Madara was in an excellent mood right now.
It wasn't because he had suffered nonstop setbacks since his Edo Tensei revival.
True, humiliating Tobirama brought him genuine joy.
But Tobirama was his most hated enemy. Reveling in Tobirama's humiliation made sense.
Obito, however, was different.
Obito was his designated pawn.
He was weak.
Since when did Uchiha Madara derive pleasure from bullying the weak?
Impossible and unthinkable.
Then what was the reason?
Madara concluded that while he despised people standing behind his back, he took great pleasure in standing behind others.
Especially since that hypocrite Hashirama backstabbed him at the Valley of the End. Now that he could return the favor to someone else, he finally understood how Hashirama felt!
'Humans truly were hypocritical.'
As Madara's thoughts wandered, his hands went to work.
He prepared to carve out a chunk of White Zetsu flesh containing Hashirama cells.
"Obito, this doesn't count as repaying me. At most, I am merely taking back what I loaned you," Madara taunted.
"The Edo Tensei vessel that naturally evil Tobirama crafted for me is far too fragile. I need Hashirama cells to restore my strength, you are already a prisoner, so make yourself useful and become the stepping stone I need to flip the board."
"..."
Obito was left speechless.
If Madara wanted Hashirama cells, he should have just asked earlier!
Before Obito got captured, a single call to White Zetsu would have secured an unlimited supply of it.
Why wait until Obito was locked up, then risk sneaking into a high-security prison just to harvest them from his body?
What was the logic here?
But Obito overlooked a crucial detail.
He guarded against Madara just as fiercely as Madara guarded against him.
Until backed into a corner, neither would choose to cooperate. The true threat wasn't the enemy; it was the ally who shared the same endgame!
Madara feared Obito cast that desert genjutsu to steal the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki blueprint and finish the plan alone.
Obito had no intention of reviving Madara and planned to launch the Infinite Tsukuyomi himself.
On this front, neither 'brother-in-arms' had the moral high ground.
Just as Obito stewed in anxious silence, he froze.
What did Madara just say? He basically admitted his current vessel was fragile!
"Ugh—!"
Obito thrashed violently, tearing his torso free from Madara's grip.
Even with the dulled pain receptors of his White Zetsu biology, the tear made him cry out.
But...
"Hiss—"
Madara, whose hands were torn open by the violent twist, sucked in a sharp breath.
His body trembled.
The hiss echoed clearly in the silent stone room.
'Madara's Edo Tensei body could feel pain?'
"Madara, so even someone like you have days like this. With a pathetic shell like that, how dare you come looking for me?" Obito sneered, seizing the opening to throw a brutal punch.
He couldn't mold chakra, but his raw physical strength still belonged to a healthy shinobi in his prime.
As for Madara? His current vessel was the type where kicking down a door would shatter his own foot first.
The only reason he pierced Obito's waist earlier was because he carved an opening with a scavenged kunai.
The punch sent Madara flying.
As he skidded across the floor, his Edo Tensei body began its slow, sluggish repair process.
Having his frailty exposed didn't induce panic.
While knitting his flesh back together, Madara glared coldly at the prisoner on the bed.
"Did you think I failed to calculate this? No matter how fragile this Edo Tensei vessel is, it remains an undying entity. What about you?"
Obito's expression darkened.
Madara was right.
A frail immortal was still immortal.
The only counter to Edo Tensei was sealing jutsu. But Obito couldn't use chakra, let alone complex seals.
And if he could use chakra, why bother sealing Madara? He would just warp away with Kamui.
What now?
Madara could stop fighting back and just wait for Obito to burn out his stamina.
He could wait for Obito to fall asleep from sheer exhaustion before carving him up.
Unless Amegakure guards stumbled in and discovered Madara's heist.
Right now, Obito desperately prayed that vicious paper woman Konan would walk through the door!
"What? Out of breath already?" Madara stood up, his wounds sealed, and advanced on the bed.
"..."
Obito didn't move.
Mindless brawling was meaningless.
An Edo Tensei zombie boasted infinite regeneration. If Obito kept throwing punches, he would just drain his finite stamina against an endless opponent health bar.
His only win condition was stalling.
If he dragged this out until a guard arrived, he survived.
So, Obito entered a state of hyper-efficiency, much like Naruto in Baryon Mode.
Every punch and kick required precise energy calculation.
He couldn't afford wasted movements.
Each strike had to target a critical vulnerability, inflicting maximum damage and the longest possible delay for the lowest stamina cost.
Since Obito deduced Madara's body registered physical pain, he aimed every single defensive strike... straight at Madara's lower half.
Madara truly lived up to his legend as a ruthless demon who survived the Warring States Period.
Even while enduring the excruciating pain of ruptured groin organs, he regenerated, stood back up, and marched toward Obito again and again.
He even found the breath to mock his prey.
"Why do you keep aiming for that specific spot? Are you jealous because other men still possess their equipment?" Madara sneered.
"Obito, when I scraped you off the cavern floor back then, you actually had one balls left intact. But to guarantee your undivided devotion to the Infinite Tsukuyomi, I surgically removed the rest of it myself! You should be thanking me! You no longer have to agonize over the mortal realm's most tedious burden—siring descendants."
Obito's face twisted in horror and rage.
But he swallowed his fury.
He knew Madara wanted to provoke a wild, stamina-draining frenzy out of him.
He refused to take the bait!
"Oh, right," Madara continued, twisting the knife. "While scrubbing your wounds, we worried throwing the excised tissue away might leave a forensic trail. So, White Zetsu chopped up the discarded pieces and cooked them into a delicious curry rice. That was the meal you ate the following week."
"..."
"You know, I spotted Nohara Rin in Amegakure. I don't know the exact mechanics, but she has indeed been revived. Pathetic Obito. You continue fighting me, but does that mean you no longer care if the Infinite Tsukuyomi launches? Does it mean you accept living in a shinobi world where Nohara Rin might seek intimacy with another man at any moment?"
Stripped of his overwhelming physical might, the Asura-enhanced Uchiha Madara resorted to basic Talk no Jutsu.
Taunts on one hand, psychological manipulation on the other.
And as Madara kept prodding, he genuinely managed to shake Obito's resolve.
But Obito activated his ultimate defense: Stubborn Denial!
"What's wrong with that?" Obito shot back.
He still desperately wanted the Infinite Tsukuyomi, but he couldn't let Madara weaponize that desire.
"Uh?"
The counter-question made Madara pause.
His smooth chain of mockery and manipulation jammed.
"Madara, do you think you've seen through everything? You still don't understand why I demand to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi myself. The caster remains immune and cannot enjoy the beauty of the illusion. I am doing this because I want to create a world with Rin for everyone else! I want to sit back and watch Rin be with other people! Foolish Madara!"
Obito seamlessly plagiarized the unhinged theory Makoto and Deidara discussed outside his door earlier.
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