His ambitions had long since outgrown Rōran.
Judging by the brief glimpse of his fanatical muttering in the fragments of the official's memories:
"...The power of the dragon vein is infinite! It is the stairway to true power! With this immortal army, the Five Great Nations and the shinobi villages will all be crushed beneath the wheels of history! I will establish an eternal, entirely new order of my own!"
As Uchiha Makoto read through this information, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
Thousands upon thousands of puppet soldiers! And this time, there was no Minato to help!
Moreover, judging by the puppets' designs and the faint energy signatures he had seen in those memory fragments, they would be no pushovers, far beyond ordinary Sunagakure puppets.
Just as he released his genjutsu and prepared to head to the rendezvous point he had agreed on with Kakashi-
"Caw!"
One of the crows guarding the perimeter sent out an urgent, piercing warning!
At the same time, a blurry sensory image of a fierce clash of chakra entered Uchiha Makoto's mind.
A battle had broken out near a tangled network of pipes at the other end of the underground city!
The chakra signatures were chaotic, but one of the combatants seemed to be wearing a Konoha forehead protector.
Immediately afterward, Kakashi sent a brief message through the squad's emergency communication channel:
"Found signs of Princess Sara's movements, but puppet troops intercepted us. Also sensed an unidentified Konoha ninja's chakra nearby, apparently locked in a difficult fight. Coordinates shared."
A Konoha ninja? Apart from their squad, it could only be that man.
Without further hesitation, Uchiha Makoto raced toward the coordinates Kakashi had shared and the direction of the crow's warning.
He sped through the labyrinth of underground passages and pipes as the clang