Konan's door wasn't closed.
When Aoba rushed in just now, he'd been so anxious he forgot to shut it.
Uzuki Yugao was standing right at the doorway, and she easily saw what was going on inside the room.
She couldn't help swallowing.
Under the moonlight, battle-damaged white over-the-knee socks and black pantyhose were tangled together.
Such nice stockings being torn like that made her feel a bit sorry.
At the same time Yugao felt a jolt of shock. She had never imagined that actually... She and Terumi Mei had still been too conservative before.
But if that thing snapped by accident, then what?
And as time went on, everyone inside the room was getting hazier and sleepier.
Yugao's gaze shifted and landed on the culprit.
Her breathing quickened a little.
She had to admit, this bratty little brother really did have some skill.
"Yugao?"
Konan, who was resting, sensed Yugao outside the door.
At the sound, Shizune's body suddenly jolted. She looked like she'd been startled, her pupils shrinking hard.
It made Aoba grit his teeth for a moment.
"Yugao-nee, why are you here?", Aoba looked confused.
Yugao stayed quiet for a second. Since she'd been found, there was nothing to hide. She spoke calmly.
"You didn't close the door. I heard sounds, so of course I came."
Then she walked straight into the room and locked the door behind her.
"?"
———
A silver moon hung high.
In a small cave on the border of the Land of Fire.
Cold wind whistled through. One look and you could tell it wasn't a good place.
The atmosphere inside the cave was even stranger.
Orochimaru's subordinate Kabuto was carving Edo Tensei glyphs into the ground, and behind Black Zetsu stood a coffin.
"We've come this far, and you still won't tell me who you want to bring out with Edo Tensei?"
Kabuto's eyes kept drifting toward the coffin behind Black Zetsu, clearly curious.
Black Zetsu's dull face showed nothing, "Finish Edo Tensei and you'll know."
Kabuto gave him a deep look and said nothing more.
He could feel something was off.
Whoever this guy wanted resurrected was definitely no simple figure.
If he hadn't spent a year researching and finally found a way to break Edo Tensei, he wouldn't have dared help resurrect whoever was in that coffin.
The glyphs were soon complete.
"Put the sacrifice and the coffin inside. You prepared a suitable sacrifice, right?", Kabuto asked again.
"It's already inside. The most suitable sacrifice."
Black Zetsu nodded. There was no better sacrifice in this world than a White Zetsu.
"Alright."
Kabuto didn't hesitate. He formed hand seals quickly and slapped the ground.
"Edo Tensei!"
Hum!
In an instant, the glyphs on the ground lit up with blinding light.
Kabuto immediately looked toward the coffin in the center of the symbols, curious.
Even Black Zetsu's perpetually blank face showed a rare trace of anticipation. This feeling of hope reigniting made him almost want to shout: 'Rise again, my Lord Madara!'
As if answering his inner call—
Crack! Crack!
Dense cracks began spreading across the heavy lid of the coffin.
Like some terrifying beast inside was trying to break free.
Kabuto's face tightened.
Over the past year, Black Zetsu had gathered many corpses of powerful shinobi for him to experiment on.
But none of them had ever given him a pressure like this.
'Surely it can't be the God of Shinobi in there?'
Finally, the lid reached its limit.
BANG!
The coffin exploded, wood planks flying outward and shattering against the cave walls.
A violent white surge of energy blasted out, spreading a cloud of white smoke.
Luckily Kabuto used chakra to anchor himself to the floor in time, or that blast would've blown him away.
His expression was at its most serious yet. He was sure now. Whoever was inside was absolutely someone on the same level as the God of Shinobi. Otherwise, how could just thirty percent of their strength feel this terrifying?
'Edo Tensei should be able to bind him… right?'
From within the smoke walked a man in shinobi armor, long black hair flowing, arms folded across his chest. His gaze swept the area arrogantly as he said,
"Heh! I've finally waited for this day."
"Nagato, that brat… hm?"
Uchiha Madara stepped forward out of the smoke.
His grand entrance lines weren't even finished before his cool factor dropped noticeably. He frowned deeply.
'Weak. Far too weak.'
He couldn't even remember how many years it had been since he'd felt this weak.
And he had already realized he wasn't truly resurrected.
"Black Zetsu?"
"My lord Madara, I'm here."
Black Zetsu answered at once, respectful.
Kabuto, meanwhile, was stunned speechless, still unable to recover.
"What's going on? Why use Edo Tensei on me?"
Madara asked, frowning.
Black Zetsu hurriedly explained, " My lord Madara, the Eye of the Moon Plan is on the verge of collapse. Obito is very likely dead, and Nagato is out of control. I had no choice but to use Edo Tensei to bring you back and seize control again."
Madara narrowed his eyes, "What happened?"
Before his death, he had arranged everything perfectly. With Obito's eye ability, used properly, no one in the world should've been able to kill him.
Black Zetsu continued, "Konoha produced a powerful kid. He has the First Hokage's power, as well as Flying Thunder God, and even some bizarre space-sealing technique. Uchiha Obito lost to him while capturing the Three-Tails."
"Hashirama's power?"
Black Zetsu listed a whole set of abilities, but Madara reacted only to that one point. His expression shifted, and he stared at Black Zetsu, "You're sure it's Hashirama's power?"
"Absolutely. He once used Wood Human Technique to easily capture two tailed beasts."
A strange light flickered in Madara's eyes, "Is he Hashirama's descendant?"
"He's the disciple of the First Hokage's granddaughter," Black Zetsu added.
"Didn't think that guy's descendants could actually inherit his power," Madara's interest grew.
Black Zetsu went on, "Also, he's very likely to become the next Hokage, and he has the intention to unify the shinobi world. Konoha now holds influence over Sunagakure and Kirigakure. The next target may be Iwagakure."
"Interesting," Madara's eyes brightened a little, "Inherited Hashirama's power, but has an aggressive nature."
He suddenly wanted to meet this young man. Just not yet.
"If his goal is unifying the shinobi world, then that doesn't conflict too much with the Eye of the Moon Plan. What about Nagato?"
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