"See the Hokage?"
Madara's demand caught everyone present completely off guard.
He wasn't demanding further slaughter.
Nor was he preparing to retreat immediately.
Instead, he wanted to speak with Hiruzen?
For a moment, Hanzo felt like he was about to lose it. Why were there so many lunatics in the shinobi world?
If you wanted to meet Big Brother, you could have just come through the front door and talked to me properly. It's not like I couldn't have introduced you!
Why did you have to start by attacking people?!
Could it be that he was after Nagato's so-called Rinnegan?
The more Hanzo thought about it, the more he felt that there were simply too many abnormal shinobi in the world.
It was true that Nagato had talent when it came to ninjutsu.
But that was about it—just the level of a normal Konoha genius.
He had mastered multiple chakra nature transformations, sure.
Kakashi could do that too!
It wasn't remotely enough to create a generation-wide gap between him and his peers.
His paper qualifications were merely decent, and his actual combat ability was even worse...
Anyone with a functioning brain should realize those eyes were just a strange pattern.
How could people actually try to kill for them?
'The First Hokage and Big Brother truly were great...'
'Shinobi need to use the Will of Fire to straighten out these people's twisted thinking!'
'This is probably some old relic from the Warring States Era who crawled out from who knows where...'
Hanzo thought to himself.
"Bring Hokage-sama here?" Yahiko's expression turned somewhat despairing when he heard Madara's demand.
For Nagato's sake, how could the Hokage of a great hidden village personally come and face such a powerful enemy?
Forget Hiruzen...
Even the old Hanzo.
Yahiko never would have believed he would sever his own arm to save him.
"What do you think?" Minato narrowed his eyes as he looked toward Hanzo.
With the Flying Thunder God Technique at his disposal, and after carefully placing a large number of markers along the way, Minato wasn't confident he could shake off this bizarre opponent.
But safely retreating back to Konoha was absolutely possible.
Minato was a man who remained calm to an extreme degree in almost all situations.
If Nagato's hair color hadn't still been recognizably red—making him likely a clansman of Kushina's—Minato wouldn't have involved himself with Amegakure against an enemy like this.
Trust between Amegakure and Konoha had not yet been established.
They weren't family.
They weren't even comrades yet.
"If you want to retreat, I can take all of you away."
"He won't be able to stop us."
Minato carefully observed Madara, his expression filled with caution.
His senses and chakra control had been pushed to their most sensitive state, ready to activate Flying Thunder God at any moment.
Yahiko and Konan immediately looked toward Hanzo nervously.
But neither of them said anything.
Cold as it sounded, Minato's suggestion really was the optimal solution.
Both Hanzo and Yahiko had been subdued the moment they met the enemy.
How were they supposed to rescue Nagato?
Surely they couldn't expect Namikaze Minato to risk his life fighting to the death?
Nagato wasn't the Hokage.
Madara looked at Minato with clear appreciation and nodded slightly.
'This brat may be using a filthy technique, but his thinking as a shinobi is very clear...'
'He looks gentle and sunny on the outside, yet when it's time to make a decision, he's cold and rational enough.'
'He's talented.'
'Somewhat similar to Izuna...'
'Hiruzen's judgment isn't bad.'
Now that he had obtained the Rinnegan and regained much of his youth, Madara was in an excellent mood and leisurely evaluated Minato: 'Suitable material for a Konoha alternate committee member.'
Listening through their mental connection, Tobi was completely dumbfounded.
What was going on?
How had Madara-sama changed so much after only half a year?
Back then, he and Black Zetsu had spent countless years trying to persuade Madara to pull himself together.
They had begged him to stop obsessing over the proxy plan and find a way to do things himself.
Nothing worked.
Yet now he had completely changed!
Not only that, the way he evaluated this blond kid sounded strange.
It was as if Madara were some senior elder of Konoha—or Hiruzen's teacher—offering praise for the work of a capable junior.
'That's only natural, because Sarutobi Hiruzen inherited your will, Madara-sama!'
'Although the Hokage inherited only your youthful ideals, even that is enough to leave the rest of the shinobi world far behind.'
'Compared to everyone else, he's more than qualified to be called outstanding...'
At that moment, the White Zetsu Hi-kun hidden underground joined the telepathic conversation as well.
'Hahahahahaha!'
Madara burst into hearty laughter.
'You little brat really know how to make me happy!'
'But what you're saying does make some sense...'
Tobi was utterly stunned.
Wait...
Was this really the same Hi-kun who spent every day asking what poop tasted like?
No wonder this guy had been entrusted with cultivation of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and promoted to head of the intelligence White Zetsu unit!
Hanzo frowned.
He wanted to retreat.
The problem was whether retreat was actually possible.
'When this weirdo attacked, I didn't sense anything abnormal at all...'
'If Big Brother doesn't come and intimidate him, Amegakure may never know peace again.'
'And besides, things have already reached this point.'
'If I abandon Nagato now, my entire image falls apart...'
'But if I ask Big Brother to come personally, it makes me look far too incompetent as his younger brother...'
Hanzo pondered.
Then suddenly, his eyes lit up.
He had thought of a solution.
After Amegakure and Konoha began cooperating, Hanzo and Hiruzen frequently exchanged letters and communicated with one another.
As a result, Hanzo had a fairly good understanding of many of Konoha's current shinobi.
For example, Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique.
Hanzo had once considered having Amegakure join Konoha's Flying Thunder God Defense Network.
That way, when foreign enemies appeared, they could quickly call for reinforcements.
Or dispatch forces to support Konoha.
The problem was that if Flying Thunder God markers were engraved throughout Amegakure on a large scale, the integration would be happening far too quickly.
It would inevitably provoke resistance among the village's shinobi.
But this time was different.
With a powerful enemy like this appearing, deploying Flying Thunder God markers throughout Amegakure would be perfectly justified.
The village's shinobi would only feel grateful for Konoha's assistance.
Hanzo himself could even hitch a ride from time to time and visit Konoha to speak with his Big Brother face-to-face.
Hanzo was convinced.
His Big Brother would definitely understand the hint as well.
Moreover, even if this incident had never happened, Hanzo firmly believed that with the bond he and Hiruzen had built through years of mutual understanding and the connection they had now established, Hiruzen would definitely come to save him!
"How about this..."
"What do you think of this arrangement?"
Hanzo took a deep breath.
"Please release Nagato first. I'll stay behind as your hostage, and let Minato return to seek Hokage-sama's decision..."
"Nagato is still just a boy. Back then, because of my own mistakes, I failed to properly deal with Iwagakure and Sunagakure's attempts to drive a wedge between our village and Konoha, and as a result, this child suffered a terrible misfortune."
"Hokage-sama knows about that incident as well. He has lamented it many times and severely criticized me for it..."
"So today, allow me to make up for it, at least a little."
"Unnamed powerhouse."
Naturally, every word of that was fabricated by Hanzo.
But Hiruzen had taught him that if you were going to put on a political performance, then you should commit to it completely.
There would be costs.
There would be risks.
But there would also be tremendous rewards.
The thing that made Hanzo unusually decent was that he even took the opportunity to elevate Hiruzen's reputation a little further.
"Hanzo-sama!"
Yahiko and Konan were horrified.
If Hanzo were truly exchanged for Nagato, neither of them could honestly say they fully agreed with it.
Nagato was undoubtedly their companion, someone who had shared life and death with them.
But Hanzo was the strongest link between Amegakure and Konoha.
He represented the future of thousands of Rain shinobi.
If anything happened to him, the damage would be catastrophic.
Minato was equally stunned.
'No way...'
'I only started calling him Hanzo-ojisan because Hokage-sama told me to.'
'How has he actually picked up some of Hokage-sama's tricks?'
Minato could see the situation clearly.
Since this mysterious stranger wanted to talk, Nagato's life was not actually in danger.
Hanzo had been the same way in the past.
As long as Hokage-sama arrived in the end...
If this mysterious man had truly wanted to kill people, Hanzo and the others would have been dead long before Hokage-sama could get here.
"Interesting..."
Madara paused in surprise.
He hadn't expected Hanzo to have changed this much.
He had once become little more than a watchdog guarding his own doorstep...
But now, Madara found himself willing to take a second look at him.
Power was certainly important.
Yet this kind of courage deserved a few words of praise as well.
"Very well."
Madara nodded.
"As a reward."
Stepping on Nagato's chest, Madara used Tobi's chakra and life force to replenish him in reverse.
Color gradually returned to Nagato's sunken cheeks and pale hair.
Tobi could only shake his head helplessly.
It wasn't as if he lacked chakra.
He was a special existence—the "Child of the God Tree"—completely different from the inferior products created with Hashirama's cells.
Even the chakra he lost here could be replenished by resting inside the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path for a couple of days.
Tobi simply felt that Madara-sama was still every bit as stubborn and contradictory as ever.
'You are truly benevolent.'
Hi-kun sighed from the bottom of his heart.
The comment made Tobi glance at him again.
What did that even mean?
Nagato slowly regained consciousness.
He was completely confused.
First his eyes had been stolen.
Then he had been utterly helpless, unable to resist even after two moves.
He had only barely been able to hear Hanzo and the others talking, lacking even the strength to tell Hanzo and Yahiko not to come save him...
After that, powerful life force had been poured into his body.
Though being stepped on while it happened was incredibly humiliating.
Just what kind of lunatic had attacked him?
And what exactly did he want?
Hanzo, Minato, and the others were equally bewildered.
After all that, who could even tell whether this person was friend or foe?
"Are you not coming over yet?"
Madara said coldly.
Hanzo took a deep breath, lowered his chain-scythe, and slowly walked toward him.
Once Hanzo arrived, Madara casually grabbed Nagato and, with a single arm, tossed him into Minato's embrace.
"I'll be back shortly."
Minato's voice was solemn as he vanished in a flash of golden light.
Yahiko and Konan exchanged glances.
Both felt that the entire situation had completely exceeded their understanding.
Hanzo sat down cross-legged on the ground, making it clear that he had no intention of resisting or attempting any tricks.
The enemy's abilities were simply too bizarre.
No matter how much he thought about it, Hanzo couldn't figure out what technique in the shinobi world resembled the Preta Path's ability to effortlessly absorb chakra and life force.
"So Amegakure and Konoha are cooperating now?"
Madara asked, clearly in a good mood.
Deep down, even he had to admit it.
After reclaiming the Rinnegan and replenishing his body with valuable life force, he once again felt in control of everything.
He no longer constantly worried about his plans going wrong.
Madara wasn't a fool.
Any plan stretched across a twenty-year timeline was bound to encounter problems.
And...
Deep within his subconscious, he felt that he had decisively severed himself from that lonely old man hiding in a cave with no one but White Zetsu for company.
That wasn't him.
The Shura of the Shinobi World belonged on the grand stage of the shinobi world, dancing magnificently before all!
"We are cooperating. Our two villages will pursue true peace together."
Hanzo answered calmly, neither humble nor arrogant.
"And no one can change that."
Madara let out a disdainful chuckle.
"What if you die here today?"
"Then nothing changes."
Hanzo laughed softly.
As far as he was concerned, he had already died once.
Death itself was no longer frightening.
If Hiruzen hadn't held back, he would have been smashed into a pile of meat long ago.
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