This was Kaede Tsukasa's first time using Madara in actual combat.
And right from the start, he went all out, sending Madara out to face the Eight-Tails.
"You won't die so easily. You must have used Izanagi on yourself, but even then, I'm not sure you can resurrect successfully."
Kaede Tsukasa watched Madara's hunched body, curious to see what kind of movements he could perform in a place like the Valley of Clouds and Lightning.
There was, of course, a possibility that Madara might never revive, and that Izanagi couldn't escape the grip of death—but that didn't matter to Kaede Tsukasa. Whether Madara could revive or not, it didn't stop him from using Madara's corpse to the fullest.
Even if it got completely worn out, it didn't matter; after all, it was an incredibly old corpse. With the One's Own Life Reincarnation Jutsu, he could patch it up and use it again next time.
Even without using Madara, Kaede Tsukasa had the opportunity to use the Corpse Demon Sealing Technique to slice chakra off the Eight-Tails—but why waste a chance?
"Wahaha, an incredibly old corpse? Human, you're amusing. You've actually made me laugh!" the Eight-Tails bellowed, but it remained highly alert.
This human was extremely cunning, able to control corpses in battle and wield strange space-time ninjutsu to escape at will.
Now, he had removed Orochimaru and specifically summoned this strange corpse, revealing his peculiarity in every move.
"Die!!"
This time, the Eight-Tails didn't use the Bijuu Dama; instead, it swung a massive tentacle down with full force.
In that instant, the hunched elder slowly lifted his head, opening his only remaining eye. The three tomoe rapidly spun in a circle.
The Eight-Tails froze as if bound by a sealing jutsu—its huge tail paused mid-air, its body stiff and unmoving.
"Sharingan genjutsu? An Uchiha… but what's with this ocular power?" the Eight-Tails thought, surprised.
Uchiha—of course, the Eight-Tails had heard of them. They were direct descendants of the Sage of Six Paths.
But how could a mere three-tomoe Sharingan control it with genjutsu, and only with one eye?
The Eight-Tails had a strange feeling, as if the old man hadn't fully unleashed the Sharingan's genjutsu potential.
"This cursed ocular power isn't an ordinary Sharingan, but it's not a Mangekyō Sharingan either. What the hell is this? Who is this human elder, and how did he fall into that other human's hands?"
The Eight-Tails growled and struggled, moving bit by bit, each motion smoother than the last. Soon, it would break free from the genjutsu.
Kaede Tsukasa watched everything.
"Really useful, this Sharingan. No wonder they say the best way to face it one-on-one is to run immediately."
Kaede Tsukasa activated the three-tomoe Sharingan, observing the entire process with heightened insight. Its effect in battle was enormous.
Madara hadn't been able to perfectly control the Eight-Tails with a single glance, but that didn't surprise Kaede Tsukasa. It wasn't because Madara used an ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan—back when Madara fought Mito Uzumaki, if Mito hadn't interfered, he could have controlled the Nine-Tails directly. Normally, controlling the Eight-Tails shouldn't be impossible.
The problem now was that Madara was abnormal—soulless. On a spiritual level, he couldn't fully unleash the Sharingan's genjutsu.
"Ohhh, I'm about to break your genjutsu and crush you!" the Eight-Tails shouted, extending its other tails little by little.
Finally, it broke free from the Sharingan genjutsu and slammed down, aiming to see the corpse crushed into pieces before turning to kill Kaede Tsukasa and end the battle.
It also needed to consider how to face the Third Raikage next. After obliterating two hundred of the Cloud Village troops with a single Bijuu Dama, explaining this would be difficult. Would it have to tear apart all previous understandings with Cloud Village?
As its multiple tails struck, sealing all escape routes for Madara, the old corpse suddenly displayed a half-skeletal figure. In an instant, flesh grew over the skeleton, reinforced with heavy armor.
Whoosh!
The massive katana sliced at high speed, cutting all of the Eight-Tails' tentacles. Under Kaede Tsukasa's precise control, one hand pressed down on a single tentacle while the other swung the katana from above, chopping hard.
Splat!
A segment of a tentacle fell.
It's not that Kaede Tsukasa didn't want to chop off a bigger piece—he actually wanted to strike from the Eight-Tails' neck down, taking everything in one go—but the situation didn't allow it.
"…The pressure is still too much."
Kaede Tsukasa maintained his hand signs, breathing rapidly.
Letting the zombie fight on instinct was manageable, but producing meaningful damage in a high-level battle? That was another matter entirely.
This required Kaede Tsukasa's intervention—but the more he intervened, the more it drained him. Previously, he had expended a huge amount of chakra converting corpses with the Corpse Technique to seize the bodies of seventeen Cloud Village ninjas and speed up their elimination.
Now he also had to control Madara to activate Susanoo, focusing on striking a single tentacle.
Just a few seconds of control was enough to put Kaede Tsukasa under pressure, accelerating the loss of his vitality.
"Partly it's because I've already spent chakra, but controlling a warrior of Madara's level is still harder than expected. This is what surpassing a Hokage-level fighter feels like."
Kaede Tsukasa pondered. Despite Madara being elderly and only using an ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan, the Susanoo he activated was ultimately a degraded form of the full Crow Tengu shape.
Even controlling an ordinary Mangekyō Sharingan user to activate a half-armored Susanoo shouldn't consume this much.
Moreover, the heavy drain wasn't just on Kaede Tsukasa—the corpse itself was struggling.
The three-tomoe Sharingan had slightly swollen, as if it might explode under internal pressure at any moment.
Luckily, Madara was dead—if he were alive, he'd probably be bleeding out already.
Kaede Tsukasa could also feel that Madara's body was reaching its limit. From bones to muscles, even the few remaining nerves, everything gradually collapsed the longer Susanoo was maintained.
After all, this was elderly Madara. Nurturing the Rinnegan had already drained his spiritual and life energy. Unless Kaede Tsukasa had gathered a massive number of zombies beforehand to siphon life into Madara, he couldn't maximize his power.
But Kaede Tsukasa wasn't willing to do that—he would only pay such a price if he intended to completely exhaust Madara.
"Ah, whatever. I didn't have high expectations for Madara anyway. Using genjutsu and Susanoo to handle an elite-level Eight-Tails is already sufficient."
A thought crossed Kaede Tsukasa's mind. Standing at the lake's edge, Sandstorm Araki immediately generated a brief sandstorm, sending the detached tentacle segment toward Kaede Tsukasa.
Whoosh!
He quickly opened a scroll and sealed the Eight-Tails' chakra inside. Of the seven blank spaces, one now bore the character "Eight."
With this, he had chakra from three Tailed Beasts.
"So you attacked just to steal my chakra? Pathetic! Such a tiny bit of chakra—I could have generously given it to you, but you've angered me!"
The Eight-Tails swung its fists like drums, eyes fixed on the tiny Madara.
Indeed, it had vaguely recognized what had just happened. The famed Susanoo—from Indra to Uchiha Madara—had been used by many over a thousand years. Even without seeing it firsthand, it could roughly guess.
But that technique should require a Mangekyō Sharingan. Why was it being used with a single three-tomoe Sharingan?
"You're even more suspicious, corpse. Using a three-tomoe Sharingan to perform that technique… Could it be that you…?" The thought faltered. That person shouldn't have been this old when he died. That legendary figure wouldn't allow his corpse to be manipulated like this.
The Eight-Tails narrowed its eyes, then opened them wide. Whoever this was, it had to be crushed. Smash it into pulp in one blow—Susanoo, Sharingan, none of it mattered!
"Watch as I crush you to pieces, Eight-Tails style!!"
It roared and pressed its mountain-like body down, deliberately avoiding eye contact this time, relying purely on sheer mass to crush the enemy.
"Continuing the fight is meaningless. If the Cloud arrive and trap me here, it'll be troublesome."
Kaede Tsukasa already had the Eight-Tails' chakra and had no intention of fighting further. Honestly, he couldn't defeat an Eight-Tails-level being—he couldn't even beat any other Tailed Beast.
Just as Kaede Tsukasa began forming hand signs to summon Madara back, he suddenly let out a soft "huh" and released his grip.
"Unexpected… at a time like this…"
Boom!
The Eight-Tails slammed down onto Madara, and with a tremendous crash, the lake exploded outward. The sheer weight and speed made no difference whether it hit water or solid ground.
Splash!
The Eight-Tails rose, peering down at the diluted chunks of flesh: "Didn't even get away… completely crushed by me. No human dares act tough in front of me! Kid, now it's your turn!"
"Who's my turn, beast?"
A voice suddenly rose from the churning lake.
"Huh?"
The Eight-Tails whipped its head in surprise and saw the human elder it had just crushed perfectly intact, standing on the other side.
It glanced down at the lake, only to find all the chunks of flesh had vanished, as if everything before had been an illusion.
"Another genjutsu? When did he cast it on me? Something feels off… And how—how is this corpse suddenly alive and talking?"
The Eight-Tails flicked its tails, uneasy. Instinctively, it hoped this was just Kaede Tsukasa controlling the corpse's speech—it would make sense that way.
If not… then this was serious. A person who had clearly died… coming back to life with full self-awareness?
Out of the corner of its eye, the Eight-Tails saw clearly: the elder's three-tomoe Sharingan had turned completely gray and lifeless. His gaze had lost focus—it was clearly… blind.
"An unknown ocular jutsu, requiring an eye as a sacrifice… Does the Uchiha clan really possess such resurrection techniques?"
The Eight-Tails silently guessed, then adopted a casual expression, opening its mouth to form a Bijuu Dama, impatiently hurling it at him.
"No matter what you are, this time you won't dodge it! Die!"
"Opening my eyes to fight the Eight-Tails… that guy really doesn't hold back using me."
Though blind, Madara still retained basic perception. Tilting his head slightly, he already guessed what the Eight-Tails was doing.
"Just a Bijuu Dama. If you think I can't deal with it without eyes, you underestimate me."
Madara snorted, tightly shutting his eyes. The outline of Susanoo appeared again, but this time he didn't simply strike the Bijuu Dama away like he had against the Nine-Tails.
He used Susanoo's force to press against the Bijuu Dama, leveraging the reaction to forcibly change his own direction. With a leap, he landed beside Kaede Tsukasa.
A terrifying explosion echoed through the distant mountains, the blinding light briefly obscuring the sun.
"You didn't die, huh? I was just about to save you," Kaede Tsukasa said, unblinking, casually standing on a rock and watching Madara land beside him, uttering words that were plainly insincere.
Zombies didn't believe in saving people, let alone Madara.
"This beast still can't kill me. Compared to that… I didn't expect you to use me so clumsily," Madara snorted, displeased.
Having just rewritten reality with Izanagi, he opened his eyes to see the Eight-Tails slam down. Even Madara fell silent for a brief moment.
Though he had mentally prepared before death—knowing Kaede Tsukasa wouldn't miss the chance to corpse-transform him, and that Afei and Hakujo couldn't stop it—from death to resurrection had only been a few days. Yet Kaede Tsukasa had wasted no time rushing to the Land of Lightning to confront the Eight-Tails with his corpse?
"I'm a frugal person, committed to using everything to its fullest. You're already dead, so why not serve a purpose before you fully revive? Makes sense, right?" Kaede Tsukasa said lightly, showing no surprise at Madara's resurrection, describing it matter-of-factly.
"Hmph, suit yourself. I was prepared for this anyway… my eye."
Madara extended a hand.
Splat!
Kaede Tsukasa lifted one of his own eyes and placed it in Madara's hand.
Pressing it into his empty socket, blood flowing, Madara reopened his eye. The eyeball rolled to adjust, and the three-tomoe Sharingan quietly reappeared.
"Use it sparingly. It took me a lot of effort to get a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan. Giving you one… still hurts a bit."
Kaede Tsukasa licked the blood flowing from his empty eye socket into his mouth, and by the time he spoke, his wounds were already healed.
Madara said coldly, "If the plan goes smoothly, you'll have many Sharingan. Ordinary eyes like these aren't worth expending much effort on."
"Easy for you to say. The Uchiha clan guards their bloodline closely. Even for me, it's hard to find many opportunities. Do you expect me to bring a horde of zombies to attack Konoha and wipe out the entire Uchiha clan?"
Kaede Tsukasa shook his head. "Besides, I haven't found the heir you desire yet. You wouldn't let me do something like that, would you?"
"You seem to place great value on Uchiha power. Did you sense something from me? Forget it. A three-tomoe Sharingan is the upper limit for a worthy clan member. Reaching Mangekyō level? Not possible for someone like you," Madara said.
"Just Mangekyō Sharingan? In the few days you were dead, I discovered a lot. Nagato's Rinnegan—it should be yours, right? And the Outer Path Golem being the Ten-Tails' husk… I found that out too."
Kaede Tsukasa tilted his head at the silent Madara. "You tried to hide the most critical information from me, but you didn't expect a fight to the death with someone like Mito to reveal it. Madara, you really are outrageous."
"Mutual, you've hidden plenty from me as well," Madara replied.
The two fell silent and turned their attention to the center of the lake, where the Eight-Tails lingered.
The Eight-Tails was still stunned, its mind unable to process everything.
Everything that had just happened was more intense than decades of past experience. Just one Kaede Tsukasa had made the Eight-Tails wary: controlling corpses to fight while staying safely distant, using space-time ninjutsu. Even if the corpses attacked its real body, it would be useless—the maxed-out advantage lay with Kaede Tsukasa.
That was already formidable.
Madara made the Eight-Tails even more cautious: dead, yet alive; blind, yet wielding Susanoo. Calculating the timeline, if that person hadn't died at the Valley of the End, he'd be around seventy now—matching his current frail appearance.
"See that? The buffalo isn't attacking. It's thinking—probably noticed something off about you."
Kaede Tsukasa mocked, "Using Izanagi in front of it? Unless it's an idiot, it would suspect your identity and wonder if you tricked the First Hokage with it back then."
"The beast's intelligence is low—nothing to worry about. But you… you understand Izanagi this well?" Madara looked at Kaede Tsukasa, raising his evaluation of him once more.
"Not difficult. I read the Scroll of Seals, studied many forbidden jutsu. The Third Hokage mostly showed me only names, effects weren't revealed, except a few like the Multiplying Explosive Tags. But seeing Danzo use Izanagi in the Land of Rain made many things clear," Kaede Tsukasa said calmly.
"I asked the new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. There's a sealing technique called the Transcription Seal, which stores a jutsu somewhere and triggers it later. You used that, right?"
"Correct. Once again, you surprise me with your extraordinary sensitivity to jutsu. If you were Uchiha-born, I'd immediately teach you the legacy—no need to search for an heir," Madara said coldly. Truth or not, who could tell?
The two conversed openly as if no one else existed, a form of candid honesty in itself.
"Alright, alright! Whoever you are, you're no match for me! Die!"
The Eight-Tails' arms flailed wildly, churning the lake like a giant propeller, charging toward the two.
Kaede Tsukasa asked, "Plenty of presence, but useless. What do you think—should we reclaim the Eight-Tails now?"
"No. The Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails, the strongest Tailed Beasts, must be captured last. Best to start with the One-Tail and proceed in order. The Rinnegan is still with Nagato, and he hasn't matured yet."
"The eye of the moon Project really revolves around the Rinnegan and Tailed Beasts. Everything else is secondary," Kaede Tsukasa said.
As the Eight-Tails surged close, waves of the lake crashing forward, Kaede Tsukasa placed his palm on Madara's shoulder, and the two instantly vanished.
A zombie appeared, then immediately exploded from within with sizzling sounds, leaving no intact clues behind.
The surrounding zombies also dissipated into smoke as Kaede Tsukasa performed a summoning.
The moment Kaede Tsukasa and Madara departed, a massive force descended almost simultaneously from above. The Third Raikage, accompanied by his son, arrived at Valley of Clouds and Lightning using the Heavenly Transfer Technique.
"Where's the enemy?!"
Two muscular men swung their arms, lightning crackling around them, scanning the chaotic Valley with ferocious expressions.
All they saw was the zombies dissipating into smoke. Beyond that, not a single corpse remained in the wreckage of Valley of Clouds and Lightning.
Even the bodies of the Cloud ninja had completely disappeared.
Only the two muscular men and the bewildered Eight-Tails remained, staring at each other.
"Explain yourself, Eight-Tails! What exactly happened here? And you, damn it, how dare you attack the forces I left on the outskirts with your Tailed Beast Bomb?!" The Third Raikage clenched his fists and roared.
"What? You human, dare to curse at me? Die!"
The Eight-Tails had been considering whether to humbly explain the recent events to the Third Raikage, but seeing him just enraged it further.
Couldn't hit Madara and Kaede Tsukasa, but now you?
The massive figure leapt forward, delivering a devastating punch to the Third Raikage. Not to be outdone, the Raikage, already furious from losing many subordinates, swung back with equal force, clashing head-on with the Eight-Tails.
Young Yozuki hesitated, choosing not to intervene. Instead, he examined Valley of Clouds and Lightning, inspecting the battle traces.
Both he and the Third Raikage hailed from the Night Moo clan of Kumogakure. Upon becoming Raikage, they would each take the shared name—A.
"The Eight-Tails fired multiple Tailed Beast Bombs, yet not a single corpse remains. Who is the enemy? And if the target was the Eight-Tails, why deliberately remove all the bodies?"
Who attacks a Tailed Beast and then cleans up the scene so thoroughly? Could it be… A furrowed his brow—it must be Konoha's revenge.
"Father, hurry and deal with this. I have a hunch; if I'm right, the enemy's identity is clear, and they have no intention of concealing it," Yozuki shouted.
The Third Raikage nodded, his golden hair standing on end as he further activated his Lightning Release chakra mode.
Normally, he and the Eight-Tails would be evenly matched, eventually both exhausted. But this time was different.
The Eight-Tails was essentially overusing Blue B's body—and Blue B's body had limits.
"This isn't good."
Sensing something wrong, the Eight-Tails deactivated its Tailed Beast form first, but it seemed too late.
Blue B had always been a failed Jinchuriki, the first in Kumogakure's history, and sealed with the underwhelming Iron Armor sealing technique.
As the Eight-Tails shrank back into Blue B's body, Blue B fell to the ground, and the Third Raikage swiftly caught him.
"Hey, Blue B, are you alright?"
"Sorry, Raikage-sama. My body has reached its limit. Please remove the Iron Armor seal immediately and release the Eight-Tails from me."
Blue B's body was covered in wounds. "If I die, the Eight-Tails dies with me. Capturing it again will be nearly impossible."
The Eight-Tails scoffed, "Hey, what do you mean 'capture me again'? When have you ever actually caught me? I just didn't want to leave Valley of Clouds and Lightning!"
The Third Raikage grew angrier. "Eight-Tails, look at what you've done! You deliberately tried to kill Blue B while the enemy invaded, didn't you?"
"Hmph. Not my fault. Blame the Jinchuriki you chose—too weak! Weak in power, weak in will. Can't even comprehend their own existence. That Iron Armor seal was a joke. If he doesn't die now, I'll make sure he dies later," the Eight-Tails said disdainfully.
"Get me a new toy quickly. I hope the next Jinchuriki lasts longer—don't want to kill them after a few uses," it added.
The Eight-Tails really looked down on Blue B. If it had the chance, taking him out directly would have been simpler. This time, sheer exhaustion had caused Blue B's body to collapse.
Every Tailed Beast rampage imposed enormous strain on the Jinchuriki. Though a Jinchuriki could recover quickly under normal conditions, that wasn't the case when fully transformed.
When Naruto fought Orochimaru at the Tenchi Bridge, he only entered partial Tailed Beast mode—just four tails. After deactivating, his skin was severely damaged, leaving him unconscious.
Blue B had undergone full Tailed Beast transformation. The Eight-Tails' entire mass was borne by Blue B, and the Tailed Beast, unconcerned with his Jinchuriki's condition, unleashed its power recklessly.
"Damn… Don't worry. I'll avenge you by killing the one responsible," Yozuki declared resolutely.
The Third Raikage looked up. "Prepare to undo the seal immediately. Re-seal the Eight-Tails into the Amber Purification Vessel and begin selecting a suitable container. This time, we must choose the most appropriate one!"
…
"This time, Blue B is probably doomed. It's a pity we can't retrieve his body."
Kaede Tsukasa appeared again, sounding slightly regretful as his first words.
Orochimaru had been waiting for quite some time, serpents constantly slithering over his body. Seeing Kaede Tsukasa reappear, he rasped, "It's over, huh? Looks like something interesting happened on your side. You even lost an eye… What exactly happened? Not even enough for me to see with my own eyes?"
"Didn't you already learn through the summon? Just summoned these snakes back?"
"That's different. I can't precisely know what the zombies perceive like Kaede-kun can. These snakes can only give me rough information. For example, I know the last corpse Kaede summoned seems to be an extraordinary individual. But specifically who it is?"
Orochimaru's excitement grew. The more he interacted with Kaede Tsukasa, the more secrets he could uncover. This was a good sign—it meant he was gradually deciphering the information hidden within Kaede.
Someday, he would have enough intelligence, Orochimaru thought.
Leaning against a rock, Orochimaru continued, "I was thinking calmly just now and remembered something interesting. The body of Lord Mito was sent back to the village by you, but the body of that formidable enemy, who forced Lord Mito to use the Corpse Demon Sealing Technique, has vanished…"
"Oh, that was destroyed by the Nine-Tails. If you want to know more, ask the Nine-Tails yourself," Kaede Tsukasa replied, expression unchanged.
"Even I can't approach the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki casually—wouldn't want the Third Raikage upset. For now, only you have that privilege; the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is temporarily interested in you alone."
Slurp.
Orochimaru flicked out his tongue to lick.
Kaede Tsukasa remained noncommittal. That was true.
At this time, Kushina had hardly any friends—no one she knew. She certainly had no interest in Minato Namikaze.
In Kushina's mind, Minato was just the type who hid in the shadows while she beat up her male classmates—gentle, soft-spoken, almost like a girl.
Maybe Minato's fame during the Second Great Ninja War would slightly change her opinion, but it wouldn't be a fundamental shift.
The real turning point came after Blue B's death. Kumogakure, having learned a hard lesson, searched the ninja world for better Jinchuriki. Somehow, someone clever set their sights on Kushina—and actually abducted her from Konoha!
It should be noted that in the original timeline, this year—Konoha's 41st year—when Kushina was taken, the strongest sensory ninja in the ninja world, Mito Uzumaki, was still alive, yet made no move. The Third Hokage and others acted as if she didn't exist, giving no attention to the designated next Jinchuriki.
At that time, only Minato Namikaze noticed Kushina's abduction. He acted alone, tracking her through strands of red hair she left behind, successfully catching up, killing three Kumogakure jonin under moonlight, and rescuing her.
Yes, the classic hero-rescues-beauty story. From then on, Kushina felt a sense of belonging to Konoha, and besides Mito Uzumaki, she had someone else who truly cared for her.
The next year, Konoha's 42nd, after Mito Uzumaki passed away naturally, Kushina smoothly became the second Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Minato gradually became the Fourth Hokage To Be—overall, a very favorable script: a love story between a commoner-born Fourth Hokage and his Jinchuriki wife. Multi-layered benefits all around.
But the timeline had too many bugs, and poorly executed ones at that. The biggest flaw: Mito Uzumaki's complete lack of reaction.
With Kushina's intelligence, she'd probably never notice the problem.
"So, although most of Kumogakure consists of muscle-bound men, not all their brains have turned to muscle. Among the people they suspect, I must be one of them, and they'll be wary of me… What do you plan to do next?"
Kaede Tsukasa found things becoming interesting. This timeline was gradually diverging from the original trajectory. It would differ greatly from the anime timeline, manga timeline, Dragon Vein timeline, and the Ōtsutsuki Urashiki timeline using the Ōtsutsuki 'Plow' artifact.
How it would evolve in the future, Kaede Tsukasa couldn't say. He would keep walking his own path until the end of time.
"Let's go, Orochimaru. Regardless, thanks for your effort this trip. I've obtained what I wanted and witnessed the Eight-Tails' power."
Kaede Tsukasa smoothed the hem of his coat, covering several summoning scrolls at his waist.
"Kaede-kun, although we haven't spent much time together, we're compatible collaborators. No need for formalities—just take what we need. I'll still be calling on you in the future," Orochimaru said with a low chuckle. "Shall we return to Konoha now?"
"No, let's first tour the Land of Lightning, dig into the graves here. I've used a lot of energy and need more bodies to replenish my life force."
"I see… this is truly a unique experience."
Whoosh!
Kaede Tsukasa activated the Void Technique and left with Orochimaru, casually leaving a few zombies behind. He ordered them to crawl underground and lie in remote locations.
These would serve as coordinates for his future return to the Land of Lightning.
Land of Iron, Mountainous Graveyard.
Before Kaede Tsukasa went to meet Orochimaru, he had already sent him back here.
"Welcome back, Lord Madara. Looks like it was dangerous but you survived… you actually succeeded in reviving yourself," White Zetsu said in his soft, eerie voice.
Madara ignored him and sat down in silent contemplation.
Until he inadvertently glanced back at the Outer Path Golem, staring at its hand missing a finger.
"Ah, it's been noticed. That was Lord Kaede Tsukasa's doing, not ours. We didn't dare to act on our own," White Zetsu said.
"Exactly, exactly. You didn't see the scene at the time—it was unstoppable! The scary part is, he actually did it. So ruthless!" Tobi wailed, complaining.
"It's a bit over the line, but it doesn't matter. The Outer Path Golem isn't fragile… Taking a finger like that, was he trying something alone?"
Madara's mind stirred. He thought of Kaede Tsukasa using his corpse to attack the Eight-Tails. That was bold, even risky enough to potentially expose his existence.
Speaking of which, Kaede Tsukasa already possessed the chakra of the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails—the two most troublesome tailed beasts—which had long been resolved.
Soon, Kaede Tsukasa arrived at the Mountainous Graveyard.
"You cut off the Outer Path Golem's finger… were you trying to study the Ten-Tails?" Madara asked.
"Exactly. I've never hidden that," Kaede Tsukasa replied.
He looked up at the Outer Path Golem. "On the Eye of the Moon Plan, you've hidden many key pieces of information from me. Since I don't trust you, I had to take some special contingency measures."
"Your little schemes are doomed to fail. You don't have Yin-Yang Release, no Rinnegan, and no real understanding of the Outer Path Golem. Simply gathering tailed beast chakra to piece together the Ten-Tails will only end in failure."
"Is that so? Perhaps you're right. But I can't just do nothing. Even if I fail in the end, at least it proves this method doesn't work, instead of blindly following what you say," Kaede Tsukasa said bluntly.
White Zetsu, Black Zetsu, and Tobi watched the scene unfold.
"Oh my, tension is rising. Do you think these two will fight?" White Zetsu muttered, his voice unusually loud in the enclosed underground cavern.
"We can't get involved even if they do," Black Zetsu said.
If it came to a point where a choice had to be made, he would unhesitatingly side with Kaede Tsukasa to take down Madara.
Though unfortunate, after over a thousand years, someone like Madara had appeared to awaken the Rinnegan. But now with Kaede Tsukasa, Madara's importance diminished. In the next millennium, Black Zetsu could ensure the rise of many more "Madaras."
Moreover, the most important Rinnegan was with Nagato, making Madara even less crucial.
After a long pause, Madara spoke again: "I'm beginning to acknowledge you, Kaede Tsukasa. You have the talent to play a significant role in executing the Eye of the Moon Plan. I'll tell you more information."
"Really? It's an honor to receive recognition from Uchiha Madara, the one who unified the Warring States… Then, tell me your plan—I'm eager to hear it," Kaede Tsukasa said, sitting down and pretending to listen attentively, though he had no real interest.
Even a child could guess that Madara wouldn't hand over Yin-Yang Release or teach him how to wield the full power of the Rinnegan.
Though both appeared fully recovered, only they knew the thoughts they harbored in secret.
Kaede Tsukasa felt that if one day Madara suddenly acted against him, he wouldn't be the least bit surprised. He didn't consider himself more important than Nagato or Obito.
"This time when you return, remember to select candidates for me. No more delays. You will also perform the One's Own Life Reincarnation Jutsu for me. I need to properly train my successor," Madara said suddenly.
"Understood. I won't forget."
Kaede Tsukasa spoke casually and summoned a normal but lively zombie. He stored his original pair of eyes in it and immediately reached out to retrieve one.
He couldn't return to the village with only one eye—it would only lead to endless questions and trouble.
"I need to pay attention to the Sharingan as well. I want to try cultivating a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan myself," Kaede Tsukasa said.
"Delusional. You lack any real, firsthand understanding of the Uchiha clan's power," Madara scoffed coldly.