[Naruto Uzumaki (teen): "Hey, future me—how's my kid doing?"]
[Boruto Uzumaki (older): "Lots of friends."]
[Kushina Uzumaki: "Hah! He inherited Naruto's social stat!"]
[Minato Namikaze: "Treat your friends well, Boruto."]
[Izuna Uchiha: "Back to business—my big brother. Strong or not?"]
[All: "Strong. Too strong!!"]
[Izuna Uchiha: "Anyone else want a one-on-one with him?"]
[…silence…]
At first, plenty had scoffed that Madara Uchiha was overhyped—just a braggart.
Then the sky-screen showed the truth, and the scoffs died in their throats.
Turns out everything he'd "boasted" was simply fact.
Nine tailed beasts? To him they looked like toys.
[Iwabe Yuino: "If I'm gonna be Hokage, I need to get that strong!"]
[Denki Kaminarimon: "That's not what you said five minutes ago…"]
[Iwabe Yuino: "Five minutes ago was five minutes ago. Lord Madara is GOAT!"]
[Wasabi Izuno: "…We're calling him Lord Madara now?"]
In the Boruto era, headlines everywhere blared Madara.
The man in the sky-screen had seized the world's imagination; praise flooded in like a tide.
Could even the Seventh Hokage beat him? Some muttered no.
Even Naruto and Sasuke together… might not be enough.
[Naruto Uzumaki: "Third Grandpa, could you beat Madara?"]
[Hiruzen Sarutobi: "…"]
[Madara Uchiha: "So you're the 'Strongest Hokage'?"]
[Hiruzen Sarutobi: "Ahem… purely for public morale."]
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen winced. The slogan had once shielded the village; now it just sounded awkward. Tsunade, signing papers beside him, fell silent too.
Grand-Uncle fought that…?
Back on the blasted plain: the Five Kage staggered up, heads tilting back in despair.
The towering blue colossus rolled its blade, a demon's grin carved in light.
Ōnoki blinked grit from his lashes—and saw it: whole mountain ridges, split clean through.
"If it were only me," Madara said, arms folded, "the map wouldn't have changed that much."
"How… how can a sword stroke split mountains?" Mei's lips quivered.
"So this is Uchiha Madara… Then why," Ōnoki whispered, baffled, "why didn't you kill me back then?"
Madara looked bored. "Have you ever seen an adult lose his temper with a child?"
Silence rolled through the chat. In Madara's eyes… the Five Kage were children.
"Enough. Are you done making noise?"
Susanoo stepped—the ground quaked in time with the beat of every heart watching.
Each stride was an earthquake. The giant drew near; chakra thundered.
Spent of chakra, wrung dry of strength, the Five Kage stood their ground anyway.
Ōnoki squared his shoulders. "We've been lost a long while… but this is our chance to find the path."
"We don't stop here," he said, voice firm.
"Susanoo is the avatar of destruction," Madara replied. "One strike to shatter all things—power fit to rival tailed beasts. Take your 'path' and be ground to dust."
He tightened both hands on the hilt and cut.
Air screamed—
—and then, at the lip of impact, the titan unraveled. Blue plates shattered into motes and blew away.
Light crawled over Madara's body like frost—white and absolute.
"What—?" The watchers gaped.
[Boruto Uzumaki: "Huh? What just happened?"]
[Sasuke Uchiha (adult): "My brother ended the Impure World Reincarnation."]
A spark leapt through the feed.
[Sarada Uchiha: "So Uncle Itachi… saved the Five Kage?!"]
[Hashirama Senju: "Then Uchiha Itachi's merit is tremendous!"]
[Ōnoki: "Itachi—you think of the whole board. Outstanding shinobi."]
[Mei Terumi: "As Mizukage, I thank you on behalf of the ninja world."]
[Fourth Raikage A: "You saved my life, kid. Come visit Kumogakure sometime."]
[All: "So Madara's going to vanish?"]
[Itachi Uchiha: "Madara—you're a corpse. Return to the Pure Land."]
Madara looked down at his glowing hands, eyes narrowing—then… softening, just a fraction.
"Oh? You'd bind me with that petty technique? I didn't expect it… but to think our clan's future still holds someone like you."
He knew the difficulty of forcing a release—knew it viscerally.
He had watched Itachi do it before; seeing it now, as the world's fabric lit up, was another thing entirely.
[Izuna Uchiha: "As if the alliance could pull that off. Obviously an Uchiha ended the Reanimation."]
[Crowd: "Uchiha clan, elite!!"]
[New Gen: "Uchiha really are cracked. Sarada—your family is insane!!"]
The Boruto era had a new celebrity: Sarada Uchiha.
Reporters dogged her steps.
"Shock exclusive! The last heir of the Uchiha rubs her eyes—awakening the Mangekyō?"
"Seismic scoop! Sarada Uchiha's dream is to be Hokage!"
"Konoha Times! Sarada likes sweets—Itachi's genes confirmed?!"
"Seventh's son Boruto bickers with Sarada—tragedy of youth or clash of titans?"
Clickbait piled up like fallen leaves.
Sarada took to wearing a mask outdoors.
At the hospital, Sakura couldn't get through a shift without someone prodding about Sasuke.
[Naruto Uzumaki (teen): "Ahem—please stop harassing the Uchiha. Speaking as Hokage—"]
With Naruto's intervention, the swarm finally thinned.
[Tobirama Senju: "Never thought the Uchiha would be this popular with the new generation…"]
[Hashirama Senju: "What, no interviews for the Senju?"]
[Tsunade: "Cough."]
On the field, Susanoo's aura guttered out. Madara touched down, frowning.
"So. The caster ran into trouble."
The camera lifted—
Across the dark continent, pillars of white light speared the heavens from every quarter.
The scene dovetailed with the earlier vision: Itachi's hand undoing the jutsu, release radiating to every front.
Madara watched it all, expression unreadable—
—and the world held its breath.
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