Madara had initially thought that both the Flower God and the Tree King resembled Yanbai.
But after some analysis, although the Flower God's legend resembled Yanbai's story, the detail that "once she fell in love with a human, she would lose her wisdom and power, and her body would deteriorate" ruled her out outright.
Old Grandmother did not specifically forbid the children in her family from falling in love with mortals.
But she did make the children treat "love" with caution. Her rule was that once they developed feelings for a mortal beyond ordinary affection, that mortal would feel an intense urge to kill them. The deeper the love, the stronger the murderous intent.
The Flower God's legend mentioned nothing of the sort.
The Flower God was revered and loved by so many people. If she were Yanbai, he should have received the murderous intent born of the people's overwhelming love.
But Yanbai's power would not fade. He would simply slap any friend who wanted to kill him straight into a wall.
It was not as though Madara had never directly asked Yanbai which god he was.
But Yanbai had said that it was all too long ago, and the truth could differ greatly from the legends, so he did not recommend using them as a reference.
That answer was crafty, but Madara believed it.
After all, Madara had visited the Konoha Grand Hall to watch someone else portray him. The embarrassment that "legendary" version of him caused in a single performance would take a lifetime to heal.
Those "legends" really were a far cry from the truth.
So even when he had suspected Yanbai might be the Flower God, despite the melodrama of her legend with the Red King, Madara had felt only a slight ripple of emotion.
A