Madara watched Hashirama clutch the little girl's flowers like they were sacred relics and clicked his tongue in disgust.
He looked down at the bundle in his own hand, clearly wanting to toss it… but didn't.
Even Madara had lines he didn't cross.
Hashirama returned to the Senju compound and placed his flower gently into a vase, arranging it with surprising care.
Madara returned to the Uchiha district, dropped his onto the ground… and let the wind take it.
By sunrise, both men were already gone again—Hashirama heading toward the Land of Water for Six Tails, Madara hunting down Nine Tails somewhere in the wild.
Which left Raizen alone with Konoha's endless paperwork.
He'd rather fight ten tailed beasts than manage a village budget.
A Blood-Sealed Letter
"Master Hokage!"
Sarutobi Sasuke burst into the office, panting, a sealed scroll clutched tight in both hands.
Raizen raised an eyebrow.
"You're running like the village is burning. What happened?"
Sasuke held out the document.
"It's from the Snow Polar Region. Something… big happened."
Raizen broke the wax, expecting the usual Anbu report.
Instead—
Animal skin.
Not ink.
Blood.
Someone had written this message with their own life dripping from their hand.
Raizen's posture went rigid.
"What the hell…"
He skimmed the contents once, twice, eyes narrowing.
Collapsed terrain.
Massive ruins unearthed beneath the ice.
A shrine buried inside—ancient, alien.
And then—
"Eyes identical to the Hokage-sama's… scarlet Rinnegan."
The scout had been attacked by a figure inside the ruins.
A figure with Rinnegan.
Only the attacker's unstable chakra let the scout escape long enough to send this message… before collapsing from blood loss.
Raizen's breath stilled.
"…A Rinnegan user? In a frozen ruin?"
His pulse kicked.
His mind raced.
Ruins.
Shrines.
Rinnegan.
It all pointed to one thing.
Ōtsutsuki.
And nothing with that name ever meant "fun surprise."
A Quiet Panic
Raizen began pacing, mind spiraling like a stressed salaryman reading an audit.
Ōtsutsuki shrines meant sleeping monsters.
Sleeping monsters meant apocalyptic headaches.
Sarutobi Sasuke flinched.
He had never—never—seen the Hokage unsettled.
"Master Hokage… what is wrong?"
Raizen froze, forced a breath, and steadied himself.
"Nothing. I just need to think."
The lie tasted metallic.
Inside, his thoughts were far uglier:
If an actual Ōtsutsuki is waking up, the Warring States era is about to get DLC I never asked for.
He clenched his jaw.
No.
If the shrine truly held an Ōtsutsuki… it had to be crushed. Immediately. Before it ever reached the surface.
Even Raizen's Rinnegan wasn't fully developed yet—his control was roughly on par with Madara's early mastery. And Ōtsutsuki weren't just "strong."
They were the kind of strong that made Five Kage fights look like kids throwing leaves.
If he rushed in blind, he could die before he even monologued.
Raizen exhaled sharply.
"Fine. Preparations first. Then Snow."
He sent urgent summons to both Hashirama and Madara.
But Destiny Didn't Wait
Fate, however, had other plans.
Hashirama reached the Land of Water unusually quickly—almost suspiciously so—and was already preparing to capture Six Tails when he received Raizen's message.
Madara, for once, had luck on his side.
The moment he went out this time, he found Nine Tails' trail instantly.
Both men sent back the same response:
"Let me capture my beast first, then I'll return."
Raizen frowned at the timing but let it slide.
He needed at least a few days to prepare anyway.
Meanwhile… in the Snow Polar Region
The ruins trembled.
The shrine glowed.
An enormous altar, previously buried beneath permafrost, pulsed with blinding light—and figures began rising from the surface.
Their bodies humanoid.
Their movements mechanical.
Each pair of eyes rippled with the same scarlet rings.
Rinnegan puppets.
Mindless. Endless.
Marching outward.
Decision Made
More reports flooded Raizen's desk.
"Puppet attack."
"Rinnegan eyes."
"Entire patrol squads missing."
Other villages were receiving identical blood-written messages.
Raizen didn't wait another second.
He left one final order for Hashirama and Madara:
Capture your beasts and return.
I'm heading to the Snow Pole.
Alone.
Then he vanished from Konoha in a flicker of distorted space.