Ishikawa: In the End, I Was the Shallow One

Land of Fire, Konoha.

Half a month had passed since the Chunin Ninja Exams, and Uchiha Madara was back at his peak. The Hashirama flesh grafted into him had merged with his chakra more smoothly than expected, substantially increasing his reserves.

Madara had not transplanted a new Sharingan, though. As he put it, his blind left eye was "a symbol of the bond" between him and Hashirama.

Uchiha Yan was speechless at Madara's sentimental obsession. Still, it worked out. As long as that blind eye stayed in Madara's socket, it would eventually regain its sight and become a Rinnegan. In the original story, Madara had not awakened the Rinnegan until he was old and near death. With that large piece of Hashirama's flesh in this life, the process should be much faster.

Senju Hashirama was recovering well too. Uzumaki Mito had already lifted the Five Elements Seal on him.

Hashirama could now draw on his own chakra, though limits remained. Until Mito was certain he had recovered completely, there was no way she would remove the seal altogether.

Land of Hot Water.

Raikage A and Mizukage White Lotus were discussing an attack on Konoha. White Lotus had not wanted to get involved, but he could not swallow his anger. He had sent twelve secret letters to Uchiha Yan, and Yan had replied with a single word: "Scram."

He was the Mizukage, yet someone had told him to "scram." How could he let that stand? If he did not bring Hozuki Sakuya and Yuki Sumi back, the Hidden Mist Village would lose its cohesion, and leading it would become impossible. For every reason, he had resolved to attack Konoha.

"A, tell me. What secret weapon do you have?" When White Lotus left Konoha, A had told him that the Hidden Cloud