The Mysterious Ninja Who Became Famous Across the World

Land of Rain, Amegakure.

Rain poured relentlessly as countless towering spires stood amid the curtain of rain, the entire village shrouded in a gloomy, damp atmosphere.

For the ninjas of Amegakure, ever since they were born, Amegakure and even the entire Land of Rain had always been drenched in such heavy rain. There were only a handful of clear days throughout the year.

Beneath this unending rain curtain lay poverty, slaughter, crime...

At the top of a tall tower, Uchiha Obito, dressed in Akatsuki's black robe patterned with red clouds and operating under the name "Uchiha Madara," sat at the edge of the platform, looking down at the rain-soaked city.

Inside the room behind him, the "Six Paths of Pain" stood silently in the shadows, while Konan focused on organizing the intelligence they had gathered.

By now, only Nagato and Konan remained in Akatsuki, along with Obito and Zetsu, who had joined under the identity of "Uchiha Madara."

Several of Akatsuki's core members who had died had been turned by Nagato into the "Six Paths of Pain."

Because his legs had been severely injured in Hanzo the Salamander's Explosive Tag trap, and because he also had to supply chakra to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Nagato's true body remained immersed in a special device for long periods and could not move freely.

Thus, Nagato operated outside through the "Deva Path Pain," which he had made from Yahiko's corpse.

"Oh my." With a flippant voice, a pitcher plant emerged from the ground, its sharply contrasting black-and-white halves particularly conspicuous.

"Guess what interesting information I found at the Bounty Station." The white half spoke in a teasing tone.

"Get to the point." Obito tilted his head slightly and said coldly. Beneath his mask, his Sharingan flashed with a glint of icy light.

"You really are no fun~" White Zetsu continued chattering away.

At the same time, he took out a freshly issued bounty notice and placed it on the table.

"This is an updated seventy-million bounty from the Bounty Station. The target calls himself 'Danzo,' codename 'Asura.' The attack on Kumogakure seems to have been his work."

Konan picked up the bounty notice from the table and examined it closely.

"Danzo..." Painful memories flooded Konan's mind when she saw that name.

Yet unlike the bandage-wrapped Shimura Danzō in her memories, the "Danzo" in the sketch was a sunny, cheerful youth.

For some reason, he reminded Konan of the days when Yahiko had still been alive.

"How severe were Kumogakure's losses in the attack?" Obito walked over as well. What concerned him more was whether this mysterious ninja was the same person who had attacked Konoha a few days ago.

"The White Zetsu I sent out reported that quite a lot of people died. Even the Raikage Building was blown away!" White Zetsu waved his arms as he spoke excitedly. "An explosion on that scale, and he still got away unscathed while being pursued by the Raikage and a Jinchuriki. That's no less destructive than what you caused when you attacked Konoha three years ago."

The number of activated White Zetsu was limited. Black Zetsu could not arrange surveillance in every village; the risk of exposure would have been far too great.

As a result, it was difficult for outsiders to learn about the battles that had taken place in Kumogakure and Unraikyo.

The severely injured Killer B had also been placed under tight protection.

Moreover, Killer B had long been forbidden from leaving the village, so White Zetsu had not gathered any intelligence concerning him.

"Hmph!" Obito snorted coldly when White Zetsu brought up the Nine-Tails Incident he had caused three years ago.

Back then, Minato-sensei's Flying Thunder God and Rasengan had injured him badly. Half of his White Zetsu-fused body had even been blasted into melting away.

"Do you know this Asura?" Deva Path Pain's voice came from the shadows.

Although they had accepted this mysterious masked man who called himself "Uchiha Madara" into Akatsuki, Nagato and Konan remained deeply wary of him.

Now that such a powerful ninja had appeared, "Uchiha Madara," who had supposedly lived for nearly a century, should have known something about him.

Furthermore, this mysterious ninja's codename was "Asura," while Uchiha Madara had once borne the title "Asura of the Shinobi World."

"I've never heard of an ability like this." Obito stared at the sketched portrait on the bounty notice. It depicted a sunny, cheerful youth, though a note beside it stated that he might be disguised through the Transformation Technique.

Beside the sketched portrait was another image of someone wearing a three-eyed Fox Mask.

An ability he had never heard of, a powerful ninja he had never heard of...

Would he bring changes to my revenge plan?

Obito raised his head and said to Zetsu, "The moment Konoha's lockdown is lifted, tell me immediately."

Because of the recent incident in which a Cloud Village envoy had been killed by a mysterious ninja and his body discarded in an attempt to frame the Hyuga clan, Konoha had strengthened its monitoring of the village's protective barrier.

After sending back some intelligence, the White Zetsu lurking within Konoha also dared not act rashly, fearing that the Byakugan or other sensory ninjas would notice something unusual.

Meanwhile, within Konoha.

A high-level meeting was also underway in the Hokage Office Building.

"I'll say this one last time! This matter has absolutely nothing to do with me!" Shimura Danzō slammed his palm onto the table, his face livid as he argued with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

On the table before them lay the updated bounty notice from the Bounty Station. The mysterious figure's portrait and the name "Danzo" stood out plainly upon it.

Utatane Koharu tried to ease the tension. "Perhaps it is merely the same name."

"It is also possible that they are trying to frame us." Mitokado Homura looked toward Hyuga Hiashi across from him. "You're certain it was this person, correct?"

Hyuga Hiashi looked at the bounty notice and the familiar three-eyed Fox Mask, then nodded firmly. "There's no mistake. It was this mask."

But then Hiashi furrowed his brow. "He stirred up trouble in Konoha, then went to create chaos in Kumogakure. What exactly does he want?"

The senior officials attending the meeting all fell into contemplation.

Previously, they had believed that this mysterious ninja held a grudge against Konoha and thus wanted to frame Konoha, escalating the war between Konoha and Kumogakure.

But now this mysterious person had gone and attacked Kumogakure as well!

According to intelligence sent back by Konoha's spies embedded in Kumogakure, even the Raikage Building had been blown away. Several hundred people had been killed or wounded, including quite a few Elite Jonin.

The spies' reports even mentioned that the attackers had not been alone, but three masked people—one woman and two men!

Since most of Konoha's spies in Kumogakure were Genin, they found it difficult to obtain core secrets, and more detailed intelligence could not yet be confirmed.

"If they hold a deep-seated grudge against Kumogakure, then it makes sense." Nara Shikaku, whose face bore two scars, analyzed the situation.

As head of the Jonin Council and the chief strategist to both the Third Hokage and Fourth Hokage, his analyses were held in high regard.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe, his aged face beneath the Hokage hat solemn.

Nara Shikaku continued his deduction. "Assassinating the Cloud Village envoy and framing the Hyuga clan—if that plan had succeeded, the war would likely have continued, and Kumogakure's military strength would have been drastically depleted. Then this mysterious person, or rather, their organization, could seize the opportunity to launch an attack on Kumogakure..."

Nara Shikaku's speculation was logical and reasonable. For the moment, it was also the only likely explanation available to them.

At the end of the meeting, after Hiruzen Sarutobi made several deployment arrangements, he asked Hiashi with concern, "How is Hizashi doing?"

"He... is fine!" Hyuga Hiashi answered with slight hesitation.