The ninja world, as it stood now — the ceiling they could reach was the Six Paths realm.
Kaguya Otsutsuki's power was the hard limit.
To reach the Six Paths realm, either Uchiha Madara absorbed Hashirama's cells to unlock the Rinnegan, or Hashirama transplanted a Sharingan to unlock the Rinnegan.
The former had a reference; whether the latter could work was anyone's guess.
Beyond that, one also needed to use the Gedo Statue to seal the tailed beasts, bring forth the Ten-Tails fully, and then become the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails.
That was the Six Paths realm in a nutshell.
But easier said than done.
The original Uchiha Madara had only unlocked the Rinnegan in his old age.
What's more, even if they did reach the Six Paths realm, in terms of combat experience, against Kaguya Otsutsuki they might be able to suppress her — but to face the current Uchiha Madara? Still miles away.
Uchiha Madara's combat experience had been honed through countless wars.
Going by the original story, if not for Kaguya Otsutsuki's appearance, if Black Zetsu hadn't betrayed him, Naruto and Sasuke might not have been able to defeat Madara after all.
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "You aren't planning to throw the fight, are you?"
If it weren't for that, she genuinely couldn't think of a way for the parallel ninja world to defeat Uchiha Madara.
**Richest Man:** "Besides throwing the fight, what other way does he have to lose?"
**Richest Man:** "They're getting stronger at the same time Madara's getting stronger."
**Richest Man:** "The main thing isn't win or lose — it's giving them a enemy to shape, so the ninja world is forced to unite."
**Richest Man:** "What I'm curious about is what identity Madara will use as their enemy?"
**Richest Man:** "A conquering king of this world from the parallel universe?"
**Richest Man:** "Or an invader from the Otsutsuki clan."
Crafting a powerful Boss identity wasn't easy either — a highly distinctive identity was a crucial choice.
Both examples Tony raised were solid templates.
**Richest Man:** "I'd personally recommend the first one. After all, while you're curious about this world's future now, that curiosity will eventually pass. You'll still need this world's resources."
**Richest Man:** "Eventually, the two worlds' ninja villages will connect."
So Madara had no need to conceal his identity at all — revealing his strength was laying groundwork for the eventual unification of the two worlds.
**Child of Nature:** "No — the Otsutsuki identity is currently more suitable."
An individual and an entire world were fundamentally different.
Let alone one from beyond the ninja world entirely.
The Otsutsuki identity could serve as a common enemy for the entire ninja world — his overwhelming strength would accelerate unification; but if the identity were that of the parallel-world Uchiha Madara, compounded with the fact that he'd already conquered one火影 world.
After seeing the stark disparity between the two, they might not develop particularly strong resistance.
Unless Madara did something to them that they found absolutely unforgivable, something that sparked extreme hatred.
**Fifth Division Captain:** "Initially, the Otsutsuki identity is indeed more suitable."
Aizen agreed with Baixuan.
Conquest could come later — after all, the developmental gap between the two worlds, combined with the strength Madara possessed, forced unification would be effortless for him.
At most, cast Infinite Tsukuyomi once more.
For now, Madara wanted to observe what kind of future this world's Uchiha Madara and Hashirama would create for the ninja world.
His scheming this time around was merely to help accelerate their unification.
So at this moment, Madara wasn't suited to revealing his identity.
**Ninth Prince of Great Qin:** "A parallel-universe counterpart and an outsider are two completely different concepts."
**Ninth Prince of Great Qin:** "The degree of resistance would naturally differ as well."
**Richest Man:** "My mistake then."
**Richest Man:** "The Otsutsuki identity is indeed more suitable in the early stage."
With his intelligence, after seeing Baixuan, Aizen, and the others' views, Tony understood their thinking.
He'd factored in the future but overlooked Madara's current mindset.
Compared to unifying the parallel ninja world, he was far more interested in watching what kind of future this world's Madara and Hashirama would create.
This appearance was merely to accelerate the path to peace.
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Otsutsuki, huh… suddenly remembering those people who showed up in Boruto."
**Golden Flash:** "Boruto?"
Minato Namikaze froze at the name. This name… surely it wasn't what he was thinking, right?
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Yeah — Naruto and Hinata's son. Your grandson."
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Though I only ever saw clips on short video apps, never actually watched it."
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "No idea what the actual plot's like, but the memes were plenty."
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "I was so confused when I saw 'Uchiha Body Slam.'"
Roxie still remembered the moment she'd seen the Uchiha Body Slam clip on her short video feed — the spinning in place, the copy-paste effect, the Otsutsuki Elbow Strike, and all those other scenes.
She was stunned.
Was this supposed to be Naruto's sequel?
And especially that Uchiha Body Slam!
That was Uchiha Sasuke, alright!
A fully grown Uchiha Sasuke now!
Not the little guy who was always getting pushed around as a kid!
He even unlocked the Rinnegan — what kind of attack was he supposed to use, a body slam?
And what the hell was with that Otsutsuki!
Elbow strike?
Were all their ninjutsu just gone?
She seriously doubted Kaguya Otsutsuki knew what caliber of enemies she was up against.
With their level, wasn't she going to get stomped by Kaguya Otsutsuki?
Roxie didn't know what the settings for those Otsutsuki were, but in the show their performance… while they did overpower Naruto and Sasuke, the Naruto and Sasuke in that show were also表现得相当拉胯.
Completely different caliber from the final battle in the original — one was heavenly, the other was earthly.
Boruto was the latter.
Way too different!
**Uchiha Dance King:** "Uchiha… Body Slam?"
Uchiha Madara was baffled. What kind of move was this?
Hand-to-hand combat?
But why was it branded with the Uchiha name?
He didn't recall the Uchiha clan having any such martial art.
And judging from the group leader's tone, the effectiveness of this technique seemed less than impressive.
* Ding — Group Leader has uploaded a memory replica.*
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Uploaded."
Minato Namikaze, Uchiha Madara, the Marquis von Welch, and the others clicked in immediately.
The first thing they saw was someone who looked like Naruto jogging around a person with an unusual appearance. After two laps, he seemed about to attack — then got kicked away in an instant.
"..."
What kind of operation was that?
Before anyone could voice their internal吐槽, just as that unusual-looking figure seemed about to do something to Naruto, a huffing and puffing figure — clearly a grown-up Uchiha Sasuke — charged in front of him.
*(End of Chapter)*
———
Please give me Power Stones!
Support me on Patreon @ patreon(dot)com/SorenEclipse
Read 15 Chapters Ahead on Patreon!