[Chapter Size: 2600 Words.]
Third Person POV
Below the ground somewhere, 42.
...
...
Zetsu White did not fail to give every detail to Madara, who listened attentively to what they had gathered amid all that chaos.
Even Madara took some Zetsus and put them under a genjutsu to observe their memories with a special Sharingan that could enter minds, studying the battlefield and how the Uzumaki had dealt with the threat, their movements and their traps at the beginning, the attacks of Minato Namikaze using the teleportation jutsu, the Second Hokage, and the other battles that followed with him controlling the necessary battlefields — with him fighting directly on several fronts, facing all the kage present on the battlefield in the water, on land, and even in the air...
Madara could not help being surprised both by Minato's powers and by the abilities of the perfect jinchūriki, the Senju girl who could use sage mode, and the Hyūga commanding Uzumaki soldiers using bows with wind element, and lastly, the Uchiha using her own Susanoo in its initial stages — all of this seemed to intrigue Madara more and more.
"Konoha should be weakening… but they're simply evolving?" he murmured thoughtfully.
His prediction was that Konoha would grow weaker and weaker, that its talents should corrupt and disappear from time to time; if some exceptional ninja emerged, he would not be surprised, but that many of them at once, all disconnected as he had witnessed… Madara had much to think about, and it certainly worried him.
Despite the hesitation, the curiosity about someone interesting appearing mixed with the anger of his failed plans. He had to admit: all of that was a lot, but he couldn't say it was uninteresting.
Minato Namikaze was someone he had not paid much attention to in the beginning, despite being surprised by some of his achievements in the Second War. Even he had gotten close to Nagato, according to Zetsu, but did no harm and did not notice his eye — he simply helped him. He just didn't know if the boy had helped for some specific purpose knowing about his eyes, or if he normally did that with war orphans.
But that didn't matter much to Madara after the boy never approached Nagato again, which made him believe it was just coincidence.
However, the boy had certainly already proven to be a threat, but Madara still wanted to see if the village itself would try to destroy him. This turned out to be true — only they didn't succeed in the end. And that was when his plans began to fall apart.
Konoha split after that. Madara sent the Zetsus to the village to investigate, and all were captured by none other than Minato Namikaze himself. How he knew how to find the Zetsus was a mystery, which already intrigued Madara at the time, since no one in the ninja world had managed to discover the creators who could steal or camouflage chakra with nature while traveling underground at high speed.
However, Minato Namikaze proved capable of hunting each of them down, and the Zetsus were all captured in Konoha that same night — with none returning.
It was only later, when the other Zetsus went to investigate what had happened after Minato had already left the village, that Madara discovered the truth.
The village had entered a plebiscite a few days earlier and lost the opportunity to help the Uzumaki. The clan would still be condemned; even so, the one who had been in the middle of all the confusion took all his fiancées and became, together with them, a group of rogue ninjas, going to the Uzumaki clan and giving them support, even with such an insignificant number.
Madara had to admit the courage the boy had — few would do the same, abandoning the safety of their lives in a powerful ninja village, leaving behind their homes and all their belongings to follow what they believed in.
This awakened a certain respect in Madara.
There were few who were willing to lose everything, everything to fight for what they believed in. This made Madara remember himself; after all, he abandoned the village, abandoned the clan precisely because he did not believe in their path. Madara believed only in his own — and he pursued it outside the village, even if afterward he had to threaten Konoha with Kurama, believing that the village system was worse than the clan system in the Warring States, and his battle with Hashirama took place in the Valley of the End, which resulted in his defeat, but that did not stop Madara, on the contrary. He deceived the entire world.
Now, after hearing all of that, and after Zetsu gathered more information about Minato after he escaped the village, Madara discovered a little of how those girls had gained such power. Connecting them with the information he had received, all of them trained with Minato Namikaze in some way, and it seemed he had given hints on how to increase each of their powers.
Somehow, he managed to help each of those women evolve with mastery, seeming to know each of their strengths and even their weaknesses.
And now, proving his own power to the entire world, Minato showed his versatile way of using Tobirama's jutsu in a lethal manner, teleporting across the battlefield — not even the Second Hokage had reached such a level of mastery, not to the point of grabbing multiple bijūdama being launched at the Uzumaki and throwing them back at their own enemies, who suffered countless losses.
Minato surpassed Tobirama in Madara's eyes, without a doubt.
His abilities with Senjutsu, Kenjutsu, Ninjutsu, Fūinjutsu, and Taijutsu also intrigued Madara.
He immediately found a way to link all these combinations into a highly versatile form of combat; recognizing the flexible fighting styles the boy could have, Minato could fly through the sky, kick the air, and trade taijutsu blows with Ōnoki — not to mention that Zetsu had seen the old Tsuchikage get beaten.
He had also seen memories of Minato trading blows with the Raikage in his most brutal form. However, he did not use anything known, but instead a type of black armor that covered his hands, using it together with so many other teleportation and light-based abilities.
The boy had beaten the Raikage and even killed him with a technique very similar to the style of Sakumo Hatake from the Leaf Village, which made Madara suspect that the boy had been his apprentice at some point, but the boy had also added that black layer to the sword — further enhancing the cut, doing something not even Sakumo could do.
Madara studied Zetsu's records when he saw that black thing. Extremely attentive, he noticed that there was no chakra flow coming from that black form — it was as if it were not made of chakra at all, perfect to the point of having no fluctuation. He could only confirm something by seeing it with his own Sharingan.
The boy also had an abnormal perception, as if he almost knew where they were going to attack.
In the end, Uzushiogakure was still standing — and all four nations that had tried to destroy them had suffered irreparable losses. The Leaf Village was now even further ahead in power than everyone else.
All of this was also thanks to the boy, whose abilities seemed to go beyond what had already been mentioned, the usefulness of his skills and the number of other jutsu he possessed — many S-rank jutsu, field-control jutsu, explosive and destructive jutsu, some he managed to combine with other elements, as he had done with the toads, leaving a mark on the ninja world that day. His chakra control and his sage mode — the amount of chakra he must have used in this war — was equivalent to that of a tailed beast, without a doubt. And he managed to handle all of that by entering and leaving Sage Mode.
His leadership abilities also stood out, his way of thinking and organizing his allies, and of preparing traps for the enemies as he had done.
Madara could not help but turn his thoughts directly to Minato now. He was a great threat to his plans and he could no longer ignore his existence. His senses told him that he could be even more dangerous than they said.
He needed to lure him, for Madara himself planned to deal with him personally. But he needed to lure him now that Uzushiogakure was in the sky, out of sight even of the Zetsus.
"You should have placed some Zetsus inside the island," Madara complained, while the white being opened a smile.
"Sorry, Madara-sama, but we didn't know the Uzumaki had a way to make their island fly. We didn't place any because we knew we would be detected," said White Zetsu.
Madara stayed silent for a moment and nodded. "I suppose you're right," Madara replied in the end, with a sigh. Even if he had placed the Zetsus there, the boy could very well do what he did with Konoha — find them underground and kill them.
"We'll have to keep an eye on where the island is going. Keep several Zetsus watching the middle of the sea and all regions, even the other continent to the east... looking for any sign of the island in the sky. It can't stay up there forever, can it?" Madara said before sighing again. "You said he made it fly with the help of a dragon, correct?"
A hint of envy slipped through Madara's words. He had searched for a dragon his entire life, as a summoning. Nothing was more desirable to him than a dragon for his arsenal, worthy of being Uchiha Madara's summon.
However, he never found their land. It was easier to find the nine-tailed fox than a real dragon — and now, that boy had gotten one too.
Well, that didn't matter. He still had to continue his plans, while already thinking of a way to eliminate Minato once and for all, even if he had to fight for the last time while he was still alive. Now that his possible successor was getting stronger and stronger, training somewhere in that cave with even more powerful eyes than before, Madara would get rid of Minato and let other things unfold.
While Madara continued struggling over what to do, in Uzushiogakure — now in the middle of the starry sky, closer than it had ever been — a great festival was being held since nightfall, with people gathered, all celebrating the great victory of the Uzumaki clan against the four nations that had tried to destroy them.
The entire village was celebrating, to the point of leaving the mourning for the dead for the next day. First they would celebrate the victory, with the clan leader himself paying homage to those who fell in the battle, in the center of the square, while the place was overflowing with red hair talking, laughing, and singing joyfully.
Some families did not attend, obviously due to mourning; they had lost their loved ones and had no desire to celebrate. So they stayed in their homes.
Even so, those who celebrated filled the streets. The Uzumaki danced with one another; families laughed and ate. A platform had been set up in the middle of the square, while the main table was shared with the leaders and elders. And the central place was not being occupied by Masaki, but by Minato and his three girls on his right side, while the clan leader was on his left — this was after Masaki himself insisted that he join them and take the main seat — after all, everyone knew that the ones who had truly saved the clan were the outsiders from the Village.
Minato was there enjoying the atmosphere with his fiancées, while talking with Masaki and exchanging a few words with his women, while they gossiped with other people.
"Hey, can you see? On the other side of the table, the clan leader's granddaughter has been staring at Minato the entire night!! She's been interested in him ever since she saw him!" Tsuna murmured, while Kushina felt the same.
"Exactly. She hasn't stopped interrupting her grandfather's conversation with Minato, just to get his attention." Kushina said irritably.
"There's no way Minato is going to get married by choosing more wives from the Uzumaki clan, right?" Hanabi murmured, casting a look at Minato, who began sneezing in the middle of the conversation, asking if someone was speaking badly of him.
"Well, why are you so worried about the little girl at the table? Look at the festival," it was Mikoto who pointed forward. The girls looked — and there were several eyes turned toward the main table, mostly female. Single women, widows at this moment, or even some already committed had a sparkle in their eyes, staring at the center of the table.
"We should be worried about those looks over there, not the specific girl," Mikoto said with a serious, almost arrogant tone.
"N–no… this can't be true… can it? Are you saying they're looking that way…", Kushina couldn't even finish.
"They certainly remind me of Kushina..." Tsuna commented, after all the redhead was in love with Minato and could now see many redheads with a similar gleam in their eyes.
"She's saying all those Uzumakis want our husband!" Kushina complained.
"You're exaggerating… I don't think that's possible," Hanabi murmured, unsure.
"You think that's exaggeration?! You should've seen it! I healed a woman today and her sister went to thank Minato by trying to come up with an excuse to marry him! She didn't even thank me, dattebane! She just grabbed Minato as if he were the one who healed her sister, and wanted him to make her his wife!" Kushina exclaimed angrily, while all the girls stared in shock.
"I can be sure of one thing," Kushina continued, hitting the table. "Uzumaki girls like boys with blond hair, blue eyes, who are popular, strong, and confident. Who save damsels in distress and are war heroes!" Kushina declared, crossing her arms.
"Hey, there aren't many people like that in the world. You're being very specific," Hanabi said with a sigh. After all, if that were true, then only one person in the world fit that description!
"Pay attention, all of you!" Tsuna called out to them. "I don't know what's going to happen from now on, but we need to worry. Minato said we would marry him after the war, right? So we have to act as fast as possible and keep all those women in line. We can't let them get near Minato or let him be seduced. Understood?" Tsuna said, and the other three girls nodded quickly.
None of them would give up Minato. And without realizing it, this became a way for all of them to strengthen their bond even more, leaving all rivalry aside to keep their territory and their man only for the four of them, sharing with no one else.
Minato was certainly hearing their debate with observation haki, while feeling a headache starting to form in the next few days — both because of his future wives and because of the many looks he was receiving, trying to ignore everyone who stared at him eagerly.
"Why is this becoming a problem now…? Just ignore me! I want to study the Uzumaki clan's jutsu in the next few days, not worry about suitors or marriage!" he couldn't help lamenting.
He would rather have Madara's attention on him at this moment than this.
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Raccoon Here:
I hope the chapter didn't become repetitive with Madara's analysis.
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