Outside Amegakure.
Lightning flashed across the storm clouds.
A long moment later, thunder rolled behind the clouds with a deep, delayed roar.
As the lightning split the sky, Yako caught sight of Amegakure on the far side of the great lake.
And he was deeply disappointed.
In the original story, under Pain's rule, Amegakure had towering industrial structures of steel and pipe, the whole village built around the lake until it became an inner basin.
But now?
The current Amegakure didn't even occupy a third of the lake's shoreline.
This very lake was the same one where Konan would one day hide six hundred billion paper bombs.
Yet the village before him was small, barren, and pathetic.
Not a single proper high-rise stood within it.
The buildings were crude and dilapidated, soaked in an air of decay and long neglect.
Under Hanzo's rule, Amegakure was poor.
Broken.
Lifeless beneath the endless rain.
Yako couldn't help but wonder what exactly the so-called Demigod of the Shinobi World had been doing all these years.
Two figures suddenly used Body Flicker from the direction of Amegakure and arrived one after the other.
One moved with a water-based Body Flicker—
Hanzo.
The other was Danzo.
Danzo had clearly arrived first and already reached some kind of agreement with Hanzo.
Hanzo noticed the strange way Fox had been staring at Amegakure and frowned slightly.
Fox had been... evaluating the village.
As if he were judging whether it could be breached.
Yako withdrew his gaze and spoke first.
"Lord Danzo. I'm here."
Danzo was very pleased with Fox's attitude and said:
"Uchiha Madara is a rogue ninja of Konoha."
"He has also built a force of his own and gathered multiple powerful subordinates under him."
"Madara's rogue organization has brought tremendous trouble to Amegakure."
"During the Second Shinobi World War, Hanzo showed mercy to Tsunade and the other two. He already displayed more than enough goodwill."
"Now, in the matter of hunting rogue ninja, Konoha bears undeniable responsibility."
"We must help Amegakure eliminate Uchiha Madara and his rogue organization."
"Fox, Hanzo and I have already reached an agreement."
"Uchiha Madara specializes in Wood Release and Susanoo. You will use your Wood Release to deal with him."
"As for Madara's subordinates—Yahiko, Nagato Uzumaki, and the others—Hanzo and I will deal with them."
Danzo stared closely at Fox.
He still wasn't sure just how obedient this man truly was.
Yako quickly ran through the situation in his mind.
You idiots definitely didn't account for Obito as the wildcard, did you?
You're not just going up against Nagato, and Spiral Zetsu .
You're also facing Obito Uchiha.
Of course, Yako had no intention of warning Danzo.
Instead, he deliberately made himself look hesitant.
Torn.
After a long silence, he finally said:
"Lord Danzo. Lord Hanzo. I can deal with Uchiha Madara."
"But... do you actually have any intelligence on him?"
"Yes," Hanzo answered immediately, visibly relaxing.
Fox's Wood Release already carried shades of the First Hokage's power.
This was a man who could blast a tailed beast head-on and win.
If Fox refused to go, Hanzo fully intended to continue being a turtle in its shell.
Danzo also relaxed slightly.
With Hanzo fighting beside him, there were many dangers he could avoid altogether.
Hanzo tossed a scroll to Yako.
When Yako opened it, he found a map inside.
A single red circle had been marked on it.
Hanzo said, "Uchiha Madara has been hiding in the Land of Rain for years. It's not as though I've done nothing all this time."
"This place—"
"—is where he's hiding."
"As for Yahiko and Nagato Uzumaki, they're currently in the southeast of the Land of Rain, trying to win the support of the nobles there."
"Fox, go hold Uchiha Madara in place."
"We'll clean up his subordinates."
Yako calculated silently.
If Nagato was out in the field, then Spiral Zetsu, Obito, Black Zetsu, and the others were likely near him.
The Rinnegan was simply too important.
It was the very foundation needed to control the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
"Fine," Yako said at last.
"I'll hold off Uchiha Madara."
Then he vanished with Body Flicker.
Once Fox had gone far enough, Danzo turned to Hanzo and said:
"To be safe, we won't move against the Uzumaki remnants until Fox has already engaged Uchiha Madara."
Hanzo nodded, inwardly thinking:
As expected of Danzo. This man is cautious to a ridiculous degree.
He truly wouldn't release the hawk until he saw the rabbit.
Danzo continued:
"Konoha is helping you eliminate Uchiha Madara and his rogue organization."
"We cannot return empty-handed."
"Whether it's the Rinnegan of the Uzumaki remnant, or Spiral Zetsu's Mangekyō Sharingan..."
"All such spoils belong to me."
"Of course," Hanzo replied calmly. "All I want is for the leader of the Akatsuki—Yahiko—to die."
"I have no interest whatsoever in dōjutsu. Even if I obtained them, they'd be useless to me."
"Unlike you, sitting in Konoha with all those Uchiha around you. You must have studied ocular powers quite extensively."
Danzo did not continue that topic.
Instead, he said coldly:
"The foundation of cooperation between you and me is already solid."
"There's no need for these pointless little probes."
The two men disappeared into the rain.
Southern Land of Rain.
Yako moved through the rainforest with the White Ram squad.
Beneath the Yoshigane Mountains, Uzumaki Kaichō and Uzumaki Genchō were moving at high speed.
They had received intelligence that Danzo would soon head for the southeast of the Land of Rain.
Their task was to locate him for Fox.
Neither of them was remotely strong enough to fight Danzo.
Even if they found him, they wouldn't be able to stop him.
But Uzumaki Kaichō carried something far more important—
One of Fox's Flying Thunder God kunai.
Yako's reflexes weren't on Namikaze Minato's level.
He couldn't use the Flying Thunder God in combat with that same miraculous finesse.
But for movement?
Travel?
Positioning?
It was absurdly useful.
As long as Kaichō and Genchō found Danzo, Yako could appear there at any moment.
The rain continued to fall without end.
Eventually, Yako and his team reached the area Hanzo had marked on the map.
Yako pressed his fingers against the ground.
Very quickly, he detected something strange.
A massive tree.
Above the ground, the tree appeared perfectly normal.
But beneath the earth—
Its root system had formed a giant wooden tumor more than a hundred meters across.
That grotesque mass was very likely Uchiha Madara's underground base.
Yako concealed himself behind another tree and carefully observed the strange one.
Its canopy even had two bird nests in it.
On the surface, nothing looked wrong.
Just as he was preparing to investigate further, a thin vertical crack appeared along the trunk of the tree.
Inside the crack—
There was only darkness.
It looked like a narrow, staring eye.
Yako immediately knew he had been discovered.
So he stopped bothering to hide.
He stepped out from behind the tree and walked openly toward it.
From the slit in the trunk, a Wood Dragon emerged.
Standing atop it—
Was Uchiha Madara.
He still looked the same as before.
Grey-white hair.
Wrinkled face.
Leaning on his war scythe.
But there was one major difference now.
Madara looked frenzied.
The moment he saw Yako, he suddenly swung his scythe up and pointed it straight at him, shouting:
"Top Transformed Buddha!"
"You killed the head monk of the Fire Temple and took Senju Hashirama's Top Transformed Buddha from him!"
"No!" Yako denied it instantly.
"I did not kill the head monk of the Fire Temple."
"Uchiha Madara, don't go around slandering people."
Madara let out a cold laugh.
"I can feel my blood boiling again."
"Come, Fox!"
"Let me witness Top Transformed Buddha once more!"
"Let me see just how much of Senju Hashirama's strength a rat hiding inside Konoha's ANBU truly possesses!"
Red maple Wood Release and green-leaf Wood Release crashed into each other.
The rainforest instantly filled with the violent cracking and groaning sounds of wood growing, splitting, and colliding at high speed.
Far away, a giant salamander slipped silently into the rainwater and carried the news of the battle back to Hanzo.
"Uchiha Madara and Fox have begun fighting!"
"Move! We need to deal with Madara's subordinates as quickly as possible!"
The moment Hanzo and Danzo received the report, they set off at once—
Heading for the southeast of the Land of Rain.
To find Nagato Uzumaki.