A Day Without a Boulder Pressing on My Chest

Hahaha! Interesting!!

Hashirama!!!

Is this the Konoha you built?!

Is this the Konoha you were willing to kill me to protect?!

It is filled with so much filth and corruption.

How ugly.

Attacking fellow villagers for the sake of competing for Hokage—was this Konoha's Will of Fire? Burning others to light oneself up.

Madara had spent the past several decades alone beneath the earth. His daily entertainment was sending White Zetsu out to gather intelligence and feast on Ninja World gossip.

The last time he had laughed like this was when Tobirama died in the Hidden Cloud Village.

This time, he was mocking Hashirama's absurdity.

Even funnier, those fighting among themselves were all from Tobirama's faction. Mm, Madara believed it ran in the family. Back then, Tobirama had been the one to drive him out.

"Do it. Why not?"

"Cooperate with him."

Madara gave the order.

Today was truly lively. Before long, that little fool meant to carry out the Moon's Eye Plan would be sent down.

And now there was more explosive Konoha upper-management gossip.

He did not even know which one to watch first.

He should pay attention to the Moon's Eye Plan first.

Hashirama! Do you see it? Only my Moon's Eye Plan can bring peace to the Ninja World.

Your ideals? They will not work.

"Lord Madara, this is bad!!"

The White Zetsu network was unusually lively today. Confused, Madara connected to the White Zetsu speaking to him.

In White Zetsu's perspective, Obito and Kakashi were unconscious on the ground, while Rin had been kidnapped as planned and thrown into the cave where Madara lived.

Madara: "?!"

Then those two were not coming.

Who was this whole performance supposed to be for?

Obito's powerful desire to save Rin made his hand twitch slightly.

Only slightly.

The colorless, odorless sedative Tsunade had made could knock out not just a person—according to her, it could even put an elephant to sleep.

Kakashi beside him was sleeping like a dead Pakkun. Someone could sell him off, and he would not even know.

Meanwhile, Masaichi was already wishing he could restart everything.

What was his teacher doing?!

Orochimaru took Minato from Masaichi's hands and threw him toward the White Zetsu Hidden Rock Jonin.

Under Madara's orders, the White Zetsu Hidden Rock Jonin had agreed to cooperate with Orochimaru.

Orochimaru leaned close to White Zetsu's ear. "Do this, then that... and then this..."

"Uh." The White Zetsu Hidden Rock Jonin gave Orochimaru a surprised look. Wow, Konoha people really knew how to play. Come to think of it, Lord Madara seemed to be from Konoha too.

Were all Konoha people such geniuses?

The next second, Masaichi wondered whether he had gone blind. The Hidden Rock Village Jonin who had just been talking with his teacher grabbed Orochimaru by the throat with one hand and Minato by the throat with the other, lifting both of them into the air.

Minato was unconscious, so his head lolled to one side. Orochimaru wore no expression, allowing himself to be handled as others pleased.

Two Kage-level powerhouses had just been lifted up by some minor nobody who did not even have a name in the original plot?

Had his teacher been drugged too? Otherwise, there was no logical explanation.

This was fucking Orochimaru, the major boss of the early Naruto era.

"Teacher!" Without time to think, Masaichi pulled out a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and rushed to save Orochimaru.

His student's first reaction had been to save him. Orochimaru was rather moved, but he did not need it.

"Go back and ask the Third Hokage for reinforcements!" Orochimaru said.

"Teacher, I..."

"Go!!"

Masaichi's CPU was practically burning out, yet he still could not understand Orochimaru's train of thought.

But then he remembered something.

If Minato had been knocked unconscious and tied up, who would save Kakashi and Rin?

By now, Obito should have already had his face pressed against the rock.

So he headed first toward the location where Kakashi and the others had been carrying out their mission.

No matter what, his teacher was still a Kage-level powerhouse. At this point in time, Orochimaru stood at the peak of the Ninja World's combat power.

He would not die.

You picked up Wild Uchiha Obito x1 by the roadside.

You picked up Wild Hatake Kakashi x1 by the roadside.

You picked up Wild Nohara Rin x1 in a cave.

Masaichi: "..."

Release!

Release!

He desperately used chakra to disrupt the flow in his own body.

He suspected that he had fallen under a genjutsu.

Otherwise, how could Orochimaru have been captured alive first, only for him to pick up Team 7 afterward?

Was this because of the green bananas? Were these two really that greedy?!

"Release." Seeing that Rin was under a genjutsu, Masaichi quickly dispelled it for her as well.

"Masaichi?" The instant Rin regained consciousness, tears suddenly fell uncontrollably. After surviving such a disaster, seeing someone she knew filled her with an overwhelming sense of salvation. Just moments ago, she had thought she was going to die.

Masaichi had arrived at just the right time.

If he had not been carrying one in each hand, he truly would have gone over to hug and comfort her. This was his little Rin.

Back in the Ninja Academy, when his lunch had not been enough, she had shared half her bento with him. His angel!

Angel.

Fuck!

Was this your doing?!

Madara!!

Kakashi! Obito! Stop me, or I am genuinely afraid I will go kill Madara.

Damn it!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

"Rin, do you know who I admire most?"

"Lord Orochimaru?" Rin felt that Masaichi's ability to adjust his mindset was quite impressive.

"No, the Second Hokage. Flying Thunder God Slash!!"

Rin: "?"

Huh? What did that mean?

She did not understand...

Listening to the sounds above the cave.

Madara: "?"

He swore that if Obito could still move after being brainwashed by him, he would definitely go up there and hang that bastard up for a beating.

What kind of person was this?

Ptooey.

"This is truly troublesome." Madara rested his face on one hand as he considered a solution. It was a habit he had developed over decades; whenever he thought, he did this.

He had calculated everything.

Yet he had utterly failed to account for Konoha's internal conflict affecting his plan.

Who could have known that Orochimaru and Masaichi would be so underhanded as to use poison?

"Ah, Lord Madara, why not just disguise yourself as a Hidden Rock ninja, go up there, and beat them up?" a particularly lively White Zetsu suggested.

Madara shot him a sideways glance. Brainless, just like Hashirama.

If Obito did not get hurt, would he not keep clamoring to go back every day? What reason would I have to stop him then?

If Obito did not have a heartrending farewell, how would he repeatedly look forward to returning from this underground place? And without enough anticipation, how could he reach the verge of collapse upon seeing the person he loved die before his eyes?

The ideal was beautiful, but reality was harsh.

Obito still had not woken up.

After thinking for two or three seconds, Madara came up with another idea.