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"Old Man, why did you take in these two orphans? I've been staring at them for ages, and I still don't see anything special."
Kakuzu frowned as he looked at the sleeping children. Jiraiya and Orochimaru were lying next to each other on the bed, but nothing about them seemed special enough for Manji to have brought them home.
"Don't judge them too soon. People who seem unimportant now might have the whole world talking about them one day." Manji said.
"With your power and influence, anyone could become famous." Kakuzu smiled and shook his head.
"That's a good point."
Manji thought about it for a moment, then smiled.
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On the battlefield outside Iwagakure, Mū had spent the entire night locked in combat with Madara Uchiha and Tobirama Senju.
Madara and Tobirama had the upper hand, but they still couldn't defeat him. Thanks to his senjutsu and Fission Technique, Mū managed to survive no matter how hard they tried, and neither of the Leaf shinobi had a good way to stop him.
"Tobirama, if this keeps up, I'll have to use Susanoo," Madara said.
Tobirama drew a measured breath, his brow furrowed. "Your eyes won't hold out much longer, will they?"
"I never expected that bandaged bastard to be this strong." Madara wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"It seems the four of us aren't the only true powerhouses in the shinobi world."
This version of Madara was much weaker than the one from the original timeline. Izuna was still alive, so Madara never got the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. More importantly, he didn't have the years of fighting experience that had turned the original Madara into a legend.
In the original timeline, Madara fought nearly every day. He lost both parents and saw his younger brothers die one after another. But this Madara grew up in a loving family, protected by a powerful grandfather and surrounded by brothers and friends. He even became Hokage.
One Madara was shaped by tragedy and war, while the other lived a much more sheltered life because of Manji's low-profile approach.
Across the ruined battlefield, Mū clenched his fists and struggled to steady his breathing.
"I can do this all day..."
Mū was bluffing. He was just as exhausted as they were. Black Zetsu had given him chakra during the fight, but facing both Madara and Tobirama at once had pushed him to his limit.
"How much chakra do you have left??" Madara asked.
"I need to keep enough in reserve in case Iwa's jōnin surround us," Tobirama replied. "To be blunt, this operation has already failed. We can't remain away from Konoha much longer. If both of us stay missing, the village will descend into chaos."
He was worried about more than just this fight. Had the other three Great Nations already attacked Konoha? Their mission needed a quick win, but once that was out of reach, the whole plan had failed.
Even if they beat Mū later, the delay would make their victory meaningless. By keeping two of Konoha's leaders busy all night, Mū had already done plenty for Iwagakure.
"Damn it. This eye is putting too much strain on me." Madara gritted his teeth and put a hand over his Sharingan.
"We're leaving." After one last glance at Mū, he made his decision.
Tobirama placed a hand on Madara's shoulder. A heartbeat later, the Flying Thunder God Technique carried them both away.
"They're gone," Black Zetsu reported.
Mū's body relaxed, and he fell to the ground. Leaning on his hands, he gasped, "If that fight had lasted any longer, I would have died. At least they finally left."
He had just finished speaking when two huge shapes fell from the sky and landed behind him. The impact sent dust and broken stones flying as Son Gokū and Kokuō stood up to their full height.
Both tailed beasts grinned down at the tired man lying on the ground.
"Hello, Tsuchikage."
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The reports waiting for Madara and Tobirama in Konoha were so bad that they felt overwhelmed.
Kumogakure, Sunagakure, Kirigakure, Amegakure, and Takigakure had all declared war on Konoha. The Land of Iron had issued a formal condemnation of Konoha's atrocities.
Several nations had imposed a joint trade embargo on the Land of Fire, and even Uzushiogakure had severed diplomatic relations with the village.
The military reports offered no relief. Kannabi Bridge remained in enemy hands. Sasuke Sarutobi had been grazed by Dust Release and forced to retreat to Konoha, leaving Hikaku Uchiha to take command in his place.
The Nine-Tails had attacked the village, most of the shinobi world had joined forces against Konoha, and foreign trade had stopped. Uzushiogakure saw the growing alliance and decided that staying friends with Konoha was too risky.
The village left its ally before it could get pulled into the war.
"..." Madara's face grew serious. He knew the other nations would go against Konoha, but he never thought they would put aside their rivalries and unite.
Tobirama frowned as he thought about the situation. Their attack on Kannabi Bridge had failed. His surprise attack with Madara hadn't worked either.
Worst of all, the tailed beasts, missing from the shinobi world for centuries, had come back at the worst time.
"Could Konoha..." Tobirama let the thought trail off.
He had never believed in fate, but now it felt as if the whole shinobi world were being guided by something unseen.
Every time Konoha gained an advantage, something happened to balance it out, as if someone behind the scenes wanted to keep things even.
"Tobirama, villages rise and fall by the will of men, not the decree of heaven," Madara said, his Sharingan burning scarlet. "If we have enough power, we can overcome all of this!!"
"What do you intend to do?"
Madara's eyes turned cold and determined. "We have to face reality and win however we can. War isn't fair and doesn't follow any rules. In the end, one side survives and the other doesn't. We'll use every tool we have, drop all pretenses, and break every taboo until the enemy's leaders fall, their people give up, and their last hope is gone. We keep going until their whole village falls apart in pain and despair."
"..." Tobirama's eyes grew cold as he thought about Madara's words.
Konoha couldn't afford to lose. Even if he and Madara lost their positions, defeat could break the village apart and destroy everything they had built.
"Face reality and win by any means necessary," Tobirama repeated. After a long pause, he and Madara both understood what they had to do.
"Then we fight without holding back."
Konoha had decided to fight without any limits.
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As Konoha's war spread to more battlefields, armies of the dead started to appear.
Each of these soldiers was a corpse brought back by Impure World Reincarnation. Their eyes were empty, their faces showed no fear, and their bodies were covered with Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags.
They ran straight into enemy lines without trying to protect themselves or slow down, even under attack. As soon as they reached the enemy, the tags exploded. Each blast created more tags, triggering more explosions until the battlefield was engulfed in fire and destruction.
Tobirama directed the whole campaign from behind the front lines. Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, he moved between battlefields and sent new groups of reanimated soldiers wherever Konoha needed them.
The other hidden villages were shocked. None of them expected Konoha to use the dead as weapons, sending them into enemy lines as suicide bombers.
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