Kaedeji frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed.
A troublesome situation had emerged. Uchiha Madara had appeared at this moment. It seemed that Madara had not yet reached the point where he had to rely on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to sustain his life and still possessed a certain degree of independent mobility.
Tobi was following beside him. If necessary, Madara could wear him and gain a certain enhancement to his bodily functions—though Kaedeji believed that, given Uchiha Madara's pride, he would never wear Tobi merely to increase his combat strength.
Kaedeji found it difficult to assess exactly how much strength the nearly seventy-year-old Uchiha Madara could wield. Comparing him to Sarutobi Hiruzen in his seventies did not seem quite right either.
That was because Uchiha Madara had only recently managed to elevate his Eternal Mangekyō into the Rinnegan, and the process might have placed a heavy burden on his body.
Although he had transplanted a piece of Senju Hashirama's flesh into his chest and indirectly gained a tiny fraction of Hashirama's constitution, he was ultimately not a descendant of Asura known for immense vitality. Perhaps he had paid a sufficient amount of life force to awaken the Rinnegan.
That was why Madara only obtained the Rinnegan in his frail old age, after nurturing his eyes for decades.
Seventy-year-old Sarutobi Hiruzen could slaughter enemies with ease, take out Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama summoned by Orochimaru's improved Impure World Reincarnation in one wave, and seal Orochimaru's hands while he was at it.
Meanwhile, seventy-year-old Madara had already displayed the bearing of someone on the verge of death, needing to keep Tobi and White Zetsu at his side.
"Over the decades since I left the mainstream view of the ninja world, quite a few talented individuals have emerged. They developed