This was yet another explosive piece of news.
Most importantly, Karin, Utakata, Neji, and Yakumo had initially thought Naruto had made the whole thing up as a lie and an excuse to get out of the mission. But seeing the serious, earnest look on Naruto's face, they realized that their Snow Shadow really wasn't joking. The Akatsuki truly seemed to be connected to Uchiha Madara. Kazahana Koyuki blinked, looking at Naruto with a bewildered, confused expression. Weren't they talking about the moon landing and the Akatsuki?
How had Uchiha Madara, a "mythical figure," suddenly entered the conversation?
That's right!
A "mythical figure"!
Though only forty or fifty years had passed since Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara fought in the Valley of the End, to ordinary people in this world, terrifying figures like them were already practically the stuff of myth. Kazahana Koyuki knew quite a bit about this Asura of the Shinobi World: the ancestor of Naruto's companion, Sasuke Uchiha; a figure who had shaken the Shinobi World and stood at its pinnacle, unmatched by anyone except Senju Hashirama. That was Uchiha Madara. And now, judging by Naruto's expression, this Asura of the Shinobi World, who had supposedly died long ago, was somehow connected to the Akatsuki? Karin, Utakata, Koyuki, Neji, and Yakumo exchanged baffled looks.
"It's a reason, but it's not a lie. The Akatsuki really is connected to Uchiha Madara. Remember that mysterious Uchiha who attacked the Six Kage Summit?"
"Huh? That person was Uchiha Madara? Wait, wasn't he supposedly killed by the First, Senju Hashirama, in the Valley of the End?"
Naruto had barely begun when Karin, sitting beside him, widened her eyes and raised her voice to its highest pitch.
"No, that man wasn't Uchiha Madara. Madara is indeed dead, but he didn't die in the