Shendu's Resurrection

"Some kind of technique like White Zetsu's Mayfly Technique...?"

Uchiha Madara watched the shadows gradually retreat. He had no intention of chasing after them. He had already spent a great deal of chakra fighting Statue Hashirama, and it wouldn't be wise to keep battling.

Besides, the Rat Talisman's ability didn't seem very useful to him. (Probably?)

After ordering White Zetsu to clean up the battlefield, Uchiha Madara left without looking back. After all, this was the last place where he and Senju Hashirama had shared memories. Seeing it destroyed like this left him feeling a little displeased.

At the same time, he also picked up Hashirama's statue and restored it to its original condition. As for his own? "Hah... What kind of Seal of Reconciliation was that? Disgusting!"

The capital of the Land of Fire.

The end of an underground passage beneath the Daimyo Mansion.

Although it was already the middle of the night, Enshi Shu had no desire to sleep. His face was tense with worry as he paced back and forth through the passage, waiting for any Guardian Ninja or member of the Shadowkhan to return with news.

As the saying went, "Waiting for your own verdict is the most agonizing thing of all." Enshi Shu was in exactly that situation.

Shendu had made the Rat Talisman sound incredibly important. Enshi Shu feared that he'd failed the mission and hadn't retrieved it, disappointing Shendu. He was also worried that this failure would keep them from carrying out their plans to collect the other Talismans.

Only when an abnormal shadow appeared on the wall did the weight on his heart finally lift.

Taking the Rat Talisman from the Shadow Ninja, Enshi Shu sprinted straight to the Shendu Statue and pressed the talisman into its slot.

As for the Twelve Guardian Ninja? They were just the former Daimyo's old retainers. They didn't matter!

A blinding light burst from the Shendu Statue, filling the entire room. Then Shendu's cold, rigid stone body began to soften. The Talismans embedded in him were absorbed into his flesh, and enormous claws emerged from his sides, followed by his legs and tail. Finally, his eyes glowed red. His face was savage and sinister, his expression bloodthirsty and cold. His head was shaped like a flame, the spikes on either side of his face were as sharp as blades, and his mouth resembled a crocodile's. Shendu had returned to his true form.

"I'm alive again!"

Shendu threw back his head and roared, his cries crackling with a harsh electronic edge. Enshi Shu hurried over, brimming with anticipation.

"Welcome back, Lord Shendu! Now let's begin our grand campaign and reclaim everything my kingdom has lost!"

"Your kingdom? No! It's my kingdom!"

Newly freed, Shendu immediately revealed his true demonic nature. He bent down and stared at Enshi Shu with crimson eyes, breathing out a terrifying blast of heat.

"B-but... you promised you'd conquer the world with me and make the Land of Fire great again!"

Shendu's overwhelming presence made Enshi Shu's legs go weak, but he still summoned the courage to lift his head and meet Shendu's gaze.

"I am a noble dragon and a demonic sorcerer! Everyone knows I don't keep my promises!"

The Fire Demon Chi erupted around Shendu. He addressed Enshi Shu, who had collapsed to the ground. "And you... can either become my servant or face death!"

With his life on the line, Enshi Shu forgot all about the dignity and decorum owed to his royal house. He immediately knelt and declared that he was "willing to serve Lord Shendu."

"A wise choice. Now it's time to summon my Dragon Minions!"

Shendu stretched out a claw and gestured at the air. Space itself tore open with ease, forming a rift. Then Shendu forced it wider, and a swarm of vicious-looking Dragon Minions with sharp fangs flew out. They roared to celebrate their freedom before scattering through the passage and flying up into the sky above the capital.

"Excellent... Now it's time to reclaim my Twelve Talismans!"

Shendu raised his head and fired an Eye Beam at the ceiling. With a deafening boom that seemed to shatter Enshi Shu's eardrums, the ceiling exploded and a shower of rubble came crashing down. Shendu paid it no mind. His mighty body needed no protection, and he simply let the debris strike him.

"First, the Dog, which represents the power of immortality..."

The power of immortality was undoubtedly the most useful thing Shendu could have right now. Though he was a demon born of heaven and earth, and his soul was immortal, that didn't mean his body couldn't be destroyed. For now, "immortality" was what mattered most.

However... although Shendu could still use the Rooster to float without the Rabbit, he was rather slow. So he summoned an enormous green Western dragon with a pair of bat-like wings. It was one of his Dragon Soldier subordinates and could serve as a mount. Like Shendu, it could breathe fire, but it couldn't speak—it could only roar.

—Roar!

Once Shendu was settled on its back, the Dragon Soldier beat its enormous wings and soared through the hole in the ceiling, leaving Enshi Shu alone in the underground passage, now reduced to ruins.

"How could this... How could this happen...!"

Only now did he realize that Shendu had been using him and deceiving him all along. But there was nothing he could do. The Twelve Guardian Ninja had all been wiped out, and the forces he should have cultivated had been replaced by the Shadow Ninja. Now he was completely alone.

—Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of deafening crashes came from above. Through the ceiling, which had been completely destroyed, Enshi Shu could just make out a sky that seemed to be covered in rosy clouds. No...! They weren't rosy clouds... They were clouds of fire!

"Could it be?!"

Forcing his trembling body upright, Enshi Shu hurried out through the underground passage. But the moment he left the Daimyo Mansion, the scene before him looked like something straight out of hell.

The capital of the Land of Fire had become a vast ruin. People fled in every direction, their screams and wails filling the air. Dragon Minions swooped through the sky, baring their claws and breathing fire onto the ground. Many starving Dragon Minions even plunged into the crowds and devoured people as if they were food.

"What have I... done?!"

Just as Enshi Shu collapsed in despair, a thought suddenly struck him:

"Right! Konoha! They'll help me!"

Out of habit, he called for his attendants by name, but no one answered. Only then did he suddenly remember that he had replaced everyone in the Daimyo Mansion after obtaining the Shadowkhan. That meant that even someone as noble as him had no choice but to walk all the way to Konoha alone.

Shendu rode his Dragon Soldier swiftly through the skies of the Ninja World, searching the land below for the traces of his Talismans.

"Found them...!"

Shendu finally stopped above Uchiha Madara's lair, the Graveyard of Mountains.

"The Dog, and the Sheep, too? This is exactly the birthday present I wanted!"

"Lord Madara! Lord Madara! There's a strange-looking guy outside!"

"Hm?"

Although he no longer needed the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to sustain his life, Uchiha Madara still liked to lean against it and take a nap after a major battle.

White Zetsu hurriedly woke Madara. Just as Madara slowly opened his eyes, about to ask what had happened, the cave suddenly shook violently, and a torrent of sand and rubble came crashing down.