Just saying it out loud doesn't really help people picture it, but once you think of Rinnegan Madara alongside Pain from the manga, a vivid image starts forming in their minds.
And besides, even the name "Madara" alone carries unimaginable weight.
Now that he's got the Rinnegan too, everyone naturally starts comparing this new Madara to Hashirama Senju. Even Hashirama reborn might not be a match for Madara.
How could such an enemy possibly be defeated?
"So does that mean Madara can summon the Outer Path Demonic Statue like in the manga too?"
Hanzo asked after a long pause.
"The core of the Outer Path Demonic Statue is actually the empty shell of the Ten-Tails. Long ago, the Sage of Six Paths sealed the Ten-Tails, then divided its chakra into nine parts, giving rise to the Nine Great Tailed Beasts. The whole point of the Outer Path Demonic Statue is to absorb those nine beasts and return them to the original Ten-Tails."
Hiruzen Sarutobi explained.
The rest fell completely silent, racking their brains for solutions. Even A, the Third Raikage, who had earlier considered challenging Madara directly, abandoned his idea of facing him head-on.
If Madara's goal was only Konoha, others might still choose self-preservation, watching safely at home while Konoha and Sunagakure suffered.
But the tailed beasts—
Out of the six villages present, excluding Amegakure, which one didn't have a tailed beast?
That's the first reason. The second? The big gap in the quality of jinchuriki.
Konoha's jinchuriki was Mito Uzumaki, wife of the Ninja God and a genius princess from the Land of Whirlpools—her strength was likely only slightly below that of Hashirama Senju and Madara back in their prime.
Other ninja villages' jinchuriki couldn't compare—not a single one could fully control their beast. One of the tailed beasts had already fallen under Madara's control.
If they were in Madara's shoes, they'd probably go after the other villages' jinchuriki before even thinking about attacking Konoha.
Coincidentally, Madara had a helper named Black Zetsu.
Without solid evidence proving Madara and Black Zetsu truly existed, no one would believe Hiruzen alone. But refusing to acknowledge clear proof would just be plain stupidity.
Still, proposing an alliance right now wouldn't get any support from the other villages.
Because none of them had actually seen Madara face-to-face.
All this might be true, but it still wasn't enough to make them unite and help Konoha. Instead, they focused on how to deal with Madara and Black Zetsu while keeping their own losses to a minimum.
After all, this was none other than Madara Uchiha!
Judging by the power Pain showed with the Rinnegan in the manga, launching a reckless attack on Madara would almost certainly result in devastating casualties.
For a moment, even A—the Third Raikage—who had wanted to fight Madara head-on, felt lost and didn't know what to say.
"Madara is indeed powerful," Hiruzen continued, well aware that overemphasizing Madara's strength might crush morale completely. "But his lifespan isn't endless. He can't handle large-scale battles repeatedly. So as long as we keep our jinchuriki within the village, don't let them wander outside, and set up barriers to monitor Black Zetsu's movements, Madara won't dare act rashly."
"In other words, Madara won't move openly himself for now, so he's using Sunagakure's forces instead. His real aim is to turn us against each other."
Hanzo suddenly realized.
"Hmph. Sounds more like you're hoping *we* don't take action either. We haven't even settled the score from the Land of Whirlpools incident yet."
A, the Third Raikage, said with a cold snort.
None of those present were fools, and they naturally understood the hidden meaning in Hiruzen Sarutobi's words.
"You Konoha ninjas possess the world's strongest Sealing Techniques and Jinchuriki creation materials. At a time like this, wouldn't you consider helping these weaker nations solve the problem of sealing the Bijū?"
The Third Mizukage quickly chimed in support.
"No problem at all, though we also ask everyone here not to completely exterminate the Uzumaki clan. Please leave them some surviving bloodline."
Hiruzen didn't refuse.
Leaking certain Sealing Techniques was already part of the Uzumaki clan's plan anyway. Ordinary Sealing Techniques could just be leaked since the Uzumaki's ultimate technique—[Kongo Chains]—was considered a family ability and not classified under standard Sealing Techniques.
"Hahaha! Our Rock ninja village already has two Bijū. If Madara wants to target them, we ourselves would be in great danger too, so we will definitely support this action unconditionally."
Onoki immediately expressed his position upon hearing that.
Hanzo remained silent. The tailed beasts had nothing to do with him personally, but opposing Madara benefited him greatly, so he saw no reason to object either.
"Now that we're all in agreement, then feel free to proceed as you wish."
Everything that needed saying had been said. Since connecting remotely required tremendous spiritual energy, Hiruzen had no intention of prolonging the meeting. After finishing his remarks, he subtly signaled them to leave, keeping only Ebizō behind.
Ebizō was mainly there to discuss matters concerning Chiyo's son. Now was the right time to reveal the truth to Ebizō so that later, there'd be someone else to help plead and dissuade Chiyo.
Upon hearing about it,
Ebizō knew things had taken a turn for the worse. He came feeling heavy-hearted, and after leaving the dream, his heart felt even heavier.
Chiyo had lost her son.
Madara possessed the [Rinnegan].
[Black Zetsu] was on the loose.
Not a single good thing had happened. Trouble just kept stacking up. The whole situation was getting trickier by the minute.
After Ebizō left, the dream completely dissolved.
Although the connection had lasted only briefly, the participants at the training field had already consumed over seventy percent of their spiritual energy. Akaba suffered an even greater loss, retaining barely around twenty percent of his power.
After all, he had to maintain the operation of the entire dream world, which naturally required more energy.
That said, there wasn't only a downside.
After this massive dream experience, Akaba discovered that his Spirit Points had actually increased slightly. It wasn't much, but reaching over 200 points meant even a small increase was incredibly valuable.
Luckily, he had some spare Points on hand, so he decisively exchanged them for four more Attribute Points, bringing his total Spirit attribute up to 230.
As his attributes increased, his Spirit Points recovered slightly as well.
However, just thinking about what lay ahead made it hard for him to feel cheerful.
Sure, sleeping sounded nice, but being drained dry of spiritual energy was another matter entirely.
It wasn't until the third day that he started to feel somewhat recovered.
Akaba indulged himself by sleeping soundly. On the morning of the third day, he woke up early because Dream Eaters no longer sucked away his spiritual energy, and he struggled adjusting.
He wasted half the morning trying to fall back asleep, but failed. Eventually, he gave up and got up earlier than usual to head straight to the Manga Shop.
Sleeping straight for two or three days left him feeling groggy. It took him quite a while before he remembered how to proceed with his work, and he created four [Multiple Shadow Clones] to distribute tasks among them.
With the power left behind by the Fourth, Naruto managed to avoid going into Nine-Tails mode. This now marked nearly the final phase following Pain's attack arc.
Thinking carefully, he decided to draw at least ten chapters today to catch up on the previously missed updates.
"Alright, everyone, time to get to work!"
Sunagakure Village.
After leaving the dream, Ebizō had planned to speak with Chiyo first, hoping to prevent her from losing control when she learned of her son's death. But Madara acted faster than he expected. The moment he arrived at his sister's home, he saw Sankai kneeling in the courtyard.
Sankai knelt before Chiyo's door, full of regret and blaming himself for agreeing to "Akaba's" request, then delivered the news of "Akaba's" battlefield death to Chiyo.
Akaba was the name of her son.
Upon hearing this, Chiyo became overwhelmed with grief and fainted instantly.
He really was too late—after all.
Standing behind, Ebizō felt a chill run through his body.
Madara had timed everything perfectly, leaving him no chance to act.
Now that Chiyo had heard the news of her son's death, she'd completely snapped. No matter how hard he tried to explain the truth, she wouldn't believe him. Instead, she would think Ebizō was just being foolish for blindly trusting Konoha's words.
Yes, he knew his sister well.
Under normal circumstances, she was intelligent and level-headed. But now, having lost her only child…
This won't be easy!
In a nearby cave, Black Zetsu returned quietly and reported to Madara, "Everything is unfolding according to plan. Chiyo has completely lost it. Sunagakure won't let Konoha get away with this. However, there's one troubling person."
"Ebizō? Don't worry about him. With Shamon already dead, even if Ebizō dies next, Chiyo—despite her madness—will eventually catch on. Just leave things as they are. Ebizō isn't significant enough to make any difference."
Madara said calmly.
"That works."
Black Zetsu raised no objections. As Madara said, in the grand scheme of things, Ebizō was merely an insignificant pawn who couldn't affect the outcome.
By now, the wheels of war were already rolling—no one could stop them.
Once the war started, he could already envision multiple ninja villages turning against Konoha, while they worked behind the scenes, gathering tailed beasts and their jinchūriki.
Everything was under control.
Leaning back in his chair, Madara narrowed his eyes slightly, then asked, "By the way, has Akaba updated anything recently?"
"No updates at all."
Black Zetsu replied helplessly.
This was already the fifth time Madara had asked over the past three days. Each time, he had been ordered to check on the situation in the Land of Fire, as if Madara didn't trust him at all.
"Still nothing?"
Madara frowned slightly, tapping his fingers lightly on the stone armrest, sensing something faintly off.
Previously, Akaba posted nearly every day. Now, suddenly disappearing meant he must have received some new mission—but at a critical moment like this, what could he possibly be doing?
Even Madara couldn't afford to underestimate Akaba's strength. His absence over these three days genuinely unsettled him.
Thinking for a moment, Madara continued asking, "Has Konoha made any moves?"
"The body has been moved. Other than that, nothing unusual."
Moved the body?
Leaning back in his chair, Madara began silently analyzing.
The body…
Could it be they're planning to use Impure World Reincarnation?
Suddenly sitting upright, Madara's expression turned serious: "Three days without a single update? That's seriously off. Konoha is probably throwing everything they've got into researching Impure World Reincarnation."
"Impure World Reincarnation—the forbidden technique to summon the dead?"
Black Zetsu hesitated for a moment, "Is such a technique really possible? That seems impossible…"
"Yes, Tobirama Senju is a genius. There are many techniques of his that I don't even know about. Their effects differ from those in the Manga. I've only seen them a few times. If we look at it that way, Konoha might very well be researching this forbidden jutsu."
Madara grew increasingly convinced.
If the Impure World Reincarnation succeeded, their plans would develop weaknesses.
"Then, should we control Chiyo too?"
"The more you do, the more mistakes you make. Chiyo is strong and highly alert. It wouldn't be easy to control her completely."
Madara shook his head.
This plan wouldn't work at all. Then, they had no choice but to let Sankai take the fall. Still, after thinking for a moment, he added, "I'll take back what I just said. Watch Ebizō and check if he's making contact with outsiders."
"No problem."
Black Zetsu understood what Madara meant.
Ebizō controlled many informants and Shin'yo, and hovered around the edges of both Sankai and Chiyo. If Konoha were going to sabotage their plans, they'd go after this guy first.
That's also why Black Zetsu had suggested killing Ebizō.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>