"Funan-aniki, we’re here to help you!" Sasuke and Naruto shouted. Funan, however, could only smile bitterly. Then why are you attacking me? Their attacks were flying straight toward him. Out of the corner of his eye, Funan caught a glimpse of the Sage wearing a sinister smile. I assumed I’d resolved the issues in those two. But clearly... that was just wishful thinking. The problems plaguing the two kids hadn’t been solved at all. The Sage had just been waiting for the right moment. In a thunderous blast— Funan’s Susanoo was sent flying by the combined assault from the two. The armor of Funan’s Susanoo was steadily cracking apart. "Uchiha Funan, you’re finished!" The Sage of Six Paths slowly stood up, fixed his gaze on Funan, and let out a cold laugh. Funan said in an icy tone, "Just you?" The Sage pointed to Naruto and Sasuke, now standing beside him. At that moment, the two kids were still shouting. "Funan-aniki, we’re here to help you!" Funan could only sigh helplessly. But in that instant, he saw it all clearly. Even if he hadn’t brought the two of them along... would the Sage have spared them? The Sage would’ve found a way to summon them here no matter what. "Three against one—how boring." "How about... three against three instead?" "Three against three?" The Sage was briefly stunned. "You only have Senju Hashirama under your command, don’t you?" Funan pressed his hands together. Two coffins emerged in front of him. Two figures stepped out. "You finally summoned me." A hearty voice rang out from Senju Hashirama. "Funan, what do you need me to—uh..." The rest of his sentence died in his throat. As he looked around at the scene before him, his mind blanked for a moment. The person standing next to him was Uchiha Madara! Madara stood there, dumbfounded by the scene before him. Wasn’t I backstabbed by that bastard Black Zetsu and used as a sacrifice to resurrect someone else? So why am I alive again? Damn it, I died again! This is the Impure World Reincarnation! Uchiha Madara was utterly speechless. "Hello, you two. Let me give you a quick introduction," Funan said with a cheerful smile, pointing ahead. "That guy over there is the legendary Sage of Six Paths—our enemy. He’s taken control of two of our dear Konoha sweethearts and is planning to beat me up. I can’t win alone, so I had to summon the two of you to lend me a hand." Senju Hashirama immediately pounded his chest with a loud thud-thud. "Don’t worry—leave it to us!" He was practically bursting with excitement. "Hmph!" Uchiha Madara snorted. "And why exactly should I help you, Uchiha Funan? You’re not even controlling us right now!" "...What?" Funan said, feigning surprise. "I thought you’d be thrilled." "You think I’d be thrilled to fight for you?" Madara actually laughed in disbelief. "I didn’t say fight for me." Funan kept smiling as he pointed to Senju Hashirama. "I said, fight alongside Hashirama. Problem?" Faced with Hashirama’s pitiful, pleading eyes, he couldn’t get the word ’no’ out of his mouth. Fighting side by side with Hashirama... Didn’t sound entirely unbearable. "Madara, you really don’t want to fight by my side?" Hashirama asked, looking utterly pitiful. "...Fine." Madara waved his hand dismissively. "I’ll work with you for now. But once this is over—I’m going to kill Black Zetsu." His voice turned dark. "And that Kaguya... Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. I’m not letting her off the hook either." "That might be asking a bit much," Funan said, chuckling as he pointed behind him. "See that big floaty thing in the air? Kaguya and Black Zetsu are both sealed up in there." "If you’d like, I can seal you in there with them." "...Forget it. Let’s deal with the matter at hand first." The Sage of the Six Paths frowned. A voice spoke beside him. "You have to trust your people." The Sage glanced sideways—at some point, Funan had silently appeared next to him. The Sage stared back icily. His voice was like frost. "Uchiha Funan... why do you insist on being my enemy?" Funan couldn’t hold back anymore. "I’m the one opposing you?! How exactly am I your enemy? No, seriously—spell it out. Right now. Otherwise, don’t blame me if I lose my temper." The Sage replied slowly, "The shinobi world has operated under a certain balance for thousands of years—" Funan cut him off abruptly. "When you say stuff like that, could you at least pretend to have some shame? Centuries of ’natural balance’? Do you have any idea how many people have died over those centuries? Oh wait—you do know. Because most of their souls ended up in your little pocket dimension, didn’t they?" The Sage of Six Paths paused, then replied coldly, "I never deliberately caused any slaughter. I simply gathered a few souls during my idle time." "So don’t try to blame me for their wars. I had nothing to do with it." Funan scoffed, clearly ready to interrupt again—but this time, the Sage didn’t give him the chance. "The reason I won’t let you interfere," the Sage said icily, "is because your power has already surpassed the Kage level. The Kage of the Five Great Nations represent the upper limit of what this world can withstand. Anyone above that tier—your very presence becomes a threat to the balance of the shinobi world." "What does that even mean?" Funan asked, genuinely curious. "If I’ve already surpassed that level, how come lightning hasn’t come down from the heavens to strike me dead?" The Sage grimaced, clearly annoyed. "It’s not that the world will retaliate—it’s that you should restrain yourself. Someone who exceeds the Kage level should stop meddling in worldly affairs. Understand?" "And just sit back while the shinobi world tears itself apart?" Funan couldn’t hold back anymore. "Every day, countless people die in shinobi wars! And you know that! I have the power to make a difference—but you want me to sit back like some cold-blooded bastard, or go hide in a cave somewhere and play the coward?!" "I’ve already said," the Sage responded calmly, "the shinobi world has its own way of operating. Once you’ve transcended the Kage level, you should stand apart from it. Be a silent observer, nothing more." "And what, wait for a chosen savior to show up and fix everything?" "Exactly," the Sage said. "...Pfft... Hahahaha!" Funan burst out laughing, breathless and shaking from amusement. "Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo—you’ve got nerve, I’ll give you that!" He raised a mocking thumbs-up. "What you just said completely redefined how full of shit I thought you could be." "I’m only speaking the truth," the Sage replied coolly. "Let’s break this down, then." Funan held up a finger. "First—you say the wars have nothing to do with you? Please. Do the names Asura and Indra ring a bell? You really want to claim the conflict had nothing to do with them? Aren’t they the ones who started this whole cycle of hatred in the first place?" The Sage paused slightly. "Second—even if we leave them out of it, don’t think you’re off the hook. Based on what you’ve said alone, I can say with full confidence that you did interfere. You just didn’t do it openly." "You make it so easy to be sure of that," Funan added, voice dripping with sarcasm. "And as for this idea of ’surpassing the Kage level’—what about you? Back in your prime, weren’t you way beyond that limit when you fought Kaguya? Didn’t that battle last for months? Why didn’t you just surrender then?" "And one last thing." Funan jabbed a thumb at himself, coldly. "Who are you to say I’m not the savior?" "What, does the ’chosen one’ have to be handpicked by you? Or maybe they need to have ’Messiah’ written on their forehead before they qualify?" "...Clearly, this conversation is going nowhere," the Sage said, his tone growing colder. Funan closed the distance in a flash and threw a punch. "Yeah, no shit it’s going nowhere! I’m already regretting wasting so much time on your bullshit!" The punch struck with such force that it blew a crater into the ground. He spat forcefully to the side. "Fast little bastard!" The Sage hovered in midair, holding his shakujo. But that staff... was slightly bent. That punch just now had carried so much force that even the divine staff had been warped. The Sage waved his hand, and the staff straightened back into shape with a metallic shimmer. The next moment the Sage summoned his Susanoo once more. Two colossal Susano’o—each over 100 meters tall—clashed again with overwhelming force. "For centuries, countless lives have been lost... Sage, with those eyes of yours, the Rinnegan—are you truly not afraid that one day the world will turn against you?" Funan’s voice was like ice. The Sage’s voice remained cold—bordering on merciless. "Backlash? I am the Sage of Six Paths. The Sage of the entire shinobi world. Do you really think I fear some sort of karmic retribution? Uchiha Funan... You may be strong, but you’re still painfully naive." Funan said nothing in return. But his attacks became even more savage. When it came to raw bursts of power—they were almost evenly matched. Now it would come down to endurance. Who could outlast the other? I will post some extra Chapters in , you can check it out. >> /TitoVillar