Kisame and Little Black

Heavenly Dao Palace

The Ninth Floor, the underground hibernation chamber of the Hisoten.

There are many cylindrical energy capsules here, but one cylindrical glass capsule stands out from the rest, placed on the highest platform.

Not far away, a huge blue beetle was lying there fast asleep, with only the faint sound of its breathing occasionally reaching the ears.

Irori stood in front of the Hibernation Pod, holding a document, and gave a work report to Yayoi, who was immersed in the Hibernation Pod Solution.

Although Yayoi spends most of the year in hibernation after her body is immersed in the Hibernation Pod, she still has a few days of wakefulness each year to keep abreast of changes in the external situation.

For example, Irori is currently reporting to him on the incident involving the Uzumaki Clan and the subsequent developments.

The Land of Night officially supports some smaller countries that have strained relations with the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water, in order to constantly cause trouble for the Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Mist Village.

Some have even suspected that such a prolonged standoff is not good for the international environment and could very well trigger a new round of ninja wars that could spread worldwide.

After listening to Irori's account, Yayoi gained a general understanding of the current situation in the Ninja World.

He never expected that his words about paying attention to the Uzumaki Clan before going into hibernation would come true, and the incident would actually happen.

However, the course of events was somewhat beyond his expectations.

It turned out that the Third Mizukage of Kirigakure started it all, while he himself was still in Uzushiogakure, where he was killed on the spot by Rikuo.

This has led to Kirigakure constantly seeking answers from the Land of Night, demanding an explanation and confirmation of the Third Mizukage's fate.

Then I heard Doichi Tsuchigumo, together with Tsuchigumo, relentlessly pursued the fleeing Third Raikage Third Raikage, chasing him all the way to the Land of Lightning, defeating three thousand Hidden Cloud Village. The Third Raikage was even exhausted by Doichi and collapsed on the battlefield, almost being captured again...

Yayoi's expression suddenly took on an indescribable strangeness.

However, compared to these things, what Irori mentioned next made Yayoi's expression turn extremely strange.

"White Zetsu..."

Yayoi to herself.

"That's right. Based on the post-incident analysis, this attack on the Uzumaki Clan was likely orchestrated by a third Uzumaki Clan to lure Hidden Mist Village and Hidden Cloud Village into action. Initially, these strange groups attacked our Embassy, which delayed the rescue efforts. Furthermore..."

Irori paused for a moment after saying this.

"What else?"

Yayoi turned her head slightly, her gaze shifting towards him.

"According to Nene's recent research report on living White Zetsu, this creature called ' White Zetsu ' is suspected to be related to the ' Ten-Tails '. They are very likely the 'living weapons' mentioned in ancient texts."

After speaking, Irori looked up at Yayoi, awaiting her next instructions.

"..."

Yayoi fell silent, not uttering a word, only her eyes flickering between light and shadow.

"... Manipulated behind the scenes... Ten-Tails... Living weapon..."

Yayoi the key points of this information, repeatedly chewing over the words, as if she were trying to glean something from them.

How is Nagato doing?

Yayoi did not follow up on this topic, but instead raised a question that seemed completely unrelated to the present moment.

"They disappeared from the Uzumaki Clan, and among those who migrated to the Uzumaki Clan, there is no trace of them."

"..."

Yayoi immediately realized why the Uzumaki Clan had been attacked.

Nagato... In the original work, Yayoi, the possessor of the Rinnegan, identified the Uzumaki Clan very early on based on his red hair.

Furthermore, through the Embassy, using legitimate channels of communication, they obtained a list of members of the Uzumaki Clan, and indeed saw a newborn named ' Nagato ' on the list.

However, considering that someone might be watching in the shadows, he did not intervene immediately.

Because through his years of research, he felt that the origin of the Rinnegan was very unusual, and he didn't want to alert the enemy.

The Uzumaki Clan incident and Nagato's disappearance confirm that someone had been secretly planning everything all along.

Although there are still some parts that Yayoi cannot understand and that are incomplete, he is quite certain that the person behind the scenes is not powerful enough.

Otherwise, there would be no need to resort to such underhanded schemes.

Is there anything else?

Yayoi skipped over these topics, as he felt sleepiness creeping in.

"There's one more thing, Doichi has had another child."

Irori felt this matter was also quite important, so she mentioned it briefly.

"Really? Then I'll send a gift over."

Yayoi showed little interest.

"Yayoi, this newborn is a bit unusual."

Irori highlighted the key points.

"Um?"

This Yayoi's interest.

"This child was born to Doichi and a woman from the Hoshigaki Clan. He was born with extremely strong physical vitality and potential far exceeding that of ordinary people."

"..."

Hoshigaki Clan?

Yayoi suddenly had a very outrageous guess.

Has the child been named yet?

"Hmm, it seems the name is ' Kisame '."

Yayoi's lips twitched slightly.

In other words, the Hidden Mist Village character from the original story, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, an S-rank rogue ninja, and a member of Akatsuki, turns out to be his own grandson?

If Maki and Hatake Sakumo really do end up together in the future, will Kakashi have to call Kisame" big brother"?

Yayoi could hardly imagine what that scene would be like.

"Irori."

Yayoi called out.

"Please give your orders, Yayoi."

"Take the greatsword Samehada, which is kept in the Seven-Star House, to Doichi's place."

After saying that, Yayoi stopped talking, closed her eyes, and fell into a state of hibernation.

◎

The Land of Rain.

The sound of drizzling rain enveloped the town. Amidst the townspeople's thanks, the ninjas and Samurai from the Land of Night turned and left the town to deliver supplies to the next town.

Not long after the ninjas and Samurai of the Land of Night left, a black mass emerged from the muddy ground on the muddy road, eventually forming a sticky figure.

This viscous, black humanoid figure, with only its limp upper body visible, opened its dark yellow pupils and watched the departing ninjas and Samurai of the Land of Night with a face full of confusion.

"It's strange that Madara only recently transferred Nagato here, yet the Land of Night suddenly sent people to search for Nagato's whereabouts. Could it be that someone in the Land of Night possesses a prophetic ability similar to that giant Toad from Mount Myoboku?"

Reflecting on his numerous failed attempts to infiltrate the Heavenly Dao Palace, the black-clad figure fell into deep thought.

Just like the other forces, who were trying to find ways to investigate the situation of the Heavenly Dao Palace, he also had a strong interest in it.

However, the First Shogun of the Land of Night was too cautious; the level of security measures made it impossible for it to figure out what the other party was planning to do.

But with its keen sense of smell cultivated over many years, it vaguely felt that it could not leave the Land of Night unattended.

Especially those Chakra life forms similar to Tailed Beasts, they just couldn't understand them no matter how it tried.

If it weren't certain that it didn't have a father, it would have thought that the First Shogun of the Land of Night and its mother on the moon had some strange and extraordinary relationship.

It's just that the people in the Ninja World world are inexperienced; otherwise, they would know that it's a realm that only true 'gods' can reach!

"If it truly is a prophetic ability, then we need to be more careful in our future actions. Also, Madara is still too careless; we need to provide him with some more powerful White Zetsu individuals to make his operations easier..."

Otherwise, given the other party's dementia, he would most likely be killed by the Land of Night.

With that thought in mind, the black humanoid silently burrowed into the ground, diving deeper into a certain location.

In any case, White Zetsu is an inexhaustible resource for it; with a little searching, it can find quite a few excellent individuals.

They'll take it out of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and let Madara think he'd 'cultivated' it using Hashirama Cells.

As for where the Chakra Madara used to 'cultivate' White Zetsu went... the black humanoid figure felt a little hungry again.

(Next comes the Second Shinobi World War arc...)