As the giant sword came down, it felt as though the entire world had been split apart in an instant.
The impact of that power was so overwhelming that the whole shinobi world sensed it.
"Wait… what's going on? Why is it raining?"
In Konoha, the sky that had been bright and clear moments ago suddenly turned into a torrential downpour.
Thunder roared endlessly overhead, bolts of lightning tearing down through the clouds as sheets of rain swallowed the entire village.
Standing by the window, Tsunade stared out in confusion, unable to make sense of it.
That was, until Hiruzen Sarutobi rushed in with Yamanaka Inoichi.
"Something happened."
Hiruzen didn't waste words. He looked at Tsunade gravely, while Inoichi, pale-faced, spoke in a strained voice.
"Lady Hokage, I sensed an enormous chakra eruption. And that chakra... it appears to carry Lord Ren's presence."
He swallowed hard before continuing.
"There are too many other energies mixed within it to identify it perfectly, but I'm almost certain of it!"
Inoichi himself was helpless about this.
He didn't want to deliver intelligence in such an uncertain way, but Ren's chakra was simply too unique.
That ever-changing chakra was almost impossible to record. On top of that, Ren himself kept growing stronger, which had practically driven all of Konoha's sensory unit half insane.
The only thing they could do was record the most fundamental signature of his chakra.
Everything else had become guesswork.
"Ren again?"
Tsunade frowned.
After a moment of thought, she asked in a low voice,
"Where did this chakra come from?"
"The Land of Wind."
Inoichi answered immediately, and that was enough for Tsunade to come to her own conclusion.
"So it really was Ren…"
She knew he had gone to the Land of Wind.
At first, she hadn't thought much of it.
But now, she realized something was seriously wrong.
Just what kind of enemy had Ren run into this time to make such a mess?
The moment that thought surfaced, unease took hold of her.
In the Land of Lightning, the Fourth Raikage stood atop a high cliff, surrounded by clouds beneath the bright sunlight.
Three years had passed.
In those three years, Kumogakure and Iwagakure had both poured themselves into development.
Not only had they formed a de facto alliance, they had also conducted countless joint drills.
The reason was simple.
The pressure Konoha brought them was far too great.
Although Konoha had seemed relatively quiet over the past few years, neither village dared lower its guard for even a moment.
And besides, their other ally—Akatsuki—was already a thorn in Konoha's side.
I wonder how Akatsuki's plans are progressing… the Raikage thought grimly. And I wonder how Konoha will respond.
If it were up to him, he truly didn't want to provoke Konoha at all.
But he also knew some things were inevitable.
Perhaps the only force capable of dealing with Konoha really was that so-called Ten-Tails Akatsuki kept talking about.
Of course, he didn't completely trust Akatsuki either.
If the Ten-Tails actually ended up in their hands, that would be dangerous in its own right.
Still, he didn't seem to have much of a choice.
One step at a time. Best case, they clash with Konoha and neither side can fully crush the other… or…
The Raikage clenched his fist.
That was, in truth, a private understanding he and Ōnoki had quietly reached.
Of course, both of them were also playing each other.
After all, everyone wanted to be the one left standing in the end.
"Hmm?"
Just as he was lost in thought, the sky suddenly rumbled.
In the next instant, the ground began shaking violently.
"What the hell?"
The Fourth Raikage looked around in shock, unable to understand what was happening.
But before he could process it, the mountain beneath his feet let out an even more violent roar.
Then it began to break apart.
"Damn it!"
His expression changed immediately.
Looking at the rolling rocks crashing downward, and seeing other mountains starting to fracture in the same way, he instantly realized the disaster.
Kumogakure had been built around its mountains.
In that moment, he felt like he'd gone back three years, to the chaos of the moon crisis.
That memory was still vivid in his mind.
And now it was happening again?
"There's not even a moon this time…"
A similarly terrible scene was unfolding in Iwagakure.
"What the hell is this? Is that thing from three years ago happening again?"
Ōnoki floated in midair, staring blankly at distant volcanoes erupting.
His whole body felt numb.
He genuinely didn't understand when exactly Iwagakure had become such a cursed, disaster-ridden place.
In the Land of Water, Genji stared at the towering tidal waves with a trembling mouth, his scalp going numb.
"Damn it…"
Meanwhile, in Sunagakure, Pakura stared at the flash of golden light in the sky, at the mushroom-cloud-like blast that seemed ready to devour everything, and at the endless yellow sands surging up to cover the heavens and blot out the sun itself.
The barrier surrounding the village trembled wildly.
The earth shook with violence, and building after building began collapsing.
Pakura's mood had never been worse.
She truly couldn't understand why this kind of disaster had to happen to Sunagakure.
Perhaps the only thing worth being grateful for was that their village barrier had been built with Konoha's help.
It was strong enough to endure such an impact.
At the same time, because she had ordered the evacuation quickly enough, the casualties probably wouldn't be too severe.
Probably.
"Those Akatsuki bastards deserve to die!"
The fury in Pakura's roar said everything.
There was no need to guess how bad her mood was.
The destruction before her basically meant that all the greening work the Land of Wind had done over the last three years was finished.
Utterly finished.
And someone else feeling no better was Chiyo, standing at the edge of the battlefield.
Protected by Susanoo, she hadn't been struck by the blast itself.
But just watching everything before her was enough to chill her to the bone.
"This is going to cost the Land of Wind dearly... and there's still Gaara!"
At least Chiyo had remained clear-headed enough not to forget Gaara.
But looking at the current situation, she couldn't help feeling that his chances were grim.
At the same time, she also gained a much clearer understanding of Ren's strength.
"That boy… he seems even more terrifying than he was back then."
Ren's strength was already acknowledged by everyone.
What Chiyo couldn't understand was how someone who had already become this powerful could still continue getting stronger.
At this point, wasn't he already stronger than Hashirama Senju in his prime?
After all, Ren had defeated the reanimated Hashirama.
And today, he had also defeated the reanimated Madara Uchiha.
Does that boy even have a limit?
Or perhaps…
Was godhood itself the only limit left to him?
"Ren!"
Amid the raging winds and yellow sand, a figure glowing with white-gold light emerged.
Hikari's eyes lit up immediately, and the next moment Ren appeared in front of them.
"You all okay?"
The white-gold radiance slowly faded from his body as he looked over the group and asked in a low voice.
"We're fine."
Hikari shook her head and answered before Kakashi or anyone else could even speak.
The intensity of Ren's battle had certainly been high, but to the current her, it was no longer something terrifying.
Her Susanoo had been more than enough to protect everyone.
As for the aftereffects of the chakra clash and the disasters caused by those two fighting, that simply wasn't something she had considered.
"We... really are fine."
Kakashi rubbed his forehead.
His heart was still beating too quickly, and the blood rushing through his body made him feel awful.
But looking at the devastation around him, he suddenly had a very simple thought.
It's good to be alive.
"Lord Ren... does this mean the battle is over now?"
Beside him, Guy swallowed nervously.
Looking at the hellish landscape before him, his feelings were unbelievably complicated.
Could a human really do this?
And more importantly—
He suddenly realized another problem.
What exactly counted as their mission now?
Was it already complete?
"As far as the fight goes, yes. It should be over for now."
Ren nodded, but he also couldn't help glancing around.
The fact that the Land of Wind had been turned into this really did give him a headache.
Still…
He had to admit Madara truly was the kind of Uchiha who delighted him.
Fighting that man had given Ren a very unusual, deeply satisfying feeling.
Especially when he remembered the stunned look on the great "King of Swagger's" face, Ren felt even better.
I wonder what Madara's thinking now that I told him all that, Ren mused, tilting his head slightly.
Just then Kakashi suddenly spoke.
"So... our mission is finished?"
"Finished?"
Ren blinked, then laughed.
"The battle's over. But the mission isn't."
He smiled brightly.
"Gaara still hasn't been found, so I'll have to trouble you all with that."
"Uh... in a place like this?"
Kakashi stared at the collapsed earth, the blazing flames, the wall of yellow sand blinding the sky so thoroughly that the sun couldn't even be seen anymore.
The corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
He now had only one thought—
Gaara is dead, right? He has to be dead, right?
"Come on, you're the captain," Ren said with a smile, patting Kakashi on the shoulder. "And the mission isn't over yet. Alive or dead, you need to find him."
His smile only widened.
Because just then, a line of information flashed across his vision, making his mood improve even further.
"Do your best. I'll be waiting in Konoha for your good news!"
"...…"
Kakashi's expression only grew more bitter.
How the hell are we supposed to search this place?
He stared at Ren numbly, wondering if he had accidentally offended him at some point in life.
In the end, all he could do was exchange a hollow look with the equally dazed Guy.
Standing before this "human inferno," the two of them could only let out the sigh of workhorses crushed by reality.
"Sigh…"
…
"So, the battle's over."
In the Land of Rice Fields, inside a hidden underground base, Orochimaru looked at Black Zetsu in front of him, then at the thing Black Zetsu was holding—
A Madara Uchiha reduced to nothing but a single head.
Even Orochimaru couldn't stop the twitch at the corner of his mouth.
The sight was simply too bizarre.
Still, he had seen enough strange things in life that he could endure it.
He had known Hidan, after all.
What really pained him was something else—
All the precious "materials" he had invested into Madara were now completely ruined.
A total loss.
"Hmph."
Madara clearly wanted to shake his head, but with nothing left except his head, that was impossible.
He could only snort coldly and speak with a dark expression.
"That brat's condition is extremely complicated. It exceeds all expectations. The power he wields is also deeply abnormal."
Faced with Orochimaru, there were many things he didn't want to say.
Especially the information Ren had revealed.
In Madara's view, Orochimaru simply wasn't qualified to know such things.
Sure, the snake had clearly sensed something about his own secrets, otherwise he could never have created such a decent body for him.
Even so, there were still things Madara would never reveal.
"When it comes to Wood Release alone, he may still fall slightly short of Hashirama Senju…"
At this point, Madara's face became extremely solemn.
Even if he disliked admitting it, he had to be honest.
When it came to comparing anyone with Hashirama, that was already the highest praise Madara could possibly give.
"But that brat's greatest strength isn't Wood Release at all. That brat…"
Madara still couldn't forget it.
That golden giant sword.
The way it crushed down with a roar, as if it meant to destroy everything.
Even he had felt fear in the face of that power.
And it was precisely because of that attack that all he had left now was his head.
The rest of his body had been obliterated so completely that it couldn't even regenerate.
Deep down, he already had a suspicion.
Could that have been Ren's version of the power of all creation?
If so, then what exactly had been recorded in the Senju clan's relic of the Sage of Six Paths?
"I never would have thought," Orochimaru said, licking his lips with a smile, "that the little brat Danzo once picked to monitor Uchiha Shisui would grow into something this unfathomable."
He sounded almost delighted as he went on.
"He first used Hashirama Senju's power to defeat Hashirama himself. Then he used that same power to fight you, Madara Uchiha, the Asura of the Shinobi World, on equal footing."
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed.
"He also knows the Flying Thunder God Technique of both the Second and the Fourth Hokage. And his mastery over all kinds of elemental ninjutsu has always been extraordinary."
He gave a low laugh.
"In that regard, even my teacher—the Third Hokage—would likely fall short."
Then his smile sharpened.
"And beyond all that, he possesses a power that belongs to him alone."
"That boy has, in all practical terms, already surpassed every Hokage in history."
He paused.
"And perhaps even you, Madara Uchiha."
Madara responded with nothing but a cold snort.
Yet he didn't refute it.
Because in some sense, it was true.
He didn't know who the Fourth Hokage was.
But Tobirama Senju?
That bastard he knew very well.
It was Tobirama who had killed his brother.
Madara had never forgotten that grudge.
Still…
Had Ren truly surpassed him?
"Hmph. That brat may indeed have obtained some extraordinary power," Madara said coldly. "But whether he has surpassed me in my fully revived state…"
His eyes darkened.
"That would still need to be tested."
"Is that so?"
Orochimaru tilted his head and simply smiled, not bothering to argue further.
"Well then, you two continue talking. Don't forget to give me the materials later so I can summon Mr. Madara again with Impure World Reincarnation."
With that, he prepared to leave.
He knew very well that staying here wouldn't get him much.
These two clearly had no intention of telling him anything important.
So rather than waste his time, he would be better off returning to analyze Madara's condition properly—
And the many secrets this battle had unexpectedly revealed.
"Yin–Yang Release…"
Orochimaru licked his lips again.
That power seemed even more useful than he had originally imagined.
"That damned snake…"
Watching Orochimaru leave, Madara's severed head looked especially annoyed.
"The Ten-Tails plan must be accelerated. And my resurrection needs to be moved up as well."
His expression darkened further.
"What exactly is that brat Obito doing? And what's Nagato's situation now? I want answers."
Then his gaze turned to Black Zetsu.
"And most importantly—Ren. Do you know anything more about him?"
"Obito likely has his own agenda," Black Zetsu answered instinctively, even though he was still somewhat dazed. "Otherwise you wouldn't have been resurrected like this. As for Nagato, he's still gathering tailed beasts."
Then he hesitated.
"As for Ren… I'm afraid we don't know much more. If we get too close, there's a high chance he'll notice."
At the mention of Ren, even Black Zetsu was still half stunned.
Because even now, he couldn't understand how Ren had become this strong.
More importantly—
Black Zetsu had actually sensed traces of his mother's aura from that boy.
There was still some distance to go, yes.
But for a human to have reached this level without relying on the Ten-Tails?
That was already beyond imagination.
What was this supposed to be?
Had Asura's power erupted completely?
No—that still didn't explain it.
Even if Asura had fully awakened, it shouldn't have been enough to reach this level!
Black Zetsu couldn't understand it.
But he did know one thing.
Things had now become truly, seriously bad.
"Then think of another way. We absolutely must get to the bottom of this," Madara said darkly. "Especially that thing the Sage of Six Paths left to the Senju."
"The Senju relic…" Black Zetsu forcibly steadied himself and tried to calm down. Then he stared in disbelief at the talking head in his hand. "How is that even possible?"
"Hmm? What's wrong with you?"
Madara found Black Zetsu's reaction odd.
This guy seemed strangely agitated.
"Nothing," Black Zetsu said, doing his utmost not to let his body shake. "I was just thinking… if they really had something like that, why has no one ever heard of it before?"
"Who knows?" Madara gave a cold snort, clearly unconcerned. "Besides, the outside world never knew our Uchiha clan had the stone tablet either."
To Madara, it was perfectly normal for the Senju to keep something like that hidden.
And besides—
Even within the Uchiha, only he had been able to fully interpret the tablet.
"Don't forget how special the Sage's relics are. Among the Senju, probably only Hashirama—or this Ren brat—could have deciphered it."
His eyes narrowed.
"Hashirama may never have seen it. But that brat definitely did. Otherwise, he could never have achieved what he has."
Madara's voice grew heavier.
"And that's what the brat himself told me."
In Madara's view, someone with that kind of power had no reason to lie about such a thing.
Black Zetsu, inconveniently, agreed.
And that also explained quite a few things.
"No wonder he focused on Yin–Yang Release…"
The tablet recorded the relationship between the Uchiha and Senju. Their powers were meant to complement one another. Only by combining those two powers could one obtain the power of all creation.
If the Senju relic contained similar records, then Ren must have understood that truth.
That was why he had followed the recorded path.
Step by step, he had reached his current inhuman state.
But that was exactly where the problem lay.
Why was Ren able to find the Senju relic at all?
Back when Madara had discovered the Uchiha tablet, he too had considered the possibility that the Senju possessed something similar.
He had spent many years searching for it.
And found nothing.
Eventually, he had all but forgotten the matter.
Not just him.
Even Hashirama Senju himself probably had never seen it.
So why could this brat find it?
How?
What the hell was going on?
"Oh, right. There's one more strange thing."
Just as Black Zetsu's mind was on the verge of collapse, Madara suddenly added something that nearly froze his blood.
"That brat said the Uchiha stone tablet seems to have a problem."
Madara's severed head frowned, clearly still thinking about it.
"What he saw in the Senju relic seems to be very different from the information on the Uchiha tablet."
His expression deepened.
"Otherwise he wouldn't have bothered bringing it up. But exactly where the discrepancy lies… that's something we need to figure out."
"…"
Black Zetsu swallowed hard.
At that moment, he genuinely didn't know what to say.
Of course he knew where the discrepancy lay.
That was exactly the problem.
Because the discrepancy was—
He had altered the Uchiha tablet himself.
This is bad.
Black Zetsu's mind buzzed violently, and then fury rose from the bottom of his heart.
Damn you… Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo! What the hell was your problem? Hiding things all over the place? Recording history everywhere you went?
Black Zetsu genuinely wanted to kill someone.
His elder brother had sealed away their mother.
And now he was still tripping him up from beyond the grave?
Who could accept that calmly?
"I understand," Black Zetsu said, forcing himself to nod. "I'll investigate it properly."
At the same time, he was already desperately thinking about how to locate the Senju relic.
If he didn't deal with this properly, then he was truly finished.
"Good. And hopefully the next Impure World Reincarnation goes a bit better."
Madara clearly wanted to nod too, but once again, his lack of a body only worsened his mood.
"I really do want to revive soon and fight that brat properly again."
His eyes darkened.
"But what exactly is this 'difference' he mentioned…"
"You idiot! Just what the hell have you done this time?!"
Back in Konoha, inside the Hokage's office, Tsunade was once again grabbing Ren by the collar and roaring at him.
By now, everyone present had long since gotten used to scenes like this.
And at that moment, Team Kakashi and Team Guy were all standing obediently nearby.
Their mission was over, so naturally they had returned to Konoha.
This rescue mission had actually gone surprisingly well.
Yes, the Land of Wind had been turned into hell by Ren and Madara.
But in the end, Gaara hadn't died.
That said, more than ninety percent of the tailed beast chakra inside him had already been extracted.
The result was that Gaara had become unbelievably weak, and no one knew how long it would take him to recover.
Ren himself had brought them all back.
And given his status, who among them dared say a word?
Even Jiraiya sat there as quiet as a quail.
No one dared interrupt Tsunade.
Because the mess Ren had caused this time seemed even bigger than usual.
"The Land of Fire had another earthquake! The Land of Water almost got hit by another tsunami!"
Tsunade's fury showed no sign of stopping.
"Sunagakure itself was nearly buried under a sandstorm! Their reforestation efforts were practically wiped out!"
Her voice was loud enough that the entire Hokage building could probably hear it.
"You think you're up on the moon messing around again?!"
From that alone, it was easy to imagine just how severe the losses had been.
"Sensei, I didn't really have a choice. That was Madara Uchiha."
Ren raised his hands helplessly.
When Tsunade was angry, there really wasn't much he could do but endure it.
"And Madara's state this time wasn't normal either. If nothing else, he'd definitely obtained the First Hokage's power."
Ren spoke with a sigh.
"After all, he already had the Rinnegan."
"Hmph."
Tsunade was still unhappy, but after hearing that, she finally let go of his collar in annoyance.
What else could she do?
The brat in front of her was one of Konoha's true top brass.
In a lot of situations, his words actually worked better than hers.
No matter how angry she got, she couldn't really do anything to him.
Not when he was her disciple.
And family.
"Rinnegan?"
The moment Tsunade released him, Jiraiya immediately jumped in to change the subject.
He really didn't want to keep watching this master-disciple performance.
He wanted more information.
"How does Madara Uchiha have the Rinnegan?" Jiraiya asked. "Isn't the Rinnegan Nagato's?"
"There's always been a misunderstanding there," Ren said as he straightened his collar.
He sat down on the sofa beside Tsunade and looked at Jiraiya, who wore a thoughtful expression.
"Maybe I never fully explained it to you. But you did go to the moon, didn't you?"
Ren spread his hands.
"The Hyūga ancestors had eyes like that. So are we really supposed to believe that the Uchiha eye line simply stops once it reaches the so-called Mangekyō?"
He smiled slightly.
"With that as a reference, and adding in the information from the Uchiha tablet and the Senju tree-trunk records… shouldn't we be able to infer a few things?"
"So… combining the power of the Senju and Uchiha produces the Sage of Six Paths' power? The Rinnegan?"
Jiraiya's expression turned somewhat ugly.
It wasn't as if he had never considered that possibility.
But nagato's Rinnegan had created too strong a first impression in his mind.
And since Ren had never really raised the subject before, Jiraiya had never dug into it deeply.
Now, though, an Uchiha Madara had appeared.
An Uchiha Madara with the Rinnegan.
That implied far too much.
"Then… could Nagato's Rinnegan actually belong to Madara?"
Tsunade frowned.
By now she had calmed down, even if she was still annoyed about the disaster Ren had caused.
"But why would Madara give his eyes to Nagato?"
"No idea," Ren answered immediately. "But judging from the fact that he died, he was probably already on the verge of death when he awakened them. In that situation, he may have had no choice."
Without hesitation, Ren sold Madara's secrets out completely.
He truly didn't care whether that information spread.
Then he turned toward Jiraiya.
"You once mentioned nagato had red hair, didn't you?"
"Red hair…"
Jiraiya rubbed his chin.
"Don't tell me…"
"The Uzumaki clan's trademark was their red hair, wasn't it?"
Kakashi suddenly seemed to think of something, and his voice turned incredulous.
"The First Hokage's wife, Mito Uzumaki, was like that. My teacher's wife, Kushina Uzumaki, was too."
Then his gaze shifted toward Karin.
"And so is Karin."
As he said that, Karin too seemed to remember her first meeting with Ren.
Back then, Ren had already said something similar.
And judging by what had happened since, that guess had seemed accurate.
After arriving in Konoha, she had learned many Uzumaki sealing techniques.
And she discovered those techniques suited her frighteningly well.
That in itself seemed like proof.
She really was an Uzumaki descendant.
"What are you all talking about?"
Guy still looked lost.
He simply lacked too much of the background knowledge here.
Unfortunately for him, no one had any time to explain.
"So… Nagato is one too?"
Jiraiya muttered in disbelief.
But the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
"Not sure," Ren said with a shrug. "Using red hair alone as a standard is obviously unreliable. If we do that, then what, are we saying Sasori is Uzumaki too?"
He smiled faintly.
"But with Nagato, the odds are probably pretty high."
He leaned back slightly.
"The chakra inside that man is absurd enough to make anyone gasp. And that kind of overwhelming chakra reserve does happen to be one of the Uzumaki clan's traits."
Ren's voice became more thoughtful.
"If I were Madara, I'd likely choose an Uzumaki descendant too, to nurture the eyes for me."
"After all, the Uzumaki are descendants of Asura. There's already some bloodline compatibility there."
"And the Rinnegan definitely isn't an ordinary eye. Its chakra requirements are probably terrifyingly high."
Then he glanced sideways at Kakashi.
"Just look at the Mangekyō Sharingan. This guy's practically become a chronic chakra-deficiency case."
"…"
Kakashi almost rolled his eyes.
How had the conversation somehow ended up targeting him again?
Still, he understood Ren's point, so after thinking about it for a moment, he asked,
"So only someone with enormous chakra reserves can sustain the Rinnegan's consumption and operation, right?"
"Looks like Nagato really was one of Madara's pieces from the very beginning," Tsunade said, nodding slowly.
Ren, meanwhile, sighed inwardly.
In truth, Nagato had always been underestimated.
That man's potential was genuinely outrageous.
In Ren's memory, when Nagato chose to sacrifice himself, he hadn't even reached his real limit.
Otherwise, how could he possibly have used Samsara of Heavenly Life in one stroke to revive essentially the entirety of Konoha?
In the shinobi world, resurrecting even a single dead person had never been easy.
No matter what resurrection technique one used, it usually only brought back one person at best.
And the price was almost always one life for another.
But Nagato was different.
He had revived thousands at once.
Which meant—
If Naruto's talk-no-jutsu had failed, Ren thought, then he most likely wouldn't have beaten Nagato at all. Not even close.
Especially considering that in his memory, Naruto—after training on Turtle Island, after gaining access to the Nine-Tails' chakra, and even with Killer Bee beside him—had still been completely overwhelmed by an Edo Tensei Nagato who wasn't even fighting with proper will.
That Nagato had merely attacked in a stiff, mechanical way.
And he had still crushed them.
If Itachi Uchiha hadn't broken free with Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, and then used the divine Totsuka Blade to seal Nagato in a way that perfectly countered Edo Tensei—
The Fourth Great Ninja War might have ended very differently.
So maybe…
Maybe Madara had chosen Nagato precisely because he had seen that kind of potential in him.
Of course, Ren knew Nagato had that sort of potential.
That was why Ren had chosen to cooperate with him in the first place.
"Then what exactly is Madara trying to do?" Jiraiya muttered, pulling Ren from his thoughts.
"No idea," Ren answered calmly. "But whatever it is, we'll have to keep a very close eye on Akatsuki."
His tone grew more serious.
"They caused too much trouble this time. Which means they'll probably make more moves soon."
"And if we don't monitor them carefully, there's no telling what the future will turn into."
Ren had always emphasized Akatsuki's danger.
And Konoha had long treated them as a top-tier threat.
That organization didn't just contain villains like Obito Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha.
It also had Orochimaru.
And Nagato—Jiraiya's own disciple.
You could say Akatsuki's ties to Konoha were absurdly deep.
There was simply no way Konoha could ignore them.
And now Orochimaru had even summoned Madara Uchiha.
Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha—
The very two men who had founded Konoha—
Were now openly standing as Konoha's enemies.
The irony of that was almost laughable.
And Konoha's anger over it ran just as deep.
"We really do need to keep a close watch on them. Those damned bastards…"
Tsunade clenched her fists.
Everyone else present looked grim as well.
Akatsuki's existence was simply too much of a slap in Konoha's face.
But while everyone else looked unhappy, Ren still wore the faintest trace of a smile.
Because for him—
The gains from this trip had been enormous.
[Mission Completed: Sunagakure Rescue]
[Mission Rating: SS]
[Reward Received: 10 Free Points]
[Because the opponent was Madara Uchiha, and the mission completion reached SS rank, special reward granted.]
[Insight: Gedo Statue]
At first glance, Ren hadn't thought much of that reward.
Of course he knew the Gedo Statue was the Ten-Tails.
But since it was named that way, it was clearly referring to the Ten-Tails' husk after it had lost its chakra.
So initially, he hadn't paid too much attention.
But after the system gave a further prompt, Ren suddenly realized this thing was not simple at all.
[Although the Gedo Statue has lost its own chakra, the power contained within it remains extraordinary.]
[Madara Uchiha once relied on it to barely continue living.]
[Within it exists the most complete "chakra circulation blueprint."]
The most complete chakra circulation blueprint?
When Ren saw that phrase, he suddenly realized he had overlooked something fundamental.
The origin of chakra had always been the Divine Tree.
And the Ten-Tails was the seed of that tree.
So if it was the origin of chakra…
Then the most complete chakra circulation blueprint probably means the complete fusion of every chakra nature and characteristic together!
The instant that thought hit him, Ren almost got excited.
The fusion of all chakra into one—
Wasn't that exactly what he had been chasing all along?
Wasn't that the final step on his path to godhood?
Wasn't that the defining sign of a true Bloodline Snare?
He genuinely hadn't expected to get something like this here.
But… Ren thought, I fought Nagato so many times in the past. Why didn't I get anything related to the Ten-Tails back then?
It was true that when Nagato fought him, he had used many of the Rinnegan's powers.
But later on, Nagato too had started following the "correct meta answer" of giant-mech battles.
That actually fit Ren's needs very well.
And yet he had never gotten anything related to the Ten-Tails from those battles.
This time, however, he fought Madara—
Who hadn't even used the Ten-Tails—
And somehow this reward dropped instead.
Could it be because I was too weak back then?
Or because Madara once relied on the Ten-Tails' power itself to stay alive, while Nagato was only feeding chakra into the Gedo Statue to restore it?
No matter how he turned it over in his head, those seemed to be the only three plausible explanations.
But whichever one was true, Ren knew one thing with absolute certainty—
He had hit the jackpot.
Once he fully absorbed this experience card, he could probably head to the moon and use that Tenseigan to complete his final step.
How could that not put him in a good mood?
This was practically the final missing piece of his Bloodline Snare.
"Alright, everyone. No need to look so grim."
In a very good mood, Ren smiled and interrupted the room.
"With me here, there's no need to worry. No matter what trouble comes, I can handle it."
That made everyone freeze for a moment.
And yet, quite a few of them nodded instinctively.
Ren really had become Konoha's pillar.
As long as he was here, it genuinely felt like any problem could be solved.
"You bastard…"
Tsunade shook her head helplessly.
Looking at Ren seated beside her, she let out a sigh.
But before she could say anything else, Ren spoke again.
"By the way, I picked up something pretty interesting in the Land of Wind this time."
"A gain?"
Tsunade's expression instantly turned strange.
Kakashi's and Jiraiya's eyes also widened at once.
They understood all too well what Ren usually meant when he said he had "gained" something.
"What did you get?" Jiraiya asked carefully, lips pressed together.
Ren grinned.
At the same time, a scroll appeared in his hand.
"I said it was an unexpected gain. The name of it is The One's Own Life Reincarnation Technique."
Then his smile deepened.
"Or, in simpler terms…"
"This is a technique for bringing the dead back to life."
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