I'm Scared!

"Lord Madara~?"

"Lord Madara~?"

The Spiral White Zetsu, back in the underground cave, called out softly into the darkness.

Seeing no response from Lord Madara, it breathed a sigh of relief internally and muttered, "Looks like Lord Madara isn't awake yet!"

Then he...

Won't be discovered.

As soon as it finished speaking.

With a smug look on its face, it cautiously stepped its right foot into the cave.

"You're back?"

A cold voice echoed leisurely from within the cave, startling the Spiral White Zetsu into a shiver. It quickly retracted its foot, poked its head inside to take a look, then immediately pulled its head back. But after a moment, it peeked out again.

Upon seeing Lord Madara inside, with cloudy eyes open and staring at it expressionlessly, it forced a sheepish grin onto its face. "Lord Madara, are you awake?"

It quickly hid its precious drawing board and trotted over happily, holding a skewer of dango in its hand. It said with a grin, "Actually~, Lord Madara, I didn't go out to play, nor was I curious about the festival outside. I just wanted to buy you a skewer of dango!"

After speaking.

"..."

Madara blinked slightly.

He looked at the skewer of dango in the Spiral White Zetsu's hand in silence. The cold expression he had intended to use to scold the one who had run off again softened unconsciously.

As if remembering something.

His cloudy eyes... fell into a memory.

It was...

Right after Konoha was founded.

That year.

It was also Konoha's first festival.

That year.

Hashirama stood beside him, and they both looked out over the entirety of Konoha with satisfaction.

That year.

They... walked through the streets of Konoha together, looking at the village they had built together.

However, compared to him... everyone in the village liked Hashirama more.

Finally, as if sensing his unhappiness, Hashirama grinned and treated him to a skewer of dango.

That idiot...

"Lord Madara~, Lord Madara~!"

As if hearing someone calling him, Madara snapped out of his memory. His vision blurred for a moment, and he seemed to see Hashirama's foolish grin again, until... the Spiral face came into clear view, and he finally realized...

"You idiot!" Madara glared at the Spiral White Zetsu in front of him. "Did you forget what I told you? Don't run off! Don't run off! We're doing this to achieve peace in the ninja world! To prove we're right! What if we get exposed? What if we lose?"

He then snorted coldly, shook his head, and grumbled indignantly, "Why did I put that idiot Hashirama's cells into myself back then?"

After speaking.

The Spiral White Zetsu continued to grin at Madara, shaking the skewer of dango in its hand. "I know, Lord Madara. Do you want some?"

"Childish! Boring! I don't eat that kind of thing anymore!" Madara glanced at the dango, pursing his lips dismissively. Then, his wrinkled face looked at the Spiral White Zetsu again, and he slowly closed his eyes, as if half-closing them, and said faintly, "Have you gathered any useful intelligence after being out for so long?"

"...Useful... useful intelligence?"

The Spiral White Zetsu blinked slightly. If it had eyeballs, it might even be blinking blankly right now.

But...

It just went out to play.

It didn't investigate any intelligence!

Moreover... intelligence gathering was always done by the main body and clones of the White Zetsu.

At this moment, Madara also noticed, his brow furrowed slightly. Looking at the Spiral White Zetsu's expression, he sighed slowly, "Whatever! Why am I asking you, you idiot?!"

As soon as he finished speaking.

"Yes!!!" the Spiral White Zetsu quickly said, "I've gathered a very important piece of intelligence!"

"?!" Madara blinked, then looked at it curiously.

This guy actually gathered intelligence?

"What intelligence?"

"That..." The Spiral White Zetsu held the dango in its left hand and scratched its head with its right. "Someone high-ranking in the Land of Grass has defected!"

"...That's it?" Madara frowned. But seeing the Spiral White Zetsu nodding incessantly, he fell silent for a moment, then his tone shifted, and he said faintly, "As expected... ninjas are the root of all chaos!"

With disdain and a cold sneer.

"It's laughable that even a small country like the Land of Grass has ninja who betray their nation!"

"Mmmhmm~" Seeing that Madara had stopped to listen to his intel, Spiral White Zetsu quickly nodded. "I heard it was someone from the higher-ups in the Land of Grass. They contributed a lot to rebuilding the Land of Grass, I never expected someone like that to betray..."

Before he could finish.

Seeing that Lord Madara had fallen silent again, he seemed to recall something and quickly said, "That guy is different from you, Lord Madara! Lord Madara is for peace in the ninja world! You are great!"

"Enough, shut up!" Madara glanced at Spiral White Zetsu expressionlessly. "Get out of here quickly, seeing you makes me angry!"

"Going, going, going! I'll leave right now!" Spiral White Zetsu nodded. "Lord Madara, if you need anything, just call me again..."

"Get out!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

"Wait a moment!"

However.

As Spiral White Zetsu was about to leave, Madara called out to him again. Spiral White Zetsu immediately stopped and curiously turned his head to look at Lord Madara, who had closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He hesitated, "Lord Madara, are you calling me?"

He called out once, but there was no response. He scratched his head, thinking he had misheard. Just as he was about to step away.

"Put... down that skewer of dango."

A faint voice sounded.

"???" Spiral White Zetsu was stunned, then looked at the dango in his hand, and then looked up at Madara, who still had his eyes closed. "Lord Madara... you don't want it...?"

"Put it down, and then, get out!"

"Alrighty!"

At this moment, upon hearing that Lord Madara was truly angry, Spiral White Zetsu didn't hesitate at all. He quickly placed the dango on the plate on the stone table and then nimbly ran outside.

Until the person disappeared from the cave entrance...

Madara slowly opened his eyes, looking at the skewer of dango before him with complex emotions. Then, he reached out his wrinkled old hand and gently picked up the skewer.

Then.

He silently watched... After an unknown amount of time, he hesitated, then slowly put it in his mouth. His jaw moved slightly as he bit off a piece, and he muttered to himself, "It's not as good as Konoha's..."

Before he could finish.

Suddenly.

"Swish."

A figure shot out from underground. It was Spiral White Zetsu, who had gone out and come back in. He said with a grin, "Oh, right! Lord Madara, everyone's up. Do you want to go for a poop now? That way you'll sleep even better later, and I can help you support..."

As he spoke, he seemed to notice something was wrong. Seeing Madara, whose face was pale, holding the skewer in his right hand and covering his neck with his left, he was slightly stunned. "Lord... Madara?"

Then he seemed to understand something. "Lord Madara! Lord Madara! You're choking? What should we do? What should we do? Could it be that you liked it too much? Honestly, Lord Madara, you're so old, why are you still so careless?"

Just as Spiral White Zetsu was flustered and didn't know what to do.

Madara seemed to have swallowed. His weak yet cold voice rang out, "Get out! Get out of here quickly!"

At the same time.

Kusana also looked at Mujie, who was lowering his head with a similarly complex expression, with a complicated look. He hesitated, "The Land of Grass treated you well, didn't it, Mujie!"

As soon as he spoke.

Mujie's eyelids immediately twitched. His face looked a little scared, and he looked at Kusana with a tone that was about to cry, "Leader! Please don't talk like that now! I... I'm scared!"

This made him feel like he had truly committed treason!