Land of Earth.
Still that dark underground cave.
A white Zetsu suddenly ran in, shouting loudly.
"This is bad! Lord Madara! This is bad! Lord Madara!"
Uchiha Madara, with tubes in his back, was so annoyed by the noise that he was forced to wake up from his slumber.
Uchiha Madara suppressed the urge to slap it to death and frowned, "Spit it out!"
The white creature froze for a moment, then vigorously wiggled its butt, and finally said awkwardly, "N-no, I'm sorry, Lord Madara, I don't have that function, I'm truly powerless!"
Bang!
Uchiha Madara, expressionless, controlled the Gedo Statue to smash it to smithereens.
Soon, an identical white creature walked in.
"Lord Madara, Lord Madara, the matter you asked us to keep an eye on has run into trouble!"
Uchiha Madara frowned, "Who ran into trouble? Nagato? Or that newly formed Uzushigakure?"
"Both, both ran into trouble, eheh!"
Uchiha Madara: "..."
He suddenly felt a bit tired. Could none of these Zetsu speak normally?
He ignored Zetsu's strange behavior and said in a deep voice, "What kind of trouble?"
"The Uzushigakure sent people to bring Uzumaki Nagato back to the Uzushigakure!"
Uchiha Madara's eyes narrowed.
Uzumaki Nagato had some crucial tasks in his plan, and there was no room for error!
Now, they had established contact with the Uzushigakure, which he had previously observed through the Third Mizukage?
Why would they suddenly bring Nagato back?
Had they discovered something?
"Have you found out the reason for bringing Nagato back?"
While making funny gestures, Zetsu said, "Ah, ah, this Uzushigakure seems to be recalling members of the Uzumaki Clan who were scattered abroad after the previous destruction of the country!"
Uchiha Madara looked thoughtful. It seemed this newly established Uzushigakure was inseparable from the Uzumaki Clan.
Otherwise, they wouldn't care so much about the Uzumaki Clan's Bloodline.
This was good too. With this information, at least he didn't have to worry about Nagato's life being in danger.
It would just be more difficult later to find a way to make Nagato revive him.
But his current body couldn't do much.
It was already quite good that he could maintain basic bodily functions relying on the Gedo Statue.
Unfortunately, a person capable of executing his plan had yet to appear.
Since he was awake, Uchiha Madara prepared to learn more about the current state of the Ninja World.
When he heard from Zetsu about the Hollows appearing in the Land of Grass, his brow furrowed.
"Hollows? Monsters with strange appearances?"
Tsk, when did such strange things start appearing in the Ninja World?
But... he looked at Zetsu and suddenly didn't find it so strange anymore.
After all, if creatures like Zetsu existed, what else was impossible?
The people of the Uzushigakure are called Shinigami?
That was another unfamiliar term.
However, during the Sengoku period, he had heard about the Shinigami Mask being enshrined in the Uzumaki Clan's ancestral hall, so it seemed these Shinigami must be related to the mask worshipped by the Uzumaki Clan.
Judging by the tone of the Hollow leader, it seemed the Hollows and the Shinigami were antagonistic toward each other?
Uchiha Madara started to feel drowsy again.
After just one sleep, why did the Ninja World feel so drastically changed?
Forget it. As long as it didn't affect his plan, he wouldn't bother with these matters.
After dismissing Zetsu, Uchiha Madara fell back into slumber...
Land of Lightning, Kumogakure.
A bang echoed from the Raikage's office, followed immediately by the sound of a collapsing desk.
The Third Raikage angrily said, "Yorubi was killed?"
The secretary bowed and replied, "Yes!"
"Have you found out who did it?"
The secretary shook his head, then added, "Although we don't know the specific culprit, after Yorubi was discovered, the nearby Kusagakure was also destroyed."
"Furthermore, we learned from the survivors that the ones who destroyed Kusagakure seem to be a group of monsters called Hollows!"
The Third Raikage's eyes narrowed. "Hollows? Monsters?"
When did the Ninja World start hiding creatures like this?
Could it be that these Hollows killed Yorubi?
"Forget it, I don't care. In any case, this matter certainly has something to do with the Uzushigakure!" The Third Raikage stated with certainty.
When Kusagakure previously sent them a message, besides mentioning their desire to establish diplomatic relations with the Land of Lightning using Uzumaki Haruna, they also explicitly informed them that Uzumaki Haruna was being targeted by the Uzushigakure.
Now that Kusagakure was destroyed and Uzumaki Haruna was missing, it definitely looked related to the Uzushigakure.
"In other words, Uzumaki Haruna might have already been taken back by the Uzushigakure?" The Third Raikage paced around his office.
Yorubi's matter could wait; the Jinchuriki issue was the most important right now.
But the best experimental subject had been taken away by the Uzushigakure, and the Jinchuriki plan was about to fall through.
"No! Absolutely not!" The Third Raikage's face darkened, and he said, "Issue a mission. Have our people infiltrate the Uzushigakure and see if they can find an opportunity to kidnap two members of the Uzumaki Clan!"
"Yes!"
Far away in the Uzushigakure, Chihiro never could have imagined that the tactic the Kumogakure used against Konoha in the original work would this time be used against the Uzushigakure!
However, the Uzushigakure was not a silent Konoha...
A few days later.
Intelligence regarding the Amegakure battlefield was also delivered to Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"The Shinigami of the Uzushigakure have mobilized again?" Sarutobi Hiruzen was speechless. Why was the Uzushigakure everywhere?
However, upon seeing that the purpose of the Uzushigakure' Shinigami traveling to the Amegakure was to retrieve a member of the Uzumaki Clan, he suddenly understood.
But... if you're just retrieving someone, why did you end up fighting Hanzou?
The reason was allegedly that during Hanzou's fight with his three Disciples, one of Hanzou's Kunai with an exploding tag flew near the Uzumaki Clan member and caused injury?
This... how overbearing is the Uzushigakure!
What was even more shocking to him was that Hanzou, who had been dominating his three Disciples, was struck by the Captain of the Land of Whirlpools and his fate was unknown!?
"The Captain of the 6th Division... yet another new Captain..." Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression was grave, and he couldn't help but take a puff from his pipe.
Staring at the intelligence in his hand, he couldn't help but think, "Could it be that all the Captains of the Thirteenth Division of the Uzushigakure truly possess Kage-level or even higher strength??"
Could a single nation, and one that was originally a small country, really produce so many Geniuses?
Even Konoha, with its fertile land and abundance of talent, had never had thirteen Kage appear simultaneously!
He temporarily suppressed the shock in his heart.
Although the changes in the Uzushigakure made him extremely uneasy, Konoha's attention still needed to be focused on the Amegakure.
Speaking of which, the Captain of the 6th Division of the Uzushigakure had indirectly helped Konoha.
With Hanzou's fate unknown, Konoha had one less restraint in the Amegakure.
Iwagakure also saw the unfavorable situation and promptly withdrew from the war, unwilling to continue wasting manpower and resources, leaving the battlefield to Konoha and Sunagakure.
With two less forces involved, Konoha could roll up its sleeves and fight Sunagakure in earnest.
They needed to quickly resolve the war with Sunagakure and then begin discussing the appropriate positioning of the Uzushigakure relative to Konoha.
"Sakumo has recovered almost completely. Since the war with the Amegakure has ended, it's time to send Sakumo to the Sunagakure battlefield..."
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