Chapter 3

"Look, I'm not gonna deny that I'm pretty fascinated and interested with everything you showed me about ninjas, elements, and tailed beasts, but all of those sound pretty ridiculous. Everything you just showed me is ridiculous. This is sounding more and more like a complicated dream than anything else."

If Tatsumi had to be honest, it would be easier to accept all of this as a dream instead of anything else. This was simply too much to take for someone who only wanted to go to the capital and earn money.

Madara glared at him. "Do you think I'm content with my powers being passed on to you, boy? If anything, I am annoyed that a naive and optimistic brat like you was chosen to inherit my abilities."

And just like that, the urge to apologize was thrown out the window.

"That's not my fault, old man! I wanted nothing to do with this in the first place! I only wanted to go to the capital and earn money for my village, not talk to some ghost of the past," Tatsumi snapped.

"Yes… I believe you wanted to be a soldier, correct? Tell me, boy. What exactly is the difference between what you wish to be from how I spent my youth?"

"It's nothing like that! We aren't out for each other's blood nowadays! I just want to help people and earn money for my home, and being a soldier is the best way to do that."

"Your naivety blinds you, boy. The more you think that way, the more disappointed you will be when you come face-to-face with the real world. You'd be dead if you were a regular civilian."

"Well, I didn't ask for your opinion, old man!" "I'm gonna be a soldier, and there's nothing you can do to stop me," Tatsumi reaffirmed his decision and bravely stepped forward, refusing to fall prey to intimidation.

Madara shook his head at Tatsumi's stubbornness. This kid really shared a lot of similarities with a blonde brat who used to give him headaches back then and he wasn't fond of that in the slightest.

"Regardless of what you feel, when you wake up, you will not be the same anymore. You will be a shinobi like me in all but name."

"This still sounds ridiculous."

"I don't recall asking for your opinion."

"This asshole…" Tatsumi mumbled to himself while glaring at the smirking Uchiha. He kept that expression for a few moments before sighing in defeat. "Okay, assuming that I get all the powers and abilities that you once had… are you gonna tell me to use them wisely? Or that I can only use them when I need to?"

"No. Whatever you do from here is out of my hands. How you use my entire arsenal of techniques and abilities is completely up to you, boy."

To say that he was surprised would be an understatement. He was expecting some kind of opposition or condition from the older man that involved things that belong to him, but it seems like that wasn't the case.

"Just like that? No strings attached?"

"However," this got Tatsumi's attention. "My only wish is that you use what you have to succeed at what I failed to do. Long ago, I chased a near-impossible dream, which was peace. I was tired of war and fighting, and I wanted a world where neither of those can be found. A world that can only be found in dreams."

Tatsumi knew what Madara was referring to based on what the man showed him earlier in his memories, and it wasn't anything pleasant. He didn't agree with any of the Uchiha methods in achieving his so-called 'peace'.

"Starting a war with your people isn't exactly the best way to achieve peace, you know. Not to mention, you killed so many of them. How could you expect things to be peaceful when all you did was bring about chaos?"

"And that is exactly why I want you to succeed where I failed," Madara folded his arms and gave Tatsumi a serious look. "I've seen the world you live in while I was in the pure land. It needs correction, and you will have the power to make it happen. You may be full of naivety now, but that can still be remedied once you see the world for yourself."

"I'm not like that at all…"

Of course, Tatsumi wasn't really naive. He knew that conflict was present in the world, and that's why he wanted to join the military of the Empire. Not only would he be able to earn money for his village, but he would also contribute to the welfare of the Empire by protecting the citizens and ensuring that justice would be served whenever a crime is committed.

"In the end, I'm just a regular guy, Madara. A regular guy who came to the capital to earn money for his village as a soldier. Someone else should have been in my place right now, because I never asked for this. It would have been better if someone else inherited your powers."

"Not anymore, brat. Now let's see how far you can make it with that naive mindset of yours," Madara challenged with a smirk.

With that, the older man began to fade away before him. The last thing that Tatsumi saw was the pair of red eyes that Madara possessed glowing brightly, which made him even more menacing despite disappearing from the boy's mindscape forever.

It's a sight that Tatsumi would never forget.

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(Real World)

Tatsumi jolted up from his sleep in a rather alarming way, as he took several deep breaths to calm himself. He looked around him and noticed that he was still at the place where he had slept, which was under a tree.

Still… that didn't mean the dream he had felt any less realistic. For a brief period of time, he had talked to someone of great significance in this world. The sun was starting to rise too, which only meant that he spent the whole night talking to the former Uchiha leader and learning about the world's history.

The young man then felt something weird going on inside of him. It's like he felt more conscious of his own stamina and limitations, as if it was a body system of its own like the bones and muscles.

"I feel… strange… but it's not something unpleasant…" he muttered while looking at his palm. "Is this… chakra?"

The young man had learned about chakra from Madara and how it was treated as the lifeblood of shinobis because of how it acted as a source of power and life for them. It was the fuel that made 'jutsus' possible and at the same time, was the weapon used to win battles against other shinobi.

"No way… he actually did it. He wasn't kidding at all," the young man breathed out in disbelief. "All of it was real."

Taking a moment to process what was happening, Tatsumi stood up from his bed and stretched his limbs for a bit, before he noticed a peculiar object that was lying beside his makeshift bed.

An orange-brown gunbai with a chain attached to it was laying on the ground, the same one that Madara had on his back when he saw the Uchiha leader in his dream earlier.

"Even his war fan?" his jaw fell open out of shock. "What did he call this again? A gunbai? This wasn't here last night! How the hell was he able to bring this here?! He's not even alive anymore…"