April 4, Year 38 of Konoha.
Beneath a mountain in the range on the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Rivers, in a place called the Graveyard of Famous Mountains—
With tubes connected to his back, Madara Uchiha looked at the unconscious boy before him. The boy was swathed in bandages, but his breathing was gradually stabilizing. An inscrutable smile appeared on Madara's face.
"Master, this brat's life has been saved—but... can we really entrust the plan for your resurrection to someone outside the Uchiha Clan?" Black Zetsu was still hesitant.
"This will be the best choice," Madara said meaningfully.
Black Zetsu remained uneasy. After all, the Uchiha Clan were generally idiots, and being Indra's reincarnation only made that condition worse. The Senju Clan, on the other hand, were generally normal; only Ashura's reincarnation tended to be rather stupid. How to fool an ordinary member of the Senju Clan was a problem in itself!
Still, Black Zetsu dared not openly question Madara, lest he notice something amiss. After all, according to his "backstory," he was the embodiment of Madara's will!
That same day, Akaseki finally received his transfer orders and arrived at the headquarters of the recently established Iwagakure Countermeasure Force.
As it happened, Tsunade and Jiraiya also arrived at the new force's headquarters that day—
"Jiraiya-sensei, where's Captain Orochimaru?" Akaseki asked, noticing that Jiraiya was distractedly looking toward a nearby patch of woods.
Command of the new force had still gone to Orochimaru.
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi had previously had quite a few disagreements with his student, and although Orochimaru had just lost Nawaki, there was no denying that he was the one in Konoha High Command who had consistently emphasized the threat posed by Iwagakure!
Now that Iwagakure had indeed struck from an unexpected quarter,