Ōnoki and Ebizō moved quickly.
Before long, the details of their cooperation had already been listed, organized, and delivered to Konoha through a series of covert ANBU exchanges.
Among the reports was also an inquiry—when would they be collecting the Shukaku's chakra?
That wasn't urgent.
The real priority now was Kumogakure's stance.
Kyoichi was waiting for a message from Namikaze Minato.
Fortunately…
He didn't have to wait long. A transmission arrived via the Flying Thunder God.
The talks with Kumogakure were… complicated. They succeeded—but not completely.
The Raikage had stated that he wanted to personally come and see things for himself.
That was… well, very Kumogakure.
Impulsive, straightforward, all action and no hesitation—that's the Raikage's family for you.
Kyoichi figured that by the time he'd received Minato's message, Minato was already on his way back to Konoha.
Not a big problem.
If A wanted to come, then let him come. They had White Zetsu's bodies as solid evidence, and though the Rinnegan was important and best kept secret, it wasn't something that absolutely couldn't be shown.
As for Nagato's safety…
To be honest, apart from Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu, there weren't many who could truly threaten him.
If they could deal with Madara, there'd be nothing to worry about.
And if they couldn't—well, then there wasn't much point worrying, was there?
Because if even he couldn't be stopped, then the shinobi world could only wait for Naruto to be born.
Of course… that possibility was vanishingly small. Almost impossible.
---
Meanwhile, Uchiha Madara was proceeding with his own plans—
Body replacement.
Every part of his body that could be replaced had been swapped out with White Zetsu tissue. But for the sake of future contingencies, he hadn't gone as far as Orochimaru.
Orochimaru would just replace the entire body. Madara, on the other hand, retained much of his original flesh—especially since it still contained Hashirama's cells.
The goal was to find a balance—a delicate equilibrium between his own cells, Hashirama's cells, and White Zetsu's cells.
It was difficult.
Even with Madara's knowledge of medical ninjutsu, the best he could manage was the imperfect state he was in now.
Still, if one were to call his work "precise"… it really wasn't.
It was more like crude grafting—replacing cells and adjusting balance purely through sensory control and intuition. If not for Black Zetsu's assistance, he might've killed himself in the process.
Black Zetsu, for his part, was utterly exasperated.
If he'd had another option, he'd have disposed of Madara long ago. The man was a nightmare to work with.
Yet, in their current arrangement, he was forced to act as Madara's "shadow"—his own supposed creation—helping him carry out his ambitions without revealing his true purpose.
Because reckless as Madara was, he wasn't stupid.
The only reason Black Zetsu had managed to deceive him this long was by perfectly timing his "appearance." Even a small slip, and Madara would've seen through everything.
As Black Zetsu pondered and reviewed the plan in silence, Madara finished his adjustments.
"Not bad," Madara said with a self-satisfied grin. "It's not quite my prime, but this body will do. It should be more than enough to handle those fools. The only pity is that my eyes—so close to evolving further—still fall just a bit short."
He sighed regretfully.
Ocular power dictated the strength of the eyes—but turning an ordinary Sharingan into a Mangekyō was not something power alone could force.
Even he couldn't do that.
The eyes he possessed were triple tomoe Sharingan—nothing more, nothing less. The only advantage was that he didn't have to worry about overusing them; he had plenty of spares.
So even in this state, he could barely summon the Susanoo—
and if the eyes were damaged, well… he'd just replace them.
"These younger Uchiha are growing weaker by the day," Madara muttered. "Later, find a way to help Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui awaken their Mangekyō. I sense potential in them."
Black Zetsu quickly nodded.
After they finished revisiting the usual topics, he began reporting recent intelligence.
"First off, there have been more Konoha squads moving around Amegakure. I haven't dared send any more Zetsu agents there—too risky after the last capture."
"He's being cautious about us," Madara said with a shake of his head. "Forget it. I have no intention of acting against Nagato yet."
Nagato's matter required subtler means.
To kill him directly would be foolish.
"Next," Black Zetsu continued, "there's been unusual movement between Konoha and other villages. I suspect they might have formed some kind of alliance, though I don't have proof yet."
He was mostly guessing—trying to make Madara more cautious by invoking Kyoichi's actions.
Unfortunately, Madara only burst into laughter.
"You laughed last time and scared the Gedo Statue away," Black Zetsu grumbled. "What's so funny this time?"
He honestly wanted to hit him.
Laughing again? At this rate, the Eye of the Moon Plan would never be completed.
Madara's grin widened.
"I laugh because Kanda Kyoichi is nothing but a feeble dreamer," he said. "To think he could unite such scattered sand to stand against me… I truly overestimated him. Hmph. If that's all he's capable of, then… what a pity."
Madara actually sounded disappointed.
A true strong man didn't need the help of ants.
After a moment's silence, he sighed.
"Forget it. Let him make his little noise. He's still a child—he doesn't yet understand what true power is. I can forgive that."
Madara leaned back into his chair.
The Gedo Statue was gone—but the chair remained.
Though soon enough, this entire place would turn to dust.
---
Konoha
Kyoichi and Tsunade had finally found a moment's peace and were now researching whether Nagato's heart contained any sealing formulas.
In fact, Tsunade had been studying the heart for some time.
The heart was the key to the human body—and her own trauma, in a way, was also tied to it. If they could overcome the challenges of heart transplantation, medical ninjutsu would advance by leaps and bounds.
Even partial replacement would be revolutionary compared to the current impossibility.
Conventional methods certainly wouldn't work.
A damaged heart meant blood loss beyond control—no time for surgery.
However…
Kyoichi had a new idea.
"Normal techniques can't ensure survival," he said, "but what if I use Ice Release to temporarily slow the flow of blood? In that short window, we could remove and replace the heart."
"Ice Release?" Tsunade pondered for a long moment. "That might be possible—but your control would have to be perfect. Too much or too little chakra and it won't work."
After some thought, she nodded.
"Let's test it on animals first. If it works, then we can consider human application."
"And what about the artificial heart project? Has Elder Koharu still not approved it?"
"No. She's stubborn, but she's reasonable," Tsunade replied. "We've already had multiple successful cases of limb transplants—people with artificial prosthetics. So far, no rejections or complications."
That was actually unfair to Koharu.
Tsunade explained, "The real issue with heart surgery is that there's still no working prototype. The risks are simply too high. We can't make it a standard procedure yet."
***********************
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