Dog Talisman

"What is this?!"

Laid out before Uchiha Madara was a sharp-edged stone engraved with the image of a "Dog."

"Wow, wow! This looks just like the talisman Konoha has been searching for!"

The spiky White Zetsu clung to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, whispering from the side near Uchiha Madara.

"Is that so...? This is the talisman?"

Uchiha Madara wore a look of disdain. "I think Sarutobi Hiruzen has truly gone senile. A dignified Kage of a village actually believes a rock possesses special abilities?"

In Uchiha Madara's eyes, this Dog Talisman was no different from an ordinary stone; it lacked any trace of chakra, and was inferior even to chakra-infused metal.

"Lord Madara! Hurry and test what kind of ability this thing has!"

Zetsu was full of anticipation, but Uchiha Madara scoffed. "Even if I, Uchiha Madara, were to be crushed to death by a rock, washed away by sand, or drained dry by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path right now, I would never believe in such childish parlor tricks!"

--Rumble!

However, the very next moment, a large amount of sand and soil shook loose from the ceiling. The tubes connecting the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to Uchiha Madara's body, which supplied his life force, suddenly snapped one by one. "Damn it! That brat Nagato, has he actually summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path?!"

Events were unpredictable, and Uchiha Madara had no time to ponder why Nagato had summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. His ability to cling to life depended entirely on the life force supplied by that statue! If he died, wouldn't his "Eye of the Moon Plan" be "doomed before the cause could succeed"?!

Mud and sand scoured Uchiha Madara's body. He felt his already meager life force slipping away rapidly. His legs went limp, unable to stand, and his palms instinctively grasped at something.

--Whoosh!

A green radiance enveloped his body. In an instant, Uchiha Madara felt an astonishing surge of life force erupt from within. Following that, he felt as if he had become fifty years younger.

Suddenly, his back no longer ached, his legs no longer pained him, and he could even sense the chakra he hadn't been able to use for a long time.

"Lord Madara! Lord Madara! Are you alright?!"

As the dust slowly settled, the White Zetsu anxiously searched for traces of Uchiha Madara. Upon sensing his chakra, they finally breathed a sigh of relief, but... since when had Lord Madara's aura become this strong?

"I... feel excellent right now!"

A voice filled with immense power reached the ears of the White Zetsu. A formidable chakra manifested, blowing away all the dust. Standing in the center was Uchiha Madara, still white-haired, but with a spirit and vitality tens of thousands of times better than before.

"Is this the power of the talisman...?"

Clutching the talisman he had happened to grab when he fell, Uchiha Madara felt as though he had returned to his prime; the power of his youth had all come back! Even the Sharingan he was using as a temporary substitute for his Rinnegan had changed, evolving into a Mangekyou Sharingan, returning him directly to his peak.

"In that case..."

Looking at the space behind him where the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path should have been, now empty, Uchiha Madara made his decision! He would be the "Savior" himself! He would personally execute the "Eye of the Moon Plan"!

However... before that, he still needed to gather some intelligence on the talismans...

Returning to the present timeline, as Uchiha Madara looked up at the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path that had returned, a White Zetsu emerged from a gap once again.

"Lord Madara, the Kages of every nation have dispatched special teams to search for the talismans!"

"Is that so... then it is time for us to act as well..."

Given Uchiha Madara's arrogant nature, his first instinct upon regaining his youth would have been to storm Amegakure, reclaim his own Rinnegan, and immediately begin the Tailed Beast capture plan. But because the Eye of the Moon Plan concerned "world peace," he had to be cautious. As for those so-called talismans... Uchiha Madara intended to seize them all first.

Land of Rivers, Yugakure.

This was a health-conscious retreat known as the "Village That Forgot War," boasting the highest average life expectancy in the entire Ninja World.

At this moment, Uncle and Chixing had tracked the magic spell to this "vacation spot," accompanied by a Sunagakure squad from the Land of Wind.

As for why they were here? Logically, aside from Uncle, who could use magic spells to track the location of the talismans, it would be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack for anyone else in the Ninja World to search for them.

But that contradicted Qian Yu's principle of wanting to showcase the talismans to more people, so... he had no choice but to let the talismans find them instead...

Happening to see on the map that the Sunagakure squad was heading toward Yugakure, Qian Yu simply dropped one of the talismans there.

Inside a hot spring inn, the moment Uncle stepped through the door, he was enthusiastically surrounded by staff asking if he wanted to try a massage package or a special hot spring bath to relax his mind.

Uncle certainly had no such intentions. He immediately pushed through the crowd, heading in the direction guided by the magic spell. Finally, he saw it! The "Pig" displayed in the glass cabinet of the gift shop!

At the same time, darkness followed close behind. The walls of the hot spring inn turned pitch black, and scarlet eyes faintly glowed, instantly scaring away the crowd, except for... the ninja squad from Sunagakure.

"That is... the bodyguard of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire!"

The man speaking had short brown hair, wore a black ninja outfit with a mesh undershirt—the future Fourth Kazekage, "Rasa."

"That means... the talisman is nearby?!"

The one replying was Rasa's brother-in-law, a handsome youth with yellow hair and a dust-proof cap—"Yashamaru."

However, at this time, neither of them was yet the Kazekage, nor was the other a highly regarded Anbu of Sunagakure. Under the orders of the Third Kazekage, they had embarked on the path to search for the talismans.

It was just that... because they had only seen what the talismans looked like on Enshi Shu's lost property bounty notice, they had no idea how to search for them, which is why they started from the Land of Rivers, the closest to the Land of Wind.

Who would have thought their luck would be this good?

Without further ado, the two of them rushed forward, attempting to seize the talisman.

As for the Shadowkhan? Sorry, the lost property bounty said to take the talisman in exchange for a reward; it didn't say they couldn't intercept it! As long as they were the ones collecting the bounty in the end, it didn't matter!

Thus, without another word, they charged in.

"Wind Style: Wind Blade!"

As Chixing and the Shadowkhan lunged simultaneously toward the display case housing the Pig Talisman, chakra seeped from Yashamaru's fingertips like razor-sharp blades, sweeping between the two parties on a gust of wind as countless invisible Wind Blade attacks followed in its wake.

Although this technique is described in the Rin no Sho as an "unavoidable ultimate move," it was clear that none of those present felt any need to dodge.

Uncle drew a circle around himself and Chixing with a dried gecko, mimicking the defensive magic used by Daolon Wong in Jackie Chan Adventures, and successfully blocked all the Wind Blade strikes.

As for the Shadowkhan, they cared nothing for casualties, forcibly shattering the glass display case to seize the Pig Talisman and attempting a high-speed retreat, but how could those present possibly allow it? Rasa slammed his hands onto the ground and shouted, "Magnet Release: Gold Dust!"

Rasa converted his highly condensed chakra into magnetic force, channeling the Magnet Release chakra into the ground through hand seals to conjure a vast, surging tide of gold dust that rolled forth like the sea.