Death or immortality—it's a topic not easily defined.
But if Orochimaru had to answer, he'd definitely eat the Devil Fruit without hesitation.
Only by living could one study more mysteries.
Of course,
Orochimaru is somewhat different from his manga counterpart. Right now, he's still young—hasn't seen too much loss, hasn't been hardened by life, and still holds relatively sound moral values. He hasn't yet abandoned his human identity.
Although he desires eternal life and immortality, he doesn't wish to become some grotesque creature forced to constantly reincarnate just for perpetual existence.
In that case, dying might be better.
The matter of the Vampire Fruit has temporarily settled. Akaba wasn't worried about Mito Uzumaki losing her mind—at least, not anytime soon.
Eventually, she would accept reality, regaining her peak strength by absorbing cultists' blood.
By then, even if Madara came, Akaba wouldn't fear him at all. He wouldn't even need to personally fight to the death—just let the battle drag on until Madara bled, then weaken him using his own blood.
Leaving the Senju clan territory, Tsunade felt quite gloomy.
She had originally thought her grandmother could achieve true immortality. Who would've guessed her grandmother couldn't pass her own inner test?
Still, it wasn't easy to accept.
Sighing softly, she stopped dwelling on it and decided instead to go retrieve those brats from the Uzumaki household.
Akaba had already left a while back.
Right now, he was genuinely busy. Aside from updates, he also had tons of tasks—stockpiling chakra, running errands for the Third and Danzō whenever summoned.
Even time to laze around like a proper couch potato had to be milked out drop by drop.
Too hard.
Luckily, today's mission was done. All manga updates had been properly handled. Although there were only five chapters of Naruto this time, the next five involved the real meaning behind the Moon Eye Plan and [Infinite Tsukuyomi]. He figured it might really rattle both Madara and Black Zetsu a little.
He just didn't know if those two old foxes would start eating each other from within.
From multiple interactions, Akaba was certain they weren't close; in fact, they deeply suspected each other—and the reason likely stemmed from information leaked through the Whispering Fruit on his side.
Would this volume allow Madara to finally detect Black Zetsu's hidden intentions?
Imagining it, Akaba finished his final edits and packaging before asking Sakuma Yunlang to take the manga to the Factory, requesting Izumi Yamano and others to help with printing.
The profits from manga sales weren't high within Konoha.
However, when sold overseas, it became truly profitable. Thus, the Factory treated several Konoha manga authors very generously, prioritizing their releases whenever updates arrived.
Today, three copies were submitted.
Two were works by Akaba, while the third belonged to the art-comic author Jiraiya. Having gone silent for over a month, his sudden return shocked the Factory staff.
Out of curiosity about the new comic, they "just happened to" flip through its pages during printing.
*[Hot & Steamy]*.
So
That day, the factory manager noticed more employees hanging around the restroom than usual.
Slackers!
He grumbled inwardly but chose not to stop them.
It was unusual to have people constantly running to the restroom like today, and he believed it was probably related to that manga. He had long become accustomed to the constant restroom visits and chose to ignore them completely.
Water that is too clear has no fish; similarly, one must choose what to overlook.
Jiraiya's manga, having been sent earlier, had already completed its update and was distributed outside through merchant channels before Akaba's manga even arrived.
In Konoha, they waited for both of Akaba's latest manga volumes to be completed before distribution.
That's just how Konoha operated—it was more restrictive.
Previously, only ten copies were delivered, but now they've increased it fivefold, allowing fifty copies each time. But delivering such a small number wasn't really worth the trip.
Once Akaba's two volumes were completed, they would be transported together to Konoha.
At that moment, in a corner, a dark figure slowly moved, quietly grabbed a copy of *Hot & Steamy*, and then patiently waited for the new manga to arrive.
Back in Konoha, the manga didn't arrive until noon the next day, but Black Zetsu had already obtained the first copies and hurried back to the Land of Wind under moonlight.
Honestly, he was torn about whether to show all the manga to Madara.
The One Piece manga wasn't a big deal.
In his view, this one was purely for entertainment. Although there were many implied references inside, he personally didn't think it was worth paying much attention to.
Except for Naruto Shippuden.
[Moon Eye Plan], [Infinite Tsukuyomi].
Different from the previous vague reference to the "Moon Eye Plan" as five characters, this time "Madara" clearly explained the specifics of his Moon Eye Plan and arrogantly announced:
[The Fourth Great Ninja World War] has begun!
An arrogant declaration indeed—but within the context of the manga, such arrogance was justified.
Reality, however, was different.
Madara was powerful, but he was also old. If he had been ten years younger with the Rinnegan, he could've turned the world upside down completely. But even now—
he still possessed the ability to flip the world upside down.
However, after turning the world upside down, Madara himself would reach the end of his life. If he could earn Madara's trust, Madara wouldn't hesitate to use him.
Unfortunately, something had gone wrong somewhere, and it was now irreparable.
This volume must be handed over.
Black Zetsu sighed inwardly, or else Madara wouldn't even bother talking to him—he'd just kill him. Killing him might prove somewhat difficult due to his abilities, but sealing him away would definitely be possible.
In a cave within the Land of Wind,
Black Zetsu emerged from the ground and placed the three manga books in the center of the cave.
Madara opened his eyes and used his powers to draw the three books toward him. After grabbing them, he slightly frowned.
Why were there three?
Madara glanced briefly, then looked again at the covers: Hot & Steamy? What was that?
"Eh… I don't know. I saw it being printed and just grabbed it on a whim."
Black Zetsu hesitated.
Hot & Steamy?
It must have been the earliest one taken. He hadn't noticed it back then, so he just took it along. Anyway, with his abilities, no one would notice him taking any books.
But the content...
He flipped through a few pages, his eyes widening slightly, then turned a few more pages and put it aside.
Hmph. Boring content.
I've roamed this world for decades—what haven't I seen? Do you really think these mere scribbles on paper can seduce me, Uchiha Madara?!
Without wasting time, he dove straight into the latest Naruto Shippuden chapter.
Five chapters.
Yet as he flipped through a few pages, he immediately came across some explosive content.
The Moon Eye Plan.
Actually, the idea's creator was none other than Madara Uchiha himself. However, at this point, he had only just formed a relatively complete concept without yet discovering a feasible method of execution.
One thing that slightly annoyed him, though, was how bold the kid in the manga was—pretending to be him and deceiving others while doing things completely against his style.
Of course.
While reading, Madara also secretly used his ability to observe Zetsu. After finishing more than half of the manga, he slowly said, "Zetsu—or should I say, Indra—if our plan succeeds, what would you want?"
Zetsu froze, never expecting Madara would ask such a question.
He paused for just a second before quickly answering decisively, "I want to borrow the God Tree's power to resurrect myself."
"Resurrect yourself?"
It was the truth.
But there was hesitation.
Madara thought for a moment, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Resurrection doesn't necessarily require the God Tree. Wait until I destroy Konoha and obtain Tobirama Senju's research records on souls—I don't think creating Immortal Reincarnation for yourself will be difficult."
"It's different. The God Tree can create the perfect body for me."
Zetsu explained.
"I see."
Madara gave a slight nod but didn't comment on whether he believed it. He simply continued reading.
Later came scenes depicting the capture of the Eight-Tails. Based on its strength and the way the story unfolds, capturing it won't be easy. There's a high chance Kisame might lose or run into trouble.
However, Madara didn't really care about that.
He wasn't genuinely interested in the manga anyway—he was observing Zetsu's condition through it. Even if Zetsu hadn't shown any flaws during their face-to-face meetings, Madara didn't necessarily need to witness them directly.
Still, today wasn't fruitless.
At least the desire to "resurrect" was genuine, which was a key factor. Therefore, the reason behind his hesitation deserves consideration. Until he figured this out, he wouldn't truly proceed with the Moon Eye Plan.
Who knows who exactly Zetsu wants to revive—himself, Indra, or someone even Madara doesn't know.
Besides,
would resurrection really only require the God Tree?
This guy couldn't be trusted. Regardless, after everything, Zetsu must be sealed away immediately.
Thinking all this, Madara showed no emotion on his face. He casually put the manga aside and went back to reading One Piece.
Back in Sunagakure Village, the Kazekage, Elders, and most Jonin had already deployed to the Front Lines—the war against Konoha was fast approaching.
For Konoha itself, however, the impact wasn't particularly noticeable—not many ninjas had been deployed, and the village had not yet fully mobilized for total war.
So today, a decent crowd still hung around outside Akaba's Manga Shop, flipping through manga and chatting.
To regular folks, life in Konoha was pretty good. They didn't have to worry about bandits attacking or killing them daily, or other kinds of disasters either.
Now that manga were here, people could speak their minds freely and criticize the comics without worrying about getting beaten up—even when talking about Danzo, though they usually called him "that man" or "the honorable one." Still, everyone knew exactly who they were referring to.
And so far, not one ninja had come after them over it. People could basically say whatever they wanted without fear of retaliation.
After reading today's update, everyone couldn't resist ragging on Sasuke. Last volume you were strutting around like you're unstoppable, and now you're already down for the count in this one?
[Moon Eye Plan]
A lot of people still don't get how serious this thing really is. After all, they don't know that someone in the real world has actually been plotting these exact things, still thinking it's just another bullshit plot cooked up by Akaba in the manga.
If everyone finds out that the Infinite Tsukuyomi is a real jutsu, and Madara Uchiha isn't dead but still scheming to carry it out, the entire ninja village would probably descend into chaos.
Still, many feel uneasy about the Ninja World War.
Ever since the update dropped at noon, tons of people have been commenting and asking whether the Ninja World War will finally kick off this time.
Regarding that,
Akaba says: I seriously don't know either.
The war launched by Sunagakure was completely beyond his knowledge, and even he himself has no idea what'll happen next.
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