Deep underground, where no sunlight ever reached, the air was thick with a strange smell—stale and dry, tinged with the rotting vitality of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
"Lord Madara..."
White Zetsu's pale body slowly emerged from a moss-covered rock wall, looking just like a mushroom.
He poked half his head out and darted a furtive glance into the distance.
Obito Uchiha was drenched in sweat as he underwent rehabilitation training with Uzumaki Tobi. After confirming that everything was normal over there, White Zetsu quietly slid over to the massive stone seat.
"Lord Madara?"
The old man on the stone seat hung his head. His disheveled long hair hid his aged face, and all signs of life seemed to have long since faded from his body.
White Zetsu tilted his head, then cautiously prodded Madara's trouser leg with one pale finger. His voice rose a little. "Lord Madara! Nagato and those other two brats have joined forces with that old man Salamander Hanzo~"
At last, those words struck the withered shell like a faint electric current.
Madara Uchiha's eyelids twitched, and his cloudy Sharingan slowly opened.
Even though the man before them had grown so old that he needed the statue's chakra tubes to keep him alive, the moment he opened his eyes, his aura still towered above all others.
"Speak."
"It went like this..."
White Zetsu rubbed his hands together and quickly relayed all the information he had gathered from around the Shinobi World.
"Konoha's about to buckle. Iwagakure has been beating them back at every turn, and the village is full of wounded."
"So that guy Shimura Danzō couldn't sit still. He sent people to Amegakure to find Hanzo. He wanted Hanzo to take his Rain ninja, along with Nagato and his 'Akatsuki' organization, to help Konoha fight."
Madara listened to these minor developments with an indifferent expression, as though hearing how a swarm of ants struggled in the mud.
Only when White Zetsu lowered his voice did his tone turn strange.
"But... something really interesting happened in Konoha a while ago."
"A strange golden light flashed over the Hyuga Clan's territory. It made a huge commotion. And there was a man who called himself 'Ao.' From what he said, he was connected to the Sage of Six Paths~"
Ao?
The Sage of Six Paths?
"What connection does he have to the Sage of Six Paths?"
Madara frowned slightly and asked, intrigued.
"No idea~"
White Zetsu bobbed his head, his voice breezy.
"I heard the Hyuga Clan stole something from him, so he went straight to their door to collect. And his abilities—tch, tch, tch—were downright terrifying. He casually made a move, and nearly leveled the entire Forest of Death~"
White Zetsu gestured wildly, as if he had been there to see it himself.
"Oh, right!"
White Zetsu seemed to have suddenly remembered some trivial detail and leaned in close to Madara's ear.
"When that guy Ao was causing trouble at the Hyuga Clan's place, he also mentioned a name..."
"He called her Otsutsuki Kaguya."
Otsutsuki Kaguya?
Madara Uchiha, who had been indifferent until now, finally showed some interest.
The name was entirely unfamiliar...
It belonged neither to any clan from the Warring States period nor to anyone mentioned in the texts he had read.
It wasn't on the Uchiha stone tablet, either.
He pondered for a few seconds, then decided it must be the name of some ancient figure long since lost to history. He motioned for White Zetsu to continue.
However, Madara failed to notice that Black Zetsu, concealed in his shadow, was staring in stunned disbelief.
"Why... why would that guy mention Mother?"
Black Zetsu's thoughts surged violently through the darkness. He desperately suppressed the shudder rising from the depths of his soul and forced himself to stay calm.
"Could he not be one of Hamura's descendants from the moon?"
Black Zetsu felt both afraid and confused.
He had heard White Zetsu report the news about the golden light in Konoha long ago, but he hadn't paid much attention to it at the time.
He had assumed it was just another descendant of Otsutsuki Hamura from the moon, coming to give the Hyuga Clan trouble.
It wasn't as if that hadn't happened before over the long centuries.
But this time, everything had changed.
That man had actually mentioned... Mother's name.
Hamura's descendants might know about the Ten-Tails, or the Sage of Six Paths. But there was no way they could know Mother's name.
What made Black Zetsu even angrier and more frightened was that White Zetsu, that thickheaded fool, hadn't told him the information right away.
Instead, he had gone and blurted out such dangerous information right in front of Madara!
If Madara grew suspicious and followed the trail of "Otsutsuki Kaguya" to search for the truth beyond the stone tablet...
Wouldn't the lie he had carefully woven over the past thousand years—and the Eye of the Moon Plan, about to come to fruition—be ruined?
Black Zetsu wanted to head to Konoha at once and investigate everything, but he didn't dare leave Madara's side.
Madara didn't have much time left, and his successor, Obito, was currently a fool who knew nothing but how to goof around. If Black Zetsu left even briefly and Obito failed to become "Madara's successor" as planned, who would revive Mother?
"Ao... the Sage of Six Paths..."
Madara Uchiha suddenly gave a cold laugh. He leaned back against the stone seat and felt the life slowly draining from his body. His tone was full of contempt.
"He's just another clown putting on a show, like the ones who came after Hashirama and me."
"Just like Salamander Hanzo, who dares challenge the Five Great Nations. A snot-nosed brat wants to bring peace to the Five Great Nations..."
"How could he... How could true peace ever be achieved here..."
"Hashirama..."
Madara Uchiha seemed to have sunk into his memories again, but soon he stopped laughing, and his gaze grew deep once more.
"Keep Nagato safe at all times. Don't let anything happen to him."
He paused, his voice heavy, as though bearing the shadow of the entire world.
"Since things have gotten so chaotic... let's bring the plan forward."
"This world doesn't need to keep struggling anymore."
Land of Rain.
Outside Amegakure.
Fine rain drifted down at an angle from the leaden sky, like a veil that could never be lifted, shrouding all of Amegakure in an oppressive gloom.
Hyuga Qinglan waited quietly as the Rain ninja gathered in the distance, while constantly controlling his chakra to manipulate his long hair.
"Kid, are you one of that brat Jiraiya's students?"
A low, slightly hoarse voice sounded from somewhere behind him.
Hyuga Qinglan turned slightly and looked back.
A short distance away stood a man wearing a standard Amegakure cloak.
He wore a breathing mask and was tall and slender. His outfit looked much like Salamander Hanzo's, and even his stance carried a deliberately imitated air of authority.
"And who are you?"
The man's mouth twitched. He gave a cold snort and deliberately puffed out his chest.
"You mean to tell me you don't even recognize me, Heiji of the Rain Shelter, kid?"
Heiji glared fiercely at Hyuga Qinglan, trying to cow him with his presence.
"We've met here in Amegakure before."
"What, is this how Konoha treats its allies?"
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