[Host: Yamanaka Kei]
[Career: Ninja]
[Active Traits: Transmigrator (Red), Zero-Frame Start (Red), Sage Body (Red), Yin Release Mastery (Purple), Water Release Mastery (Purple), Spatial Insight (Purple), Handsome (Blue), Memory Master of the Shinobi World (Blue)]
[Inactive Traits: Stealthy Crawler (White), Fragile Yet Tenacious (White), One Pregnancy, Nine Babies (Blue), Nothing to His Name (Gray), Expired Milk (White)]
[Trait Gifting: 3]
[Trait Removal: 2]
[Trait Downgrade: 2]
---
Eight traits in total.
Three red, three purple, two blue.
Compared to Madara, there's still a gap, but at least I don't have a black trait dragging me down.
With no negative traits holding me back, I should be able to unleash my full power—enough to stand toe-to-toe with Madara, right?
Kei cracked his knuckles.
After moving his hands and feet a bit to adjust to his new strength and physique, he once again transformed into the appearance of Tobirama.
With a single thought, he teleported back to the cavern in the Mountains' Graveyard, using the Flying Thunder God mark.
---
Inside the cave, two of Kei's shadow clones had been left behind to stall Madara or Black Zetsu, buying time for his real body to activate and adapt to the new traits.
As soon as he returned, one shadow clone immediately dispersed, transmitting all its accumulated memories to him.
He made a hand gesture.
The remaining shadow clone silently nodded before vanishing via Flying Thunder God.
"Cough, cough..." Madara lowered his head slightly, letting out a few light coughs.
His three-tomoe Sharingan had unknowingly changed into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Even though these weren't his original eyes, as the strongest Uchiha and a master of Yin-Yang Release, he could temporarily awaken his Eternal Mangekyō by slightly overburdening his body and drawing out his dormant ocular power.
This method would destroy these borrowed eyes, causing the Mangekyō state to vanish afterward. Not only that, but his aged body would become even weaker and more frail from forcefully using the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
But the opponent before him was not someone he could handle with just three tomoe. Madara understood this well. He was old. Especially in the past year or two, even walking had started to feel exhausting.
Perhaps in a few more years, he'd need a scythe as a walking stick just to move? If he had encountered this fake Tobirama a few years earlier... He wouldn't have even bothered with genjutsu. He would have just picked up his scythe and personally chopped this fool into nothing but a severed head!
After all, when he first heard of Tobirama's death, he had sent Black Zetsu to investigate multiple times. Even he himself had secretly visited Kumo when Tobirama's corpse was returned to Konoha.
Was Tobirama really dead? Who knew better than him?
After all this preparation, it better not have been for nothing...
After receiving his shadow clone's memories, Kei looked at Madara, who had just calmly dispelled the genjutsu the moment he sensed Kei's real body return.
A smile curled at the corners of Kei's lips. He had meticulously set up countless contingencies. He was worried Madara might flee, but also worried he might chase him down.
Kei feared Black Zetsu might take the chance to betray him, and he was concerned that letting Madara live would only lead to greater problems.
So, he prepared as thoroughly as possible. And yet... Madara simply sat there, as if saying: "No matter how much you scheme, I remain unshaken."
Even Black Zetsu stood silently by Madara's side, head bowed, eyes lowered. Proud, aloof, confident—almost to the point of arrogance. As long as he didn't sense any real threat to his life, he couldn't even be bothered to dispel the genjutsu.
Or perhaps... He simply treated the genjutsu as a rare source of amusement? Surely this illusion wouldn't genuinely stir his heart, would it?
A gender-bend scenario?
Would someone like Madara really enjoy such a thing?
"What a truly sorrowful thing. When any life approaches its end, it becomes so... ugly and pathetic."
Madara raised his withered, bark-like hand. Beneath his dry, calloused fingers were the hardened scars left behind by countless weapons from his youth—his palm rough and deeply lined.
It was a stark contrast to the youthful, smooth skin he still possessed in the illusion.
In the illusion, everything had gone according to plan.
The combined powers of the Uchiha and Senju had given birth to a world of infinite possibilities. Though the methods differed, was this not simply another interpretation of the Naka Shrine Stone Tablet's prophecy?
As expected... The illusion—no, Infinite Tsukuyomi was the only eternal answer for this world.
"... And then?" Kei stared at Madara, who was fully immersed in his kingly monologue, and squeezed out two words after a long pause.
Sorry! He couldn't keep up with the flow of forced drama. That was on him! He swore he'd go back and take acting lessons after this. He didn't expect to outshine the king, but at the very least, he could be a qualified sidekick without ruining the mood...
"Heh... Youthful, energetic, ignorant, and fearless." Madara crossed his arms in front of his chest, his voice full of mockery.
"It's nothing but Tobirama's Flying Thunder God Technique. What made you think you could stand before me again?"
The first time Kei appeared, he had chalked it up to coincidence—perhaps the boy had followed some clues or acted on a hunch. But to come back after being recognized...
Did the intruder think he was too old, sick, and weak to be a threat?
Did he believe that with the Flying Thunder God, he could escape unscathed even if he couldn't win?
Or perhaps... The intruder had the audacity to harbor thoughts of killing him?
Today's young people... Truly arrogant. Madara remained seated, but the azure flames of his chakra cloak surged around him.
One by one, bones formed from chakra and ocular power began to envelop his body. Half of the cavern was filled with the massive blue skeletal figure—the Second Stage Susanoo.
The skeletal giant's mouth curved into the same mocking smile as Madara's. A suffocating aura of killing intent swept through the cave. Without warning, a colossal chakra blade materialized in Susanoo's hand and cleaved straight down at Kei!
Boom!
Dust and rubble exploded outward as the strike sliced Kei clean in half.
Another horizontal sweep followed, shattering the narrow passageway completely. Chunks of rock collapsed, sunlight streaming into the cave—illuminating not only the battle but the Gedo Statue hidden behind Susanoo.
"... Maybe I'm not just good at Flying Thunder God?" Kei's hydrated body slowly reformed after being split in two.
Although the Hydrification Technique couldn't fully neutralize the chakra blade's damage, [Zero-Frame Start] granted him instantaneous reflexes—enough to split his body apart a fraction of a second before impact.
He glanced at the towering Gedo Statue and the menacing Susanoo. Then, with both hands clapping together, his chakra surged like a boundless ocean. A high-pressure water jet shot out from his palms, cutting toward both the Gedo Statue and Susanoo—
As if he intended to slice them both in half at once!