"You... you..."
Uchiha Setsuna's tone was filled with hesitation.
"You're right. The essence of Infinite Tsukuyomi is slavery. But what if I ask you to help me enslave them?"
Madara interrupted Setsuna softly, speaking to him in a calm voice.
"This..."
Setsuna's expression became even more conflicted.
The shift from being enslaved to becoming the one in control was so drastic that he found himself momentarily lost.
"Go back. Think it over. When you've made up your mind, come find me."
Madara reached out and patted Setsuna's shoulder gently.
It's not that Madara didn't know how to talk people into things—it's just that he usually didn't find anyone worth persuading.
Compared to talking, he much preferred Fire Release.
One Great Fire Annihilation, and the whole world would be quiet.
That's why he didn't expect Setsuna to give him an immediate answer.
The seed had been planted. Now, all he had to do was wait for it to grow.
"Alright..."
Setsuna's lips moved, but in the end, he only managed to say one word.
He slowly stood up. Madara even offered him a hand, helping him up with a smile, watching as Setsuna left.
...
"Man..."
Uchiha Raijin shook his head, half amused, half helpless.
Setsuna had originally gone there to talk Madara out of the Eye of the Moon Plan.
But now...
It looked like he was about to be recruited instead.
...
"Aren't you going to join the conversation?"
Watching Setsuna walk away, Madara's smile slowly faded.
He looked up in the direction where Raijin was hiding.
He had tolerated this lingering presence for long enough.
"Ah... Madara-senpai."
Almost as soon as Madara finished speaking, Raijin appeared before him.
"You heard everything?"
Madara clasped his hands behind his back, walked back to the table, and asked.
"Madara-senpai made some good points."
Raijin raised an eyebrow at the question, nodding in agreement as he took a seat where Setsuna had been sitting.
"Anything you disagree with?"
Madara nodded slightly and pulled out a scroll.
From inside, he took out two bottles of sake.
"Brewed during the Warring States period. Want to try?"
He pushed one bottle toward Raijin.
"That means it's almost a hundred years old, right?"
Raijin took the sake, opened it, and was instantly hit by a strong, rich aroma.
"Exactly one hundred years."
Madara nodded, took out two sake cups, and grabbed the bottle from Raijin's hands.
He poured the cups full, then casually picked one up and drank it down in front of Raijin.
"Hmm, still the same familiar taste."
After savoring it for a moment, Madara spoke.
Of course, the real reason he did that was simple—
To let Raijin know the sake wasn't poisoned.
Madara was a master of these old customs from the Warring States era.
"Looks like when you left the Uchiha, you took quite a few good things with you, huh?"
Raijin smirked, raising his own cup and downing it in one go.
Madara didn't respond.
At the founding of Konoha, he had abandoned the village.
On the eve of the Second Shinobi War, action was taken against the Uchiha.
Madara had nothing to say about these matters.
He didn't bother explaining anything either.
"There's just one thing I don't understand about the Eye of the Moon Plan."
Seeing that Madara didn't respond, Raijin didn't push further on the topic and instead spoke to him.
"Oh? Let's hear it."
Madara looked at Raijin with interest.
"The most crucial part of the Eye of the Moon Plan is the Infinite Tsukuyomi. But have you ever actually used it? Are you so sure that Infinite Tsukuyomi can bring peace to the shinobi world?"
Raijin looked at Madara and asked.
Madara's expression stiffened for a moment. The difference between Uchiha Raijin and Uchiha Setsuna became clear in that instant.
Setting aside their debating skills, Raijin simply knew far more than Setsuna.
"Why don't I try it now?"
Madara tilted his head slightly and looked at Raijin.
"Then let's fight first—a real fight, to the death."
Raijin put down his cup, looking at Madara with a bit of helplessness.
"If I don't test it, how would I know if it works?"
Madara chuckled. He wasn't actually being serious.
"There's a department in Konoha called the Konoha Research Center. They can provide you with a proper controlled environment for experiments."
Raijin picked up the sake bottle and poured each of them a cup.
"I have to admit, Konoha has really thrived under your leadership."
Madara nodded slightly, offering some rare praise.
"Tobirama laid the foundation. Right now, Konoha is indeed doing well."
Raijin nodded. While not everyone was perfectly happy, at least children had schools and the elderly had support.
"Tobirama Senju… what a strategist. Marrying Senju and Uchiha together not only resolved the conflict between the clans but also created the perfect breeding ground for talent in Konoha."
Madara let out a cold laugh, sounding displeased.
"Don't twist things—I married Tsunade because we love each other."
Raijin cleared his throat and spoke seriously.
"If Tobirama hadn't approved, do you really think you would've even gotten close to Tsunade?"
Madara narrowed his eyes, looking at Raijin with a piercing gaze.
This guy had grown so much—how could he still be this naive?
"Either way… it works for me."
Raijin smirked, not really caring.
"You sure are easygoing."
Madara chuckled, then looked at Raijin again.
"If it turns out that Infinite Tsukuyomi really does work, will you support my plan?"
"Nope, I'd still be against it."
Raijin shrugged, taking small sips of his drink.
"Then stop drinking my sake."
Madara's face darkened, and he snatched back his sake bottle.
"So stingy."
Raijin scoffed at his reaction.
"I'm curious—why do you oppose it?"
Madara sighed and asked, clearly hoping Raijin would take his side.
If Raijin supported him, no one in the world would be able to stop him.
"Genjutsu is just an illusion. A person's life has limits."
Raijin shook his head and looked at Uchiha Madara.
"If you cast Infinite Tsukuyomi, how will humanity continue? Are you going to take care of that yourself?"
Raijin raised an eyebrow, resting his chin on one hand as he lazily watched Uchiha Madara.
"You bring up an interesting point."
Uchiha Madara chuckled, but the smile quickly faded.
To be honest, he had never really thought about it from this angle before.
"But is reproduction only for the sake of war?"
Uchiha Madara pressed his lips together and looked at Raijin.
"And if no one reproduces, then what happens to you? The world may be at peace, but that's only because there's nothing left. So tell me, did you bring peace, or did you just kill everyone?"
Raijin continued questioning him.
"Hmm..."
Faced with such a philosophical question, Madara found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
Raijin wasn't questioning whether it could be done.
Nor was he discussing how difficult it would be to carry out.
Instead, he was shifting the conversation to...
Well, Madara couldn't even think of a good word for it.
Raijin had another point he hadn't mentioned yet—Jigen.
Unlike Madara, who had some doubts, Raijin was almost certain that Jigen was an alien.
If Jigen was an alien, then the Shinobi World was Raijin's foundation.
Marriages between the Senju and Uchiha were the perfect way to produce geniuses.
But if the Eye of the Moon Plan was carried out, it would turn a renewable resource into a non-renewable one.
And all of that non-renewable resource would be concentrated in Uchiha Madara alone.
How big does his ego have to be?
"So what do you think should be done?"
Uchiha Madara thought for a moment before throwing the question back at Raijin.
From a third-party perspective, he was ready to tear Raijin's ideas apart.
He wanted him to realize that his own plan was already the best possible option.
"Honestly, I've never even thought about achieving permanent peace in the Shinobi World. That's impossible!"
Raijin shrugged, looking helpless as he spoke to Uchiha Madara.
"As long as people exist and there are resources to fight over, war will never end."
When the Five Great Hidden Villages existed, they fought wars whenever the balance of power shifted.
If only Konoha remained, then conflicts would still arise from power struggles within the village.
Right now, things were stable for two reasons—one, because the Hokage faction led by Raijin and Tsunade was too powerful.
And two, because Uchiha Madara and Jigen were still out there as undeniable enemies of Konoha.
That was the only reason internal strife hadn't broken out yet.
But in reality, whether it was Sarutobi Hiruzen as Hokage's advisor or Shimura Danzo and the other senior officials,
they had already started securing benefits for their own clans.
Raijin and Tsunade turned a blind eye to it, choosing to tolerate it as long as it wasn't excessive.
"Just because something is difficult, does that mean you shouldn't do it?"
Madara lifted his chin and looked down at Raijin with disdain.
"Sigh..."
Raijin let out a tired sigh.
Who would've thought that the same guy who once got beaten down by Tsunade under the big tree by the lake was now trying to figure out how to bring world peace?
"Tell me, do you think Konoha is peaceful right now?"
Raijin looked at Madara.
"After just coming out of a war, does Konoha really have the right to call itself peaceful?"
Madara scoffed, shooting a cold glance at Raijin.
"Jigen picked that fight. He was the invader. Konoha was the victim!"
Hearing that, Raijin couldn't hold back anymore and slammed the table.
The cups on the table jumped slightly from the impact.
"Don't slam the table at me. If someone pisses you off, go slam their table instead."
Madara chuckled. Against a ninja who could make him go all out in battle, he showed an unusual amount of patience.
He even treated Raijin as an equal.
"If I could find him, I wouldn't be here chatting with you."
Raijin pulled his hand back and tucked it into his sleeve, sounding frustrated.
"I want to find him too."
Madara pursed his lips, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
For both Raijin and Madara, their top enemy was always Jigen.
After all, they knew each other inside and out.
But Jigen? They knew nothing about him.
Even if Jigen wasn't much of a threat to them right now, fear always came from the unknown.
"What do you want to find him for? To thank him for giving you a Ten-Tails?"
Raijin stared at Madara with dead-fish eyes, speaking lazily.
"Or do you miss getting hit by Heaven's Wrath?"
Madara's expression darkened slightly as he looked at Raijin seriously.
"You think I'm scared of you?"
Raijin let out a cold laugh, raising two fingers to point at his own eyes, then at Madara's.
"Hmph! Of course, I should thank Jigen. Without him, how else could I have awakened this?"
Madara's serious face vanished in an instant. He smiled and pointed at the Nine-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan on his forehead.
"You…"
Raijin clenched his teeth. Every time this came up, he couldn't stand it.
He had been so close!
"If you can find a way to achieve true peace, I'll give up on the Eye of the Moon Plan."
Madara's smile faded as he spoke.
He had to admit—Raijin's words made him see the flaw in his plan.
Until Raijin found another way, he would try to fix the gaps in his own plan.
"Alright."
Raijin nodded and slowly stood up.
If Madara was serious about this, then the Eye of the Moon Plan would never happen.
Raijin didn't know what the future held.
But he did know how a story worked.
With Naruto and Sasuke around, Jigen alone wouldn't be enough to keep things going.
If they forced it, it would be a mess.
So, unless something unexpected happened, he would have plenty of chances to fight alongside Madara in the future.
Seeing this, Madara stood up as well and walked Raijin to the door.
—End of Chapter—
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