"Good."
The corner of Uchiha Madara's mouth lifted slightly as he said calmly,
"A wise choice."
"…"
Hearing that, Ōnoki's face twitched faintly. He could only shake his head helplessly.
Back then, he had no choice.
Now that he finally had one, the only option left was to submit to Uchiha Madara and borrow his power to defeat the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren.
"Remember to bring the Four-Tails jinchūriki, Rōshi, back to Iwagakure."
A moment later, Madara drew a slow breath and said flatly,
"The Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, is collecting the tailed beasts. The Four-Tails must never fall into Konoha's hands."
"Collecting tailed beasts?"
Ōnoki frowned and looked at Madara in confusion.
"That's right."
Madara's eyes turned cold as he said in an indifferent tone,
"Uchiha Ren intends to gather all nine tailed beasts and revive the legendary Ten-Tails."
"The Ten-Tails?"
This time, it wasn't just Ōnoki—
even Kurotsuchi, Kitsuchi, and the other Iwa higher-ups were left dumbfounded.
What the hell was the Ten-Tails?
Gather all nine tailed beasts, and this so-called Ten-Tails could be revived?
That sounded absurd.
"The Ten-Tails possesses power capable of destroying the world itself."
Madara added coldly,
"And once the Ten-Tails is revived, Konoha will basically be able to unify the shinobi world."
"Uchiha Ren himself will also become an invincible existence."
Bang!!
They might not have understood everything else—
but they clearly understood that the Ten-Tails would make Uchiha Ren invincible.
Perhaps from sheer shock, Ōnoki's body trembled and he nearly dropped to the ground again.
Of course—
Madara still left one thing unsaid.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was still in his possession.
So even if Uchiha Ren somehow gathered all nine tailed beasts, he still would not be able to revive the true Ten-Tails.
"Oh, right. One more thing."
Seeing their reactions, the masked Uchiha Obito seemed to remember something and added in a calm tone,
"Kumogakure has already submitted to us."
"The Fourth Raikage will offer up the corpses of the First, Second, and Third Raikage."
Whoosh!!!
The moment those words fell, space twisted into a spiral once more.
Then Obito and Madara vanished from the Tsuchikage's office.
Silence.
The room fell completely still.
After Madara and Obito disappeared, the entire office sank into a heavy silence.
Whether it was the fallen Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, or Kurotsuchi, Kitsuchi, and the other Iwa higher-ups, none of them seemed to have fully recovered yet.
There was no helping it.
The things Madara and Obito had just said were simply too shocking.
One had spoken of Konoha reviving some terrifying Ten-Tails.
The other had revealed that even Kumogakure had already submitted to Uchiha Madara.
That meant Iwagakure wasn't the first great village forced into this position.
Thinking about it that way, Ōnoki, Kurotsuchi, Kitsuchi, and the rest felt a little less humiliated.
After all—
Iwagakure had merely done the same thing Kumogakure had done.
"Haa… I really didn't expect even Kumogakure to submit to Uchiha Madara."
"Yeah… just what is Madara trying to do?"
"The shinobi world is about to fall into chaos again."
"Konoha will definitely be destroyed this time."
"We absolutely cannot let Konoha revive the Ten-Tails."
"Hurry and bring Rōshi back to Iwagakure."
Before long, Kurotsuchi, Kitsuchi, and the other Iwa higher-ups slowly climbed back to their feet.
As they exchanged glances, each of them could clearly see the same fierce determination in the others' eyes.
"Iwagakure will enter wartime readiness once again."
At that moment, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, took a deep breath.
A resolute light flashed across his eyes as he said coldly,
"Even Uchiha Madara has returned. This time, Konoha is doomed to lose."
"Uchiha Ren will absolutely die here."
"So from this moment on, Iwagakure must also prepare for war."
As he said those words, even Ōnoki himself could not help but feel excitement and anticipation rising in his chest.
There had once been a time when he had believed Konoha was flawless and Uchiha Ren was unbeatable.
But now—
the appearance of the legendary Uchiha Madara had given him enormous confidence.
He refused to believe that, with Madara's power and planning added to the equation, they still could not defeat Uchiha Ren.
"Understood."
Hearing that, Kurotsuchi, Kitsuchi, and the others all nodded solemnly.
—
At the same time—
In the shinobi world, atop a giant tree outside Kirigakure—
"As expected of Kirigakure. It's shrouded in mist all year round."
Uchiha Ren looked down at the village concealed beneath layers of dense fog and shook his head slightly.
Then he activated his Observation Haki and briefly sensed the overall state of the village.
There wasn't much else to say.
After leaving Takigakure, he had arranged Tsunade's next phase of work—
and then he had come straight to Kirigakure.
As for why?
Naturally, it was for the check-in.
A few seconds later, after generally sensing the layout of Kirigakure—
Uchiha Ren silently gave the command:
"System. Check in at Kirigakure."
One second…
Ten seconds…
Thirty seconds…
Finally, after one full minute—
the system's crisp notification sounded in his mind.
Ding…
Check-in location refreshed: Kirigakure
Reward acquired: Yin–Yang Power
Reward stored.
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