Too strong.
The man before them was simply too strong.
He hadn't even lifted a hand, yet he had used the terrifying power of the Rinnegan to suppress them completely.
That kind of helplessness was enough to drive people into absolute despair.
"Heh."
Seeing this, the masked Uchiha Obito let out a cold snort, his expression full of disdain.
After all—
just how powerful was Uchiha Madara, at the peak of his youth, with the Rinnegan in his possession?
How could these ants before him possibly understand?
To put it bluntly, the fact that Madara hadn't already crushed everything without restraint was already showing Iwagakure far more mercy than it deserved.
"Uchiha Madara, stop!"
But at that moment, Ōnoki seemed to come back to himself. Suppressing the fear in his heart, he floated back into the air once more.
"What?"
"That man is Uchiha Madara?"
"The legendary shinobi who stood on the same level as the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama?"
Ōnoki's words struck like thunder.
Kurotsuchi, Kitsuchi, Akatsuchi, and the other Iwa higher-ups—already collapsed on the floor—felt their hair stand on end. All of them revealed expressions of extreme shock.
It couldn't be helped.
They had imagined all kinds of identities for the intruder—
but none of them had expected the man with the Rinnegan to be Uchiha Madara.
Of course, they had also been too panicked.
If they had looked more carefully, they would have noticed the clues long ago.
"Ōnoki, you haven't changed."
Hearing that, Madara withdrew the pressure of his Rinnegan with a thought, then shook his head calmly and said coldly,
"You've lived all these years, and you're still this weak."
"You…"
Facing Uchiha Madara once again, Ōnoki's expression shifted several times. He opened his mouth as if to argue—
but in the end, nothing came out.
Because Madara was right.
After living all these years, his strength really had not increased much at all.
"Weren't you supposed to be dead?"
After a moment of silence, Ōnoki took a deep breath and asked,
"How are you still alive?"
"And what exactly do you want by coming to Iwagakure?"
"I came to Iwagakure to subdue you—to make Iwagakure submit to me."
Madara answered without hesitation.
"I've been laying the groundwork for years. The momentum is already mine."
"Soon, I'll ignite a war that will sweep across the entire shinobi world."
"What?!"
Bang!
Perhaps from sheer shock, Ōnoki's body trembled violently. When he looked at Madara, his eyes were filled with confusion, disbelief, and alarm.
"Wait… you want to subdue me?"
A few seconds later, Ōnoki finally seemed to process what he had heard. His brow furrowed as he said firmly,
"Uchiha Madara, stop dreaming."
"Even if I die, I will never submit to you."
"And besides—do you think the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, would just let you run wild across the shinobi world?"
At that point, he added with obvious irritation,
"The current Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, is already hailed as the new God of the shinobi world."
"He even defeated the reanimated First Hokage, Senju Hashirama."
"In terms of strength, he may already have surpassed you."
"Hmph."
Before Ōnoki even finished, Madara snorted and shifted the topic without the slightest hesitation.
"Submit or die."
Hearing that, Ōnoki's expression stiffened, and he was left almost speechless.
He had seen shameless people before—
but never anyone as shameless as Uchiha Madara.
"Ōnoki. Hurry up."
At this point, Obito—who had remained silent until now—finally spoke, his tone growing impatient.
"If you refuse to submit, then Iwagakure will vanish from the shinobi world."
"Oh, and after we kill all of you, we'll just use Edo Tensei to bring you back."
"Waste not."
Pfft—
Hearing that, the constantly restrained Ōnoki finally coughed up a mouthful of blood in rage.
What the hell did he mean by waste not?
These two were going too far.
As for Kurotsuchi, Kitsuchi, and the other Iwa higher-ups, they had already gone completely silent.
At first, they had thought that at worst, they would simply die.
But now—
even death wouldn't be the end.
They could still be dragged back through Edo Tensei and made into Madara's puppets.
In that case—
death would be meaningless.
"Ōnoki, if you submit, then we'll also revive the First Tsuchikage and the Second Tsuchikage through Edo Tensei."
Seeing that the pressure had reached the right point, the masked Obito calmly added another sentence.
"What?!"
"You'll revive the First and Second Tsuchikage?"
"If that's true, then Iwagakure's overall strength would rise by at least another level!"
Buzz!!
The moment those words were spoken, whether it was Ōnoki or Kurotsuchi, Kitsuchi, and the others, all of them cried out in shock.
After all—
if the First and Second Tsuchikage could truly be brought back, then just imagining it was enough to make every Iwa shinobi's blood boil.
Those were the First and Second Tsuchikage.
Just thinking about it made submission suddenly seem… far less unbearable.
"…Fine."
A few seconds later, Ōnoki finally took a deep breath and said in a heavy voice,
"Uchiha Madara—we of Iwagakure are willing to submit to you."
"We'll work together to defeat the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, and bring down Konoha."
"Good."
The corners of Madara's mouth lifted slightly as he said calmly,
"A wise choice."
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