failed because of him." He also guessed that without Fumori masaki, Tobirama would have secretly taken his body away.
"I don't think he did it intentionally." Uchiha Kagami felt this answer seemed a bit odd. "He didn't know Uncle Madara had set up Izanagi."
"I know he definitely didn't do it on purpose." Madara didn't believe that fellow from a minor family could know the Uchiha clan's forbidden jutsu, let alone that he would seal it in his Mangekyo Sharingan. "But regardless, this person is not simple. Someone from such an ordinary background actually managed to suppress you all and become the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village."
The Madara of yesteryear would never have paid attention to someone from a family like Fumori masaki's. When he learned that such an unremarkable family member not only became Tobirama Senju's student but also stood out among people like Hiruzen Sarutobi and Uchiha Kagami, he was truly astonished.
"He is indeed very formidable." Uchiha Kagami said sincerely. He could understand Madara's surprise, as he himself had never imagined that this descendant of a fallen clan could become Hokage, and the strongest among his peers at that.
"To be honest, I always thought I saw the future of the village, but now I suddenly feel that I might not have seen it so clearly after all." Madara said slowly.
"The future?" Uchiha Kagami asked with some confusion.
"Hmm." Madara nodded slightly, then asked, "Kagami, have you always wondered why I left the village back then, and why I attacked it?"
Uchiha Kagami was slightly taken aback by this. Indeed, it was a question he had never fully understood. He was Madara's adopted son and knew Madara's character. Madara surely loved the village deeply, yet this very uncle suddenly left the village and then attacked it two years later, becoming a criminal no one dared to speak of. This was something he could never accept.
Now, in this world of the dead, Uchiha Kagami felt he might finally understand the truth that had eluded him. He asked, "Why exactly, Uncle Madara?"
"Because the ninja village Hashirama established wasn't as perfect as I imagined." Madara said expressionlessly. "Perhaps it was indeed very peaceful, but as the saying goes, where there is light, there is shadow. There were still shadows beneath its surface, not just in Konoha, but also among the nobles, samurai, and commoners within the Land of Fire, and even other countries. These were flaws I couldn't accept."
In Madara's mind, the peace he desired was a true, perfectly functioning world, where there would be no conflicts between nations, clans, or individuals, and peace would endure forever. The ninja village Hashirama established could not fulfill his wish.
Madara chose to leave the village because he couldn't find the path to the peace he envisioned there. Within the Uchiha clan, it was rumored that Madara left because he couldn't tolerate the ostracism in the village, but this was too dismissive of Madara; he wasn't someone who would leave over a little ostracism.
Uchiha Kagami hadn't realized Madara was such a perfectionist. He couldn't help but ask, "Then did you find the path to peace?"
"I found it, but I failed midway." Madara said. "There's a stone tablet left by the Sage of Six Paths in the clan's underground shrine, which you should know. Any Sharingan can read its text. With my Mangekyo Sharingan, I read that it said: 'A deity, in pursuit of stability, divided Yin and Yang into two poles. The two opposites interact, giving rise to all creation.' Yin is the power of our Uchiha clan, and Yang is the power of the Senju clan. I believed that by combining the two, one could attain power equal to that of the Sage of Six Paths of old."
"The Senju clan inherited the Sage of Six Paths' Sage Body, and the Uchiha clan inherited the Sage of Six Paths' Sage Eyes. Combining the two, the Sage Body and Sage Eyes become one, which is the power of the Sage of Six Paths?" Uchiha Kagami blurted out.
"This was originally something only the Mangekyo Sharingan could know, but you already know our clan's origins from the Ninja Sect's literature." Madara said. "In any case, I believed that if I could obtain power equal to the Sage of Six Paths, I could achieve the peace in my heart. The rest of the stone tablet's content must require power equal to the Sage of Six Paths to decipher."
"The Rinnegan?" Uchiha Kagami uttered the name. Among the doujutsu circulating in the ninja world, only one was a legendary 'God's Eye' that no one had ever witnessed: the Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths.
"I believed that by obtaining Senju power, my Mangekyo Sharingan could evolve into the Rinnegan, and among the Senju clan, Hashirama possessed the strongest power." Madara replied. Of course, he didn't know that the Yin and Yang required for the Rinnegan actually referred to the power of Indra and Asura. He had stumbled upon the correct target by chance; if he had sought other Senju clan members, even if he obtained Senju power, he wouldn't have been able to awaken the Rinnegan.
"But now that I think about it, this idea might be wrong. Yin and Yang should be something else." Madara looked thoughtful. "After coming to this world as a spirit, I could feel a certain power detaching from my soul and descending back into the world. Perhaps the Yin and Yang power the Sage spoke of is this thing."
Uchiha Kagami found it somewhat difficult to comprehend what power Madara was referring to.
Madara quickly moved on, speaking of his previous plan. Once he obtained the Rinnegan, he would know the final content on the stone tablet. Perhaps that would be the method to perfectly operate the world. If he could achieve this, he would completely surpass Hashirama Senju. Such a world would be a great accomplishment that even Hashirama had never realized.
In this way, the victor between Madara and Hashirama would be definitively decided. Their long-standing conflict stemmed from their differing ninja ways, not merely a contest of strength. If he could prove that his path was the correct one, then Madara would be the ultimate victor.
"Uncle Madara, I don't think we should put our hopes in such unknown things." Uchiha Kagami said after a moment of silence.
"To me at that time, the content on the stone tablet was hope." Madara said. "However, it seems now that I might have been mistaken."
"What?"
"Didn't I say earlier that I couldn't see the future of the village clearly either? At that time, I always believed that Tobirama Senju intended to completely exterminate the Uchiha." Madara said this, but was interrupted by Uchiha Kagami.
"Uncle Madara, I don't believe Master Tobirama is that kind of person." Just as he had trusted Madara's character in the past, Uchiha Kagami also believed Tobirama wasn't such a person.
"That's why I said I couldn't see clearly. I never imagined he would take you as his student, and he reformed the Uchiha Police Force system many times afterward. I could see that he truly had the intention of integrating the Uchiha into Konoha." Madara seemed to be recalling something. "Now that I think about it, we two probably disliked each other, so we both interpreted each other's actions with the most malicious assumptions."
Madara harbored resentment towards Tobirama due to Izuna's death and Tobirama's usual coldness, while Tobirama, in turn, was wary of Madara's unpredictability. Both sides made presumptuous guesses about each other's character, believing the other might do certain things. In reality, neither truly understood the other.
"If only you two could have sat down and talked." Uchiha Kagami said sincerely. "If you had talked properly, you might not have had such misunderstandings."
"No, even then, I would still have believed my path was correct. Whether he misunderstood me or not was irrelevant." Madara shook his head. "The one who truly changed my perspective, in fact, was that Fumori masaki."
"Masahiro?"
"Hashirama once told me to believe in the power of the next generation, that even if our generation failed, future generations would surely do better. I never believed this. I firmly believed my power was the strongest; if even I couldn't do it, how could anyone else?" Madara said.
This distrust of future generations had been evident before. In the battle before the Senju and Uchiha reconciled, after Madara lost to Hashirama, he asked Hashirama to kill him. Hashirama believed that if he killed Madara, the Uchiha clan would surely not let it go, but Madara thought there were no such strong-willed people in the clan, and that after his death, the Uchiha clan would surely kneel before the Senju, which he was unwilling to see. He would rather choose death.
"But now that I think about it, Hashirama might have been right. This Fumori masaki, everything he has done has truly made the village and the ninja world better." Madara had to admit this. Despite two wars still occurring, from what Uchiha Kagami told him about Konoha's strategic policies and Fumori masaki's future plans, he felt that it would be a new era that surpassed the ninja village system established by Hashirama.