There was no helping it.
At this point, both Iwagakure and Kumogakure had already boarded Uchiha Madara's ship. There was no getting off now—they could only grit their teeth and continue forward.
Thinking about this, both the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, and the Fourth Raikage, A, lowered their heads in helpless silence.
The constantly shifting situation in the shinobi world had already become unfamiliar even to them.
And as Konoha—and especially the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren—grew increasingly dominant, even great powers like Kumogakure and Iwagakure could only tremble in secret while conspiring with Madara.
"Alright. You two should return for now. Just make sure you keep things stable and don't panic."
At that moment, the masked Uchiha Obito took a deep breath and said solemnly,
"If you want to destroy someone, you must first let them grow arrogant. Since Konoha wants to play this game, we'll quietly build up our strength and defeat the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren in a single decisive strike."
As he said this, Obito's eyes turned cold.
"You should trust in Madara-sama's power and ability. Defeating Konoha is only a matter of time."
"Fine."
"Of course we trust Uchiha Madara."
Hearing this, although Ōnoki and A were not entirely pleased inside, they still nodded with serious expressions, appearing to accept Obito's words.
"Oh, right."
Suddenly, Ōnoki seemed to remember something and asked curiously,
"When will the First and Second Tsuchikage be revived through Edo Tensei?"
"That… will take a little more time."
After a moment of thought, Obito replied,
"The Edo Tensei technique is still being improved and optimized. We'll need to wait a while longer."
"You should speed that up."
A shook his head with visible impatience.
"Uchiha Ren won't give us much preparation time. Once war begins, it'll be the final battle."
"That's true."
Ōnoki sighed deeply.
"Don't worry."
Obito showed no trace of panic.
"As long as the Four-Tails jinchūriki, Rōshi, hasn't been captured by Konoha, the Ten-Tails cannot be revived."
Of course—
there was something Obito didn't say.
Even if Uchiha Ren somehow managed to gather all nine tailed beasts, it still wouldn't matter.
Because without the Gedo Statue, the Ten-Tails could never be revived.
After all, the Gedo Statue was the Ten-Tails' shell.
Without its shell, the Ten-Tails would be nothing more than scattered chakra—utterly meaningless.
"That's good."
Before the words had even finished echoing, Ōnoki and A visibly relaxed.
After submitting to Madara, both of them had already learned about the Eye of the Moon Plan, and they knew that collecting all nine tailed beasts could revive the legendary Ten-Tails.
But now Konoha had already gathered the One-Tail, Two-Tail, Three-Tail, Five-Tail, Seven-Tail, Eight-Tail, and Nine-Tail.
If they also obtained the Four-Tail and the Six-Tail…
The thought alone was terrifying.
The only good news was that the Four-Tails jinchūriki, Rōshi, and the Gedo Statue had not fallen into Konoha's hands.
"The current situation in the shinobi world is complicated. You must stay calm."
Seeing that his objective had been achieved, Obito spoke decisively.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."
"Once everything is in place, Konoha will face a devastating blow."
"In short—Uchiha Ren is finished. No one will be able to save him."
Whoosh!!
The moment those harsh words fell, a spiral distortion in space appeared.
Obito vanished instantly.
Only the grim-faced Ōnoki and A remained behind.
"Hmph!"
"Hmph!"
After a moment, the two men seemed to snap back to their senses. They each snorted coldly and left the barrier without even glancing at the other.
In short—
they were cooperating.
But the conflict between them hadn't disappeared in the slightest.
If anything, they still looked down on each other just as much as ever.
At the same time—
In the shinobi world, within Sunagakure.
Standing atop a flat rooftop in the center of the village, Uchiha Ren looked out over the landscape.
"Sunagakure's environment really is harsh."
He smiled faintly while gazing at the endless yellow sand swirling through the air.
At that moment, he finally understood why Sunagakure had always harassed the Land of Fire.
With such a brutal natural environment, it was only natural that they would feel envy—and resentment—toward the lush lands of the Land of Fire.
No wonder they constantly tried to seize a share of that fertile territory.
"Time to sign in."
A few minutes later, Ren's eyes sharpened slightly.
"System. Sign in at Sunagakure."
One second passed.
Ten seconds.
Thirty seconds.
Finally—
after nearly a full minute, the system's clear notification rang out.
Ding…
Check-in location refreshed: Sunagakure
Reward acquired: Gedo Statue
Reward stored.
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