Madara Uchiha

After reading the note, Minato froze for a moment, then handed it to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was puzzled. What strange nonsense had Minato gotten hold of now? Still, curiosity got the better of him, and he took the note.

The note read:

"Minato, after you win on the Land of Lightning battlefield, there will definitely be Anbu Ninja waiting for you at camp to take you back to Konoha. Don't return to camp then. Just let Orochimaru send them away! As for an excuse, let Orochimaru come up with one himself! He's very good at that! Remember to give this note to Orochimaru once you've read it. He'll do as it says!"

After reading the note, Orochimaru had only one question. Could I pretend I never saw this? Apparently, curiosity didn't just kill cats! It had dragged a snake like him into trouble, too.

"Did Lord Ziyan write this?" Orochimaru asked.

Minato nodded. "Lord Ziyan gave it to me before we left!"

Orochimaru shook his head. "Lord Ziyan really does understand my teacher! He's figured out exactly what's going through his mind! Just what you'd expect from an old monster who's lived so long! Still, his handwriting is truly awful!"

"Senior Orochimaru, don't say that!" Minato hurriedly stopped him.

"Why? Are you going to tell Lord Ziyan what I said?" Orochimaru countered.

Minato Namikaze was about to explain that he suspected Lord Ziyan had been following him all along. Whenever he used Flying Thunder God to travel, he could always sense other spatial fluctuations.

But before Minato Namikaze could get his explanation out, he saw a pebble strike Orochimaru's right arm.

Orochimaru was watching Minato, waiting for his explanation, when he felt something hit his right arm. A sharp pain shot through it, then he lost all feeling in the arm.

"Who's there?" Orochimaru was frightened. Someone had concealed themselves flawlessly from two powerful ninja like him and Minato, then severely wounded him with nothing more than a pebble. Had it struck his head instead, he probably would have been forced to use his still-incomplete Immortality Reincarnation Technique.

"Senior Orochimaru, if I'm right, it should be Lord Ziyan. I've sensed other spatial fluctuations throughout the journey, but I wasn't sure! Now that I think about it, the only person who could do this without killing either of us should be Lord Ziyan!" Minato said.

Orochimaru felt awkward when he heard that. He had just bad-mouthed someone, assuming they wouldn't know, only to be caught red-handed!

Half a kilometer away, Hatake Ziyan wore a sour expression. Orochimaru actually dared to talk about him like that? His handwriting was awful? He was an old monster who had lived too long? If the choice quest Orochimaru triggered hadn't rewarded him with the Pangu Visualization Method, and if he hadn't wanted to see whether Orochimaru could trigger any more choices later, he would have killed him outright!

While Hatake Ziyan was still fuming, a pitcher-plant head rose from the ground and addressed him. "Oh my, Lord Sword God, you're truly impressive! You could wound a ninja of Orochimaru's caliber from so far away!"

Hatake Ziyan looked at the pitcher-plant head, half black and half white. Black Zetsu!

Hatake Ziyan recognized him at once. At this point, though, Black Zetsu should still have been pretending to be Madara Uchiha's will, deceiving Madara and trying to exploit his ambition to resurrect Kaguya!

Hatake Ziyan wanted to kill Black Zetsu on the spot. That would leave him with one less powerful enemy to face later.

"My, my, my! Lord Sword God, how frightening! All that killing intent-are you planning to kill me? Don't you want to know where I came from?" Black Zetsu teased lightly as he watched Hatake Ziyan radiating killing intent.

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You have triggered a choice.

Choice one: kill Black Zetsu outright and leave Kaguya on the moon forever. Reward: Kaguya's Karma!

Choice two: spare Black Zetsu, meet Madara Uchiha, and pretend to cooperate with the Uchiha plan. Reward: advance your Nine Turns Mysterious Technique by one minor realm!"

When Hatake Ziyan saw the reward for the first choice, the corner of his mouth twitched. Kaguya's Karma? What's the idea here? Have her resurrect herself in my body?

Choice two!

The moment Hatake Ziyan made his choice, he felt an immense surge of energy appear within him, strengthening every part of his body. His Nine Turns Mysterious Technique was forcibly pushed up by one minor realm, just like that.

"Lord Sword God? Did you hear what I said?" Black Zetsu asked from beside him, noticing that Hatake Ziyan had actually zoned out.

Feeling the changes in his body, Hatake Ziyan looked at Black Zetsu beside him and said, "Enough noise! If I didn't know where you came from, do you think you'd still be standing here talking to me?"

Those words left Black Zetsu baffled. Apart from Madara Uchiha, everyone he had dealt with over all these years was dead. Besides, he was now acting as Madara Uchiha's will and had never shown himself under this identity before. How could Hatake Ziyan know? Was he bluffing?

"Oh? Then why don't you tell me who I am, Lord Sword God?" Black Zetsu asked.

"Stop wasting time. I've got things to do later! Take me to Madara!" Hatake Ziyan couldn't be bothered to waste words on this old schemer and spoke bluntly.

Only then did Black Zetsu relax. He had thought his plan had been exposed! It seemed his role as the mastermind lurking in the shadows was still safe. Still, he was surprised. How did Hatake Ziyan know he worked for Madara?

Black Zetsu turned and said to Hatake Ziyan, "Stay close, Lord Ziyan. I'll take you there now!"

Under Black Zetsu's guidance, they soon reached a secluded cave and stopped outside.

"Lord Madara! I've brought Lord Sword God! May we come in?" Black Zetsu asked from outside the cave.

"Is that Ziyan? Come in!" An aged voice drifted out of the cave.

Hatake Ziyan stepped inside without hesitation. Once within, he saw an aged Madara Uchiha sitting on a raised seat, several feeding tubes inserted into his back and connected to the wall behind him. On the other side of that wall was probably the Ten-Tails' husk.

"Hey, Madara! You really are still alive!" Hatake Ziyan said, deliberately acting as though he had already uncovered the truth that Madara wasn't dead.

"You're as perceptive as ever! But if it hadn't been for you, I probably wouldn't have gained the power I have now!" Madara said, watching Hatake Ziyan walk in.

Hatake Ziyan walked over to a chair that had already been set out for him and sat down, removing the long sword at his waist and propping it beside him.

"Well? What did you want to see me about?" Hatake Ziyan asked.

"Ziyan, do you still believe in all those ideas of Hashirama's?" Madara asked cautiously.

"I never believed in them. What we did back then was simply the best choice available at the time!" Hatake Ziyan said.

"Ha ha ha!" The elderly Madara suddenly burst out laughing, laughing until tears came to his eyes. Looking up, he said, "Hashirama, you really were the most naive of us all!"