The police force expands, Madara lives

Konoha Year Seven, early winter.

The biting wind made the newly hung sign in front of the Konoha Military Police Force's new building sway slightly.

The building bustled inside and out. Members of the newly expanded Konoha Military Police Force moved between floors in crisp uniforms. Shouts from the training grounds, the clatter of abacuses in the clerical offices, and the noise of people collecting supplies from the equipment office mingled together. Blending with the cold wind, the clamor instead conveyed a steaming vitality.

Third floor, Acting Director's office.

Yinglang stood at the window, watching the scene below with little expression. Liuli stood beside him and said softly, "It's done. The official staffing has tripled, covering all the village's main areas, with three eight-hour shifts. Seventy percent of the funding was approved. Father said the clan treasury would cover the shortfall."

"Mm." Yinglang's response betrayed neither pleasure nor displeasure.

Liuli hesitated. "It's a pity... it didn't reach the scale we originally discussed. We didn't get the shifts down to six hours, either."

Only then did Yinglang turn, his lips curving in something that was not quite a smile. "That's called asking high and letting them bargain you down. If we didn't start high, how could we expect to get anything worthwhile in the end? Tripled staffing, village-wide coverage, and most of the money-that's already far beyond expectations."

He walked behind the broad desk and sat down, his fingers tapping unconsciously on its surface. "Tobirama agreed for three reasons. First, those dozen or so Anbu 'accidents' left him choking. He knew forcing the issue would mean an open break. Second, his brother is gravely wounded, and the village is unstable. He needs the appearance of 'unity.' Third..."

He paused, his gaze cooling slightly. "He also wants to see whether the Uchiha will get carried away after suddenly gaining so much authority and expose a weakness."

Understanding dawned on Liuli, followed by a frown. "Then we..."

"Hold steady," Yinglang interrupted. "Train according to regulations, patrol by the book, and keep the accounts clean. Everyone needs to see that the Uchiha's police force is Konoha's blade, a department that follows the rules-at least on the surface."

He looked at Liuli. "Pay extra attention to that. The clan's young people could easily get full of themselves with this sudden rise. Keep a close eye on them. Have Yutian go 'talk' to them if necessary."

Liuli nodded. "Understood." She hesitated briefly. "Those eyes outside..."

"A new batch. Better concealed." Yinglang's lips twitched. "As long as they follow the 'rules' and only watch without interfering, let them watch. Sometimes, letting your opponent see what you want him to see is a strategy too."

As they spoke, Yutian appeared soundlessly in the doorway and tapped lightly on the frame.

"Come in."

Yutian entered, nodded to Liuli in greeting, then looked at Yinglang and said quietly, "My lord, word has arrived from the south, Great Britain. The third shipment of tools and seeds has arrived. The docks and the frames of the first permanent houses are up, and fifty mu of new land have been brought under cultivation. Thirty people passed the initial selection for the 'guard' and are training with the basic methods you taught us. The natives have been reasonably well behaved. Several chiefs have expressed an interest in submitting to us."

"Good." Yinglang nodded. "Continue according to plan. Steady progress, with instruction as our main approach and force as our shield. Our people's absolute control comes first. Give them tools and technology slowly. Keep them wanting more."

"Yes." Yutian continued, "Within the Land of Fire, heading toward the Land of Ghosts, Elder Xuan's first group of five has set out, posing as traveling merchants. As you instructed, our people are watching them covertly to ensure their route is 'safe,' and that they only see what they should."

"Mm." Yinglang waved a hand. "Let Elder Xuan's people busy themselves with the Land of Ghosts. Our people should focus on keeping the southern passage absolutely secret. There must be no mistakes in the use of the 'gate.'"

"Understood."

Yutian withdrew. Quiet returned to the office.

Looking at Yinglang, Liuli suddenly felt that the burden on her husband in name was far heavier and more complicated than this new office or the bustle downstairs suggested. Konoha, the Uchiha, overseas, the Land of Ghosts... he seemed to be playing an enormous, multidimensional game of chess.

"Yinglang," she asked softly, "are you tired?"

Yinglang was reviewing a document dividing up patrol areas. His pen paused at her question, and he looked up at her with a smile. In that smile was a rare trace of genuine weariness befitting his age.

"I am." He leaned back in his chair and rubbed between his brows. "How could I not be? But I chose this road and made these moves. However tired I get, I have to keep going."

He looked out at the gloomy sky, his gaze seeming to pass through Konoha's barrier toward the distant, unknown south.

"Besides... this is only the beginning."

At almost the same time, beneath a desolate, rarely visited valley somewhere along the Fire-Grass border.

The cavern was cold and damp, filled with the smells of sulfur and blood. Madara Uchiha sat cross-legged on a rock, his upper body bare. The horrific wound that had pierced his chest was gone, leaving only a pale pink line of new flesh. But the pupil of his left Sharingan was gray-white-the price of Izanagi, one eye permanently blinded.

His face was pale and his breathing weak. Clearly, reversing his "death" had consumed an enormous amount of strength, and he was far from recovered. Yet the scarlet three-tomoe pattern rotated slowly in his remaining right eye, its cold disdain and obsessive fervor greater than ever.

A small piece of dark flesh lay spread on the ground before him, sealed within a glowing membrane of chakra, radiating vigorous life and profound power-Hashirama Senju's cellular tissue. In the final instant before his "death," he had forcibly seized and sealed it from the flesh and blood sprayed by Hashirama's rupturing wounds. Only palm-sized, it nevertheless held the mysteries of the sage body and the source of Wood Release.

"Hashirama's power..." Madara's pale fingers lightly touched the glowing membrane, his eyes burning. "The Sharingan's ultimate form needs this power of 'yang' to complete it..."

He murmured to himself. His defeat at the Valley of the End had not broken him; instead, it had strengthened his conviction in his path-absolute individual power was the only way to shatter false peace and create a real world. He had to obtain Hashirama's power. He had to merge it with his own.

The shadow beside him silently writhed and stretched, slowly rising into a strange, indistinct black humanoid form, with only a pair of yellow, serpentine eyes clearly visible.

Black Zetsu.

"Lord Madara," Black Zetsu said in a hoarse, hollow voice, "you succeeded. 'Death' is the perfect cover, and the Hashirama cells are in your possession. However..."

Madara did not turn, still studying the cells. "However what?"

"There have been changes in Konoha." Black Zetsu's yellow eyes flickered faintly. "That junior of yours, Uchiha Yinglang, used the chaos following your decisive battle with Lord Hashirama to greatly expand the Uchiha's influence. His methods were ruthless. Tobirama Senju has quite a headache now."

"Uchiha Yinglang?" Madara frowned slightly. He had some impression of the name, having glimpsed him from afar at the Valley of the End. "What waves could a brat make? Nothing but petty cleverness, seizing power through the cracks while Hashirama and I were both badly wounded. The Uchiha's future doesn't lie in Konoha, much less in tricks like these."

He had no interest whatsoever in Konoha's power games. He even despised them.

"Perhaps." Black Zetsu neither agreed nor disagreed. "Still, he has inadvertently helped us draw Konoha High Command's attention away. Also... regarding the Uchiha's future, do you truly believe it rests with you alone?"

Madara finally turned, his right eye's three-tomoe pattern fixing on Black Zetsu. "What are you trying to say?"

Black Zetsu spoke slowly, his voice enticing. "Lord Madara, you seek power that transcends the mortal realm and reaches the domain of gods, power to break the shackles of this false world. But have you ever wondered why the Uchiha's Sharingan has such potential to evolve? Why it seems naturally opposed to the Senju's Wood Release, yet faintly drawn to it?"

Madara's gaze sharpened. Of course he had considered these questions, through countless days and nights studying the Uchiha Stone Tablet and pondering the Sharingan's mysteries. The tablet's records were vague, seeming to point toward some ancient origin without explaining it clearly.

"What do you know?" Madara's voice was icy.

"What I know... isn't much." Black Zetsu's form wavered slightly in the shadows, as though recalling the past. "Over the long years, I merely heard scattered legends. They say that in an age too distant to trace, there was a 'Sage' with the power to create the world. He had two sons, with different ideals and different powers, who fought endlessly. Their bloodlines and their powers continued to reincarnate and struggle in later generations... like some destined cycle."

Madara's pupil contracted slightly. This account... faintly matched certain vague indications he had pieced together from the tablet's incomplete information. Two opposing yet connected bloodlines, an eternal struggle...

"You mean... the Uchiha and the Senju?" Madara said slowly.

"Perhaps. It is only a legend." Black Zetsu's yellow eyes flickered. "But Lord Madara, don't you feel that your meeting with Lord Hashirama, your struggles, even this decisive battle at the Valley of the End, all seem like a script written long ago? Two powers originating from ancient enemies, clashing through their most outstanding present-day heirs... is that truly coincidence?"

Madara fell silent. He had never believed in coincidence. But if this truly was some "destiny" or "cycle"... what did that make his path and his choices? Part of a script?

No!

A terrifying light suddenly blazed in his eye. "Even if it really is a destined cycle, I will break it! With these eyes and the power I obtain, I will create a real world of my own! Hashirama's power is my first step toward breaking that cycle!"

"Precisely." Black Zetsu bowed slightly. "Your vision and resolve are admirable, Lord Madara. Thus, obtaining Hashirama's cells and merging with this power of 'yang' may be the very key to breaking that invisible destiny. As for that minor upheaval in Konoha, that Uchiha Yinglang... perhaps he, too, is a new, unexpected piece in this ancient game of chess. It may be worth... paying him a little attention."

Madara looked back at the Hashirama cells, his voice turning icy again. "My objective will not change. The Rinnegan and Infinite Tsukuyomi are what is real. As for the farce those ants within the Uchiha are putting on, and that Yinglang... as long as he doesn't interfere with me, let him be. If he has a death wish..."

A trace of cold killing intent flashed through the three-tomoe pattern in his right eye.

Black Zetsu's form slowly sank into the shadows. "As you wish. I will continue watching developments in Konoha. Please concentrate on integrating the cells and recovering your strength. The true stage... still lies in the future."

Silence returned to the cavern. Only the scent of sulfur lingered, along with the extremely faint pulses of life that occasionally came from the sealed cells.

Madara closed his eyes and began channeling chakra, cautiously touching and probing the power that came from his mortal enemy, brimming with life and danger.

In Konoha on the surface, the Uchiha's police force was expanding, and Yinglang was planning for the future.

And in these unknown depths, a god of the past licked his wounds and seized his enemy's power, silently gathering strength for a more frenzied, more distant plan.