A Living Legend, Uchiha Madara

On the battlefield in the Land of Earth, Konoha had deployed an additional five thousand elite ninja. However, because Minato had quietly left, no one among their top-tier fighters could restrain Ōnoki.

Still, with Shikaku Nara's exceptional strategic mind, they could hold back Iwagakure's fierce assault.

Minato no longer needed to worry about the main battlefield. Konoha could not drive Iwagakure back, but Iwagakure could not cross the Land of Fire's border either. The war had fallen into a stalemate for the time being.

Within the Land of Grass, Minato's team was resting in a concealed marshland.

"We'll be entering the Land of Earth soon. Rest here for a while. I'll go gather some intelligence." Minato pointed beyond a lush green stretch ahead of them.

They could vaguely make out the endless yellow earth, sandstone, and dried-up riverbeds.

"Don't worry, Minato-sensei. Leave everything to me!" Obito patted his chest and promised confidently.

Minato's face darkened. You're the one I'm most worried about, all right?

Still, he did not discourage Obito. He merely smiled faintly, leaving behind a golden afterimage before vanishing.

"All right, Minato-sensei is gone. I'll arrange the lookout now." Obito stood before Tōka and Kakashi, speaking with his nose in the air.

Tōka rolled her eyes at him, then looked at Kakashi. Her gaze seemed to say, It must be hard for you, having to bring along such a useless teammate.

Kakashi's expression turned slightly awkward, as though he were embarrassed on Obito's behalf.

"Obito, Minato-sensei said that when he isn't here, I'm the team captain!" Kakashi fixed Obito with his dead-fish eyes and spoke coldly.

"When did he say that? How come I don't know?" Obito folded his arms before his chest, putting on a face that said he had never heard such a thing.

It seemed he had no intention of listening to Kakashi's orders.

A chill flashed through Kakashi's eyes. Normally, Obito's unreliability would have been one thing, but this was an extremely important and equally dangerous mission.

Meanwhile, Tōka laughed inwardly. Was Obito's talent for being ridiculous something he had been born with?

Idiots really were forged from childhood.

The atmosphere grew tense. Kakashi seemed ready to teach Obito a lesson and make him behave, while Obito looked like he would never back down, as though heaven was first and he was second.

To avoid trouble, Tōka stepped forward and stood between them.

"There's no need to make sentry duty so complicated. Doesn't Obito have the Sharingan? Just leave it to him." Tōka grinned, an unreadable glint flashing in her eyes.

Kakashi froze slightly and opened his mouth. Obito had not even awakened his Sharingan yet!

But when he saw the teasing look in Tōka's eyes, Kakashi ultimately swallowed the words in his heart.

Upon hearing that, Obito first grinned smugly. Then his smile stiffened. But there was no way he would admit defeat—especially in front of a brat so much shorter than him.

"Hmph, leave it to me! Kakashi!" Obito said he did not recognize Kakashi as captain, but in truth, he had already accepted Kakashi in his heart. He was simply too proud to admit it.

As soon as he finished speaking, Obito darted away and vanished in a flash.

"Obito..." Kakashi reached out, intending to grab him, but Obito had slipped away too quickly.

"Don't worry. We just need to stay alert," Tōka reassured him. "Using our current position as the center, the three of us will each guard one direction in a triangular formation within a one-li radius."

"That works. Stay in contact!" Kakashi nodded in agreement.

If Obito were truly left in charge of the watch by himself, Kakashi would not be able to rest easy.

Most of the Land of Grass was now occupied by Iwagakure ninja. The military presence there was even denser than in the Land of Earth itself.

The three of them were hiding along the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Earth. If discovered, they would be pincered and hunted by Stone Ninja from both countries.

Therefore, Kakashi had no choice but to be cautious.

As the team captain, he had to be responsible for his comrades' lives—and for his own.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Tōka and Kakashi immediately shot off, and the marsh fell silent once more.

After reaching a dark, deserted corner, Tōka used chakra sensing to conduct a brief search. There were no other presences nearby.

Even Kakashi and Obito, the closest ones, were several hundred meters away.

She stood amid the tree shadows, her entire body concealed in darkness, as though speaking to thin air.

"Come out. You've been following me since the Land of Fire's border. Is something important?"

"Hehe... Tōka, your sensory abilities have gotten stronger and stronger!"

A bundle of Pitcher Plant emerged from the soil five steps away. It was Black Zetsu, half black and half white.

Although the other half of his body was White Zetsu, it was merely a puppet Black Zetsu had created to deceive Madara. Black Zetsu alone was the one controlling everything.

"Cut the nonsense. Minato Namikaze will be back soon." Tōka frowned. Her sensory technique was not particularly powerful.

Kurenai had taught Tōka chakra sensing. Its range was not very large, and it could not compare to powerful sensory abilities such as the Byakugan or Mind's Eye of the Kagura.

As for why she had been able to detect Black Zetsu, it was because Tōka was highly sensitive to nearby presences.

Black Zetsu's Yang Release originated from Kaguya Otsutsuki—Tōka's mother—so it was naturally especially familiar to her.

As long as Black Zetsu entered within a hundred meters of Tōka, he would definitely be discovered!

"Don't worry. I've already had White Zetsu keep an eye on Minato Namikaze."

Black Zetsu was not worried about Minato Namikaze at all. That man was fast, but he did not possess Tōka's terrifying sensory abilities. Minato Namikaze would never discover him.

"The main reason I came is because someone wants to see you."

"See me?" Tōka raised a brow. Who would want to see her at this point in time...

Wait!

Tōka's little face changed slightly. Precisely because of the timing, there was one person who might want to see her!

"Hehe, that's right. It's the person you thought of." Black Zetsu noticed the change in Tōka's expression and laughed strangely.

"You did it on purpose?" Tōka's eyes turned cold as she stared at Black Zetsu. If Black Zetsu had not deliberately leaked information to Uchiha Madara, that man could never have noticed her.

When Black Zetsu met Tōka's icy gaze, he put on a frightened expression. Yet his eyes were filled with mockery.

Tōka knew the true purpose of the Eye of the Moon Plan, and Black Zetsu could not allow any mistakes to occur.

Even though Tōka was his "dear" sibling and had promised not to interfere with him, Black Zetsu did not trust her. His faith in saving his mother made him trust no one but himself.

"What do you want me to do?" The coldness in Tōka's eyes vanished in an instant, as though it had never appeared.

"Uchiha Madara hopes that after he dies, someone can act as his proxy and carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan." Black Zetsu spoke with a smile.

The Eye of the Moon Plan he referred to was clearly the plan as Uchiha Madara understood it, not Black Zetsu's Eye of the Moon Plan.

Although there was no difference in the first half of the two plans, the latter half...

"What a pitiful guy. You'll probably play him to ruin." Tōka spoke expressionlessly, her words carrying two meanings.

The first was literal, teasing Black Zetsu for his fondness for plotting in the shadows.

The second carried a trace of threat as she tested Black Zetsu's limits. If she told Uchiha Madara the Eye of the Moon Plan's true purpose, would Black Zetsu still have another move prepared?

"What's your decision?" Black Zetsu asked blandly, as though he had not heard the threat in Tōka's words.

That tone...

Tōka's mood immediately soured.

He was too calm, too composed!

Black Zetsu definitely has a backup plan. What could it be? Tōka's eyes shifted, and she quickly came to a conclusion.

To prevent Black Zetsu from acting recklessly, Tōka still hoped to follow the momentum of history. Although there had been some minor changes, as long as the general direction did not go wrong, everything would remain within her control.

The thought flashed through her mind, and Tōka asked, "What should I do?"

"Come with me to meet Uchiha Madara." Black Zetsu stated the purpose of his visit.

"What about here?" Tōka did not want to abandon her identity in Konoha yet. After all, she had spent two years painstakingly earning their trust.

Compared to the darkness of the other villages, Konoha could practically be called paradise—as long as Danzo was left out of it.

"Don't worry. They'll soon be too busy to care about anything else. No one will notice you." Black Zetsu smiled mysteriously, speaking with deeper meaning.

At those words, Tōka's heart stirred. No wonder...

Although Black Zetsu had not directly started the Ninja World War, his shadow had been present behind every battle.

The words "adding fuel to the flames" suddenly surfaced in Tōka's mind.

As expected of the greatest schemer in history—Black Zetsu.

After finishing, Black Zetsu strangely sank into the ground. He was not worried that Tōka would fail to keep up. As long as she remained within a certain distance, she could completely track his presence.

"Uchiha Madara..."

Tōka murmured to herself, then leaped out with a whoosh and followed Black Zetsu.

In a dim underground world, an elderly man at death's door sat with countless lifelines connected to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path behind him.

Tōka and Black Zetsu seeped out from the rocks in the wall. A pair of crimson Three Tomoe Sharingan looked over, cold and utterly devoid of emotion.

"Uchiha Madara!" Tōka's heart tightened. Even though he had merely transplanted someone else's Three Tomoe Sharingan, his presence was this terrifying. He truly deserved to be a legend of the previous era.

No, even in this era, Uchiha Madara was a legend.

A living legend!

"Black Zetsu, you're back!" Though Uchiha Madara was speaking to Black Zetsu, his eyes never left Tōka.

"Yes, Lord Madara. I have brought the person you wished to see." Black Zetsu abandoned the casual manner he had used with Tōka and answered with the utmost respect.

"Tōka, of the Kaguya Clan. She possesses a mutated Kekkei Genkai. Her genjutsu is decent, and her taijutsu is passable." Uchiha Madara spoke faintly, recounting Tōka's abilities.

Tōka gave Black Zetsu a strange look. That was probably the half-true, half-false intelligence he had provided.

Others might not recognize the value of All-Killing Ash Bones, but Black Zetsu certainly did. It was a Kekkei Mōra that surpassed all Kekkei Genkai and even Kekkei Tōta.

Yet Black Zetsu had told Uchiha Madara that Tōka belonged to the Kaguya Clan...

After considering it, Tōka found it amusing again. Kaguya Clan—was Kaguya not her mother's name? In that sense, it was not wrong.

"What are you laughing at?" Uchiha Madara's gaze was incredibly sharp, and he clearly caught the faint upward curl at the corner of Tōka's lips.

"Well, it's nothing." Tōka could hardly tell Uchiha Madara, I'm laughing at how you're being played like a fool and don't even know it!

"It's just that I feel lucky to have met a living legend." Tōka answered, half sincere and half false.

"A living legend?" A trace of loneliness surfaced in Uchiha Madara's eyes before vanishing in an instant.

He was only clinging to life by relying on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path behind him. He truly could be called a living legend.

Merely... alive.

"Did Lord Madara call for me because there's something you need?" Seeing Uchiha Madara lost in thought and unwilling to waste time with him, Tōka could only speak up to interrupt him.

"The little brat knows how to ingratiate herself." Uchiha Madara could sense the sincerity behind Tōka's form of address. Rather than becoming angry, he let out a hoarse laugh.

A smile rested on Tōka's lips. Combined with a face that resembled Kaguya by seventy percent, she looked extremely... beautiful?

"I wonder whether Black Zetsu has told you about the Eye of the Moon Plan." Uchiha Madara smiled as he stared at Tōka, his Three Tomoe Sharingan slowly turning.

A smiling tiger? A dagger hidden behind a smile?

Tōka raised a brow. She could sense the killing intent in Uchiha Madara's eyes. If her next answer failed to satisfy him, then because she knew the Eye of the Moon Plan's secret... she would definitely be killed!

At that thought, Tōka's relaxed expression turned solemn.

"I know a little." Tōka answered in a low voice.

"Then what do you think of it?" Uchiha Madara asked again. His crimson Three Tomoe Sharingan stared intently at Tōka, not missing the slightest expression that crossed her little face.

What did she think? Tōka rolled her eyes inwardly.

Why did this guy also like asking questions like that?

"It's a decent plan for peace." After thinking it over, Tōka answered like that.

"Merely decent?" Uchiha Madara frowned, seemingly very dissatisfied with that answer.

Even Black Zetsu, standing to the side, grew slightly tense. He silently broke into a cold sweat for Tōka. My little ancestor, you aren't really here to court death, are you?!

Black Zetsu did not care whether Tōka lived or died. He only feared that she would say something reckless and disrupt the plan he had prepared for a thousand years!

"The plan has not succeeded yet, so no one knows what will happen afterward. That's why it's a decent plan." Tōka explained calmly.

Under Uchiha Madara's expectant gaze and Black Zetsu's nervous stare,

Tōka paused for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps it's worth trying."

"Oh? So you approve of this plan." Uchiha Madara smiled. He was genuinely happy to encounter someone of like mind before his death.

Not someone controlled by his Sharingan, but someone who truly believed the plan was worthwhile.

Uchiha Madara's eyes were discerning, and he could naturally tell that Tōka's words came from her heart. She truly intended to... try the Eye of the Moon Plan.

"More or less." Tōka nodded, silently mourning for Uchiha Madara. If he learned the truth, what expression would Lord Madara make?

Oh! She remembered. He would probably be shocked, and then... what came next? Unwillingness to accept it?

"In that case, I'll leave what comes next to you. I'll leave Black Zetsu behind to assist you." After his brief happiness, Uchiha Madara's expression returned to tranquil calm.

Then Uchiha Madara slowly closed his eyes, clearly finding the conversation with Tōka exhausting.

Uchiha Madara's body was growing weaker and weaker. Even with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path sustaining him, he was nearing his limit.

Perhaps Tōka would be the last person he saw in his life.

Tōka and Black Zetsu exchanged a glance, then silently withdrew.